Day 207 — July 26th 2021
Planet of Evil Parts Three and Four
Planet of Evil — Part Three
I knew the David Tennant episode 42 took some inspiration from this story, but I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated just how much — to the point that I wonder if Louis Marks should have been given a ‘story by…’ caption in the credits!
In both stories, people go to a remote celestial body (a planet / a sun) in search of a fuel source and take something they shouldn’t have. The celestial body has enough sentience to stop the ship from leaving, and is able to possess members of the crew to seek revenge, causing their eyes to glow with energy.
There’s enough differences between the tales that you can get away without 42 being a direct remake of this one, but it’s a lot of similarities, innit? I have to admit that while I quite like 42 as a story, I think this one might be better — and the glowing eyes here feel genuinely scary. I think the scariest moment is actually after Sorenson has been possessed — he rubs his eyes, and when he removes his hands… the eyes are back to normal! I don’t know why, but that was the moment that proper scared me.
It’s nice to have Frederick Jaeger back in the series — he last turned up in The Savages, which I greatly enjoyed. Somehow there’s something a bit special about actors who did the show in the black and white era before returning years later — we’ve got several instances of that around this time. We’ve also got actors appearing in this one who’ll go on to appear in the series much later — Louis Mahoney appears in Planet of Evil as Ponti and then returns to the series more than 30 years later as the older Billy Shipton in Blink. I like to imagine he watched all the episodes that year, and raised an eyebrow when he got to 42…
I have to say, though, that Mahoney doesn’t put in the strongest performance in this story, and his death in Part Two isn’t the greatest loss to the cast. I think that’s the one area where Planet of Evil is falling a little flat for me. The direction is great, the sets are wonderful, the story is engaging, but some of the casting leaves a lot to be desired. I’m thinking specifically of Prentis Hancock as Salamar. He’s not a strong enough presence to be believably in charge of this mission (in this episode especially, he keeps reminding us that it’s a military ship, and I just don’t buy it). By that same token, the character isn’t written in a way that would allow me to believe that he’s simply out of his depth. When I was loving Planet of the Daleks a few weeks ago a friend pointed out Hancock as being a rubbish performance, but I had to say that I’d not really noticed. Perhaps it’s because he’s more of a background character in that one? Here he’s front and centre, carrying a lot of the story, and his shortcomings stand out all the more.
There’s a handful of other weak links in the cast which really show up in this one, where there’s considerably less to distract from it. While the last episode was effects-heavy, this one is much more a focus on the characters, and it’s a shame that the drama isn’t being delivered as effectively as it might otherwise be. I can’t say that it’s spoiling the story for me, but I think if the casting had been a little more on point, this might have a stronger reputation, because there’s actually some great drama and scripting in here.
I should point out that not all the performances are poor — Ewen Solon puts in a great turn as Vishinsky (and I’ve just realised that he last appeared in the series during The Savages, too… it’s a reunion!), and of course Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen are on fine form as usual.
In spite of the duff performances, there’s still lots in here to enjoy, and it’s an 8/10.
Planet of Evil — Part Four
It feels like ages since we’ve done any TARDIS-spotting, but this episode is great for it, because we get a first and last all in the space of a few minutes! When the TARDIS departs from Zeta Minor it’s the last appearance of the model created way back for the end of The Rescue, which has been in service on and off for just over a decade. As nice as it always is to see this particular model, I can’t help but wonder why they’ve bothered to use it — on the main set, no less — given that the full size prop is right there, and they’ve already show that to materialise!
In the closing seconds of the story, the TARDIS goes spinning off into time and space, marking the first appearance of a brand new smaller model. It was actually constructed for use in Pyramids of Mars, recorded before this story but shown after. There’s something oddly fitting about the out-of-sequence nature of introducing a new TARDIS, isn’t there? It’s not strictly relevant to this episode, but while I’m on the subject of this model, there’s an incredible photograph of Ian Scoones preparing it for filming in during Pyramids of Mars, which might well be one of my favourite Doctor Who photos ever. There’s something about it which is genuinely magical. Oh, and you’ll notice that in this final scene the footage has been flipped, so the ‘Pull to Open’ panel is on the wrong side for the first time since Season Five — the 60s throwbacks continue!
Anyway, onto the story itself. I’m really impressed by the sense of scale to the threat in Planet of Evil. This final episode basically boils down to a handful of actors on a spaceship set, and yet they somehow manage to make it feel like one of the biggest threats that Doctor Who has ever faced. There’s a great bit on the bridge where Vishinsky spells out the predicament to Sarah;
Ranjit: ‘They’re attacking. We need help! They’re coming through! Argh!’
Vishinsky: ‘Seven men. Sixteen minutes to impact.’
Sarah: ‘How can we stop them?’
The stakes are raised even higher because you get a real sense that there’s loads of people involved. Ranjit only appears in this episode, and even then we never see him — he’s just a voice on the other end of the radio, who finds himself in peril and then is killed by one of the anti-matter creatures. And yet, possibly because we’ve seen several extras in the story already, he feels just as important as any of the others. We don’t often get a moment like this in Doctor Who, where the death of an unseen character can have such an impact.
I think it’s because the stakes feel so high that when Doctor Who is forced to use a gun to stun Sorenson it didn’t bother me in the slightest. When Pertwee’s Doctor Who shot an Ogron in Marks’ last story I went on at length about how out of place it felt, but here I genuinely believe the stakes are high enough that there was no other choice.
Initially I believed Doctor Who had actually killed him — remorsefully — and it just made things feel more desperate. When Sorenson lived at the end it was a proper punch the air moment, and while I’d usually complain that it’s a bit of a cop out, I can’t help loving Doctor Who’s explanation;
Doctor Who: ‘You’re a very lucky man, Professor. You’ve been released.’
Sorenson: ‘Released?’
Doctor Who: ‘Yes. Because I kept my promise and returned the antimatter.’
I spent a lot of time yesterday praising the wide variety of effects in this story, and we get another one to add to the list with this episode — the kind of psychedelic reverb applied to Sorenson when he’s split into multiple versions of itself. It’s such an arresting image that it must have stuck in the mind of the audience at the time. I don’t think they ever use the effect again, which surprises me because after testing it here I think I’d have brought it back every week!
Another 8/10 for this one — a properly solid adventure, and definitely one I’ll be revisiting for enjoyment once this marathon is over.
