Two things got my interest in Big Finish’s Planet Krynoid: that it features the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann); and that the Krynoid hail from The Seeds of Doom which is my favourite Doctor Who story. Philip Hinchcliffe and Robert Banks-Stewart’s Fourth Doctor horror tale is one that terrified me as a child; especially seeing poor Keeler pleading to be taken to hospital while Harrison Chase gleefully watches his transformation.
The premise of Planet Krynoid is that an Earth colony has found an ice world and has placed solar satellites to warm the planet up to make it habitable. Sunlight, as the world has been named, has been established for over a century, but something happened a hundred years ago…
We join the narrative where two technicians have to attempt some repairs to one of the satellites as it has become damaged, threatening to plunge Sunlight back into the artic wasteland it once was. What they find are two Krynoid pods that have crashed into the satellite, one of which stings a technician, Piotr (Ben Crow). Piotr and the two pods are brought back down to Sunlight and it is discovered that Piotr is still alive despite being stung through the visor of his spacesuit. Shades of John Hurt’s Kane in the classic Alien.
Upon hearing about this, Governor Robert Hodan (Reece Shearsmith) orders that the pods and the technician be destroyed, but ‘the company’ Kemavox, represented by Carl Magnus (Joseph Ayre), orders otherwise because of the pods’ uniqueness.
Beware: there be minor spoilers ahead…
The set is divided into three parts: Sunlight, Sunset, and Darkness, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to see where the story heads under those three banners.
Episode One, Sunlight, deals with the discovery of the pods and the bad decisions that leads to the creation of two Krynoids; the first is the unfortunate satellite technician; but the second practically has the listener screaming out loud, “DON’T DO IT!” — such is the level of unscientific stupidity, despite the desperate situation. But we know better, don’t we, listener?
Episode Two, Sunset, is a traditional base under siege with added Eighth Doctor, although, the boxset’s cover is a bit misleading here. The cover shows a partially transformed Doctor; half his face is covered in vegetation and his left hand is clearly Krynoid, but any potential infection doesn’t get anywhere near that stage and is dismissed so very quickly. Despite this, Sunset is the best episode of the three; a good old-fashioned action adventure.
Lastly, Episode Three, Darkness, is a very disturbing affair which depicts the collapse of Sunlight, but rather than local vegetation attacking the colonists, the behaviour of the infected comes across as more of a zombie apocalypse; “meeeaat!” being exclaimed rather than “brainzzzz!”
Unusually, the episodes begin with Nicholas Briggs announcing that the subject matter may not be suitable for a younger audience, but bearing in mind the horror contained in Doctor Who over the years, it did seem a bit of a high bar that had been set. Even then, listening to events unfold, one almost tries to work out what parts warranted such a warning.
I’ll admit that I was initially bemused – and yes there were lots of moments of horror, but nothing that Doctor Who hasn’t done before – but the fate of one particular character in episode three was heartbreaking and gut-wrenching at the same time. The subsequent graphic horror, or the aforementioned Krynoid apocalypse, was pretty harrowing too. In a way, the ramping up of the horror being so easy with Krynoids qualifies my behind-the-sofa moment all those years ago.
All in all, Planet Krynoid: Nightfall delivers action and horror in equal measure, but there are flaws …
Firstly, some of the plot points are a bit old-fashioned. That agricultural workers have to queue up to be selected for a day’s labour is more akin to a 1900s Catherine Cookson novel, rather than a 25th Century Earth colony where, surely, automation would have taken on such tasks.
We are also told that Sunlight is a haven for the rich and famous, and the society has clearly fallen into upper and lower class; much is made of this by the featured family’s father, Fletcher (Ian Cunningham). Unfortunately, from this, a particularly evil act is committed by the family’s son, Tiro (Nye Occomore), where he leads a Krynoid into a conference of the planet’s wealthy – who all seem to be cartoon caricatures that have come from a Dickensian novel – so that the Krynoid can devour them. And this was one of the good guys!
The biggest flaw is the narrative from the episodes, Sunset to Darkness: it reminded me of two films from the Alien franchise (a second mention). More specifically in Aliens where Ripley, Newt, and Hicks escape the Alien-infested base – and the big deal made of Ripley saving Newt from the Alien while wearing the exoskeleton – only to find at the beginning of Alien 3 that Newt and Hicks had died anyway; effectively negating the ending of the previous film.
Similarly, the events in Darkness render the ending of Sunset, which involves the Doctor, pointless.
But that is probably thinking a bit too deeply as what was a particular treat was the Eighth Doctor without any of his usual companions. The Doctor tells us that he was there at the previous skirmish a hundred years ago, but not what happened. But he has to go back to rescue Liv who he had to leave behind due to being stung by a Krynoid pod.
Go back he does, which is why the Eighth Doctor doesn’t stay and help to prevent Sunlight’s collapse.
Then there is the story about the previous skirmish, a hundred years previously: is that for another day or will it remain a tale untold? Possibly another day as I note on the side of the boxset that this has been designated a “1”; does this mean that Planet Krynoid is going to be an ongoing series which could effectively be Big Finish’s version of The Walking Dead? Or has it been affected by copyright issues?
However, from this reviewer’s point of view, this was a good stand-alone boxset, albeit gory, and its downbeat but hopeful ending was perfect for the mood of the three episodes. And I love a good base under siege.
But one last comment… Actually, Bryn (Melody Chikakane Brown), I don’t think the two doomed characters really did deserve their fates…
