Planet of the Dead - new observations

[The Borgified Corpse]

I put Christina in the category of one-shot characters who should have been companions, alongside Richard Mace.

Who?

...and the idea that the Doctor lets her off being a thief because...I don't know, maybe he fancied her.

He let her off because at heart he's a thief too (ever seen a receipt for that TARDIS?)...
..and because he fancied her!

I've pointed out in another thread the reason why the Doctor let Christina go free - because his ego has grown to the point where he thinks the rule of law doesn't apply to him. He was going to turn her in at first, but then he thought, "You know what? I like her, she helped me, and even if she is a thief who should be behind bars, I don't care. I'm the Doctor, I can do what the hell I like, and no-one can stop me."

I don't really see that dark interpretation of it. I think it was more like the Doctor was splitting the difference between taking her with him because she helped him and turning her over to the police because she's a thief. It reminds me of the ending of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, where one of the British officers asks Commodore Norrington if he is going to chase after the Black Pearl. Norrington just smirks and says, "I think we can afford to give him one day's head start."

Although, I like the idea that it would have added some more drama to "Waters of Mars" if he had taken Lady Christina with him and she got killed by the water monsters.

As for Planet of the Dead, what with some of the editing, lighting and camera work, it felt more than a usual episode, even story wise, it felt bigger and less contained than most other episodes and although I personally didn't think it was brilliant, it was still a rather good hour of television after a day walking in the sunshine round Chedder Gorge.

I would say that "Planet of the Dead" has more elaborate production values than some other episodes. Other than the San Francisco sequences in the 1996 Paul McGann movie, this is probably the farthest that the Doctor Who main unit has ever traveled for location shooting. Maybe I'm just unimpressed because deserts like that don't look that exotic to me anymore. (I live in Arizona, less than 3 hours drive from the Imperial Sand Dunes in Yuma. Not to mention the Stargate SG-1 production team always seemed able to find a desert in Vancouver whenever they wanted.)

 

[Starkers]

I put Christina in the category of one-shot characters who should have been companions, alongside Richard Mace.

Who?

Phil E Stein!

He's a character in the Davison story The Visitation who many (me included) think would have made a cool companion. He's a travelling actor come highwayman.

 

[David cgc]

Not to mention the Stargate SG-1 production team always seemed able to find a desert in Vancouver whenever they wanted.

The location they used kept getting smaller and smaller. Some sort of quarry, I think. By "Moebius," they had exactly one good angle, and had to keep repositioning the props and sets rather than move the camera around.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I put Christina in the category of one-shot characters who should have been companions, alongside Richard Mace.

Who?

Phil E Stein!

He's a character in the Davison story The Visitation who many (me included) think would have made a cool companion. He's a travelling actor come highwayman.

Ahhh. I actually watched "The Visitation" pretty recently. He was pretty cool. I just didn't remember his name. I rarely bother to remember the guest stars' names. (All I know is that ELDRAD MUST LIVE!!!!!!!)

 

[Starkers]