Last year, David Tennant announced to the world that he was stepping down as the Tenth Doctor in the famed British television show, Doctor Who. To transition into his replacement, the series has taken a year off from producing a normal thirteen episode season, and instead has four extended specials throughout 2009 working into the regeneration process in the last special. If all of this sounds greek, don’t worry, with the launch of Culture.pause, you will get more than your fair share of the good Doctor and all the terminology. With that out of the way, I finally had a chance to watch the Planet of the Dead special via Netflix, and I thought I would share my thoughts on this special.
Planet of the Dead starts off with a museum heist by Lady Christina de Souza, played ever so well by Michelle Ryan. During her heist, she accidentally sets of an alarm, and has to escape from police pursuit. She jumps on a double decker bus that just happens to be carrying our favorite Time Lord, known only as The Doctor. While the police chase down the double decker bus, it goes into a tunnel, only to pass though a tear in the fabric of space, in which they wind up on an alien desert world. The problem is that The Doctor knows this world to be a thriving metropolis, and yet all that is there now is dust and desert. How did they get to this world, and what are the menacing flying creatures on the horizon? Well, I am not going to spoil that for you, as you need some reason to add this show to your Netflix queue.
David Tennant seems to be at ease with the fact that he will be giving up one of the more prominent roles in British television history. His performance tends to spark up a room whenever he is on a screen, showing off the electricity that seemed to lack in his last full season of Doctor Who. His somber attitude over not wanting another companion really shows when he is asked by Lady Christina whether she can join him on his journeys. Michelle Ryan is decent as the the female equivalent to the Doctor when it comes to smarts. She carries a backpack that seems to have just about every items she could need in a crisis situation. During her scenes in the beginning by herself, she is a bit flat, but when she starts to play off of the Doctor, the two really shine together. I could see these two really working well with one another in a season, but unfortunately, we know that cannot happen.
There are a lot of bit characters and cameos in this episode, but Lee Evens steals the show as a human scientist that works with The Doctor to find a solution out of their predicament. His creation of power scales and serious man-crushing on The Doctor is hilarious to watch. I would love to see more of him over the next couple of specials, because he was so much fun to watch on screen.
Overall, the special packed in a decent story, which is surprising when you consider the fact that almost the entire episode takes place in the middle of a desert. It is a little flat in the beginning, and the ending is a little too feelgood, but I am a sucker for anything that stars Doctor Who. Given that we do not have an official ratings system yet, I would have to give Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead four out of five Squirtles.
