The Doctor reveals the truth about the real power on Zanak and must try and stop the Captain and Xanxia before Earth becomes their next victim.The Doctor reveals the truth about the real power on Zanak and must try and stop the Captain and Xanxia before Earth becomes their next victim.The Doctor reveals the truth about the real power on Zanak and must try and stop the Captain and Xanxia before Earth becomes their next victim.
- K9
- (voice)
- Old Queen Xanxia
- (uncredited)
- Mentiad
- (uncredited)
- Mentiad
- (uncredited)
- Mentiad
- (uncredited)
- Mentiad
- (uncredited)
- Mentiad
- (uncredited)
- Mentiad
- (uncredited)
- Mentiad
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Douglas Adams
- Sydney Newman(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe DVD release of this episode differs from the transmitted version. The Doctor Who (1963) Restoration Team were unhappy with the scene in which the spanner is engulfed by a blast. Due to failings of 1970s vision mixing, the spanner is suspended in front of the blast for a few frames and then disappears. For the DVD release, the Restoration Team took the liberty of adding additional frames so that the spanner is blasted back towards the camera to help sell the effect better.
- Quotes
Romana: Newton? Who's Newton?
Doctor Who: Old Issac? Friend of mine on Earth. Discovered gravity. Well, I say he discovered gravity; I had to give him a bit of a prod.
Romana: What did you do?
Doctor Who: Climbed up a tree.
Romana: And?
Doctor Who: Dropped an apple on his head.
Romana: Ah. And so he discovered gravity.
Doctor Who: No-no, he told me to clear off out of his tree. I explained it to him afterwards at dinner.
It feels like ages since I watched the previous serial in this season, and I wondered if there was a reason for that other than being busy. Anyway, coming into The Pirate Planet doesn't do a great deal to inspire me to race into the next serial. It is not 'bad' per se, but rather it seems to be a very broad affair which has lots of ideas but no will to turn them into something cohesive. The family- family element sees a tyrannical villain transformed into a pantomime actor; this is actually quite fun in some ways, but it sits oddly with his actions, and clashes with the very colorless supporting characters. The plot is pretty interesting as it sees planets stripped of their mineral value at no consideration to those living there. It doesn't do a great deal with this, and the opposing characters (the Mentiads and the normal people) are very bland and uninteresting – robbing the drama somewhat.
There is some good humor throughout, which sits well with the colorful elements, but doesn't in itself make for a great serial. The performances are good from the lead two (or three if you include K9) but otherwise they range from the excessively colorful, down to the drably invisible. It all still moves along with some degree of interest, action, and humor, but it isn't really particularly engaging or entertaining.
- bob the moo
- Mar 29, 2017
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