Planet of Fire
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| 135 - Planet of Fire | |
| Doctor | Peter Davison (Fifth Doctor) |
|---|---|
| Writer | Peter Grimwade |
| Director | Fiona Cumming |
| Script Editor | Eric Saward |
| Producer | John Nathan-Turner |
| Executive producer(s) | None |
| Production code | 6Q |
| Series | Season 21 |
| Length | 4 episodes, 25 mins each |
| Transmission date | February 23–March 2, 1984 |
| Preceded by | Resurrection of the Daleks |
| Followed by | The Caves of Androzani |
Planet of Fire is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from February 23 to March 2, 1984. The story introduces Nicola Bryant as the Doctor's newest companion, Peri Brown and marks the departure of Turlough and the final appearance of Kamelion.
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[edit] Synopsis
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.
[edit] Plot
On the desert world of Sarn, robed natives worship the fire god Logar and follow the Chief Elder, Timanov, who demands obedience. Those who dissent are known as Unbelievers, and two of them, Amyand and Roskal, cause unrest when they claim to have ventured to the top of the sacred fire mountain but not found Logar. One of the Sarns, Malkon, is known as the Chosen One because of the unusual double triangle symbol burnt into his skin: he is also unusual for having been found as a baby on the slopes of the fire mountain.
The same triangle symbol is found on a metal artefact uncovered in an archaeological dig in Lanzarote overseen by Professor Howard Foster. His step-daughter Peri Brown is bored with the dig and wants to go travelling in Morocco and when he seeks to prevent this she steals the strange artefact and tries to swim for freedom. Fortunately for her the TARDIS has landed nearby – responding to a distress call sent by the strange artefact - and Turlough sees her drowning and rescues her. Going through her possessions as she recovers he finds the artefact and acknowledges the same triangle symbol is burnt into his own flesh. The Fifth Doctor returns to the TARDIS, having been for a stroll, and events make the ship dematerialise. It soon arrives on Sarn and the Doctor and Turlough set off to explore.
The Doctor’s other companion, the robot Kamelion, has meanwhile made mental contact with its old controller, the Master, who turns it into a series of unstable images before Peri. Kamelion tries to warn Peri of the Master but the Time Lord asserts his control. She flees the TARDIS with the creature in pursuit as the rumblings of the volcanoes of Sarn gather ferocity.
In the Sarn colony Timanov has damned the Unbelievers to be sacrificed to appease Logar and stop the tremors. They flee to a secret base in the mountains which is filled with seismological apparatus and which the Doctor and Turlough stumble across. The Doctor informs the Unbelievers that the tunnels which have been their refuge are volcanic vents which will soon fill with molten lava. It is also established that Turlough is of the same race as these people who, when they see his Misos Triangle, greet him as a second Chosen One. Turlough realiss Malkon may be his brother and becomes even more worried when Peri turns up and mentions the Master.
Another important figure in Sarn mythology is the Outsider, a promised prophet, and the Master/Kamelion fulfils this role admirably. He convinces Timanov of the appropriateness of harsh action and when the Doctor arrives with the Unbelievers they are all seized for burning. However, Malkon and Peri arrive shortly afterward and end this assault, though not before Malkon has been injured. Turlough is aghast when he finds his relative has been shot and the Doctor presses him for as much information as he has on the strange circumstances of Sarn. It seems it is a long abandoned Trion colony planet, and that Turlough, a Trion, suspects some of his family were sent here after a revolution against the hereditary leading clans of his homeworld. He supposes his father died in a crash but that Malkon survived, while he himself was sent in exile to Brendan School In England, overseen by a Trion agent masquerading as a solicitor in Chancery Lane.
The Master/Kamelion has meanwhile seized Peri and uses her to transport a black box into the control room of his TARDIS. It contains a miniature Master – the real thing – who has been shrunken and transformed by a disastrous experiment with his Tissue Compression Eliminator. The Master thus re-established the psychic link with Kamelion to gain the power of movement and has manoeuvred the robot to Sarn so that he can take advantage of the restorative powers of the Numismaton gas within the fire mountain.
Turlough realises the imminent volcano bursts will destroy the Sarn colony so nobly uses a functioning communication unit to get in touch with Trion and plead for a rescue ship to evacuate Sarn. In doing so he abandons his own freedom. When the ship later arrives, the Trions all depart, including Turlough and Malkon. They have both been pardoned in an amnesty issued by the new Sarn government. The only Trion to remain on the planet and face the erupting volcanoes is Timanov, now sure to die, his faith in tatters.
The Doctor meanwhile succeeds in weakening the Master’s hold of Kamelion, and interrupts the numismaton experiment. He adds calorific gas to the numismaton surge and seemingly burns the Master alive. The Doctor also puts the terminally wounded Kamelion out of its misery. He returns to the TARDIS with a heavy heart, but with a new companion, Peri, for company.
[edit] Cast
- The Doctor — Peter Davison
- Turlough — Mark Strickson
- Peri Brown — Nicola Bryant
- The Master — Anthony Ainley
- Voice of Kamelion — Gerald Flood
- Howard Foster — Dallas Adams
- Curt — Michael Bangerter
- Timanov — Peter Wyngarde
- Sorasta — Barbara Shelley
- Amyand — James Bate
- Roskal — Jonathon Caplan
- Malkon — Edward Highmore
- Zuko — Max Arthur
- Lomand — John Alkin
- Lookout — Simon Sutton
[edit] In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Peter Grimwade, was published by Target Books in October 1984.
[edit] Notes
- The working title for this story was The Planet of Fear.
- This was the last story to feature Mark Strickson as Turlough. He would return for the Fifth Doctor's regeneration scene in The Caves of Androzani. Turlough would be the last male companion of the Doctor on screen until Adam Mitchell joined the TARDIS crew briefly at the end of the Ninth Doctor episode Dalek in 2005.
- Mark Strickson has also reprised the role of Turlough in the audio plays by Big Finish Productions and penned the introduction to the spin-off novel Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma (1986).
- Peter Wyngarde makes a guest appearance as Timanov. See Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.
- It was decided that because of the climate of Lanzarote, where the serial was filmed, the cast would have to alter their usual costumes. Although Peter Davison started the story wearing his cricketer outfit, for the rest of the story, he wore a different pair of trousers with question mark braces and a beige floral waistcoat. Strickson shed his usual school boy outfit in favor of a blue pin-stripe shirt and tan shorts. Nicola Bryant was dressed in a pink and white plaid shirt with pink shorts. Bryant also wore a pink bikini beneath her clothes to which she stripped down for a couple of scenes, the first time a companion had been seen to wear a two-piece swimsuit since Sarah Jane Smith in the Third Doctor story Death to the Daleks.
- This was originally intended as the swan song for Anthony Ainley as the Master since his contract with the show had come to an end, hence the "death" of the character in the numismation flames at the story's climax. However, the Master reappeared in the following season's The Mark of the Rani without explanation as to how he survived the flames.
[edit] External links
- Planet of Fire episode guide on the BBC website
- Planet of Fire at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- Planet of Fire at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
[edit] Reviews
- Planet of Fire reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- Planet of Fire reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
[edit] Target novelisation
| Television stories featuring the Master |
|---|
| Third Doctor: Terror of the Autons | The Mind of Evil | The Claws of Axos | Colony in Space | The Dæmons | The Sea Devils | The Time Monster | Frontier in Space |
| Fourth Doctor: The Deadly Assassin | The Keeper of Traken | Logopolis |
| Fifth Doctor: Castrovalva | Time-Flight | The King's Demons | The Five Doctors | Planet of Fire |
| Sixth Doctor: The Mark of the Rani | The Trial of a Time Lord:The Ultimate Foe |
| Seventh Doctor: Survival |
| Eighth Doctor: Doctor Who |
