Planet of the Dead

[fairyd123]

Tad thowaway perhaps - not a great deal to analyse but a solid thoroughly entertaining hour of television.

So do you think Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts have watched Pitch Black per chance? Ha! The completely dead desert planet, the three suns, the design of the creatures, the sequence where the creatures were hiding on the ship - all completely and totally ripped from that film.

Michelle Ryan was irritating but then her character was meant to be. Acting wise - well all I can say is that she wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought she would be. The posh accent was good and she was suitably sparky - didn't have any real chemistry with David Tennant I didn't think but she was an engaging enough lead.

Loved Lee Evans - loved the accent, loved everything. I thought he was absolutely hilarious.

Thought the supporting characters were very very thinly drawn - really they didn't quite need to be there.

None of it was even remotely a stretch for David Tennant and I can understand why he wants to move on as there was a slight sense that he was treading water. But he does it so effortlessly now I think sometimes I underestimate just how good he is in the role.

Nice to get a Donna shout out instead of the obligatory Rose reference although I did prefer it when the foreshadowing was subtle (Bad Wolf, Saxon) and wasn't quite so anvilicious - even if the BBC weren't completely and totally rubbish at preventing spoilers getting out I think it would be fairly obvious who the "he" coming back is - Tennant is leaving - who else is he going to have his final battle with?

But all in all an enjoyable, light weight hour of telly.



So did anyone get the Tonight's the Night trailer which aired before it?

Comments

[chandlershaw.livejournal.com]

Missed the trailer ..must have been in the kitchen and actually found the ep incredibly bland.

I thought the flies were from *Them* but I can buy Pitch Black too ..and the Nightbus from Potter!

Liked the UNIT bit and it did have soem nice touches. I expect the kids will have enjoyed it.

[chandlershaw.livejournal.com]

Sorry the UNIT head woman not bit

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

It was a fairly long trailer - hopefully someone nabbed it.

I meant the swarmy things were nabbed from Pitch Black - apart from the metal exoskeleton they were a complete and total rip.

Oh yes I missed that they stole the Nightbus from Potter - bloody hell Davies is so deriative.

I liked the Unit woman - liked that she was perfectly happy to kill the Doctor by shutting the worm hole - which is precisely what a woman in her position would have done (although she probably would have shot Lee Evans!).

Very much a kids show, totally lightweight but fun nonetheless.

[chandlershaw.livejournal.com]

Its entirely possible I have recorded the trailer of course - I recorded the ep and there's usually run in time.

[chandlershaw.livejournal.com]

Oh and I knew you meant the swarmy things re PB - but reading my comment I can see why you thought I meant the bluebottles - I miised out half a sentence - that's because I feel rubbish.

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

You see my box is useless - the recording starts a few seconds into the show. So no trailer for me. Oh and that sucks that you're not feeling well. Hope you feel better for tomorrow - and that the weather holds up.

[chandlershaw.livejournal.com]

Weather here has been constant rain!

At the mo I can't actually speak but I'll be there.

[ammorgan21.livejournal.com]

while I agreed it was great fluff, I was kinda miffed that they decided it was ok to destroy the ecosystem for arts sake. boo.

as always, a well written review

[academia4me.livejournal.com]

Saw the ad but was too late to record it (was too busy trying to spot myself in the audience!).

[boji.livejournal.com]

Tad thowaway perhaps - not a great deal to analyse but a solid thoroughly entertaining hour of television.
Word. I did enjoy all the homages/allusions to Hollywood movies that RTD wove in though - mind you if he hasn't done it deliberately I could just be grinning at him being derivative. Thought it was great fun. Malcolm (more Jerry Lewis than the Nutty professor) was a wonderful, wonderful, fan-boy.

And the trailer for the next episode kicks arse and takes names.