2x08 The Impossible Planet (1) - Doctor Who (UK) Episode Guide

Doctor Who (UK)

- Episode 02x08

Episode: 02x08
Title: The Impossible Planet (1)
Type: Regular Episode
Production Code: 21
First Aired: Jun. 03, 2006

Season 2 » Episode #08 - The Impossible Planet (1)

Doctor Who (UK) - 02x08 The Impossible Planet (1)

Summary: The Doctor and Rose arrive in a very odd place, where even the TARDIS can’t translate certain writings they find; something the Doctor has never seen happen before. They find a crew of humans, working in a planetary outpost, who tell them they are investigating the mysterious planet’s ability to remain in orbit around a Black Hole. Something that is quite impossible!They find the human crew is attempting to learn the source of the ultimate power that keeps this planet out of reach of the forces of a Black Hole, which is drawing in surrounding solar systems. The power source of the planet appears to be located at the planet’s center, under miles of hard rock.But, then after one of many reoccurring earthquakes destroys the section of the base the TARDIS materialized in, the Doctor and Rose must accept that they may have no means of escape, or return to any other time or space.And even worse, an evil force, and not technology, might be behind the planet’s unexplainable power to orbit the Black Hole.

Who appeared in this episode?

Guest Stars:

Mr. Jefferson	played by Danny Webb (V)
Zachary Cross Flane	played by Shaun Parkes
Ida Scott	played by Claire Rushbrook
Toby Zed	played by Will Thorp
Danny Bartock	played by Ronny Jhutti
Scooti Manista	played by MyAnna Buring
The Ood	played by Paul Kasey
The Beast	voiced by Gabriel Woolf
The Ood	voiced by Silas Carson

Season 2 / Episode 8: - The Impossible Planet (1)

Rose: Can you build another Tardis?
The Doctor: They were grown, not built. And with my home planet gone... we're kind of stuck
Rose: Well, it could be worse; this lot said they'd give us a lift.
The Doctor: And then what?
Rose: I don't know. Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe.
The Doctor: I'll have to settle down. With a house or something - a proper house with... with, with doors and things - carpets! Me! Living in a house!... Now that, that - that is terrifying.
Rose: You'd have to get a mortgage!
The Doctor: No!
Rose: Oh yes!
The Doctor: No, I'm dying, that's it, it is all over.
Rose: What about me? I'd have to get one too! [pause] I don't know, we could have the same one, we could both... I don't know, share... or not. Whatever. I don't know, all sorts of...
The Doctor: Anyway
Rose: We'll see
The Doctor: [pause] I promised Jackie I'd always take you back home
Rose: Everyone leaves home in the end.
The Doctor: Not to end up stuck here.
Rose: Yeah, but stuck with you - that's not so bad.
The Doctor: Yeah?
Rose: Yes.

Season 2 / Episode 8: - The Impossible Planet (1)

The Ood: [possessed by the Beast] Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Krop Tor. Some may call him Satan. Or Lucifer. Or the King of Despair. The Deathless Prince. The Bringer of Night. And these are the words that shall set him free.

[More Quotes]

MISTAKES/GOOFS

CHAR: On the night shift, Scooti is holding the wrist communicator to her face to speak, while wearing a helmet and doing maintenance work in vacuum.
CONT: Scooti's communicator changes from left arm to right arm as she appears floating in space. The footage from the Confidential episode confirms that the f/x crew used a mirrored image
CONT: Ida's hair is parted on the right. But 12 minutes into this episode, when those gathered are looking at the projected image of the planet, Ida's hair is parted on the left. Cut to the Doctor and Rose, back to Ida and now her hair is parted on the right again.
FACT: Ida, the science officer, says that the planet is in geostationary orbit around the black hole. However, the word "geostationary" applies very specifically to objects orbiting the planet Earth. Since a black hole is a type of star, this planet's orbit could be described as astrostationary, or even just stationary, but definitely not as geostationary. A science expert on an interstellar mission wouldn't make this mistake, and she wasn't dumbing things down, either, since "geostationary orbit" is already a pretty obscure topic for people unfamiliar with space technology.

TRIVIA

This episode was watched by 6.316 million viewers on its original transmission.
The lines Jefferson recites about 2/3 through ("For how should man die better than facing fearful odds") are from stanza XXVII of the poem "Horatius" by Thomas Babington Macaulay. It's a slight misquotation, the actual lines being: "And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods [...]"
In this episode, and in it's sequel, The Satan Pit, when doors open or close on the space station, the sound effect used is from the video game Doom, which deals with a space station that is overrun by demons from Hell.
SPOILER: The shots of Scooti's body floating in space were achieved by filming the actress floating underwater and painting out the air bubbles.
It has been alleged by director James Strong (II) that Danny Webb (III) was last name on the casting ideas list for Jefferson.