To protect their precious jewels, they use a Shrivenzale, with pointy teeth and claws, it has plenty to impale, though it's not the fastest mover, could avoid it with some guile, it's more like an aging version, of a declining crocodile.
3 Reviews
The con is on, Doctor Who does hustle 30 years in advance
Sleepin_Dragon16 August 2015
The Doctor saves a scared and indignant Romana from the clutches of the shrivenzale, they hide behind some conveniently placed screens and are able to witness the con that's going on, it seems 'Hustle' was invented 30 years ago. The Graff seems fairly bright and rumbles Garron's plan, the Doctor and Romana are implicated too and sentenced to death.
The relic room set is beautifully done, it looks very plush and real, they did a great job, no shaky cardboard sets here. The Graff's bedroom is also beautifully done, I'd love that fireplace.
There is a certain charm to the Ribos Operation, it plays out like a typical 70's BBC costume drama, a little slow, well acted but not without its charm.
The costumes are excellent, it looks like a bit of money was spent, (Series 16 looks plush, whereas the next (17) looks a bit cheap in comparison,) Romana's, Garron's and The Graff's in particular look so good.
Cuthbertson continues to be an absolute joy as Garron. This is far better then the opener, it's a very good episode.
The relic room set is beautifully done, it looks very plush and real, they did a great job, no shaky cardboard sets here. The Graff's bedroom is also beautifully done, I'd love that fireplace.
There is a certain charm to the Ribos Operation, it plays out like a typical 70's BBC costume drama, a little slow, well acted but not without its charm.
The costumes are excellent, it looks like a bit of money was spent, (Series 16 looks plush, whereas the next (17) looks a bit cheap in comparison,) Romana's, Garron's and The Graff's in particular look so good.
Cuthbertson continues to be an absolute joy as Garron. This is far better then the opener, it's a very good episode.
Making You Happier Than a Babbit in the Suntime
darryl-tahirali16 March 2022
Perennially short on time and money, the original incarnation of "Doctor Who" struggled, production-wise, to rise above the appearance of community theater. The advent of "Star Wars"-styled special effects by the late 1970s should have been the death knell for "Who," but it managed to persevere until 1989 thanks to intriguing, well-scripted stories and convincing performances by the recurring and guest actors.
Fortunately for "The Ribos Operation," the first in a series of six stories forming season 16's "Key to Time" story arc, it had both advantages, shown to great effect in Part Two of this delightful Robert Holmes tale that finds the Doctor and his new companion Romana, also a Time Lord, on the planet Ribos looking for the first segment to the Key to Time and encountering a pair of con men from Earth, Garron (Iain Cuthbertson) and Unstoffe (Nigel Plaskitt), along with the ruthless Levithian warlord the Graff Vynda-K (Paul Seed), his adjutant Sholakh (Robert Keegan), and their detachment of battle-hardened soldiers. And Garron and Unstoffe are looking to rip them off.
The keynote scene occurs in the crown jewels chamber, heavily guarded by shrieves by day and the terrifying shrivenzale (read: men in a rubber suit) at night, where Unstoffe had planted a big old hunk of blue jethrik, whose energy could power a vast battle fleet of spaceships, among the medieval baubles to catch the eye of the Graff, whom Garron has already primed with a geological survey of Ribos indicating the presence of this precious mineral.
Posing as a shrieve, Unstoffe lays it on thick with a shaggy dog about how his dear old father once discovered a jethrik mine--although the local yokels refer to jethrik as "scringe-stone"--and even has a weathered map he flashes briefly to up the credulity of his claim. Check Keegan's asides--Sholakh is having none of it, but the imperious Graff won't believe that anyone would dare to deceive him even as Garron, unaware of his protégé's impromptu initiative--and hick accent--is having his past life flash before him.
Similarly, the Doctor, spying on them with Romana, scoffs afterward at Unstoffe's crooked pitch--"are people still falling for that old guff?" Romana, however, can't believe that he wasn't lying--"but he had such an honest face"--to which the Doctor retorts, "Romana, you can't be a successful crook with a dishonest face, can you?" Old salt teaches newbie about life on the street. (Appropriately, Holmes was a policeman before he became a writer.)
But when the Graff discovers an electronic bug in their sleeping quarters, he suspects Garron, posing as a sales agent, of plotting something, confirmed when Garron insists that his client will require a hefty deposit from the Graff, leading to the cliffhanger close with the Doctor and Romana implicated as Garron's accomplices. Cuthbertson steals every seen he's in, and if Seed, sporting a moustache just begging to be twirled, isn't quite chewing scenery yet, his teeth marks are nevertheless beginning to show on the set. Part Two of "The Ribos Operation" will make you happier than a babbit in the Suntime.
Fortunately for "The Ribos Operation," the first in a series of six stories forming season 16's "Key to Time" story arc, it had both advantages, shown to great effect in Part Two of this delightful Robert Holmes tale that finds the Doctor and his new companion Romana, also a Time Lord, on the planet Ribos looking for the first segment to the Key to Time and encountering a pair of con men from Earth, Garron (Iain Cuthbertson) and Unstoffe (Nigel Plaskitt), along with the ruthless Levithian warlord the Graff Vynda-K (Paul Seed), his adjutant Sholakh (Robert Keegan), and their detachment of battle-hardened soldiers. And Garron and Unstoffe are looking to rip them off.
The keynote scene occurs in the crown jewels chamber, heavily guarded by shrieves by day and the terrifying shrivenzale (read: men in a rubber suit) at night, where Unstoffe had planted a big old hunk of blue jethrik, whose energy could power a vast battle fleet of spaceships, among the medieval baubles to catch the eye of the Graff, whom Garron has already primed with a geological survey of Ribos indicating the presence of this precious mineral.
Posing as a shrieve, Unstoffe lays it on thick with a shaggy dog about how his dear old father once discovered a jethrik mine--although the local yokels refer to jethrik as "scringe-stone"--and even has a weathered map he flashes briefly to up the credulity of his claim. Check Keegan's asides--Sholakh is having none of it, but the imperious Graff won't believe that anyone would dare to deceive him even as Garron, unaware of his protégé's impromptu initiative--and hick accent--is having his past life flash before him.
Similarly, the Doctor, spying on them with Romana, scoffs afterward at Unstoffe's crooked pitch--"are people still falling for that old guff?" Romana, however, can't believe that he wasn't lying--"but he had such an honest face"--to which the Doctor retorts, "Romana, you can't be a successful crook with a dishonest face, can you?" Old salt teaches newbie about life on the street. (Appropriately, Holmes was a policeman before he became a writer.)
But when the Graff discovers an electronic bug in their sleeping quarters, he suspects Garron, posing as a sales agent, of plotting something, confirmed when Garron insists that his client will require a hefty deposit from the Graff, leading to the cliffhanger close with the Doctor and Romana implicated as Garron's accomplices. Cuthbertson steals every seen he's in, and if Seed, sporting a moustache just begging to be twirled, isn't quite chewing scenery yet, his teeth marks are nevertheless beginning to show on the set. Part Two of "The Ribos Operation" will make you happier than a babbit in the Suntime.
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