Dangerous Journey (Planet of Giants Episode 2)

The one where the Doctor and Susan are like rats up a drainpipe...

"Doctor, I think the cat's losing interest," says Ian.
"Don't relax! One swipe of its paw could smash us to pieces!" replies the Doctor.
I can't help thinking this exchange would have been better as part of last week's cliffhanger, just to accentuate the danger they were in.

The thing with Planet of Giants is that it's just so humdrum. There's nothing wrong with the concept (indeed, the idea of the travellers being miniaturised had been mooted as the very first story in 1963) but the loquacious way writer Louis Marks has gone about telling the story makes for rather dull viewing. It's not bad as such, just not very good.

The whole subplot with DN6 and the murder of Farrow by two-dimensional industrialist Forester could be so much more engaging if it was written with any energy or excitement. It's like one of those boring episodes of The Avengers from its first couple of series when industrial espionage and boardroom crime seemed to be enough to entertain, before the advent of kinky boots, diabolical masterminds and day-glo set design (in fact, it's surprising to learn Marks never wrote for The Avengers).

Of the three guest cast, Reginald Barratt does best as scientist Smithers, who at least comes across as a genuine human being, rather than Alan Tilvern's colourless Forester. Smithers is obviously quite an obsessive character, a fanatic whose experimentation could lead to saving millions of lives around the world. He's seen too many people die from starvation and refuses to be tarred with Forester's brush of greed. Forester accuses Smithers of wanting the glory of being DN6's inventor, but he claims that all he wants to do is save lives. And we believe him, due to Barratt's sensitive performance.

Nevertheless, all these two characters seem to do is tell each other the same things in different ways, and are about as alive as poor old Farrow. It amuses me that director Mervyn Pinfield employed Frank Crawshaw just to come back as a corpse, but maybe the actor needed the money to pay for new dentures?

Something else that doesn't work with Planet of Giants is the music by Dudley Simpson, making his Doctor Who debut here. It's all very nice and percussive, but doesn't seem to fit or match what's happening on screen very well. It starts and stops very suddenly and seems random and erratic, as if written for something else entirely. It's difficult to tell what an enormous impact he'll have on Doctor Who's future judging by his execution of this score alone.

More interesting (but not exactly riveting) is what's going on with the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara, who have been compulsorily split up after the cat did indeed lose interest. Ian and Barbara are transported into the laboratory via briefcase, while the Doctor and Susan embark upon the titular dangerous journey to scale the inside of a drainpipe to reach the schoolteachers inside the house.

The Doctor points out that the inside of the pipe is corroded, so there are plenty of hand and foot holes for them to climb up, but when he adds that the pipe must be germ-free because of the chemical smell, my confidence in his plan falters a little. The pipe might be free of germs, but that also means it's doused in chemicals - bleach, disinfectant, steriliser, who knows? It's a scientific laboratory in there, any manner of deadly chemical could be swilled down that pipe, which would undoubtedly burn or even kill them! Nevertheless, the intrepid duo begin their ascent.

Meanwhile, Barbara picks up a sticky seed (looks like Sugar Puffs to me!) and possibly becomes infected by deadly DN6. It's an interesting character point that she decides to keep this fact from Ian (she does almost tell him, but she's interrupted), maybe because she doesn't want to demoralise him, but probably because she feels a little stupid. In fact, the way Barbara reacts to the whole ludicrous situation of being miniaturised is interesting, as demonstrated when she says they'd be better off looking for a reel of cotton than a ball of string to climb down. Ian is her rock, as ever, telling her: "Forget how absurd things are. Concentrate on getting back!" To be honest, Babs should have learnt this by now - she's encountered an awful lot of absurdity on her travels so far, and there's nothing more absurd than a portly whiskery alien with feet like dinner plates.

Ian and Barbara's adventures on the tabletop aren't exactly dynamic, but Raymond Cusick's set design is superb, whether it's a giant box of litmus paper, an enormous basin and plug, or a frankly magnificent giant fly (much better than the giant fly in The Green Death nine years later). Quite why Barbara faints at the sight of it is unclear - is she affected by DN6 poisoning? If so, she's showing precious few other signs of feeling ill. It's not exactly in character for Barbara to faint just because she's shocked or surprised.

As the episode lumbers to a climax, Ian and Barbara are (almost) reunited with the Doctor and Susan, but Smithers puts the kibosh on that when he decides to wash Farrow's blood off his hands - then take the plug out of the sink! Never has such a seemingly innocuous task posed such deadly danger to our intrepid time travellers, who are left cowering in the flooding pipes!

First broadcast: November 7th, 1964

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Raymond Cusick's giant-sized sets and props (that fly!) steal the show again.
The Bad: Writer Louis Marks and director Mervyn Pinfield manage to make being reduced to the size of "roughly an inch", surrounded by toxins and giant insects, murderers and disinterested cats, a real slog.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: Crisis...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Planet of Giants (episode 1); Crisis (episode 3)

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