Doctor Who's FIRST Ecological Disaster Story - Doctor Who: Planet of Giants (1964) - REVIEW 

"These things haven't been made bigger. We've been made smaller!" Thanks for watching this review! Season 2 begins! Be sure to "like" and leave a comment to appease that almighty algorithm!

The small scene of the Doctor apologizing to Barbara in episode 1 is so sweet. Barbara often gets most of the Doctor’s anger early on, so this scene, as well as his apology to her at the end of The edge of destruction truly show that he is changing as a character, and starting to realize that he needs to start taking himself accountable. 1’s arc, mixed with his personality are really what make him my favorite incarnation, he has a rough exterior, but deep down is so whimsical and caring.

Holy crap! Hearing about this insecticide spraying in my home town is wild. Watching DDT being sprayed in a river that I walk down regularly is terrifying! I’d never even heard of DDT before this. Thanks for this little bit of my town’s history Mr. TARDIS!

I love it when you provide the contextual background and discuss the inspiration behind these stories, it's always really interesting and informative. I'd never even heard of Rachel Carson until now, she sounded quite remarkable.

I love the cuts between Susan's and The Doctor's dialogue as they are explaining to Ian and Barbara what has happened to all of them, it really goes to show that these two are related.

23:29-23:44 That use of the Who Shot Mr Burns audio was genius. 😂

Ian at Graham's group " l was shrunk once- honest! "

This is one of my favorite Hartnell stories! Those props and sets are fantastic, with that era and the budget they had! This is my comment (and I left a like, too) for the care and feeding of the Almighty Algorithm. 🙏 ❤️❤️

Always found this one such a weird little oddity in Who history. No aliens, a really strange central premise with a gritty environmental backdrop, and only three episodes.

When I was watching Hartnell for the first time this episode really stood out to me. The concept wasn't new for me but it was so fun and honesty it's one of my favourite Hartnell episodes because I think they did such a fantastic job at it

"More like an ancient cannon" Well, I mean, he's not wrong considering he's from Gallifrey in the future. And to top it off, it IS a cannon, it's simply been made smaller.

Never knew this was originally meant to be 4 parts, but I enjoyed this quite a lot

Carole Ann Ford told me that this is her favourite story!

LOV£ the gall to have 2 very separate stories going on in this story. I also this story has started a love for characters who play it cool but are internally utterly panicking. The businessman is the perfect example of such a character, and it's hilarious.

You gotta admit, Forester’s smarter than most Tv criminals. If this was Midsomer they would be at it for a hour or two at most

Thank you, Mr. Tardis. I like your reviews. It drives me to seek out the classic Dr. Who series. Cheers!

10:03 Honestly, this has to be some of the most dystopian advertisements I've ever seen, and that's saying something in 2023.

3:09 - or an evil doppelgänger of the Doctor trying to take off with the doors open like later in ‘The Enemy of the World’ (namely Salamander)

Honestly I just miss Hartnel's 1st Doctor so much... it's been such a while, I mean sure I watched The Three Doctors recently, but I think we can all agree it's not the same thing. (Throughton was killing in that serial tho. And yes I know Hartnel was ill and all, and that he did the best he could, but you really just have to watch his episodes to feel why the 1st Doctor is so great.)

I wouldve loved this story arc back in the day. As a kid I was a big fan of Land of the Giants and Dr. Shrinker (not to mention the Atom Filmation cartoons). They did a great job making their shrinking sem real; very cleverly done. And the environmental angle was a good added layer.

I love the shrinking explanation scene, how it bounces between the characters. I think Classic Who really shines with the little things it does.

Fun fact: Alan Tilvern would later play as Captain Rodriguez in Dad’s Army’s ‘Battle School’

I like Planet of Giants

Fun fact: Dudley Simpson would later work on the music for the BBC's other Sci-Fi series - Blake's 7

“Can’t,Can’t? There’s no such word as can’t!”

While not my favorite, Planet Of Giants is an interesting idea, and I wish they had done more miniaturized stories as they continued. I have been enjoying watching the Hartnell era with S2, I am still watching the blu ray. Thank you for this.

I first saw this story when I was about 10 and first getting really into environmental conservation, and I absolutely loved it! I totally forgot how ridiculous the villains scheme was, (though I do always have a soft spot corporate kids stories that make CEO’s cartoonishly evil!) But I had no clue the story was meant to be 4 parts!!! The final edit feels so tight it feels fully formed! I’m glad to see this episode finally get a bit more love!

The set design is the biggest part of these serials for sure. Overall, a worthwhile Doctor Who story because of it

This story is way too political. That's obviously Chibnall's fault.

10:32 D'oh! I'm from San Antonio!

Dudley Simpson is a big reason why I got into film scoring. Love love love his work.

Hey, farmer, farmer, put away your DDT I don't care about spots on my apples Leave me the birds and the bees Please! - joni mitchell big yellow taxi 1970.

YES, GET ON WITH IT!!!

I love planet of the ganits William Hartnell and William Russell and Barbara actors look like they are having an amazing time here

@8:58 Never allowed the word WHAT to exist??? This was in Doctor Who? in the 60’s??? ;-)

I recently rewatches this, it is a very good episode

Irwin Allen must've been watching this before creating Land Of The Giants.

12:16 "It's a bit of a cup out" Yeah, wellcome to Doctor Who's cliffhanger resolutions, where a dramatic encounter with a Sillurian is resolved by the Doctor wanting to shake his hand, and a cliffhanger of The Master throwing a FUCKING KNIFE TO HIS BACK is resolved with The Master being distracted last minute and missing.

Yeah, that DDT spraying footage is terrifying. I always liked Planet of Giants, even if I don't love it - it still moves a bit too slowly for me, even cut down to three parts. I cannot believe reading off a chemical formula was ever considered suitable for TV though, even by the scriptwriter lol

Definitely a quirky story. I can't think of another time when the Doctor and companions were changed in size like this. But of course, others tried a similar premise, like Irwin Allen's Land of the Giants. If they had simply appeared as normal, they might have made a detective or suspense story out of it, where the Doctor and companions figure out who shot the official, and it would have felt like an early Avengers episode. But the ecological aspect of the insecticide would have been diluted.

5:40 HA! We did that irl!

When people call Doctor Who for being woke or too political in the present I look to this story as an example of how it has always been very political and "woke". As you point out in the review, this was inspired by Silent Spring which spawned the environmentalist movement we live with in the present. For all its flaws I think this is the first time I've ever seen this subject and theme appear in popular fiction. I don't remember it being a prominent theme in fiction this early on. PS: The cut scene of the Doctor pushing hard to intervene in events is I think an interesting mission statement in itself. I don't think I've ever seen that part of the Doctor being put across more pointedly as it is done in this story.

Wondering when in '64 this aired, no recollection at all.. Holiday perhaps 🤔

Ha! You uploaded this video about this shrinking story the day Ant-Man: Quantumania finally hits the UK! Coincidence!

Actually shocking for the time - the murder and violence.

Your look at it with 2020 eyes and mk ultra anyone

This review is about five thousand times more entertaining than the story, William. 🤣 Brilliant work - as always. Now, if I want to remind myself of this, ahem, masterpiece, I’ll just rewatch your - as always (did I already say that?) - review! Btw, apologies for not replying to your email yet, Will; I’ve been stupidly busy in the last two weeks, and I’m in Los Angeles for some reason at the moment; it should be with you by the beginning of next week! And - may I say - you’re a Star! Stephen 😁

Insecticide is misspelled - insectide!

Can wait for next one

Land of the giants occurred, but that was '68, we got it in '70 apparently

23:29 And cue Simpsons audio cilp right here.

Wait… is smithers from the simpsons actually named after the smithers in this story?

As soon as I heard there was a character called Smithers I was WAITING for the Simpsons joke

I'm not a fan of this story. While the effects of making the Tardis crew look small are good. I just think that the slow pacing of the story lets it down.

Frankly the main plot is ludicrous. The issues are real and the ecological politics are spot-on but what could have been as exciting as The Green Death is just a half baked crime movie

Not sure who’s the dumbest villain of the Hartnell era now; Forester or the Sensorite City Administrator.