The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit

I have to put my hands up and admit that I wasnВ’t expecting much from this one. Yes, I was very keen to see what the new series made of its first out-and-out alien world В– even though New Earth was in a whole different galaxy, the very fact that it was В‘new EarthВ’ didnВ’t make it feel all that alien, did it?

But somewhere along the line this kept getting compared by Russell T Davies to the western genre В– pioneers making their brave new way in hostile territory, that sort of thing. I think I probably took his comments a little more literally than they were intended, but neither the idea of this bleak, miserable planet nor comparisons to westerns В– a genre that usually bores me to tears В– did anything for me. So I had this chalked down as В‘one not to get too excited aboutВ’, although of course itВ’s all relative В– an episode of Doctor Who is never anything less than very watchable, even when the show is at its worst.

Of course, I was completely wrong about the whole thing anyway В– this two-parter is absolutely wonderful, and easily my favourite story of the second series bar the perfect Girl in the Fireplace. ItВ’s very different in style to MoffatВ’s effort, however В– whereas that excelled because of the emotional resonance and the cleverness of the story, The Satan Pit (as I shall refer to the two-parter) gets by more on action-adventure and oodles of atmosphere.

In fact, there were only a few bits and pieces across the two episodes that I really didnВ’t like, so letВ’s get them out of the way first before they spoil things. The opening of the first episode В– now this is a debatable one. Is the false threat of the Ood funny and clever because it takes advantage of our expectations that they should be a threat and then subverts them (for now), poking fun at the showВ’s format? Or is it a pretty poor excuse for a forced cliffhanger, as if the production team realised they needed a bit of excitement to crash into the opening titles on rather unsubtly crow-bared this one into the plot?

I lean towards the latter myself, and I didnВ’t like it, but mercifully itВ’s out of the way quickly enough, and from here on in thereВ’s little to dislike. The Doctor hugging Zach, the similarity between the deaths of Scooti and Lynda-with-a-Y from last year with the cracking glass and the nasty death in spaceВ… Personal reactions that are probably more down to your own individual opinion than anything wrong with the episode as such.

ThereВ’s little that writer Matt Jones or director James Strong can be said to have done wrong here, and both make very favourable impressions on their first outings for the series. Given that this was shot last and thus had the shortest timescale between production and transmission, itВ’s perhaps impressive that the episodes look as good as they do. ThereВ’s only one real visual weakness that springs to mind В– again, ScootiВ’s death, as her lifeless body floats through space. Shooting this underwater was a clever idea and probably worth a go, but the overall effect looks a bit cheap and sadly just doesnВ’t come off. But if Doctor Who is nothing else itВ’s a show where new production techniques and ideas have been tried out, so I applaud them for having given it a go.

The look of the sets and the whole design elsewhere is pretty gorgeous. The Sanctuary Base looks a bit familiar perhaps from a million and one Hollywood sci-fi movies, but it more than competes and stands up to such comparisons. The whole thing looks like a big budget version of the industrial zone from The Crystal Maze, and itВ’s a look that suits the edge-of-the-universe desperation of the situation very well indeed.

David TennantВ’s Doctor seems a tad brought down in terms of his usual manic persona for much of this story, which suits the situation well given that heВ’s supposed to believe heВ’s trapped on this lump of rock with no TARDIS to give him a way out В– not that you suspect deep down the Doctor would ever believe that, and we as the audience know it would never be the case. Nonetheless, the DoctorВ’s reaction to the apparent loss of his space and time ship is handled much better here than it was back in Rise of the Cybermen, although the fact that such a similar event happens twice in comparatively rapid succession could be regarded as a little unfortunate in terms of the overall planning of the series.

Tennant is particularly good in the scenes in which the Doctor ponders just what this deep, dark menace at the bottom of the pit might be, and his appreciation of and admiration for the humansВ’ spirit of adventure and desire to seek out and discover new things is also conveyed very well by the Scot. Similarly, Piper rises to the occasion when Rose is left basically marshalling the demoralised survivors of the expedition into some sort of action against the approaching Ood. Although both Piper and her character are good at this, the fact that Rose herself doesnВ’t have anything constructive to offer does highlight the fact that she can at times seem a little bit useless when it comes to practically doing anything about the situation, although she doubtless has good leadership skills.

It pretty much goes without saying these days that any Doctor Who story is going to assemble a first-rate supporting cast, such is the draw and prestige of the show, but I have to bring special attention here to the cast, especially Danny Webb. Anybody who was in the awesome Our Friends in the North has long-since attained God-like status in my eyes, and it was good to see Webb appearing in the show and putting in a fine appearance as Mr Jefferson. Also worthy of mention is Shaun Parkes as Zach, who was of course David TennantВ’s co-star in Casanova and thus it seems almost like a reunion between their two characters in that production at some points.

And then of course thereВ’s your man Gabriel Woolf. Is it Sutekh? WellВ… no, the little we do learn about the origins of В‘the BeastВ’ do seem to go against it, but who cares frankly when youВ’re getting a performance like that out of the man. Despite never appearing on screen he managed to be by far the most disturbing thing about the story, with his highlight coming in the В“DonВ’t turn around!В” scene in which he possesses poor old TobyВ’s soul.

But what was he? Or she, or it? The devil? An Osiaian? Something completely different? Unless this does all very cleverly and unexpectedly link into something weВ’re going to see at the end of the season then I donВ’t suppose we will ever know and it will forever be a mystery В– which is nice. We could do with a few fewer explanations in Doctor Who, and the dark, enigmatic shadowy nature of this devil made it by far the most intriguing enemy the Doctor has faced this series, and perhaps since the show returned last year.

No God-like evil from the dawn of time is complete without its minions, however. The Beast gets the Ood, a frankly repulsive lot and another score for the design team, although IВ’m not completely sure about the voices. While I was a little disappointed the whole idea of their slave race nature and their origins and how they fit exactly into human society wasnВ’t explored just a little more, the idea of this servants-turned-killers plot development was a good, if slightly predictable, one, and echoed The Robots of Death, as cleverer reviewers than I have long since tired of pointing out.

ThereВ’s little else I can add without repeatedly going on about how much I enjoyed the story. Another great effort by all concerned, and letВ’s hope we get a couple more trips to completely alien worlds in series three.