Planet of the Dead (2009)

[LaCroix]

I have to say all in all it was a fun episode. I laughed when the Doctor mistakenly called the pizza place. Perhapes a forsehadowing of Torchwood involvement?

UNIT, I'm not military, but they seemed to accquit themselves better then what they did in The Sontaran Stratagem. Magambo was good, but I liked Mace better.

Along with the earpeice mistake, where is it written that the Doctor has to snog, save Donna, a woman?

I can't remember the eact quote, but I did like the references to arresting himself (the Doctor). It brought series one Doctor 9 (CE) and and 10 (DT) full circle to me.

All in all a fun episode.

[SaberBlade]

If they don't bring Lee Evans back I will be greatly disappointed. Hell, they gave him a Welsh accent so he has to show up in Torchwood at least once. I love Lee Evans and seeing him in it just made my day, especially when I greatly enjoyed the character.

I also really enjoyed UNIT in this episode more than others. Magambo was excellent, especially when she went as far as to point a gun at Malcolm for refusing to abandon the Doctor.

[Rickington]

Pretty good episode if I do say so myself.

I found something odd approximately one minute after the title sequence finished (or at exactly 5:05 if from YouTube).

The odd thing from the scene I am mentioning is that there seems to be a person on the upper deck of the bus... but everyone is on the lower deck of the bus. Then who is this mystery person?

[Gregorius]

This special was like an average Doctor Who episode, but it was definately better than the last Christmas special. There were a few bits with bad acting, but it still was enjoyable.

What did annoy me were the horrificly bad CGI scenes of the flying bus, the wormhole size (although this could be explained if the center of the wormhole was up 5 miles and down in the tunnel there was only a small part of the wormhole) and the earpieces. Human earpieces on an insectoid ship, that really makes a lot of sense.

Otherwise it was, as I said, enjoyable, although I had hoped that for a season consisting only of specials they'd at least create specials that are on the level of most Doctor Who two and three parters.

I also liked the UNIT new scientist and hope to see more of him, and Christina's backpack was amusing.

[Zarius]

I enjoyed this special immensly. It emphasised more on "Nature vs Nature", with no real antagonist (unless you count The Brigadeer pulling the gun on Malcom, but that was only because she wanted to do the right thing and prevent a worldwide threat from using the portal). The passengers on the Bus were there to push forward the need not to give up on what you leave behind if stranded, and Ryan's characters, whilst unberably stitled and seemingly reading lines from "The Doctor's Daughter", at least gave a good performance as the overly smug Christina. Part of me wanted The Doctor to abandon her to the police rather than allow her to escape...it would have been less Disney-like and kept true to the dramatic weight attached to why The Doctor is traveling alone.

I can forgive the dodgy CGI of the bus. The BBC have always been cheap *******s where DW is concerned.

[Reefgirl]

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...

Basic UNIT squaddies are ok it's just the incredibly bad CO's they've been given recently, Col's Him-From-Dempsey-And-Makepiece and Her-That-Pulled-The-Gun-On-Lee-Evans haven't exactly been Poster Boys and Girls for UNIT.

I'd have forgiven her anything if she had have shot Lee Evan's character, whoever told the man he could act needs a good talking to

[Flyboy]

I enjoyed this special immensly. It emphasised more on "Nature vs Nature", with no real antagonist (unless you count The Brigadeer pulling the gun on Malcom, but that was only because she wanted to do the right thing and prevent a worldwide threat from using the portal). The passengers on the Bus were there to push forward the need not to give up on what you leave behind if stranded, and Ryan's characters, whilst unberably stitled and seemingly reading lines from "The Doctor's Daughter", at least gave a good performance as the overly smug Christina. Part of me wanted The Doctor to abandon her to the police rather than allow her to escape...it would have been less Disney-like and kept true to the dramatic weight attached to why The Doctor is traveling alone.

I can forgive the dodgy CGI of the bus. The BBC have always been cheap *******s where DW is concerned.

She wasn't a Brigadier, she was a Captain.

[Pitry]

I really enjoyed it. It was a romp and not as good as the last two specials, and if I had to describe it in one word it would be "forgettable". But these days these thigns say more about the wonderful general quality of Doctor Who than the particular episode. Planet of hte Dead is forgettable simply because it doesn't stand out in complete brilliance.

It was fun, it was funny, it was an adventure, Michelle Ryan was lovely,. the random future-seeing woman was random and only there to throw the coment in the end

Spoiler:

The Master! The Master! Wheee! - i hope

and the plot was completely bonkers as usual. Malcolm WAS OTT but he's forgive for standing up to Mgamba and the "I love you" bit n the end

All in all, squee! Doctor Who!

[Pitry]

Random double posting: I don't think Mgamba or UNIT were portrayed as "bad". I think they were specifically portrayed as "not bad". Yes, Mgamba wanted to sacrifice the Doctor, yes, she threatened Malcolm's life in order to achieve it, but she was making a mistake with good intentions. Doctor Who, of any show, is one show that makes sure to take the person's intentions into account - look at the Doctor himself. How many times he ****ed things up/ made them worse because of his good intentions. Like Midnght, that was mentioned in the episode. He refused to kill the creature because of his good inttinos, and in the end it cost another life.

The only time I'd say UNIT were explicity portrayed as "bad" wasn't in Doctor who, it was in Torchwood - that scene with Tosh in Fragments.

[Madeleine]

Like the Captain said, she had the welfare of 6,000,000,000 to think about, not just the seven on the bus. I liked her.

[Flyboy]

Putting a gun to the head of a member of your team is disgraceful behaviour.

[Pitry]

Putting a gun to the head of a member of your team is disgraceful behaviour.

So is disobeying an order while risking the lives of every living person on planet Earth.

Also, I think they both knew it's an empty threat. I mean, seriuosly. If she kills him, who's gonna close the wormhole? Exactly. She didn't know how. She just tried to frighten him enough into doing what seemed to her as the responsible behaviour.

Not the way I'd like my neighbours to act? Sure. Would have felt better if the military didn't act like that? You betcha. Understandable within context? yes.

[Flyboy]

So is disobeying an order while risking the lives of every living person on planet Earth.

Also, I think they both knew it's an empty threat. I mean, seriuosly. If she kills him, who's gonna close the wormhole? Exactly. She didn't know how. She just tried to frighten him enough into doing what seemed to her as the responsible behaviour.

Not the way I'd like my neighbours to act? Sure. Would have felt better if the military didn't act like that? You betcha. Understandable within context? yes.

Agh....

Disobeying orders.... I can't really make any comment on that... only that perhaps he should have lied slightly...

Still, if anyone in my command acted as she did, I'd have her arrested. As for Malcolm. I'd bloody well commend him - in retrospect of course.

[Madeleine]

Putting a gun to the head of a member of your team is disgraceful behaviour.

It's the traditional response to mutiny, I believe. And I'm inclined to make allowances for a woman who knows that her inaction would quite possibly doom six billion souls.

[Reefgirl]

Putting a gun to the head of a member of your team is disgraceful behaviour.

So is disobeying an order while risking the lives of every living person on planet Earth.

Also, I think they both knew it's an empty threat. I mean, seriuosly. If she kills him, who's gonna close the wormhole? Exactly. She didn't know how. She just tried to frighten him enough into doing what seemed to her as the responsible behaviour.

Not the way I'd like my neighbours to act? Sure. Would have felt better if the military didn't act like that? You betcha. Understandable within context? yes.

It's the traditional response to mutiny, I believe. And I'm inclined to make allowances for a woman who knows that her inaction would quite possibly doom six billion souls.

Can I just say, Captain or not, having the responsibility for 6 billion souls on the planet or not, she still cannot demand a civilian to obey her orders, I once got bawled out by the officer of the day for having dirty shoes when I worked at the local army barracks, until it was pointed out to him that I was a civilian (when he stopped yelling long enough for anyone to get a word in) He apologised and sloped off to the back to the Officers Mess