Doctor Who Series 2: Episodes 8 &9

The TARDIS has materialized inside a cupboard. The Doctor and Rose discover that they are inside a space base, way, way out in a distant arm of the Galaxy. On one wall is written ‘Welcome to Hell.’ Below it is a string of text that the Doctor cannot understand: “Writing so old that it’s outside the knowledge of the TARDIS.”

The base is on a planet in geosynchronous orbit around a black hole. The crew are drilling down deep into the planet to find the buried source of the gravity field that is holding the planet in place. It seems to be all that’s left of the civilization that once occupied the planet.

Assisting the crew is the Ood, a slave race with a hive mind. They appear threatening at first, but that is due to a translator malfunction.

The constant struggle between the power source and the black hole sends a series of quakes ripping through the base. One such quake drops the TARDIS deep into the planet’s crust. The crew do not have the resource to drill a second hole. The captain says, “All that we can do is offer you a ride out of here.”

The crew’s linguist is Toby Zed, who has been trying to decipher the ancient script. Suddenly the music playing over the intercom stops, and Toby hears his name whispered in the darkness. The lights cut out. Toby is abruptly possessed by an unknown power, kills one of his colleagues, and walks suitless in the vacuum.

Without warning, the Ood turn on the human crew, but the rebellion is put down just as the mineshaft reaches the power source. The Doctor volunteers to accompany Ida – the science officer – down into the pit. Walking through the cavern at the bottom, full of fantastic statues, they find a huge metal plate.

Toby collapses, and the Ood awaken again, and march on the remaining humans at the climax of The Impossible Planet.

Attempts to retrieve the Doctor and Ida fail when the cable snaps, so they have no option but to descend deep into The Satan Pit. Panic ensues up in the station, until Rose rallies her troops, in what may be her finest moment.

Down below, the Doctor has lowered himself on the cable borrowed from the mine shaft until it runs out. He doesn’t know whether the drop is thirty feet or thirty miles, and the only way to find out is by taking a leap of faith. The supreme rationalist must put his rational self to one side, and work on belief.

For a while, Rose believes the Doctor is dead. The captain reluctantly gives the order to abandon the base, but Rose refuses to go. Already having had to say goodbye to his science officer, the captain says, “I’ve lost too many people already,” and has her sedated. She comes round just as the escape rocket lifts off, sat next to Toby, who seems to have been relinquished by the Beast.

Down in the pit, the Doctor finds drawings of an ancient battle with a huge devil-like creature. The lights come up, to reveal that he is standing on the edge of a cavern miles high, containing something that looks like the devil....

The Doctor realizes that its consciousness is no longer there, that he is just facing an empty shell of a body; and in the rocket, Toby starts to laugh demonically….

Matt Jones’ script feels like a Weird Tales serial from the 1930s, and is as close to pure horror as Doctor Who has ever come, but while it lags part-way through the second episode, it raises interesting questions about the Doctor’s and our own beliefs.

Print Article

Email Article

View All Articles

How to subscribe to feeds