History Recap / DoctorWhoNSS2E8TheImpossiblePlanet

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/devil_5944.jpg]]
--> He is awake. '''[[color:white:And you will worship him.]]'''

Rose and the Doctor find themselves in a space base, but the TARDIS seemed strangely reluctant to materialise (bad sign number one). Rose points out that they can hop back in and go somewhere else if they think there's going to be trouble, but neither of them can keep a straight face at the idea. They venture inwards and find a wall with "Welcome to Hell" written on it (bad sign number two), along with a series of symbols that not even the TARDIS can translate, which means the language must be impossibly old (bad sign number three). To top it all off, Rose's super work-anywhere mobile phone has no signal (bad sign number four).

They're soon introduced to the Ood ("We must feed... we must feed... you, if you are hungry"), a "slave race" linked by a telepathic field who communicate with others via orb-shaped translators. Next in line are the base's human crew, who are suitably astonished at these two strangers appearing out of nowhere and having no idea where they are. It turns out the planetoid they're on is far too close to a black hole to still be intact: something at its center is creating a gravity field (complete with a funnel for the ship to fly down) which holds it in place, and the crew are drilling to the core to find out what. The Doctor is ''delighted'' at the idea of a bunch of humans choosing to live in such a desolate place just "because it was there" and promptly hugs the ship's captain. However, the place also turns out to have massive earthquakes... one of which has just sent a chunk of the base's storage space falling into a chasm, including the TARDIS.

The Doctor and Rose deal with the idea of being trapped in that time and place forever. They discuss mortgages and whether or not they'd live together. Suddenly, they and everyone else start to notice strange glitches with the intercoms and the Ood's translator devices. When they investigate, the Ood's telepathic field goes berserk - they're screaming inside thier heads. Or something's screaming at them. Right on cue, they all start chanting ominously in unison.

Toby, the crew's archaeologist, is busy examining some artefacts when he gets singled out for special treatment by a strange, whispery voice.

"''Don't'' turn around... if you look at me, you will die. Don't look, don't look at me. I'm reaching out, Toby... oh, ''I can touch you''."

Toby looks -- and sees nothing... until he looks in the mirror. The symbols from the shards he was inspecting have moved onto his skin, and his eyes are [[RedEyesTakeWarning bright red]]. When Trainee Maintenance Scooti Manista questions the computer about an unauthorized opening of the airlock (with no space-suit being logged out), she's astonished to see Toby walking on the planet's surface unprotected... before he telekinetically shatters the window, pulling her into space. The others find only a shell-shocked Toby and mournfully watch Scooti's corpse drift out of sight.

When the drill finally reaches the planet's core, the Doctor talks his way into being allowed to go down in the capsule along with science officer Ida. They find the ruins of an ancient civilization and an enormous, imposing [[SealedEvilInACan seal]] covered with the same markings. Right on cue, it starts to open, as the Ood rise up as the "Legion of the Beast" and the planet starts trembling in its orbit.

"'''[[EvilSoundsDeep The Pit is open]]... and I am FREEEE.'''"
----
!Tropes
* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: The Doctor and Rose discussing what they'll do if they can't get the TARDIS back.
* AdventurerArchaeologist: Toby is a aversion. He's not a soldier or anything like that. He's just here to translate the weird language.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The event horizon of the black hole is visible, but within it is visible a corona, flickering and jumping like a bonfire. Since light can't escape back beyond the event horizon, no such corona should be visible... [[RuleOfCool but damned if it isn't beautiful]].
* BeyondTheImpossible: Lots of impossible things happen on "The Impossible Planet"
** The Doctor can't read the writing on the wall which means the TARDIS can't translate it. This should be impossible and The Doctor says that the writing is "impossibly old".
** The planet itself is hovering above a Black Hole, which The Doctor can't figure out either.
** The Ood's telepathic field reaches "Basic 100", itself impossible, and it doesn't kill them.
* CallBack: The Ood are like a mix of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E6TheArk the Monoids]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E7TheSensorites the Sensorites.]] They even come from the same star system as the Sensorites.
* CreepyMonotone: "He is awake." "He bathes in the black sun."
* CueCardPause: "We must feed... we must feed... you, if you are hungry."
* DemonicPossession: The Beast possesses Toby; there's the red eyes, the creepy markings, VoiceOfTheLegion, the only thing missing is talking in tongues.
* DoomDoors: It happens every time one of the doors are opened and closed. It lends to the eerie atmosphere.
* DugTooDeep: ThePlan is to find the power source beneath the surface. To do that they're digging.
* EEqualsMCHammer: Various (including Maxwell's equations of electrodynamics) scribbled on the tables in the canteen.
* EldritchLocation: The planet, Krop Tor, which is Valtino for "The Bitter Pill". The laws of physics are not working right; neither the local scientist nor the Doctor can make sense of it.
* EvilPhone: Rose's upgraded phone fails to work for the first time... until she gets a call from something that calls itself the devil..
* EvilSoundsDeep: Overlaps with HeyItsThatVoice -- the Beast is voiced by Gabriel Woolf, who played Sutekh in "Pyramids of Mars".
* HappinessInSlavery: The Ood supposedly live only to accept orders. If they are not given them then they do nothing.
* HumansAreSpecial: The Doctor in general (and the Tenth Doctor more specifically) usually feels this way, but the use of the trope in this episode is too [[http://phenommark.xanga.com/videos/953e9293992 adorable]] to leave out. He loves how they came out to this EldritchLocation "because it was ''there''". He also says they're ''mad'' and should leave right away.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: The planetoid is called ''The Bitter Pill''. Not even a ''black hole'' wants to swallow it.
* IHaveManyNames: Which will be listed, at length, in a CreepyMonotone.
* InternalHomage: This story is a loving homage to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E7TheSensorites "The Sensorites"]]: the appearance of the aliens, a starship crew stuck in circles around an unexplained celestial body, the Doctor and his companion(s) almost being forced to live out their lives there, etc. The Tenth Doctor would [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E3PlanetOfTheOod later]] confirm that the Ood and the Sensorites are from neighbouring planets.
* KarmaHoudini : The man dealing with the Ood is degrading towards them, considering them slaves and idiots. You'd think he'd be the first target, but no.
* MarkOfTheBeast / HumanNotepad: The stuff on Toby.
* NoodleIncident:
--> "Mr Jefferson, tell me, sir: did your wife ever forgive you?"
--> "...I don't know what you mean."
--> "Let me tell you a secret. She never did."
* NumberOfTheBeast:
--> '''The Doctor:''' ...you'd need a power source with an [[TechnoBabble inverted self-extrapolating reflex]] of six to the power of six every six seconds.
--> '''Rose:''' That's a lot of sixes.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: They mark Toby as possessed.
* RetroRocket: The base's rocket was designed with the ''{{Tintin}}'' moon ship in mind.
* {{Satan}}: One of the many names the evil voice is supposedly known by.
* SchmuckBait: "Don't turn around...if you look at me, you will die...I'm so close, Toby. I can touch you..."
* SealedEvilInACan: There is some evil creature trapped on "point zero".
* ShoutOut: There's a lot of usage of the DoomDoors. Given that it involves around [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} a gigantic demon of Hell and an archeology dig into a hostile planet going horribly wrong]], it's most likely intentional.
* SlasherSmile: Toby has these when possessed.
* SoundtrackDissonance: A creepy, possessed Toby standing on the planet's barren surface, beckoning a woman to her death, is accompanied by a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMwomsJ9MR0 hauntingly beautiful violin]].
* TemptingFate: Lampshaded.
-->'''The Doctor:''' Oh, come on, "no turning back"? That's almost as bad as "[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong nothing can possibly go wrong]]" or "[[SoaplandChristmas this is gonna be the best Christmas]] [[EastEnders Walford's]] [[SoaplandChristmas ever had]]."
* ToServeMan: Subverted. Ood surround the Doctor and Rose chanting "We must feed", but they mean to feed them, not feed on them.
* UnrealisticBlackHole:
** Black holes are [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin black]]. The corona of light does not make much sense. WordOfGod says the original special effects were closer to reality, but they changed it to a corona of orange light to look more ominous. On the other hand, the scientist says that stuff's being pulled in. An accretion disk would have made perfect sense and given them exactly the imagery they wanted.
** They also claim there are no stable orbits around a black hole which isn't really true. Stable orbits don't exist ''within a distance of three times the radius of the event horizon''. Unstable orbits exist even below that, down to 1.5 times the event horizon, but any disturbance (like a rocket full of humans landing on the planet) would cause the planet to drop into the black hole. As the black hole seems really close, the planet might be inside that unstable region. If we give them the benefit of the doubt and say they're inside the event horizon they might have an excuse to show anything they want. There is also the possibility that the planetoid is not in a true orbit, but that it is rather being suspended in place relative to the surface but below the geostationary altitude by whatever device is generating the gravity cone that the ship used to land. If the device were to fail, or if the planet were to shift in such a way that the gravity tether isn't facing the right way, it could cause the planetoid to fall in a black hole crossing orbit.
* WelcomeToHell: It's written on the wall.
* WhamLine: "The Beast and his armies shall rise from the pit to make war against {{God}}." This is stated mid-episode by an Ood in a cheerful tone while he serves Rose her lunch. It's jarring and announces a plot different from the 'space exploration' theme.
* YouAreInCommandNow: The ship's original captain is only seen in the Tardisode preview. He died during the flight down the "gravity funnel", leaving Zach in charge. The others assure him he's doing a good job, but he's less than thrilled. "Needs must."
* YouJustHadToSayIt: "Did you have to? 'No turning back'?" The Doctor compares this to "[[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong Nothing can possibly go wrong]]," or "[[SoaplandChristmas the best Christmas Walford's ever had]]."
----

Toby, the crew's archaeologist, iz singled out for special treatment by a strange, whispery voice while examining some artifacts.

Toby looks -- and sees nothing... until he looks in the mirror and finds that the symbols from the shards he was inspecting have moved onto his face and hands and his eyes are [[RedEyesTakeWarning bright red]]. When Trainee Maintenance Scooti Manista questions the computer about an unauthorized opening of the airlock (with no space-suit being logged out), she's astonished to see Toby walking on the planet's surface unprotected... before he telekinetically shatters the window, pulling her into space. The others find only a shell-shocked Toby and mournfully watch Scooti's corpse drift out of sight.

The Doctor and Rose deal with the idea of being trapped in that time and place forever. They discuss mortgages and whether or not they'd live together. Suddenly, they and everyone else start to notice strange glitches with the intercoms and the Ood's translator devices. When they investigate, the Ood's telepathic field goes berserk and they all start chanting ominously in unison.

* WhamLine: "The Beast and his armies shall rise from the pit to make war against God." This is stated mid-episode by an Ood in a cheerful tone while he serves Rose her lunch. It's jarring and announces a plot different the 'space exploration' theme.

* InternalHomage: This story is a loving homage to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E7TheSensorites "The Sensorites"]: the appearance of the aliens, a starship crew stuck in circles around an unexplained celestial body, the Doctor and his companion(s) almost being forced to live out their lives there, etc. The Tenth Doctor would [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E3PlanetOfTheOod later]] confirm that the Ood and the Sensorites are from neighbouring planets.

-->'''The Doctor:''' Oh, come on, "no turning back"? That's almost as bad as "nothing can possibly go wrong" or "[[SoaplandChristmas this is gonna be the best Christmas]] [[EastEnders Walford's]] [[SoaplandChristmas ever had]]."

* YouJustHadToSayIt: "Did you have to? 'No turning back'?" The Doctor compares this to "[[WhatCouldPossibleGoWrong Nothing can possibly go wrong]]," or "[[SoaplandChristmas the best Christmas Walford's ever had]]."

* YouJustHadToSayIt: "Did you have to? 'No turning back'?" The Doctor compares this to "Nothing can possibly go wrong," or "[[SoaplandChristmas the best Christmas Walford's ever had]]."

They're soon introduced to the Ood ("We must feed... we must feed... you, if you are hungry"), a "slave race" linked by a telepathic field who communicate with others via orb-shaped translators. Next in line are the base's human crew, who are suitably astonished at these two strangers appearing out of nowhere and having no idea where they are. It turns out the planetoid they're on is far too close to a black hole to still be intact: something at its center is creating a gravity field (complete with a funnel for the ship to fly down) which holds it in place, and the crew are drilling to the core to find out what. The Doctor is ''delighted'' at the idea of a bunch of humans choosing to live in such a desolate place just "because it was there" and promptly hugs the ship's captain. However, the place also turns out to have massive earthquakes... one of which has just sent a chunk of the base's storage space falling into a chasm. Including the TARDIS.

The Doctor and Rose deal with the idea of being trapped in that time and place forever. They discuss mortgages and whether or not they'd live together. It's quite awkward. Suddenly, they and everyone else start to notice strange glitches with the intercoms and the Ood's translator devices. When they investigate, the Ood's telepathic field goes berserk and they all start chanting ominously in unison.

Toby, the crew's archaeologist, gets singled out for special treatment by a strange, whispery voice while examining some artifacts.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Toby.

* BeyondTheImpossible: The Doctor can't read the writing on the wall which means the TARDIS can't translate it. This should be impossible and The Doctor says that the writing is "impossibly old".

* DemonicPossession
* DoomDoors: Seem very impractical as well as being eerie.
* DugTooDeep

* EldritchLocation: The planet, Krop Tor, which is Valtino for "The Bitter Pill".
* EvilPhone: Rose's upgraded phone fails to work for the first time... until she gets a call from the Devil himself.

* HappinessInSlavery: The Ood, [[HarsherInHindsight allegedly]].
* HumansAreSpecial: The Doctor in general (and the Tenth Doctor more specifically) usually feels this way, but the use of the trope in this episode is too [[http://phenommark.xanga.com/videos/953e9293992 adorable]] to leave out.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: The planetoid is called ''The Bitter Pill''. Apparently because not even a ''black hole'' wants to swallow it.

* InternalHomage: This story is a loving homage to [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E7TheSensorites "The Sensorites"]], and the two have quite a bit in common: the appearance of the aliens, a starship crew stuck in circles around an unexplained celestial body, the Doctor and his companion(s) almost being forced to live out their lives there, etc. The Tenth Doctor would [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E3PlanetOfTheOod later]] confirm that the Ood and the Sensorites are from neighbouring planets.

* MarkOfTheBeast / HumanNotepad: Just take a gander.

* RedEyesTakeWarning

* {{Satan}}: One of the many names the evil voice is apparently known by.

* SealedEvilInACan

* SlasherSmile

* ToServeMan: Subverted. Ood surround the Doctor and Rose chanting "We must feed", to their horror. But they mean to feed them, not feed on them.
* UnrealisticBlackHole: Black holes are, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin black]]. The corona of light does not make much sense. WordOfGod says the original special effects were closer to reality, but they changed it to a corona of orange light to look more ominous.
** Of course they do say there's stuff being pulled in. An accretion disk would have made perfect sense and given them exactly the imagery they wanted.
** They also claim there are no stable orbits around a black hole which isn't really true. Stable orbits don't exist ''within a distance of three times the radius of the event horizon''. Unstable orbits exist even below that, down to 1.5 times the event horizon, but any disturbance (like a rocket full of humans landing on the planet) would cause the planet to drop into the black hole. As the black hole seems really close, the planet might be inside that unstable region. If we give them the benefit of the doubt and say they're inside the event horizon, though, they might have an excuse to show anything they want.
** There is also the possibility that the planetoid is not in a true orbit, but that it is rather being suspended in place relative to the surface but below the geostationary altitude by whatever device is generating the gravity cone that the ship used to land. If the device were to fail, or if the planet were to shift in such a way that the gravity tether isn't facing the right way, it could cause the planetoid to fall in a black hole crossing orbit.
* WelcomeToHell
* WhamLine: "The Beast and his armies shall rise from the pit to make war against God."

Rose and the Doctor find themselves in a space base, but the TARDIS seemed strangely reluctant to materialise (bad sign number one). Rose points out that they can hop back in and go somewhere else if they think there's going to be trouble, but neither of them can keep a straight face at the idea. They venture inwards and find a wall with "Welcome to Hell" written on it (bad sign number two), along with a series of symbols that not even the TARDIS can translate, which means the language must be impossibly old (bad sign number three). And to top it all off, Rose's super work-anywhere mobile phone has no signal (bad sign number four).

* ShoutOut: There's a lot of usage of the DoomDoors. Given that it involves around [[DooM a gigantic demon of Hell and an archeology dig into a hostile planet going horribly wrong]], it's most likely intentional.

** They also claim there are no stable orbits around a black hole which isn't really true. If we give them the benefit of the doubt and say they're inside the event horizon, though, they might have an excuse to show anything they want.

* SpecialEffectFailure: Toby fails to be very intimidating with the scribbles on his face in what looks suspiciously like marker pen. Averted with the Ood, who are genuinely creepy.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "The Beast and his armies shall rise from the pit to make war against God."]]

* YouJustHadToSayIt

* YouAreInCommandNow: The ship's original captain is only seen in the Tardisode preview. He died during the flight down the "gravity funnel", leaving Zack in charge. The others assure him he's doing a good job, but he's less than thrilled. "Needs must."

They're soon introduced to the Ood ("We must feed... we must feed... you, if you are hungry"), a "slave race" linked by a telepathic field who communicate with others via orb-shaped translators. Next in line are the base's human crew, who are suitably astonished at these two strangers appearing out of nowhere and having no idea where they are. It turns out the planetoid they're on is far too close to a black hole to still be intact: something at its centre is creating a gravity field (complete with a funnel for the ship to fly down) which holds it in place, and the crew are drilling to the core to find out what. The Doctor is ''delighted'' at the idea of a bunch of humans choosing to live in such a desolate place just "because it was there" and promptly hugs the ship's captain. However, the place also turns out to have massive earthquakes... one of which has just sent a chunk of the base's storage space falling into a chasm. Including the TARDIS.

Toby, the crew's archaeologist, gets singled out for special treatment by a strange, whispery voice while examining some artefacts.

Toby looks -- and sees nothing... until he looks in the mirror and finds that the symbols from the shards he was inspecting have moved onto his face and hands and his eyes are [[RedEyesTakeWarning bright red]]. When Trainee Maintenance Scooti Manista questions the computer about an unauthorised opening of the airlock (with no space-suit being logged out), she's astonished to see Toby walking on the planet's surface unprotected... before he telekinetically shatters the window, pulling her into space. The others find only a shell-shocked Toby and mournfully watch Scooti's corpse drift out of sight.

When the drill finally reaches the planet's core, the Doctor talks his way into being allowed to go down in the capsule along with science officer Ida. They find the ruins of an ancient civilisation and an enormous, imposing [[SealedEvilInACan seal]] covered with the same markings. Right on cue, it starts to open, as the Ood rise up as the "Legion of the Beast" and the planet starts trembling in its orbit.

* Narm:

* {{Satan}}

* DoomDoors

Rose and the Doctor find themselves in a space base, but the TARDIS seemed strangely reluctant to materialise (bad sign number one). Rose points out that they can hop back in and go somewhere else if they think there's going to be trouble, but neither of them can keep a straight face at the idea. They venture inwards and find a wall with "Welcome to Hell" written on it (bad sign number two), along with a series of symbols that not even the TARDIS can translate, which means the language must be impossibly old (bad sign number three). And to top it all off, Rose's super work-anywhere cell phone has no signal (bad sign number four).

They're soon introduced to the Ood ("We must feed... we must feed... you, if you are hungry"), a "slave race" linked by a telepathic field who communicate with others via orb-shaped translators. Next in line are the base's human crew, who are suitably astonished at these two strangers appearing out of nowhere and having no idea where they are. It turns out the planetoid they're on is far too close to a black hole to still be intact: something at its centre is creating a gravity field (complete with a funnel for the ship to fly down) that holds it in place, and the crew are drilling to the core to find out what. The Doctor is ''delighted'' at the idea of a bunch of humans choosing to live in such a desolate place just "because it was there" and promptly hugs the ship's captain. However, the place also turns out to have massive earthquakes... one of which has just sent a chunk of the base's storage space falling into a chasm. Including the TARDIS.

Toby, the crew's archaeologist, gets singled out for special treatment by a strange, whispery voice while Toby's examining some artifacts.

Toby looks -- and sees nothing... until he looks in the mirror and finds that the symbols from the shards he was inspecting have moved onto his face and hands and his eyes are [[RedEyesTakeWarning bright red]]. When Trainee Maintenance Scooti Manista questions the computer about an unauthorized opening of the airlock (with no space-suit being logged out), she's astonished to see Toby walking on the planet's surface unprotected... before he telekinetically shatters the window, pulling her into space. The others find only a shellshocked Toby and mournfully watch Scooti's corpse drift out of sight.

When the drill finally reaches the planet's core, the Doctor talks his way into being allowed to go down in the capsule along with science officer Ida. They find the ruins of an ancient civilization and an enormous, imposing [[SealedEvilInACan seal]] covered with the same markings. Right on cue, it starts to open, as the Ood rise up as the "Legion of the Beast" and the planet starts trembling in its orbit.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Toby

* EvilPhone: Rose's upgraded phone fails to work for the first time...until she gets a call from the Devil himself.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Overlaps with HeyItsThatVoice--the Beast is voiced by Gabriel Woolf, who played Sutekh in "Pyramids of Mars."

* ToServeMan: Subverted. Ood surrounded Doctor and Rose chanting "We must feed" to their horror. But they meant to feed them, not on them.

* CallBack: The Ood are like a mix of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E6TheArk the monoids]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E7TheSensorites the sensorites.]] They even come from the same star system as the sensorites.

* EvilSoundsDeep

They're soon introduced to the Ood ("We must feed... we must feed... you, if you are hungry"), a "slave race" linked by a telepathic field who communicate with others via orb-shaped translators. Next in line are the base's human crew, who are suitably astonished at these two strangers appearing out of nowhere and having no idea where they are. It turns out the planetoid they're on is far too close to a black hole to still be intact: something at its centre is creating a gravity field (complete with a funnel for the ship to fly down) that holds it in place, and the crew are drilling to the core to find out what. Whatever it is, it doesn't make the planet a comfortable place to live, as the base is routinely hit with earthquakes. The Doctor is ''delighted'' at the idea of a bunch of humans choosing to live in such a desolate place just "because it was there" and promptly hugs the ship's captain. However, the place also turns out to have massive earthquakes... one of which has just sent a chunk of the base's storage space falling into a chasm. Including the TARDIS.

* SoundtrackDissonance: A creepy, possessed Toby standing on the planet's barren surface, beckoning a woman to her death is accompanied a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMwomsJ9MR0 hauntingly beautiful violin]].