Planet of the Dead (aka: Stormy's getting off her ass and finally writing a review)

I have been a complete lazy git lately. Well, that and I have had zero inspiration to write, or vid, or...pretty much anything creative. I think I probably overdid myself. There was a point there where I was working on the fanfic every night and when I wasn't writing, I was playing around in Sony Vegas trying to get another vid going.



So yeah, complete creative overload ends in a big popping noise, then a fizz, and then smoke comes out of my ears.

Anyway, Planet of the Dead. That's what I logged in to write about. There will be spoilers, of course. This is a review after all.

On the whole, I liked it. I mean, it was no Turn Left, or Blink, or Girl in the Fireplace, but it wasn't meant to be, and it was fun. The setting was beautiful, the Tritovore were...well...guys in rubber masks and boiler suits, but I didn't care, the dialogue was great, and the acting was all good.

Special mention goes to Captain Magumbo and Malcolm. I've really liked Captain Magumbo since she appeared in Turn Left, and it was awesome to see her again. I've been despairing over the portrayal of UNIT soldiers lately, but Magumbo is getting up there in Brig territory when it comes to my affections. No nonsense, gets the job done, and takes no shit from anyone. I loved when she told the Doctor she was going to salute him whether he liked it or not. Good girl.

And Malcolm. Oh, adorable, geeky Malcolm. My affection for the character is high enough that I'm even attempting to do a fanvid dedicated just to him. Still, it's difficult to do him any justice in writing. You have to see him for yourself.

I couldn't find a video with just Malcolm, but these are (in the vidder's opinion) the funny bits, so...basically...all of Malcolm's best scenes are here.



One character I wasn't fond of in the least was the companion-of-the-moment, Lady Christina DeSouza. Many people found her awesome and all that, and Michelle Ryan did a great acting job, but my impression of the character was one of a smug, spoiled brat. One very vivid example of that was when the Doctor realized exactly what was in the sand of San Helios, namely what was left of the population of the planet. The Doctor is talking about an entire planet full of people being dead, and what is Christina upset about? Her hair. Yes, the poor dear had dead people in her hair. I'm sure the people of San Helios would commiserate, dear. That is if they weren't, you know, dead. It made me miss his previous companions. Hell, not even Donna would be that shallow, and that's what they wrote her to be. I was really not all that bothered when the Doctor told her no when she invited herself to travel with him.

Of course, all of the Doctor's fun came to a screeching halt at the end when Carmen, the psychic woman, approached him and gave him a warning of his coming fate:




A lot of people say it's the Master who will knock four times, but RTD and David Tennant seem adamant in saying that it's not what we think. Maybe it's not, or maybe they're being sly and leading us astray so we can be surprised. Who knows? We'll just have to wait and see. Until then, we've got The Waters of Mars to wait for, and that one looks incredibly spooky.

So, all in all, a fun episode. Nothing to write home about, but a good bit of entertainment for the Easter holiday.