The Doctor and Kimus head to the Bridge to try and rescue Romana, leaving K9 and Mula to search for Pralix.The Doctor and Kimus head to the Bridge to try and rescue Romana, leaving K9 and Mula to search for Pralix.The Doctor and Kimus head to the Bridge to try and rescue Romana, leaving K9 and Mula to search for Pralix.
John Leeson
- K9
- (voice)
John Cannon
- Technician
- (uncredited)
James Muir
- Technician
- (uncredited)
David Sibley
- Pralix
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Douglas Adams
- Sydney Newman(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDouglas Adams created the air car as a way to avoid scenes set in corridors, which he hated.
- Goofs(at around 5 mins) When the Doctor flips his large coin to determine a course of action, he transfers it from his right hand to his left. The transfer is smooth enough, but as he and Mula look up to "watch" the coin come down, the coin is still partly visible in his left hand.
- Quotes
Kimus: Say, you're very good at this. Do you drive these things for a living?
The Doctor: No. I save planets mostly, but this time I think I've arrived far, far too late.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Culture Show: Me, You and Doctor Who (2013)
Featured review
Chewing the Scenery with Mustard and Relish
As first Romana, then the Doctor, come face to face with the Captain (Bruce Purchase), the half-man, half-cyborg, fully-farcical pirate analog complete with a deadly electronic parrot, the Polyphase Avitron, roosting on his hefty shoulder, the two Time Lords begin to piece together why the planet Xanak, which the Captain rules with a literal iron fist (okay, it's literally steel, but the metaphor still stands), is where the planet Calufrax, their intended destination in their search for the second segment to the Key to Time, is supposed to be in Part Two of Douglas Adams's four-part story "The Pirate Planet."
Their first indication is when they are made to inspect the damaged engine room of the Bridge, the Captain's cliff-hugging headquarters, and discover the machinery that enables the entire planet to move through space-time in a manner similar to their own TARDIS: by dematerializing, traveling through space-time in that state, and rematerializing at its intended destination. Or is that around its intended target? And is that why, when they had tried to materialize the TARDIS on what they thought was Calufrax, they encountered the turbulence that caused the damage to the Captain's engines?
When the two Time Lords, accompanied by native Xanak Kimus (David Warwick), a budding rebel against the Captain's tyrannical rule, journey to the bottom of one of the planet's automated mines--which are miraculously replenished every time the Captain announces a "new golden age of prosperity"--they begin to realize the awful truth about what Xanak has been doing. And on whose side are the sullen, druidic fellows with the ghostly pallor known as the Mentiads, anyway?
The Mentiads had recently incapacitated the Doctor before absconding with Pralix (David Sibley), plunged into a moaning fit during the last transition to a new golden age of prosperity, which spurred Pralix's headstrong sister Mula (Primi Townsend) to go after him, and prompted the Doctor to send K-9, his robotic dog, to look after her. Yet here is Pralix, now with the Mentiads, down in the mineshaft with a squad of the Captain's guards shooting at all of them.
The Captain had murder in his eyes--well, his non-bionic one--when his guards failed to prevent the Mentiads from claiming Pralix, so he sent Polyphase to kill one of his lieutenants as punishment. Fortunately, it wasn't Mr. Fibuli, his chief toady, as Andrew Robertson is a comedic delight whenever he's onscreen. And who is the mysterious nurse (Rosalind Lloyd) now tending to the Captain and persuading him not to sic Poly on Romana?
Producer Graham Williams, who dreamed up the "Key to Time" story arc, was under orders to lighten the tone of "Doctor Who," and who better to do that than Adams? His broad humor masks the dark, even disturbing undertones of "The Pirate Planet," marking him as the class smart-ass, glibly mocking the gravity of his story and daring you to look past the farce. Tom Baker seems up to the challenge, as does Mary Tamm, while Purchase chews the scenery with both mustard and relish.
Their first indication is when they are made to inspect the damaged engine room of the Bridge, the Captain's cliff-hugging headquarters, and discover the machinery that enables the entire planet to move through space-time in a manner similar to their own TARDIS: by dematerializing, traveling through space-time in that state, and rematerializing at its intended destination. Or is that around its intended target? And is that why, when they had tried to materialize the TARDIS on what they thought was Calufrax, they encountered the turbulence that caused the damage to the Captain's engines?
When the two Time Lords, accompanied by native Xanak Kimus (David Warwick), a budding rebel against the Captain's tyrannical rule, journey to the bottom of one of the planet's automated mines--which are miraculously replenished every time the Captain announces a "new golden age of prosperity"--they begin to realize the awful truth about what Xanak has been doing. And on whose side are the sullen, druidic fellows with the ghostly pallor known as the Mentiads, anyway?
The Mentiads had recently incapacitated the Doctor before absconding with Pralix (David Sibley), plunged into a moaning fit during the last transition to a new golden age of prosperity, which spurred Pralix's headstrong sister Mula (Primi Townsend) to go after him, and prompted the Doctor to send K-9, his robotic dog, to look after her. Yet here is Pralix, now with the Mentiads, down in the mineshaft with a squad of the Captain's guards shooting at all of them.
The Captain had murder in his eyes--well, his non-bionic one--when his guards failed to prevent the Mentiads from claiming Pralix, so he sent Polyphase to kill one of his lieutenants as punishment. Fortunately, it wasn't Mr. Fibuli, his chief toady, as Andrew Robertson is a comedic delight whenever he's onscreen. And who is the mysterious nurse (Rosalind Lloyd) now tending to the Captain and persuading him not to sic Poly on Romana?
Producer Graham Williams, who dreamed up the "Key to Time" story arc, was under orders to lighten the tone of "Doctor Who," and who better to do that than Adams? His broad humor masks the dark, even disturbing undertones of "The Pirate Planet," marking him as the class smart-ass, glibly mocking the gravity of his story and daring you to look past the farce. Tom Baker seems up to the challenge, as does Mary Tamm, while Purchase chews the scenery with both mustard and relish.
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- darryl-tahirali
- Mar 18, 2022
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