Planet of the Dead Review

Planet of the Dead: Well what can I say? I liked it, but there were, as always things I did not like about it. Let me break this down:


What I liked:
I liked U.N.I.T’s involvement. Captain Erisa Magambo wasn’t annoying as I thought she might be. Why they didn’t have the Brig show up in this story is beyond me. But she was an added breath of fresh air to the U.N.I.T fold.

Malcolm Taylor, played by Lee Evans, as UNIT's Welsh scientific advisor was a decent add too. I liked his hero worship of the Doctor and the Doctor asking him about the case files he read, mentioning the giant robot from Tom Baker’s first story.

The bug like aliens were reminiscent of classic stories (I hate the term classic) of old. They weren’t the monster of the week, but under used.

The flapjack flying creatures were interesting. Though I couldn’t help thinking about the Nimon and their great journey of life.

I was surprised only the bus driver died in this story, but thankful the rest of the riders on the bus made it back to earth safe.

I even liked the flying bus. It made sense and seemed so much like Doctor Who without being over stupid.

He will knock 4 times. That was really cool. Who will knock? The Master? The 11th Doctor?

What I disliked:
The Kiss. David Tennant isn’t playing Doctor Who and much as Doctor Whore. Do we have to see a kiss in every story. Again Russel T. Davis has shown his shoddy ability to tell a story by giving us the same thing again and again.

As much as I know every one liked Michelle Ryan as Lady Christina de Souza, and indeed she is good eye candy, she played the character like cardboard and she boarded the hell out of me.

Why was the Doctor on the Bus? Couldn’t he have used the TARDIS to track the wormhole or even still walk toward it? Why the bus? Unless he needed the metal to go through the wormhole. But why endanger the rest of the people on the bus?

The use of so much story in so little time. This would have worked better as a 90 minute special. At least the last three stories, which are rumored to be linked in some way, which might add to better story (unless RTD writes himself into a corner again).

The last thing I disliked about this story was: There will be no more Doctor Who for seven months. They should have broadcast the next story in August and then in November and December.

So there you have it. The story though with some bad points was as always well acted by all of the cast except maybe Michelle Ryan. The effects were top notch and all in all I liked it.


I give Planet of the Dead an 8 out of 10