Forget the fact it's on an actual alien world. Forget the Cthulhoid monsters in the Ood. No, what makes this episode all the more amazing is that it was written by Matt Jones, and it didn't make me want to claw my eyes out with a garden tool.

Yeah, I said it. Matt Jones' New Adventures (Bad Therapy and Beyond the Sun for those playing at home)? Overly snarky garbage with way too many fanfic agendas put into print. His TV work? Well, there I claim ignorance. But this? THIS was more like it. And of course I mean that in respect to the reason of Season 2 thus far -- only 3 episodes actually made me have a reaction one way or another. The rest so far have been, well, mediocre at best. Add a 4th now, because I enjoyed "The Impossible Planet" quite a bit, even if it did move a bit slower than I would have liked.

And yes, there were CORRIDORS, lots and lots of CORRIDORS, but it added to the claustrophobic, Alien/Outland/DOOM feel of the episode. And yes, finding Satan out in space is always going to bring comparisons to Event Horizon as well. But fuggit. Here it worked.

I LOVE THE OOD! Not just for their Cthulhu looks and matching Zoidberg demeanor. They were just...different. I liked the voice used for their translators. But what I found the most interesting about the Ood? Was the fact that the so-called "ethics" officer was the most denigrating, prejudicial, and xenophobic about the Ood.

And I also noticed how the majority of the crew on the planet were young hotties in the primes of their lives. How just like a slasher flick.

The Doctor and Rose pondering mortgages?! THE HELL?! It was a good moment tho, especially in the awkwardness of it all. I'm sure the shippers will be swooning over that bit. But I will note that the Doctor nailed it when he lost the TARDIS -- it really IS all he has left. Without it he's...what? No really, what?

And of course, cue the fanboy squees about the voice of Sutekh, Gabriel Woolf, being cast as the Beast. Sorry, but for some influence, I don't think there's any real link between this and "Pyramids of Mars." Woolf is merely performing a job of Voice Acting. There may have been fannish reasons to cast Woolf, but saying on that evidence that the Beast is Sutekh is likening Starscream to Cobra Commander just because they too shared voice actors.

Of course, "The Satan Pit" could prove me all sorts of wrong...

Wow.

I didn't even bother to submit a review last week, so underwhelmed I was by The Idiot's Lantern (not bad as such, just blah). The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit two-parter has had me intrigued since I first heard the premise, however, so I tuned in hoping to have my faith reaffirmed.

And how.

This is how you do the first part of a double-episode story. Where Aliens of London, Rise of the Cybermen and even, to some extent, Bad Wolf plodded a little around the story while clearly saving all the real meat for later, The Impossible Planet was chock-full of interesting stuff. The mysterious planet stuck beneath a black hole, the loss of the TARDIS, the mysterious Ood and their menacing messages, bizarre possession of a crew member, a touching death, a frank discussion of the possibility of the Doctor and Rose starting a life together ... there was more here than in many single-parters, all of it excellent. In many ways, it had a real New Adventures feel to it (Lucifer Rising, anyone?)

The story is the first since The Parting of the Ways to truly have an epic feel to it (as much as enjoyed The Christmas Invasion, it never felt to me like it really left a corner of London). The archeological station had a genuinely lonely, run-down feel to it, like we really were on the frontier of the universe. My only real criticism is that, like much of this season, everything was just a bit too bright and studio-looking. The effects were excellent, however, from the brooding, voracious black hole to the first truly successful use of matte backgrounds (my personal pet-peeve) in the vast core the Doctor explores towards the end of the episode.

With the right balance of suspense, character work (a welcome move forward for the Doctor/Rose dynamic which has felt a little static recently) and, wonder of wonders, genuine mystery, this was great entertainment. I really have no idea how next week's episode will pan out (I could see the events of The Age of Steel coming a mile away after the first part) and I'm desperate to find out.

Above all, though, the feeling I took away from this episode was that I couldn't believe they put this out in the timeslot. Monsters quoting verse about the DEVIL?! At 7 o'clock on a Saturday night?

A massively welcome dark change of tone for the season which will hopefully give the Tenth Doctor some much needed gravitas to play with. Tennant is wonderful, but nothing since School Reunion has given him much of a chance to play genuinely unsettled (I am still trying to blank out the ANGRY SHOUTING IN SEVERAL SCENES of The Idiot's Lantern - Mark, David, why?!!?)

After a slight downturn in quality, I'm delighted to see things back on track. If next week's conclusion is of the same quality as this episode, I could find myself with a new favourite story since the relaunch (Father's Day and Dalek are battling it out at the moment). Tennant could well have his Caves of Androzani here.

Let's see what comes out of that pit.

The Doctor and Rose step from the TARDIS, apparently drunk and giggly, for the new seriesВ’ first proper deep space adventure.

ItВ’s a big budget blockbustery cross betweenВ… well, everything really. The Alien series, Robots Of Death, Event Horizon, The Sphere, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Serenity... But why not? After last weekВ’s rather forgettable little snack, The Idiot Box, itВ’s nice to have a bit of blood-and-thunder portentous high jinx, and great to see some serious black hole action.

The effects are marvellous В– this really does feel like a mid-range Hollywood movie. Can it be the same series that brought us The Web Planet, The Arc In Space, Underworld or Delta And The Bannermen? Some might say that the Hollywood feel has no place in this quaint, parochial British TV show (like giving The Beatles state of the art synthesisers), and they might have a point. It doesnВ’t really feel like Doctor Who. But itВ’s bold, brash, and lovely to see Satan evoked on BBC1 on a Saturday teatime.

The supporting cast donВ’t have much room to breathe amongst the chaos В– and feel less clearly defined than their Robots Of Death or Alien counterparts В– but the Ood are rather sweet, and IВ’m sure will work well as marauding Satanists next week. The first twenty minutes seemed maybe a little aimless, with nothing much for anyone to do but wait for bad stuff to happen, but IВ’m looking forward to next weekВ’s handily spoilt (by the trailer) installment.

Marvellous. Planet of Evil, The Daemons, The Robots of Death, Alien, Event Horizon, Solaris say what you like about similarities with past episodes and other things but this was marvellous. I was disappointed with last weks ep but this brought us back on track with a vengeance. I liked the way that they stretched the boundaries of the usual base under siege story. Instead of the usual, 'you're strangers you must be responsible for this', it's subverted by the doc just saying to the base commander, 'you trust me don't you?' and the commander basically saying, 'yeah OK'.

The design of the Ood was great, very HP LOvecraft. Despite the comparisons made with other things I think that Lovecraft is a huge influence on this. If you haven't read 'At the Mountains of Madness' then read it because it's a great story but it's very like this. The scientists in that story found impossibly old creatures and writing in the Antarctic (which means 'without bears' incidentally so there) just like the Doctor realises that the writing is impossibly old.

The doc is left without the TARDIS in this ep and is apparently stranded, this is dramatically necessary because it adds to the claustrophobia and means he has no choice but to throw his lot in with the crew. It asn't been explained yet why an immortal entity at the edge of the cosmos would use judeo christian imagery but I suppose that we are coming up on the 6/6/6. By the way if 666 is the number of the beast then is 665.99 the recommended retail price of the beast?

I still remember watching The Planet of Evil for the first time and the cliffhanger when the monster rises out of the pit as a child and seeing the seal open in this episode reminded me of it. Oh yeah, another reference, the seal of Danthazar which the ubervamps come out of in Buffy. There's nothing wrong with borrowing from other things, it's only plaigarism if it isn't any good. Next episode please and a knighthood for Russell if Margaret Thatcher comes out of the pit.

I wish I could put my finger on what makes this episode so brilliant. I think David Tennant's run so far has been phenomenal and I really love him as the Doctor. This episode however was just incredible. I think it has to do with it being off planet for just about the first time in the entire series. Not Earth, not New New New New New Earth, not a space station revolving around Earth in the year 5,000,000,000, an entirely new planet! I love the Pertwee era of Doctor Who but since he was mostly stuck on Earth for his run, as a kid I fell in love with Doctor Who mainly because Tom Baker was my Doctor. Not just because he was such an awesome Doctor, but the worlds he visited and the adventures he had. It's been said many times before but you never knew where he would land next week. With the ninth and tenth so far you didn't know when you would show up and it was always an adventure but you had a pretty good idea it would involve Earth in some way. Granted there are Earthlings in this story but this episode takes from some very excellent previous Doctor stories most notably Ark in Space and The Daemons.

If anyone I knew was about to start watching the new series of Doctor Who this would easily be the story I would want them to see. The effects are so incredibly top notch, the actors playing the support roles all have a personality and work as they really are a crew and the story pulls you in almost from the first minute. As several Doctor Who's this season have done, this episode seamlessly blends top notch Sci-Fi (which alone is awesome because without Battlestar, TV is SORELY lacking in quality SF shows), a little mix of Horror and a bit of drama into one of the most satisfying hours of TV I have seen in a long time. I dare people to find faults with this episode if they are truly SciFi and Doctor fans. As always I'm sure there are plot points you could find fault with but in terms of acting, SFX and musical score, this one was a slam dunk!

If I had to find any fault with this episode, I would say that the whole "losing the Tardis" bit is bad. We all know he will get it back and I point out like I have in previous reviews that it's like when the first few minutes of Star Trek Voyager would show a possibility of getting to Earth or in any popular show really when a main character would randomly die. As well established television watchers in the year 2006 we're a little past this I believe. However, I will gladly put both my feet in my mouth if the writers take advantage of this to possibly have a non-Tardis story arc. That would actually be way cool. But I'm not holding my breath. Also, I find myself thinking that some of Billie Piper's acting has been a little off this season. The scenes with her and the Doctor flirting just seem weird. It's not because I don;t think they should, the scene where they talk about "settling down" possibly together I thought was really touching. It's her acting plain and simple. She is very good but some laughing and flirting scenes seem just a little forced.

A very very small gripe though about a really stellar episode. If you love science fiction you really deserve this type of show. I can't wait for next Saturday and the whole rest of the season for that matter.

What's with no previews for next week?! That was a first!

First off- The impossible Planet. Wow. It’s at the top of my list; along with the Parting of the ways and the Doctor dances. For some reason I always prefer the follow on, whether it’s a 2 parter tv episode or a sequel to a book. So I have high hopes for the Satan Pit!

I noticed the Impossible planet received a 6/5 for fear factor, which was a bit extreme. I’d actually prefer it scarier, with more of those turn-around-and-scream moments with the dramatic, jumpy music. And more blood and gore. The possessed Toby was quite freaky, however, similar to the empty child. I loved his creepy, manic smile- it was somewhat entrancing, as were his red eyes and the ancient script covering him.

Yes, moving swiftly on to Will Thorp. He was fantastic! When I first heard he was going to be in Doctor Who I had my doubts (didn’t we all?). But he was the star of the show (apart from David and Billie who are always on top form). So many different personalities! My favourite is his possession of course. The voice really added to it as well- well done Gabriel Woolf!

The other characters were brilliantly played also. I wasn’t too sure about Danny though. His acting wasn’t the best and he got on my nerves a bit. But I’m like that- I hate all characters trying to flirt with Rose or the Doctor, i.e. Mme de Pompadour (I hated Girl in the fireplace. Monsters I can believe but the Doctor falling in love with someone else after meeting them twice? Give me a break.), Mickey (the idiot), Lynda with a y and Adam. But not Captain Jack; funny, seeing as he was flirting with both of them! But I’m just a stubborn romantic- it’s Rose and the Doctor or nothing!

Talking of Rose and the Doctor, that old chemistry between them has revived itself and the impossible planet was filled with sexual tension. I’d almost given up hope of it ever appearing again, having to be content with watching the end of the Parting of the ways again and again- though all of the 1st series was packed with it. Funny that the Doctor regenerates, comes back funnier and better looking (no offence Chris) and nothing happens- excluding the parts in the Christmas invasion when the Doctor wasn’t lying in bed…er…yes. But now the tenth doctor is demonstrating that he’s just as good at secretly loving Rose as the 9th!

Moving onto the actual plot, it was flawless as usual. I like the idea that there’s something the Doctor can’t explain; he was getting a bit cocky and big-headed! The music was great as per usual, with a new tune that I particularly liked, though I still wish sometimes that they would bring back the bad wolf music. You know, the one that played whenever there was a bad wolf mention, and during the Parting of the ways kiss. All in all, a fantastic episode!