Doctor Who:
Planet of Fire
By Peter Grimwade
Reviewed By Paul Bowler
"I shall come from this fire a thousand times stronger, to hound you to the borders of the universe. Bwahahahahaha! Oh! Cancel the ray injection immediately. Doctor! I'll plague you to the end of time for this. Help me! I'll give you anything in creation. Please! Won't you show mercy to your own Argh!!!"
While taking a holiday in
Lanzarote with her stepfather, Howard Foster (Dallas Adams), a young American
teenager called Peri (Nicola Bryant) decides to go travelling. She visits
Howard on his boat, where has just discovered a strange alien artefact on a
shipwreck he has been investigating. Worried that her travel plans will affect
her studies, Howard tricks Peri into staying on the boat, but when Peri decides
to swim to shore she gets into difficulty.
The Doctor (Peter Davison)
and Turlough (Mark Strickson) are also on the island, having detected the
signal emanating from the artefact. Trulough swims out and saves Peri from
drowning, taking her back to the TARDIS, where he realises that the alien
artefact is from his home planet of Trion. When the Doctor returns they all travel
by TARDIS to the planet Sarn, a barren volcanic world, where the population
worship a fire deity called Logar. They are actually political prisoners from
Turlough’s home planet - Trion - and when Turlough finds his brother, Malkon
(Edward Highmore); he is forced to reveal to the Doctor that he is actually a
refugee from his own people. The Sarn elder Timanov (Peter Wyngarde) is
dismissive of the Doctor and Turlough, even though Turlough has the mark of
Misos triangle on his arm.
Unbeknown to the Doctor
the Master (Anthony Ainley) has reasserted his control over the shape-shifting
robot called Chameleon (voiced by Gerald Flood), who joined the TARDIS crew in
The Kings Demons (1983), and has used the helpless robot to instigate his plan.
Having been miniaturised after his experiments with the tissue compression
eliminator went wrong; the Master needs the revitalising properties of the
planets Numismaton gas in order to restore his body to its original size.
After the Master is
discovered in his TARDIS by Peri, the Doctor manages to trick Chameleon and
disables him. The robot begs the Doctor to destroy him so he cannot be used for
evil again. The Doctor complies and uses the tissue compression eliminator on
the robot, crushing his metal body until only a tiny husk remains. The Master
rise in the blue flames of the Numismaton gas, restored and reinvigorated by
the fire, but the controls are locked and the Master is trapped. He begs the
Doctor for help, but the Doctor stands by and watches as the flames consume his
old enemy.
When Turlough’s people
arrive to rescue the survivors on Sarn, he learns that political prisoners are
no longer persecuted, so he decides to return to his home world. Turlough
thanks the Doctor before he leaves, telling Peri to keep an eye on the Time
Lord as he has a habit of getting into trouble. Once inside the TARDSI the
Doctor intends to take Peri home, but she asks to join him on his travels. The
TARDIS lurches violently as Doctor agrees, welcoming her aboard, as the TARDIS
whisks them away to their next adventure.
Planet of Fire (1984) is
an excellent story from Peter Davison’s last season. The twenty first season
featured some of the best stories from the 5th Doctor’s era, and Planet of Fire
features some significant landmarks in the shows history. It introduces Nicola
Bryant as new companion Peri, while allowing writer Peter Grimwade to script an
excellent departure for Turlough. Peter Grimwade also wrote Turlough’s debut
story, Mawdryn Undead (1983), and he really gives Mark Strikson’s character
some great scenes for his final adventure. It was also nice to learn more about
Turlough’s background, as well has his home planet and its customs.
Nicola Bryant makes and
impressive debut in this story, her character is given plenty to do, and she
proves how resourceful she can be when she is trapped in the TARDIS with
Chameleon. She adapts quickly to what is happening, managing to escape across
the rocky surface of Sarn, and even has the will power to disrupt the Master’s
control over Chameleon.
The guest cast for this
story are all very good as well. Peter Wyngarde is superb as the Timanov, whose
devotion to Logar blinds him to the Master’s deception. Dallas Adams plays a
dual role in this story, first as Peri’s stepfather Howard, and then later when
Chameleon assumes Howard’s form. There are some very creepy scenes where Dallas
Adams plays the robotic shape-shifter; his face painted silver, as Peri’s
appeals to Chameleon momentarily breaks the Masters control.
Planet of Fire was also
filmed in Lanzarote and this leads to some stunning location filming. This is
one of the few Doctor Who episodes where it really looks like the Doctor is on
an alien planet, the scenery is magnificent, and really helps make this story
something really special.
Anthony Ainley is
outstanding as the Master in Planet of Fire. The cliff-hanger for episode
three, where Peri uncovers the miniaturised Master in his TARDIS is a brilliant
scene. Similarly, when Ainley is playing Chameleon, he looks incredibly evil,
and director Fiona Cumming sets the stage for an epic showdown between the
renegade Time Lords. When the Master is trapped in the flames he begs the
Doctor to help him escape, but the Doctor just watches silently as the Master
burns up, apparently vaporised by the raging fires. This momentous final scene
is quite disturbing, it offers a chilling insight into the Doctor’s
relationship with the Master, and blurs the line between good and evil in a way
that few stories have ever managed before.
The robot Chameleon also
returns in Planet of Fire. After joining the TARDIS crew at the end of The
Kings Demons, the ungainly robot was never seen again until Planet of Fire.
Quite why the production team wanted to introduce such a robot is beyond me, as
they got rid of K9 because he became more a hindrance than a help story wise.
Still, at least Chameleon is well served in this story, and his eventual demise
is actually quite sad.
Peter Davison is on fine
form as the Doctor in Planet of Fire. He seems really settled in the role and I
think it’s a shame that he decided to leave during this season. I would have
enjoyed seeing some more adventures with the 5th Doctor and Peri, they made a
great team, but alas it was not to be. In a story that is all about beginnings
and endings, it’s perhaps ironic that Planet of Fire would end up being the 5th
Doctor’s penultimate story. Planet of Fire is tantalizing glimpse of what might
have been. It’s a great story, full of memorable moments and high production
values.
However, big changes were
on the way. The next adventure would see the 5th Doctor fighting against
impossible odds, locked in a deadly race against time to save Peri from Sharaz
Jek, before making the ultimate sacrifice in what is arguably one of the finest
Doctor Who stories ever made… The Caves of Androzani.
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