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TARDIS Guide

Overview

First aired

Saturday, June 3, 2006

Production Code

2.8

Written by

Matt Jones

Directed by

James Strong

Runtime

45 minutes

Story Type

Two-Parter

Time Travel

Future

Tropes (Potential Spoilers!)

Black Hole, Base Under Siege, Mind Control

Inventory (Potential Spoilers!)

Gravity Globe

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Space

UK Viewers

6.32 million

Appreciation Index

85

Synopsis

The Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler lose the TARDIS down a deep chasm, leaving themselves stranded on a space base positioned on a planet in the orbit of a black hole. Meanwhile, an entity who identifies as Satan himself is awakening and beginning to cause chaos amongst the crew.

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Reviews

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4 reviews

Sanctuary Base 6 space suit first appearance latest appearance blue moon tenth doctor visit the moon  with he moon landing tool and telescope to meet apollo 11 later eleventh and thirteenth doctor wear it sb6 space suit from hide and the power of the doctor but not water of mars i watch that episode never again


This review contains spoilers!

8️⃣🔼 → VERY GOOD!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

THIRD IMPRESSIONS: “THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET”

They begin the episode right off the bat with that smug moment in front of the TARDIS. Blergh!

Fortunately, though, the focus quickly switches to some effectively creepy and fascinatingly sci-fi stuff—impossibly old wiring on the wall and whispery voices speaking to the weak-minded; a space station on a barren rock orbiting a black hole; and the introduction of one of the more successful aliens in Nu Who: the spaghetti-faced telepathic Sensorite cousins known as the Ood.

The worn-out space station and its crew are one of the more successful and memorable ones seen in the revival (together with Bowie Base One in The Waters of Mars). The fact that we spend a good amount of time with most of them helps to flesh out the crew members.

Themes of slavery are explored through the Ood, a race living to serve. It's not a very deep-cut commentary, though, and is returned to in Planet of the Ood in Series 4.

The episode largely plays with traditional Doctor Who stuff: a base crew partaking in a revolutionary project that goes horribly wrong; the Doctor losing access to the TARDIS; evil powers from before time and space uncovered and possessing people. But it does all of that while effectively building a tense atmosphere and consistently planting hints as to who or what the big bad is.

Silas Carson is the OG voice for the Ood, and he’s already perfect at it from the onset.

The one and only Gabriel Woolf, arguably one of the best actors to ever have played a Doctor Who villain, returns here to voice the Beast (joining the exclusive club of actors who have worked on both the classic and new versions of the show). That cold and menacing voice of his is just as effective as it was back in 1976, when he played Sutekh in Pyramids of Mars.

David Tennant and Billie Piper are fine when focused on the main plot points and interacting with the guest cast, but when left alone talking about mortgages and the like, they fall to that annoying smugness again, and I cringe all the way through those scenes.

They use very simple methods to make the possessed Toby creepy, but it definitely works. That writing all over his body and the red eyes, followed by his destructive actions, tell us all we need to know about the nature of the threat.

The latter half of the episode brilliantly builds up to one of the more memorable cliffhanger reveals in Nu Who: the Ood suddenly turning into killers; the creepy voice of Gabriel Woolf announcing the arrival of the Beast; and finally, the trapp door to the Satan Pit opening…


In the top 10 of 2 parters, and no contest my favorite Tennant episode(s). Atmospheric, claustrophobic, immersive, and a true sight to behold. Adore it.


An easy to overlook classic from the revived series. Impossible Planet is a bucket load of fun and spooky suspense. It introduces us to the Ood, who were done great here and haven't really needed to change much at all from their introduction to be a memorable part of the franchise. It has some great moments right from the moment the Doctor and Rose first arrive on the Sanctuary Base. We are immediately told and shown how something is wrong here and this sense of dread just builds and builds from then on out. The crew manning the base are all pretty well done, many standing out just enough they come across as people and not cannon fodder for the monster, though some definitely feel acted better than others.

The possession of Toby is done quite well and the story ends nicely on his menacing actions while the Ood start going nuts. It is really good set-up that in my opinion is well paid off in the Satan Pit. A clear highlight of Series 2 and I think certainly the best aged among these episodes, though it is a pretty close contest with The Girl in the Fireplace. I personally think while the Series has its flaws it also has some real gems that make it worth watching and it remains pretty strong in Who history thanks to episodes like this.


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Statistics

AVG. Rating625 members
4.04 / 5

Trakt.tv

AVG. Rating1,304 votes
4.11 / 5

The Time Scales

AVG. Rating239 votes
4.35 / 5

Member Statistics

Watched

1323

Favourited

154

Reviewed

4

Saved

3

Skipped

1

Owned

10

Quotes

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DOCTOR: (talking about the TARDIS) I don't know what is wrong with her, she's sort of... queasy, indigestion... like she didn't want to land.

ROSE: (deadpan) Well if you think that's gonna be trouble, we can always get back inside and go somewhere else.

(The Doctor and Rose laugh.)

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Transcript Needs checking

[Storage area 6]

(The TARDIS materialises in a very tight space.)

DOCTOR: I don't know what's wrong though. She's sort of queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't want to land.
ROSE: Oh, if you think there's going to be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else.

(They both laugh.)

DOCTOR: I think we've landed inside a cupboard. Here we go.


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