Watching Doctor Who

Ah, The Impossible Planet. I love the music in this episode so much. I hope that the track labeled “The Impossible Planet” on the soundtrack does it justice. It sounds rather like the theme music of the Rohirrim from The Two Towers. I wonder if Murray Gold used a Hardanger fiddle, too? This episode received a rating of 4.3 from me because of that music. I also enjoyed seeing a familiar face in this episode. Shaun Parkes was excellent in The Mummy Returns. Okay then, there’s a bunch to talk about, so on to the spoilery stuff.

Episode: The Impossible Planet (part 1 of 2)
Rating: 4.3
Baddie: The Beast, The Possessed Ood, and Possessed Toby
Rose is trapped: on a planet that shouldn’t exist that sits under a black hole with The Doctor.
The Doctor is trapped: with Rose. The TARDIS disappeared during an earthquake.
The Doctor enjoys: The human race’s habit of exploring places just because they exist.
The Doctor dislikes: trap doors and phrases like “There’s no turning back now.”
Doctor-y Strangeness: He decides that he has to hug the captain.
Scary Stuff: Hello. The Beast. (And the Ood are a bit freaky too)
Does someone local help out? Not so far.
What we learn: There is a language that The Doctor cannot translate. TARDISs were grown, not built. It has been ages since The Doctor wore a space suit.
My Favorite Bits: Mr. Jefferson’s poem. The lovely music. “We must feed…you, if you’re hungry.” The black hole when The Scarlet System enters it. The image at the top of this post.

Observations and musings:

This episode brings The Doctor to the edge of what he can accept. There is a language that he can’t translate and a planet that shouldn’t exist. Worse than that, he’s trapped there. Interesting that the amount of power needed to keep the planet suspended underneath the black hole is six to the power of six every six seconds. That’s a lot of sixes, Doctor. As far as the black hole goes, apparently the design team spent a great deal of time making it look as realistic as possible. And then Russell T. Davies sort of looked at it and said “Where’s the black hole?” So they ended up going with a more Hollywood-type black hole, as that showed up better on screen. So, there are The Doctor and Rose stuck on this dirty and dangerous little space base. Perhaps they should have listened to the TARDIS when it didn’t want to land there. Perhaps the “Welcome to Hell” sign they found should have given them a hint of what was to come. There seems to be either steam or smoke everywhere, and now Toby is hearing voices. The dinner-lady Ood tells Rose “The Beast and his armies shall rise from the pit to make war against God.” (The Doctor has been called “A Lonely God” before. I wonder if they mean him?) The computer tells Danny, “He is awake.” Toby gets attacked by “something”. Roses’s “out of range” phone rings and says “He is awake.” Finally, The Doctor and Rose begin investigating. The things that they find they can’t even tell each other about. (When will they learn not to split up?)

As always, Rose adapts to life on the Sanctuary Base fairly quickly. (More of the domestic approach?) She talks with the Ood that serves food, and references the episode “School Reunion.” She even has this lovely awkward conversation with The Doctor about what they will do now that the TARDIS is gone. “Everyone leaves home in the end.” “Not to get stuck here.” “Well, stuck here with you. That’s not so bad.” Rose is always a bit afraid that she will lose The Doctor again. So, she is visibly nervous when he decides to travel down the mineshaft and kisses his helmet. They are still separated when the episode ends.

I’m thinking I need to add a section above called “The Doctor apologizes to:”, because he seems to apologize to someone in most episodes. Even the 9th Doctor did that. Poor Scootie gets the honor this time around. Either he feels a responsibility to the universe for the way things turned out after the Time War, or he just feels sorry when anything bad happens. The Doctor is sort of like a shark, I think. He has to keep moving, or the past might catch up with him. Either that or the emotions that he is trying to avoid. Hmmm… This would explain why he has decided to travel down the mine shaft. It’s a way to move forward.

So…the Ood get possessed, the trap door opens, the planet begins to lose orbit, the door to Rose’s escape route is sealed. “The pit is open and I am free.” Find out what happens next in: The Satan Pit, coming next week. Keep up the great writing, Matt Jones!

The Impossible Planet, Matt Jones