Doctor Who - Planet Of Evil [1975]

Amazon.co.uk Review

Drawing influence from some classic science-fiction across its four episodes, Planet Of Evil is a strong Doctor Who adventure, that finds Tom Baker in the title role, and Sarah-Jane (played by Elisabeth Sladen) as his side.

The adventure begins when they respond to a distress call from the most distant planet in the Universe. The planet's name is Zeta Minor, and when they arrive, the Doctor and Sarah discover that a geological expedition has gone wrong, with just one survivor left. So what's happened? And what's with the one who managed to stay alive? Planet Of Evil has the answers…

This is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure, originally broadcast in the midst of a confident period in the show's history. Well directed, and only occasionally hurt by its limited budget, there are also some strong supporting performances among the cast that do the story no harm at all.

The DVD itself is suitably packed with the kind of fascinating material that classic Doctor Who stories are renowned for, with a commentary track, documentaries, a photo gallery and publicity material.

But the star remains the story itself. Planet Of Evil is really good science fiction, reverential in some of its story elements yet tight enough to work as an adventure of real merit in its own right. A worthy addition to the Who DVD library. --Simon Brew

Customer Reviews:

More overrated Tom Baker tosh!.......2008-01-20

What is it with Dr. Who fans who go ga-ga over Tom Baker's Doctor?? He's not the most subtle of actors and this is just one of his lamest outings to date. Try watching this without falling asleep! I'm annoyed I cannot give this 0 stars!!!

"Forbidden Planet meets Dr Jekyll".......2007-12-31

This is possibly the best creation of an alien environment in this era of Dr Who. Roger Murray Leach's design is superb. The space given to it and use of film give it a reality that even a dressed up real forest could never have had.

The story is a hugely enjoyable mixture of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the classic old film Forbidden Planet. Tom Baker and Lis Sladen are on superb form as are a guest cast including Prentis Hancock (AWOL from Space 1999's Moonbase Alpha being shown at the same time) and Frederick Jaeger.

The anti-matter monster although it looks pants in still photos is only ever seen in a red outline which is all the more effective.

Oddly for a story produced by Philip Hinchcliffe it has a very happy ending but was still strong meat for its time.

Of the extras; the commentary is a Tommentary and begins with Mr. Baker moaning in pleasure at the sound of the Dr Who theme. Yes, he's on good form and so are his commentary co-stars.

The making of Documentary is a good one, although the featurette "Planetary Performance" about acting in fake alien environments seems to have been made from the documentary's off cuts and doesn't really go anywhere.

We also get a bit of studio footage and possibly the best Easter Egg ever as Philip Hinchliffe reviews some of his old production files, don't worry it's easy to find!

All in all, fine old story from "The Police Box Show" with a good support package!

Still Scaaary!.......2007-12-05

I was about ten when this was first broadcast and it terrified me then. So I was a bit wary of the effect it would have now but the story itself was still scary. There were ropey effects - the dessicated remains of the dead crewmen were clearly plastic mannequins. But... the basic set dressing was excellent, with a truly creepy jungle managing to up the tension factor by a immeasurable degree and with the new CGI effects for Sorenson's eyes (I assume - I don't recall them being that impressive :) ) and the Morestran weapons.

The antimatter creatures were excellent, recalling one of my favourite science fiction films, 'The Forbidden Planet', and its equally impressive id-beast.

Plenty of additional extras add to the value including one piece on how the jungle was created, and for how much - you hear how Dr Who was made on a shoe-string but to actually be shown the evidence is sort of humbling...

Decent story, good extras.......2007-11-14

This story when first transmitted was watched by one in five people in Britain - pretty impressive. What they saw was the Doc and Sarah landing on a lurid planet (on the commentary Baker says it reminded him of the inside of his mind!) where they're immediately suspected of having something to do with the murders that are going on there. And this blaming takes up too much time - it bogs the story down. It's the sort of thing that the marvellous new series doesn't bother with, wisely. Other negative points: Sarah has very little to do; it's a slow starter. Good points: Tom Baker is great; the cliffhangers are all good ones; and some of the set design looks suitably weird.
If it wasn't for the extras I would say this definitely wasn't worth the price tag. Baker's commentary is predictably hilarious, and Philip Hinchcliffe is adept at shedding more light on the production, at some length. Elisabeth Sladen also contributes, and it's always nice to hear her.
I would like to see more 'update the special effects yourself' on these DVDs, as was the case with The Time Warrior. I'd also like to see more great stories that haven't been released on the format yet - the prospect of stories like The Time Meddler isn't a very exciting one.

the pit of peril.......2007-10-17

A strong doctor who story from 1975 comes to dvd. in this four part tale, the fourth doctor and sarah jane smith land on a planet called zeta minor, far in the future and at the edge of the known universe. An expedition from a nearby human world has come here looking for a new energy source. after being attacked in the jungle of the planet by a monster, they escape on their spaceship, but the monster may not have gone away...

The show was drawing heavily on the influence of classic horror movies at the time, and this is very jekyll and hyde. The planet has a dark side. And so does one of the crew, as they slowly become a monster. scary stuff follows as the crew of the ship are imperilled, and there's a great scene when the doctor reminds one scientist character of the responsibility he has to face up to. a great feature of this story is the jungle set used for the planet surface. It's incredibly convincing and well detailed.

Dvd extras:

a commentary from tom baker and elisabeth sladen - the doctor and sarah - the producer philip hinchcliffe, and actor prentis hancock, who played the captain of the ship.

A twenty five minute long documentary about the making of the story. fascinating stuff although it does concentrate more on the production than the acting.

But there's also a fifteen minute long documentary which does talk about the actor's experiences, both in this story and in doctor who in general.

There's a short bit of film of the story being recorded.

The usual continuity trailers, audio options and information text and photo gallery.

And a trailer for the forthcoming dvd destiny of the daleks. which is very well edited and possibly makes the tale look better than it actually is. But we'll come to that one when that dvd comes out

to find the only easter egg on the dvd, go the first page of special features, move the pointer down to the bottom, and then click left on the dvd remote control, and you will find film of the producer going through old bbc files [a little of this is seen in the main documentary] showing the documentation about the making of the story, and talking about the memories it brings back. This is probably the longest running one of these they've ever done, and it's worth watching.

A good little package for a good little story

UK DVD:

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