C02S01 Planet of giants
Synopsis
The TARDIS doos open accidentally while the ship is still in flight. Although they have arrived back on Earth in the 1960s, a time they have been trying to return to since they all met, the travellers soon realise that something is very wrong. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan discover that they have all been reduced in size and the world they are now exploring has dangers at every turn...
Cover notes
It wasn't particularly easy if you were travelling in the TARDIS in those early days of Doctor Who. The Doctor's school teacher friends, Ian and Barbara, had been desperate to get home ever since their curiosity led them to a junkyard in their first adventure. And what happens when the TARDIS eventually lands back in the 1960s? The teachers discover that they are only an inch tall, poor things...
The idea of a story featuring the Doctor and his companions reduced in size was proposed right at the start of Doctor Who's creation back in early 1963. Following on from the introductory episode, a story called The Giants would have seen the Doctor and his new friends struggling with their smaller size in the school laboratory. That story was rejected when the idea of giant spiders was thought to be too much like the bug-eyed monsters the production team were told to avoid, plus the production was deemed technically too difficult to achieve.
A script containing similar elements eventually became Planet of Giants and this story opened season two of Doctor Who. The main difference between the original idea and what we see here is a story with environmental concerns and a murder thrown in for good measure.
At the time, it was decided that Planet of Giants wasn't as exciting as it should be for a season opener - so the original four-part story was edited down to three episodes ahead of transmission. Viewers can now enjoy and judge this for themselves, with a fascinating four-part reconstruction contained on this release.
Cast
| The Doctor | William Hartnell | listed as Dr. Who |
| Ian Chesterton | William Russell | |
| Barbara Wright | Jacqueline Hill | |
| Susan Foreman | Carole Ann Ford | |
| Forester | Alan Tilvern | |
| Farrow | Frank Crawshaw | ep. 1,2 |
| Smithers | Reginald Barratt | ep. 2,3 |
| Hilda Rowse | Rosemary Johnson | ep. 3 |
| Bert Rowse | Fred Ferris | ep. 3 |
Crew
| Written by | Louis Marks | |
| Title music | Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop | |
| Incidental music | Dudley Simpson | |
| Costumes supervised by | Daphne Dare | listed final episode only; probably all |
| Make-up superviced by | Sonia Markham | listed final episode only; probably all |
| Lighting by | Howard King | listed final episode only; probably all |
| Sound Mixing by | Alan Fogg | listed final episode only; probably all |
| Story Editor | David Whitaker | |
| Designer | Raymond P. Cusick | |
| Producer | Verity Lambert | |
| Director | Mervyn Pinfield | ep. 1,2 |
| Director | Douglas Camfield | ep. 3 |
Special Edition Cast
| The Doctor | John Guilor | listed as Doctor Who |
| Ian Chesterton | William Russell | |
| Barbara Wright | Katherine Mount | |
| Susan Foreman | Carole Ann Ford | |
| Forester | Toby Hadoke | |
| Smithers | Paul Jones | |
| Hilda Rowse | Patricia Merrick | listed as Hilda Rouse |
| Bert Rowse | Steve Johnson | listed as Bert Rouse |
Special Edition Crew
| New Audio recorded and mixed | Glenn Keiles | |
| Edited by | Adi Denney | |
| CGI & Special Effects by | Stuart Palmer | |
| Director's Assistant | Derek Handley | |
| Set photos courtesy of | Jan Vincent-Rudzki | |
| Executive Producer | Dan Hall | |
| Producer | Ed Stradling | |
| Director | Ian Levine |
DVD Extras
| Clive Doig Brian Hodgson Sonia Markham David Tilley |
commentary track | |
| alternative soundtrack | Arabic soundtrack | The chance to view the story with a dubbed Arabic soundtrack |
| Episodes 3 and 4 reconstruction | Originally shot as a four-part story, the final two episodes of Planet of Giants were edited into a single episode for transmission. Using the original scripts, newly recorded dialogue and animation, this feature gives viewers an idea of how the original four-part version might have appeared. | |
| Rediscovering The Urge to Live | The team behind the reconstruction explain how it was put together. | |
| Doctor Who Stories - Suddenly Susan | Carole Ann Ford talks about her role as the Doctor's granddaughter and the first companion in the TARDIS in this interview originally recorded for 2003's The story of Doctor Who. | |
| The Lambert Tapes - The Doctor | Doctor Who's original producer looks back on her time on the series in the second part of this interview recorded for The story of Doctor Who. | |
| photo gallery | ||
| Design Drawings | ||
| Radio Times listings |
Commentary
| serial code : | J |
| episode count : | 3 |
| initial broadcast date : | 1964-10-31 |
| DVD release date : | |
| DVD SE release date : | |
| BluRay release date : | |