NuWho Review: Series 2 Episode 8 “The Impossible Planet”

By: Matt Jones

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

 

             If you go to the TV Tropes website and look up the term ‘Nightmare Fuel’ under ‘Live-Action TV’ and 'Doctor Who' you will find that Mr. Steven Moffat has an entire page devoted solely to his work. Not that I’m surprised, mind you. This is the mind that schemed up both the Weeping Angels and Vashta Nerada…but I digress. While The Empty Child might be scarier than a bag of used tissues, I would like to suggest that today’s episode takes those used tissues and starts a blazing bonfire with them.

              Okay, so maybe that analogy isn’t a perfect illustration of what this episode does because rather than just being all flashy fire and brimstone, it operates on so many levels of terrifying. While other Doctor Who writers are known for creating funny episodes or dark episodes or downright awful episodes, Moffat holds the title for creating the high-quality, frightening episodes in the revived show. Generally when you ask someone what the scariest NuWho episode is they'll mention something written by Steven Moffat. Yet somehow Matt Jones has managed to concoct a two-parter that makes the Silents seem like cuddly, pink teddy bears. It is full of good, old-fashioned horror and some surprisingly deep and dark concepts. So shall we take a look?


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- The Doctor and Rose land on a space station and The Doctor observes that his poor TARDIS is feeling a little bit queasy. He then shares a giggle with Rose before the two of them exit the cupboard they landed in to investigate this new environment.

- This was when I knew that The Impossible Planet was going to be a good episode. We’re less than two minutes in and already plot threads are being woven into the start of a rather eerie mystery. There is a wall with strange writing on it...writing that the TARDIS won’t translate because it is so incredibly, impossibly old. Not only is The Doctor rather unnerved by this fact, but there is also a fine touch of viola or cello music in the score that plays a mystical melody as they examine the message that is beyond the reach of the TARDIS' knowledge. Already things are atmospherically perfect

- They get introduced to the crew of the space station (after finding out that the 'feeding' Ood only want to offer refreshments) and then get the sight of what makes this planet so impossible. Turns out, it is orbiting a black hole. The frightening thought is...what can bend the laws of physics and compete with the all-consuming gravity of a black hole?

- I still think that the hug The Doctor forces on Zach breaks the excellent mood a bit due to its cheesiness, but thankfully the moment only lasts a moment before he realises that the TARDIS is gone. Episodes where The Doctor is stranded (either on Earth or some asteroid) generally have a high sense of tension about them...a tension that would be there even without the overarching plot. The Doctor and the TARDIS are such a symbiotic couple that any episode where they are split apart leaves me waiting and waiting for their reunion. 

- Here the stakes are raised even higher, though, because not only is the TARDIS gone to someplace we don’t know but the place that The Doctor is trapped on is an impossible planet orbiting a black hole with a creepy voice that whispers in the corridors of a space station and writing that not even the TARDIS can translate written on the walls. Throw in all of the talk about mythology, death, and something reaching out and you have the recipe for something full of tension.

- "I need my ship! She's all I've got - literally the only thing." And doesn't that just make your heart clench with sadness...

- Another thing that is great during this part of the episode is the way that The Doctor apologizes to Rose, clearly feeling guilty about stranding her with him at the edge of the universe. Granted, Rose’s reply isn’t quite what it probably should have been…but I’ll let it slide because she is just a nineteen-year-old human. At least she’s not insufferable just at this moment. Her reaction, while perhaps not the kindest thing she could have said, is somewhat justified, given the situation. This is more than just being stranded thousands of years in the future. This is thousands of years in the future orbiting a black hole. Now, granted, some characters would have just bucked up and said nothing...but after so much of Rose being selfishly brash and reckless it is nice to see her realize the gravity of the situation. (Sorry – terrible pun!) Besides, it gets the desired emotional trigger across to the audience to see the two travelers standing there clinging to each other.

- C. S. Lewis once observed that there is nothing worse than having to stand in a room reading with your back to an open door. Much as I agree with his assessment of the awfulness of that situation, I have proof that there is something much worse.

 

- Toby the archaeologist is sitting in the room he shares with Danny, a fellow crew member. While he is working on some more transcribing, he hears a voice call out from behind him. This voice is the same as the one he heard calling his name earlier in the episode while he was checking on the storm damage. The voice speaks softly but menacingly and tells Toby not to turn around lest he die.

 - You know, I’m getting the shivers just thinking about this whole concept. This scene is definitely one that you want to watch with your back to a solid wall! But that’s not even the worst part. By far the most terrifying moment of this whole ordeal is the moment where Toby finally can’t take it anymore and looks over his shoulder but doesn’t die. It is one of those moments, rather like the recorded tape from The Doctor Dances, which only gets better upon repeated views. After looking over his shoulder and not dying, Toby turns back around and makes as if to start his work again; only to see that the mysterious writing is now scrawled all over his skin. Anyone familiar with either mythology or exorcist films are left with little doubt about what comes next:

- Yes, Toby is possessed and proceeds to kill a member of the crew: poor, innocent Scooti who never did anything wrong that we see and who seemed like a delightful person all round is murdered by Toby breaking an airlock and letting her first be suffocated by the vacuum of space and then sucked into the black hole. 

- Not only is this death properly horrific because it is a woman being killed by someone she should have been able to trust, but it also shows such a sharp contrast between quiet, nice Toby and cruel, sadistic, possessed!Toby.

- But Toby is not the only one who seems to be possessed by an evil entity. The Ood also have fallen victim to this as they stand there with red eyes, chanting lines that wouldn’t sound out of place in the book of Revelations. The effect of all of their automated voices speaking at once is quite unnatural as well...calling to mind stories of the Legion and similar dark ideas.

- Even if you are not a Christian or religious and do not believe in something like the Devil this is sure to rattle you just a bit. It is not only the lines and the delivery and the sheer claustrophobic setting of it all. The way the main characters react to all of this (they are bewildered and then terrified) just sells the scare factor. The fact that Toby doesn’t remember anything that he’s done after he ‘wakes up’ from his possession is relieving at first…until you realize that he’s not really free.

- Everything in this episode is so heavy and deep that it would be quite depressing were it not for little touches like The Doctor panicking because he’s going to have to get a house with a mortgage. There aren’t really any silly moments and there is no witty banter providing humor. It is a dark episode that deals with themes of death and the supernatural. When Torchwood was created the idea was for it to be a more adult counterpoint to the sometimes-campy show that sired it...yet I believe that this two-parter contains more adult themes and material than all of the swearing and sex that Torchwood could ever foist upon us. 

- This episode delves right into the heart of human thought and philosophy as the characters are forced to face up with the question of ‘what do I believe?’ Everyone has to ask that question at some point in his or her lives and everyone finds something to answer it with. Whole nations have risen and fallen due to wise men that pondered this. Hundreds of religions all exist to provide and answer for men. This is mature and dark stuff and it is all handled with respect, the story-telling being merely a framework for the real mystery to happen within, managing to avoid any of the more trite clichés that could have haunted it.

  

- Even The Doctor and Rose have made a comeback from their frankly alarming personas of the past few episodes as they sit and actually have a proper conversation about life and the future. All traces of smugness are gone; all tendencies of cutseyness are notably missing as well. You just get the feeling that two friends are sitting there, knowing that they are trapped, and trying their best to make the other feel better even as they realistically face their problem and explore possible solutions. 

- But the quiet, domestic moment doesn’t last. Mere moments go by before we are back to the action and suspense. The drill has reached what they call point zero and Ida Scott prepares to head down the shaft to investigate what is down there, what was reaching out and generating all of the gravitational energy. The Doctor volunteers to go down with her (gaining his iconic spacesuit when he does) and Rose tells him to take care of himself: “I want that suit back in one piece, d’you hear me?” Before she gives him a good-luck kiss on the forehead.

 

          What this episode does and does extremely well is giving an overriding feeling of impending doom. Even as Ida and The Doctor prepare to fulfill the crew’s mission and enter the pit, we don’t feel uplifted or ecstatic. If anything the mood is quite ominous and you just want to scream out and tell them not to go. Usually a sequence like this would be used to build up a false sense of security before the big mid-story cliff-hanger, but it is all the more powerful here because of the niggling seeds of doubt that grow ever taller the longer you watch. Danny’s telling the Ood that no authority can override his instructions to them is merely the last nail in the coffin. Suddenly the danger becomes more palpable than ever and the tension jumps up at least ten more notches simply because the possession of the Ood was set up in such a creepy manner earlier. You can feel that the characters are on edge and uneasy. You can see that they’re still grieving for Scooti, but have to complete their mission. You can see that Toby isn’t quite all there. It is a tremendous performance from the cast, brilliant writing and direction, and a surprisingly subtle score that all meld together to form an amazing episode.

            As the capsule lowers into the shaft you get the feeling that The Doctor’s curiosity and love of knowledge is going to get him into major trouble this time. The caverns and carvings are beautiful, yes, in the sense that they are intricate and amazingly well preserved; but they are hideously frightening. Then Ida and The Doctor find The Pit and, well, anyone who knows their biblical history knows that they are in deep, deep trouble! Between the Ood being possessed, Toby’s troubles, and now an ancient entity that has been sealed in a pit I would say that it is time to start praying hard and possibly running. This episode is dark, the episode is creepy, this episode is adult, and this episode has an extremely underplayed and tense cliffhanger. The writing is intense and deep and the execution simply amazing. The special effects all look wonderful and the acting of the cast superb. I give The Impossible Planet an 5/5 and say that I look forward to its resolution in The Satan Pit.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?