Who Review: The Mysterious Planet

The Doctor is back on Gallifrey, standing trial (again) for interference. The chief prosecutor, the Valeyard, believes the Doctor got off too lightly last time, and intends to see him get more than just an exile. The Doctor’s life is on the line as the Valeyard presents his evidence in the form of two “sequences.” The first concerns the Doctor’s “meddling” on the planet Ravolox. Intrigued by its Earth-like atmosphere and environment, the Doctor and Peri explore. They soon come across tunnels, where there they find what looks like station signs from the London Underground. All the evidence points to this being Earth sometime in Peri’s future, but it’s in the wrong location. The time travelers are not alone. Mercenary Sabalom Glitz, and his cohort Dibber, are also on Ravalox. They are attempting to destroy a black light generator that powers the planet’s overlord–a robot called “the Immortal,” who holds a secret treasure that Glitz and Dibber would very much like to steal. However, that generator doubles as a totem for a band of warriors, survivors of a mysterious fire that supposedly killed off most of the planet’s life. The Doctor discovers that the totem is in need of repair, lest it self-destruct and destroy the galaxy. However, to Queen Katryca, leader of the warriors, the only thing star-travelers come to do is desecrate the totem. And she is more than happy to have these latest suffer the same fate as the ones who came before…

SPOILER ALERT!! My comments may (and likely will) contain spoilers for those that haven’t seen this serial. If you want to stay spoiler-free, please watch the story before you continue reading!

After an 18-month hiatus, the longest break in the series’ history (at that time), Doctor Who returned to TV screens, though in reduced form: fourteen 25-minute episodes. Script editor Eric Saward had already scrapped the plans he had for the show’s 23rd season when it was “cancelled,” so he decided to make the season a series of four stories with an overarching theme. Since he felt the show was on trial at the BBC, he decided to literally put the Doctor on trial for fourteen weeks. He commissioned scripts for three four-part stories, intending the final two parts to be a wrap-up of the trial arc.

The first of these stories is given the title “The Mysterious Planet” based on the scripts. It’s on-air title was simply “The Trial of a Time Lord Episodes 1-4.” Saward wanted to get some of the show’s best script writers for this season, so he turned to the cream of the crop, Robert Holmes, to write the opening story. Sadly, this would end up being Holmes’s last contribution to Doctor Who. He was gravely ill at the time he wrote it, and passed away four months before the story was broadcast.

I think all that goes to explain why “The Mysterious Planet” is a good story, but not one of Holmes’s best, and was not given the best opportunity to shine. While it’s clear that certain plot elements are there to serve the broader story arc (notably, the “secret treasure”), it could stand on its own aside from the “Trial.” As we have come to expect from Holmes, there are some wonderful characters, excellent dialog, and a nicely layered plot. It may not be Holmes’s best writing, but all the elements are there for a cracking good Doctor Who.

There are a couple of things that let it down for me. Primary among them are the courtroom interruptions. Every five minutes, it seems, we break away from the story to listen to the Doctor give some inane objection, or to throw some silly insult at the Valeyard. Only on a couple of occasions are these cutaways of any value to the story. For the most part, they pull the viewer out of the action, and remind us that no matter what peril may befall the Doctor on Ravalox, he’ll be okay because he’s sitting in a courtroom watching along with the rest of us, which kind of takes the wind out of the cliff-hangers. Also, sad to say, some of the character portrayals are lacking, chiefly, in my opinion, Joan Sims as Katryca. Joan Sims is a veteran comedy actress, and does what she does very well. Playing a convincing warrior princess in a sci-fi drama is not on the list of things she does. If this had been a “Carry On” film send-up, she would have been spectacular. But as straight as she tries to take the part, she can’t help being a bit over-theatrical, and tongue-in-cheek.

On the bright side, we have a much improved Doctor characterization. Gone is the old TARDIS bickering between the Doctor and Peri, and we begin to see them as friends. Sure, the Doctor has his ego and his other character quirks, but Colin Baker seems more comfortable playing the part as himself, which works very well. And then we have Sabalom Glitz, and his crony Dibber. Glitz is an amoral mercenary, but with a wry sense of humor, and a love of wealth that surpasses everything but his own well-being. Dibber is not just a mindless follower. He’s a sociopath, but not without some intelligence. Perhaps not as capable a planner as Glitz, and not as articulate, but he’s no fool, and can give put-downs as good as he gets them. As a pair, they almost steal the show.

There’s an interesting scene where the Doctor tries to convince the “Immortal One,” who calls himself “Drathro,” that allowing human life to be destroyed is a bad thing. The Doctor’s moral reasoning doesn’t work because the robot has not been programmed for morality. To him, these life forms serve no practical purpose, so they are superfluous to his needs and therefore dispensable. Once again, Doctor Who touches on some very important worldview issues, pertaining to morality, and the purpose of ethical thinking. All the time the Doctor is arguing for the sanctity of human life, he doesn’t once question why he cares. He just has an innate sense of right and wrong that he is incapable of explaining to a machine that operates on pure logic and programming.

The story ends with some loose threads. Why was the planet moved, and who did it? And what was in Glitz’s case of secret treasure? We would know if that part of the story hadn’t been “excised” by the High Council of Time Lords. The Valeyard explains this was done as a matter of security; it was not in the civil interest for that information to be made public. Do we buy this claim, or is there something dodgy going on with the trial?

While not the best Robert Holmes story, it’s still worth watching because it is a good story. Not a classic, and not Must-See, but very entertaining nonetheless.