Planet of the Dead (26 Jul. 2009)

A meeting in a London bus with jewel thief Lady Christina takes a turn for the worst for the Doctor when the bus takes a detour to a desert-like planet, where the deadly Swarm awaits.

Director:

James Strong

Writers:

Russell T. Davies, Gareth Roberts

Stars:

David Tennant, Michelle Ryan, Lee Evans

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
David Tennant	...	The Doctor
Michelle Ryan	...	Christina
Lee Evans	...	Malcolm
Noma Dumezweni	...	Capt Magambo
Adam James	...	DI McMillan
Glenn Doherty	...	Sgt Dennison
Victoria Alcock	...	Angela
David Ames	...	Nathan
Ellen Thomas	...	Carmen
Reginald Tsiboe	...	Lou
Daniel Kaluuya	...	Barclay
Keith Parry	...	Bus Driver
James Layton	...	Sgt Ian Jenner
Paul Kasey	...	Sorvin
Ruari Mears	...	Praygat

Storyline

The Doctor is in present-day London and hops on a number 200 bus that suddenly travels through a wormhole. He and the other passengers find themselves in the middle of the desert which he later determines to be on a planet in a galaxy clear across the universe. Aboard the bus one of the passengers is Lady Christina de Souza, a rather accomplished thief who was on the run after having successfully stolen a very valuable piece from a museum. She's quite enthusiastic and proves to be quite helpful as The Doctor tries to unravel what has happened to them and most importantly, devise a means of returning, given that the bus is firmly stuck in the sand and heavily damaged. Back in London, Captain Erisa Magambo has taken charge of the situation and faces the prospect of having to permanently close the wormhole before the travelers can return.

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Plot Keywords:

wormhole | jewel thief | giant insect | desert planet | alien language | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English French

Release Date:

26 July 2009 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Wales

Technical Specs

Runtime:

59 min

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "four knocks" which is supposed to introduce the darkness that signifies the doctor's "last song" may be the four bars last heard in "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Timelords", a sound which haunted The Master.

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Goofs

When Lady Christine De Souza is going down the shaft in the aliens' ship to acquire the jewel, she is stopped by 'The Doctor.' When she resumes her descent, you can see a cable used to tip her over attached to her right boot heel.

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Quotes

The Doctor: People have traveled with me and I've lost them... lost them all... never again.

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Crazy Credits

Credit at the end of "Planet of the Dead": LATER THIS YEAR THE WATERS OF MARS

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Connections

References Doctor Who: Midnight (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Doctor Who Closing Credits"
(uncredited)
Written by Ron Grainer
Performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales

User Reviews

Not that bad, a fun episode.

Not the best Doctor Who episode but certainly not the worst. Thought the storyline was a cross between Pitch Black, Entrapment, On the buses and that program about a time traveler in a blue box. Seriously it was OK not as bad as some comments say it is on here, the thing about Doctor Who is if you had the Daleks, Cybermen or the Master every week now eventually that would be boring. Dr. Malcalm (Lee Evans)is a cool character but maybe a bit over the top with the I love you Doctor stuff. Christiana played by Michelle Ryan comes straight out of the movie Entrapment and then once they reach the desert in the double decker bus you almost expect Vin Diesel to turn up. Them flying stingrays must be exceptionally hungry as one can eat two larger than life human sized flies in one after another!