It's interesting that each of Hartnell's three full seasons contains one oddball story. Season one has Edge of Destruction, while season three has Mission to the Unknown. I consider Planet of Giants the oddball story of season two.
Sure, on the surface, it's an unlikely choice. Wouldn't the two-part The Rescue be the story that sticks out as unusual due to its length? I don't think so, since the length is the only exceptional thing about it.
Planet of Giants also has a weird length - 3 episodes, though it was originally intended to be four. But what makes it so unusual is the story. It's the first time the crew returns to present day England, so rather than travel through space or time from when the series started, they instead travel through... size, I guess, as they are shrunk down to a height of a few inches. It's a typical sci-fi plot, though not one you'd expect to see on Doctor Who. So, does it work or, does it feel as out of place as you would expect?
Kind of both. The episode never feels quite right. It's a weird mix of sci-fi cliches and crime drama, with a little comedy thrown in. It's a poor choice for a season opener, and I wonder why they didn't just start with the Daleks, since that's what everyone was waiting for. The creators themselves must have realized they had a weak story, since they took the rare step of editing out an entire episode, even though it had been filmed. The BBC wouldn't waste money like that unless they thought they had a real problem.
The story does have its strengths: most of the size effects are strong, at least for a low budget show. A scene with Ian walking in front of what's obviously a projection of the face of a murder victim looks fake, and a cat never feels like it's actually there enough to provide a real threat, but the set design is strong and manages to pull it all together.
The chemistry of the cast is evident, as well. They've worked out the character relationships - the Doctor even apologies to Barbara at one point, and when they pair off Ian with Susan and Barbara with the Doctor, it feels believable in a way that it might not have in season one. They feel like a group of people who have been traveling together for some time.
Unfortunately, shrinking the cast results in separating them from much of the action. You can only watch so much of the cast dodging giant household threats, while characters for whom we have no emotional investment engage in the most dramatic parts of the plot. When the plot involves generic crime melodrama, things simply drag. At times, the cast feel like guests in another show.
Apparently, it was episodes three and four that were edited down to one, which surprises me, as there's a moment in episode one that seems to jump over a big chunk of action. I could have sworn the cut occurred when Ian suddenly turns up out of nowhere in episode one, but it looks like I'm wrong. The actual cuts involved removing the comedy bits between the police officer and the phone operator. If that's true, I'm thankful, as I don't think 20 minutes of those two would have helped this story.
GRADE: D+
For me, a real dud of an episode. It doesn't feel like Doctor Who, and it makes for a dreadful season opener.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
I can't find any reason why they didn't just jump straight to the Dalek story, aside from the fact that once filming had already begun, it was impossible to reverse since Susan would be leaving at the end of The Dalek Invasion of Earth. I get that, but why approve this story as the opener to begin with?
For once, it's Barbara, not Susan, who does something stupid, as she handles a pile of food even though it's already been established that they're surrounded by pesticides.
