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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} |
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{{Doctorwhobox| |
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{{Use British English|date=August 2012}} |
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|serial_name=081 – Planet of Evil |
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{{needsattention|project=Doctor Who|type=multiple|date=June 2017|}} |
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|doctor=[[Tom Baker]] ([[Fourth Doctor]]) |
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{{Infobox Doctor Who episode |
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|writer=[[Louis Marks]] |
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| number = 081 |
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|director=[[David Maloney]] |
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| serial_name = Planet of Evil |
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|script_editor=[[Robert Holmes]] |
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| show = DW |
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|producer=[[Philip Hinchcliffe]] |
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| type = serial |
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|executive_producer=None |
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| image = |
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|production_code=4H |
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| caption = |
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|series=[[List of Doctor Who serials#Season 13 (1975-76)|Season 13]] |
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| doctor = [[Tom Baker]] – [[Fourth Doctor]] |
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|length=4 episodes, 25 mins each |
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| |
| companion = [[Elisabeth Sladen]] – [[Sarah Jane Smith]] |
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| guests = |
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|preceding=[[Terror of the Zygons]] |
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*[[Frederick Jaeger]] – Sorenson |
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|following=[[Pyramids of Mars]] |
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*[[Ewen Solon]] – Vishinsky |
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|}} |
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*[[Prentis Hancock]] – Salamar |
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'''''Planet of Evil''''' is a [[list of Doctor Who serials|serial]] in the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[science fiction television]] series ''[[Doctor Who]]'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from [[September 27]] to [[October 18]], [[1975]]. |
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*[[Graham Weston]] – De Haan |
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*[[Louis Mahoney]] – Ponti |
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*[[Michael Wisher]] – Morelli |
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*[[Terence Brook]] – Braun |
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*[[Tony McEwan]] – Baldwin |
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*[[Haydn Wood (actor)|Haydn Wood]] – O'Hara |
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*[[Melvyn Bedford]] – Reig |
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| director = [[David Maloney]] |
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| writer = [[Louis Marks]] |
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| script_editor = [[Robert Holmes (scriptwriter)|Robert Holmes]] |
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| producer = [[Philip Hinchcliffe]] |
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| executive_producer = None |
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| composer = [[Dudley Simpson]] |
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| production_code = 4H |
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| series = [[Doctor Who (season 13)|Season 13]] |
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| length = 4 episodes, 25 minutes each |
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| started = {{Start date|1975|9|27|df=y}} |
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| ended = {{End date|1975|10|18|df=y}} |
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| preceding = ''[[Terror of the Zygons]]'' |
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| following = ''[[Pyramids of Mars]]'' |
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}} |
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'''''Planet of Evil''''' is the second serial of the [[Doctor Who (season 13)|13th season]] of the British [[science fiction television]] series ''[[Doctor Who]]''. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on [[BBC1]] from 27 September to 18 October 1975. |
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==Synopsis== |
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Far in the future, on Zeta Minor — the furthest planet out in the universe — [[Fourth Doctor|the Doctor]] comes across what is left of a Morestran mining expedition. |
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The serial is set on and above the planet Zeta Minor, the last undiscovered planet in the known universe, more than 30,000 years in the future, where the Morestran geologist Sorenson ([[Frederick Jaeger]]) seeks to exploit the [[antimatter]] minerals on the planet to use as a power source for his own planet. He and the military mission looking for him are attacked by a creature from a universe of anti-matter. The [[Fourth Doctor]] and [[Sarah Jane Smith]] arrive on the planet in response to a distress call. They find the geological expedition attacked by an unseen killer, leaving only Professor Sorenson alive. |
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==Plot== |
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{{spoiler}} |
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[[Image:planetofevil.jpg|thumb|300px|The Anti-Man manifests himself.]] |
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On a dark and distant planet, a spaceman named Braun steps out of a small base unit and plants a sign in the nearby jungle floor indicating a name and date of death. Unearthly howls echo from the jungle around him, and he points a rifle warily at his surroundings before returning to the base. Meanwhile, elsewhere on the planet, another spaceman, Baldwin finds some crystals near a pit, handing them over to Professor Sorenson. |
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The plot was inspired by the film ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'' (1956) and the novella ''[[Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]]'' (1886), with a focus on antimatter. The jungle setting was realised at [[Ealing Studios]] and shot on film. |
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Baldwin receives a call from Braun: it is nearly night, and they need to get back to base quickly. Sorenson notes the vein they have uncovered is almost seventy percent pure. The last time they hit a vein this rich, Lorenzo died and the vein vanished. Sorenson says the planet is alive and took the vein back, but vows he will not be beaten again. Unable to persuade Sorenson, Baldwin leaves him. At base camp, Braun is attacked by an invisible force, and he vanishes, screaming. When Baldwin makes it back to the base, he is also attacked, just managing to send a distress signal before he, too, vanishes. |
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==Plot== |
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In the [[TARDIS]], [[Sarah Jane Smith|Sarah]] wants to know what is wrong: the [[Fourth Doctor]] had promised her they would be back in [[London]] five minutes before they [[Terror of the Zygons|left Loch Ness]]. The [[Doctor (Doctor Who)|Doctor]] eventually admits that they have emerged from the [[Time Vortex (Doctor Who)|time vortex]] 30,000 years too late. The TARDIS receives Baldwin's distress call, and the Doctor lands the ship. They emerge in the jungle, the Doctor tracking the signal with a small device. Suddenly, Sarah seems transfixed by a strange sound and stares straight ahead at something unseen, but the feeling soon passes. |
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The [[TARDIS]] picks up a distress call and the [[Fourth Doctor]] and [[Sarah Jane Smith]] arrive on the planet Zeta Minor. There they discover that a Morestran geological expedition has fallen prey to an unseen killer and only the leader, Professor Sorenson, remains alive. |
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A probe ship approaches Zeta Minor, the last planet in the known universe. The ship's Controller, Salamar, assigns Vishinsky, the most experienced crewmember, to lead the landing party. The ship has barely enough fuel to make the return journey — they do not have power for a scan before sending the party down to locate Sorenson and his team. |
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A military mission from Morestra has also arrived to investigate. At first they suspect the Doctor and Sarah Jane of responsibility for the deaths of the expedition members, but the culprit is eventually revealed to be a creature from a universe of antimatter, retaliating for the removal by Sorenson of some antimatter samples from around the pit that acts as an interface between the two universes. |
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The Morestrans take off in their ship, but it is slowly dragged back towards the planet due to the antimatter on board. Sorenson himself becomes infected by antimatter and gradually transforms into an 'antiman', a monster capable of draining the life from others. |
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The Morestran commander, the increasingly unhinged Salamar, attacks Sorenson with a radiation source, but this only causes him to produce multiple anti-matter versions of Sorenson which soon overrun the ship. The Doctor finds the original Sorenson, takes him back to the planet in the TARDIS and throws both him and his samples into the pit, fulfilling a bargain he earlier made with the anti-matter creature. Sorenson reappears unharmed, and the Doctor returns him to the Morestran ship, which is now freed of the planet's influence. |
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===Outside references=== |
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The Doctor and Sarah reach the base. They discover Braun's almost mummified body on the ground. The base unit's interior is dark, and the Doctor surmises that they are some months too late. Sarah goes back to the TARDIS to get his spectromixer so he can fix their position, while the Doctor tries to restore the base's power. When Sarah leaves, the Doctor discovers Baldwin's body, in the same mummified state. |
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The Doctor quotes from ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' and ''[[Hamlet]]'', and says that he met [[William Shakespeare]] once.<ref name="discontinuity"/> |
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Sarah makes it back to the TARDIS, entering just as the armed landing party draws near. Vishinsky calls back up to the probe ship, and Salamar orders that the TARDIS be brought back up to the ship and placed in quarantine. The landing party places a clamp on the TARDIS door, trapping Sarah inside, who has no idea what is going on. The police box is [[teleportation|transmatted]] away. |
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==Production== |
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The landing party spots Sorenson, who, although acting a bit strangely, assures Vishinsky that he is all right, and that his theory about Zeta Minor has proved correct. He found the vital discovery the previous night in Sector 5. Sorenson believes Baldwin returned to the base, suffering from fatigue, and leads the party over to it. Vishinsky asks about the other six members of his expedition. Sorenson is evasive about the exact number, and concedes that they have lost some people, but the important thing is that the mission is a success. When the reach the base, the landing party find the Doctor still working on the systems next to Baldwin's body. Sorenson is startled to see the corpse, and says Baldwin has been murdered... just like the others. |
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The plot was deliberately conceived by [[Philip Hinchcliffe]], [[Robert Holmes (scriptwriter)|Robert Holmes]] and [[Louis Marks]] as a mixture of the film ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'' (1956) and the [[novella]] ''The [[Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]]'' (1886). In addition, Marks had been reading science magazine articles about [[antimatter]], and decided to write a story incorporating the subject. Hinchcliffe, in the first season in which he could commission new material, planned to move away from the "rubber-suited alien" theme, which he felt was clichéd. For this story he proposed having three separate monstrous elements: Sorenson's transformation, the anti-matter monster and finally the planet itself, said by Sorenson in episode one to be conscious of his group's motives.<ref>"A Darker Side" documentary on the making of the serial (BBC DVD 1814)</ref> |
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Sarah finally finds the TARDIS doors unlocked, and steps up to find herself on board the probe ship. Salamar tells her that she is in orbit over Zeta Minor and a prisoner of the Morestrans. Salamar contacts Vishinsky and tells him to keep a careful watch on the Doctor while he questions Sarah. Salamar does not believe that Sarah and the Doctor just "picked up" the distress signal, as Zeta Minor is so remote. |
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Despite the jungle setting of this serial, the shoot was entirely studio bound, and designer [[Roger Murray-Leach]] built an intricately detailed jungle set at [[Ealing Studios]], which director [[David Maloney]] shot on film.<ref>David J. Howe, Mark Stammers, Stephen Walker. ''Doctor Who: The Seventies''. p. 91. {{ISBN|978-1852274443}}</ref> The [[BBC]] was so impressed with it that they kept photographs of it for several years as an example of excellent set design and producer Philip Hinchcliffe recommended that he be nominated for an award for this work.<ref>"A Darker Side" documentary on the making of the serial (BBC DVD 1814)</ref> |
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The probe ship lands on the planet, near the base. Sorenson relates that they had only been working a few weeks when the killings began, always happening at night. Salamar believes it is the work of alien infiltrators, and suggests the Doctor confess before he is subjected to interrogation. When Salamar is told that there is no sign of life anywhere else, he concludes that the Doctor and Sarah must be responsible, and gives the order for their execution. |
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The original script had Sorenson dying after falling into the pit, but Hinchcliffe ordered that this be changed, as he felt it would too grim an ending for "the little ones" (i.e. children), and because he saw Sorenson as a victim of the planet's influence rather than an evil man in himself.<ref>"A Darker Side"</ref> Instead, a scene was added in which Sorenson is released from the pit and cured of his anti-matter contamination. |
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However, the Doctor and Sarah are escaping through the window of the store room they are being kept in, whose magnetic locks are weak due to the power loss. The moment they step out, they encounter a semi-transparent, monstrous figure, its outlines glowing red, reaching out for them. |
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The most visible reference to ''Forbidden Planet'' is the anti-matter monster (Mike Lee Lane), which is sometimes invisible and otherwise is seen as red outlines. It bears a close resemblance to the film's "Creature from the [[Id, ego and super-ego|Id]]". The monster is invisible in the filmed sections of the serial (where a wind machine was used to show its progress), and as outlines in the video sections (created with [[Chroma key|Colour Separation Overlay]]). |
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<hr> |
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One of the guards, O'Hara, fires at the creature, but it grabs him and he vanishes, screaming, only for his body to reappear, drained and mummified like the others. The Doctor is not sure what the creature is, but tells Sarah that he has a very unpleasant theory. Ponti, who heard O'Hara's screams, informs and Salamar that the base in under attack, and they find the two time travellers missing. The Morestrans fire at them as they run away into the jungle. |
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===Cast notes=== |
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Dawn breaks on Zeta Minor, and the creature does not seem to like daylight. Vishinsky launches the occuloid tracker, a flying drone with a camera eye, to search the jungle for the fugitives. Meanwhile, Sorenson confirms that O'Hara died the same way as the other members of his expedition, through total dehydration — a kind of rapid freeze drying. Sorenson brushes off the deaths as irrelevant. His mission to Zeta Minor was to find a new source of energy to replace Morestra's dying sun, and he has succeeded. Sorenson demands that his mineral samples be taken aboard and they leave the planet immediately. However, Salamar says that alien forces must be sought out and eliminated. |
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This is the final appearance by [[Michael Wisher]] in ''Doctor Who''. Prentis Hancock made his third appearance, having previously appeared in ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'' (1970) and ''[[Planet of the Daleks]]'' (1973). He would later appear in ''[[The Ribos Operation]]'' (1978). Frederick Jaeger (Professor Sorenson) and Ewen Solon (Vishinsky) both previously appeared in ''[[The Savages (Doctor Who)|The Savages]]'' (1966), in which they played Jano and Chal, respectively. Jaeger would later appear in 1977's ''[[The Invisible Enemy (Doctor Who)|The Invisible Enemy]]'' as Professor Marius, creator of the robot dog [[K-9 (Doctor Who)|K-9]]. Louis Mahoney (Ponti) had previously appeared in ''[[Frontier in Space]]'' (1973) and would later appear in "[[Blink (Doctor Who)|Blink]]" (2007). Graham Weston (De Haan) had also previously appeared in [[Patrick Troughton]]'s final serial ''[[The War Games]]'' (1969). |
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==Broadcast and reception== |
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The tracker finds the Doctor and Sarah near the pit in Sector 5, a dark pool without any reflections. A capture party arrives, led by Ponti, but as they search the two roughly, Ponti falls into the pit with a cry. The Doctor warns the rest back, telling them they are tampering with the balance of nature on the planet and it may already be too late. At the base, Sorenson gets De Haan to help load his canisters of refined ore onto the ship. Sorensen excitedly notes that six pounds of which could produce heat equal to the output of their sun for three centuries; full scale exploitation of Zeta Minor would provide perpetual energy. |
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{{Episode table |
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|background = |
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|series = 6 |title = 20 | aux1=6 | airdate = 10 | viewers = 6 | country = UK |
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|seriesT = Episode |
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|aux1T = Run time |
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|viewersR = <ref name="AllRatings" /> |
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|episodes = |
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{{Episode list/sublist|Planet of Evil |
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|EpisodeNumber = 1 |
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|Title = Part One |
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|RTitle = |
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|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|9|27|df=y}} |
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|Viewers = 10.4 |
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|Aux1 = 24:02 |
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}} |
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{{Episode list/sublist|Planet of Evil |
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|EpisodeNumber = 2 |
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|Title = Part Two |
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|RTitle = |
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|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|10|4|df=y}} |
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|Viewers = 9.9 |
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|Aux1 = 22:30 |
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{{Episode list/sublist|Planet of Evil |
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|EpisodeNumber = 3 |
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|Title = Part Three |
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|RTitle = |
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|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|10|11|df=y}} |
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|Aux1 = 23:50 |
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{{Episode list/sublist|Planet of Evil |
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|EpisodeNumber = 4 |
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|Title = Part Four |
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|RTitle = |
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|OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1975|10|18|df=y}} |
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|Viewers = 10.1 |
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|Aux1 = 23:43 |
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}} |
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[[File:Forbiddenplanetposter.jpg|thumb|180px|''Planet of Evil'' is considered to have been partly inspired by ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'' (1956)]] |
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The Doctor implores Salamar to listen to him: Zeta Minor is the boundary between the known universe and one of [[antimatter]]. By coming here, they have crossed that boundary. He warns Sorenson that if he takes those samples, they will never be able to leave this planet, but Salamar orders the Doctor and Sarah taken away to the quarantine area. Sarah suggests they simply leave in the TARDIS, but the Doctor says that the Morestrans are endangering the universe as well as themselves. He opens a canister of refined ore and takes a few crystals, placing them in an old toffee tin to test a theory. |
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The story was repeated across four consecutive evenings on BBC1 from 5–8 July 1976, with a start time varying between 6:20 pm and 6:35 pm. It was the first story since ''[[Spearhead from Space]]'' to be repeated in its entirety on BBC TV and the first ever to be stripped across consecutive evenings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order=asc&q=%22planet+of+evil%22#search|title=Search Results – BBC Genome|website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> The viewing figures were 5.0, 5.0, 4.3 & 3.9 million viewers, respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/story.php?story=PlanetofEvil&detail=broadcast|title=Doctor Who Guide: broadcasting for Planet of Evil|last=doctorwhonews.net}}</ref> |
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[[Paul Cornell]], [[Martin Day (writer)|Martin Day]] and [[Keith Topping]] wrote of the serial in ''The Discontinuity Guide'' (1995), "For an eight-year old, this was the most terrifying slice of ''Who''. Now it seems a little ordinary, a simple reworking of classic themes. It is unfortunate that the detailed jungle set is in such sharp contrast to the (cheap) minimalism of the Morestran spaceship."<ref name="discontinuity">{{cite book |title=The Discontinuity Guide |last1=Cornell |first1=Paul |author-link1=Paul Cornell |last2=Day |first2=Martin |author-link2=Martin Day (writer) |last3=Topping |first3=Keith |author-link3=Keith Topping |year=1995 |publisher=[[Virgin Books]] |location=London |isbn=0-426-20442-5 |pages=180–183 |chapter=Planet of Evil|chapter-url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/planetofevil/detail.shtml|title-link=The Discontinuity Guide}}</ref> In ''The Television Companion'' (1998), [[David J. Howe]] and Stephen James Walker described ''Planet of Evil'' as "a wonderfully creepy story" with the borrowing of material from ''Jekyll and Hyde'' "done with such style and panache that the viewer, far from complaining about a lack of originality, delights in spotting all the familiar sources to which the writer and the production team are paying homage." They also noted that the antimatter monster, depicted only as a shimmering red outline, was "in all but name, the Id monster from the 1956 MGM feature film ''[[Forbidden Planet]]''." Howe and Walker also praised the jungle set and the performances of Frederick Jaeger and Ewen Solon, but criticised Prentis Hancock's "poor" portrayal of Salamar.<ref name="television companion">{{cite book | author = [[David J. Howe|Howe, David J]] & [[Stephen James Walker|Walker, Stephen James]] | year = 1998 | title = Doctor Who: The Television Companion | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/revengecybermen/detail.shtml| edition = 1st | location = London | publisher = [[BBC Books]] | isbn = 978-0-563-40588-7}}</ref> |
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The ship tries to take off, but the systems are not responding properly. The creature attacks the ship. The force fields are raised, but there is not enough power to repel its pure energy form. Several Morestran crewmen rush out to fire at the creature, but to no avail as it drains them one by one. The Doctor tells them to link the force field to the atomic accelerator. Salamar hesitates, but Vishinsky says they have to try and he reluctantly gives the order. This seems to work; the creature is driven back and vanishes. |
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Ray Dexter's assessment of ''Planet of Evil'' also acknowledged the influence of the 1956 film ''Forbidden Planet'', which inspired the writers to include an invisible, murderous monster, as well as elements of ''Jekyll and Hyde''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dexter|first1=Ray|title=Doctor Who Episode By Episode: Volume 4 – Tom Baker|date=2015|publisher=Lulu Press, Inc|isbn=9781326315566|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAI4CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT63|language=en}}</ref> Reviewing the serial in 1999, literary critic [[John Kenneth Muir]] drew attention to similarities between ''Planet of Evil'' and [[Ridley Scott]]'s 1979 film ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]'', in particular the scenario of a spaceship answering a distress call, the crew being gradually killed by a malevolent alien life form, and corpses being ejected into space in metal coffins. Muir hesitated to suggest that ''Alien'' was directly influenced by this story, but considered it significant that ''Doctor Who'' dealt with science fiction themes that became popular later in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Muir|first1=John Kenneth|title=A Critical History of Doctor Who on Television|date=1999|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786437160|page=236|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fSySCgAAQBAJ&q=doctor%20who%20robot%20king%20kong&pg=PA236|chapter=Season 13}}</ref> |
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The Doctor tries to reason with Sorenson: as long as the ore is aboard, the creature will return, and they will be trapped here. If they jettison the canisters, and make their intention to leave empty handed clear, they will be allowed to take off. The Doctor offers to communicate that intention to the creature. Salamar agrees to let him go alone, but launches the tracker to observe him. When the Doctor reaches the pit, the creature rises, engulfing the [[Time Lord]]. He falls into the pool... |
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In 2010, Patrick Mulkern of ''[[Radio Times]]'' awarded the serial four stars out of five and wrote that it "feels original", particularly praising the jungle set and [[David Maloney]]'s direction, as well as Tom Baker's performance.<ref name="Radio Times">{{cite web|first=Patrick|last=Mulkern|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2010-07-07/planet-of-evil|title=Doctor Who: Planet of Evil|work=[[Radio Times]]|date=7 July 2010|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> |
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<hr> |
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The Doctor seemingly dead, Sorenson asks Salamar to take off, but Salamar wants the ore samples removed first. As the two men argue, Sarah slips out of the ship into the jungle. As De Haan and Morelli start to transfer the canisters off, Sorenson sneaks into the quarantine area and takes one away. |
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==Commercial releases== |
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The Doctor continues his seemingly endless fall through darkness, slowing until he is suspended, floating before the gigantic energy creature. When Sarah reaches the pit, she sees the Doctor climbing out, half delirious and falling in and out of consciousness. Vishinsky spots them on the tracker's signal and goes out to get them despite Salamar's protests. In his quarters, Sorenson records his observations on the ore's increase in flux activity, but something is obviously affecting him. He doubles over in pain, and his eyes begin to glow red. He quickly quaffs a solution from a flask, and returns to normal. |
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===In print=== |
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{{Infobox book |
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|name = Doctor Who and The Planet of Evil |
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|image = Doctor Who The Planet of Evil.jpg |
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|caption = |
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|author = [[Terrance Dicks]] |
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|cover_artist = Mike Little |
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|series = ''[[Doctor Who]]'' book:<br />[[List of Doctor Who novelisations|Target novelisations]] |
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|release_number = 47 |
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|release_date = 18 August 1977 |
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|publisher = [[Target Books]] |
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|isbn= 0-426-11682-8 |
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}} |
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A novelisation of this serial, written by [[Terrance Dicks]], was published by [[Target Books]] in July 1977 as ''Doctor Who and the Planet of Evil''. |
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===VHS and DVD release=== |
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The Doctor is placed in the ship's sickbay. When he awakens, the ship is starting to take off, but Sarah assures him that the samples have been jettisoned. The Doctor relaxes, as he had given his word as a Time Lord to whatever was in the pit. The ship's systems start to fail as before, however, and the Doctor realises he still has some antimatter ore in the toffee tin, which he used to survive the pit. Morelli is given the tin to jettison it, but as he turns a corner, he is attacked and drained. The ship has reached free space but drag is still increasing, so the Doctor deduces that there must be antimatter still aboard. |
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''Planet of Evil'' was released on [[VHS]] on 7 February 1994 (alongside the Sylvester McCoy story [[Dragonfire (Doctor Who)|Dragonfire]]), and on [[DVD-Video|DVD]] on 15 October 2007. This serial was also released as part of the [[List of Doctor Who DVD releases#Doctor Who DVD Files (2009–2014)|Doctor Who DVD Files]] in Issue 94 on 8 August 2012. |
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==References== |
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A feral Sorenson drinks another dose of his infusion, and returns to normal. Examining the body in the sickbay, Vishinsky discovers that Morelli was killed the same way, even though the creature could not have gotten on board through the force field. Vishinsky then ejects Morelli's body into space. On Sorenson's advice, Salamar goes to the sickbay and accuses the Doctor once again of causing the deaths and demands they open up the TARDIS or be shot. |
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{{Reflist|refs= |
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<ref name="AllRatings">{{cite web|title=Ratings Guide |url=http://guide.doctorwhonews.net/info.php?detail=ratings&type=date |website=Doctor Who News |access-date=28 May 2017}}</ref> |
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}} |
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==Bibliography== |
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The ship has stopped making any headway altogether, hanging suspended in space despite the thrusters going at full power. The Doctor tells them that they have reached the end of their elastic; it will not stretch any further. In the sickbay, Sarah sees Sorenson double over in pain again, and starts to experience the same sensations she did on Zeta Minor. By the time she recovers, Sorenson is gone. Sarah hears De Haan's dying screams, and goes to investigate, crying out as he sees something feeding on the crewman. Her cry distracts Salamar long enough for the Doctor to punch him and leave the quarantine area. The Doctor reaches Sarah, who describes what she saw, a hybrid creature the Doctor dubs "Anti-Man". |
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* {{cite book |title=The Discontinuity Guide |last1=Cornell |first1=Paul |author-link1=Paul Cornell |last2=Day |first2=Martin |author-link2=Martin Day (writer) |last3=Topping |first3=Keith |author-link3=Keith Topping |chapter-format=reprinted on BBC ''Doctor Who'' website |year=1995 |publisher=[[Virgin Books]] |location=London |isbn=0-426-20442-5 |pages=180–182 |chapter=The Hand of Fear |chapter-url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/planetofevil/detail.shtml |access-date=20 April 2009 |title-link=The Discontinuity Guide}} |
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* [[Peter Haining (author)|Haining, Peter]] ''Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years'' W H Allen (1988) {{ISBN|1-85227-021-7}} |
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==External links== |
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Salamar, recovered from the blow, finds the Doctor and Sarah over De Haan's shrivelled body. Before the Doctor can explain, Salamar shoots him and orders that they be taken to the ejector chamber. In his quarters, Sorenson takes another dose of the formula, but can no longer hold off the transformation. He collapses onto his bed, eyes aglow. |
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{{wikiquote|Fourth Doctor}} |
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*{{BBCCDW | id=planetofevil | title=Planet of Evil}} |
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===Target novelisation=== |
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The Doctor and Sarah are strapped to the ejector trays. Vishinsky protests that they have no evidence to execute them like this, and refuses to obey Salamar's order. In the struggle between the two men, however, the ejection lever is thrown... |
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*{{Isfdb title|id=10623|title=Doctor Who and the Planet of Evil}} |
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<hr> |
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Reig, a crewman on the command deck cries for help over the ship's intercom as he is attacked. Salamar and his men rush out of the sickbay, allowing Vishinsky to reverse the ejector control before he too leaves. They find Reig dead in the same way. Salamar still rants that the Doctor caused this but Vishinsky snaps back that they were with them when Reig's death took place. Vishinsky gives the order for a red alert; he is relieving Salamar of command. |
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Sarah helps the Doctor out of the ejector trays, and tells him about what she felt before De Haan was killed. When the Doctor finds out she was with Sorenson when that happened, he realises that the professor has been infected with antimatter, his brain cells being destroyed and descending to a brutish mental level, creating Anti-Man. He tells Sarah to pass the message to the command deck to seal the hatches and keep Anti-Man isolated. |
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As the Doctor goes deeper into the ship, the section hatchways close. He uses the [[sonic screwdriver]] to enter Sorensen's quarters, finding the canister of antimatter ore. He also finds the bottle of Sorenson's solution, and finds that the liquid reacts with the antimatter. Sorenson, normal once again, enters the room. The Doctor tells him that the solution — an oral vaccine Sorenson believes that will protect him against [[quark|antiquark]] penetration — did protect him for a time. However, it set up a cycle of chemical change, hybridising his tissues to the point where the next change could be the last. He reminds Sorenson that as scientists, they buy their privilege to experiment at the cost of total responsibility. He hands Sorenson the canister; he knows what he must do. |
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On the command deck, Salamar has taken the ship's neutron accelerator. He intends to expose Sorensen to its radiation, even if it means killing them both in the process. Raving, he forces Vishinsky to open the hatch at gunpoint, and goes off to hunt Sorenson down. In the meantime, Sorenson is proceeding to the ejection chamber, intending to jettison himself and the antimatter. Unfortunately, he transforms into Anti-Man again before he can throw the lever. |
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The Doctor finds the chamber empty, and the canister abandoned. The ship continues its acceleration towards Zeta Minor, as there are now two sources of antimatter, the other being Sorensen himself. When he finds out that Salamar is hunting Sorensen with a neutron accelerator, he goes to stop him, telling Vishinsky to keep the hatches open. |
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He is too late. Salamar has found Anti-Man and opens the accelerator's shield. Anti-Man drains Salamar, but the radiation boosts his power. After finding Salamar's body, the Doctor finds himself faced with multiple, semi-transparent Anti-Men, like the creature on the planet, which he dispels by waving the canister of antimatter at them. He reaches the command deck, and tells Vishinsky that Sorensen has multiplied. However, even with the hatches resealed, the Anti-Men are able to burn their way through them. The intercom is filled with the screams of dying men. |
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The ship is 15 minutes from impact. The Doctor takes a pistol and leaves the command deck. He works his way past more Anti-Men until he finds the Sorenson Anti-Man, whom he stuns with the pistol and takes into the TARDIS. He pilots the time ship down to Sector 5 on Zeta Minor, as the Anti-Men start burning though to the command deck. |
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The TARDIS lands in Sector 5, and the Doctor and Anti-Man are locked in a struggle on the edge of the pit. Anti-Man loses his footing and falls in, and the Doctor throws the canister in after him. On the ship, the other Anti-Men fade out of existence, and the ship begins to pull away from Zeta Minor. Unexpectedly, the Doctor finds Sorenson, restored to human form, at the edge of the pit. He takes the professor into the TARDIS and it dematerialises just as the creature rises from the pit. Because the Doctor kept his word, Sorenson was released. |
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The Doctor returns to the ship for Sarah, but before they leave, the Doctor tells the still-suggestible Sorenson that he abandoned his antiquark research for a source of energy derived from the kinetic forces of planetary movement. Sarah hugs Vishinsky good-bye. The Doctor notes they have an appointment in London, and they're already 30,000 years late... |
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==Notes== |
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#The [[Doctor Who spin-offs#Original fiction|spin-off novel]] ''Zeta Major'' by [[Simon Messingham]], part of the [[Past Doctor Adventures]] line, is a sequel to this story. |
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#This was the first story to feature the [[Fourth Doctor]] behind the console of the TARDIS. The TARDIS console room had not been seen on-screen since the [[Third Doctor]] serial ''[[Death to the Daleks]]'' (1974). A new TARDIS console makes its television debut in this story although it was first used in ''[[Pyramids of Mars]]'' which was filmed before ''Planet of Evil''. |
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#The story was inspired by the movie ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'' and [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s novel ''[[The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde]]'' |
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#Despite the jungle setting of this serial, the shoot was entirely studio bound, and designer [[Roger Murray-Leach]] was forced to build an intricately detailed jungle set. The [[BBC]] was so impressed with it that they kept photographs of it for several years as an example of excellent set design. |
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#[[Michael Wisher]] plays Morelli. Wisher appeared in several other ''Doctor Who'' stories in various roles, but is best known for his portrayal of [[Davros]] in ''[[Genesis of the Daleks]]''. |
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==External links== |
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*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/episodeguide/planetofevil/castcrew.shtml Cast and Crew list, on the BBC website] |
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{{Doctor Who episodes|C13}} |
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== References == |
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{{Fourth Doctor stories|selected=Television}} |
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* Cornell P., Day M., Topping K. ''The Discontinuity Guide'' Doctor Who Books (1995) |
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* Haining P. ''Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years'' W H Allen (1988) |
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[[Category:Fourth Doctor serials |
[[Category:Fourth Doctor serials]] |
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[[Category:Doctor Who serials novelised by Terrance Dicks]] |
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[[Category:1975 British television episodes]] |
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[[Category:Fiction set in the 7th millennium or beyond]] |
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Latest revision as of 23:02, 20 November 2024
| 081 – Planet of Evil | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who serial | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
| |||
| Production | |||
| Directed by | David Maloney | ||
| Written by | Louis Marks | ||
| Script editor | Robert Holmes | ||
| Produced by | Philip Hinchcliffe | ||
| Executive producer(s) | None | ||
| Music by | Dudley Simpson | ||
| Production code | 4H | ||
| Series | Season 13 | ||
| Running time | 4 episodes, 25 minutes each | ||
| First broadcast | 27 September 1975 | ||
| Last broadcast | 18 October 1975 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| |||
Planet of Evil is the second serial of the 13th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 27 September to 18 October 1975.
The serial is set on and above the planet Zeta Minor, the last undiscovered planet in the known universe, more than 30,000 years in the future, where the Morestran geologist Sorenson (Frederick Jaeger) seeks to exploit the antimatter minerals on the planet to use as a power source for his own planet. He and the military mission looking for him are attacked by a creature from a universe of anti-matter. The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith arrive on the planet in response to a distress call. They find the geological expedition attacked by an unseen killer, leaving only Professor Sorenson alive.
The plot was inspired by the film Forbidden Planet (1956) and the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), with a focus on antimatter. The jungle setting was realised at Ealing Studios and shot on film.
Plot
[edit]The TARDIS picks up a distress call and the Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith arrive on the planet Zeta Minor. There they discover that a Morestran geological expedition has fallen prey to an unseen killer and only the leader, Professor Sorenson, remains alive.
A military mission from Morestra has also arrived to investigate. At first they suspect the Doctor and Sarah Jane of responsibility for the deaths of the expedition members, but the culprit is eventually revealed to be a creature from a universe of antimatter, retaliating for the removal by Sorenson of some antimatter samples from around the pit that acts as an interface between the two universes.
The Morestrans take off in their ship, but it is slowly dragged back towards the planet due to the antimatter on board. Sorenson himself becomes infected by antimatter and gradually transforms into an 'antiman', a monster capable of draining the life from others.
The Morestran commander, the increasingly unhinged Salamar, attacks Sorenson with a radiation source, but this only causes him to produce multiple anti-matter versions of Sorenson which soon overrun the ship. The Doctor finds the original Sorenson, takes him back to the planet in the TARDIS and throws both him and his samples into the pit, fulfilling a bargain he earlier made with the anti-matter creature. Sorenson reappears unharmed, and the Doctor returns him to the Morestran ship, which is now freed of the planet's influence.
Outside references
[edit]The Doctor quotes from Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, and says that he met William Shakespeare once.[1]
Production
[edit]The plot was deliberately conceived by Philip Hinchcliffe, Robert Holmes and Louis Marks as a mixture of the film Forbidden Planet (1956) and the novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). In addition, Marks had been reading science magazine articles about antimatter, and decided to write a story incorporating the subject. Hinchcliffe, in the first season in which he could commission new material, planned to move away from the "rubber-suited alien" theme, which he felt was clichéd. For this story he proposed having three separate monstrous elements: Sorenson's transformation, the anti-matter monster and finally the planet itself, said by Sorenson in episode one to be conscious of his group's motives.[2]
Despite the jungle setting of this serial, the shoot was entirely studio bound, and designer Roger Murray-Leach built an intricately detailed jungle set at Ealing Studios, which director David Maloney shot on film.[3] The BBC was so impressed with it that they kept photographs of it for several years as an example of excellent set design and producer Philip Hinchcliffe recommended that he be nominated for an award for this work.[4]
The original script had Sorenson dying after falling into the pit, but Hinchcliffe ordered that this be changed, as he felt it would too grim an ending for "the little ones" (i.e. children), and because he saw Sorenson as a victim of the planet's influence rather than an evil man in himself.[5] Instead, a scene was added in which Sorenson is released from the pit and cured of his anti-matter contamination.
The most visible reference to Forbidden Planet is the anti-matter monster (Mike Lee Lane), which is sometimes invisible and otherwise is seen as red outlines. It bears a close resemblance to the film's "Creature from the Id". The monster is invisible in the filmed sections of the serial (where a wind machine was used to show its progress), and as outlines in the video sections (created with Colour Separation Overlay).
Cast notes
[edit]This is the final appearance by Michael Wisher in Doctor Who. Prentis Hancock made his third appearance, having previously appeared in Spearhead from Space (1970) and Planet of the Daleks (1973). He would later appear in The Ribos Operation (1978). Frederick Jaeger (Professor Sorenson) and Ewen Solon (Vishinsky) both previously appeared in The Savages (1966), in which they played Jano and Chal, respectively. Jaeger would later appear in 1977's The Invisible Enemy as Professor Marius, creator of the robot dog K-9. Louis Mahoney (Ponti) had previously appeared in Frontier in Space (1973) and would later appear in "Blink" (2007). Graham Weston (De Haan) had also previously appeared in Patrick Troughton's final serial The War Games (1969).
Broadcast and reception
[edit]| Episode | Title | Run time | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Part One" | 24:02 | 27 September 1975 | 10.4 |
| 2 | "Part Two" | 22:30 | 4 October 1975 | 9.9 |
| 3 | "Part Three" | 23:50 | 11 October 1975 | 9.1 |
| 4 | "Part Four" | 23:43 | 18 October 1975 | 10.1 |
The story was repeated across four consecutive evenings on BBC1 from 5–8 July 1976, with a start time varying between 6:20 pm and 6:35 pm. It was the first story since Spearhead from Space to be repeated in its entirety on BBC TV and the first ever to be stripped across consecutive evenings.[7] The viewing figures were 5.0, 5.0, 4.3 & 3.9 million viewers, respectively.[8]
Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping wrote of the serial in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), "For an eight-year old, this was the most terrifying slice of Who. Now it seems a little ordinary, a simple reworking of classic themes. It is unfortunate that the detailed jungle set is in such sharp contrast to the (cheap) minimalism of the Morestran spaceship."[1] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker described Planet of Evil as "a wonderfully creepy story" with the borrowing of material from Jekyll and Hyde "done with such style and panache that the viewer, far from complaining about a lack of originality, delights in spotting all the familiar sources to which the writer and the production team are paying homage." They also noted that the antimatter monster, depicted only as a shimmering red outline, was "in all but name, the Id monster from the 1956 MGM feature film Forbidden Planet." Howe and Walker also praised the jungle set and the performances of Frederick Jaeger and Ewen Solon, but criticised Prentis Hancock's "poor" portrayal of Salamar.[9]
Ray Dexter's assessment of Planet of Evil also acknowledged the influence of the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, which inspired the writers to include an invisible, murderous monster, as well as elements of Jekyll and Hyde.[10] Reviewing the serial in 1999, literary critic John Kenneth Muir drew attention to similarities between Planet of Evil and Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien, in particular the scenario of a spaceship answering a distress call, the crew being gradually killed by a malevolent alien life form, and corpses being ejected into space in metal coffins. Muir hesitated to suggest that Alien was directly influenced by this story, but considered it significant that Doctor Who dealt with science fiction themes that became popular later in the 1970s.[11]
In 2010, Patrick Mulkern of Radio Times awarded the serial four stars out of five and wrote that it "feels original", particularly praising the jungle set and David Maloney's direction, as well as Tom Baker's performance.[12]
Commercial releases
[edit]In print
[edit] | |
| Author | Terrance Dicks |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Mike Little |
| Series | Doctor Who book: Target novelisations |
Release number | 47 |
| Publisher | Target Books |
Publication date | 18 August 1977 |
| ISBN | 0-426-11682-8 |
A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in July 1977 as Doctor Who and the Planet of Evil.
VHS and DVD release
[edit]Planet of Evil was released on VHS on 7 February 1994 (alongside the Sylvester McCoy story Dragonfire), and on DVD on 15 October 2007. This serial was also released as part of the Doctor Who DVD Files in Issue 94 on 8 August 2012.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Cornell, Paul; Day, Martin; Topping, Keith (1995). "Planet of Evil". The Discontinuity Guide. London: Virgin Books. pp. 180–183. ISBN 0-426-20442-5.
- ^ "A Darker Side" documentary on the making of the serial (BBC DVD 1814)
- ^ David J. Howe, Mark Stammers, Stephen Walker. Doctor Who: The Seventies. p. 91. ISBN 978-1852274443
- ^ "A Darker Side" documentary on the making of the serial (BBC DVD 1814)
- ^ "A Darker Side"
- ^ "Ratings Guide". Doctor Who News. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- ^ "Search Results – BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ doctorwhonews.net. "Doctor Who Guide: broadcasting for Planet of Evil".
- ^ Howe, David J & Walker, Stephen James (1998). Doctor Who: The Television Companion (1st ed.). London: BBC Books. ISBN 978-0-563-40588-7.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Dexter, Ray (2015). Doctor Who Episode By Episode: Volume 4 – Tom Baker. Lulu Press, Inc. ISBN 9781326315566.
- ^ Muir, John Kenneth (1999). "Season 13". A Critical History of Doctor Who on Television. McFarland. p. 236. ISBN 9780786437160.
- ^ Mulkern, Patrick (7 July 2010). "Doctor Who: Planet of Evil". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
Bibliography
[edit]- Cornell, Paul; Day, Martin; Topping, Keith (1995). "The Hand of Fear" (reprinted on BBC Doctor Who website). The Discontinuity Guide. London: Virgin Books. pp. 180–182. ISBN 0-426-20442-5. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
- Haining, Peter Doctor Who: 25 Glorious Years W H Allen (1988) ISBN 1-85227-021-7
External links
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Fourth Doctor.
Target novelisation
[edit]- Doctor Who and the Planet of Evil title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database