Trying
to escape the scene of her latest robbery, Lady Christina
de Souza (Michelle Ryan) evades the police by jumping on
a London bus. Just as the bus starts to pull away, The Doctor
(David Tennant) jumps on and pulls a weird scanning device
from his overcoat. Chatting to the passengers with his usual
banter but with the police in pursuit, the bus enters a
tunnel and doesn’t come out the other side. Instead,
The Doctor and passengers are transported to another world.
Stranded in what looks like an endless desert and three
suns burning down on them, their predicament looks bleak
but things get even worse when a sand storm starts heading
there way. The Doctor thinks that it isn’t a storm
however and it could be something that will not only kill
them but destroy the Earth as well.
The
first of the 2009 Doctor Who specials hits and
it starts off with a bang but can fans cope with only a
few more episode of David Tennant as the Time Lord?
When
it was announced that there wouldn’t be a new season
of Doctor Who and that David Tennant and the man
who masterminded the return of the cult show to the small
screen, Russell T. Davies, would be leaving the show, fans
must have thought that 2009 was going to be an awful year.
Instead,
this year will be seen as an extension of season four, with
the Christmas Special ‘The Next Doctor’ to be
followed by four special episodes spread out through the
year leading to Tennant’s and Davies’ exit during
the Christmas Holiday Season to be replaced by the show’s
best writer Stephen Moffat as showrunner and virtual unknown
youngster Matt Smith as the 10th Doctor for the new series
in 2010. So fans will have to embrace the few crumbs of
their favourite Time Lord and in ‘Planet of the Dead’
they have some tasty crumbs to start munching on.
After
the end of ‘The Next Doctor’ and still suffering
from the repercussions of what happened during the finale
of ‘Journey’s End’, The Doctor continues
to travel alone and tries to keep himself occupied by investigating
anomalies and strange occurrences. His latest investigation
leads him onto a London Bus, which just happens to be used
as an escape route for antiquities thief Lady Christina
de Souza.
As the
police follow in hot pursuit, the bus continues on its route
and enters a tunnel. With both ends blocked D.I. McMillan
finally thinks he has got his woman but the bus disappears.
The bus and its passengers are transported to another world.
This sets up the possible coming together to two strong
characters. The Doctor, of course, is a natural leader,
filled with answers and loves to take charge but Lady Christina
de Souza is also used to taking the lead and been prepared
for any situation.
The
two clash but it also becomes very apparent that Christina
could, in fact, be the perfect companion for The Doctor.
Throw in a couple of new alien races, a threat to the Earth,
the return of U.N.I.T. and the introduction of a new, quirky
scientist called Professor Malcolm Taylor and you have the
makings of a good Doctor Who episode.
Former
'Bionic Woman’ and star of Merlin Michelle
Ryan gets her chance to shine in another flagship BBC show.
While she might have struggled to really make it after leaving
hit UK Soap Eastenders and her first venture into
US prime time TV getting cancelled, ‘Planet of the
Dead’ gives her the chance to show what she can do
and maybe even audition for the role of Lara Croft. She
is undoubtedly gorgeous and wearing a tight black outfit
throughout, she definitely shows she has star quality. As
Lady Christina de Souza, she gets to show that she can act.
There
is also a welcome appearance from actor/comedian Lee Evans,
as the suitably quirky and very funny Professor Malcolm
Taylor. Noma Dumezweni returns as U.N.I.T. officer Capt.
Magambo and Adam James plays D.I. McMillan, the man who
has been chasing Lady Christina for a very long time.
However,
the episode is all about the performance of David Tennant
as The Doctor again, and he shows why he will be probably
be as fondly remembered for the role as the great Tom Baker
is for fans of the original run. As fans continue to struggle
to understand why he has decided to hang up his sonic screwdriver
and think that he will never have a role that will mean
so much to so many people, Tennant shows that he has made
the role his own and that Matt Smith has very big shoes
to fill.
‘Planet
of the Dead’ might not be the big spectacle that fans
might have been hoping for from the 2009 specials but it
is still a good stand-alone Doctor Who episode. With some
excellent visual effects, another new companion that has
great chemistry with our favourite Time Lord and the hint
of something much darker to come in the remaining shows,
this would have been a good start to a season.
Unfortunately
we’ll just have to wait until ‘The Waters of
Mars’ airs later in the year (rumored to be November
- editor).
