DOCTOR WHO:  PLANET OF EVIL

commentary by Judy Harris

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#7:  PLANET OF EVIL (4 Parts)	
ORIGINALLY AIRED:  9/27/75 to 10/18/75
WRITTEN BY:  Louis Marks	
DIRECTED BY:  David Maloney
PRODUCER:  Philip Hinchcliffe	
SCRIPT EDITOR:  Robert Holmes

On its way from Loch Ness to London, the TARDIS comes out of a time vortex at the wrong point, a few years too late--30,000 years. The Doctor and Sarah pick up a distress call and make an emergency materialization on an unknown planet, which turns out to be Zeta Minor, "on the edge of the known universe." The Doctor says of the distress beacon: "It is a weak signal, allowing for the refractive interference from the time warp."

Zeta Minor is the site of a geological expedition to prove the theory of a Morestran scientist named Professor Sorensen. His original party of 8 has been killed off one by one by an unseen something, and Sorensen is now deranged and paranoid. He feels the planet itself is alive. "It watches every move we make," he says.

The production staff really outdid themselves for the Zeta Minor set, which is an almost surrealistic jungle, wonderfully detailed with flora and swamp. It looked especially creepy in the filmed sequences.

On the way to the Morestran base camp, the approach of some invisible creature is heralded by an eerie rattling sound. Sarah stops dead in her tracks. When the Doctor goes back to find out what's wrong, she says she feels odd, as if her mind left her body.

The Doctor and Sarah arrive at the base camp and find some desiccated bodies. They assume they're months too late. The Doctor gives Sarah the key to the TARDIS and sends her back to fetch his spectromixer, so the Doctor can fix their position by a star; the Doctor stays behind to get the power going.

Meantime, a Morestran probe ship has arrived to investigate the Sorensen expedition. It is headed by Salamar, an inexperienced Controller, and his more seasoned crewmate Vishinsky. The miniature of the Morestran ship is a very obvious model. Inside it is also less than realistic, being very large with a lot of empty space and seats that are not locked down. A typical TV idea of the inside of a spaceship, totally unlike the tiny, cramped real thing.

The Morestrans land on Zeta Minor and discover the TARDIS. With Sarah inside, they lock it and transpose it to a quarantine berth on their ship. When Sarah exits the TARDIS she finds she can't breathe. Salamar orders a transflow of oxygen to the quarantine area for her.

The Morestran landing party has joined up with Sorensen and discover the Doctor back at the base, with the bodies of the latest victims. Since they can't find any other life forms around, they assume the Doctor and Sarah are the killers and lock them up. Although the windows are magnetically locked, the Doctor and Sarah are able to open one because the power is low at the base camp. They escape just as a Morestran guard is killed, and we see the creature for the first time.

It is outlined all in red and appears almost a negative image; it is huge. Once again Sarah feels as if she's being drawn from her body. When she and the Doctor see what happens to the Morestran guard, Sarah says it's as if the creature actually sucks life. In order to save the difficulty of having to show what happens when the creature kills, the special effects consist of the actor simply disappearing to be replaced by a dummy wearing the same costume.

Salamar orders the launching of the oculoid tracker, a surveillance device; the sequence in which it trails the Doctor and locates him is very well done.

The Morestran bioanalysis of the dead guard shows the cause of death is total dehydration caused by a complete extraction of bodily fluid from tissues; as Salamar puts it, "a very rapid form of freeze drying."

Dawn arrives on Zeta Minor; the Doctor quotes Shakespeare to announce the fact and tells Sarah he met Shakespeare: "Charming fellow. Dreadful actor."

Salamar orders that Sorensen's mineral samples be loaded on board the ship; the Professor wants to return immediately with the refined ore, but Salamar won't go. His manual says hostile alien forces must be sought out, so he wants to deal with the Doctor and Sarah.

They have discovered a pool where there is no reflection. The oculoid tracker follows them there, and the Doctor and Sarah are captured. A Morestran falls into the pit and the Doctor hisses: "You're tampering with the balance of nature on this planet in ways you don't understand. It may already be too late."

Back on the ship, the Doctor tells the Morestrans that Zeta Minor is the boundary to another universe the antithesis of our universe--in other words, antimatter. When he learns Sorensen's mineral samples are on board, he warns: "You can't take any part of this planet with you."

Back at the quarantine area, Sarah returns the TARDIS key to the Doctor. He opens a canister of Sorensen's mineral samples and puts some refined antimatter into an empty tin of Farrah's Original Harrogate Toffee, which he had in his pocket.

When the Morestran ship starts to depart, the antimatter creature appears outside. The Doctor rushes to the control room and recommends linking the forcefield barrier to the atomic accelerator. This prevents the creature from getting in, but the ship is still unable to leave the planet.

The sequence of the antimatter creature being repelled by the forcefield strongly resembles a similar sequence in FORBIDDEN PLANET, especially since the antimatter creature is outlined in red as was the monster from the Id in that classic 1950s film.

Warning the Morestrans: "You're tampering with hideously dangerous forces," the Doctor volunteers to act as a go between to communicate with the creature. "I'm not entirely without influence," he states.

The Morestrans keep Sarah as hostage, while the Doctor exits. "Doctor," she calls to him. "Yes, I know," he smiles, "I'll take care." The Doctor heads for the pit, which is the vortex between this universe and the next. Before Sarah's horrified eyes, via a linkup by the oculoid tracker, the Doctor falls into the pit.

During an argument between Salamar and Sorensen over removing the Professor's mineral samples, Sarah sneaks off the ship and helps the Doctor out of the pit. He babbles that Vanderbilt's equations are "quite wrong" and passes out. Vishinsky rescues the Doctor and moves him to sickbay.

Sorensen sneaks some of his ore into his cabin while the rest of the canisters are removed. Suddenly Sorensen has a kind of fit. His eyeballs disappear to be replaced by empty red holes. He drinks a smokey oral vaccine out of a thermos and returns to normal.

The Doctor revives and tells Sarah he's given his promise as a Time Lord to the creature that no antimatter will be taken from Zeta Minor. However, he's still got his toffee tin of it, so rushes to the control room as the ship is again unable to take off. Morelli is ordered to jettison the Doctor's antimatter, but is killed on the way; another crewman sees an animal-like form bending over the desiccated body.

The Doctor lectures the Morestrans: "Antimatter in collision with matter causes radiation annihilation; a release of energy more powerful than nuclear fission." If they don't get rid of all the antimatter on board, they will be vaporized.

Professor Sorensen, now hairy and toothy, returns to his cabin. He drinks more of his liquid serum and returns again to normal.

The Doctor deduces someone on board is contaminated. He has another argument with Sorensen about his theory and tells him: "There is no practical method of exploiting antiquark energy."

The Morestran ship is now stationary in space, although their thrusters are on maximum. The Doctor explains: "You've come to the end of your piece of elastic." Soon the ship will be drawn back to the planet and cause a catastrophic explosion.

Sorensen becomes ill while guarding Sarah; she again feels drawn out of her body, while Sorensen slopes off and kills another crewman.

Gun in hand, Salamar demands to see inside the Doctor's machine. The Doctor replies, "Usually I only entertain friends in the TARDIS." Sarah catches a glimpse of the transformed Sorensen and screams; the Doctor uses this diversion to knock out Salamar.

When the Doctor sees the latest victim, he theorizes the contaminated person is "Antiman, a hybrid creature running amok."

Salamar revives and shoots the Doctor. He puts the Doctor and Sarah in the tubes used to eject corpses into the vacuum of space. Vishinsky fights Salamar and saves them; Vishinsky then assumes command.

Sorensen drinks more of his serum and changes back, but he spills the rest and transforms into Antiman again. Sarah tells the Doctor she felt the "same sort of icy suction" in the presence of the Professor, so the Doctor knows Sorensen is Antiman. "He's been infected with antimatter. His brain cells are being destroyed. He'll descend to the level of a brute."

After telling Vishinsky to shut down the hatches to keep Antiman isolated, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to enter Sorensen's cabin. There he discovers a canister of antimatter and the remains of Sorenson's serum, an "oral vaccine to protect against antiquark penetration."

Sorensen returns to his cabin and the Doctor explains how the serum "set up a cycle of change. You've reached a point where your tissues are so monstrously hybridized that the next metabolic change could be the final one." Sorensen tries to tell the Doctor it is under control, but the Doctor responds: "You and I are scientists, Professor. We buy our privilege to experiment at the cost of total responsibility."

The Doctor gives Sorensen the antimatter canister. The Professor, finally admitting his hypothesis was false, intends to do the "decent thing" and jettison himself and the remaining antimatter into space. However, before he can complete the action, he turns into Antiman. Meantime, Salamar has taken the neutron accelerator. He unshields it, thinking to kill Sorensen, but instead is killed himself. The neutron accelerator boosts Antiman's power; the creature splits off and multiplies.

The Doctor tells Vishinsky to open all the hatches; he finds the accelerator and reshields it, returning it to its proper place; using the canister of antimatter to fend off the duplicates on his way.

The Doctor lures the original Sorensen into the TARDIS and shoots him; while the Professor is stunned, the Doctor locks him in arm and leg irons, which seem to be a strange but handy thing to have in the TARDIS.

Vishinsky and Sarah lay a band of forcefield equipment around the control room area to keep the creatures out. The Doctor lands the TARDIS by the antimatter pool on Zeta Minor; Sorensen breaks free and, chasing the Doctor, falls into the pit. The Doctor throws the antimatter canister in after him.

With less than 30 seconds before the ship crashes, all the duplicates disappear and the Morestran probe slows, stops and then begins to move away from Zeta Minor.

The Doctor discovers a cured Sorensen beside the pit. He takes him back to the Morestran ship in the TARDIS; the Professor remembers nothing. The Doctor advises him to "concentrate on deriving energy from the kinetic force of planetary movement."

Then, another job well done, the Doctor tells Sarah: "We've an appointment in London and we're already 30,000 years late."

Although there are many things to recommend PLANET OF EVIL, especially the performance of Frederick Jaeger as Professor Sorensen, the wonderful jungle setting and the strangely sympathetic nonspeaking monster, the whole concept of antimatter never seems logically developed.

The Doctor comes across unbearably pedantic in many of his speeches, including the one about antimatter in collision with matter causing an explosion more powerful than nuclear fission. It seems that antimatter is constantly coming into contact with matter throughout the story; for instance, the very canisters which hold the refined antimatter are made out of matter; yet, no explosion takes place. STAR TREK never satisfactorily dealt with this area in their antimatter engines, either.

It also doesn't seem to make much sense that, once Sorensen is split into many duplicates, the way to fend him off is to shake antimatter in his face.

PLANET OF EVIL is also an example of my least favorite DOCTOR WHO ploy, which concerns the Doctor coincidentally showing up at the same time some crime has been committed, and being blamed for it. In most stories, this mistaken impression is cleared up in episode one or two, but in PLANET OF EVIL, Salamar suspects the Doctor right up to his death in episode four.

Also, not very much happens between the Doctor and Sarah in this story; and interaction between the Doctor and his current companion(s) is the heart of the show.

Still, PLANET OF EVIL is fondly remembered for its Jekyll and Hyde plot and visual impact.

Writing in her posthumously-published autobiography (Aurum 2011), Elisabeth Sladen said "I'd say PLANET OF EVIL was the zenith of my time on WHO.  I don't think Tom and I ever got it more perfect.  ...  The magic of television never seemed more powerful to me.  ... The performances are so chatty, so natural, as though they're not scripted at all, and that typifies how we felt at the time."

Frederick Jaeger, who plays Professor Sorensen, played Jano in the Hartnell story THE SAVAGES, and Professor Marius in the future Tom Baker story THE INVISIBLE ENEMY.

Ewen Solon, who plays Vishinsky, played Chal in the Hartnell story THE SAVAGES.

Prentis Hancock, who plays Salamar, played a reporter in SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE, and Vaber in PLANET OF THE DALEKS (both Pertwee stories); and a Captain in a future Tom Baker story, THE RIBOS OPERATION. He was a regular on SPACE: 1999.

Michael Wisher plays Morelli, a relatively minor role compared with his previous DOCTOR WHO appearances, including Magrik in REVENGE OF THE CYBERMEN and Davros in GENESIS OF THE DALEKS (both Tom Baker stories). He was killed off in all three, as was Rex Farrel in the Pertwee story TERROR OF THE AUTONS. Other Pertwee stories include John Wakefield in THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH, and Kalek in CARNIVAL OF MONSTERS. Offscreen, he provided Dalek voices in three Pertwee stories: DEATH TO THE DALEKS, FRONTIER IN SPACE and PLANET OF THE DALEKS.

Louis Mahoney, who plays Ponti, played a Newscaster in the Pertwee story FRONTIER IN SPACE.

Tony McEwan, who plays Baldwin, played a Redcoat in the Troughton story THE WAR GAMES.

Graham Weston, who plays DeHaan, played Russell in the Troughton story THE WAR GAMES.

Melvyn Bedford, who plays Reig, plays a Mummy in the next Tom Baker story PYRAMIDS OF MARS.