Happy Easter, review-readers. I don't know about you, but I have been eagerly awaiting the latest Doctor Who Easter Special, and today I got my hands on it. I have recently been buying the seasons of DVDs for the series, opting to not have to rely on the internet and often-failing hard drive space I find myself owning as of late. It seems to be a good investment, despite the fact that British-import DVDs are about as cheap as you would expect Christ's frozen saliva to be: too goddamn much.
The Planet of the Dead is the latest of the specials to air in between season four and five of the relaunched Doctor Who series. Personally, I'm really hating the plan of having five specials as opposed to a full season, but I'm just complaining because I want more Doctor Who, goddamnit. This particular special, being on Easter, does make mention, but not nearly as much as the Christmas episodes tend to. It involves an antiquity thief, a London bus, a wormhole, and creatures that kind of look like the things from Pitch Black, but they're mostly in the light. Lots of sand, too. And dead things, apparently.
As with every special, it was written by Russell T Davies, this time with the help of Gareth Roberts--great for his episodes with Shakespeare and Agatha Christie. It was directed by James Strong, who also directed "The Impossible Planet"/"Satan Pit" arch as well as the balls-tight 2007 Christmas episode, "Voyage of the Damned". All in all, a fantastic team Davies had put together--only missing Steven Moffat as the undeniably best writer for the series so far. The team did a good job, especially the creepy piece of foreshadowing at the end (seriously, watch it only for that if you're a fan of the series), and the fact that it was shot in Dubai instead of on a sound stage definitely adds something to the episode.
New characters, such as Lee Evans' Dr. Malcolm Taylor and Michelle Ryan's Lady Christina de Souza add a lot to the episode and hopefully the series in the long run. I'm still pissed at the lack of River Song; how the hell did she recognize David Tennant as the Doctor in the "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" arch? Tennant only has three or four episodes left, so what the hell? The series has been pretty good with continuity, don't mess it up now. Tennant's acting in this episode, oddly enough, did not seem up to par as to how he has been for the past three years. This may be from over-stretching his acting on the Shakespearean stage and his life-long love for the role of The Doctor, so I'm not jumping to hang him quite yet for it.
As with last time, all I want to do now is wait until the next episode comes out so I can rant about Doctor Who some more. These specials are far too spread out to give any semblance or meaning--or so I thought, until the eerie foreshadowing at the end of "Planet of the Dead". As a hint, it is (partly) a repeat of something one of the Ood said in "Planet of the Ood", and someone who has been reported to be coming back in the next special, "The Waters of Mars." In short: Give me more Doctor Who!
-Evan "Dez" O'Connor
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