Planet of Fire (TV story)

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Revision as of 15:29, 2 July 2010 by 86.3.7.30 (talk) (→‎Plot)


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

to be added

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • According to director Fiona Cumming in the DVD commentary, Peri's passport was not specifically made for this production, but was, rather, the reuse of a passport that actor Dallas Adams had used in another production. Therefore, any details gleaned from freeze-framing the close-ups on the prop — such as her birth date and location — were not specific to Peri, but to the character Adams had played in the other production. Thus, they are technically production errors.

Continuity

Timeline

Home video and audio releases

DVD releases

  • This story was first released on DVD in the UK on 14th June 2010 as part of the Kamelion Tales boxset. The two disc set includes a restored version of the story, as well as the following special features:
  • Commentary by Peter Davison (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Mark Strickson (Turlough) and Fiona Cumming (Director).
  • The Flames Of Sarn
  • Return To The Planet Of Fire
  • Designs On Sarn
  • Calling The Shots
  • Remembering Anthony Ainley
  • Deleted And Extended Scenes
  • Continuity
  • Isolated Music Soundtrack
  • Coming Soon Trailer
  • Radio Times Billings
  • Production Subtitles
  • Photo Gallery
  • Plus a new Special Edition of Planet of Fire, in 16:9 widescreen format, with 5.1 surround sound, CGI effects and extra footage.
  • Editing for DVD release completed by Doctor Who Restoration Team.
  • UK DVD 2010 Cover

    UK DVD 2010 Cover

  • UK DVD 2010 Boxset

    UK DVD 2010 Boxset

VHS releases

  • Released on video in UK and Australia / NZ in 1998 and the US in 1999.

Novelisation and its audiobook

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

External links

Template:Season 21

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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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