Planet of Fire (TV story)

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Synopsis

On holiday in Lanzarote, a young American girl named Peri narrowly escapes drowning when she is rescued from the sea by Turlough and taken into the TARDIS to recover. The Doctor is on the island because the TARDIS has detected a mysterious signal being transmitted from an unknown artifact retrieved from the sea bed by Peri's stepfather, Howard Foster.

The Master reasserts his control over Kamelion and gets it to bring the TARDIS, along with the Doctor, Turlough and Peri, to the planet Sarn, where he is hoping to use that world's supply of revitalising numismaton gas to restore his body - accidentally shrunken in an experiment with his tissue compression eliminator weapon - to its correct size.

It transpires that amongst the Sarn natives, who worship a fire god named Logar, are political prisoners from Trion - Turlough's home world. Turlough too is revealed to be a political refugee. He meets his brother and later, when a spaceship arrives from his home world, discovers that Trion has granted an amnesty to all political prisoners.

The Master is apparently killed when a stream of numismaton gas in which he is bathing turns to a normal hot flame. The Doctor destroys Kamelion at the robot's own bidding as it has become completely unstable. Turlough leaves to return to Trion, while Peri goes with the Doctor.

Plot

Part One

The Fifth Doctor and Turlough are drawn to the planet Sarn by Kamelion, where they encounter the Master in one of his diabolical plans to tap the power of the Numismaton gas.


Part Two

to be added

Part Three

to be added

Part Four

The Doctor pilots the TARDIS back to the ruins, where Lomand has just informed Turlough that political prisoners are no longer persecuted on Trion. Turlough agonises over his decision for a moment, but knows that he really has no choice; he has to go home someday, and it's better to go now while he's a minor hero. He bids the Doctor goodbye and asks Peri to take care of him. As Turlough departs for the Trion ship, the Doctor and Peri return to the TARDIS, where Peri asks if she can accompany the Doctor on his travels... and the Doctor welcomes her aboard.

Cast

Crew

References

  • Peri (Perpugilliam) Brown is a young American student, holidaying with her mother and archaeologist step father, Professor Howard Foster, on Lanzarote.
  • Peri's summer studying includes an ecology project. She has exams coming up, and her return flight is to New York.
  • According to Peri's passport she is from Pasadena, California and her birthdate is 15th November.
  • Vislor Turlough's rank is Junior Ensign Commander, he is from Trion, and he was on the losing side in the planet's civil war.
  • Turlough's father and brother Malkon were exiled to Sarn, where the Trions sent occasional prisoners. Such prisoners were branded with the Misos Triangle, and the indigenous population heralded them as leaders chosen by Logar, their fire god. Turlough's father died when the spacecraft crashed. The volcanic forces of Sarn were for a while kept in check by Trion scientists.
  • The volcanic activity on Sarn which will soon destroy the planet also produces numismaton gas, "an immensely rare catalytic reagent" with great healing properties.
  • The Master controls Kamelion forcing him to control the TARDIS.
  • The Master accidentally shrunk himself while adjusting his Tissue Compression Eliminator.
  • Peri compares the statue of Eros to Elton John.
  • The Master removes the temporal stabiliser from the Doctor's TARDIS, rendering it inoperable, Kamelion also removes the comparator, another vital circuit.

Story Notes

  • This story had the working title of: The Planet of Fear
  • Kamelion appears for the first time since The King's Demons the previous season; complications involving the robot model prevented him from appearing in other episodes, although a scene was filmed for The Awakening but cut before transmission. Kamelion "death" makes him the fourth known companion to die while travelling with the Doctor, following Katarina, Sara Kingdom, and Adric.
  • It was during production of this serial that Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant participated in their infamous "James Bond" photo shoot, in which Davison donned a tuxedo and prop gun and Bryant a bikini.
  • The H. Rider Haggard novel, She, whose title character renews herself periodically by bathing in a magic flame.
  • This is the only Fifth Doctor serial in which Janet Fielding does not appear.

Ratings

  • Part 1 - 7.4 million viewers
  • Part 2 - 6.1 million viewers
  • Part 3 - 7.4 million viewers
  • Part 4 - 7.0 million viewers

Myths

  • The Master's ambiguous statement ("Would you show (no) mercy to one of your own...?") prior to his "demise" has led to ongoing speculation as to whether the Master might be the Doctor's brother or another relative. (The more likely explanation is he referring to their shared biology as Gallifreyans or status as Time Lords.)

Filming locations

  • Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. This was the first Doctor Who story to include filming away from the European continent. To date only three other stories have included filming outside of Europe: Doctor Who (filmed entirely in Canada) and Daleks in Manhattan (which included second-unit photography done in New York City), and Planet of the Dead, which was partially filmed in Dubai. At the time this serial was made, the producers were planning to film part of The Two Doctors in the United States, but the location was later changed to Spain.
  • Papagayo Beach, Lanzarote
  • Orzola Jetty, Orzola, Lanzarote
  • Mirador del Rio, Lanzarote
  • Montañas del Fuego, Timanfaya National Park, Lanzarote
  • BBC Television Centre (TC6 & TC8), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • The studio and location shots of Turlough rescuing Peri don't quite match up. She's still wet from her near-drowning when Turlough gets her to the exterior of the TARDIS doors, but is dry when they cut to the interior, studio shot.

Continuity

Timeline

Home video releases

  • Released on video in UK and Australia / NZ in 1998 and the US in 1999.
  • It has been annonuced that this story and The King's Demons will be released in a Kamelion boxset in early 2010 and on a second disc will be a special re-edit, widescreen and new special effects simillar to Enlightenment. Due for release 14 June 2010


Novelisation

Planet of Fire novel.jpg
Main article: Planet of Fire (novelisation)

External Links

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According to one account, the Master had the appearance of Roger Delgado while on Gallifrey. According to another, he had Anthony Ainley's likeness. According to another one, the one with James Dreyfus's appearance was the incarnation who ran away from Gallifrey.

Divided Loyalties, A Brief History of Time Lords and The Legions of Death feature, or otherwise acknowledge, the War Chief, but in the process contradicted the notion put forward by other stories that he was an incarnation of the Master.

One account suggests that the incarnation portrayed by Roger Delgado may be the same as the one portrayed by Peter Pratt while some others distinguish them.

According to one account, the incarnation portrayed by Gordon Tipple is the one portrayed by Anthony Ainley, while some others state that the Ainley one was already lost by then.

While fighting to extend his life at the end of his regeneration cycle, many bodies were possessed by the Beevers incarnation, but all kept somehow reverting to his real being until he finally regenerated into the MacQueen one. Hence, these sections cannot be strictly chronological
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