The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit

Newcomer Matt Jones has contributed essentially one of the most solid scripts in new Who to date. Chiefly because this is fairly unpretentious stuff, offering little that it canВ’t deliver, though it is debatable whether the second episode delivers what is so accomplishedly promised in the superior first episode.

The premise of the story is tempered with a new generation of audience in mind, suggesting, rather arrogantly, that this is the most challenging scenario the Doctor has faced in his several incarnations yet. That is to say, an В‘impossible planetВ’. But of course older fans will recall, for instance, the equally В‘impossibleВ’ nature of Zeta Minor, the last planet in the known universe which harboured a portal into the universe of anti-matter, in Season ThirteenВ’s definitive В‘gothic sci-fiВ’ story, Planet of Evil, the story from which Matt Jones has borrowed the most of his own storyВ’s ingredients. Ironically, recalling the unusually stunning sets of the eerie world of Zeta Minor, shot largely on film at Ealing Film Studios, JonesВ’s modern offering on similar themes is even to some extent visually ghosted by its Louis Marks-penned predecessor of almost exactly thirty years back. However, the cavernous location filming in the В‘pitВ’ in JonesВ’s offering, is admittedly about as filmic and 2001: A Space Odyssey as the series has ever looked В– certainly a world away from Planet of EvilВ’s video-shot anti-matter pit set. But essentially, has that much really changed in thirty years when one compares Planet of Evil and The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit?

Essentially this latest new Who offering is both one of the best-written stories since new Who returned last year, as well as being one of the most obviously lifted from the former triumphs of the classic series. We have ingredients from Robots of Death with a group of isolated humans being turned-on by their own В‘slavesВ’ (i.e. the Vocs in Robots and the Ood in Impossible Planet), the Ood also being expertly voiced in an uncannily similar soothing tone to both the Vocs and the Clockwork Robots in Girl in the Fireplace В– beautifully done. We have another manifestation of the Devil, aka Azal, aka Sutekh, and so on, now manifested somewhat anonymously В– so this harks back to The Daemons (also alluded to in this story) and of course Pyramids of Mars, with, coincidentally, the incomparable Gabriel Wolf voicing what is basically another version of Sutekh once again. There is also a striking similarity between this modern Satanic manifestation and the В– admittedly completely botched one В– of the Great Vampire in State of Decay, who is also imprisoned beneath a planet; whoВ’s to say this isnВ’t one of that giant number, formerly thought destroyed by the Timelords? But, as previously cited, Planet of Evil is JonesВ’s most obvious inspiration for Impossible/Satan: both stories have an В‘impossibleВ’ planet at the edge of the known universe, one the gateway to anti-matter, one orbiting a black hole; both harbour a pernicious and indestructible power force and almost magnetic imprisoning of their human visitors; and both feature possessions and transmogrifications of one of these human visitors into something symbiotically a part of the planet they are trapped on (i.e. Sorenson and the mundanely named Toby). And of course both stories are quite blatantly inspired by the cult Fifties film Forbidden Planet, which is where presumably Jones got his own title.

So basically what we get from Jones is a fairly derivative plot, but it is in the details of this plot and the scriptural elements (i.e. allusions, dialogue, back stories etc.) and characterizations that his new Who offering really comes into its own. All the characters are excellently scripted and acted, and with the compliment of the beautifully designed and voiced Ood servants (stupid name but excellent concept: a bipedal В‘herdВ’ species, rather like cows, with superbly realised blinking eyes and what look like Turkish pipes as translators В– their В‘telepathyВ’ and how it is measured being very well thought out), colour a scenario strongly reminiscent of Chris BoucherВ’s classic Robots of Death. These are, at last, characters one can to some extent engage and empathise with, to the point that one very nearly cares what happens to some of them; the casting had a lot to do with this, some good solid actors for a change.

Ironically, during the first episode, I tended to feel the only characters which were annoying me were the Doctor and Rose themselves, who seemed to trip into the grim scenario fairly smugly to be greeted by a bunch of rather subdued and moody protagonists who were quite clearly taken aback by the intrudersВ’ pretensions to amiability В– cue the cringe-inducing and meaningless hug that the Doctor offers the Captain. What on Earth, or off it, was that all about? The forced В‘zaninessВ’ and overly emphatic manic В‘energyВ’ of the Tenth Doctor can often be grating and slightly embarrassing, making Tenant resemble a hybrid of Jarvis Cocker and Kenneth Williams, but thankfully the В‘zaninessВ’ is fairly muted for the rest of this two-parter, and Tenant puts in his best performance to date as the Doctor: not too omnipotent for a change, a little feckless, and prone to philosophical digressions on the ontology of his adversary, a welcome relief from his ubiquitous allusions to popular culture which litter and deflate many other episodes В– as a friend pointed out to me the other day, the В‘KylieВ’ and В‘WalfordВ’ style quips would be perfectly apt from the mouth of Rose, someone grounded in that very culture, but coming from the Doctor it is simply absurd, puerile, pointless and basically down to abysmal scripting and characterization. The Doctor should be a figure we look up to both morally and intellectually В– I canВ’t look up to anyone who quotes Kylie lyrics and alludes to EastEnders. And what was the point in the Walford reference anyway, when it was barely audible due to The Doctor irrelevantly blurting it out from inside a space helmet? This is simply slack writing. However, Tenant, as I said, certainly pulled off his most convincing performance to date, and seemed to be directly mimicking the mannerisms and delivery of his iconic predecessor Tom Baker when confronting the demon in the pit. Even though what we get is a much less compelling pastiche of the Fourth Doctor, Tenant is at last given an opportunity with a pretty straight and substantial script, to put in a convincing performance В– ranking equally to his refreshingly accented portrayal in Tooth and Claw В–, blissfully unhampered by the growingly tiresome Rose.

Which brings me on to some of the criticisms for this story. As previously mentioned, the highly nauseating smugness of the Doctor and Rose as they first meet the humans. The DoctorВ’s completely stupid hugging of the Captain and his equally fatuous and geeky back-of-the-throat chortles afterwards, rather like that goggle-eyed eldest son from My Family. RoseВ’s dim-witted remark about the black hole funnel being В‘like a rollercoaster?В’ В– the sort of line occasionally force-fed to poor Sophie Aldred in some of the worst scripted McCoyВ’s; and the inevitable scene when, faced with being stranded forever on the planet (remember Frontios? no doubt one of this storyВ’s other influences), Rose proposes sharing a mortgage with a thankfully awkward-looking Doctor, who seems to gladly greet this prospect with the same sort of horror that the classic series Doctors would show at the prospect of residing back on Gallifrey. Thank God, at least, for this subtle re-emphasis of a cosmic hobo who wonВ’t be tied down to anything other than the TARDIS. But the greatest irritants of this otherwise accomplished script, are the DoctorВ’s constant commentaries and eulogies on the intrepid spirit of the human race; yes, admittedly we appear to be a contrast to the home-loving Timelords, but come on, thereВ’s also the couch-potato side to Earthlings as exemplified in the cloying Jackie. No doubt Jones was attempting to pull off a similar monologue from the Doctor to Tom BakerВ’s in The Ark in Space В– but IВ’m afraid thereВ’s no comparison: on this level Jones could not compete with the Fourth DoctorВ’s classic speech on the В‘indomitableВ’ spirit of the human race which, as we may recall, was not meant to be particularly flattering, but awe-struck, horrified and sardonic all at the same time. While the Third and Fifth Doctors might have often eulogised about Earth being their favourite planet (though Pertwee was frequently attempting to escape it in the TARDIS), the Fourth and Seventh Doctors were noticeably more misanthropic, and this was something I always liked about those incarnations. Sadly RTDВ’s obsessive terrestrialization of Doctor Who seems constantly intent on emphasizing the DoctorВ’s sentimental bond with Earth via frequent speeches paying tribute to its inhabitants (the worst example being the Ninth DoctorВ’s ludicrously parochial eulogy about the British in World War II, only just saved by a refreshingly political tribute to the Welfare State).

Other criticisms I have are related to the storyВ’s overly Geiger/Ridley Scott-esque visuals, and in particular the blatant Aliens rip-off of the Ood going through the tunnel sequence which takes up a sizeable chunk of episode two. Satan Pit was for me a bit of a come down from the promise of episode one, but it was still pretty good in its own right, if a little too action-based.

But back on a more positive note, Gabriel Wolf put in another inimitably chilling vocal performance as the Devil; not quite on a par with the В‘abase yourself you grovelling inse-e-ectВ’ lines of Sutekh, but not far off. The scene in which he warns Toby not to turn round and look at him as it will kill him is one of the most genuinely disturbing scenes ever done in the series. Excellently directed. As is the scene in which the girl spies the possessed Toby through the glass of the base to her imminent peril as he turns round to flash his red eyes at her and smash the glass by clenching his fist in its direction, to the strains of string and wood instruments that have a menacing Celtic arc to them В– brilliantly shot by director James Strong. Other scene highlights in terms of script and direction are those as the Ood rise up possessed chanting В‘I am the fear, the doubt, the obsession, the temptationВ…В’ and so on. I was also greatly relieved to find that this storyВ’s chosen В‘musical insertВ’ was a beautifully incongruous but atmospherically compatible choice of RavelВ’s Bolero; a lovely and classy touch to shots of the Ood going about their menial work. Very well chosen.

Overall this story is for me the most successful and well-produced of the new Who cannon since Dalek, to which it comes a close second in my opinion (followed closely by Tooth and Claw, Unquiet Dead, FatherВ’s Day and the Girl in the Fireplace). Well done all round В– bar the still seemingly inevitable scriptural lapses between the Doctor and Rose.

8/10