Doctor Who (TV Series) Planet of Evil: Part One (1975) User Reviews

Good Classic Doctor Who Serial from perhaps the greatest era of the series

[gpeevers · 7/10 · 22 May 2009]

With Tom Baker as the Doctor & Elisabeth Sladen playing Sarah Jane Smith this period had both the most popular Doctor and the most popular companion in the shows history. This period also had Producer Phillip Hinchcliffe & Story Editor Robert Holmes who would bring to the series some of its most popular serials in their relatively short tenures.

Aboard the Tardis the Doctor and Sarah Jane receive a distress signal from the planet Zeta Minor at the edge of the known universe. The arrival of the Tardis coincides with the arrival of a military mission sent to check on the success of the scientific expedition which was trying to find a new power source. While the power source may solve the energy crisis that prompted the mission the expedition members are dying mysteriously.

The jungle set from Production Designer Roger Murray-Leach is incredibly effective considering this is an inexpensive studio bound serial. One of the flaws most often mentioned about classic Doctor Who is the often cheap and sometimes wobbly sets, and while not all the sets in this serial are great the jungle stands out. Unfortunately the BBC system meant that designers rotated in and out from series to series and not all of the designers were as motivated or as capable but Roger Murray-Leach's serials usually stand out.

Very Traditional But Very Good Story

[Theo Robertson · 8/10 · 22 October 2007]

The British public has for decades considered DOCTOR WHO to be " That show with the Daleks in it " but perhaps a story like Planet Of Evil should be considered as more typical of the show , one that makes DOCTOR WHO be thought of as " That show with superb imagination , crap sets and special effects and really scary bits "

The first episode kicks off in a similar way to many stories right back to the early Troughton era : the Doctor and his companion land on a remote outpost where people have been killed and its they who get the blame for it . They are imprisoned but manage to escape . Meanwhile a scary monster goes about killing more of the humanoids . Repeat every week for a month

Perhaps it's the traditional storytelling elements that stops Planet Of Evil being regarded as a classic story . It does get rather formulaic in places but director David Maloney has taken Louis Marks script and played up to its strength , that of atmosphere . This is a highly atmospheric story which an eight year old in 1975 or today would find genuinely compelling . It may be drawn out compared to the 21st century series but you've got to respect the production crew for making an entertaining story on a limited budget

There is some failure on the part of the production crew and that's with the sets . The alien jungle is superb especially when it's shot on film but unfortunately the " anti-matter lake " looks like something you'd find at Santa's Grotto in a department store . We also get to see some very unconvincing futurist military uniforms , but these are minor flaws compared to great strength and it's easy to see why DOCTOR WHO has lasted for decades with this type of narrative

"Perhaps my receiver's are better than yours... my manners certainly are." More classic Doctor Who.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 6 July 2007]

Doctor Who: Planet of Evil: Part 1 starts as the Doctor (Tom Baker) & his companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) receive a distress call while in the TARDIS, they feel obliged to investigate. The TARDIS materialises on a planet called Zeta Minor the furthest known planet in the universe. There they discover a seemingly abandoned base belonging to a Morestran scientific geological expedition, they also find the dead body of an unfortunate Morestran expedition member. Meanwhile a Morestran spacecraft has arrived at Zeta Minor after being sent to investigate the distress signal themselves, the Doctor & Sarah are quickly discovered by the Morestran ground team & after one of the original expedition members Dr. Sorensen (Frederick Jaeger) turns up safe & well telling stories about how the rest of his team were murdered the Doctor & Sarha are blamed & face immediate execution...

Episode 5 from season 13 this Doctor Who adventure was originally aired here in the UK during September 1975, directed by David Maloney this has started out quite promisingly. The script by Louis Marks for this four part story has begun like a lot of stories from Doctor Who where he finds himself on some mysterious planet trying to solve some mystery or vanquish some evil force. This episode has moved along at a nice pace, there's enough going on with the discovery of a body & some unseen threat that has been killing everyone off, this has really been a taster episode where it keeps it's plot under wraps & just sets the situation & character's up hopefully for a big pay-off later on. To be honest Part 1 isn't much of anything & as a stand alone episode doesn't amount to a great deal but there's enough here to make me want to watch the other three episodes, the mystery element of not knowing what's going on is always effective at keeping one watching & there's a cool cliffhanger at the end of this one as well.

The one thing that jumps out at you from Planet of Evil is the fantastic alien jungle set, it' brilliant especially when shot on film & it's not often you can say a Doctor Who set is brilliant is it? Seriously this is maybe the best looking alien planet ever seen in the series with it's swampy marshes, it's twisted organic creepy looking flora complete with stringy creepers hanging down everywhere. It's obvious a lot of time went into the set although there probably wasn't much of it & they just filmed it from different angles. The detailed set did cause problems though as they couldn't position the boom mikes properly & a lot of dialogue had to be dubbed in post production, you can see it here when the Doctor & Sarah first arrive on Zeta Minor & are making their way through the jungle.

Planet of Evil: Part 1 isn't much on it's own but it has a great atmosphere, the alien jungle sets are impressive to look at, there's been enough story to draw me in & I'm looking forward to Part 2...

A brilliant start

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 7 June 2018]

After some fooling around in The TARDIS, The Doctor and Sarah get a distress call, and are taken to Zeta Minor, a planet on the very edge of the known universe.

I am always bowled over by this first episode, and whilst the whole story may not be a classic (maybe for some) few can deny that this opening part has a superb sense of menace, an incredible atmosphere, and a genuine intrigue. It's one of the only times where I see a 'Forest' in classic who, and think WOW, massive plaudits to the design team, they absolutely nailed it, it looks fantastic.

Tom and Lis are incredible, this part of the show's history was almost flawless, I still regard The Hinchcliffe era as one of the best, everything is so tight, the script, dialogue, the character behaviour etc. That looks of fear that comes over Sarah Jane shows why she's classed as one of the best, I can't imagine many others being able to deliver that true sense of fright.

Maybe the rest of the serial wasn't up to this quality, but this opener is a belter.

9/10

Mind over anti-matter.

[A_Kind_Of_CineMagic · 10/10 · 24 November 2014]

Review of all 4 episodes:

This story has The Doctor and Sarah arriving on a planet which is the meeting of our universe with the universe of antimatter. A scientist, Sorenson, is dangerously trying to use antimatter as a limitless power source and the planet has forces within it that manifest as an antimatter monster to try to stop the two universes being brought together into destruction. The crew of a rescue ship are caught up in this and are being killed one by one as The Doctor gets involved and becomes the figure of blame (as usual).

There is great action and dialogue along the way and a thoroughly entertaining adventure. It has strong horror themes of a monster attacking people and the killings themselves are properly horrific with gruesome corpses left behind. This is fantastic and effective. There are also other horror themes similar to Jekyll & Hyde as a human is transformed back and forth into a monster. This again is a powerful idea that works well. We also get the addition of big science fiction ideas with anti-matter, scientific exploration and space travel and whilst this is baffling it is fascinating and satisfying too. There are some similarities with Forbidden Planet and because it is done so well here the comparison is a good one. The technology we see in this futuristic setting is pretty well done, the planet itself is very well realised on screen and the effects are decent. The dynamics of the crew add further qualities as Salamar and Vishinsky clash.

The plot involves complex science which sometimes leaves you scratching your head but is also just really good fun in terms of menacing monsters and character interplay. The script also has intelligent dialogue which is delivered well. Writer Louis Marks and director David Maloney have delivered really well, not for the first time.

The acting is excellent throughout with Ewen Solon and Frederick Jaeger particularly good as Vishinsky and Sorenson. Tom Baker is on his usual electrifying form for this era, lighting up the screen at every moment. Lis Sladen is wonderful as Sarah Jane and it is again noticeable what a strong female character she is compared to the usual screaming damsel in distress. Sarah Jane is brave, intelligent and independent. When the Doctor falls into a pit she does not scream or react hysterically, she just exclaims "Doctor!" then goes to rescue him herself when nobody else does.

This is top class sci-fi mixed with a Hammer-Horror style story. It is engrossing, thrilling and has very high standards in all departments.

My ratings: All 4 episodes 10/10.

Formulaic adventure with some choice elements

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 26 March 2015]

Review of the Complete Story:

PLANET OF EVIL sees Tom Baker's Doctor teaming up with the late, great Elisabeth Sladen to beam down to a remote jungle planet where a vicious, invisible alien creature is making mincemeat of the locals. Inevitably the Doctor ends up being blamed for these deaths and is imprisoned, setting up a slightly repetitive, episodic format for the rest of the story.

Okay, so the storyline is heavily indebted to the likes of FORBIDDEN PLANET, but PLANET OF EVIL does have stuff going for it. Sladen is on particularly strong form her as the dungaree-wearing Sarah Jane, always seeming to be involved in the thick of the action. Baker's Doctor experiences a physical adventure and even gets to slug somebody at one point; the bit where he drops into an antimatter void is hilarious. The jungle sets are effective, as is the alien, and there are some memorably grisly corpses on show.

Also making this a slightly superior adventure is Ewen Solon, a Welsh actor with a long history of appearing in cult fare. Solon plays the excellent role of a senior crew member who becomes a valuable ally for the Doctor and Sarah Jane; far more effective than the stock, lunk-headed villains of the piece. PLANET OF EVIL may not be great but it certainly is more than watchable.

Science Fictitious

[JamesHitchcock · 8 August 2014]

The Doctor and his companion Sarah arrive on the planet Zeta Minor, the "last planet of the known universe", in response to a distress call. They discover that the call has been made by a geological expedition from the planet Morestra and that all but one of the geologists have been killed by some unknown person or creature. Matters are complicated when a Morestran military mission also arrives to investigate and they immediately suspect the Doctor and Sarah of responsibility for the killings. It turns out, however, that the planet lies "on the boundary between our universe and the universe of antimatter", and the true culprit is a creature from the antimatter universe, annoyed by Sorenson's removal by of some antimatter samples. (That may sound scientifically dubious, but there is a reason why the genre is called "science fiction"; the "science" is often fictitious).

"Doctor Who" is not normally thought of in serious literary terms, but this serial has some impressive literary antecedents. The scriptwriters admitted to having been influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" and the film "Forbidden Planet", which was itself influenced by Shakespeare's "The Tempest". (At one point the Doctor says that he once met William Shakespeare himself- a pity that their meeting was not incorporated into any of his adventures). The antimatter creature can therefore be thought of as the equivalent of Caliban and Sorenson, who after becoming infected by antimatter is himself transformed into a monster, is a Jekyll-and-Hyde figure. Like Jekyll, he is an idealistic scientist whose idealism leads him to ignore the possible dangers inherent in his work.

The characterisation runs deeper than in many "Doctor Who" serials. Besides Frederick Jaeger's Sorenson there are also Prentis Hancock's Salamar, the arrogant, fire-eating Morestran commander, and Ewen Solon's Vishinsky, Salamar's wiser, more level-headed second-in-command. It seemed strange that Salamar had been given command of the ship ahead of Vishinsky, clearly much older and more experienced, but we never learn much about the structure of Morestran society. It is quite possible that on their planet (as in some Earthly societies) promotions are made on the basis of social status rather than age, experience or ability.

Together with Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor, Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor was the incarnation with whom I was most familiar during my childhood. Both played the character as an eccentric English gentleman, but Pertwee (perhaps taking his cue from Peter Cushing's "unofficial" Doctor of the two spin-off feature films from the mid-sixties) stresses his gentlemanliness, whereas Baker places greater stress on his eccentricity, possibly influenced by Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor. The Fourth Doctor is characterised by a quirky, offbeat, often irreverent sense of humour and an eccentric dress sense, particularly those famous scarves, but is also capable of great seriousness, as in his discussions with Sorenson.

Most alien planets visited by the Doctor, particularly during the sixties and seventies, bore a curious resemblance to a quarry, probably because that is where the serials were often filmed. With "Planet of Evil", however, the set designers appear to have used a bit more imagination. Zeta Minor looks genuinely exotic, a world of jungles full of curious plants. The antimatter monster is similarly imaginative. He (or she, or it) is no mechanical marvel like the Daleks or a flesh-and- blood creature like the Ice Warriors but a shapeless being, sometimes invisible and otherwise seen only as a series of red outlines. It is touches like these, combined with the depth of characterisation, which make "Planet of Evil" one of the more original, thought-provoking adventures in the series.

"You're Insane, Salamar ..."

[Steve_Nyland · 10/10 · 26 February 2018]

My Favorite Doctor Who Ever and it is all about that jungle. Roger Murray-Leach was the lead designer working for BBC who designed, scrounged materials for and assembled it all inside of a week or two. It's all dangling from an overhead scaffolding. The following week it was obliterated, the only remnants production stills and this crackerjack episode, custom-written to be set in it. Like "Star Trek"'s reliance upon Gorn Rock for its location work "Doctor Who" was guilty of featuring their Gravel Pit of the Week: A forlorn, desolate and appropriately ambiguous looking real world location which could be Skarro or wherever the Tardis was supposed to have set down.

"Planet of Evil" is entirely studio bound with no outdoor location shooting. All of the sets were made for the episode and the jungle planet is more real of a place then all of those gravel pits put together. It breathes with glorious light and color effects, uses what look like pottery or electrical fixtures as space plants, and has knee deep water for the actors to splash around in while evading the Id monster imported from "Forbidden Planet". With all of the effects done with in-camera overlays and weather channel type matting the SFX on display the episode may have "aged" but so have I.

Some remark that the Morrestran ship is a let-down after the jungle set and I counter that anything would have been, and the clunky right angled minimalism of the ship continues to suit my needs as a viewer just as well as the shoulder pad v-necked space suits worn by the crew. They have cool names (Ponti, De Haan, Morelli), have cool guns that make a cool sound and several are sent heroically to their deaths in the proudest tradition of the Red Shirts of "Star Trek". They are there to be wasted onscreen to absolutely petrify the 7 - 12 year olds in the audience just itching to be scared stiff. That's why we tuned in every night. Golden stuff.

Then there's the Salamar issue. As portrayed by Sheakspearan trained actor Prentis Hancock, mission commander Salamar is the working definition of an insufferable histrionic jerk ... Or is he? I prefer a different reading of the performance, which I consider perfect for the subject matter: Salamar is insane, living mentally in an alternate inner reality where his behavior is considered normal. Because he not only holds rank but has a service record of getting things done his shipmates tolerate it and act like he is just as mellow as De Haan after a few pints in the cargo hold. Because Salamar is crazy but has never gone over the line of dysfunctionality to force a subordinate to take action Until now.

Or whatever: You watch this one for the jungle set, and an interesting "Pre-Hype" performance by Tom Baker before he had become a cultural icon. He was still working on developing whom the Doctor was, and quite frankly if he'd stayed with his rather somber persona the series might have evolved a bit further. But alas, K-9 ...

The Very Edge of the Known Universe...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 29 June 2022]

An isolated planet that's been barred and is forbidden, where there's something lurking in the woods and often not quite hidden, where an outline of bright red, will mess with your head, it'll take all you've got, even though it's unbidden.

Invisible monsters aren't the best idea

[dmcderm · 7/10 · 6 May 2018]

This one I'm in two minds about. First, it's a terrific, thoughtful story about scientific ethics and the pressures of command. Sorensen, in a strong performance by Frederick Jaeger, has discovered what he think is a powerful new energy source for the dying sun of his home planet. The problem: the local resident, an essentially invisible monster, considers this theft and is willing to kill to prevent it.

But the presentation was less than convincing. The jungle set seemed faked and the performance of the ship's commander was underwhelming. The biggest problem, in my view, was the barely visible and silent monster. He had a story to tell but, when we hear it, it's only through the Doctor's mouth. We like villains we can relate to, like the Master. This one didn't work.

So watch this one for the story. It's worth your time.