After washing the taste of Paradise Towers out of my mouth with some high-grade cleaning product, it was time to move on to the next story in our little alphabetical sequence. This turned out to be Planet of Evil, a story I had mentioned in passing in my review of The Story In A High Rise Building I No Longer Which To Mention By Name. I happened to mention that the NuWho episode 42, which is fairly well known for being rather heavily inspired by this story, shall we say, is an episode with an almost laughably weak script, but nevertheless is at least somewhat saved by some decent production.
What's my point? Well, I decided to take a bold step and watch the NuWho episode in question as a point of comparison with Planet of Evil. I don't usually do anything this - Doctor Who stories need to be able to stand on their own without having to rely on other material. Bluntly, you don't get points for the work somebody else did, hence why I'm not watching Forbidden Planet for this review despite the well know influence it had on Planet of Evil. But when it's the other way around, and the story I'm actually focusing in is the inspiration for a later work, well that's a bit different, especially when it is actually quite a useful comparison for what I like and don't like about Planet of Evil. So that's why it's happening.
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| What does the deep dark pit lead to? That's right! A script written by Chris Chibnall! Argh! |
42, for the record, is not exactly top quality Doctor Who. The script is awful - Chris Chibnall (yeah, of course it's him) does not deliver here - the dialogue is really awful and the episode's plot is lightweight - what isn't basically lifted straight from Planet of Evil is unexplained nonsense. The supporting characters are mostly bits of cardboard and it does the typical NuWho thing of having repetitive nonsense catchphrases and moments of silly spectacle (a pub quiz is a great security system! said absolutely nobody ever, apart from Chris Chibnall) replace actual plot depth. Finally, NuWho's episode length necessitates a lightning fast pace that just doesn't allow anything to settle or develop. Overall, it really is not an impressive outing in terms of its script.
However, one should never underestimate Graeme Harper. It's fair to say he is a strong candidate for Who's best ever director and thus it is no surprise he manages to make 42 far more tense and creepy than it really should be. The atmosphere of tension and dread builds superbly throughout the piece, and Harper is one of the few directors who's able to use NuWho's stupidly fast pace to his advantage. It's entirely through his skills that the escape pod ejection scene, standard ridiculous soppy NuWho crap on paper, is an extremely effective scene - not least because he manages to keep it short and sweet, rather than dragging it out like many other NuWho directors would. Thanks to both Harper and the production designer, the episode is also great to look at - a wonderful colour palette, some great sets. It's a shame it had be written by a chin attached to a human body because this could have actually been a classic rather than hovering just above the average for NuWho.
But I'm not actually here to review 42, just to compare it to Planet of Evil, because while PoE (which I'm going to start calling it) is the superior story no doubt, and we'll look at why that is, I'm equally certain that 42 does get a lot right that PoE does not.
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| What is this? A positive thought about NuWho? Aaaarghh! |
Now, Planet of Evil is in Season 13, a strong contender for Doctor Who's strongest ever season. That's partially because it doesn't have any actually bad stories. The Android Invasion is not exactly impressive but it's not awful as such, and four of the other stories are classics for sure. Planet of Evil fits therefore as an oddity, not even the worst story of a very strong season, but not coming close to the four classics it sits among.
I'll start with what I like about Planet of Evil. Firstly, Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen do a good job of proving why this is one of the most popular TARDIS teams in the show's history. I have nothing against Harry Sullivan or Ian Marter, but in this, the first Fourth Doctor story with Sarah as a solo companion, they both demonstrate quite how strong their chemistry was. The Doctor and Sarah just gel so well, through both this story, and the rest of their time on the show as well - while much of it is down to Baker and Sladen, the two characters are also written very well. The Fourth Doctor is witty yet sly, full of humour yet deadly serious about the peril he and the other characters find themselves in, amusing aloof but full of some good old moral judgement. Sarah has become the show's quintessential companion for a reason - a good audience identifier, in that she allows the Doctor to be the one to explain and deal with the scientific elements, yet intelligent and strong in her own right. This story is far from the best example of that relationship - see... well, the other four stories in this season that aren't called The Android Invasion, but it nevertheless is a highlight of this story.
Another positive about this story is the character of Professor Sorenson. Now science fiction has had its fair share of strawman scientists meddling in things they don't understand, so trying to make said character interesting is usually an uphill battle. God knows NuWho has tried many times, so it is refreshing that Sorenson is a character with an interesting journey. Now obviously he does take in many of the tropes associated with this kind of character: obsessed with his work to the point of being blind to what's happening around him, etc. and so forth, but there are two things that elevate the character above this. First of all, the reason for this isn't just 'he's an arsehole' like it is for almost all of the times this trope gets used in science fiction. The isolation and the deaths of those around him are clearly shown to take their toll on him and this trauma is vital to understanding his character - his devotion to his work even when the lives are at stake is clearly a symptom of this, but it's left vague why, which is good. Perhaps he wants to make sure he's coming away with something tangible after the cost in lives that he witnessed? Or perhaps it's blunted him to that, and is doing it purely out of his devotion to work, regardless of what happened to the others. It's up to the viewer to decide.
The other thing that works about this character is the decision to make him the guinea pig for the antimatter transformation stuff. Now it's probably the obvious choice, I'll accept that, but it does work because this transformation combined with the previous trauma means that he actually has a small but effective character arc throughout this story. The transformation lets him realise what's really happening on the planet, and unlike in NuWho where it would obviously all be through endless exposition (such as say, 42, to give a random unrelated example), much of the work is done through the visuals and through the acting, and it's really effective. The Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde stuff isn't exactly explored to its fullest, true, but it does contribute to the overall arc, one side of the personality making the other change. Finally, I do like the decision not to kill him at the end, giving that character arc a bit of finality, as if he'll learn from his mistakes, with a bit of prompting from the Doctor, and use his talents for good. Combined with a nuanced performance from Frederick Jaeger, this is a good supporting character in an era where they wisely made sure there was usually a good supporting character or two when you needed them.
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| Professor Sorenson decided that some mysteries, such as those shoulder pads, were beyond science |
Anyway, I'll be extremely boring and talk about the thing that most people bring up when talking about Planet of Evil. I've said plenty of times that if you're judging Classic Who on production values, then you're a blithering idiot, but I will point out when it is particularly above or below average, and this story is very much the former. The production design on this story has been praised ever since it first aired, and I won't break tradition on this, as it is absolutely fantastic. The planet is probably Classic Who's finest visual creation. It very wisely doesn't really attempt to look real, reasoning correctly that on the budget they had that was never going to happen, so instead it goes entirely for vibe and atmosphere and succeeds completely in that regard. The care and attention to detail is obvious; it looks like every tree and plant has been designed with utter regard as to how it fits in the overall picture, and the atmosphere it sets out to portray, basically of an eerie but not cartoonish planet, letting the audience put the planet's 'evil' together in their head rather than spelling it out, is captured perfectly.
Even the Morestran ship, while not being quite up to the same standard, is a very solid piece of production design, successfully carrying off a functional and spartan look without making it look ugly or anything like that. Now I'm not going to touch on this for too long, because I'm not an expert on production design (there's a reason these reviews mostly touch on the writing of a story, because that's the bit I know about) so unfortunately I can't be more detailed in why it works, but believe me when you watch the story you'll know it does. Full marks to Roger Murray-Leach.
Finally, there's the monster itself. Now anti-matter does tend to be a bit of a MacGuffin in Doctor Who - after all, in a logical universe the Doctor dropping into the universe of anti-matter as he does in this story should probably put him up against Omega again - but it can also be a useful tool in creating a threat, and especially because it can basically be anything the writer wants it to be, it can also be used to create a vague, looming threat, which it does in this story, which I like.
The true nature of the anti-matter monster is kept deliberately vague, and this supplements the atmosphere, by allowing the story to come together piece by piece, invariably by the Doctor working things out, and this means that the sense of mystery is present until near the very end. Additionally, the fact it's seemingly invincible (a few things that fend it off but it can't actually be destroyed) makes it even more impressive as a threat, and contributes to the Doctor's arc throughout the story - it has to be defeated through brains not brawn, While it's hardly an impressive visual effect today, for the time I actually think it looks pretty creepy as well. Overall, it's a good threat, adds to the mystery and atmosphere of the story, and I do personally like it when story elements are left deliberately vague and blurred throughout the story, instead of spelling everything out in endless exposition. Like a certain series that began in 2005.
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| The Anti-Matter creature was shocked to learn that he might have to be written by Chris Chibnall |
I think briefly before I move on to what doesn't work about this story that it's worth touching on that it is actually just quite a light enjoyable story to sit down and watch - while I will criticise it in a moment, I'd like to make it very clear that none of those things ruin the story, and this remains a decent bit of Doctor Who to sit down and watch. It passes the 'sight and sound' test, if that makes sense.
So, the negatives, and unfortunately, the first one is a bit of a major problem - David Maloney is no Graeme Harper. At least not for this story.
Now I don't want to make it sound like I have anything against Maloney - quite the opposite. The man directed some absolute top quality Doctor Who over the years - The War Games, Genesis of the Daleks and The Deadly Assassin were all his for instance. As I made very clear in the review of Genesis, he very much can enhance a story with his directing, so don't take this as anything against him. There's even stuff in Planet of Evil that works very well - after all, while Murray-Leach designed the jungle, Maloney decided how to light and shoot it, and it wouldn't work as well as it does if he fucked that up. Unfortunately, overall, he simply dropped the ball on this one.
While I've praised the atmosphere and vibe of the story, such as in the production design and the realisation of the villain, unfortunately it never really comes together. The directing at times seems to slow, too unfocused and doesn't seem to properly get the atmosphere across. Scenes that need to be creepy end up just coming across as a bit flat and boring unfortunately - the anti-matter creature killing some redshirts for instance is precisely that, instead of a more terrifying spectacle. Additionally, Maloney simply doesn't succeed as Harper does in knowing how to control the pace. The scenes for instance of the Doctor investigating the anti-matter on the planet work much better on paper than the silly escape pod scene in 42 - yet the latter works because Harper keeps it tight, focusing on the character drama it creates and making sure it sticks in the mind. In Planet of Evil, there seems to be no real urgency to these scenes by contrast. Sure, it means we get to look at the nice jungle for longer, but it also reduces the threat if the Doctor feels like he can take a stroll to get to the pool. This might sound hypocritical given my constant criticism of NuWho's fast pace, but there is a happy medium between the two that much of Classic Who effortlessly finds, and this doesn't.
The scenes on the Morestran ship are similarly shot without any real intensity or drive, and all three cliffhangers are pretty shabby honestly - the 'freeze frame' one in particular just doesn't work. It was a rare poor moment in Genesis, and it works even less well here.
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| "I don't care if if you always sit in this seat, I'm sitting here today" |
So, I don't like the directing much, but unfortunately, the script doesn't really help. Firstly, aside from Sorenson, the Morestrans are the dullest bunch of idiots you could imagine. Most of them are just nameless redshirt extras or flat side characters, with only Captain Salamar and Second in Command Guy Vishinsky getting anything important or interesting to do.
Now in fairness, I like what Louis Marks was trying to go for with these two characters - Salamar is a young hotshot prick who's clearly not got the right temperament for command, and this results in a string of bad decisions entirely of his need to prove himself, while Vishinsky is the older voice of reason who probably should be commanding if not for politics or bureaucracy or whatever. This is a perfectly fine set up, almost quite a promising one actually - it's certainly way above any of the character arcs in the crew of the ship in 42, which are either one dimensional or baffling.
The problem is in the execution. Salamar is such a complete and utter twat, and his decisions are so boneheaded and idiotic that it would be lunacy for any audience member to sympathise with him in any way whatsoever - it sucks all the subtlety out of it. This is fine if you want to go with a straight up villain, after all nobody is supposed to side with Morgus in The Caves of Androzani, but Salamar is clearly not supposed to be that. If Marks wanted the audience to reach the conclusion that he's an idiot unfit to command and Vishinsky is the qualified one who should be leading at the end then that's fair enough, but he doesn't allow any complexity to it. He doesn't allow the audience to gradually and naturally side of Vishinsky, we're just mean to hate Salamar from the start. It's such a lazy and manipulative way of writing characters. This is made even worse by the fact that Salamar and Vishinsky are pushed into the 'base-under-siege' archetypes when it comes to their treatment of the Doctor and Sarah, the former being the one who decides they're the murderers without any real evidence and the latter being the one who's sympathetic with them, without any real reason - simply because one's meant to be liked and one isn't, and their interactions with the main characters must show that as well. Once again, it's just weak, frankly juvenile storytelling, that puts characters in the holes the writer has created for them, which invariably means they act nothing like actual real people.
This is more of a problem than just that - not letting these characters and their arcs evolve over the story means they're by necessity going to be one note and lackluster. Remember two paragraphs up when I described their characters? That's literally their entire characters - there's nothing else to them. It means the drama simply can't work properly when important characters in the piece are so flat and one dimensional. I don't feel like there's much worth in me, a 23 year old amateur, giving advice to professional writers who died several years ago about pieces of fiction they wrote while Chairman Mao was still alive, but I'll make a very brief exception to give the obvious solution here - you just give glimmers in Salamar's character that there may be more to him than we think. Perhaps a few signs that he knows he's not up to the job and that is weighing on him, or perhaps a motivation for what he does - maybe he has family back home? Simple stuff that barely needs more than a few lines that would suddenly make the character much more three dimensional and therefore allow the journey towards the view Marks wants the viewer to hold to be a much better journey. But as I said, there's no point giving such advice and I'm judging the story based on what it is, not what it isn't. Hopefully however my point is illustrated.
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| Morestran Big Brother will be back after the break! |
The other thing that doesn't really work about the script is the attempt at a political message. From what I gather, this is meant to be a parable on the issue of exploiting natural resources, and it's one that simply doesn't work. Now I'll give Planet of Evil this - it works far far better than it does in 42 where it's written so incompetently it'll make your head spin until you remember who wrote it. In the Nu episode, they've been mining energy out of a sun, which the Doctor treats as this awful thing that the captain should feel very ashamed of herself for... but why? This sun might be alive, but as utterly ridiculous as that is, the only thing more stupid is the idea that the captain should have considered that as a possibility. Using that exact same logic, next time I go to cut into a loaf of bread, I shouldn't do it because that bread might be alive? So all that leads to is just the idea of gathering resources at all, and given this sun doesn't seem to be supplying any energy to any inhabited planets or anything, it just seems like the Doctor is having a go at her because she wants her ship to be able to move so she can pay her crew and make a living, which makes the Doctor seem like the prick and not her. Now I accept there are many different opinions about this subject, and that the idea of never taking any resources from the environment is one held by many - fair enough if you're one of them, there are convincing arguments for and against that view, but in typical NuWho fashion no debate is had about this topic. It's skimmed over, the Doctor is right and the guest character isn't, and that's all so we can get to more stupid catchphrases and juvenile drama.
Planet of Evil works a little better, in that it should be far more obvious to Sorenson and his lot that this is a really stupid idea and they're messing with things they don't understand... exhibit A being all the dead bodies. It does almost provide a suitable message, in that Sorenson is tampering with things for his people's benefit without thinking about the greater cost, but it unfortunately does falter in that regard for a few reasons. Firstly, it just isn't given due attention - there's no argument about the rights and wrongs of something, we're just shown it happening and then the negative consequences of it. At the end the Doctor points him towards a different form of energy collection, as if that's a lesson we're just supposed to take - the Doctor knows all about what forms of energy are sustainable or not and we should all listen to him and not have a debate about it. Again, if you would like to argue that all exploitation of natural resources is wrong, then fair enough, but Marks takes the easy option and just has a political message without any kind of debate, which is the worst kind of political message in fiction. Secondly, like 42, it also seems a little unfair on Sorenson, as there's no really no way he could have known that that what he was tampering with was alive - granted, he should have realised there was something amiss when people started dying, but the story as a whole treats it as if he shouldn't have ever attempted it. I mean, what was he supposed to do, mind meld with it? "No, that's definitely just an inert lump of rock, where's my pneumatic drill?"
The point is that, just like with the character stuff, Marks does the bare minimum effort without putting any kind of depth and intrigue into it. I'd be fascinated to see Doctor Who try and look at the ethics of resource exploitation, but this doesn't really bother - to the extent it's present in the story, which is not nearly enough to justify it, it just tells us what the message is and that we should all agree. That's not a political metaphor, that's a party political broadcast.
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| The Doctor had decided those strange rocks weren't anti-matter after all |
So what to make of Planet of Evil, and how does it stand up with its 21st century remake? Undoubtedly it has some weak points - the sedate direction, poor supporting characters and a shoddy attempt at a political message being chief among them, and the former is particularly noticeable when compared to 42. Nevertheless, it does have some decent character moments, I think the overall plot and ideas do work pretty well and the visual realisation is stunning - plus as I said, it is an overall enjoyable watch, which does have to count for something. So overall, I'd say it's a decent but not brilliant story, while 42 suffers due to its very stupid plot, weak characters and lack of any real depth - it's like they took Planet of Evil and put it through a NuWho filter... which thinking about it is probably exactly what they did making this entire exercise extremely pointless sorry for wasting your time.
Final Score: 6/10. Above average for Classic Who thanks to being overall an enjoyable watch, with a classic Doctor/Companion pair at the top of their game, some decent character work and excellent visual realisation, but in other aspects, chiefly writing and production, it doesn't quite make the full mile. Still, very far from bad.
Next Episode: Planet of Fire
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