Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4649 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-15
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Drawing influence from some classic science-fiction across its four episodes, Planet Of Evil is a strong Doctor Who adventure, that finds Tom Baker in the title role, and Sarah-Jane (played by Elisabeth Sladen) as his side.

The adventure begins when they respond to a distress call from the most distant planet in the Universe. The planet’s name is Zeta Minor, and when they arrive, the Doctor and Sarah discover that a geological expedition has gone wrong, with just one survivor left. So what’s happened? And what’s with the one who managed to stay alive? Planet Of Evil has the answers…

This is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure, originally broadcast in the midst of a confident period in the show’s history. Well directed, and only occasionally hurt by its limited budget, there are also some strong supporting performances among the cast that do the story no harm at all.

The DVD itself is suitably packed with the kind of fascinating material that classic Doctor Who stories are renowned for, with a commentary track, documentaries, a photo gallery and publicity material.

But the star remains the story itself. Planet Of Evil is really good science fiction, reverential in some of its story elements yet tight enough to work as an adventure of real merit in its own right. A worthy addition to the Who DVD library. --Simon Brew

DVD Description

Zeta Minor is the gateway to another universe...

Doctor Who - Planet of Evil features the Tom Baker Years 1974-1981 and is classic Doctor Who viewing.

The Tardis picks up a distress call and the Doctor and Sarah arrive on the planet Zeta Minor. There they discover that a Morestran geological expedition has fallen prey to an unseen killer and only the leader, Professor Sorenson, remains alive.

Synopsis
A rescue party and the Doctor discover the remains of a group of scientists on the planet Zeta Minor...

Customer Reviews

the pit of peril
A strong doctor who story from 1975 comes to dvd. in this four part tale, the fourth doctor and sarah jane smith land on a planet called zeta minor, far in the future and at the edge of the known universe. An expedition from a nearby human world has come here looking for a new energy source. after being attacked in the jungle of the planet by a monster, they escape on their spaceship, but the monster may not have gone away...

The show was drawing heavily on the influence of classic horror movies at the time, and this is very jekyll and hyde. The planet has a dark side. And so does one of the crew, as they slowly become a monster. scary stuff follows as the crew of the ship are imperilled, and there's a great scene when the doctor reminds one scientist character of the responsibility he has to face up to. a great feature of this story is the jungle set used for the planet surface. It's incredibly convincing and well detailed.

Dvd extras:

a commentary from tom baker and elisabeth sladen - the doctor and sarah - the producer philip hinchcliffe, and actor prentis hancock, who played the captain of the ship.

A twenty five minute long documentary about the making of the story. fascinating stuff although it does concentrate more on the production than the acting.

But there's also a fifteen minute long documentary which does talk about the actor's experiences, both in this story and in doctor who in general.

There's a short bit of film of the story being recorded.

The usual continuity trailers, audio options and information text and photo gallery.

And a trailer for the forthcoming dvd destiny of the daleks. which is very well edited and possibly makes the tale look better than it actually is. But we'll come to that one when that dvd comes out

to find the only easter egg on the dvd, go the first page of special features, move the pointer down to the bottom, and then click left on the dvd remote control, and you will find film of the producer going through old bbc files [a little of this is seen in the main documentary] showing the documentation about the making of the story, and talking about the memories it brings back. This is probably the longest running one of these they've ever done, and it's worth watching.

A good little package for a good little story

Another Tom Baker classic
Planet of Evil borrows quite freely from the 1950's classic sci-fi movie "The Forbidden Planet", even down to the crew members of the spaceship having virtually identical uniforms, but is a damn fine Doctor Who story anyway. Some of the opening shots of a water-logged jungle world, all on film, would not look out of place on the new better funded modern series.
The story is relatively simple - a geological expedition from the faltering Morestran empire has travelled to the remote planet of Zeta Minor to try and find new sources of energy to restore their empire to it's former glories. One of the members of the expedition is attacked by an invisible entity and just manages to send a distress signal before succumbing. The TARDIS intercepts the distress call and arrives on Zeta Minor at about the same time as a military probe ship from Morestra. The Doctor and Sarah immediately become prime suspects, but the Doctor is sure something else is afoot...
A creature from another universe, a universe of anti-matter, preciously guards the planet of Zeta Minor and will not allow any part of it's removal, even down to the minerals the Morestrans desire.
The scripts for the story are uniformly tight and quick moving, and David Maloney's direction is slick and creative. The vast majority of the cast put in stirling performances, particularly Frederick Jaeger as the deluded Professor Sorenson, and the redoubtable Ewen Solon as grizzled veteran officer Vishinsky. Tom Baker and Lis Sladen are also on top form. As the previous reviewer noted, the idea of portraying the anti-matter creature as just a menacing red outline rather than a man in a suit is inspired and helps maintain the underlying feeling of alien menace. This is Doctor Who from it's classic era at it's very best.
As ever with a Classic Doctor Who release from the BBC, it is packed with excellent extras. Tom Baker's commentaries are always worth listening to as are the featurettes.
This will be another fine addition to any Doctor Who collection.

Great story,great cast,brilliant atmosphere.
This is a real gem,the iconic partnership of Tom Baker's fourth Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen's Sarah-Jane Smith is in full flow as they get invloved in the sinister going ons on in Zeta Minor.
The late David Maloney was one of the best Who directors,he has been responsible for "The War Games","Genesis of the Daleks" and "The Deadly Assassin",to name a few as well as "Planet Of Evil".
Roger Murray's-Leach's jungle set is great and contributes much to the menacing atmosphere of the story,the decision to film the jungle scenes,on video,a great idea.
Frederick Jaeger is superb as the tortured,obssessed Professor Sorenson,the scenes as he transforms to the Anti-Matter Creature a hoomage to "Dr Jekyll and My Hyde",indeed other parts of the story very similar to "The Forbidden Planet" movie.
Ewen Solon is a friendly reassuring face as Vishinsky,Space 1999 actor,Prentis Hancock's Salamander is very similar to Vaber,the part he played in "Planet of the Daleks",its a relief when he gets killed.
A great classic from the gothic period of Phillip Hinchliffe's tenure as the producer of Dr Who.