Planet Of Giants (1964) Review

Planet Of Giants is the perfect 1960s Doctor Who serial for me. Inventive story: check. Astounding set and props for its time: check. Short: check(3 episodes!). Heartwarming characters: for the most part check. Women constantly needing the men to help them(hehehe): check.

It's the first Doctor Who serial I've watched straight all the way through(The Edge Of Destruction might be an exception, but I don't remember) and for good reason. It kept me hooked, it didn't tire me out and it was a fun and satisfying romp.

Trouble is afoot when the TARDIS shrinks down to the size of an inch(it's never explained why so I'm gonna go out on a limp here and say it's something to do with the doors opening, thus disturbing the dimensions of the TARDIS like in The Name Of The Doctor. Doesn't explain why it gets smaller instead of bigger or why the doors even opened though) and the crew ends up in the house of some chemist who's been working on an insecticide called DN6.

DN6 is poison(and also allows the showmakers to show off complicated puppets without actually having to move them) which kills on contact. Thus, the crew resolve to draw attention to it by putting the house on fire(isn't that REALLY dangerous??).

Alright, so there are multiple plot holes scattered about, but I didn't really care as I was watching it. It's a very creative story with the characters using small everyday objects like matches and paper clips for whatever they need and its really all just for the heck of it.

If there's one complaint, I'd say it's the editing. Sometimes it's too sudden and sometimes there's a long black fade-out for no reason. There also seems to be a few scenes missing since the crew go from
DOCTOR: We should get back to the ship.
BARBARA: Okay.
to
DOCTOR: I think Barbara's right. We should do something about this.
in the blink of an eye. There's also a VERY quick trip back to the TARDIS.

Early in the story, the Doctor's monitor literally blows up(for some reason it can't adapt to the changed dimensions), but at the end, the screen is just showing white noise, but is otherwise fine. I can buy the TARDIS repairing it(even though it usually needs the Doctor to do that), but why is it only half-fixed? She had plenty of time.

Overall, it's Doctor Who's first "turn your brain off" serial and I loved it. A great start to what I think is gonna be a great season.
Oh and I forgot to mention that Susan's costume was gorgeous this story.