Planet of Fire
review

Holistic Review: An average story, but worth watching because it shows all three companions at their peak.

Planet of Fire has always seemed like an average, but pleasant, story - the plot itself isn't spectacular, but it does have one thing that lifts it out of the league of mediocrity: its treatment of the companions. The Doctor is almost on the back burner in this story, investigating and tinkering away with the colonists, while his companions get all the limelight. Perhaps it's not surprising that the companions are so prominent in Planet of Fire, given that scriptwriter Peter Grimwade was asked to write two of them out and introduce a third. But what is surprising is that all three of them are handled so very well.

After his debut trilogy, Turlough was plagued by scripts that either sidelined him or kept him locked up for a sizeable portion of the action, a problem that only ceased to occur in Frontios, which saw him go slightly insane instead. It's a relief, then, that in Turlough's final story, he finally gets a nice, normal role in the storyline - and not only is he not locked up, he even rescues the Doctor from that fate. Grimwade, who created Turlough, clearly seems to have a good handle on the character, and fittingly, he gets to close the chapter on Turlough's story. Finally we learn all about his mysterious origins, and it's nice that our shifty, reluctant would-be murderer doesn't actually have any horrid secrets in his past; he was simply a political exile. No doubt the regime that banished his family was dictatorial, or otherwise mistreated the Trion population. Either way, it's an intriguing backstory, and a good decision of Grimwade's to gradually tease it out over the course of the story. But most wonderful of all is that Turlough finally gets to be the companion he's always wanted to be - aside from a few moments of duplicity, he's brave, resourceful, and most importantly, he's the Doctor's trusted friend. They have a comfortable, casual rapport in the early episodes, and there's a nice moment when Turlough rescues him from the sacrificial cave and clasps his shoulder warmly as they're reunited. He also gets to show a brand new side of his personality - when he wants to appear commanding, he can carry it off very well. I'm glad that Turlough's story ended happily, with him finally able to return home and even be a hero, but it is sad to lose the last of original Doctor Who's male companions. Turlough certainly will be missed, and Mark Strickson goes out on a high note.

It's also very nice to see Kamelion finally make a reappearance, and be so well utilized to boot. Partly this is because he helps to provide an excellent introduction for the new companion, and partly because there's not another companion that could have filled his role in the story. Presumably the Master could have called some other of his allies to his aid, but Kamelion was the only one he could be reasonably sure would not try to take advantage of his situation, and the only one he could be reasonably sure of controlling. Kamelion's android nature also makes him ideally suited to fit the role of Logar (even if the traits of Logar were probably tailor-made to fit Kamelion by Grimwade). Happily, Kamelion isn't a pawn during quite the entire story - we get to see his true personality briefly when he's not under the Master's control at the beginning and the end, and the being we see is one who wants to do the right thing, and feels horribly guilty for having been forced to do evil. It's rather nice to have this information, because we haven't had an opportunity to get a sense of Kamelion as a person until this point. It's just a shame that this had to be his last appearance, especially as this story illustrates that there are ways to use Kamelion without having to bother much with the apparently troublesome android form.

But the highlight of this story is definitely Peri, who makes an immediate impression as a likeable, spirited, stubborn American. Here's the thing about Peri: we all know that immediately following this story, her character spirals into a downward trend of whining and complaining and nervous stammering. I feel compelled to add that these are not character traits that I necessarily dislike, as long as they're part of the character's essential personality. That's not the case for Peri, so it's just a little annoying to see her character get weaker over subsequent stories. But here, Peri is wonderful, and those yet-to-emerge traits are barely in evidence, if at all. I've always thought that part of the reason I like Peri so much is that I understand her full potential. The Peri that I imagine is sort of an ideal Peri: the one who wears jeans and a T-shirt, makes wisecracks and enjoys her travels, but picks up that blowtorch to defend herself when she has to. My ideal Peri, aside from the part about the jeans, is the one who appears here: she's vulnerable, and she gets frightened, but she isn't easily intimidated, she's clever, she's determined, and she's a little bit mischievous. One of the best things that Big Finish ever did, in my opinion, was to write stories featuring my ideal Peri. Personally, I don't think Peri was very well served by her Doctor Who scripts, even with the handful of writers who understood her. But Big Finish get who she is, and the Peri that I hear in their stories is the same one that exists in my head, and I'll always love them for bringing her back. Until the day they did, Planet of Fire was the only bit of evidence we had that Peri wasn't mostly a nervous, whining complainer. Someday, I'd kind of like to see them do a story revealing just what changed Peri so much... it must have been something horrible, to tear down her self-confidence so drastically.

There's really a lot to be said about Peri here. For one, in her first story, she seems so much more adult than she does later - she seems to think nothing of hopping off to Morocco all by herself! And there are some intriguing elements of her character that are only hinted at... I'd never picked up on them before, which is maybe why later authors didn't worry about them either. But they give Peri's character some very interesting complexity, and it's a shame that these layers didn't remain. For one, other reviews have commented that Peri acts like a spoiled little rich girl here, and they're not wrong. There's her accent, for one - if I weren't being generous, I'd say it sounded like Nicola Bryant's own accent slipping through rather more than usual during the first episode, but if I were being generous, then I'd say it sounded as though Peri had a fairly upper-class American accent. (My own personal pet theory, though, is that Peri lived in England for some period during her formative years, and probably moved back to the States just before the onset of puberty, in time to unlearn most of her British accent features. Her assertion in Attack of the Cybermen that she's never been to London makes this a little less likely, but I'm sure there's some way to work around it.) She gets some pretty uppity lines, too, chief among them the outraged "I will not be treated like this!" when Howard leaves her on his boat. She also acts easily bored, and somewhat contemptuous of the activities that bore her - or maybe it's just her mother's friends that Peri doesn't care for, it's hard to tell. Then there's her aforementioned mischievous streak, which leads her to take childish revenge on Howard for stranding her by stealing one of his artefacts to pay for her trip. This is really a rather disappointing action for a would-be companion to take, although fortunately Peri does later seem to feel remorse for her actions.

There's also a very intriguing, and chilling, suggestion that Howard may have been an abusive stepfather. Peri certainly doesn't seem exactly comfortable around him, and he doesn't gain the viewers' trust when he sneakily lures Peri out to his boat and then abandons her there. But the most telling moment is when Peri lies in the TARDIS, mumbling in her sleep, and she pleads with Howard not to turn out the lights, and then screams his name as if terrified. Maybe this just refers to some innocent childhood fear of the dark, but I'm not sure. And anyway, a spoiled, abused Peri would have been really interesting, and provided a lot of opportunity for character growth.

By part 2, with her basic character laid out, Peri really begins to impress. She kicks and pushes the Master in order to try to escape from the TARDIS, understands Kamelion and quickly figures out how to control him, makes her way through the desolate landscape of Sarn, holds her own in a verbal sparring match with the Master, safeguards a component from the Doctor's TARDIS, successfully evades Kamelion as the Master, discovers the actual Master's secret and repeatedly tries to both taunt and destroy him, and ultimately helps the Doctor and Turlough save the day. It's a truly fine two hours for Peri, and anybody watching must have been very excited to have her join the TARDIS crew. The thing that separates Peri from other bold companions of the era is that she's more vulnerable than, for example, Tegan, who was all hothead and mostly fearless. Peri, in contrast, commits her acts of bravery but is convincingly terrified that if she then fails to escape, she will only have served to make the villain even angrier and more homicidal. And it's nice that for all her strength, she can still feel hopeless sometimes. This not only makes her easier to relate to, it makes her more likeable.

I've raved enough about the companions; there are other characters in this story, too! Of course the Doctor is the primary one, although as I said earlier, with so much attention focused on the companions, he gets surprisingly little to do. It's a pleasure to see both him and Turlough dressed in more casual outfits, for once, and they make this story feel like something special. Peter Davison does an excellent job, as always, and the fifth Doctor is as charming and diplomatic as ever. Dallas Adams, who plays Howard, is an interesting case. For some reason I feel that I should like him, but all I want to do is make fun of Howard. Either my annoyance about the way Howard treats Peri is overwhelming my objectivity, or Dallas Adams doesn't turn in a remarkable performance. I suspect the latter. Anyway, shall I get going? First of all, Howard's accent in the first episode sounds even less American than Peri's. He's not actually American, is he?! (If so, then I apologize, and cite the above irrationality.) Also, for all his buff physique, Howard sure seems to be wearing an awful lot of makeup. Hee, okay, that's enough of that. The other guest characters are pretty bland... I mean, they're all likeable enough (aside from Timanov) but I kept getting so many of them confused with one another, even Malkon. I know they all dress differently and have different hairstyles, and that helped me a little, but in terms of acting styles they all sort of blend together to me. So I can't say that I felt particularly strongly about any of them.

Except, of course, for the Master; via Kamelion he's just fantastic, and he and Peri make an excellent pairing. The Master seems genuinely threatening here, because you can believe he actually would kill Peri if he thought it would help him get the comparator back. In most of his appearances, he seems content to stir up trouble and cackle about it until his grand scheme is ready to be unveiled, but here he comes across as much more driven and desperate. No doubt this is due to his being in the middle of a fight for survival. His new look is excellent, too - I really like the dark suit, and it's surprising how effective it looks. I've never been one to object to the Master's evil black jumpsuit, just the opposite; but the suit just looks smart and threatening. His hair gets a bit unkempt in this story, giving him a wilder look, and at times his mouth looks almost feral, as if he were foreshadowing Survival.

Planet of Fire, of course, is famous as one of a handful of overseas filming locations for the original series. Destination: Lanzarote. Which of course most people in the USA have never heard of, the Canary Islands not being as popular a holiday destination here as they are in the UK. I have to say, given what Doctor Who shows of the island, I can't figure out why most people would want to holiday there. (Is that why everyone seems to prefer Tenerife?) Did the Lanzarote Tourist Board actually approve this episode? The sad thing, I think, is that although Lanzarote's desolate lava-rock landscape is certainly striking, it doesn't look dramatically different from a slate quarry. There are only a few scenes where it really looks like someplace special - namely, the scenes by the shore and on the water, and the scene at the overlook where the Master confronts Peri. Disappointingly, these scenes - despite being set on different planets - have a pretty similar look about them. Is all of Lanzarote really a rocky wasteland, or did the production team just not have time to find any pretty verdant landscapes? Well, I'm not really complaining; whether it all looks like a quarry in mid-Wales or not, it's beautiful, and it suits the story very well. I just wish they'd really been able to take maximum advantage of the foreign location (a problem that sadly recurred in all three of John Nathan-Turner's foreign shoots).

As the overall plot goes, there are certainly likeable parts. I appreciate that the story has a much different feel than most; at first, the Doctor and Turlough aren't having an adventure (aside from the way in which they were piloted to Sarn)... they just wander around an apparently deserted planet, run into a lost colony in peril, and offer to save them. It would all have been very simple and pleasant without the interference of the Master. And Turlough's backstory is interesting and incorporated into the main plot well. The big problem with this story, I think, is that the old religion / heretic plot is just dull, since it's a well-worn plot and isn't given any kind of new twist here. Combined with a guest cast that isn't especially noteworthy, this plot strand just feels like a lead weight, pulling down all the interesting interaction between Peri and the Master, and Turlough's struggles with his destiny.

Special effects are overall good, although as usual there are a few amusing ones to comment on. The Master's TCE seems to make things wobble as they shrink, and is that really a telephone dialpad doubling as the Trion ship's communications system?! One of the funniest effects is the attempt to line up the miniaturized Master in his box talking to the Doctor, Peri and Amyand. They attempt this three times, you see. In the first shot, the mini-Master looks at Peri and says, "I live, Doctor!" In the second shot, the Master talks to the three of them while they all appear to be staring off to his right, at the top of one of the walls of his box. Finally, the third shot lines up everyone's gaze and looks quite good. Planet of Fire also has a very nice, ethereal musical score, although I'm sad that some of the horns that made an appearance early on didn't get featured more prominently - they were lovely.

Minor points:

Overall, a fun story with quite a few high points, but the basic plotline is uninvolving enough that it isn't compulsive viewing. If you like Peri or Turlough, though, there's plenty here to keep you happy. Basically, there are enough enjoyable bits to make it better than average, but Planet of Fire isn't quite perfect enough to be a classic.

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