Monday, April 6, 2009

Over-analysing the Planet of the Dead trailer: so you don't have to

A London bus in a desert. There are three key facts to note about this image.
1)There are no deserts in London which suggests that Planet of the Dead takes place in Outer Space.
2)The front of every bus shows its number and destination. Here this information is hidden by the angle of the bus, possibly to conceal a spoiler.
3)Although we know this episode is called Planet of the Dead, there are no dead people to be seen. As an experienced television writer Russell T. Davis would know to avoid such a careless error. The dead are probably hiding under the sand or behind the bus.

The Doctor examines some sand. Note that the Doctor's shadow extends beyond his head. The sun rises in the east, to cast a shadow like this the Doctor must be facing south which suggests the wind blowing the sand is coming from the west. Unless it is the afternoon in which case he is facing north and the wind is blowing from the east.

An insect holding a gun. Doctor Who often uses animal-headed aliens as a metaphor. New Earth for example featured cat-headed nuns running a hospital as a metaphor for the way nurses like to play with their patients before killing and eating them. Alternatively the insect could have a gun to stop the dead from bothering London Transport users while they wait for a connecting bus back to Earth.

There appears to be at least three female passengers on the bus. Could this be a clue to the return of the notorious female Timelord, The Rani?

The Doctor and Michelle Ryan's character see something off camera. Possibly a dead person, or an insect-headed alien holding a gun, or maybe the Doctor has just said," look at the Rani over there!".

An experienced actor like David Tennant knows body language gives important information about the way a character feels. In this frame the David Tennant faces away from Michelle Ryan suggesting that the Doctor feels awkward and uncomfortable. He is probably missing Donna.

Don't know what this is.

Russell T. Davis knows that it is important for a trailer to tell the audience when a programme is being shown. Here we see that Planet of the Dead is being shown on Saturday 11th April on BBC1. Unfortunately someone has forgotten to include the time, an elementary mistake which should have been avoided.

In other news:

Wednesday April 1st, 2009. G20 leaders assemble in London for the first showing of the Planet of the Dead trailer.