The Impossible Planet

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178a - The Impossible Planet
Doctor	David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Writer	Matt Jones
Director	James Strong
Script Editor	Simon Winstone
Producer	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T. Davies Julie Gardner
Production code	Series 2, Episode 8
Series	Series 2 (2006)
Length	1 of 2 episodes, 45 mins
Transmission date	3 June 2006
Preceded by	The Idiot's Lantern
Followed by	The Satan Pit

The Impossible Planet is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the first part of a two-part story, followed by The Satan Pit. The story was first broadcast on 3 June 2006.

1 Synopsis
2 Plot
3 Cast
- 3.1 Cast notes
4 Continuity
5 Production
6 Outside references
7 Broadcast and DVD release
8 Scientific errors
9 References
10 External links
- 10.1 Reviews

[edit] Synopsis

The TARDIS lands in a base on a planet orbiting a black hole, an impossible situation that stumps even the Tenth Doctor. The base crew are drilling to the centre of the world, to claim the power that keeps it in orbit for themselves. However, an ancient evil is down there too, and he is awake…

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

"Welcome to Hell"

The TARDIS sluggishly materialises inside a storage area in what appears to be some kind of human-built base. The Doctor notes that there appears to be a problem with his ship. Rose suggests in a deadpan manner that if there is a problem, they could just go back in the TARDIS and leave. The two burst out laughing at the thought, and shrug the problem off. As they explore, the Doctor observes that the base they are in is one of many types constructed from pre-fabricated kits, comparing it to a bigger version of a "flat-packed" wardrobe.

The Doctor and Rose reach a habitation area, and he finally recognises it as a Sanctuary Base, meant for deep-space exploration expeditions. The soft hum of drilling machinery can also be heard, a constant background presence. Rose notices the English words "Welcome to Hell" scrawled on a wall above a series of strange, undecipherable letters. The Doctor examines the alien letters with concern, as the TARDIS is not automatically translating them. That means that the writing is impossibly old. The Doctor says that if they have travelled beyond the reach of the TARDIS's knowledge, it is not a good situation.

Opening another hatch, the two are startled as they are confronted by three humanoid aliens, with tentacles on the lower portion of their faces. A thin tube extends from the tentacles, connecting to a white sphere that each holds in their hand. As the Doctor tries to casually greet them, they begin to chant, "We must feed." The Doctor and Rose back up, and other hatches around them open, more aliens advancing on them, repeating the phrase over and over. The two are hemmed in, the Doctor raising his sonic screwdriver in defence, until one alien taps its globe as if restoring a loose connection, and completes the sentence, "We must feed... you, if you are hungry." It apologises, explaining that electromagnetic interference has disrupted the speech systems, and offers refreshment.

Another hatch opens, and three armed humans emerge. The leader, Jefferson, is surprised to see the Doctor and Rose, and reports their presence to Captain Zachary Cross Flane. Just then, the voice of Ida Scott comes over the base speakers, warning them of a "big one" coming. The base begins to shudder and an alarm sounds, as Jefferson hurries everyone into the corridors. The aliens, however, stay behind, seemingly unconcerned.

As the Doctor and Rose enter the control room, the other humans look at them incredulously, not believing that the two are really here. Zack tells everyone to strap up, and as there are no seats for the Doctor and Rose, tells them to just hold on to anything. The impact wave hits like an earthquake, sending systems sparking and throwing everything about violently. As the quake subsides, Zack shouts out a roll call, and the others respond, confirming they are all right.

Zack notes that the surface has caved in, but he has deflected the damage to Base Storage 5 through 8, which they have now lost completely. He sends Toby to check the rocket link. Rose observes that it must have been a major hurricane, but Scooti tells her that there's no air out there, just hard vacuum. When Rose asks what is out there, Ida realises that Rose really does not know. Ida introduces herself as the Science Officer, Zack as the acting Captain, Jefferson as Head of Security, Danny Bartok of the Ethics Committee, Toby Zed of Archaeology and Scooti Manista, Trainee Maintenance. That done, Ida throws a switch which opens the roof of the control room, revealing a window that shows the sky above the base, a sight which Zack warns has driven people mad.

The Doctor stares in shock at what is revealed: a black hole, which is drawing stellar matter into itself. The Doctor says that it is impossible for the planet to be in geostationary orbit around the black hole, as it should be pulled in like the star systems around it are, but Ida confirms that it is, beyond all laws of physics.

Zack displays a holographic image of the black hole, designated K37 Gem 5. The planet they are on is described in the Scriptures of the Faltino as Krop Tor, the Bitter Pill. The legend holds that the black hole was a mighty demon that was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out as it was poison. The planet is generating a gravity field which holds it in constant balance against the pull of the black hole. The field extends outward into space as a funnel, which the expedition flew through to land here. In the process, however, their captain was lost, and Zack had to take command.

An alien gives Rose a drink. Rose asks what the alien's name is, but it replies that they have no title. Danny says that the aliens are the Ood, a slave race which serve as maintenance personnel. Rose is shocked that humans still own slaves, but Danny explains that the Ood offer themselves willingly. One Ood confirms that being given orders is all that they crave, as they have nothing else in life. Rose replies that she thought that too, once.

The Doctor calculates that the power requirements to generate the field would be phenomenal, a power source with an inverted self-extrapolating reflex of 6⁶ every 6 seconds, which is again impossible. Ida explains that is why they are here: the power source is ten miles down through solid rock, and they are drilling down to find it. Toby notes that it is not a natural phenomenon; the planet once supported some form of civilisation millions of years ago. The alien writing was copied from fragments recovered through drilling but he has not been able to translate them. Something was buried a long time ago, and it is calling them in, so they came. The Doctor is impressed that the humans have come so far to this place just because it was there, and hugs Zack.

The Doctor tells them, however, that they should get back in their ship and leave. Ida asks how the travellers got here, and when the Doctor explains where they parked the TARDIS, Zack asks if they put it in Storage 6. The Doctor remembers that Storage 5 through 8 had collapsed. Horrified, he and Rose run back, only to discover that the entire section of the base has collapsed, and the TARDIS has fallen into a crevasse down into the heart of the planet. Zack tells him they have no resources to divert the drilling: the TARDIS is lost, and the two are stranded in this time.

As the base transitions to the Night Shift, the Ood and the crew perform their designated tasks. However, odd things begin to happen. As Toby examines the recovered fragments in his room, he begins to hear a voice whisper his name, but there is nobody around. When Rose is served dinner from an Ood, it replies to a question by saying, "The Beast and his armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God." However, it then taps its globe and apologises, telling her it meant to say that it hoped she will enjoy her meal. As Zack is monitoring the progress of the drill, he does not see the holographic display show an image of a horned demon that growls; when he turns towards the sound, the image has vanished. Even the base computer utters that "He is awake."

The voice in Toby's room calls him again yet this time it is a deep and dark voice. It warns him not to turn around and look at it, lest he should die. After the voice says "I can touch you…" Toby turns around, but there is nobody there. He looks back at the fragments, and notices the writing on them is gone. Somehow, the runes have been transferred to his hands, and his face is covered with them as well, his eyes turned red. He convulses and collapses.

The others watch the Scarlet System, home to the billion-year-old Pelushi civilisation, being swallowed by the black hole. The Doctor and Rose talk about being stuck in this time period. The Doctor is pained at the thought of settling down and living an ordinary life and the two share an awkward moment when Rose suggests that they could share a house together, quickly changing the subject. Rose checks her mobile phone and initially gets no signal. Suddenly, it starts to ring, and when she answers it, a harsh voice tells her, "He is awake." At the same time, Toby lifts his head from the floor.

The Doctor and Rose go to where several Oods are seated, apparently asleep, and ask Danny how the Ood communicate. Danny says that they are empaths, connected by a low level telepathic field, measured at Basic 5. The Doctor asks if the Ood could pick up any signals, and Danny replies that with whole star systems being swallowed by the black hole, there are a lot of stray transmissions around. Besides, they monitor the telepathic field constantly. However, as the Doctor watches, the field strength climbs to Basic 30, and the Ood below them sit up and stare at them. Something is telepathically shouting in their heads. Rose tells Danny that the voice on her telephone said, "He is awake." The Ood reply in unison, "…and you will worship him." However, when the Doctor demands to know who "he" is, the Ood do not answer.

Scooti finds that someone has left the base. As she looks out a window, she sees Toby on the surface, impossibly not wearing a space suit. Toby turns, face still covered in the runes, and smiles at her. He raises his hand, beckoning to her. He then clenches his fist; the glass of the window shatters and air rushes out of the base. Zack orders everyone back into the corridors as he fights to seal the breach. Everyone makes it, including a now normal-looking and dazed Toby, but Jefferson notices that Scooti is missing. When they trace her signal to Habitation 3, she is still nowhere to be found — until they look up and see her dead body through the roof window, drifting through space towards the black hole. As the crew mourn Scooti's loss, the sound of drilling stops. They have reached their goal.

The Doctor volunteers to go with Ida down the mine shaft as Zack orders all non-essential Ood to be confined, with Danny watching over them. Rose "orders" the Doctor to come back safely and plants an affectionate kiss on his helmet. The Doctor and Ida travel down the shaft in a lift, turning on the air supplies to their space suits when they leave the base's oxygen field. As the lift reaches the bottom of the shaft, the Ood all stand up in unison, startling Danny.

The Doctor and Ida exit the lift, finding a massive cavern with giant and ancient sculptures along its walls. They head for the power source, guided by sensor readings. In the base, the Ood telepathic field has reached Basic 100 — brain death. However, they are obviously still alive. Jefferson and his two guards arm themselves and go to keep an eye on the Ood near the mine shaft.

The Doctor and Ida find a circular disk, about thirty feet in diameter, set in the floor of the cavern, which the Doctor suspects is a trap door of some sort. The edge of the disk is covered with the same runes. They communicate this to the base. Rose asks Toby if he has deciphered the lettering yet. Toby says he knows what the letters mean, and stands up to reveal himself transformed, with the runes covering his body again. He says, in the deep, dark voice that spoke to both Toby and Rose earlier, that the Beast has woken, and now he will rise.

Jefferson holds him at gunpoint, demanding Toby stand down and threatening to shoot him, but is shaken when Toby confronts him with the memory of his wife's lack of forgiveness for an unidentified wrong he committed. The runes slide off Toby's skin, possessing the Ood as Toby himself falls to the floor. The Ood speak as one, identifying themselves as the Legion of the Beast, who has many names — some call him Abaddon, Krop Tor, Satan or Lucifer. An Ood electrocutes one of the guards by extending its translation sphere to touch his forehead. Danny runs.

Jefferson backs up, with Rose and another guard, as the Ood advance on them. Below, the cavern begins to shake, debris raining down as the trap door begins to open. Zack warns everyone that the planet's gravity field is fading, and the planet is heading straight for the Black Hole.

The voice of the Beast, through the Ood, says that he had been imprisoned for eternity, but no more. As the Doctor and Ida look down the now open trap door, a booming voice declares that the Pit is open, and he is free...

[edit] Cast

The Doctor — David Tennant
Rose Tyler — Billie Piper
Mr. Jefferson — Danny Webb
Zachary Cross Flane — Shaun Parkes
Ida Scott — Claire Rushbrook
Toby Zed — Will Thorp
Danny Bartock — Ronny Jhutti
Scooti Manista — MyAnna Buring
The Ood — Paul Kasey
Voice of the Beast — Gabriel Woolf
Voice of the Ood — Silas Carson

[edit] Cast notes

The Voice of the Beast is provided by Gabriel Woolf, who is best known in Doctor Who for playing Sutekh the Destroyer in the Fourth Doctor serial Pyramids of Mars (1975). One of the names that the possessed Ood have for the Beast is Satan. Coincidentally, the Fourth Doctor states that Sutekh has been known by many aliases, including the Typhonian beast and Satan. However, Woolf was cast only after the episode had been written and filmed, so any connection between the two is purely speculatory and not the writer's intent.^[1]
Writer Matt Jones also wrote, as Matthew Jones, the Virgin New Adventures novel Bad Therapy, featuring the Seventh Doctor and Chris Cwej. He was script editor on Russell T. Davies' Channel 4 series Queer as Folk.
Shaun Parkes previously starred with David Tennant in the BBC's 2005 Casanova serial written by Russell T. Davies. He was also in Things To Do Before You're 30 with Billie Piper.

[edit] Continuity

This is the first episode of the revived series not to have any scenes on or near Earth (or alternate versions thereof). Although the bulk of the episode took place on another planet, the pre-credits sequence for New Earth took place on Earth.
The Ood masks had their "eyes" in non-human positions, so the actors who played them were essentially blind.
The Doctor encountered adversaries that used a black hole in The Three Doctors, The Horns of Nimon and The Trial of a Time Lord. The Tractators in Frontios could also control gravity.
Zack mentions that he took over when Captain Walker, the original expedition commander, was lost on the voyage in. Captain Walker appears in the TARDISODE accompanying this episode, seen being given the assignment to go to Krop Tor.
In the episode the human government is "the Empire". This may be any one of several human Empires mentioned previously in the series, depending on the era in which the episode is set. When reporting Scooti's death, Jefferson gives what appears to be the time or the date as "Forty-three K, two point one", although no further explanation is given for what the numbers mean.
Rose refers to the dinner lady job she had in School Reunion when talking to an Ood serving food.
The Doctor mentions that TARDISes are grown rather than built. However, this seemingly contradicts Warriors' Gate where it is mentioned that K-9 has a full set of TARDIS blueprints and Romana can build one with the help of the time sensitive Tharils. Actor John Barrowman mirrored this comment when talking about the piece of "TARDIS coral" Captain Jack keeps in his office at "the Hub" in a special feature in Radio Times October 28-November 3 2006, he also mentioned a "carving process" which may mean that these previous comments are still correct if one has access to enough "TARDIS coral". Another "grown" spaceship was seen in the Seventh Doctor serial Battlefield (1989).
This episode sees Rose's "Superphone" lose its signal for the first time; however, it is still able to receive a message from the Beast. Rose's mobile phone is a different unit from her previous one, as the Doctor gave the old one to Mickey at the end of The Age of Steel in order to defeat the remaining dormant Cybermen.
After finding Scooti's body, the Doctor repeats the phrase, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The phrase has been used in other episodes, for example when discovering a diseased 'New Human' in New Earth and when examining the dying Cyberman, Sally Phelan, in The Age of Steel. The President also said this to the Cybermen at the party, as did Mickey to Rita-Anne in Rise of the Cybermen, and Mr Magpie said this to Rose in The Idiot's Lantern.

[edit] Production

The scenes of Scooti's body floating away were filmed on the underwater stage at Pinewood Studios, the first time the series has used the well-known venue, not counting the charity special Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death.
In the accompanying Doctor Who Confidential episode, "You've Got the Look", Russell T. Davies said that he likes to think that the Ood come from a planet near to that of the Sensorites from the First Doctor serial, The Sensorites (1964).
This is the first episode of the 2005 revival of Doctor Who to use a quarry as an alien planet — quarries were frequently used in this manner in the classic series. Other familiar elements include video-overlay holograms (Earthshock, 1982) and the "base under siege" motif used in many Doctor Who stories.
This episode features no direct reference to Torchwood, unlike most of the other episodes in this series. However, like Bad Wolf in the 2005 series, such references would only appear in one half of a two-part story, as is evident with the reference made in The Satan Pit.
For the first time in the 2006 series the tie-in game to this episode^[2] is not on the Defending the Earth! website,^[3] although it can be found on the BBC Doctor Who website.
In the commentary for The Satan Pit, producer and chief writer Russell T. Davies said that an early draft of the script called for the role of the Ood to be filled by the same species as the Slitheen. Their race would have been enslaved and they wished to awaken the Beast, whom they believed to be a god that could free them.

[edit] Outside references

This episode has numerous references to Hell, and the Number of the Beast, 666. The Doctor states that the power source to generate the gravitational field would have to be "6⁶ every 6 seconds"; a character announces that a computer readout is 66.6; the room where the TARDIS was parked was Base Storage 6; the story's two episodes are broadcast on either side of the week of 6 June 2006 (06/06/06). The episode also features Maurice Ravel's Boléro, the music to which British ice dancers Torvill and Dean won perfect sixes at the 1984 Winter Olympics. In addition, the image of the Scarlet system being devoured looks like an inverted 6. Coincidentally, MyAnna Buring (Scooti) appears as a tabloid reporter in the 2006 remake of The Omen, which also uses the Number of the Beast as a motif in the birth of the Antichrist.
This episode is full of religious quotations, most of which are fragmented. The most used are "He is awake," and "We are Legion," the latter being a reference to Mark 5:9. The use of a black hole, as well as the phrase "black sun", echoes the prophecy about the Sun turning black in the Book of Revelation.
Jefferson reports Scooti's full name or designation as "Scootori Manista PKD" (this same designation is appended to Jefferson's name in The Satan Pit). In science fiction fandom, the initials PKD are used to refer to science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, who wrote a short story titled "The Impossible Planet" in 1953.
As they watch Scooti drift towards the black hole, Jefferson recites the lines, "And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, / For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods," from Macaulay's 1842 poem Horatius, Stanza XXVII, about the heroism of Horatius Cocles.
The Doctor's line, "This'll be the best Christmas Walford has ever seen", is a reference to the long-running soap EastEnders, whose Christmas storylines are generally miserable despite characters proclaiming the above hope.
The story shares many themes common to the horror stories of H. P. Lovecraft, especially the idea of ancient and powerful evils originating from pre-human civilisations. In particular, the Great Old One named Cthulhu is described as having a face resembling an octopus, much as the Ood do. The Cthulhu Mythos and Doctor Who have intersected in several of the tie-in novels, beginning with the Virgin New Adventures novel White Darkness.
There are apparent parallels with the Doom video game series, particularly Doom 3, in which the Soul Cube is buried by a Martian race in order to stop the portal to Hell being reopened. Both the UAC in Doom 3 and the human expedition in this story discover ancient ruins underground and both ultimately lead to the primary problem the protagonists encounter. The first time Toby exits to the corridor after hearing his name whispered, the closing door sound effects were used in the original Doom videogame. However, this sound comes from a standard audio library of sound effects, and has been used elsewhere besides Doom.

[edit] Broadcast and DVD release

This is the first episode to be given a 6 ("Beyond Fear") by the BBC's fear forecasters (technically, the scale only goes up to 5). Amy, the youngest, rated it a 3, but the other three hold up cards showing the number 6. Their photographs are positioned in a line, continuing the 666 references (however, the fear forecasters are always shown in order of age, so this would have happened anyway).
Overnight viewing figures for the episode were 5.94 million, peaking at 6.78 million. This is the lowest single rating for the new series to date, though by a slim margin. However, the episode still obtained a 39.8% share of the audience and was the second highest rated programme of the evening, behind Casualty. The final ratings for the episode were 6.32 million viewers.^{[citation needed]}
This episode and The Satan Pit were released in the UK, together with Love & Monsters, as a basic DVD with no special features on 7 August 2006.

[edit] Scientific errors

While the makers of Doctor Who have never been particularly stringent about scientific accuracy (despite the series having been originally intended as educational), this episode includes a number of substantial scientific errors:

The Doctor is technically incorrect when he states that it is impossible for a planet to orbit a black hole without being sucked in. The gravity of a black hole is only overwhelming within its event horizon, though stable orbits are also impossible in the region just outside the event horizon. Outside of the last stable orbit, it can be orbited safely just like any other celestial object. In fact, the Solar System is in orbit around the Galactic Centre which contains the Sagittarius A* black hole, several million times more massive than the Sun. If the planet was within the last stable orbit, the event horizon would fill the night sky giving a very distorted view of the rest of the Universe.^[4]
One possibility is that the Doctor is referring to the fact that black holes gain more gravitational influence as they consume more mass. An entire star system is pulled into the black hole during the episode, and dialogue suggests more are pulled in regularly. Because of this, the planet would normally be in a decaying orbit, even if only gradually. Also, for a black hole to form normally, a supernova usually occurs, which would probably disintegrate all planets in the vicinity; another "impossibility" unless the black hole was already there before the planet came to orbit it. There are also no indications as to exactly how big the black hole really is, and so the sense of scale is unclear.
Even the most active black holes are surrounded by what we would call hard vacuum. The few particles which are present are ionised (rather like the Earth's Aurorae) and accelerated to high velocities, emitting X-rays and Gamma-rays, making black holes the principal X-ray and Gamma-ray sources in the night sky. If the gas density was high enough to create an audible wind as in this episode, the energy released by the accretion would be so great it would disrupt the whole galaxy. Even with the very low gas densities of the hard vacuum of interstellar space, a lot of radiation is given off by the particle accretion.^[5]
It is inaccurate to describe the planet as being in a geostationary orbit around the black hole, because the term "geostationary" is specific to things in orbit around the planet Earth. This is why scientists use terms such as areostationary orbit for objects in analogous orbits around Mars and heliostationary orbit for objects in such orbits around the Sun. Since a black hole could be considered a type of star, the term "astrostationary orbit" might be valid, but the most accurate description would probably have been, simply, "stationary orbit around the black hole." Additionally, when the black hole consumes the matter of the Scarlet system, it is referred to as "the Scarlet solar system." The term Solar System properly refers to Sol and our own planetary system.