"Planet of Giants" is a decidedly odd Doctor Who story. Not in a "Celestial Toymaker"/"Happiness Patrol" sort-of way, more in a "Seeds of Doom" way, but not as good. It feels more like some sort of experimental ITC installment - with the substitution of the TARDIS and space pressure by another plot device and modifying the lead characters, plus adding a dash of hunour, and this could fit into the first Emma Peel season of The Avengers.

The main problem, though, is that to all real extents and purposes, the plot is in the title. This means the opening segment, largely devoted to the TARDIS crew discovering their plight, is rather tedious. This is a shame, as apart from the giant, heavily-lined photo blow-up of Farrow's corpse, the thing actually looks really, really good. Lots of the details are superb, but the pace is treacle slow - maybe just having scaled-up matchboxes and flies was the stuff of high drama in 1964, but it really doesn't hold the attention once the pleasant surprise of decent production values has passed. The technobabble about "space pressure" is laughable too - surely it would simply flatten the travellers rather than shrink them? That said, it's a simple excuse to minaturisation of the crew out of the way, and there aren't many more plausible explanations to hand.

The subplot about the DN6 insecticide isn't terribly involving either. It's a worthy cause, for sure, but it's hardly riveting stuff, and it's hard to get worked up about The Doctor's attempts to have its' harmful effects known. It doesn't help that Forester isn't given a huge amount of motivation beyond wanting a bit of money, and that Alan Judd puts minimal effort into the role doesn't help. Peter Fraser is a little better, though Smithers keeps switching from conscientious objector to blinkered scientist, often in the same scene. Farrow is much more believable, even if he's swiftly killed off. Hilda, of course, gets to actually solve the plot, which makes the DN6 thread that bit more redundant. The Doctor and company don't really actually influence the solution at all, and the insecticide is merely a device so that our heroes continue to get themselves into mildly perilous situations, as opposed to just going back to the TARDIS.

This all contributes to a lack of tension, which isn't helped by some rather functional direction, and a tepid pace. Considering that the production teams decided to truncate 50 minutes of material into the third episode (see here for more details), it makes you wonder just how slow the original was, as there's no notable change in pace.

Overall, it's an odd little experiment. It feels a lot like a script for another series that's been shoehorned into Doctor Who, and it doesn't really work. There are solid performances from the four leads, and this and the remarkable sets (thank God this wasn't filmed in the 1970s and realised via the horrors of CSO...) keep the thing watchable, but it's a very minor, unusual story.

Review written: 10/06/2006
"Planet of Giants" VHS @ Amazon.co.uk