Planet of the Dead

Episode aired May 10, 2013
TV-PG
59m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

5.6K

YOUR RATING

Michelle Ryan and David Tennant in Doctor Who (2005)

Adventure Drama Sci-Fi

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.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.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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

5.6K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos41

Michelle Ryan, David Tennant, and Daniel Kaluuya in Doctor Who (2005)

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The episode's tone word-"joyous"-was influenced by Russell T. Davies' realisation that "every story since The Fires of Pompeii (2008) [had] a bittersweet quality" and his subsequent desire to avoid the recurring theme.

Goofs
The number of the bus in England is W974 GHM, while the number of the damaged/CGI bus is RUA 461W.

Quotes
[on phone]
Capt. Magambo: Doctor, this is Captain Erisa Magambo.
[salutes]
Capt. Magambo: Might I say, sir, it's an honour.
The Doctor: Did you just salute?
Capt. Magambo: [pauses] No.

Crazy credits
Credit at the end of "Planet of the Dead": LATER THIS YEAR THE WATERS OF MARS (The Waters of Mars (2009))

Alternate versions
An edited for US commercial 1-hour time-slot version excises many scenes, including almost all of Carmen's lines, notably her ESP and foreshadowing of the Doctor's fate in upcoming episodes, including "He will knock four times."

Connections
Featured in Doctor Who Confidential: Desert Storm (2009)

Soundtracks
Doctor Who Theme
(uncredited)
Written by Ron Grainer
Arranged by Murray Gold
Performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales

User reviews22

Review

Featured review

8/10

Flight of the London Bus

My 2009 Easter Special Review:

Planet of the Dead

This was broadcast as an Easter Special in a year when there were only 4 new stories for fans to see on TV. I suspect that is why it seems to have received an overly negative response and dismissed as disappointing. Fans were eager for more Doctor Who that year and expected that if they only got 4 stories they should all be awesome classics. That is an understandable reaction and indeed this is not an awesome classic so I guess it failed to meet expectations but I do think it was a decent episode.

Michelle Ryan as guest character Lady Christina is very good, the other passenger characters are decent with future Hollywood star Daniel Kaluuya (star of Get Out and Oscar winner for Judas and the Black Messiah) doing as great a job as you would expect in a small early role. Interestingly, when people talk about big stars who have appeared in Doctor Who people always seem to forget Daniel for some reason.

David Tennant acts brilliantly as always but has less meaty material than in other recent stories. Comedian Lee Evans has a fun appearance and the Tritovores are a fun alien race although with not much to do.

The visuals of the episode are great and there is some nice action and dialogue.

The story and certain ideas and scenes are more suited to a mid series filler episode than a special and are not totally satisfying but it is still pretty good fun.

My Rating: 8/10.

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