History Recap / DoctorWhoS28E8TheImpossiblePlanet

''For how should man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his father and the temples of his gods''

** 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]].

* 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.

-->'''Possessed:''' Mr Jefferson, tell me, sir: did your wife ever forgive you?\\

'''Possessed:''' Let me tell you a secret. She never did.

->'''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''.

** And finally, the two halves of the episode were released on either side of [[MeaningfulReleaseDate 6/6/06]].

*** A close analysis of the footage suggests that what the planet is actually doing is staying suspended in place '''above''' the black hole, even as the material of the accretion disk blasts over it as it plunges inwards. This absolutely ''would'' be impossible, thus justifying the Doctor's surprise, but the script seems to have chosen the worst possible explanation for what's going on.

* NoodleIncident:

The one with Cthulhu aliens electrocuting people and tons of devilment.

The one with the Cthulhu aliens electrocuting people and tons of devilment.

The one with the Cthulhu aliens electrocuting people and tons of Devil symbolism.

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.

->'''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''.

[[ShmuckBait 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.

"'''[[EvilSoundsDeep The Pit is opened]] . . . and I am FREEEE.'''"

** 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]].

* CueCardPause: "We must feed . . . we must feed . . . ''[[[PercussiveMaintenance bonks translator]]]'' you, if you are hungry."

* DeadpanSnarker: One of the humans mocks the computer's automated messages. Then it starts saying things it wasn't programmed to . . .

* 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: The Beast is voiced by Gabriel Woolf, who played Sutekh in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E3PyramidsOfMars "Pyramids of Mars"]].

* 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/DoctorWhoS30E3PlanetOfTheOod later]] confirm that the Ood and the Sensorites are from neighbouring planets.

'''Jefferson:''' . . . I don't know what you mean.\\

* SchmuckBait: "Don't turn around . . . if you look at me, you will die . . . I'm so close, Toby. I can touch you . . ."

The one with the possessed guy and Ood.

The first one with the Ood.

[[caption-width-right:350:Here's hopin' those marks aren't Sharpie...]]

The one where ''Doctor Who'' meets ''DOOM''.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Among the possessed Ood statements is that The Beast has "woven himself into the fabric of your lives". The next episode expounds on that statement.

** The name of the base, SB6, is shown melting into 666 in one of the [=TARDISodes=]. The Ood go to work to the sound of Ravel's Bolero, which Torvill and Dean famously skated to in the 1984 Winter Olympics — and received perfect 6s for artistic impression. As an extra metatextual touch, the official web site's Fear Forecasters gave "The Impossible Planet" a Fear Factor score of 3/6/6/6 — on a scale that usually only goes up to 5.

** The name of the base, SB6, is shown melting into 666 in one of the Tardisodes. The Ood go to work to the sound of Ravel's Bolero, which Torvill And Dean famously skated to in the 1984 Winter Olympics — and received perfect 6s for artistic impression. As an extra metatextual touch, the official web site's Fear Forecasters gave "The Impossible Planet" a Fear Factor score of 3/6/6/6 — on a scale that usually only goes up to 5.

** The Doctor makes a remark that "[[Series/EastEnders This is gonna be the best Christas Walford's ever had.]]"

* 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.\\

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.

->'''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''.

[[ShmuckBait 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.

"'''[[EvilSoundsDeep The Pit is opened]]... and I am FREEEE.'''"

** 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]].

* CueCardPause: "We must feed... we must feed...''[[[PercussiveMaintenance bonks translator]]]'' you, if you are hungry."

* DeadpanSnarker: One of the humans mocks the computer's automated messages. Then it starts saying things it wasn't programmed to...
* DemonicPossession: The Beast possesses Toby; there's the red eyes, the creepy markings, VoiceOfTheLegion, the only thing missing is talking in tongues.

* EvilPhone: Rose's upgraded phone fails to work for the first time... until she gets a call from something that calls itself the Devil.

'''Jefferson:''' ...I don't know what you mean.\\

-->'''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.\\

* 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:

** The Doctor makes a remark that "[[Series/EastEnders This is gonna be the best Christmas Walford's ever had.]]"

* 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." (Which is an abbreviated version of a very old English idiom, whose full form is "needs must ''when the devil drives''".)

** Also, there is nothing impossible about the concept of orbiting a black hole. Black holes usually have the same mass as suns, just a lot denser, so they only become inescapable as you get so close that you'd be inside the former sun. Granted, it is possible for the black hole to have enough mass to make their current orbit impossible, but The Doctor, who really should know better, reacts to the ''concept itself'' of ''ever'' orbiting a black hole with "But that's impossible!".

** 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.

* 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.

* 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: the Beast is voiced by Gabriel Woolf, who played Sutekh in "Pyramids of Mars".

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Among the possessed Ood statements is that The Beast has "woven himself into the fabric of your lives". The next episode expounds of that statement.

* 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.

* IHaveManyNames: Which will be listed, at length, by a whole crowds' worth of CreepyMonotone.

* {{Redshirt}}: There are two members of the crew who don't get names at all. A possessed Ood kills one of them.

** 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.
** The idea of being kept in orbit around a black hole by a powerful artificial energy source is reminiscent of Disney's Film/TheBlackHole.