There’s a lovely scene in the middle of “The Dead Planet” where the four main characters linger by the TARDIS’ food machine. They’re settling in for the night, and Ian and Barbara are hungry. The Doctor tells them they can have anything they want, and Barbara asks for bacon and eggs. (Odd choice for dinner, but I suppose time travel throws off your inner clock somewhat.) The Doctor and Susan program the machine and out pop two little bars, which Barbara and Ian are amazed to find taste just like bacon and eggs. The Doctor, pleased by their reaction, explains how it works to an appreciative Ian. The food machine is very ’60s sci-fi and the characters are all getting along and there’s no danger. It’s nice.
Of course, the rest of the episode isn’t so nice. The Doctor has been clashing with Ian and Barbara – they’re angry he’s not prioritizing getting them home, and he’s resentful about these unwelcome passengers telling him what to do. Someone frightened Susan in the forest, and she’s upset that her grandfather doesn’t believe her. The Doctor selfishly sabotages his own ship so that they’ll be forced to visit the city he, and only he, wants to explore. The episode ends with Barbara, lost in the city and separated from the others, being threatened by something advancing towards her – a Dalek, though we won’t know its name, or how dangerous it truly is, until next episode.
Oh, and they’re all getting sick. They have radiation poisoning, but they don’t know that yet.
This is a TV show, so everything will be better in a couple of episodes. The Doctor and his friends will come together and the baddies will be sorted out. Because it’s not real life.
Early in the episode, while they’re exploring the strange dead petrified forest they’ve landed in, Susan finds a flower. It’s stone now too, like all the other vegetation, but it’s beautiful nonetheless. Ian helps her uproot it, warning her to be careful because of how fragile it is. Susan’s excited to take it back to the TARDIS, but then Barbara calls out, and Ian, distracted, crushes it in Susan’s hands. Later, Susan finds a second flower and stops to pick it up, but when she’s frightened by a mysterious hand touching her shoulder, that flower too is destroyed.
It’s okay to need nice moments. Sometimes you need to linger by the food machine. But you can’t stay there too long.
Flowers are being crushed, and the poison is seeping in, and the Daleks are here.
