★★★★★ 0/5

Who special ‘a major disappointment’

Minor spoilers: ratings were ok, but one review for the latest Dr Who special wasn't impressed.

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tennant-ryanThe first of this year’s Doctor Who specials, ‘Planet Of The Dead’, was seen by a respectable 8.41m (39.6%) in the UK on the weekend. The episode guest starred Michelle Ryan and Lee Evans and was the first episode of Who to be simulcast in HD on BBC HD, where it was seen by 184,000 viewers.

But one reviewer was underwhelmed.

“As hollow as a big chocolate Easter egg, ‘Planet Of The Dead’ is a major disappointment from the Doctor Who camp,” wrote Ben Rawson Jones of Digital Spy.

“Lacking in the enthralling drama and compelling characterisation that has been the lynchpin of the Russell T Davies era, it says a great deal that some of the more credible dialogue comes from the mouths of creatures who can only communicate via clicks.

“The pairing of David Tennant’s Doctor and Michelle Ryan’s Lady Christina fails to convince, with the romantic tension between the pair feeling forced. In particular, the innuendo-filled quips from Christina quickly become an earsore, especially as they’re delivered with such gratingly clipped tones. Ryan’s a decent enough actress, but is utterly unconvincing in the role.”

You can read the full review at Digital Spy,

19 Responses

  1. galifreyone.com shows that it was not a major disappointment if it rated AI 88

    “With overnight figures now available for the whole of last week, Planet of the Dead rated as the 8th most watched programme on British television. When final figures are released the programme stands a good chance of obtaining a place in the top five.

    As well as being one of the most watched programmes of the week, it was also one of the most appreciated, gaining an Appreciation Index score of 88. The Appreciation Index, or AI, is a measure of how much the audience liked the programme. It is a score out of 100, based on responses from a carefully selected panel. The average score for drama on BBC1 and ITV1 is 77. A score in excess of 85 is regarded as excellent while a score below 60 is poor”

  2. Did the story seem like a half remembered film dream to
    anybody else? ie: There were bits of Harry Potter, Pitch Black,
    Tomb Raider, The Fly & some sort of Ghost Whisperer derivative.

    Did the writers go to bed after a cheese pizza movie marathon or
    something? 🙂

  3. After the great success of The Next Doctor, this new special was a great letdown. After all the buildup and waiting, we expected a hell of a lot more than three sets, one bus and one storyline. This ep may have passed as okay as episode 7 in a 13 episode season (see it as the “poor episode” of the season) but as a “special” there wasn’t much special about it. Tennant deserves better as a finale, so we can only hope Waters of Mars and the final two-parter come up to speed.

    As it is, this goes down as a junket. Why go all the way to Dubai, only to film in the desert? Not since The Two Doctors has an episode under-utilised a location so extraordinarily. Maybe it truly *is* time for Davies to move on.

  4. It was very lightweight drivel & largely forgettable.
    Lara Croft/Michelle Ryan added little to a thin plot/story.
    I kept wondering why the Who team needed to go overseas
    for the dune shots… stock footage would’ve done the job easily
    (with inserts of Barry or some other Welsh backdrop) 🙂

  6. Yeah, it wasnt wow!!! Similar to a regular episode. Thou the character interaction was good…. Could have been better!!! Thou the ending sets the scene for the last few episodes…..

    1. If you look at other reviews referenced here in the past few days including Harper’s Island and The Unusuals I have sought to include a variety of opinions. Again, at the time I filed the story I wasn’t able to locate any other press reviews (yes I looked), which kinda precludes my ability to put the headline you now suggest in hindsight. Having all these comments here more than contextualises other opinions, which is great…

  8. att : David Knox

    I feel you are not bringing a balanced perspective. I thought it was a good episode. There are many other websites out there to have equally praised the episode

    Thanks

    1. Anthony I looked for some other press reviews when I logged the story last night but didn’t see it in any other UK newspapers. Maybe it was too soon. that’s why I noted “one review” didn’t like it. I also tried to indicate that it had pulled a good crowd with the audience. Hopefully when it airs here we can get some Australian reviews too (apart from all these people who obviously have travelled to the UK this weekend!).

  9. I agree with the reviewer that it was a very shallow episode with unconvincing characters, but in that way, similar in tone to most of the Christmas Specials.

    In the related ‘Desert Storm’ Confidential episode, Producer Julie Gardner states in the closing that the next special will be in Autumn (European) followed by the “two-part regeneration episode over Christmas…” which is a slight change to previous speculation that there would be a single 2009 Christmas Special followed by a final regeneration episode further into the 2010 new year.

  10. It was about equal to the Xmas Special. I didnt find either of them that great. I would have though that because they are not bothering to do a proper series, then these specials would have been a lot better.
    I hope the Torchwood 5 part series will be better than the Doctor Who we have been getting.

  11. I really enjoyed it! That review is ridiculously harsh. I think the ABC is planning to show it here next month – David published an article about it a while back, but I can’t remember when it was, sorry. Anyway, Michelle Ryan did a really good job and she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of returning to the role in the future.

    Doesn’t David Tennant have three more episodes (November, Christmas, then one early next year before the premiere of the new season with the new Doctor in about April 2010)?

  12. It was so much better than the Christmas Special! I don’t get all the hate.

    Main issues IMO (non-spoilery):
    1. Yet again RTD has shown that he doesn’t think critically about race.
    2. Yet again RTD felt the need to add 1200 different denouements.

    So there wasn’t really a plot but it was fun and light-hearted and more OldSchool than we’ve seen from NewSchool Who yet.
    Also, I think Michelle Ryan and Tennant were great together and I liked the way they played off each other.

    Oh, well. I can see why it isn’t to everyone’s taste but I think it was a lot of fun.

  14. It was a good enough episode, and miles better than the previous Christmas one. I thought his companion for episode was great in the role! And agreed, the next episode looks very creepy.

  15. A friend showed me a copy. 🙂 It was perfectly fine. Not up there with the best, but there were certainly some nail biting moments, some great humour (except for one moment involving hair which seemed very forced), and a portentous moment making you go “Wah!!!” Michelle Ryan was lovely, and this now just means three more hours left for David Tennant! 🙁 The next special looks nice and creepy!

  16. I have to agree with the above assessment, yes the problem is Davies is not a good writer, while I wouldn’t brand him the Brennon Braga of Doctor Who he’s not far off. I wish he would have departed before David Tennant because he’s a fantastic doctor and I’d like to see some better written episodes with him in them.

  17. Sorry I liked it, okay it could have work as a ‘normal’ ep but it was nice and a fun escape,

    Now we have another 6 month wait until November sometime for the next special before Davids final at xMas.

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