Doctor Who and the Planet of the Dead

   Cue heavy linkage:

   I'm pretty certain a spin-off fiction Time Lady used a TARDIS disguised as a bus to get around. But then, the Easter special of Britain's Favourite Alien and his adventures was quite a self-referential affair, particularly if you're deeply immersed in the franchise. A one-off companion with thieving tendencies and infiltration skills - they would have done that in 1990 if not for the show's cancellation. Insectoid aliens - hugely common in sci fi, most recently seen in the series in 2007's 'Utopia'. A predatory, swarming species that devours anything and everything in its path, reducing its prey to practically nothing - the Vashta Nerada from 'Silence In The Library' and 'Forest (wait for it...) of the Dead', 2008. The companion-less Doctor on a damaged bus with human passengers, menaced by a mysterious, malevolent entity with panic and confusion in the air, as well as a black woman who turns out to be the other most important passenger aboard - the man himself compared it to the events of 'Midnight' (last year again). Is there any reason I'm mentioning all this besides flexing my keen eye for cannibalisation?

   Well, only because while traditionally, Doctor Who has channelled influences from other works, genres and stories, it tends to do something special with the result. It's somewhat rare for the show to eat itself, and the regurgitation didn't necessarily amount to much except window dressing. The most recent attempt was actually the aforementioned 'Library' story, but while that ultimately felt like incoming showrunner Stephen Moffat reaffirming and closing the book (doyousee?) on his prior themes, it's generally thought of in the fandom that anything he can do, outgoing showrunner Russel T Davies... can't. While 'Planet of the Dead' was ultimately entertaining, it was also painfully obvious most of the time, to the extent that the sacrificial lamb character was dead within the first 10 minutes and the friendly aliens should have been wearing red shirts. The central concept - Doctor Who does Pitch Black does Flight of the Phoenix (and that's not even mentioning the combo of wacky scientist, trainers-wearing pretty boy, flying automobile and a time machine) - would have been better executed back in the 2005 series when the Doctor was discussing the morality of execution over steaks, emphasising the importance of accepting mortality, showing total comfort over pansexuality and facing up to the consequences of genocide. With one exception, the series' Christmas specials have even featured some dark moments and a high death toll, whereas this was as safe as, well, the last Christmas special, with a similar "hero moment" of the Doctor high up in the sky, saving the day in an unusual mode of transport (because in the nu-Whoniverse, the least likely can become the saviour of the world, much like a certain shopgirl that Russel T pushes as The Most Important Character in the Series Besides the Doctor)

   I think I liked this better than other formulaic Russel-penned special tales like 'Voyage of the Damned' and 'The Christmas Invasion' because luckily, there was a certain sense of restraint - maybe co-writer Gareth Roberts has a calmer penhand than his caper-based stories would lead one to believe. The potentially grating supporting cast stayed on the bus, far in the background of the Dubai sand. Tennant was reasonably toned down and was allowed to bond with the passengers in a way that rang true, being compassionately reassuring rather than babbling platitudes at 900mph. No one spoke "profoundly" about how special - and/or dangerous - the Doctor is (something that the old series showed far more than it dared talk about - adds to the mystery), and the gun-happy soldiers of UNIT waited until their cue to start blowing crap up. I won't bother delving into the upper class action woman thievery antics of Michelle Ryan's Lady Christina, which has a long fictional precedent, or her overly clipped accent, but as a companion, I rather liked her. Aside from refusing to fawn all over the Doctor, even in the rote Forced Sexual Tension Scenes, she was so blasé and occasionally amoral that she felt like the companion the Tenth Doctor has needed almost all along (Catherine Tate aside). Someone who likes the adventure and participates in it as much as possible while remaining just curious enough to be the audience surrogate. The production team described her as a "typical" companion in the old series sense, which seemed to be a tacit way of admitting they wanted to depict a woman not drowning in her own angst for once. Thanks for that

   The ending was actually the best part, with some well directed, if clichéd, portents of doom for the Doctor (yes, we know he's regenerating next year, but if the character himself doesn't treat them as deaths since he's essentially the same guy each time, then others shouldn't either), and a thrilling escape for Lady Christina with a pleasant parting between her and the Doctor for good measure. And especially because Lee Evans's ultra geek scientist (hopefully the apex of Evans's obsession with the name 'Malcolm') was finally shoved offscreen once he met the Doctor. Time was, the Doctor interacted with social misfits who were actually entertaining. And in the name of restraint, the Time Lord finally managed to sell the concept of his loneliness without utilising Tennant's sadface to get the point across. And I have a good feeling that the rejection scene between the two leads won't be the last acting high point of the specials, not by a longshot

   Maybe I'll go fire up the iPlayer again