Planet of the Dead

I suppose they wanted a family fun story, before the nightmarish Waters of Mars.

After a big scale theft, Christina jumps on a London Bus, escaping Police capture, The Doctor plonks down next to her, the bus sets off, it and its passengers disappear through a Wormhole and end up in a far off baron planet. A plan is formed to get back, and psychic passenger Carmen has a vision of death approaching. Back on Earth, the Doctor is aided by Malcolm, a genius drafted in by UNIT. The Doctor and Christina see a storm on the Horizon, made of metal. Another crash victim comes to help and The Doctor discovers the planet they're on has been utterly ravaged and turned to sand. The storm on the Horizon are actually a swarm of ravenous flying monsters that eat anything in their path, they plan to get to Earth through the Wormhole. Christina proves a useful companion to the Doctor.

UNIT have become more semi regular, and Captain Magambo makes a second appearance after Turn Left.

Sadly the appearance of Lee Evans turns this into a bit of a kid's story, a comedian I truly love, was not right for this part, and why did they have to make him WELSH!!! It's OK for the first 20 minutes but then loses it a little.

I did enjoy Michelle Ryan's performance as Christina, she's good fun, a good match for Tennant. One of the highlights of the episode.

It's passable enough, but it's lacking in too many areas, some good effects, some fun performances, but nothing to get under the skin. The best moment is the brilliant pace changer right at the end, when Carmen confronts the Doctor with 'Be careful, your song is ending, it is returning through the dark, he will knock 4 times.' A very tense moment, brings the show back up to adult theme. 5/10

A simple episode, Tennant is excellent as always and plot isn't a complete disaster. Too bad that Christina didn't get the chance to be proper companion because her dynamic with the Doctor was splendid.

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.

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!

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.