For the third Sunday in a row, we’ve got a Doctor Who post and it’s the return of Doctor Who Is CLASSIC!, the feature where I look back at the classic era of the series.
And we cannot get more classic than today’s entry, a look back at a story featuring (Chris Chibnall ret-cons be damned!) the First Doctor.
Yep, today’s post looks back at the time of William Hartnell in the role of the Doctor with “Planet of Giants”.
The story includes original companions Susan, Ian and Barbara.
Trouble starts when the doors of the TARDIS begin to open while it is still in flight. This is a bad thing and the Doctor and crew work frantically to get the doors closed again.
The TARDIS lands…. Somewhere. The scanner is broken so our quartet ventures outside to find out where they are now.
The good news is the TARDIS appears to have made it back to 20th century Earth.
The bad news is the TARDIS and it’s occupants have been shrunk.
Sand pebbles are the size of boulders. Blades of grass are like massive trees.
That ant is the size of a dinosaur!
That… dead ant.
Also giant worms!
Dig the Doctor rockin' a cape!
While he looks at the... dead worm.
So the art department is grateful that the giant critters they have to create do not have to move.
It seems the tiny TARDIS has materialized near a cottage/laboratory where a scientist has been working on a new form of insecticide that will revolutionize food production, protecting crops from locusts and stuff.
That scientist has been murdered.
It seems the scientist did his work too well and the insecticide could poison water supplies so he was going to issue a report against the insecticide being produced. Another guy with a lot of money tied up in this stuff kills the scientist so we’ve got that going on.
Is this story going down the drain?
Tiny Barbara has gotten into the insecticide which in her tiny form will kill her but once she’s back to normal, she’ll be fine. The Doctor can get everyone back to size (he hopes) once they get back to the TARDIS but they also need to get someone’s attention to stop the shenanigans in the cottage/lab.
"Planet of Giants" was originally written and filmed as a four-part serial, but later reduced to three parts. Some of the frustrating lulls and slow pacing that is a part of classic Doctor Who is mitigated somewhat with this serial.
It really is quite the coincidence that the TARDIS lands our crew in the middle of a murder plot while contending with their own issues of having been shrunk down to really tiny size. Well, the TARDIS may not take the Doctor where he wants to go but takes him where he needs to go, I suppose.
Given all I've heard about William Hartnell's ongoing health issues during this time, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Doctor is very much physically engaged with the proceedings in this story. And I'm digging the cape.
"Planet of Giants" may not be a particularly important story of the First Doctor but it does provide a complete and compact view from that era.
In a future edition of Doctor Who Is CLASSIC!, we'll head back to the 1980's and an adventure with the 5th Doctor.
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