Poor old Mr. Fibuli can do no right, the belligerent pirate Captain's always looking for a fight, but Romana takes the pressure off, and saves him from his grave, while the Doctor helps her to escape, as they go down a deep cave.
3 Reviews
Chewing the Scenery with Mustard and Relish
darryl-tahirali18 March 2022
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.
More shouting and more silliness.
Sleepin_Dragon16 August 2015
After the disappointing Part 1 my expectations for Part 2 are low.
In brief, Romana is captured and made to investigate the break down of the engines, The Doctor breaks in and offers to help her, but it's not long before he realises The Captain is actually committing a heinous crime. We are briefly introduced to the Captain's Nurse, and we see The Captain's robotic parrot kill a member of staff during one of his rages. The Doctor, Romana and Klimus travel down to the Mine shafts and discover something very disturbing, The Captain's hidden secret and the Mentiads.
The robotic Parrot is pretty cool. Again i'm fairly unimpressed with the Captain's raging, he's a bit ridiculous.
The scenes set in the Power Plant are really good, naturally they look fantastic, it's surprising they had the permission.
The locations used in the filming are pretty amazing, the scenes in the mountains look rather spectacular.
It's another silly episode, but it's a definite improvement on Part 1, the story at least is developing into quite a clever one.
In brief, Romana is captured and made to investigate the break down of the engines, The Doctor breaks in and offers to help her, but it's not long before he realises The Captain is actually committing a heinous crime. We are briefly introduced to the Captain's Nurse, and we see The Captain's robotic parrot kill a member of staff during one of his rages. The Doctor, Romana and Klimus travel down to the Mine shafts and discover something very disturbing, The Captain's hidden secret and the Mentiads.
The robotic Parrot is pretty cool. Again i'm fairly unimpressed with the Captain's raging, he's a bit ridiculous.
The scenes set in the Power Plant are really good, naturally they look fantastic, it's surprising they had the permission.
The locations used in the filming are pretty amazing, the scenes in the mountains look rather spectacular.
It's another silly episode, but it's a definite improvement on Part 1, the story at least is developing into quite a clever one.
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