| THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET/THE SATAN PIT by Matt Jones |
| Story 18 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands in the far future on an isolated station, Sanctuary Base Six, run by a small group of humans, using Ood as slaves. The planet is kept in fixed orbit near a black hole - theoretically impossible. The humans are tunnelling down to Point Zero, to find the source of the energy keeping the planet in orbit. There is a storm, during which some parts of the complex are lost - including where the TARDIS was. Marooned, the Doctor and Rose pick up on weird phenomena relating to claims of an 'arising'. One crew member is killed, but Point Zero is reached. The Doctor goes down in the cage with another crew member. They find a vast cavern, and a large disc-shaped dais, which begins to open. The Ood become organised and deadly, under mysterious control. The Doctor decides to go back to the surface, but the cables snap, and they're stuck down with minimal oxygen. He decides to abseil down into the pit. Back on the base, Rose organises a way to neutralise the Ood. That done, the remaining humans pile into a rocket, and set off. The Doctor finds a gigantic chained Beast, but realises this is only its body - its mind already left in one of the humans. Rose realises this, and ejects him from the rocket. The safety controls keeping the orbit are smashed, and the Doctor finds the TARDIS. As the rocket begins to fall toward the black hole, the TARDIS appears, towing it to safety. Having got Rose back, and checked the rocket safely on its way, the Doctor leaves in the TARDIS. |
| Review:- To boldly go... into the depths of terror. Finally, the new series goes to a planet that isn't Earth, or almost Earth. But luckily, there are humans there. So, that's alright, then. It's a planet being held in orbit near a black hole. Presuming that the force holding the planet safe must be some amazing new energy they can exploit, the humans are drilling down to find it. But quicker than you can say 'honey-trap', it all goes wrong... The diabolical overtones start quickly, with a daubed message 'Welcome To Hell'. Then we get an escalation of clues, countering a series of mysteries. A language the Doctor can't decipher, and the loss of the TARDIS point up how high the stakes are. Though impressed by the humans for coming to the planet of Krop Tor, the Doctor is still wary of what they will find. The servile Ood, the strange deaths and the vocal warnings of the rise of the Beast all help the drama. When the Doctor descends to Point Zero, it seems he's making a big mistake. Then, when the Pit opens, and the Ood become possessed killers, things looks worse and worse. And so it goes on. But this is a story where the pacing works a treat. It can be thought that the big momentum in the first half is to lead to the reveal of the monster... but then come the second half, and we're still waiting. The pacing then gives us Rose and the humans struggling above ground, whilst the Doctor and Ida calmly face the inevitable down below. Even with 2/3 of the second part gone, the Doctor is still no nearer to facing the Beast. This is a triumph of writing, as the viewer would still be sure that the big action was still to come... In fact, the reveal of the Beast, arguably the best monster yet seen in the new series, is something of a sleight of hand manoeuvre. Cunningly, the body of the Beast isn't the important thing, but its mind is, and it escaped long before (probably as soon as it got into Toby). So, the Doctor is left to piece together the answers in a sudden rush of information. The human characters are all well-written and acted. Before this, I have seen old sweats like Danny Webb and Claire Rushbrook in several dramas and been bored stiff in all of them... but here, both come alive as never before. Indeed, though Will Thorp and Shaun Parkes are the nominal guest stars, none of them are really all that starry, and it does the story no end of good. Everyone is lifted, to everyone's credit. The Ood are curious monsters, perhaps shades of the Monoids in their slavery-reversed routine. Their initial appearance as a threat is rather gratuitous, but they convince enough as killers later on. Rose gets a better chance than usual. Though her tedious lines about what she and the Doctor can do now the TARDIS is gone in pt 1 are awful, she does just about convince when getting everyone's act together in pt 2. Her way of dealing with the Beast is rather silly, albeit effective. The Doctor, too, comes out well. His low point comes when eulogising on the magnificence of the humans (and sadly, his enthusiasm is not misplaced, which is rather dull). But his trip down to Point Zero, and willing reaction to the opened Pit do wonders for him. His abseil into oblivion is another great scene, and though his worthy discussions on belief lead to the rather poor pay-off of his belief in Rose, at least he is able to deduce the truth of the Beast, and how to end things. It's clearly a huge stroke of luck that he finds the TARDIS, but it still works. So, on the whole, there's little left to add. The sets, the cast, the story... all these things worked. This was the best story presented in the new series since its return, and thus the best story since... well, let's not go there :-) ADDED: I am indebted to a gentleman from Iowa who has noted that my conclusion seems rather vague. This is, of course, deliberate. Anyone reading can make their own judgement what the last high-watermark was. Or, if they want to know what I think, they can read preceding reviews, and make a guess. |
| Disclaimer: I have watched this story. |