The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: Planet Of Giants - Crisis
Doctor Who - Planet Of Giants (31/10/04)
Well, it's been quite a few weeks since we left Paris and the new series has got off to a great start! Hartnell in particular seems to be having a whale of a time, taking control and delivering his lines with a cheerful and naturalistic air. TARDIS has landed between some paving slabs in someone's back garden and the team spent quite a while figuring out they'd shrunk to "about the size of an inch" as they explored their surroundings, a surprise slightly ruined by the episode title.
However, this isn't actually a Planet Of Giants as it's really Earth and everyone got shrunk because the doors opened before TARDIS had landed; something to do with 'space pressure'. Ian and Susan encountered some brilliant giant ants while the Doctor and Barbara encountered a less exciting earthworm. But everything is dead! Turns out this is likely due to the owner of the house, Forester. He's a businessman and has a scientist working on DN6, a new insecticide. Unfortunately, Farrow (the bloke in charge of deciding whether it goes into production or not) has said no, it's too indiscriminate. So, in one of the show's greatest WTF moments so far, Forester has shot him dead.
Most of the design for this is fantastic - the ants, a bee, the matchbox. Some of the backdrops are a bit below par but otherwise it looks stunning! As I said, Hartnell is brilliant this week. Annoyingly, after a pretty good start, Susan got hysterical - again - when Ian hid in a matchbox and got taken to the house by Farrow. This was a bit of a let down as Farrow then had to put the matchbox down on the ground for plot purposes when realistically he'd've pocketed it. And why did he leave his briefcase and a box of matches on the ground down at the bottom of Forester's garden anyway if he was visiting to tell the man his project was scuppered? Otherwise, this has been a great start to the new series, replete with a great big cliffhanging cat!
Doctor Who - Dangerous Journey (07/11/04)
Ian and Barbara spent a lot of time to-ing and fro-ing to hide in the briefcase this week, and Barbara (in another WTF moment) has touched grain laced with DN6 and hasn't bothered mentioning it to Ian. They're both in Forester's laboratory after hiding in the briefcase when he brought his colleague, scientist Smithers, out to show him Farrow's body and try and con him into believing Farrow pulled a gun on him and was shot in a struggle. Smithers didn't believe him, but doesn't care as he's only interested in getting DN6 out there so he can be known as the man who ended famine (and all insect and invertebrate life on Earth, no doubt).
More fantastic effects and design including a really cool, moving giant fly!!! It landed on a cork behind Barbara and made her faint, then landed on the grain she'd just touched and died. Maybe Barbara's okay, because the fly died instantly and Barbara didn't, but I doubt it's that simple. Anyway, the Doctor and Susan climbed up a drainpipe and into the laboratory sink to rescue the others. Susan was much better this week, and the gap between series seems to have done Hartnell the world of good! He was jetting about again this week and seemed much younger than he has done in the past! Maybe it's his new (red?) cloak! The sink set is amazing. Ian and Barbara were going to climb down and escape but Forester and Smithers walked in so they ran back to the briefcase. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Susan climbed back down the drain, but Smithers washed his hands and now he's pulled the plug!
The DN6 plot is okay, but the stuff with Barbara is a bit daft, and despite the plot travelling at a crawl I can't see it lasting four weeks! It's nevertheless a great story just for the sets and the concept, and to see the Doctor running around enjoying himself. He's really become quite likeable this series! I hope he stays this way.
Doctor Who - Crisis (14/11/04)
The plot picked up this week resulting in a speedy conclusion. Barbara finally confessed to having touched some DN6, but only after she'd passed out and the Doctor saw it on her hands. They ended up going back to the ship, but not before doing their best to cause trouble for Forester. First they stuck some corks under the phone handset so they could try and get the operator to call the police, which was very daft because they already knew that they couldn't communicate with anyone. There was something quite perverse about the Doctor, Susan and Ian shouting "PUT - US - THROUGH - TO - POLICE!!!" at a giant phone!
Luckily, the operator wasn't an idiot and Forester quite definitely was. In an earlier conversation when he rang Whitehall pretending to be Farrow clearing DN6 for production, Forester used his own voice to ask to be put through and then his own voice with a hankie over the mouthpiece when he was 'impersonating' Farrow. Later, when he found the corks holding up the receiver, replaced it and answered a call from Hilda the Operator (who was suspicious and wondering what was going on) he again used his own voice and pulled the same trick when she asked to speak to Farrow. Hilda's no fool - "You see! It's the same man!" - so she sent her mate, Burt the Local Bobby, to investigate. He got there just as an aerosol the Doctor's lot had sat in front of a burning gas tap blew up in Forester's face and Smithers realised DN6 was killing everything in his garden. Then the Doctor et al. hightailed it back to TARDIS with a seed and left, watching the seed shrink to normal size just as Barbara recovered from her poisoning.
Not a bad story, but Forester has to be the most incompetent villain the show has seen so far! This one was clearly all about the spectacle rather than the plot, and that's fine because it looked great with some stunning up-scales of sinks, ants, notebooks and telephones. Not to mention that fly last week! And Hartnell is having a great time as the Doctor which is making him much more accessible and likeable than in the first series. It bodes well for the season ahead!
Well, it's been quite a few weeks since we left Paris and the new series has got off to a great start! Hartnell in particular seems to be having a whale of a time, taking control and delivering his lines with a cheerful and naturalistic air. TARDIS has landed between some paving slabs in someone's back garden and the team spent quite a while figuring out they'd shrunk to "about the size of an inch" as they explored their surroundings, a surprise slightly ruined by the episode title.
However, this isn't actually a Planet Of Giants as it's really Earth and everyone got shrunk because the doors opened before TARDIS had landed; something to do with 'space pressure'. Ian and Susan encountered some brilliant giant ants while the Doctor and Barbara encountered a less exciting earthworm. But everything is dead! Turns out this is likely due to the owner of the house, Forester. He's a businessman and has a scientist working on DN6, a new insecticide. Unfortunately, Farrow (the bloke in charge of deciding whether it goes into production or not) has said no, it's too indiscriminate. So, in one of the show's greatest WTF moments so far, Forester has shot him dead.
Most of the design for this is fantastic - the ants, a bee, the matchbox. Some of the backdrops are a bit below par but otherwise it looks stunning! As I said, Hartnell is brilliant this week. Annoyingly, after a pretty good start, Susan got hysterical - again - when Ian hid in a matchbox and got taken to the house by Farrow. This was a bit of a let down as Farrow then had to put the matchbox down on the ground for plot purposes when realistically he'd've pocketed it. And why did he leave his briefcase and a box of matches on the ground down at the bottom of Forester's garden anyway if he was visiting to tell the man his project was scuppered? Otherwise, this has been a great start to the new series, replete with a great big cliffhanging cat!
Doctor Who - Dangerous Journey (07/11/04)
Ian and Barbara spent a lot of time to-ing and fro-ing to hide in the briefcase this week, and Barbara (in another WTF moment) has touched grain laced with DN6 and hasn't bothered mentioning it to Ian. They're both in Forester's laboratory after hiding in the briefcase when he brought his colleague, scientist Smithers, out to show him Farrow's body and try and con him into believing Farrow pulled a gun on him and was shot in a struggle. Smithers didn't believe him, but doesn't care as he's only interested in getting DN6 out there so he can be known as the man who ended famine (and all insect and invertebrate life on Earth, no doubt).
More fantastic effects and design including a really cool, moving giant fly!!! It landed on a cork behind Barbara and made her faint, then landed on the grain she'd just touched and died. Maybe Barbara's okay, because the fly died instantly and Barbara didn't, but I doubt it's that simple. Anyway, the Doctor and Susan climbed up a drainpipe and into the laboratory sink to rescue the others. Susan was much better this week, and the gap between series seems to have done Hartnell the world of good! He was jetting about again this week and seemed much younger than he has done in the past! Maybe it's his new (red?) cloak! The sink set is amazing. Ian and Barbara were going to climb down and escape but Forester and Smithers walked in so they ran back to the briefcase. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Susan climbed back down the drain, but Smithers washed his hands and now he's pulled the plug!
The DN6 plot is okay, but the stuff with Barbara is a bit daft, and despite the plot travelling at a crawl I can't see it lasting four weeks! It's nevertheless a great story just for the sets and the concept, and to see the Doctor running around enjoying himself. He's really become quite likeable this series! I hope he stays this way.
Doctor Who - Crisis (14/11/04)
The plot picked up this week resulting in a speedy conclusion. Barbara finally confessed to having touched some DN6, but only after she'd passed out and the Doctor saw it on her hands. They ended up going back to the ship, but not before doing their best to cause trouble for Forester. First they stuck some corks under the phone handset so they could try and get the operator to call the police, which was very daft because they already knew that they couldn't communicate with anyone. There was something quite perverse about the Doctor, Susan and Ian shouting "PUT - US - THROUGH - TO - POLICE!!!" at a giant phone!
Luckily, the operator wasn't an idiot and Forester quite definitely was. In an earlier conversation when he rang Whitehall pretending to be Farrow clearing DN6 for production, Forester used his own voice to ask to be put through and then his own voice with a hankie over the mouthpiece when he was 'impersonating' Farrow. Later, when he found the corks holding up the receiver, replaced it and answered a call from Hilda the Operator (who was suspicious and wondering what was going on) he again used his own voice and pulled the same trick when she asked to speak to Farrow. Hilda's no fool - "You see! It's the same man!" - so she sent her mate, Burt the Local Bobby, to investigate. He got there just as an aerosol the Doctor's lot had sat in front of a burning gas tap blew up in Forester's face and Smithers realised DN6 was killing everything in his garden. Then the Doctor et al. hightailed it back to TARDIS with a seed and left, watching the seed shrink to normal size just as Barbara recovered from her poisoning.
Not a bad story, but Forester has to be the most incompetent villain the show has seen so far! This one was clearly all about the spectacle rather than the plot, and that's fine because it looked great with some stunning up-scales of sinks, ants, notebooks and telephones. Not to mention that fly last week! And Hartnell is having a great time as the Doctor which is making him much more accessible and likeable than in the first series. It bodes well for the season ahead!
One thing you can never accuse the early years of the show of is being conventional or unafraid to try stuff it didn't have anywhere near the budget to do, but equally no fear about giving it a go. And actually this is done amazingly well, all things considered. Plus it has an environmental message - it's way ahead of its time in lots of ways.
ReplyDeleteAs rubbish as the story gets at some points, it really does have a hell of a lot to say. Like you point out, the environmental message is so important and forward thinking. It's something which the show would always feature, challenging the establishment and pushing an ecologically and environmentally aware stance. The sets and props here are also incredibly well done - people often cite the fly, but the ants and the bee in the first episode are also incredibly well done. The second season opener often gets overlooked, but as you say, it isn't afraid to push the boundaries, try new ideas and be experimental. This is what I love about the Hartnell years and what propels it far above the likes of the Hinchcliffe era which had its own style but was incredibly samey in a way that the show in the 60s very rarely was.
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