Saturday 11 April 2009

Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead

Doctor Who's never-ending fourth series continues throughout this year -- they're consistently dubbed The 2009 Specials, and I'm sure will be on DVD, but as Series 5 begins in early 2010 and these are referred to by the production as 4.14 to 4.18, I suppose they do remain part of Series 4 -- and this Easter special is supposedly the last chance for a romp before the run up to Tennant's departure at Christmas/New Year. It's also the first Who shot in HD -- oo-ooh.

Anyway, what of the episode itself? Very entertaining, with a good mix of styles and a suitably epic feel. The concept of creating something with enough meat to tide you over 'til there's more at Christmas was a good one as this hour pulls it off as well as it was likely to. Trapping a bunch of Ordinary People in a vehicle seems to be a favourite trope of Davies', but that's because it works; it's just a shame there wasn't an extra ten or fifteen minutes to flesh them all out more.

The final moments, hinting at the darkness to come, were very well handled, whetting the appetite but not overdoing it and ruining this episode. And the trailer for the next special looks fantastic -- The Waters of Mars has to be the best title since The Empty Child! I'm counting down to November already.

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