The second segment of the
Key to Time season was the first involvement of the legendary Douglas Adams in
the show. And it's a crying shame he didn't go on to have a far larger
involvement with the show than he did actually. His grasp of whimsical and
imaginative writing really was absolutely incredible. Just look at The Pirate
Planet, and you will see what I mean clearly enough.
The story has a grand
scale, and the main plot line is an inventive and horrifying one. A script
about a manipulated space pirate going through space just to suck planets clean
of their energy just to keep a thoroughly evil and wizened old Queen alive is
brilliantly contrived, and the tightness of the plotting has to be applauded
very much here.
And the story is littered
with so many larger than life characters. First and foremost is the wonderful
Bruce Purchase as the half machine Captain, who is ever so slightly deranged
and mad but held under the thumb of the ruthless Queen Xanxia. He is
blustering, arrogant and yet at times restrained and quietly menacing. Bruce
manages to make the character more than just the run of the mill cardboard
cut-out villain. In fact, he is one of the most memorable and excellent
villains of Tom's later years. He is loud, abrasive yet deeply disturbing and
this makes him one of the most interesting villains on the show for a long
while.
But a part play with even
more subtlety, so much so that for most of the story you may even think she is
not that important, is the turn that Rosalind Lloyd gives as Queen Xanxia. She
is calmly and quietly in the background for most of the story, but when it is
revealed that she is indeed the main evil doer and the Captain is merely
controlled by her secretly her true colours are seen. She plays the wicked
Queen with a restraint that makes her Queen one of the most quietly simmering
brews of evil we've had on the show.
The story is also
memorable for K9's wonderful battle with the Captain's Polyphase Avatron. The
Captain has many layers to his character, he can kill a person for almost
nothing at all, but he gets livid and upset almost like a child when his robot
parrot is returned to him, having been defeated by K9 in a fierce laser beam
fight.
The Mentiads are written
well within the story, and their backstory is indeed a thoroughly interesting
and well thought out plotline. That whole planets have died to give them their
mental abilities is a ghoulish and dark segment of the story telling that is
handled very well by the cast and the director, Pennant Roberts.
Indeed, the scale of the
space hopping planet is quite a horrific one when you stop to think about it. A
planet that is hollow that can jump through space like a spider to suck other
planets dry is a deeply troubling prospect indeed. It gives the story an added
dose of bite that perhaps makes it the single most ambitious story of the Key
to Time season. It is bold and yet written perfectly.
Tom Baker and Mary Tamm
already seem to get on like a house on fire as the Doctor and Romana because
they both just share such wonderful screen charisma together. They are totally
amazing to watch. And the fourth Doctor of these later seasons is more comical,
but still not to the story detracting heights of season seventeen, here the
comedy is still more restrained and therefore more believable as well.
It is quite easy to see
why Douglas Adams would go on to be such a celebrated and gifted writer. His
first story for Doctor Who is jam packed with so many brilliant ideas, and the
plot comes together seamlessly and makes this story yet another firm success in
a season that is highly engaging and highly memorable because every story has a
firm backbone and they are all entertaining and diverting in their own special
way.
This story also contains
one of Tom Baker's most brilliant moments as the Doctor ever. His sheer horror
when the Captain explains what Zanak does to other planets is surely one of the
most brilliant pieces of acting that Tom ever gave on screen. His total hot
anger comes over superbly and makes the scene truly hit home. He does not play
this scene for laughs either, which is why it is all the more real and
impactful. Tom always knows when to crank up the seriousness in his
performance, and he is absolutely pitch perfect for this incredible scene. His
righteous outrage at the horrors being perpetrated is openly palpable indeed.
The Pirate Planet was the
first of only three stories of which he would be involved with as major writer
on the show, the other two being City of Death and the sadly then unfinished
Shada. This is such a great shame that we only have two full stories to remember
him by in Doctor Who. He had the potential to rise to Robert Holmes levels of
brilliance, and yet Doctor Who has to make do with but two incredible
contributions to the myth that is Doctor Who. But The Pirate Planet stands as a
fitting testament to the brilliant mind that was the wonderful and truly gifted
Douglas Adams. He will surely be greatly missed by so many around the world.
Long may his legacy continue....
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