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