Planet of the Dead

Not the best Doctor Who episode but certainly not the worst. Thought the storyline was a cross between Pitch Black, Entrapment, On the buses and that program about a time traveler in a blue box. Seriously it was OK not as bad as some comments say it is on here, the thing about Doctor Who is if you had the Daleks, Cybermen or the Master every week now eventually that would be boring. Dr. Malcalm (Lee Evans)is a cool character but maybe a bit over the top with the I love you Doctor stuff. Christiana played by Michelle Ryan comes straight out of the movie Entrapment and then once they reach the desert in the double decker bus you almost expect Vin Diesel to turn up. Them flying stingrays must be exceptionally hungry as one can eat two larger than life human sized flies in one after another!

Well, David Tennant is pretty much going through the motions these days, and it seems Russell T. Davies is doing the same.

Nothing really catches your eye in this 30 minute episode needlessly stretched out to an hour. Even the monsters don't make much of an effort; just a bunch of flying alien stingrays, and not a Steve Irwin joke in sight.

If your birthday is after 1998, then this might just keep your interest, but that's about it.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed there are better things to come, and that Matt Smith (the new Doctor Who) will not be the 21st century's equivalent of Sylvester McCoy and end up killing the franchise for another 15 years.

This Dr Who Easter special from 2009 tantalisingly dangles a potential new companion before the viewer in the shape of feisty cat burglar Michelle Ryan's titled bored rich girl character only for the Doc to turn up his nose and continue to fly solo. Beforehand, they share a moderately exciting adventure when after daringly stealing a closely-guarded golden artifact Mission Impossible-style, they find themselves sat together on a red London bus just about to take a trans-dimensional trip to anther world, naturally, where they encounter another world-threatening species, ditto naturally, before saving said world yet again in the nick of time - naturally to the power 3!

Borrowing some ideas from Harry Potter (a flying bus, the Doctor's "parseltongue" type dialogue with the Dead Planet's initial batch of aliens) the story's okay if lacking somewhat in excitement or surprises. There's the odd smattering of humour and a nice frisson between Tennant and Ryanm but Lee Evans as a Doctor-adoring UNIT boffin gets too much screen-time.

With no single antagonist to act as a focal point, the story struggles to really create tension and thrills and by the end relies far too much on CaGen SFX as the flying menace targets earth for occupation in their millions.

Seasonal specials and Dr Who tend to go hand in hand, but this episode failed to really take for me.

My 2009 Easter Special Review:

Planet of the Dead

This was broadcast as an Easter Special in a year when there were only 4 new stories for fans to see on TV. I suspect that is why it seems to have received an overly negative response and dismissed as disappointing. Fans were eager for more Doctor Who that year and expected that if they only got 4 stories they should all be awesome classics. That is an understandable reaction and indeed this is not an awesome classic so I guess it failed to meet expectations but I do think it was a decent episode.

Michelle Ryan as guest character Lady Christina is very good, the other passenger characters are decent with future Hollywood star Daniel Kaluuya (star of Get Out and Oscar winner for Judas and the Black Messiah) doing as great a job as you would expect in a small early role. Interestingly, when people talk about big stars who have appeared in Doctor Who people always seem to forget Daniel for some reason.

David Tennant acts brilliantly as always but has less meaty material than in other recent stories. Comedian Lee Evans has a fun appearance and the Tritovores are a fun alien race although with not much to do.

The visuals of the episode are great and there is some nice action and dialogue.

The story and certain ideas and scenes are more suited to a mid series filler episode than a special and are not totally satisfying but it is still pretty good fun.

My Rating: 8/10.

Christina de Souza's a thief, pursued by several police, now she's caught the wrong bus, there will be quite a fuss, and probably plenty of grief.

The Swarm will devour all whole, consume buses and bodies and souls, only dust will remain, a sandy-like grain, they move on through a series of holes.

Malcom Taylor's a Quatermass fan, he's managed to work out a plan, to close one of these holes, to prevent a dust bowl, and all from the back of his van.