Planet of Evil Part Four

The one where Sorenson goes full-on Mr Hyde...

Just look at the way director David Maloney and lighting guy Brian Clemett handle the death of Reig: it's stunning! Some of the directorial and lighting choices made by the production team in Planet of Evil - indeed, in many of the stories of this era - are just as ambitious, creative and ultimately effective as those made by Hollywood. Maloney's camera looks down from up high, giving size and scale to the unseen monster that bears down on Reig. And the use of that huge, monstrous shadow looming over the cowering Melvyn Bedford adds to the brutality of Reig's demise.

At long last, Vishinsky wrests command from the annoying Salamar, who doesn't give up too much of a fight at all. When Vishinsky declares: "I'm taking command!", Salamar just accepts the coup immediately, says something about Vishinsky regretting it, and slumps obediently into second position. It's another example of why Salamar should never have been in control in the first place: he doesn't even put up a fight for his job!

The scene between Tom Baker and Frederick Jaeger, where the Doctor forces Sorenson to confront the fact he is doomed, is beautifully done. Baker remains still and muted throughout as Jaeger gives Sorenson the slow, inescapable realisation that there's no going back, that the planet's infection of his cells is irreversible and unstoppable. "The hypothesis was false," concludes a clearly scared Sorenson, before disappearing with his box of minerals. And Baker merely mouths the word "yes", a scientist sadly resigned to the fact one of his kind has crossed that line between passive observer and active participant.

I'm not at all sold on Sorenson's next move though, which is to apparently sacrifice himself by ejecting himself and the case of minerals out into the vacuum of space. I know that that's the ideal solution to the predicament, but I just don't buy the fact Sorenson would do that. He's spent the last three episodes being a fairly fanatical man of science who insists upon the superiority of his discoveries over and above any arguments of safety or saving lives. I believe that Sorenson would continue to try and solve his biological predicament scientifically, I really don't think he is the sort of man to just give up and say: "OK, you were right all along. So I'll kill myself and solve everything in one go. Bye-bye!"

Of course, the evil side of Sorenson doesn't allow him to eject into space, and decides instead to go on a killing spree around the ship, murdering poor unseen Ranjit (who I am convinced is voiced by Michael Wisher, who has had more roles in Doctor Who than almost anyone on the planet, it seems!).

Meanwhile, Salamar steals a neutron accelerator which has just been sitting around all along. This appears to be a very dangerous bit of equipment, so quite why it's so easily accessible - and what it's for, and why it's on the command deck and not under lock and key - is puzzling. It serves writer Louis Marks' purpose though, because when Salamar exposes the infected Sorenson to the neutron accelerator, he merely succeeds in making the anti-matter stronger and more prolific, creating multiple clones of the Sorenson creature. These red-outlined monsters are realised really well, and walk through solid doors and walls with the sound of a buzzsaw (they do obey the solid matter rules of going downstairs though!).

"You? Controller? You haven't a hope!" scoffs Salamar as he promptly bumps into a ladder on his way out. Yet more evidence why Salamar was never right for command (and Prentis Hancock not right for the role).

The Doctor takes to wandering around the ship waving cases of the anti-matter minerals at the anti-matter monsters in order to fend them off, which makes little sense to me. Why would the anti-matter creatures be repelled by anti-matter minerals? Shouldn't it be the other way around? In fact, when we think about this for even a moment, the entire idea of anti-matter wandering around in our universe is preposterous. As we learnt in The Three Doctors, anti-matter cannot co-exist with matter, there'd be an enormous explosion. It's a bit like that frog universe thing from It Takes You Away not being able to play with anybody from our universe. It's all incompatible.

The Doctor manages to render Sorenson unconscious and drags him into the TARDIS (that control room set is still awfully flat and disappointing), shackling him in some kind of restraining device that wouldn't look out of place in a sex dungeon (so I'm told). Why does the Doctor have a device in the TARDIS which restrains someone by the arms and legs? I shudder to think...

Ultimately, the Doctor manages to lure the monstrous Sorenson back into the anti-matter universe via the abyss, and chucks the remaining minerals in after him. As if by way of thanks, the anti-matter universe gives the uninfected Sorenson back (but not the mineral case), and he and the Doctor make their way back to the Morestran ship via TARDIS.

While all of this proactivity is going on, Sarah Jane Smith is reduced to doing very little indeed on the ship. For most of the time she's just listening to Vishinsky's resigned countdown to planetary impact, and even when Vishinsky decides to lash-up some kind of force field to fend off the anti-matter monsters, it's all fruitless. The duo hurry to the conveniently labelled "Force Field Equipment" cupboard, where there's no light switch, but the force field equipment is stored very conveniently just inside the door. It's good that the Morestrans have an entire cupboard devoted to force field equipment though. However, the force field is in vain, as the Doctor manages to return the anti-matter before the creatures reach them. It would have been more exciting, and a better pay-off, to have the creatures actually reach their force field line, whether they were successfully halted or not. It would have added a bit of jeopardy to Sarah's role in the story. As it is, it's just pointless padding.

It's a nice twist that Professor Sorenson survives, because you really do not expect him to ("You're a very lucky man, Sorenson"). He's been a negative influence on events throughout the story, he's not listened to anybody's reason or pleas, and just gone ahead and done his own thing. He was then transformed into the monster of the story, which in most other Doctor Who tales would mean he deserved to perish. But Marks saves him, against all odds and expectations, although maybe it's because his body doesn't belong in the anti-matter universe, so he's "given back". It's lovely that the Doctor gently inspires Sorenson to drop his previous research and adopt a new line of discovery, trying to derive energy from the kinetic force of planetary movement. And so Sorenson is redeemed, and the story's message that scientific hubris can be a terrible thing is undermined somewhat, because the arrogant scientist gets to live another day.

Planet of Evil is a beautifully made serial with some really thoughtful direction, design and lighting choices (Clemett's gorgeous pinks). The story is highly derivative, but it's told in a straightforward way, laced with horror at every turn, so this hardly matters. I still think Prentis Hancock was the wrong choice for Salamar, but you can't have everything. All in all, Planet of Evil is one of my favourite stories so far in the Fourth Doctor era, which is nice because it used to be one I overlooked.

Oh, and I think it's so clever that the emblem on Sorenson's door says "4h" upside down... 4H being Planet of Evil's production code!

First broadcast: October 18th, 1975

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The army of red-outlined anti-matter creatures is well realised.
The Bad: Sarah is almost totally redundant in this episode, and the one thing she does get to do (set up a force field) is pointless and unnecessary.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ (story average: 8.25 out of 10)

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 05

NEXT TIME: Pyramids of Mars...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part Three

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.com/2014/06/planet-of-evil.html

Planet of Evil is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Planet-Evil-DVD/dp/B000VA3IZ8