There are many stories with generic titles in Doctor Who's long and celebrated history - Invasion comes to mind - but this title must surely be a contender for the most so. I didn't know what to expect from Planet of Evil, as I hardly ever hear it talked about. Considering that Seasons Thirteen and Fourteen are the most classic of classic seasons, it seems unusual that one of these Hinchcliffe-Holmes stories could be so obscure. This is understandable, since it isn't as good as, say, Pyramids of Mars or Genesis of the Daleks. Maybe it's only forgotten because of its august company? In any other season, this story would be better appreciated.
We've had plenty of space missions gone awry at this point, but few are as suffocatingly dark and creepy as the opening scenes of this story. The antimatter monster's attacks are pretty scary stuff, with actors screaming in anguish and vanishing, only to be replaced by ghoulish, desiccated corpses moments later. The planet itself is rendered beautifully; that jungle set is seriously impressive, and you can tell that the production team liked it too, because they invest some time into sweeping aerial shots from the perspective of a drone. I don't think a Doctor Who set has ever had quite this much height to work with before.
The concept of the planet at the edge of the universe, on the boundary of a world of horrors (the antimatter universe, which I thought the Second Doctor blew up?) is a pleasingly gothic spin on the usual space action setting, and that utterly empty pit that the Doctor (and later Sorenson) falls into is an interesting use of a minimalist effect.
Speaking of pits, though, the story falls into a bit of one where the plotting and acting are concerned. Even at four parts, it's a tad slow. There is something of an overreliance on capture and escape, and on that old chestnut, "You are a spy/rebel/saboteur and will be shot!" I rated Frontier in Space highly a couple seasons ago despite it sharing these flaws (in spades!) but I forgave it a bit because of its length no doubt requiring just a bit of stuffing. This story is only 66% of the length, and thus these bits feel superfluous.
Prentis Hancock is far from marvelous as Salamar, a rather flat and unsubtle character who bumbles through the story with ineffectual bravado. Poor Michael Wisher, in what would prove to be his last performance(s) in Doctor Who, gets short shrift as the ill-fated Morelli, and later puts in his last Who credit as the voice of fellow-astronaut Ranjit. The less said about that caricatured accent the better...
It's far from all sour notes, however. I very much like Ewen Solon (no relation, I'm sure, to he of Morbius fame) as Vishinsky, and Sorenson is a great character. The parallels to Jekyll and Hyde have been talked about before; it's cute that this era continues to mine the literary/film classics with its own unique spin. One of my favorite scenes is Morelli's burial at "sea". Vishinsky follows ship protocol by looking up Morelli's religion, remarking he's "one of those" Morestran Orthodox. He then proceeds to play a hymn, but turns the volume down so he doesn't have to listen to it! This smells like a Holmes contribution to me, full of dark humor and reminding me of the similar worldbuilding touches in Carnival of Monsters. Sarah's reaction to the proceedings says it all.
I'm interested to note the wise and all-knowing role the Doctor takes on, becoming aware of the true nature of Zeta Minor well before anyone else and taking a dive into Hell to bargain with the antimatter entity at the heart of the planet for the lives of the Morestran crew and Sorenson. The Doctor has definitely assumed a markedly more mythical role over the past season, and this story in particular serves him well.
So yeah, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Far from the best of the season, but also not its weakest. I stand by my opinion that if this was in, say, Season 17 then it would be thought of as a highlight.
Speculation aside, next I will delve into the Pyramids of Mars.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 20 April 2021.)
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