Planet of the Dead (2009)

[Col.Foley]

Since I hated the xmas special, I have to say that this was a wonderful return to form. When I heard that the Master was coming back I never really believed it, but I guess that epic foreshadow at the end confirmed it.

My only complaint is that the Doctor should have clicked on to it as soon as he got the warning - 'He will knock four times...' I mean it should be pretty obvious to him what that means. Unless he is aware and isn't showing it.

He was aware, and he was showing it. That was a very grave look he gave at the end, he knew exactly what she was talking about, which just adds more credence to your theory...of course she could just be getting her singals crossed
But seriosly? David Tennant's Doctor may regenerate fighting John Simms Master? Blargh! Ugh! I do not think I will like this much.
It was a good special though, not Next Doctor caliber...........hmmm I just said that. Any way...yeah it was good, not great, it had its moment...liked the companion..and the psychic, and the creature this time was interesting...though it did stretch reality a bit with the flying around the planet equals big giant wormhole of death, but it is Doctor Who.

And UNIT - hurrah!

indeed

So who do people prefer, Magumbo or Mace?

Mace by far. "You will face me sir!"

[Stan]

Bad: I thought the whole structually damaged bus flying stuff was not needed and poorly done. It kind of wasted the effort put in by the others left stranded on the bus; they should have been heroes too; repairing and salvaging the bus. Having turned over from Primeval I found the VFX poor. Was it really necassary to film this in Dubai? The ending just dragged on. Christine should have escaped and that was that 'til next time.

Good: The Nimon sorry Swarm was a nice idea; mass and speed to bend space. Swapping conversations 'he hung up on me' Malcolm stuff was well written; Lee Evans surprised me.

[Elinor]

Oh...that was a lot of fun! For me, the most enjoyable episode in a while.

Loved Lady wotsit (I'd be happy to see her as the new companion) and Malcolm and all the other characters. It wasn't until reading through this thread that I realised...oh yeah!...there were some daft bits. It was all such a wonderful, gleeful romp though, that I didn't notice at the time!

Loved that bit at the end. 'He will knock four times'. Yippeee!!

[Reefgirl]

Narnia, whilst I see the religious allegory in it, is just plain fantasy - so no I don't see an issue with it.

I hated The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with a passion (no pun intended) ever since I was forced to read it at school, I refused to watch it on TV and at the cinema

[Reefgirl]

So who do people prefer, Magumbo or Mace?

Neither, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart or Brigadier Bambera for me

[Empress Vajnraa]

The desert planet was named Sanghelios? As in the homeworld of the Sangheili from the Halo Universe? (Elites for those of you that don't read the books.)

FYI, Sanghelios means "Blood Star"
[/triviatime]

[Nero_200]

im a little dissapointed at this special as it had such as cool title and i was expecting something on the same level if not better than episodes of the series such as the impossible planet or blink, or the whole return of the master saga but what i got was this 1hr of worrying about death coming(flying creatures) but imo it never really felt as though the people on the bus were in any real danger.

now take episodes from the series such as "silence in the library" and "forest of the dead" where there were so many twists and turns and characters were dying one by one and you couldnt predict what would happen next and bottom line those 2 episodes were down right creepy and entertaining.

now planet of the dead was a little to predictable, lacked a little drama and plot twists and felt a little like an average or mediocre episode of the series.

[MagnoliaAnaglypta]

[quote=ShadowMaat;10027580]
My BIGGEST gripe, and it's a silly one, is WTF was up with the earpieces? EARpieces? for ALIENS WHO DON'T HAVE EARS?! Or at least not external ones. And certainly not external ones that match the exact contours of a human ear. HA!

quote]

Oh, well spotted! I missed that completely. Now I feel like a total donkey.

I can suspend disbelief about the wormhole creation theory by rationalising that maybe their bodies are structured in such a way to produce funky-wierd electromagnetic fields which can work in some ten dimensional way to create the wormhole - but having two human shaped earpieces sitting waiting to be discovered on a ship created by a race of insects who clearly don't have ears - that's breaking the rules of internal consistency. Bad writer!

I also did think whole opening sequence did stretch credulity a little too much as well - if you're going to have a cracking good opening action sequence you might find a way to do it that doesn't depend on the museum security staff being absolute imbeciles.... Even if it had been a deliberate trap for Lady C which she chose to spring because she was such a daredevil, I would have bought that.

[Flyboy]

Neither, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart or Brigadier Bambera for me

I think it's certainly granted no one can EVER outclass the Brig. But Colonel Mace was a good second. As long as he stays a Colonel, and doesn't try and step into the Brig's shoes, he's fine with me. But Magumbo? Yech. No ta. Not one bit.

[Splitsecond]

The start was so awful, it was the most entertaining part of the show. The story was boring and unoriginal. The intentionally comic parts were disappointing and there was no real peril.

[Reefgirl]

I think it's certainly granted no one can EVER outclass the Brig. But Colonel Mace was a good second. As long as he stays a Colonel, and doesn't try and step into the Brig's shoes, he's fine with me. But Magumbo? Yech. No ta. Not one bit.

And how many years in Colchester would she get for pulling a gun on a civilian?

[Flyboy]

And how many years in Colchester would she get for pulling a gun on a civilian?

I have no idea, but quite a few. For those not following, Colchester is home of the Military Correctional Training Centre - ie, a military prison, amongst other things.

I can hardly imagine Malcolm wouldn't report that act to Col. Mace, and despite the extenuating circumstances, if other UNIT officers have managed to avoid that kind of behaviour, she should be no exception. I doubt the Doctor would have been so smiley with her at the end if he'd have known. Odd thing is, the writers seemed to want us to forget what she'd done...

It would be nice if she gets some sort of justice for her actions, though I doubt she will.

Brig would have been horrified.

[Reefgirl]

I have no idea, but quite a few. For those not following, Colchester is home of the Military Correctional Training Centre - ie, a military prison, amongst other things.

I can hardly imagine Malcolm wouldn't report that act to Col. Mace, and despite the extenuating circumstances, if other UNIT officers have managed to avoid that kind of behaviour, she should be no exception. I doubt the Doctor would have been so smiley with her at the end if he'd have known. Odd thing is, the writers seemed to want us to forget what she'd done...

It would be nice if she gets some sort of justice for her actions, though I doubt she will.

Brig would have been horrified.

Why the hell do the writers want to make UNIT the incompetant bad guy's,

[Flyboy]

Why the hell do the writers want to make UNIT the incompetant bad guy's,

Cause the military is baaaaaaaaaad.

*rolls eyes*

I dunno. For once in the new series I was happy how UNIT themselves were handled, it's just their OC that's rather crappy. The individual troops worked very well imo. But you're right, they can't decide whether they want UNIT to be cool, or ruthless *******s...

[SeaBee]

As somebody who is old enough to remember robot yetis in the london underground and a Doctor in black and white blowing on a recorder, I have to say that, on the whole, this was a pretty good episode. Far closer to the old style Doctor Who adventures that the last few years have consistantly failed to give us, with a few exceptions.

A bunch of innocent victims the Doctor has to save.

Aliens that you think might be the bad guys, but are really in just as much trouble as the rest.

A wormhole.

U.N.I.T.

Mindless planet killing swarm of metal-clad creatures heading for Earth.

And, because there was no Rose, Donna or Martha it didn't have half the show taken up with emo loaded angst about how much they miss their Mum/Dad/Grandad/Boyfriend or how the peril affects their Mum/Dad/ Grandad/Boyfriend or how much they have this deep abiding love for The Doctor.

One little nitpick. After the bus came back did U.N.I.T. fall asleep? How come there was no guard on a bus married to alien technology?