Quotes
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The 10th Doctor: The funny thing is, I don't often do Easter. I can never find it. It's always at a different time. Although I remember the original. Between you and me, what really happened was. (Beep, beep.) Oh. Sorry, hold on to that for me. Actually, go on, have it. Finish it. It's full of sugar and I'm determined to keep these teeth. (The Doctor produces a hand-held gizmo which has lit up.) Ah. Oh, we've got excitation. I'm picking up something very strange.Christina: I know the feeling.
"Rhondium particles, that's what I'm looking for. This thing detects them. Look, this should go round, that little dish there." ~ The Tenth Doctor
"End of the line. Call it a hunch, but I think we've gone a little bit further than Brixton." ~ The Tenth Doctor
"That's not a name. That's a psychological condition." ~ Christina
"Because that planet out there, all three suns, wormholes and alien sand, that planet is nothing. You hear me? Nothing, compared to all those things waiting for you. Food and home and people. Hold on to that, because we're going to get there. I promise. I'm going to get you home." ~ The Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor: Ooo, that's handy, because I'm a Lord.
Christina; Seriously? The Lord of where?
The Tenth Doctor: It's quite a big estate.
Magambo: It's the Doctor.
Taylor: Do you mean the Doctor Doctor?
Magambo: I know. We all want to meet him one day, but we all know what that day will bring.
"Really? What was your favourite, the giant robot? No, no, hold on. Let's sort out that wormhole. Excuse me." ~ The Tenth Doctor
"Right. Fine. But before I die of old age, which in my case would be quite an achievement, so congratulations on that, is there anyone else I can talk to?" ~ The Tenth Doctor
Christina: You speak the language?
The Tenth Doctor: Every language.
Christina; That Lordship of yours. The Lord of where, exactly?
The Tenth Doctor; Of Time. I come from a race of people called Time Lords.
"Worse it gets, the more I love it." ~ The Tenth Doctor
"Well, a little blue box. Travels in more than space. It can journey through time, Christina. Oh, the places I've been. World War One. Creation of the universe. End of the universe. The war between China and Japan. And the Court of King Athelstan in 924 AD. But I don't remember you being there." ~ The Tenth Doctor
"Except. That little blue box, I stole it from my own people." ~ The Tenth Doctor
"Oh, don't be so daft. A captain can leave his ship, if there's a bus standing by." ~ The Tenth Doctor
"No, but you be careful. Because your song is ending, sir. It is returning. It is returning through the dark. And then, Doctor? Oh, but then he will knock four times." ~ Carmen
"Yes. I'll just step inside this police box and arrest myself." ~ The Tenth Doctor
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Trivia
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"Planet of the Dead" had a one-off companion, Lady Christina de Souza, who was unique amongst her BBC Wales predecessors in that she was depicted as both a criminal and a member of the British aristocracy. The episode also featured the return of UNIT for its third story in 12 months. Narratively, it was perhaps most significant for beginning the "He will knock four times" story arc, ultimately resolved in The End of Time.
The story went through several drafts. These included a space opera about a giant war (possibly featuring the Chelonians); a bizarre story about time-freezing centaurs in a deserted hotel; a Star Trek pastiche; and a story about an outer space hotel where guests were disappearing - taken down to the planet below in order to be implanted with alien eggs.
The Number 200 story strand comes from the New Adventures novel The Highest Science written by Planet of the Dead co-writer Gareth Roberts.
The number of the bus, 200, is a reference to the fact that "Planet of the Dead" was advertised as Doctor Who's 200th story. It was also the first Doctor Who episode to be filmed in the HDTV format. This changeover can be likened to the move from black and white to colour production in 1970. As such, it features a more detailed, but otherwise unchanged, version of the title sequence.
"Doctor Who" was in part inspired by the British The Quatermass Experiment TV serials of the 1950s. The show paid homage by referring to Quatermass when Dr. Malcolm Taylor and the doctor are trying to figure out the wormhole Malcolm informs the doctor that it's Quatermass in which he used to figure it out.
Two double decker buses have been used for this episode. The bus in Dubai is RUA 461 W, a Bristol VRT/ECW formerly with Yorkshire Woollen bus company. The other one is an almost similar Bristol using an unknown license plate.
Both buses were meant to be intact throughout the story, but while one was en route to Dubai, it was badly knocked about at the docks by a crane driver who was careless with a container. So the film crew sent photos of the damage back to Cardiff and there the crew made similar 'alterations' to that bus so they would - almost - match. Then a few lines were added to the script to explain the sudden change in the buses's appearance.
This is the first Doctor Who episode in which series producer Russell T. Davies shares co-writing credit, and the first episode since the show's return in 2005 to credit two writers.
Lady Christina de Souza is similar to a character called 'Kate Tollinger' who was to have been introduced in a story called Crime of the Century, had Doctor Who been produced beyond Survival in 1989. Tollinger would have been a safe-cracking, lock-picking thief.
Actress Michelle Ryan, who played de Souza, was a candidate for a new companion after the departure of Billie Piper in 2006. Ryan did many of her stunts herself, including the high-wire stunt that opens the episode.
The "Alien Stingrays" and their desert-planet habitat were inspired by the movie Pitch Black.
Malcolm's apparel as he leaves his laboratory is similar to that of the Doctor's fourth incarnation. The scarf that Malcom wears as he leaves the van, is actually based on the Doctor's Brown Pinstriped Suit.
Malcolm says he had read all the Doctor's files and the Doctor asked "Really? What was your favorite? The Giant Robot?" This is a reference to the Fourth Doctor-era story Doctor Who: Robot: Part One.
Adam James (DI McMillan) is the godson of the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee and has been best friends with actor David Tennant since they played brothers in a play in 1999.
This story was nominated for a 2010 Hugo Award in the category of "Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form," as was "The Next Doctor" and "The Waters of Mars", the latter of which ultimately won the award
As seen in David Tennant's video diary for this episode's read-through, Tennant feared that, having spent six months portraying Hamlet for the RSC, he would be unable to accurately replicate the voice he uses when portraying the Doctor. In an informal discussion with Julie Gardner, he describes his voice for Hamlet as being the same as the Doctor's (being an English accent) except "more posh" and mentioned he may have to watch his previous performances as the Doctor and practice the voice. This strongly echoes Billie Piper's dilemma when she returned to film Turn Left; in interviews with Doctor Who Confidential, Piper confessed to having forgotten how to speak in Rose's accent; it was later noted that she spoke with a noticeable lisp in several scenes of that episode.
Although the Doctor has had invitations to join him turned down by potential companions in the past (Grace Holloway in the 1996 TV movie, Mickey Smith at the end of World War Three and, initially, Donna Noble in The Runaway Bride, for example), this is one of the few occasions in which the Doctor has outright refused to take on a companion of his own volition, despite clear indications of compatibility. This also occurred with Mr Copper in Voyage of the Damned, and for much the same reason the Doctor gives Christina.
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Trailer
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Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead DVD is available from Amazon,
download from iTunes, or watch via streaming at Amazon, or Hulu Plus.
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