From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET   
      
   2 episodes: The Impossible Planet, The Satan Pit. Approx. 92 minutes.   
   Written by: Matt Jones. Directed by: James Strong. Produced by: Phil   
   Collinson.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   The Doctor and Rose find themselves on a mining station on a planet in   
   deep space. Nothing terribly unusual, until they discover some writing   
   that the TARDIS' telepathic circuits cannot translate. "It's old," the   
   Doctor observes. "Impossibly old."   
      
   The writing isn't the only thing that's impossible. When they meet the   
   crew, they are shown the planet's orbit - around a black hole. This   
   world is protected from the black hole by a gravity funnel, something   
   which cannot be occurring naturally. Some device must be powering the   
   funnel, something underground which could be used to further the Human   
   Empire.   
      
   But they are intruding on forces vastly older and more powerful, than   
   any of them are prepared to deal with. The alien Ood, a slave race   
   with a hive mind, show signs of increased telepathic power even as   
   they begin making bizarre statements about "The Beast." As the drill   
   finds its destination, uncovering a lost civilization with an enormous   
   pit in the center of it, the intelligence behind these occurrences   
   becomes clear:   
      
   "He is awake... Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Krop Tor.   
   Some may call him Satan, or Lucifer. But do not despair... I have been   
   imprisoned for eternity, but no more. The pit is open, and I am free!"   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: Since his introduction, the Tenth Doctor has worn his   
   flippancy like armor. This story strips that armor away, along with   
   everything he uses to protect himself. First he loses the TARDIS,   
   seemingly forever. Then, when he goes undergorund with science officer   
   Ida Scott (Claire Rushbrook) to investigate the pit, he is separated   
   from Rose. Episode Two isolates him even more as he descends this   
   impossible pit in this impossible planet, with only Ida's voice on the   
   communicator to provide any connection with another soul. Needless to   
   say, that voice is ultimately cut off, leaving the Doctor to brave the   
   abyss and enter the underworld alone. David Tennant's performance is   
   his best of the season and possibly of the series, with the moment in   
   the pit in which he reflects on his own beliefs one of the most   
   thoughtful scenes the series has offered.   
      
   Rose: Perhaps because the TARDIS seems irretrievably lost, Rose is   
   emboldened enough to make clear her feelings for the Doctor. They've   
   been interpreted as a couple in past episodes... but in this story, we   
   see that Rose now considers them in that light as well. Nor does the   
   Doctor protest, telling Ida just before he takes his leap of faith in   
   the pit to "tell Rose... Tell her... Oh, she knows."   
      
   Cut off from the Doctor, Rose acts as he would have. When she tried to   
   do as he would in The Christmas Invasion, it was a horrible failure,   
   her life only saved by the Doctor's well-timed awakening. She does   
   much better here, though, taking a cue from the Doctor's words about   
   how the humans have everything they need to survive if they just act   
   together. She pushes each member of the team until they arrive at some   
   useful piece of knowledge they have, and then builds a plan based on   
   that.   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   "For how should Man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes   
   of his father, and the temples of his Gods."   
   -Mr. Jefferson (Danny Webb), Head of Security, observing a comrade's   
   horrible and beautiful death.   
      
   The Impossible Planet offers a change of tone for the new Doctor Who   
   series. There are still plenty of humorous moments and exchanges. But   
   these are moments of lightness in the midst of a fundamentally dark   
   story. This is a Lovecraftian horror story, with dead civilizations   
   and devils who see into the hearts of their victims. It is, in effect,   
   the movie that Event Horizon wanted to be: tense, bleak, and moody.   
   For a series generally defined by its flippant tone, it feels like an   
   enormous departure.   
      
   It's also excellent, a triumph of good writing, fine acting, and   
   outstanding atmosphere.   
      
   Episode One provides a slow build. We are introduced to this world and   
   its bizarre set of rules. We are introduced to the characters and to   
   the Ood - first presented as an apparent threat before being revealed   
   as benign. Not very much actually happens in this episode, the major   
   set pieces being held back for Part Two. Instead, time is given to   
   make the base feel lived-in, to make the characters feel real, and to   
   let the atmosphere of dread build gradually in the background.   
      
   Director James Strong does a sterling job of holding our attention   
   with atmosphere. We see the crew of the base performing their normal   
   operations, with the sense of a crew going about an almost automatic   
   routine, while Ravel's Bolero plays over the proceedings. The light of   
   what once a star system, swallowed by the black hole, is reflected on   
   the Doctor's face as he watches, while Ida reveals the substantial   
   history of what is now just a dying red cloud overhead.   
      
   "That rused to be the Scarlet System, home to the Peluchi. A mighty   
   civilisation spanning a billion years, disappearing forever. Their   
   planets and suns consumed. Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed its   
   passing."   
      
      
   The black hole is horrific in what it does, but it is also beautiful   
   as presented on screen. That juxtaposition, of horrible things   
   occurring in such a beautiful manner, is mined throughout the two-   
   parter. There's the silky voice of Gabriel Woolf, making the Beast's   
   words persuasive and tempting even as he promises death for all the   
   humans. His teasing of Toby ("Don't turn around, or you will die")   
   creating a moment of genuine dread, tempting Toby to his downfall even   
   as his words superficially warn against it... In effect, using the   
   truth as a weapon against his victim.   
      
   The first episode's most memorable moment is also its most horrific   
   and it's most beautiful. The first character death occurs at almost   
   thirty minutes in, as a hull breach sucks one crew member out onto the   
   surface, where there's no atmosphere. That crew member is discovered   
   suspended in space just above the station. The others are left to   
   watch helplessly as their friend floats upward, toward the black hole,   
   like falling backward into water (which was how the scene was filmed)   
   - until finally Ida calls for the shutters to be closed.   
      
   >From here, the pace quickens, and Part Two is marked by multiple set   
   pieces. There's a tense and exciting chase through (effectively) a   
   system of ventilation ducts, in which the characters must wait at each   
   junction for oxygen to build up in the next section, even as the   
   pursuing Ood close in on them.   
      
   But the most memorable moments remain the quietest ones. The Doctor,   
   suspended in the pit, reflecting on his beliefs and asking Ida about   
   her own. When she says she doesn't believe in the devil, just in "the   
   things that men do," the Doctor muses that it amounts to the same   
   thing, before talking about his own inability to believe in the claims   
   of The Beast.   
      
   "If that thing had said it came from beyond the universe, I'd believe   
   it. But before the universe? Impossible. Doesn't fit my rules. Still,   
   that's why I keep travelling. To be proved wrong."   
      
   ...Then making his leap of faith, allowing himself to fall alone into   
   the darkness.   
      
      
   A fine two-parter, one that I find actually improves with repeated   
   viewings. Beautiful, haunting, thoughtful and scary. I might nit-pick   
   a few things, but to what purpose? This is a superb experience, one   
   that would not have shamed itself had it been a theatrically released   
   movie.   
      
      
   Overall Rating: 10/10.   
      
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