The Impossible Planet (TV story)

Synopsis
The TARDIS lands in a base on Krop Tor, a planet which orbits the black hole K37 Gem 5 without falling into it, a circumstance so inexplicable that even the Doctor cannot understand it. The base crew are drilling to the centre of the planet, to discover the power source which keeps it in a stable orbit around the black hole. But an ancient evil is there too. And he is awake.

Plot
The TARDIS materialises inside a "Sanctuary Base" meant for deep-space expeditions. The Doctor and Rose discover an inscription scribbled on the station wall which the TARDIS is unable to translate.

After a slight misunderstanding when first meeting the Ood, a docile race of empathic servants who work on the station, the travelers meet the crew of the base, led by acting Captain Zachary Cross Flane. Then an earthquake occurs and they all have to take cover. Afterwards, the crew is introduced by Science Officer Ida Scott and includes, Head of Security John Jefferson, trainee maintance officer, Scooti Manista, and archeologist Toby Zed. They are on an expedition on an anomalous planet in orbit around a black hole. The Doctor realises that it is impossible for the planet, which is called Krop Tor, to be in geostationary orbit around the black hole, as it should be pulled in like the star systems around it are. He calculates that it would take a phenomenal amount of power (Six to the power of six for six seconds) to generate the huge gravity funnel stabilising its orbit. The funnel is not a natural phenomenon, and the crew is drilling ten miles underground to the core of the planet in hopes of finding the power source and using it. The origin of the power source is an ancient civilisation that had been on Krop Tor, and the inscription on the wall is a transcription of a stone tablet found on the planet.

The Doctor soon discovers that storage sections 5 to 8 had collapsed as a result of the earthquake-like tremor they had experienced moments after their arrival, dropping the TARDIS, which had been in Storage 6, into a crevasse. With no resources to divert the drilling, Rose and the Doctor are stranded.

It isn't long before a malevolent presence begins to make itself known. Strange messages about the Beast awaking to make war against God emanate from the Ood's translation spheres and the base computer's speakers. Toby begins to hear voices just before he is possessed by the Beast. Then the crew and travellers watch the Scarlet system get eaten by the black hole. Then Rose gets a strange message on her phone and Toby wakes up. Danny, the Doctor, and Rose all discover the Ood acting up and saying weird things.

Soon after that Scooti enters Toby's room. She talks into the room saying "Toby, I've got your expenditure." But Toby wasn't here. So she puts the file on the desk. Then the computer announces the opening of door 41. She looks up and around as it says "Close Door 41" She looks perturbed and mutters "41..." then she sprints out of the room. She comes into a cooridor and the door closes behind her. She asks the computer why it opened the airlock and who went out. It cannot confirm. Then she asks whose spacesuit was logged out. It says no spacesuit was logged out. Scooti got irritated and tried to report this to Zach. However her radio died and she was forced to return to the computer. She tells it to trace fault. It says there is no fault. Now fed up, she yelled at the computer to tell her who went out. Instead the computer says "He is awake" And a bewildered Scooti asked what that meant. The computer then says "He bathes in the black sun" Scooti backs away disturbed. A shutter then opens down the hall and Scooti walks over to it. She then finds, to her shock, Toby standing outside, without a spacesuit. She comments on how that is impossible. Toby then motions her forward with his finger. Scooti raises her arm as if in a trance. Her eyes get wet as if about to cry. This continues for a few seconds. Then Scooti looks at her arms and slams it to her side. She then yells at Toby to stop it. Toby then begins glaring at her and sounds like glass breaking fill the air. Scooti looks frantically for the source. Then a large crack appears on the window. Scooti gasps in fear, now realizing Toby means to kill her. Scooti races down the hall to the door and tries to open it. However Toby has sealed all the doors with his powers. Scooti continues screaming and tugging at the door to open it. However it ignores her and the crack grows larger signalling her approaching death. Scooti loses all control and just tries to pull the door, screaming at the top of her lungs to open. Then Toby unclenches his fist and the glass explodes. Air begins rushing out of the breach. Scooti's fingers are pulled off the handle. She is pulled backward, though she tries to regrasp it. However the rushing air is too much for the young woman. Then Scooti started screaming wildly. Then Scooti was sent screaming, kicking and crying to her death in the dark and lonely vacuum of space. Eventually the crew finds her lifeless body floating in space being dragged into the blackhole.

The team finally manages to drill down to the core of the planet. The Doctor and Ida journey down the mine shaft and into a massive cavern with ancient giant sculptures along its walls. They head for the power source, guided by sensor readings, and find a large circular disk set in the floor of the cavern, which the Doctor suspects is a trap door of some sort. The edge of the disk is also covered with inscriptions.

Meanwhile in the base, the Ood's telepathic fields rise dangerously to Basic 100, which is high enough to induce brain death, but they are obviously still alive. Finally the beast makes itself known through Toby before seemingly transferring itself to the Ood. The Ood identify themselves as the Legion of the Beast and begin to advance on the crew members, including Rose. Finally, the Doctor and Ida stand before a seal on the cavern ground, which then slids open, to a black chasm. A voice booms out from beneath it, stating, "The pit is open, and I am free!"

Cast

 * The Doctor - David Tennant
 * Rose Tyler - Billie Piper
 * John 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

Story notes

 * Gabriel Woolf previously played (and voiced) Sutekh in Pyramids of Mars.
 * The episode contains a number of references to the popular Doom series. In particular, the door opening and closing sounds from the first two games are occasionally used (especially noticeable when Toby goes searching for the "voices" distracting him from his archeological findings).
 * The Doctor calculated that the power needed was six to the power of six every six seconds, a reference to 666, the supposed number of the devil.
 * Before the Ood, the production team had considered Raxacoricofallapatorians being the servants on Sanctuary Base 6.

Ratings

 * 6.31 million viewers

Myths
The Underworld.

Filming locations

 * Wenvoe Quarry, Cardiff
 * Mamhilad Park Industrial Estate, Pontypool, Wales
 * Unit Q2, Imperial Park, Imperial Way, Newport
 * HTV Wales Studios, Culvershouse Cross, Cardiff
 * Enfys Television Studios, Unit 31, Portmanmoor Road, East Moors, Cardiff
 * Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire
 * Ealing Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing

Continuity

 * A similar devil like creature appears in TW: End of Days.
 * Rose mentions her experience as a dinner lady in DW: School Reunion.

Timeline

 * This story occurs after DWAM: Warfreekz!
 * This story occurs before DW: The Satan Pit

International broadcast
When aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in late 2006, this episode was considered a mid-season cliffhanger, with The Satan Pit and the rest of the season not airing until early 2007, after a hiatus of several months. At the time the CBC made this decision a trend had developed among North American networks to insert lengthy (sometimes months-long) breaks during the November-January period.

Home video releases

 * This was released on a vanilla DVD along side The Satan Pit and Love & Monsters.
 * It was also released as part of the Series 2 DVD box set.