Planet of Giants is perhaps an unsung milestone in Doctor Who 's history - as the opening story of the show's second season, it perhaps should have more attention. After the unexpected success of the first season, the burden was on the second to prove that the show was the real deal and not just a Dalek propelled fluke. How it opened therefore should have been incredibly important, right?
Well, perhaps not. Bear in mind of course that the gap between seasons was not long in the Sixties, a mere six weeks, which probably dampened the occasion a little. After all, these days shows have mid-season breaks longer than that (shows including Doctor Who of course) and attention spans were longer back then. Of course, the other major reason why this might not be remembered as a great milestone is that apart from its placement at the start of the season, it just isn't one. It is totally overshadowed by the Dalek story that followed and the long term ramifications for the show's future that would have. It's not even the case that this story was an interesting look at how the production team responded to the Doctor Who phenomenon as the show was of course filmed more or less as they went along back then, and even if it wasn't, this story was filmed as part of the first production block and merely held over to Season 2. So, despite taking up an important position in Doctor Who's history, this story is oddly unremarkable.
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| Ant that the truth |
And yet not. See, this story does hold interest in a few ways. Firstly, the story was a heavily reworked version of the one of the ideas put forward for the show's first ever story - how much of it actually transferred between that idea and the broadcast who knows, but the basic idea of the TARDIS crew being shrunk down was want comprised it. Now the caveman stuff in An Unearthly Child is not great, it has to be said, and while I do like this story (er, spoilers for my takes later on I guess) having this story as the first would have been very much the wrong move for the show straight away. I don't know, perhaps I'm overrating the importance of An Unearthly Child, its plausible you could have put William Hartnell blowing his nose for an hour in the first story and The Daleks would still have made the show a smash shit, but I feel Planet of Giants was the kind of thing the show would only really pull off after it had established itself and got some credibility under its best. The premise is just too silly and out there and would have immediately given the show the vibe that... well, the vibe that it would gain in the years prior to its cancellation - a stupid, uncomplex kids show relying on cheap special effects and dumb ideas. As I said, the caveman stuff we did get is far from high art, but it did at least set the premise of the series up well enough, which The Daleks, and to a lesser but still important extent stories like Marco Polo and The Aztecs would develop. So in the end, Planet of Giants placement here was very much a good thing, in that it didn't negatively affect the show's development when it could have done, but was still able to be an asset when the show as established.
The other interesting thing about this story is that after production had been finished, there were concerns about the length and pacing of the second half of the story, that it was slow and plodding and dragged the story out. Because the story had been filmed a few months prior to broadcast, a rarity in this era, there was time to fix this, so they decided to do the only sensible thing - edit episodes 3 and 4 into a single episode, thus creating Who's first 3 parter, and only one for over two decades. In terms of that structure in a bubble, I generally don't mind the 3 part format, as long as it tells the right kind of small scale compact story that suits it. It's a nice compromise between the 2 parter, which in both its original and adapted 1x45 NuWho form I've felt has never worked, requiring rushed and/or lightweight stories which almost inevitably end up underdeveloped, and the 4-parter, which can drag out stories that don't have enough, er, story to fill the time out. As I said though, it does only work with a certain type of story. Ghost Light for instance was dragged down by having insufficient length to answer any of its many questions and ended up with a story that felt confused, to say the least. Planet of Giants though, I does have the right kind of story. 'Doctor and Companions shrunk down in a garden' is hardly a complex premise that needs deep exploration, is it. The totally necessary) inclusion of the plot between the human characters means there's too much story for 2 episodes, but 4 would probably have been pushing it.
Which does bring us on to the meat of the question - whether the precise circumstances in which this became a 3 part story work to the story's advantage or detriment. Remember, episodes 3 and 4 were just edited together, which no change to either the script of those episodes or anything in the first two. Now, this is made harder by the face that the unused parts of the story had a prompt appointment with the Standard Issue BBC Flamethrower™, and obviously as they were never broadcast, no off air audio exists, so there's basically nothing to fill the gaps - just scripts and a re-enactment performed by William Russell, Carole Ann Ford and a few others filling the other roles. As nice as they are, they can't hope to give a sense of what the full episodes would actually have been like to watch, so a point of comparison just doesn't exist. All that is my long-winded way of saying I don't know whether it would have been better as a 4 parter or not. In terms of how the final story is on its own, well it's pretty much imperceptible that the edits have taken place and the pacing matches the first two episodes, so overall I'd say it worked. I'll look more closely at the story as we go along obviously, but overall the 3 part format does work well. Better? Impossible to say.
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| Michael Grade about to meet Colin Baker and John Nathan-Turner circa 1985 |
So, to the actual story. Planet of Giants is that rare beast, a story with a silly ill-thought premise that actually manages to work pretty well and I intend to explore why this works when most of the time it definitely does not. Because, well, the premise is really fucking stupid, let's not beat around the bush here, opening the TARDIS doors while materialising causing the Doctor, companions and TARDIS to shrink down to being an inch tall must rank as one of the flimsiest bits of plotting in the show's history, on the same basis as shit like Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Yet this works why that doesn't - why?
Well, the most important thing is that Planet of Giants never stops taking itself seriously at any point. Now obviously, I don't mean it becomes all dark and gritty, the only thing worse than the Dinosaurs on a Spaceship approach would be to make The Caves of Androzani but with the characters an inch high, obviously that would have been a complete disaster. No, what I mean is that Planet of Giants never once shies away from the silliness of its premise, not telling a story that tonally clashes with it, but always taking the story it is telling seriously and doesn't use the excuse of its premise to insufferable wink at the camera with dreadful attempts at "comedy", such as having a triceratops play fetch or bringing in one of the most memorable comedy duos of the past two decades to bitch at each other in a painfully unfunny manner. Yes, I have a thing against Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, there's nothing you can do about it. True, it may work a bit better if it was actually funny, but as we've established by now, comedy is something Doctor Who can only really pull off in extremely rarely circumstances that usually require a Douglas Adams, so the point stands.
The point is that Planet of Giants works because it embraces the silliness of its premise by using it to tell an interesting story - by taking itself seriously despite said silliness, it ends up being entertaining in a way that previously mentioned stories just can't. Obviously, the story itself is not deep and complex, as I said, it wouldn't work if it was - the Doctor and companions climbing around all the props of miniature things is pretty dumb, but making it into a tale of adventure and survival without winking at the camera almost makes us forget that... but never entirely, there's always the spirit of silliness present through moments of dialogue or clever camerawork that reminds that this isn't something to take too seriously. But it's not a stupid self parody either, like it could have been, and indeed as the show would actually do towards the end of the season with The Chase.
The other thing that makes this work is that just as the script takes itself seriously, the production team are clearly doing exactly the same. I'll look at all the individual elements of the production that I feel deserve singling out as we go along, but its clear the effort is going in from all angles. There's plenty about this story that doesn't work, but none of it feels for lack of trying. It's not half arsed because its the dumb one where they shrink down. Writer Louis Marks makes sure the plots and characters tell a compelling story, directors Mervyn Pinfield (eps 1, 2 and original ep3) and Douglas Camfield (original ep4) keep the pacing spot on and things exciting when they need to be, the production designers have obviously put their all into it, and while it looks sixties naff now, for the time and budgets its pretty damn good, and the actors, regular and guest, certainly are treating the script with respect. Overall it works because they've taken a fun silly concept and tried to make a story out of it, rather than having the silliness be the centrepiece, as is the case with so much awful Doctor Who that's defended as 'fun'. Mentioning no stories set in high rise buildings in particular.
Let's have a look at the script. Louis Marks was in face the one who wrote Planet of Evil, just two reviews ago (clearly he liked planets) so his style is rather fresh in the memory. It's interesting to compare the two, both having plots driven from basic sci-fi ideas (shrinking down vs invisible monsters) and secondary political messages about leaving nature the fuck alone. Obviously, the similarities don't go that far, Planet of Evil was a serious story while I think we've established this fundamentally isn't. Planet of Evil is also a much more complex tale, while this one isn't really - which is fine as both approaches suit their respective stories.
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| I'm getting that sinking feeling (yeah, I'll get my coat) |
Planet of Giants is a story with a unique structure, in that there are two related by separate stories running alongside each other that only interact at certain points. The first is the one involving the Doctor and his companions having been shrunk down, navigating the subsized world, attempting to survive dangers brought on by the unique nature of their situation, and attempting to get back to normal size. I like this stuff a lot, for a few reasons. Firstly, as the I've no doubt bored you to tears going on about, it balances the inherent silliness of the concept with the serious parts of the story well. It's never overdramatic or too serious of course, but as I said earlier it never obviously veers into unfunny self parody. The script it goes for is one of adventure rather than straight drama or comedy. That's not to say of course there's a straight single tone throughout - there are effective moments of drama for sure, like the Doctor and Susan being about to drown in the sink, or indeed Barbara's poisoning that becomes the driving force of the much of the story's second half. These are good, tense moments that compliment the piece and prevent it from feeling like there are no real stakes as it easily could have done - obviously, Barbara is not going to die of the poison and obviously the Doctor and Susan are not going to be drowned in a sink (interesting, this scene is even more tense considering the similarity to the death of the Tenth Doctor in Turn Left, indicating the Doctor and Susan wouldn't have been able to regenerate to survive it - not terrible relevant but an interesting aside I thought). but the journey of how they get out of it is, as always, where the meat of the story lies. For instance, the Doctor and Susan escape by climbing into the overflow pipe - neat, right? It's a solution that plays into the absurdity of the premise, yet makes the audience feel like a fucking idiot for not thinking of that (but in a good way of course).
Other perils faced by the TARDIS crew a bit less dramatic - Ian being whisked away in a briefcase or the Doctor and Susan climbing the drainpipe - these are not overwhelmingly dramatic moments and serve other purposes, such as the create new obstacles or intrigue, or in the latter case, a bit of comedy, as the Doctor struggles to keep up with Susan in climbing up the pipe. I've always thought that William Hartnell's skills as a comedic actor are underrated and this is a good example of what I mean. Additionally, the intersecting with the secondary plot is done well, so that the spirit of adventure is carried through despite the more serious stuff in the larger world. The actions above provide provide clues to mysteries, the catalyst for adventures and action sequences, such as with the phone in episode 3. But I'll touch on that a bit more when I look at the second plot.
The second reason this plot works is that is it taken as a good chance to do some character work and this is all great stuff. Remember, the Doctor hadn't really been the protagonist of his own show in the first season, instead being the grumpy eccentric maybe-alien with Ian and Barbara as the heroes. This did shift throughout Season 1 and the opening minutes of this story reflect that shift - he starts of being as he was in An Unearthly Child, being grumpy and impatient with Ian and Barbara, not explaining anything to them and generally treating them like nuisances he initially thought they were. However, he quickly realises he's being an arse and mellows out, explaining the situation to them and then generally treating them with respect throughout the rest of the story, explaining things to them and even listening to their ideas and theories. It feels like their relationship was developed from the beginning - yeah, he still calls Ian 'Chatterton' and acts all exasperated and impatient with them, his quirks are still there, but that's all they are. This story is a fantastic showpiece of why the relationship between the Doctor and the schoolteachers works so well, and I must say that character development like this is to me a good reason why the show survive and prospered as it did. Yeah, yeah, the Daleks are the real reasons, but even with them, had Doctor Who just jumped from story to story without bothering to create those core characters and relationships to be invested in, I'm not sure we'd be awaiting Season 40 as we currently are. (You should also all be glad of my self-restraint that I didn't use this opportunity to rant about how NuWho has spent nearly two decades getting this disastrously wrong like I could well have done.)
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| My god! It's a big front projection of a man! |
Ian and Barbara by themselves have also evolved of course, going from the sceptical schoolteachers to being just as happy to jump into the adventure - throughout the story they feel like they're complementing the Doctor (as in adding to what he's doing, not telling him what they like about him) and helping him out. For much of its length, the Doctor/Susan and Ian/Barbara divide is maintained, which is used here to demonstrate that the schoolteachers have become capable enough to work things out on their own terms and reach the same conclusion as the Doctor, but also make mistakes that reinforce the dangerous nature of TARDIS travel and that they are still mostly strangers to the world of it. Barbara's poisoning by rummaging through the bowl of food covered in the deadly insecticide is a moment of idiocy, no doubt, but I like it nonetheless because she quickly recognises her fuck up and acts, well, like a normal human being, by being terrified and ashamed yet unwilling to lumber it on her friends. Contrast it with NuWho, where your Roses and Claras constantly put themselves and others in danger for stupid reason, yet never have to demonstrate that they recognise their own failures and feel any guilty about it, and get to end the episodes as insufferably smug and arrogant as they started it. Barbara's position in this story also provides a sense of danger and an impetus for the characters - obviously, as I've previously stated, Barbara was not going to die, but it managed to feel weighty despite that - we're hardly talking Androzani levels here, but adding a ticking clock and real consequences helps keep the story's finale, which on the face of it is very silly, tense and exciting. This is a plotline that I feel the edit down to 3 episodes probably helped, as Barbara gets poisoned during episode 2, and it being dragged out through 2 full episodes may have hurt it. Just speculation as I said, but worth bearing in mind.
I do have one minor niggle with this storyline, it's that both the setup and resolution don't quite make sense. In the setup, Barbara gets poisoned because of the size of an inch poisons that wouldn't usually harm humans at low quantities do, fair enough, that makes sense. What doesn't is that shortly afterwards, a fly lands on the same food pile and dies instantly. So why is there a ticking clock for Barbara? Surely if the poor fly is killed instantly, it should kill her instantly as well. I mean, I get why the fly must die (heh) in story terms, to demonstrate why the situation is serious for Barbara and perhaps its the case that the insecticide is more deadly for insects than shrunken people (its rather in the name I suppose) but if that's the case I don't think its explained adequately. Or at all. As for the solution, well the idea is that getting Barbara back to normal size will mean she hasn't come into contact with enough poison anymore - obviously at human size, enough to kill a fly isn't enough anymore. But, surely if everything in the TARDIS is being put up to normal size, then surely the amount of poison would grow at the same rate, thus creating enough to pose a danger to humans? I mean if its in her blood stream, why do these molecules stay small but everything else doesn't? I'm aware I'm trying to project scientific logic onto the 'people shrink' episode, but it does feel like a bit of a cheap, rushed ending, which is unfortunate given how well the story did in maintaining the tension levels beforehand.
It's also probably best to touch on a few other issues I have with the story. There aren't many of them but they're worth mentioning. Firstly, Susan sadly doesn't get the same quality of character work as the other three regulars. Unsurprising, given they were about to write her out, but it does mean she unfortunately feels like a bit of a passenger for most of the story. Additionally, I think its fair to say Carole Ann Ford had her on days and off days back then, and this is unfortunately one of her off days. She's no awful or anything, we're not even close to Adric levels, never mind Rose or Clara levels, it just means she feels like she's kind of just... there, which isn't much to commend. Secondly, there are a few awkward moments in the story that don't quite work - the episode 1 cliffhanger for instance, where they are menaced by a cat. We're expected to believe that this enormous cat, which to them is the size of a large building, just snuck on them without them noticing, and that the solution is just to stand still and hope the cat won't notice. I must confess I'm not a professor of feline psychology but that seems fairly flimsy to me. It doesn't work at all, in contrast to much of the peril our heroes face as a result of their size, honestly mostly because it just feels like an 'oh shit we need a cliffhanger' peril which rarely work out very well. I'm also not an enormous fan of the political stuff from this story - it's hardly Malcolm Hulke but it's there - mainly because it feels a bit ill-thought out. The issue is of insecticides and damage to nature caused by such types of pest control but the issue is that it's not given any kind of nuance or development. I mean, the very obvious counterargument is that insecticides and other pest controls are necessary to protect food supplies, disruption to which can cause much human suffering. It's so obviously that the story does include it - the scientist behind the insecticide, Smithers, outright states it, but its effectiveness is blunted when coming from a bit of a loon who's an accessory to murder. Sure, Smithers is torn up about it, but its clear in the story that he's meant to be in the wrong overall. So, the story is coming down in favour of one side and only providing lip service to the other - not doing well so far. Now I don't necessarily mind that its taking the anti-insecticide position, its a valid one to take, it's just that not properly exploring the counterarguments is lazy and the sign of someone preaching, not thinking. You'd never have caught Hulke, hardly an unideological person, doing that. I wouldn't even have minded if it took a Hulke-esque 'actually hunger is capitalisms fault so we don't need insecticides' story because at least it would have been examining the nuances of the issue rather than just glossing over it. I mean, fuck, there's always the possibility I'm being harsh and expecting too much out of the 'TARDIS crew shrinks' story and as I've made clear I do like this story do it hardly kills it, but it feels like a step short of what it should have been.
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| The Cat of Judgement judges upon you! |
Anyway, this feels like a fairly natural segway into the secondary plot, which does have its ups and downs. The centre of it is an evil businessman who wants to use the insecticide to make mad big bucks. Or big quids as we're British. As his actual name is extraordinarily generic, and he's a money obsessed villain with a sidekick called Smithers, I shall be calling him Mr Burns for the duration of this review. Anyway, Mr Burns shoots the civil servant who tells him his insecticide is too dangerous and the rest of the story is his attempt to cover that up and make sure he gets his dosh. If this sounds like a generic villain in a pretty generic villain plot, well, that's because it is, and the travails of Smithers as he wrestles with his conscience isn't that much more impressive, especially as it's where much of the political stuff falters as mentioned. It does work overall though, for a few reasons. Firstly, the way it connects with the main plot is brilliantly executed through clever writing and editing. Alright, the stuff with the phone in episode 3 is a bit silly, but much of it is brilliant. For instance, the end of episode 2 when the Doctor and Susan are about to be drowned in the sink - obviously, there needs to be a reason in the normal sized world for this peril in the miniature one to be created and it's made to be because Smithers needs to wash his hands. Sounds obvious and a bit silly, but then also consider how it's crafted so that the events in both worlds naturally lead to that. It doesn't sound like much but it helps keep the two stories connected and makes the overall world the story is taking place in feel more organic. Equally, the stuff with the phone is silly, but it is instrumental in Mr Burns being foiled, as the conveniently paired phone operator and policeman can realise he isn't the civil servant and get over there in time. Speaking of which, Mr Burns gets foiled because he decides to impersonate the civil servant but his voice obviously being different was recognised. This sounds like nothing much, but the idea of his villain mistake being something simple yet obvious actually works really well, especially because, well, if this was NuWho the voice difference either would have been the subject of a really awful joke or ignored altogether. The second thing I like about this plot is how it transitions with with the main one in an editing sense. This is further to the first point but I feel merits mentioning separately as I just love how its done. It would have been so easy just to cut from one to the other scene by scene, but instead two interact when they cut - either something is about to happen in the normal sized plot and then cuts to it happening it happening but from the TARDIS' crews' point of view, or vice versa, the TARDIS crew see something happening which we then cut to the aftermath of. It once again doesn't sound like much, but it's a nice way of making the stories feel organically connected and prevents either one feeling tacked on overall. Finally, I think it's worth mentioning that this plot, whatever its problems, was absolutely necessary. All the stakes, drama, tension, whatever, come from the presence of this plot, without which the story would just be 'Doctor and companions are small and climb over stuff'. It's the driving force of everything that happens, which makes all the ways its connected feel even more organic. The secondary plot is the weaker of the two in isolation, but it has its moments and is absolutely necessary to make the story work.
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| Chief Wiggum makes his arrest |
On a final note, I'd like to talk about one of the best things about this story, the production design. Now, let me be clear, it is very much a product of its time, but hey, the whole of Classic Who is a product of its time, its priced into the experience. For it's time, its pretty damn great - one simply need compare it to the tackiness of The Web Planet a few stories later to see what could have been. It mostly looks great, especially because of how obvious the care and attention put in is. As I said earlier, they could have easily half arsed this because its the stupid 'shrinking' story, but they didn't, and the visual environment of the piece is much better for it. I won't dwell on this too much, hopefully some of the images portray what I mean.
So, what of Planet of Giants overall? Well, it's hardly high art, even by Doctor Who standards, the premise is very dumb and the script is far from faultless. Yet it manages to be enjoyable despite that. Now I've talked about the character work, the editing, the great balance between serious and silly and despite all that, honestly, the main thing I like is that it's just a fun ride. It's what I love about Classic Who, that even in stories that mostly nothing special like this I can sit back and enjoy some inventive plotting and characters I like interacting with a unique work without wanting to crawl under a rock and die from the cringe which I'm pretty certain I would want to do if this was a NuWho story. So while there's much I appreciate about this one, I mostly just enjoy it, and you know what? That's fine. And to return to the question (sort of) posed at the start, does this deserve to be recognised as more of a milestone? Eh, probably not. It's probably right that The Dalek Invasion of Earth is seen as the most important story towards the start of Season 2. But not everything needs to be a milestone, sometimes its alright to be a small fish in a big pond. That's what Planet of Giants is, but its no less welcome because of that.
Final Score: 6/10. I debated between a 5 and a 6 but eventually settled on the higher score - its' perfect balance of seriousness and the obvious effort that went into it elevate it slightly about Classic Who's average. As I said, not high art but not everything needs to be.
Next Episode: Planet of the Daleks
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