| Title | : | The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit (The Black Archive, #17) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1909031453 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781909031456 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 127 |
| Publication | : | First published March 1, 2018 |
The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit (2006) are an ambitious attempt to depict two cinematic impossibilities on the budget of a BBC television production: a black hole – the impossible singularity where the laws of physics break down – and Satan, the adversary, and destroyer of the laws of God.
While black holes have had a long history in Doctor Who, from The Three Doctors (1972-73) onwards, before this story the show had always been careful to reduce the satanic to the activities of aliens such as The Dæmons (1971). This story collides the magisteria of science and religion to create a threat that casts doubt on some of the Doctor’s cherished beliefs about the universe, and faces him with a horrifying prospect as to his personal future.
Only the second story in 21st-century TV Doctor Who to travel to a ‘planet’ other than Earth, and the first to visit one not identical to Earth in every important astronomical respect, The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit is a vital step in extending the range and scope of the programme’s settings.
The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit (The Black Archive, #17) Reviews
-
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/the-impossible-planet-the-satan-pit-by-simon-bucher-jones-and-matt-jones/
Short and punchy.
The first chapter reflects on just how few New Who episodes are set on other planets, compared to most of Old Who (apart from the Pertwee era), the reasons for this, and how this shapes the sort of programme it becomes.
The second chapter, the longest in the book, goes in depth into the physics of black holes and how they are portrayed in fiction, notably in The Three Doctors in Old Who as well as the Disney film. I had not realised, or had forgotten, that the term “black hole” was coined as late as 1967, only a few years before The Three Doctors was shown.
The third chapter, almost as long, looks at the Devil as portrayed in Christianity, and satanic creatures as portrayed in science fiction (rather than fantasy) in general and Who in particular. Its second paragraph is (with footnotes):
As Sherlock Holmes – with whom the third Doctor has often been compared (as the Master has with Moriarty)119 – remarked, ‘The world is big enough for us. No ghosts need apply.’120 The Doctor might well have said in The Daemons, and almost will say in The Satan Pit, ‘The universe is big enough for us. No Devils from before it need apply.’
119 While the fourth Doctor dresses like him in The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977), the third arguably does so all the time: while he doesn’t affect a deerstalker like the theatrical or televisual Holmes, he does have an inverness travelling cape.
120 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Adventure of The Sussex Vampire’, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes p73.
The fourth chapter looks much more briefly at the Ood and the problematics of slavery.
The fifth and final chapter looks even more briefly at the Doctor’s fear of domestication, ie of settling down with Rose, even though he obviously loves her.
A first appendix apparently has a graph in the paper version, absent from the electronic publication, listing all of the alien planets to date in Doctor Who.
A second and final appendix very briefly goes back to the Beast, making the connection with Sutekh and with Abaddon in Torchwood, points that I felt could actually have been folded into the third chapter.
As usual with these books, recommended, even though there’s very little about the production process of the TV show in this case.
