Doctor Who 28.8 The Impossible Planet

Mustrum_Ridcully · Jun 5, 2006

sniffles said:
I was hoping he'd do something like that!!

I thought this was the best episode so far, perhaps tied with "The Girl in the Fireplace".
Classic Doctor Who - a mystery, a scary BBEG, and it's been a long time since we've had an 'oh no we've lost the TARDIS' moment.

It might also explain why the TARDIS malfunction in "Attack of the Cybermen" was quickly resolved - they might have known that they would do this again, and didn't want to become too repetitive.

The biblical overtones are probably very obviously another fake-out, and I'm looking forward to seeing the real story here. Can't wait for next week's installment!

I wouldn't be surprised if they were at least "partially" true.
Some theories that don't have to make sense:
1) The Asteroid/Planet was built to contain something (maybe "The Beast", maybe just "a beast"). Therefore it was placed around the black hole. They (whoever they are) didn't want to destroy it. But if there was an actual risk of it escaping, the planets security system would disable the antigrav field and the planet would crush into the black hole.

2) It's the TARDIS. It is currently trying to translate the text (which might indeed hold horrible details), but this leads to some very unfortunate and dangerous side effects.
The archeologist was affected because the TARIDS tried to get the information he has gathered so far. It is using the slave race to telepathically expand its computing power and figure the language out.
Still leaves the question what actually is on the planet..

Hawklord · Jun 5, 2006

Interestingly, according to a review on AICN:

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=23497

Gabriel Woolfe, the actor who voiced "The Beast" also did the voice of Sutekh in the classic "Pyramids of Mars" Tom Baker story....The Fourth Doctor also states that Sutekh has been known by many aliases, including Satan.

I wonder ....?

cheers

sniffles · Jun 5, 2006

Hawklord said:
Interestingly, according to a review on AICN:

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=23497

Gabriel Woolfe, the actor who voiced "The Beast" also did the voice of Sutekh in the classic "Pyramids of Mars" Tom Baker story....The Fourth Doctor also states that Sutekh has been known by many aliases, including Satan.

I wonder ....?

cheers

Oh, my!! That would be a very interesting development!! I hadn't even thought of it, and I just rewatched 'The Pyramids of Mars' a couple of weeks ago. :uhoh:

Huw · Jun 5, 2006

Did anyone else notice the "Doom door opening" sound effects?

Staffan · Jun 5, 2006

Yes. I commented on them in another forum, but not here.

Hawklord · Jun 5, 2006

sniffles said:
Oh, my!! That would be a very interesting development!! I hadn't even thought of it, and I just rewatched 'The Pyramids of Mars' a couple of weeks ago.

I doubt it's any more than an in-joke by the Producers, but it would be cool if they threw in a few more links back to the old stories...

Felon · Jun 5, 2006

Hawklord said:
Interestingly, according to a review on AICN:

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=23497

Gabriel Woolfe, the actor who voiced "The Beast" also did the voice of Sutekh in the classic "Pyramids of Mars" Tom Baker story....The Fourth Doctor also states that Sutekh has been known by many aliases, including Satan. I wonder ....?

Heh, I was actually thinking along those very same lines myself (I just recently Netlixed "Pyramids of Mars", and the color in the video is wonderfully preserved/enhanced). Of course, Sutekh is destroyed utterly at the end of PoM, with the Doctor mentioning that Sutekh's lifespan was 7000 years (which actually seems kind of short for a being that required thousands of gods to oppose).

This ep seems like an homage to stories like that. Notice that when Satan possessed whatsisname, the make-up consisted of some red contacts and some doodling with a black magic marker. Very old school.

Abe.ebA · Jun 8, 2006

Felon said:
Notice that when Satan possessed whatsisname, the make-up consisted of some red contacts and some doodling with a black magic marker. Very old school.

I thought the simple makeup was a lot more effective than a bunch of rubbery prosthesis or whatnot would have been. Particularly the scene where the posessed guy (was his name Will, maybe?) was out on the surface in hard vacuum felt very sinister and unearthly. Seeing an alienized thing wouldn't have captured the same atmosphere, I don't think. The whole episode felt very future-punk Lovecraftian to me. Horrid writing, sights that drove men to madness, a thing which should not be, tentacled cultists...

Definitely has the potential to be my favorite story arc of the season so far, depending how part 2 pans out. Could even rank itself up with the empty child/doctor dances and finale arcs from last season. I'm hoping that whatever is in the pit isn't a cheap twist or something that they wrap up neatly before heading off on their way. It seems like a perfect opportunity to introduce a new long-range nemesis to carry through the rest of the season or even on into future seasons.

I noticed Maxwell's equations for waves in a medium scrawled on the table in the galley where the Doctor and Rose were sitting. Did anyone catch what the other set of equations were or what the line of text graffiti on the same table were? And I wonder why they used the equations in a medium rather than the equations near a black hole. Also, during most of the shots of the outdoors the soundtrack went to a vaguely westerny-classical-ish tune. An homage to Firefly, or am I the only one who had that particular connection spring to mind?

sniffles · Jun 8, 2006

Abe.ebA said:
I thought the simple makeup was a lot more effective than a bunch of rubbery prosthesis or whatnot would have been. Particularly the scene where the posessed guy (was his name Will, maybe?) was out on the surface in hard vacuum felt very sinister and unearthly. Seeing an alienized thing wouldn't have captured the same atmosphere, I don't think. The whole episode felt very future-punk Lovecraftian to me. Horrid writing, sights that drove men to madness, a thing which should not be, tentacled cultists...

Definitely has the potential to be my favorite story arc of the season so far, depending how part 2 pans out. Could even rank itself up with the empty child/doctor dances and finale arcs from last season. I'm hoping that whatever is in the pit isn't a cheap twist or something that they wrap up neatly before heading off on their way. It seems like a perfect opportunity to introduce a new long-range nemesis to carry through the rest of the season or even on into future seasons.

I noticed Maxwell's equations for waves in a medium scrawled on the table in the galley where the Doctor and Rose were sitting. Did anyone catch what the other set of equations were or what the line of text graffiti on the same table were? And I wonder why they used the equations in a medium rather than the equations near a black hole. Also, during most of the shots of the outdoors the soundtrack went to a vaguely westerny-classical-ish tune. An homage to Firefly, or am I the only one who had that particular connection spring to mind?

The possessed guy was Toby.

I agree about the music - it immediately reminded me of Firefly. I wonder if that was intentional?

Doctor Who 28.8 The Impossible Planet

Mustrum_Ridcully

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Hawklord

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sniffles

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Huw

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Staffan

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Hawklord

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Felon

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Abe.ebA

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sniffles

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