(615) Planet of Fire Part 1

Planet of Fire is the penultimate adventure for Peter Davison as the Doctor. It’s the middle of the transitional period of Doctor Who and so with the departure of one companion, there must be a new one. This marks the first story to feature Nicola Bryant as Peri. This story is also the final one for Mark Strickson as Turlough. Despite this being Peri’s first story, its definelty Turlough’s story as we finally get some back story about him. This story is famous perhaps for the fact that filming took place in Lanzarote. This is also the final story to be directed by the recently deceased Fiona Cumming. I have always thought that Cumming was one of the strongest directors in Doctor Who and she has perhaps ended her tenure on the show in fine fashion.

The story takes place of Sarn which doesn’t look like the most habitable of planets that the show has visited. We are introduced to two people on a journey but to be honest I find all the stuff that takes place on Sarn to be a  bit boring. The only releveance that it has to the story is that it has links to Turlough but that’s it.It’s five minutes before the Doctor and Turlough make an appearance. The first scene sees the Doctor annoyed at the Daleks and the loss of Tegan and then its ruined by the appearance of Kamelion who hadn’t been seen since The Kings Demons. Not one word has been mentioned about it until now. As much as I have really disliked this character at least they have gone to the trouble of writing him out instead of never mentioning him again which must have been very tempting.

I like Peri’s first scene. It’s not over the top and not understated. She has a nice scene with her step-father after she announces that she’s going to Morroco in an idea that doesn’t seem like it would be out of place in one of the Taken films. This episode (and indeed the story) is perhaps famous for the panning up shot of Nicola Bryant in her bikini. It’s clear from the beginning that she wasn’t destined to be a strong companion bearing in mind how after a moment in the sea, she needs to be rescued by Turlough.

Howard appears in the TARDIS but in a suit and acts like he’s seen the Doctor before. Peri doesn’t question why he’s change costume. This mystery doenst last long as Kamelion Howard has changed into the Master and this is the cliffhanger. It’s quite a good cliffhanger but the problem is that after 25 minutes, there isn’t anything that stands out at what the point of the story is. As this is a Peter Grimwade story this isn’t too much of a surprise because as I have mentioned before, he is a much better director than writer. It is looking like it will be one of this better efforts but at the moment this story is standing out more for its location filming than anything else.