||SPOILERS|| It's the beginning of the end for David Tennant, as the first of 2009's Doctor Who specials arrives to herald a four-episode farewell to the tenth Time Lord. "Planet Of The Dead" is the first episode to have been co-written for the new series, with showrunner Russell T. Davies sharing a credit with Gareth Roberts ("The Shakespeare Code.") It proves to be a good partnership, as this was far superior to the past few Christmas specials and, while still strained, illogical and lazily-plotted at times, it was good fun to watch.We begin with a rather tepid and clichéd museum raid, as cat-suited thief Lady Christina (Michelle Ryan) steals an antique goblet from under the noses of incompetent security guards, then escapes aboard a London double-decker bus, pursued by her nemesis DI McMillan (Adam James) after the alarm is raised. Trouble is, Christina's chosen a bus occupied by The Doctor (Tennant), who appears to be tracking anomalous readings with a hand-held gizmo, seconds before the bus is pulled into an invisible wormhole inside a tunnel –- vanishing from the police chasing Christina, but reappearing on a desert planet in a different galaxy.
What followed was a fairly typical episode of nu-Who; events taking place in the show's most exotic location yet (the production filmed in the desert of Dubai), yet spending much of its time inside a bus and aboard an alien spaceship. In some ways this episode reminded me of Davies' "Midnight" (which also focused on a small group of strangers stuck aboard a vessel on an alien world), but "Planet Of The Dead" episode was more expansive than that claustrophobic tale.However, one element of "Midnight" that got an encore was the notion of The Doctor not being the de facto leader (well, initially), as Lady Christina takes charge and delegates tasks to each passenger. Of course, it's only a matter of time before The Doctor's the one pulling the strings, but Christina didn't fade into the background and wasn't content to ride on The Doctor's coattails. No, she was arguably the most proactive companion we've seen in the past four years, and instrumental in solving the crisis using her cat burgling skills towards the end. Michelle Ryan even got to use her own slightly posh accent and generally acquitted herself well, with the door left open for a return. But I'm not sure that's likely, even considering new exec-producer Steven Moffat's a fan of hers.
The storyline split its time between the alien world (where the damaged bus was unable to simply reverse back through the open wormhole to safety), and the London tunnel (where UNIT arrived to try and close the wormhole, before realizing The Doctor was involved.) The latter sequences benefitted from a fun guest-starring role for comedian Lee Evans as nerdy UNIT scientist Dr. Malcolm Taylor, a rabid fan of The Doctor's who becomes his off-world "best friend" during the crisis. On the desert planet, matters are complicated by an approaching swarm of flying "alien stingrays" that will devour the bus and pass through the wormhole to decimate Earth, and the arrival of two fly-headed Tritovore humanoids who crash-landed on the planet and need The Doctor's help to escape. Naturally, their ship just happens to contain spare-parts to get the bus going, naturally."Planet Of The Dead" felt ten minutes too long and the storytelling was slightly awkward and clichéd (a bus passenger just happens to be a vaguely psychic black lady who can spout creepy vagaries), but there was also a fair bit to enjoy – like The Doctor's rousing speech, the desert vistas, the flying bus (ignoring the "stingray swatting moment"), Evans' twitchy geek, Ryan's agreeable performance, the pulp sci-fi silliness of the chirruping Tritovore, and an improbable but fun plunge down a shaft by Christina in her harness to retrieve a vital component for The Doctor. The climax even saw this lighthearted romp turn darker with a prediction that The Doctor's "song is ending", and a possible reference to The Master returning "from the darkness", who will "knock four times" (his four-beat drum leitmotif?)
Overall, as specials go it felt appropriately large-scale, but didn't really have the intelligence to paper over the usual deficiencies that perforate Davies' scripts -- that sense that he latches onto an imaginative idea inspired by other films (Flight Of The Phoenix meets Pitch Black, here) and spends the whole episode improvising a way for The Doctor to rescue everyone in a semi-plausible way that anyone over the age of thirteen will wrinkle their nose at.) Still, for sheer fun, visual splendour and a welcome chance to see Tennant having a ball, "Planet Of The Dead" was an Easter treat I enjoyed as frothy nonsense. But, the trailer for "Waters Of Mars" looks far more compelling...
11 April 2009
BBC1, 6.45pm
Writers: Russell T. Davies & Gareth Roberts
Director: James Strong
Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Michelle Ryan (Christina), Lee Evans (Malcolm), Noma Dumezweni (Capt. Magambo), Adam James (DI McMillan), Glenn Doherty (Sgt Dennison), Victoria Alcock (Angela), David Ames (Nathan), Ellen Thomas (Carmen), Reginald Tsiboe (Lou), Daniel Kaluuya (Barclay), Keith Parry (Bus Driver), James Layton (Sgt Ian Jenner), Paul Kasey (Sorvin) & Ruari Mears (Praygat)
