Planet of Evil is the first Doctor Who story courtesy of the Philip Hinchcliffe / Robert Holmes partnership which is solely theirs from start to finish. Up to now, all the Tom Baker stories have had some involvement from Barry Letts. Here we get to see what the new production team really want to do with the series - and that's to "homage" genre films and books. This story is a mash-up of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with Forbidden Planet - which in turn was inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest, and would itself go on to be an obvious inspiration for Star Trek.
For many, this isn't a problem, but the few fans who think this era over-rated complain about this lack of originality.
Zeta Minor is said to sit at the boundary between the universe of matter and that of anti-matter. It's interesting to know that an anti-matter universe exists right next door to ours without them destroying each other. Also good to know that it's somewhere that any mad scientist can visit, having a specific geographical address.
The planet must sit on our side of the boundary - otherwise no-one would have been able to land on it. How then do the anti-matter crystals manage to exist on the matter planet without catastrophic cancellation?
If the black pool can act as a route between the two universes, why did Omega never consider exploiting it?
How does Sarah manage to find her way back to the TARDIS when they're in the middle of a jungle that she's never set foot in before? What makes the Doctor think that he can locate their position manually (by sight) when they're in the middle of dense jungle? What's the point of a distress signal that doesn't tell you where it's coming from?
The crystals are said to be destroying Professor Sorenson's brain cells, reducing him to a mindless brute. How then does he make a complete recovery once the anti-matter has been drained from him? Shouldn't he still have some sort of physical health issues?
Why has he come all the way to the very edge of the universe in search of a new energy supply for Morestra? We know that his planet isn't local, as everyone goes on about them being at the limit of their fuel reserves. Sorenson must have passed lots of planets and suns to get to Zeta Minor that might have offered something useful.
There's some contradictory information about the fuel situation. In the opening episode, Salamar decides against a quick survey orbit as it will use up fuel, then later they spend ages trying to fly away from the planet on full power - and still think they'll have enough to get back to their territory at the conclusion.
The decision to spare Sorenson was a late one, and throws up an inconsistency: the anti-matter monster kills all of the professor's crew then starts on the spaceship people, yet spares him - despite it all being his fault that these people came to Zeta Minor in the first place.
Behind the scenes, Roger Murray-Leech went ahead and designed his sets without consulting with the VFX team who were building the spaceship model - leading to a mismatch. The model team had to adapt their design, but it still looks like a vacuum cleaner. It was also badly lit, meaning that the internal lights could not be seen on screen.
On the main set, the spaceship landing hatch is clearly operated by thin wires, which get in the way of those entering and leaving.
The jungle set at Ealing is so good that it really shows up the deficiencies of the TV studio version.
The TARDIS console room is seen for the first time since Death to the Daleks, and doesn't look quite right. It is missing its scanner and the lighting seems wrong. It might, at first glance, look like they didn't get things right until the next story - except Pyramids of Mars was recorded first.
Michael Wisher provides the voice for crewman Ranjit - in a very Peter Sellers / "Goodness, gracious, me!" stereotypical manner. A shame, since they went to the bother of hiring Louis Mahoney to give the Morestrans a bit of ethnic diversity.
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