C009 Planet of Giants

Season 2 Episode 1:Planet of Giants Review

So, to kick off the second season of Doctor Who, the BBC felt it was appropriate to have a story where the drama hinges on an often over-looked aspect of life in the TARDIS: Dimension.

Specifically, the physical dimension.

Continuing on with the narrowly-missing-the-intended-target premise, the TARDIS crew ends up in 1960’s London, only this time they are the wrong size. (Insert applicable and predictable Lilliputian jokes here)

However, a Doctor Who serial would not be complete without a conflict. In this case, the backdrop is a story surrounding a deadly insecticide, a murder, a meek, spineless scientist, and an unscrupulous ne’er do-well with dollar signs in his eyes.

As I rewatched this episode, I recognized something which would become the norm for Doctor Who: The Doctor (and companions) interfering for the greater good. This is an important distinction, given their travels in Season One consisting mostly of trying to rewrite events for whatever personal reasons.

In the opening, there is a key bit of dialogue from Ian: “How can we understand? You’ve never explained it to us.” This identifies a very important aspect of The Doctor’s relationship with his young companions, and will become a common issue throughout The Doctor’s travels. Even with Matt Smith’s Doctor, there is often a rapid-fire delivery of techno babble, with little to no breakdown or explanation.

The “giants” ended up being merely set dressing, and could have easily been replaced with an overheard conversation by the TARDIS crew, as the two men left the lab. The story became intriguing once it was apparent that the insecticide was really bad, and needed to be stopped, and that despite their size, they could still effect positive change.

Positives:

a) Equal footing:

We were treated to (finally) some wonderful back-and-forth between The Doctor and Ian, on the same page, as men of science. There really needs to be more of this – it was great.

b) Character development:

For once, Susan’s screaming was reduced to a minimum, and used for only when it made sense (eg: A giant, prowling cat). The rest of the episode she was somewhat gung-ho, even leading the charge up the chemical soaked drain pipe (before hazmat procedures were standard). The fact that Susan had figured out why the TARDIS doors opened in flight was glossed over, and she really deserved the credit.

c) Simple, straight forward plot:

This story was by no means complex. But it was a wonderful simple story, and provided some great moments between the different characters. Sometimes less is more.

d) Follow the bell:

There is a bad habit in television, that when a gimmick is used, it becomes very quickly over used. In this case, the oversized ants, lying dead everywhere, and other physical cues as to the TARDIS crews’ predicament, never seemed to get silly. Each instance of size reference was appropriate and utilized, i think, for the right reasons. It can be a tricky thing to play, and i feel it was handled quite well.

Negatives:

a) Ian & Barbara:

I was a little disheartened that the dialogue between Ian and Barbara, while on the table in the lab, was not smoother, more congenial. They are after all, friends, and colleagues. Too much of “yes, i know”, or “i don’t know” tells me that their familiarity is limited to what Ian is willing to put up with. Also, Barb was completely under used.

b) Barb’s poisoning.

Had Ian and Barb been given dialogue or direction for that scene with the seeds, then the poisoning aspect could have been a terrific dab of pressure to add to everything else going on. He was standing right there – how did he not see her pick the seed up?

c) Where did the cop come from at the end?

It would have made more sense, if this was in fact a lab (rather than the dudes house) ,that a security guard would be randomly doing rounds, adding tension to an already heated environment (see what i did there?).

d) Closing scene shenanigans.

So The Doctor brings a seed into the TARDIS. And as he fixes the “dimension” issue and gets them back to normal size, the seed miraculously shrinks to proper size. What? Sorry. No. I don’t buy it. The seed is now protected inside the TARDIS. It wouldn’t suddenly shrink.

I was expecting The Doctor to use the seed to analyze the insecticide and give Barb an antidote. But alas, I guess that’s not spacey-wacey enough.

Finally, as at the beginning, the scanner screen refused to work again at the closing of the episode. Perhaps The Doctor forgot to get the decoder for his cable box?

Though seemingly a smaller episode, I ended up enjoying this one because of the very serious storyline buried in a silly suit. It introduced some character points that would end up defining the very nature of The Doctor, and provided a fun distraction from “big, lumbering epic” episodes that deal with significant events. It was also a very tame beginning to the season, designed at drawing in those people that hadn’t yet watched the show.

I’ve had mixed feelings about this one. As a teenager when I watched for the first time I thought it was total drivel. Fast forward 20 years and I thought it was OK but full of holes and bad production. Now again years after that I feel the production for the time was better than I remember, but it still drags a bit. It’s hard to make an episode where the main characters never interact directly with the plot that is all around them. ST:TNG and Stargate SG-1 both did this better.

I think k though that my problem with the story is that, while the potential for disaster is high I never felt there was much at stake. By that I mean that even if the chemical got past this hurdle I feel it would have been stopped at the next level anyway. The writer makes a point to say this is the last level of approval before the big time, but that’s just not how it works (at least I’d like to think so). This leaves us with a whodoneit where we already know the murderer and his motives. Normally at this point the question is, “well how does he get caught?” But since the main characters can’t really influence the world at large (see what I did there?) That’s spoiled too. This leaves us with an episode where the main characters walk around and encounter amazing things in the micro world, and for me they just don’t encounter enough of it to inspire the imagination. In the end they rather accidentally provide the moment for someone else to save the day and then they go home.

The Barbra sickness is ruined because Barbra acts very out of character for it. As past episodes prove, if she is in peril the very FIRST thing she would do is tell the others. She also gets frustrated, lashes out and practically panics at times. The character never acta this way before or after.

At the end of the day we’re left with some dry supporting characters, many of whom are never on screen long enough to care about, and the others we are made not to like due to morals and ethics. Honestly it’s a strange thing when the phone operator is not only the most enjoyable character, but is the one who does the most to stop a crime.
This one just doesn’t have an excessive amount that appeals to me.
2.0