Fireball XL5 Episode 20 Review: The Forbidden Planet

[Jubal]

Fireball XL5 Ep 20: The Forbidden Planet

Rating out of 10: 7.5
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0807593/?ref_=ttep_ep20

Relatively high marks for originality on this one, not exactly perfect execution and some big plot holes but it was an interesting one.

The plot holes and problems, first - not least because the biggest one is very early in the programme, namely the fact that they end up looking at a planet in uncharted space that no telescope has previously been able to reach... and Matic knows what the planet is called? Have they heard legends from aliens? If all who look upon Nutopia die, how did the aliens find out? It's a very, very odd and obvious hole from a very early stage. In the rest of the adventure things are somewhat improved, though the fact that there only appear to be two Nutopians such that they need to get a prisoner to oversee their duel to the death is a bit odd. It's also a little unclear why Steve was able to turn their deadly weapons into stun guns, or indeed exactly why he did so. The core of the "super advanced celibate aliens lust after captured earth woman" plot is a trope that feels more than a little old fashioned, and the use of Venus as the "captured character who gets threatened" is a bit tiring and used too much in Fireball, but within that it's not played too badly at least.

The two alien characters each have multiple goals and end up in a confused mixture of working against and for one another, which provides a good level of complexity. The thing I most like is that we get some good viewpoints on Nutopia, making this one of the better "Odyssey" episodes. Introducing their competing for Venus with the fact that they eliminated women from their culture (apparently linked to their gaining the secret of eternal life) aeons ago is an interesting and worthwhile twist that improves how the plot comes across. The design of the characters could perhaps have been improved, something more alien or more showy for such a hyper-advanced species might have been neat (they would have actually looked pretty good with Time Lord regalia now I think about it). The duel's surrealism is at least commented upon by the characters, but is also an interesting feature - its archaic nature helps cement the "highly advanced degeneracy" that is the fairly well constructed "vibe" of Nutopia as a setting (again, something it shares with Gallifrey!).

This was an interesting episode, and part of me wants to give it a good mark for the well played setting design; it could certainly have been improved, though, Venus getting too raw a deal and some very avoidable plot holes. As such, it averages out to a fairly mid-range but respectable score.