This might strike you as an unconventional place to start - but hell, I've just been watching it, and it still strikes the same chilling chord as the first time I watched it.
At its core Planet of Fire is just a generic runaround, with companions losing and finding each other, local intrigue and liberal doses of "come on, back to the TARDIS!". Anyone who treats it as an episode for its plot will be disappointed. It's far more precious as a character study, and that's when it starts getting scary.
I've never had much time for people who dismiss 5 as bland - but I do like the label of innocence. Maybe it's as much as a front as the larking about is to 2 or 4, to disguse the years, the intelligence and ability to get mean when absolutely necessary. Whatever the reason, he really genuinely does try to save everyone, with the means as honest as the ends, and ignoring the odd burst of frustration, the occasional piece of killer sarcasm, smiling politely no matter how grim the situation gets.
And its here the episode gets scary. The nice, naive one - who blithely lets Kamelion onto the TARDIS because he's harmless, who ignores the numerous bursts of cowardice and disloyalty from Turlough, who insists on rescuing the Master at every oppertunity - suddenly loses his patience. It's probably the contrast which makes it so hard to watch. Here, he finally brings Turlough to task about his past - something he has obviously never done - and even threatens to dump him on Sarn for withholding information. His attempted redemption of Kamelion turns out to be a mistake - in this quarter he fails so entirely that we get companion suicide. Sure, he's a robot - but the circumstances render it distressing. The Master of King's Demons claims the Doctor's "moral scruples" would prevent him ever using the Tissue Compression Eliminator. Time runs out for him too with another piece of unprecedented direct murder (and possibly, maybe, for one brief moment before the line was obscured, fratricide). No wonder he looks rough when he reenters the TARDIS.
But its the dialogue to Kamelion in the Fire Hall that really chills the episode. "Servile", "slave", "silver puppet dancing on a string" - this is the Doctor as you've never seen him before. Of course, he's only trying to break the Master's control. But wheras Peri approaches him by coaxing and pleading, the Doc is vicious above the call of duty. You'll note that the Master also spends the episode refering to Kamelion as "slave". Lets not forget who we're dealing with either - even if his persona was usually authoritative it wouldn't seem so bad, but his tenure was characterised by argumentative and uncontrolled companions.
This is, of course, the Fifth Doctor's penultimate episode - but even though he's not expecting a regeneration, it does feel like the end of something. Watching one of the most fundimentally good Doctors finally giving up is a chilling experience, and equally as scary as many of the series "monster moments".
2 comments:
He's not quite that innocent about Kamelion - see the last scene in King's Demons. They're talking about beginnings and endings... Kamelion makes some comment like "Who knows where it will end?" and the Doctor answers, without hesitation, "Oh, it will end with the Master", and this is just after he's accepted Kamelion as a companion!
Ooooooh, hadn't thought about that (and thank you for giving me another excuse to rerewatch King's Demons, like I needed one).
Still, it's a bit like the Turlough problem - sure, you're trying to kill me, come aboard. He doesn't try to deal with it at all, until now.
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