Planet Of Evil
daveyboy7472
Posts: 16,404 Forum Member
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I really like this story. It's as different from the tedious Earthbound stories as you can get and it's so way out there, quite literally. The atmosphere is effective and the jungle set and creepy setting really does make you believe you are at the far end of the Galaxy. I also adore Dudley Simpson's Incidental score for this story, it was truly amazing.
What I find most fascinating about Planet Of Evil is Tom Baker's performance. Outside of Season 18, it's probably the most subdued one humour-wise, with the wise cracking at an absolute minimum. And I think that was a good thing as the Doctor's more sombre side matched the mood of the story completely.
What's even better is that it is Sarah who seems to come up with a lot of the idea's, such as suggesting the window may be opened in Part 1 due to the power drain so they can effect their escape. (And this is also the story where she begins to look seriously hot!:D)
What I also love about this story is the unseen menace, something lurking in the shadows, a killer on the loose and the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of Professor Sorenson, played superbly by Frederick Jaeger. I love the monster he became, which while scary was actually quite funny as well!
The antimatter monster and the ease it can quickly dehydrate the body makes for disturbing viewing as well. Also what makes this story is the infighting between Salmar and Kerensky. This comes to a head in the last episode which I found on first viewing was both exciting and gripping and only really lets up in the last few minutes.
And lastly, we get to see the Console Room in the Fourth Doctor's Era! Shame it took so long, should have happened way before now.
Anyway, a great story for me, topped only in this Season by the story that followed.
What I find most fascinating about Planet Of Evil is Tom Baker's performance. Outside of Season 18, it's probably the most subdued one humour-wise, with the wise cracking at an absolute minimum. And I think that was a good thing as the Doctor's more sombre side matched the mood of the story completely.
What's even better is that it is Sarah who seems to come up with a lot of the idea's, such as suggesting the window may be opened in Part 1 due to the power drain so they can effect their escape. (And this is also the story where she begins to look seriously hot!:D)
What I also love about this story is the unseen menace, something lurking in the shadows, a killer on the loose and the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of Professor Sorenson, played superbly by Frederick Jaeger. I love the monster he became, which while scary was actually quite funny as well!
The antimatter monster and the ease it can quickly dehydrate the body makes for disturbing viewing as well. Also what makes this story is the infighting between Salmar and Kerensky. This comes to a head in the last episode which I found on first viewing was both exciting and gripping and only really lets up in the last few minutes.
And lastly, we get to see the Console Room in the Fourth Doctor's Era! Shame it took so long, should have happened way before now.
Anyway, a great story for me, topped only in this Season by the story that followed.
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It is a good setting, production values are good. The scenes involving Sorenson and his changing are really effective. The real Hinchcliffe era horror is kicking in at this point. Not bad all round, just popping onto Youtube to find a clip of this with Sarah Jane in
And oh to see the interior of the Tardis again! Must be the first time since.......before Pertwees 'Planet of the Spiders' at least!
I think the anti-matter creature is very effective - certainly as good as you were ever going to get on the budget. Sorenson is also very good. And the cliffhanger where the Doctor falls into the pit was one of the best. I remember seeing it as a child and, while I was sure he wouldn't die, I couldn't see how he could get out of this one!
A good, strong story, perhaps a bit over-long at times, but very watchable.
On the minus side - whilst the jungle set looks convincing, the spaceship just looks cheap, and the whole 'Jekyll and Hyde' thing feels a bit superfluous.
But an interesting storyline idea - elements of which found their way into Nu-Who in the episode '42'.
I meant to mention that at the beginning. There's a few Hinchcliffe Era rip-offs in New Who. I said about the Zygon Self-Destruct thing in Family Of Blood the other day. You just mentioned this and Voyage Of The Damned was one huge rip-off of The Robots Of Death.
Perhaps "homage" would be a more generous term than "rip-off"...;)
Not so much with Voyage Of the Damned as for me it was too much like The Robots Of Death in places, but maybe you're right on the other two.
I watched Planet of Evil again recently and loved it all over again.
As an eight year old it terrified me back in 1975, being quite simply one of the scariest Doctor Whos I'd ever seen. The anti-matter monster, all fiery outlines and hideous death rattle was one thing, but Sorenson's various anti-matter duplicates in the last episode were truly frightening. And the transformations with the trembling hands, the anti-matter changing colour in the tins and the eyes suddenly flaring red were spooky beyond belief. All these images remained in my mind after so many years.
Of course these days some of the above isn't quite as scary, but even watching it last weekend I still felt a thrill and a chill as the monster appeared in the jungle, and was totally swept along with the story. Yes the spaceship set is one of the dullest ever created for Doctor Who, as presumably the money had been blown on the amazing jungle set. But what a set that is! Both the studio version and the Ealing version are astoundingly good. Beautifully lit too, with imaginative use of colour, and really well filmed. I believe that for many years incoming set designers were referred to this jungle set as being something to aspire to on a BBC budget.
And, barring the unfortunate casting of Prentis Hancock (how did this man keep getting roles, he overacts and hams in everything I've ever seen him in) the cast is terrific - even the minor roles (I like the realistically grumbling crewmembers). Ewen Solon is great as the grizzled old captain Vishinsky and Frederick Jaeger's Sorenson is totally believable as a misguided, but not really evil, scientist. The Doctor's speech about scientists taking total responsibility for their actions is strong stuff, and Baker delivers the goods completely. As has been pointed out above there's little humour in this story, but what there is comes from the lovely relationship between Sarah and the Doctor, lots of little quips that Liz and Tom deliver so well, really showing how comfortable they were sparking off each other.
And every episode has a terrific, and unforced, cliffhanger - the first appearance of the anti-matter monster, the genuine shock of the Doctor falling into the Black Pool, and finally the Doctor and Sarah being ejected into space (although the resolution of this made it look like it took simply ages for the coffin trays to move, thus allowing them to be freed).
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) that one of my top childhood favourites stood up incredibly well today. Intelligently written, generally well acted, decent effects, pretty horrific corpses, superb jungle set, Tom and Liz on absolutely top form. What more do you want?
I don't know if you have the DVD, but if so then listen to Tom and Liz talk about the episodes in a voice over... I found it really quaint when they both agreed that they used to 'love those years'..... I did too Tom and Liz...
I haven't listened to their commentary - I will now! Thanks for the pointer.
I agree with them, and you - I love those years too. It may well be because I was precisely the right age to be impressed by it, but in my opinion Tom's first three seasons were the pinnacle of Classic Who.
Yes it's a retelling of Jekyll and Hyde, yes the space ship is a bit drab, but the cliffhangers are some of the best ever (I can still remember as a 9 year old kid fretting about how the Doctor and Sarah could possibly escape from those ejection boxes), and the overall "feel" of the episode is first rate.
I personally don't think the show will ever recreate the high standards and consistency that was evident in Who at that time, even the 'bad' episodes were good if you know what I mean, and they will always have a place in my heart as they played such a huge part in my childhood years.
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