Doctor Who: The Planet of the Dead in brief

[spatch]

It was very easy to tell that Russell T. Davies wrote this Doctor Who episode with a collaborator (in this case, Gareth Roberts.) I have not yet seen the Doctor Who Confidential for this episode, but I am reasonably confident in myself and in Mr. Davies' abilities to create for you the following guide so that you can easily and unmistabkly identify when each of the writers took a turn at the script:

If something reasonably cool or even awesome is happening, that's Gareth Roberts' doing.

If something trite, cliché or just downright face-palmingly bad is happening, that's Russell T. Davies' doing.

The 200 level class will take place tomorrow.

Yes, I know Gareth Roberts is responsible for The Shakespeare Code too, but it felt like there was a very distinct dividing line in this episode that kept clearly marking where one writer left off and the other picked up.

Comments

[unferth.livejournal.com]

Having finally seen the special...oh my goodness that was terrible. Working off your theory of authorship, I'd have to assume it was rather like those 'Piers Anthony and Someone You've Never Heard Of' collaborations, in which Roberts suggests one good idea (evil metal manta rays!) and Davies pads that out to a regrettable length with Jus' Plain Folks! Trapped! But Trusting the Doctor! And more glurgariffic scenes with UNIT! And an honest-to-goodness Magical Negro.

At least episodes like this make me miss having a regular season of Doctor Who less.