Planet of Fire

One of the problems Planet of Fire comes up against is the sheer number of things it has to incorporate on top of the story. Turlough’s origins are explained, before he is written out. Kamelion, too, makes an exit. Peri is introduced and the Master makes a comeback. The story itself is straightforward and unspectacular. The inhabitants of the highly volcanic planet Sarn worship the God Logar, but while Logar might have a mundane explanation, there is real power on Sarn, a power that the Master is keen to exploit. This is tied in with the fate of Turlough’s father, who may have crash-landed on Sarn a generation ago. As a script, Planet of Fire doesn’t do things that other stories haven’t done before. There is a religion that is based on a technological power (like in The Face of Evil). The Master has come to a planet to heal himself (The Deadly Assassin/ The Keeper of Traken). However, if the story is somewhat unoriginal, the script is competently written, if not as tight as it could be- the Numismaton gas concept could have been more securely tied in with the story, for example.

However, the story’s realisation is very impressive and Fiona Cumming puts in good work in the director’s chair. The location filming in Lanzarote is excellent, although it was, perhaps, unwise to make Lanzarote represent both itself and Sarn- the Canary Islands are a very popular tourist destination and Lanzarote’s volcanic plains are very recognisable. The studio scenes are also atmospheric and work well with the filmed segments. The presentation of the Master/Kamelion is suitably disorientating to have a real effect.

Characterisation is not the story’s strong point and most of the guest characters are forgettable. However, we have a truly outstanding performance by Peter Wyngarde as Timanov, who gives the character a real sense of dignity, despite his delusion. Nicola Bryant is instantly memorable as the sparky Peri, although her American accent is variable (the scene where she has to share dialogue with Dallas Adams must be excruciating for an American viewer!) We are also finally given an explanation for the mysteries behind Turlough’s character before he leaves. Turlough was hardly the most consistently written character, but Mark Strickson always gave an excellent performance and it is sad to see him go. The spectacular misfire that was Kamelion’s character is also written out in only his second appearance. Kamelion is effective in this story (mainly because the static robot prop is hardly used) but his removal is welcome. The Doctor isn’t as fully written as he usually is (outside Eric Saward scripts) but Davison fills in the gaps with his usual professionalism.

Planet of Fire is well made, though hardly essential, Doctor Who. In a considerable reformatting of the character dynamics, the Doctor is back to having a single companion- but more changes are to come…

NEXT: The Caves of Androzani