Crisis (Planet of Giants Episode 3)

The one where Forrester's plan blows up in his face...

Planet of Giants is possibly Doctor Who's worst ever season opener. People may think Galaxy 4, The Dominators or Time and the Rani are poor debuts, but at least there's a bit of life in those stories, whether it's Chumblies, Quarks or Bonnie Langford. Here, it's all just so dull and pedestrian and feels like a backward step dramatically from Season 1.

The DVD extras for this story show how little Carole Ann Ford and William Russell remember being involved with it. Indeed, the best Russell can recall is messing about with the oversized matchsticks. The actors don't seem convinced or invested in the serial at all, except perhaps Hartnell with his customary vim. Right from the start we have this sterile exchange between Jacqueline Hill and William Russell, which they deliver as if they're robots devoid of expression or emotion:

Barbara: "Ian - the Doctor and Susan. They must have been drowned."
Ian: "We don't know. We must go and find out."

To be honest, it's pretty poor drama, despite the potentially exciting miniaturisation theme. The first half of Crisis is made up of footage from the original episode 3 led by Mervyn Pinfield, who, as I've said before, was a reliable but unimaginative director (his other Doctor Who work on The Sensorites and The Space Museum is equally as plodding). And you can tell. As soon as we're into footage from the original episode 4 (The Urge to Live), things liven up a bit, because now it's directed by Douglas Camfield, who would go on to be one of Doctor Who's most dynamic directors.

Maybe the joyless performances from Hill, Russell, Barratt and Tilvern are down to the lacklustre writing from Louis Marks? When given spam, all you can do is eat spam. Marks certainly didn't know how to generate excitement or incident, and didn't have a very strong hold on the regulars' established characters. Barbara's too flaky, while Ian doesn't seem himself at all (I mean, at one point he says he's "not very up" on his chemical equations when he's supposed to be a secondary school science master!).

The best thing about Crisis is the introduction of two new characters, albeit for very little screen time. Bert and Hilda Rowse - the husband and wife policeman and telephone exchange operator - are played with a bit more life by Fred Ferris and especially Rosemary Johnson, but it's too little, too late. Apparently the Rowses featured more in the original four-part version (recreated somewhat eccentrically on the DVD), but what we get here is the merest glimmer that they were actually something good about the story. Sadly, it was not to be.

As mentioned earlier, I can't knock William Hartnell in this story, who does not let his energy or commitment drop for a moment (in fact, did he ever in his entire tenure?). He's gleefully naughty when he announces: "Yes, that's it! We'll cause trouble! Start a fire... there's nothing like a good fire, is there?", and he and Susan's throwaway mention of an unseen adventure in a World War 1 zeppelin air raid adds much-needed colour.

The climax of Crisis comes about all very swiftly when our heroes train a lit gas stream onto a canister of compressed air, which rather nastily explodes in Forester's face just in time for PC Rowse to arrive and arrest him and Smithers. Quite a graphic little trick to be teaching youngsters, it has to be said. Then, quicker than you can say "Donald Wilson says it's boring, cut it back by 25 minutes", the regulars are back in the TARDIS and on their way. How did they manage to get down into the sink, all the way down the drainpipe, out into the garden, through the crazy paving maze to the bottom of the garden so quickly? If only it'd been so easy at the start of the adventure?

As the TARDIS leaves 20th century Norfolk, the giant seed the Doctor brought back with him shrinks to normal size, and Hartnell very purposefully and obviously shows the seed to the camera, as if he knows we at home are watching. Maybe the Doctor does know we're watching him, but if that's the case, please can he not get involved in such a dull little escapade as Planet of Giants again?

First broadcast: November 14th, 1964

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: All credit to the BBC's then Head of Serials Donald Wilson for recognising - just two weeks ahead of transmission - just how dull Crisis was, and ordering that episodes 3 and 4 be edited together. I'm not sure it makes the pace any more dynamic, but it means I don't have to watch a fourth episode!
The Bad: Hill and Russell are usually so dependable, so their under-powered performances here really stick with me for all the wrong reasons.
Overall score for episode: ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ (story average: 4.7 out of 10)

NEXT TIME: World's End...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Planet of Giants (episode 1); Dangerous Journey (episode 2)

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/planet-of-giants.html

Planet of Giants is available on DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Planet-Giants-DVD/dp/B007Z10IMW