Planet of Fire

The worst place in the universe, English public school on Earth.

I know very little about Planet of Fire going in to it other than it involves the Master, Kamelion returns, Turlough leaves and Peri joins. That's quite a lot for one story to do so I'm not surprised that those parts are well known. What's surprising is that so much of the story is not discussed. Even the location shooting on Lanzarote is better known than most of the plot elements so despite knowing several highlights, I'm going into this one with something of a blank slate.

Plot Summary

On the planet Sarn, two men are climbing a volcano, testing to see if their god Logar is real. Reaching the top, they find nothing, validating their skepticism. They head back down and confront their leader, Timinov, who is a strong adherent to the faith and is guiding Malkon, the Chosen One.

On the TARDIS, the Doctor overhears Kamelion screaming and finds that the TARDIS is picking up a signal that is overwriting his functions. Turlough sets up a wave to block the signal but also sees another signal from the Trions, his own race. He sabotages the circuit picking up the signal, but the TARDIS is redirected to the source, the island of Lanzarote on Earth. The Doctor and Turlough walk around searching for the source of the signal.

On the beach, they meet Howard and Curt, who have been pulling artifacts out of the ocean. Howard is the stepfather to Peri, a young American woman attending school in England. He has also just tricked her into missing a flight to Morocco where she had planned to spend the summer with some English boys she had met and is now stuck on the artifact recovery boat. The Doctor notes the signal coming through and Turlough heads back to the TARDIS so that they can triangulate the signal.

Angry at Howard and determined to make her flight, Peri leaps off the boat and tries to swim to shore. However, she cramps up and begins to drown. Hearing her cries for help, Turlough swims out and pulls her to shore. He takes her into the TARDIS and lays her down on a bed to recover. He also notices that one of the things in her bag is the source of the signal, marked with a double triangle signal, identical to a brand on his own arm (and on Malkon's arm, the symbol of Logar).

Turlough takes the device and tries to destroy it but it signals again and the Doctor follows it back to the TARDIS. The signal takes hold of Kamelion and Kamelion enters new coordinates into the TARDIS, though Turlough stops him before he can fully engage. The Doctor takes the data core from the device but it engages the TARDIS and they take off.

Kamelion reconfigures himself to the appearance of Howard, startling Peri. She follows "Howard" into the TARDIS control room asking what is going on. No one says anything as they land on Sarn. The Doctor and Turlough leave to explore, leaving Peri with Kamelion.

In the temple, the unbelievers confront Timinov who requests a sign from Logar. In response, the flames of the temple burst through the gates. They receive word a few moments later that an Outsider has arrived, seemingly in response to a prophecy. Timinov orders the unbelievers arrested and appeals to Malkon to have the unbelievers thrown to the fire as a sacrifice to Logar, as only the Chosen One has the authority to order such a sacrifice. Malkon demurs, wishing to see to the Outsider before ordering death to anyone.

On the TARDIS, Kamelion, in his Howard form begins to laugh and transforms himself again into the Master. The Master keeps Peri in the TARDIS until her mind begins to override the Master's. Kamelion transforms into a silver-skinned Howard, who gives Peri a computer component of the TARDIS and orders her to run. As she tries to flee, the Master regains control and grabs her. But an earthquake knocks over the Master's TARDIS, which has materialized across the courtyard from the Doctor's, and the Master loses control again, allowing Peri to run.

Peri runs after the Doctor and Turlough, spying them on a ridge ahead of her. She calls out but they are too far ahead. She runs further with the Kamelion Master behind her. She reaches the lookout point from where the TARDIS was spotted by the Sarnians, trapped by a dead end. She threatens to throw the TARDIS component over the edge if the Master approaches. Her strength of will begins to override the Master's control again and Kamelion turns back into the silver Howard allowing her to flee into the waste.

The Doctor and Turlough keep walking until they are spotted by a lookout for the unbelievers. He takes them to a cave in the mountain where Turlough recognizes the equipment as a means of tapping the energy of the mountain by his people, the Trions. The Doctor and Turlough meet Malkon, to whom the Doctor explains the equipment. Turlough listens to Malkon's story of being discovered near the mountain with a double triangle brand, a brand Turlough shares, and Turlough implores Malkon to take him there. The Doctor meanwhile, asks to be taken to the main settlement.

Timinov and the scout stop to rest near the lookout post where they find Kamelion in silver Howard form. As silver skin is a sign of Logar, they assume him to be the Outsider. The Master reestablishes control and resumes that form, requesting they take him to their settlement. Once there, he sees the Doctor and orders him and the unbelievers to be consigned to the flames.

Turlough and Malkon reach the remains of a crashed Trion ship from which Malkon was found. Turlough also finds Peri nearby and takes her along. Peri gives Turlough the piece of the Doctor's TARDIS and tells him that the Master is here. The three then run back to the settlement as the Master is ordering the burning.

Malkon enters, ordering that the burning be stopped. The Master counters the order and one of the guards shoots Malkon, though not killing him. Turlough and Peri run to the unbeliever's cave and reworks the machine to shut off the gas flow, killing the flames in the burn cave. Timinov takes this as a sign that Logar rejects the sacrifice due to the wounding of the Chosen One.

The Doctor tries to take control of Kamelion by asserting his will over the Master's. The Master fights and orders the Doctor and the unbelievers be locked in the extinguished cave. The geology of the cave diminishes the power of the Doctor's thoughts and the Master reasserts control. Seeing this on a screen, Peri runs back and tries to take control, but the Master has taken a firmer hand and her mind is no match for his. The Master then orders the villagers to come to the ruins where he will give them the gifts of Logar, taking Peri with him.

Turlough sneaks back and releases the Doctor and the unbelievers from the cave. They head back to the unbeliever's hideout carrying Malkon with them. Turlough reveals that he believes Malkon may be his brother. Knowing that he has to rescue Peri, the Doctor heads to the ruins with an unbeliever named Amyand as his guide. Turlough gives the Doctor the component that Peri gave him and follows.

At the ruins, the Sarnians uncover and right the Master's TARDIS, disguised as a pillar of stone. The Master pulls Peri into the TARDIS and disappears. The Doctor observes this, but knows that the Master is still on Sarn as their two TARDISes are linked. Turlough reveals his brand and declares himself as the new Chosen One. This permits the Doctor to reenter the TARDIS and reinstall the component. However, he realizes that the Master has also removed a component and they are still stuck.

The Master and Peri rematerialize in the control chamber of the volcano. He threatens Peri with his tissue compression eliminator and reworks the controls. His experimenting causes earthquakes and Turlough orders everyone into the TARDIS for protection. They emerge when the tremors stop and find the volcano spewing blue gas, a sign of great favor from Logar according to Timinov as it has healing powers.

The gas is actually numismaton gas, a rare and powerful restorative agent mined by the Trions on Sarn. With the gas flow established as ready, the Kamelion Master prepares to pull a box from his TARDIS into the flow. Peri manages to get away from him and lock herself in the Master's TARDIS with Kamelion out of it. She opens the box to find the real Master, shrunk to a tiny size, a victim of a failed experiment with his Tissue Compression Eliminator.

The Doctor and the rest of the group return to the settlement where the Doctor orders Malkon brought up and placed in the cave. The flames are reestablished and turn blue as the released gas mixes with the flames. They all step in and feel a great restoration with Malkon being healed of his wounds. However, the Doctor realizes that the mountain will explode from the Master's interference and makes plans to evacuate. Turlough decides to return to the crashed ship and signal his people.

Turlough reveals that the brand is the mark of Trion prisoners. His family was on the losing side of a civil war. His father and brother and other members were sent to the prison planet of Sarn while he was exiled to Earth where Trion had a scout to keep taps on him and others like him. He will summon a Trion ship to rescue the people, who are descendants of the original inhabitants blended with prior Trion exiles. As he leaves, the Doctor and Amyand also leave to find the entrance to the control cave.

In the Master's TARDIS, the Master eludes Peri by diving into the console. He triggers the doors, allowing Peri to escape before the Master can reestablish control over Kamelion. She runs out of the cave and on the slope where she spots the Doctor. She hails him and leads him to the cave entrance.

The Master crawls back into his control box just as the Doctor, Peri and Amyand enter. The Doctor steals the control mechanism from the Master's TARDIS to replace the one stolen from his. He then peers in on the Master. The Master has reestablished control over Kamelion who then forces the three out of his TARDIS. Kamelion then moves the TARDIS into the flame area.

The Doctor gives Amyand the control unit and orders him to give it to Turlough and to bring the TARDIS to the room. He dresses Amyand in a thermal suit to protect him from the volcano fires that are now erupting around them. The Doctor then rigs a mechanism to break the Master's control of Kamelion as well as reconfiguring the flame output of the mountain.

Kamelion emerges from the TARDIS and places the Master's box in the flame. He emerges to stop the Doctor with the Tissue Compression Eliminator but the Doctor triggers the device, causing Kamelion to spasm. As the Master loses control, Kamelion urges the Doctor to kill him as he is in pain and cannot fully break free of the Master. The Doctor uses the Tissue Compression Eliminator to shrink and destroy Kamelion.

Turlough signals Trion and arranges a rescue ship. He then heads back to the settlement to urge everyone to head out there. While there, Amyand arrives, mistaken at first by Timanov for Logar. Amyand reveals himself and gives the circuit to Turlough who races off, followed by most of the people. Amyand appeals to Timanov to come with them but he declines saying that he and the other elders will die with the settlement, subservient to Logar to the end.

As the rescue ship arrives, Turlough reinstalls the circuit and send the TARDIS to the control room on delay while he goes with the others. The TARDIS arrives just as the flames begin to be infuses with the healing gas. Peri goes in the TARDIS as the Master regrows back to his normal size. But the Doctor shuts off the gas flow and the Master is surrounded by flames. They grow and he disappears into the flames. The Doctor follows into the TARDIS and takes it back to the rescue ship where Turlough is waiting.

Turlough is informed that the regime on Trion has changed and political prisoners are no longer subject to exile, meaning that he is allowed to return home. With his brother to see to and with a longing for home, he reluctantly bids goodbye to the Doctor and Peri and leaves in the Trion ship. The Doctor and Peri take off as well with Peri asking if she could travel with the Doctor for a while as she had been hoping to travel before everything got started. The Doctor agrees and officially welcomes her aboard.

Analysis

I rather like this story. I know that Peter Grimwade was predominantly a director rather than a writer but I'd say he did a decent job on this one, though Eric Saward did a fair amount of fill in work. I would also say that there is a lingering presence of Christopher Bidmede in this story as well, though with slightly less derision towards religion than Bidemede usually included.

Before even getting into the story or the acting, much praise must be heaped on to Fiona Cumming and the location shooting. The studio work was pretty good too with some nice angles and viewpoints but the exterior filming on Lanzarote is some of the best I've ever seen on the show. She made an absolutely excellent use of all the available terrain and features to really give you the sense of an alien frontier and doing a lot with probably a very small budget.

The Doctor does well here. There is something about the final season of the Fifth Doctor that gives him a darker edge and it works well. He tries to maintain the lightness of tone, but there is no longer any aloofness about him. He is very direct and what few jokes he does make are very underplayed, mostly in an aside to no one sort of way. This more serious take lends an extra air of seriousness that is sometimes lacking in other stories. Given that there are no rubber monsters to deal with, it gives the overall story some significant gravity.

The companions are a mixed bag here. Turlough was pretty good although I think Mark Strickson still delves a bit too much into the overacting bag. He is more restrained and that helps his performance but you get a bit of the darker Turlough here given his fear to reveal his past to the Doctor. It both helps and hurts because there isn't really any reason that he should be keeping anything from the Doctor at this point. It's not even as if he is a real criminal. His side merely lost a war and he was exiled for it. There is no personal shame in that, nor would the Doctor be angry at Turlough for it. I can understand Turlough's lack of desire to contact Trion for fear of being returned to exile, but that also betrays a lack of trust in the Doctor to keep him free. Still, I think his overall performance was definitely weighted on the positive side.

The introduction of Peri demonstrates to me that there were very little change in her performance in her time on the show. I will give Nicola Bryant one significant benefit of the doubt in that I believe her performances suffered due to shallow writing and her focus on maintaining the "American" accent. It's also unfortunate that most male fans focus on Peri's "attributes" being showcased in Episode One and take that as the whole reason to like her. Looks are fine and I'm not going to complain about things like that, but I would rather have had a companion with a bit more substance and a lot less of the whiney-wibble in her voice. But for that, I blame JNT who clearly told her to focus on the accent. Still, Peri is probably less objectionable in this story than in others, though she does do nothing other than be the damsel in distress the whole time. I would have preferred it if she had actually done something of substance in the story.

Another bout of disappointment in her character is the obvious potential for backstory laid here that was never explored. Her nightmare when recovering from nearly drowning clearly indicates that she was abused (probably sexually) by Howard. Couple this with an obvious desire to accompany men to strange, exotic places for thrills shows a rather damaged young woman. This helps explain why she sticks with the emotionally abusive Sixth Doctor but also makes him to be such a bigger jerk than even originally intended. I would have liked to see some growth and independence in her overall development, such that she was a stronger person towards the end. Admittedly, she was better in The Mysterious Planet, but I still feel that there were some missed opportunities in her overall arc.

There's not much to say about Kamelion. I think this story did a good job of showing the missed opportunities with him and the pitfalls. Kamelion was dropped because they couldn't get the robot puppet to work right and that still shows in the few scenes where you see it. But it also shows how Kamelion could have been portrayed by a random guest actor as the story warranted it. Of course, Kamelion spends so much time as the Master that you genuinely forget that it is Kamelion at points if there weren't several protracted battles for his control. In the end, I'm not sorry they killed him off. It was too confusing and the control issues never really resolved themselves. There is one extra bit of interest as I believe this is the only instance where the Doctor actually killed a companion himself. All the other companions who died, died due to the machinations of the enemy or by their own actions.

Of the guest cast, Timinov was my favorite. It would be very easy in this story to show the believers of Logar as delusional fools and blood-thirsty savages, much as was done in Meglos. However, Timinov gives a great sense of nobility in his faith, going so far as to accept his own death in the destruction of the mountain as a gesture of his faith. A measure of condescension towards this can be seen with the unbelievers, especially Amyand, but I respected Timinov for his choices and beliefs. He remained ignorant of certain truths and that probably resulted in his overall downfall, but his faith was genuine and I could appreciate that.

I continue to maintain that Anthony Ainley is a better Master and certainly better actor than he is given credit for. Yes, he goes mustache twirl-y over-the-top a number of times, but there still a level of menace in his performance and he can pull it back to a more serious tone when necessary. I found him quite enjoyable in this story, although he did have a bad moment when he was posing as Logar's prophet. He went way overboard with the hand and body movements in pronouncing judgment on the non-believers. He looked like he was trying to do something like what Southern revivalist preachers might do, but it was so unnatural and jerky that it just looked incredibly out of place. Other that that, I didn't have a problem with it and actually rather enjoyed the fact that the Master was operating on a rather simple and direct plan. He had had an accident and was trying to fix himself. No grand design, no significant theater. Just a was to fix a problem situation.

On an overall level, I really enjoyed this one. There were a couple of hiccups here and there but the flow of the story worked well and it's well worth watching for the cinematography alone. That it has excellent performances for the most part is just another bonus. Of the all the Fifth Doctor stories I've seen so far, I think I would only place it behind Earthshock and Kinda so I would readily watch this one a second time around.

Overall personal score: 4 out of 5