ALARIS' REVIEWS

28th June 2009
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009)

I wasn't planning to review the Doctor Who Easter special because, frankly, I had no desire to relive the experience. However, when I saw the DVD for sale, I felt it was my civic duty to make mention of it in case anyone who hadn't already seen the episode was thinking of spending good money on it.

I'm a fan of the Doctor Who TV series, and I can be very forgiving of repetitive musings on Neanderthal politics, or cheesy theatrics on a micro budget. What I do not forgive is a half hearted, clichéd mish mash of illogical events and annoying characters engaged in unconvincing dialogue and insultingly foolish actions.

Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead introduces us to Lady Christina de Souza, an irritatingly smug cat burglar on the run from ridiculously incompetent security guards and police. Somehow - and it doesn't seem to matter how - she becomes in instant love interest for the Doctor after their bus plunges through a dimensional portal and onto a seemingly empty desert world.

Unfortunately, if there was a plot, the writers lose it early on, and the story feels increasingly like a grab bag of nonsensical ideas which could only sound good to a desperate writer suffering from hypoxia on the morning that the script is due.

The characters are drawn in strokes so broad you could have used a shovel, and by the end of the special, Planet of the Dead has usurped The Doctor's Daughter as the worst episode of Doctor Who I've ever seen. While The Doctor's Daughter at least has a mildly interesting concept towards the end, Planet of the Dead has even less to redeem it.

Verdict: An appallingly plotted, lazily written special that lets down the actors, the production team, and the audience.

If you like The Doctor's Daughter, you might like this.