jc-osms This Dr Who Easter special from 2009 tantalisingly dangles a potential new companion before the viewer in the shape of feisty cat burglar Michelle Ryan's titled bored rich girl character only for the Doc to turn up his nose and continue to fly solo. Beforehand, they share a moderately exciting adventure when after daringly stealing a closely-guarded golden artifact Mission Impossible-style, they find themselves sat together on a red London bus just about to take a trans-dimensional trip to anther world, naturally, where they encounter another world-threatening species, ditto naturally, before saving said world yet again in the nick of time - naturally to the power 3!Borrowing some ideas from Harry Potter (a flying bus, the Doctor's "parseltongue" type dialogue with the Dead Planet's initial batch of aliens) the story's okay if lacking somewhat in excitement or surprises. There's the odd smattering of humour and a nice frisson between Tennant and Ryanm but Lee Evans as a Doctor-adoring UNIT boffin gets too much screen-time.With no single antagonist to act as a focal point, the story struggles to really create tension and thrills and by the end relies far too much on CaGen SFX as the flying menace targets earth for occupation in their millions.Seasonal specials and Dr Who tend to go hand in hand, but this episode failed to really take for me.

LaFeeChartreuse I think people are being a little too harsh toward this one. No, it's certainly not a particularly heavy or intense episode - it was more of an entertaining bit of fluff than anything. But it was pretty good as that, and fun to watch.The characters were interesting and engaging, and I was pleasantly surprised they didn't resort to the usual let-you-start-to-like-them-then-pick-them-off-one-by-one thing. I think this may be the first time the Doctor has promised to save some bunch of innocent people and actually managed it without any of them dying (well, except one very early on, but I think that was before the promise). Usually as soon as he says "I promise!" you expect the body count to start.I did like Christina, and hope we see her again at some point. And the one thing I really found least convincing in the whole episode was his reason for not taking her with him - that he isn't going to have any more companions because he's lost them all. I haven't watched that much of the classic series, but at least since its revival in 2005, every companion he's had is still alive and well except for the occasional temporary one from a holiday specials. They may not be travelling with him any more, but it's not like he's brought some horrible fate on them that he needs to start sparing people from. It seemed like a contrived excuse based on the actress not being available or something. But hopefully she'll at least turn up as a guest at some point.The little bit of ominous foreshadowing at the end was nice - a little glimpse of darkness to come, in an otherwise fairly light episode.All in all, no, it wasn't a standout, but it was still fun and fairly well done for what it was. And really, if all the episodes were as intense as some of the best ones have been, it'd be a little overwhelming - like season three of Torchwood, which I think is going to leave a lot of viewers needing therapy. Having a few lightweight episodes to balance the heavier ones is not a bad thing.

Theo Robertson After seeing the very disappointing The Next Doctor at Christmas my expectations were raised for the Easter special Planet Of The Dead . The name alone is memorizing and conjures all sorts of gloomy nihilism and ignore the fact that it's written by RTD . He may be guilty of bringing light heartedness bordering on comedy to the show but he can also write scary traditional stories too like Tooth And Claw . So I was looking forward to some dark compelling entertainment at Easter . Unfortunately Planet Of The Dead was far worse than disappointing is possibly the worst story broadcast of NuWho As has been pointed out by some on this page the plot lacks any originality . It's just a pastiche of so many other references . There's PITCH BLACK , Stephen King , MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and perhaps worst of all a flying bus that could have come straight out of the pages of that dreadful hack JK Rowling . There comes a time when pseudo intellectuals should stop rubbing their chins gasping " Ah yes the beauty of post modernism " and ask the very real question of " If you're not going to come up with your own plot Rusty then please don't bother writing anything " All this is bad enough but what really ruins any potential is the silly , comedic childishness of how everything plays out . Oh hold on did I mention the word " potential " ? No scrap that because this is purely simple children's television Certainly the cast don't help . The much hyped Michelle Ryan is hotter than viagra vindaloo but all you're watching is a bad impersonation of Catherine Zeta Jones in ENTRAPMENT . It says something when you're watching an actress of Ms Ryan's aesthetic perfection and are very irritated by her voice which sounds like The Duchess Of York with a lisp . Lee Evans does what he does best , pulling off a hybrid performance of Jerry Lee Lewis meets Norman Wisdom . In fact Evans is so bad the phrase " Stunt casting " is the reason spoonerisms were invented . Perhaps to counter this director James Strong has recast Noma Dumezweni as Captain Magambo as she's so wooden but an analogy would be that if you've swallowed some caustic soda then it's a good idea to swallow some sulphuric acid to counteract the effect In short Planet Of The Dead is an ugly throwback to the dark days of the show in the mid to late 1980s when silly lightheartedness and other frivolity strangled the show . NuWho has sometimes shocked me in a good way in how it applies a sophisticated emotional core with Hollywood style special effects but with Planet Of The Dead I'm perhaps shocked for the first time as to how bad it can be . I know upcoming producer Stephen Moffat can make stories that are a very acquired taste but it's impossible to believe he could make something as dreadful as this

aldris247 As I write this, Russell T Davies turn the job of head Who writer over to Stephen Moffat. If "Planet of the Dead" is anything to go by, this change could not come too soon.The script shows no flair whatsoever, and the episode has practically no plot. This is made worse by the intensely annoying characters, with Lady Christina being particularly irritating. She is basically Jenny from "The Doctor's Daughter" with black hair. The Swarm,when revealed, are relatively impressive, but do little for the episode. The humor is based on cheap one-liners and slapstick. There is nothing to make this episode memorable, even to fans of the show.The episode left me disappointed and I hope Moffat can bring back the qualities that made previous series so excellent.