The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Tenth Planet
The Tenth Planet - Part One (08/10/06)
Wow! What a fantastic episode! Granted, it was a bit confusing to being with but the last five minutes were amazing! The TARDIS has landed at the South Pole in December 1986 and the Doctor, Polly and Ben have been taken into a tracking station there. A shuttle orbiting Earth has run into a few problems and a new planet has appeared looking like an inverted Earth. The Doctor knows what's going on but isn't giving anything much away yet, but the aliens have just landed and look a bit like robots but with Human hands!
The episode was very striking due to the number of nationalities presented: Australians, Americans (Black and White), British, German, Italian. And although Polly and Ben didn't play much of a part in the episode, they were still on screen a fair bit and both looked well fit. There's some newly designed, computer-style captions and end credits, too (like The War Machines) which contrast wonderfully with the regular credits of The Smugglers. The only fault is that the story's only just starting to kick in - good thing, I guess, as this means I can't wait til next week!
The Tenth Planet - Part Two (15/10/06)
Another good, if occasionally confused episode. Polly, and especially Ben, had more to do this week, Ben being locked up by the visiting aliens - Cybermen (cool name!) - for trying to overpower them with a gun. He subsequently overpowered them with a projector and one of their own guns.
Polly and the Doctor had some good speeches concerning the value of emotions (as the Cybermen, who used to be Human, have got rid of theirs). The astronauts were killed when their shuttle was pulled apart by Mondas' (the new planet) gravity and now Geneva have sent up General Cutler's son. The Cybermen were killed when Ben turned up with their gun (that he'd unwillingly used on his guard) but now an entire fleet is on the way.
Aside from some of the dialogue being difficult to follow at times as everyone was talking at once, my only other criticism is that the action is taking place in one control room making the setting appear quite dull. Ben, however, is wearing a dark polo-neck under a light v-neck sweater that looks rather good. Might try that myself this week. Nevertheless, a pretty good story.
The Tenth Planet - Part Three (22/10/06)
What a very dull episode. Bill Hartnell took a holiday again, the Doctor fainting at the start of the episode and the rest of it was men standing around talking. Ben got to do a bit of sabotage, and he and Polly had one or two good lines but the plot has ground to a halt.
More Cybermen arrived but were disposed of by their scout party's guns before anything could happen. It's a shame because the idea's a good one. It's just really poorly scripted. We've seen the monsters for less than one episode out of three and there just appears to be nothing for the regular cast to do but wait for some lunatic who shouldn't be in charge if he can't make logical, detached decisions to send off a rocket to blow up Mondas and possibly the Earth too!
Hoping this is a six parter that actually kicks off next week cuz it definitely feels like this episode was nothing but pointless filler.
The Tenth Planet - Part Four (29/10/06)
A much better, faster paced episode this week, but something's happened to the Doctor!
First things first, though. A very good Ben episode; he's the one that figured out how to defeat the Cybermen. General Cutler went a bit nuts when it looked like his son had died, but was killed by another group of Cybermen who turned up just in time to stop him killing the Doctor (who's awake now). Polly got taken prisoner - not much for her to do, but at least she had a role to play - then the Doctor was taken prisoner too.
Mondas absorbed too much energy and melted, killing the remaining Cybermen, then Ben went to help the Doctor and Polly. The Doctor was acting a bit strange - he'd fainted - and returned to the TARDIS. Polly and Ben got there to find him unconscious, then his face seemed to glow and change! I've no idea what's happened to him - could be something to do with the Cybermen. He said earlier in the episode something about being tired. Very odd - no doubt I'll find out what's going on next week. If only the rest of the story had been as good as this!
Wow! What a fantastic episode! Granted, it was a bit confusing to being with but the last five minutes were amazing! The TARDIS has landed at the South Pole in December 1986 and the Doctor, Polly and Ben have been taken into a tracking station there. A shuttle orbiting Earth has run into a few problems and a new planet has appeared looking like an inverted Earth. The Doctor knows what's going on but isn't giving anything much away yet, but the aliens have just landed and look a bit like robots but with Human hands!
The episode was very striking due to the number of nationalities presented: Australians, Americans (Black and White), British, German, Italian. And although Polly and Ben didn't play much of a part in the episode, they were still on screen a fair bit and both looked well fit. There's some newly designed, computer-style captions and end credits, too (like The War Machines) which contrast wonderfully with the regular credits of The Smugglers. The only fault is that the story's only just starting to kick in - good thing, I guess, as this means I can't wait til next week!
The Tenth Planet - Part Two (15/10/06)
Another good, if occasionally confused episode. Polly, and especially Ben, had more to do this week, Ben being locked up by the visiting aliens - Cybermen (cool name!) - for trying to overpower them with a gun. He subsequently overpowered them with a projector and one of their own guns.
Polly and the Doctor had some good speeches concerning the value of emotions (as the Cybermen, who used to be Human, have got rid of theirs). The astronauts were killed when their shuttle was pulled apart by Mondas' (the new planet) gravity and now Geneva have sent up General Cutler's son. The Cybermen were killed when Ben turned up with their gun (that he'd unwillingly used on his guard) but now an entire fleet is on the way.
Aside from some of the dialogue being difficult to follow at times as everyone was talking at once, my only other criticism is that the action is taking place in one control room making the setting appear quite dull. Ben, however, is wearing a dark polo-neck under a light v-neck sweater that looks rather good. Might try that myself this week. Nevertheless, a pretty good story.
The Tenth Planet - Part Three (22/10/06)
What a very dull episode. Bill Hartnell took a holiday again, the Doctor fainting at the start of the episode and the rest of it was men standing around talking. Ben got to do a bit of sabotage, and he and Polly had one or two good lines but the plot has ground to a halt.
More Cybermen arrived but were disposed of by their scout party's guns before anything could happen. It's a shame because the idea's a good one. It's just really poorly scripted. We've seen the monsters for less than one episode out of three and there just appears to be nothing for the regular cast to do but wait for some lunatic who shouldn't be in charge if he can't make logical, detached decisions to send off a rocket to blow up Mondas and possibly the Earth too!
Hoping this is a six parter that actually kicks off next week cuz it definitely feels like this episode was nothing but pointless filler.
The Tenth Planet - Part Four (29/10/06)
A much better, faster paced episode this week, but something's happened to the Doctor!
First things first, though. A very good Ben episode; he's the one that figured out how to defeat the Cybermen. General Cutler went a bit nuts when it looked like his son had died, but was killed by another group of Cybermen who turned up just in time to stop him killing the Doctor (who's awake now). Polly got taken prisoner - not much for her to do, but at least she had a role to play - then the Doctor was taken prisoner too.
Mondas absorbed too much energy and melted, killing the remaining Cybermen, then Ben went to help the Doctor and Polly. The Doctor was acting a bit strange - he'd fainted - and returned to the TARDIS. Polly and Ben got there to find him unconscious, then his face seemed to glow and change! I've no idea what's happened to him - could be something to do with the Cybermen. He said earlier in the episode something about being tired. Very odd - no doubt I'll find out what's going on next week. If only the rest of the story had been as good as this!
I love the conceit of you not knowing what's happened to the Doctor ;)
ReplyDeleteYou're right that although this story is (well) remembered for the regeneration and the introduction of the Cybermen, it's actually pretty pants: uneven, repetitive and with very poor parts for the new companions. Ben comes out of it better for actually being given something to do, but this is the first of several instances of Polly being pushed into the background. Which is annoying generally, but also because in William Hartnell's absence they could (and should) have divvied up the action better to give both companions a slice of the action, rather than having Ben retain his already scripted parts and share the burden of Hartnell's role.
On the plus side, the story is nicely designed and the Arctic landscape amazingly well created for a tiny studio. It's also nice for the mixed cast (albeit all men) of characters.
Oh, but it's one of those stories where you REALLY don't want to give the plot any thought whatsoever it's so flimsy and stretches credulity so much.
I approached the stories as if I didn't have any prior knowledge of what was going on, so I looked at each as having the possibility to be four or six parts long and based my reactions on any regulars leaving on how well they were signposted. Episode three, here, really did feel like padding in a six part story as the plot ground to a halt and nothing interesting happened, and the Doctor's regeneration comes right out of left field with little indication it's going to happen aside from his absence in part three and some vague dialogue about being tired.
DeleteGiven that Polly and Ben are my favourite two companions of the Sixties, they really did get sidelined a hell of a lot, but when the were good they were amazing. It's just a shame that in only their third story the writers are giving very little thought as to their characters and role on the show. It feels very much like the story idea came first and Pedler and Davis couldn't think of a way of fitting the regular cast in. They just turn up and events happen around them. Not the auspicious swansong I would have liked for my favourite Doctor!
Yep, it's arguably one of those stories where the whole thing would have played out exactly the same had the Doctor & co. not even turned up.
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