(718) The Impossible Planet

Today’s episode is the start of a two parter which I have never really rated very highly. I don’t think that there was a particular reason for this but when I started today’s episode, I was hoping that something would show me why my opinion should be changed. This episode sees the first appearance of the Ood which are one the more successful creations from the Russell T Davies era. It doesn’t take long for the first ‘that’s Ood’ joke. The Ood are a slave race basically and the pre-title scene was a pretty big clue as to what they are capable of.

This story is one of the few base under siege type stories that have appeared in the new series and its one where the TARDIS is of no use to the Doctor and Rose. The TARDIS has gone and in this episode it appears that it’s unreachable. I like it when this happens because it means that the Doctor has to really try and sort things out and can’t just use the TARDIS as a convenient tool like he does with the Sonic Screwdriver and Psychic Paper.

One thing that I have noticed about this episode is how quickly the tension starts. There is a chilling factor that there hasn’t been in Doctor Who since it returned and one of the reasons might be because of the claustrophobic feel of the story. When the Ood start to go a bit wrong then I think the episode really gets going. The evil Ood are great fun to watch. The Ood are quite strict in their movement and the way they hold themselves which is what I think makes them creepy.

The scene where the Doctor and Rose talk about the Earth is a nice one. Rose’s phoning back home would normally be annoying but for some reason I didn’t find it to be a problem and this is the first time for a long time that I haven’t found Rose annoying. Another good scene is when the Doctor and Rose discover that Scooti (MyAnna Buring) has died. The effect used is simple yet effective but the character was never really given enough time for us to care and so

When Toby (Will Thorp) is normal then I don’t really care about him because he seems  bit wet but when he becomes possessed then I think that the character is really good and the way he kills Scooti is quite grim for new Who.

I haven’t mentioned him since I embarked on the new series but Murray Gold’s music is really good. There are a few moments where it really helps add to episode and one moment in particularly that comes to mind is Scooti’s death where the music really is fantastic. There is an argument where if you notice incidental music then it means that the story has failed (this argument could be levelled at all aspects of a story) but I don’t necessarily agree. Sometimes I think that is true but in this case the incidental music is a bonus.

The cliffhanger is rather good because of the two different perils that the Doctor and Rose face. The Doctor is staring into the huge hole in the ground and Rose is under threat from newly possessed Ood. The episode as a whole hasn’t really improved in as greater way as I was expecting. There are things that I do like about this episode but there is something that doesn’t grab me like I would have expected. Maybe the next episode will be the one that grabs me but I don’t see that happening. It’s been written and directed but there’s something missing.