Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

(For those unfamiliar with the Doctor Who television series, please consult my "Doctor Who Primer" at the following Epinions page):

http://www.epinions.com/content_3396182148


In this story the Doctor and companions Romana and K-9 attempt to touch down on the planet Calufrax in search of the second segment of the key to time. When they arrive however, another planet, Zanak, is sitting where Calufrax ought to be.

The Doctor and Romana soon learn that Zanak is a strange world indeed. Diamonds and rubies litter its streets, and its inhabitants report that the constellations in the heavens change periodically, signaling a new period of great wealth and prosperity for all.

Naturally, the Doctor has to investigate, and discovers that Zanak is a hollow planet, steered through space by the callous “Captain” to materialize around other worlds and mine them away to nothing.

On Zanak, a band of brave if emaciated telepaths called the Mentiads are the only resistance to the Captains plans.

To still further complicate matters, behind the Captain in the shadows is “Nurse”, a slow-growing reincarnation of the old Queen Xanxia, one-time ruler of Zanak, now obsessed with reincarnating herself into an immortal form. She will do anything, and have the captain do anything to get her the power she needs to live forever.

The next planet targeted by Zanak is Earth, the Doctor discovers with horror.

Can the Doctor stop The Captain and Queen Xanxia enveloping earth and mining it away, killing everyone?
Will the Mentiads come out of their ill-lit cave and stop being misunderstood?
Will the TARDIS be destroyed finally and forever in a battle against a star-hopping planetoid?
Just why is the Captain suspending remnants of all the planets in massive force fields, just moments from becoming a black hole?
These and other truly mind-boggling questions will be answered in “The Pirate Planet!”

Normally at this point in my reviews, I would pass a comment somewhere along the lines of “and so much for the plot,” but it isn’t quite so easy to do that in the case of Pirate Planet.

The main attractive feature of this story is its marvelously convoluted plot. From the very first scenes, this is a story that changes perspective every ten or fifteen minutes for its entire duration. Things which at first appear to be bad later turn out to be good, and vice versa. Understandings of who is in control shift gradually as the story progresses, and even the nature of the relationships between the characters shifts from one end of the perceivable spectrum to the other in the course of the story. This stimulating and not-too-confusing shift in paradigms keeps one fascinated as to what will happen next of course.

Another feature of this story that is extraordinary is the fecundity of invention it demonstrates. Anyone who enjoys Doctor Who or shows like it is pleased by sweet gadgets with long names (now commonly termed “techno babble.”) This story is replete with both…..staggering ideas abound…..runways working by neutralizing inertia, the very pirate planet itself, the Captains cybertronic parrot, the planetary mass suspension fields, the time dams….the list goes on and on. Likewise the list of techno-babbly gadgetry…..who can fail to be delighted to hear all about a magnifactoid eccentricolometer, or an amblicyclic photon bridge….and where can I get a mega photon dischargnik?

You may by this stage of the review recognize the fecund mind of Douglas Adams at play. Whilst writing the screenplay for this story Adams was simultaneously working on the original radio version of Hitchhikers Guide. The similarities between the two are obvious, and anyone who enjoys the Hitchguide should enjoy this video immensely.

The story is also graced by some excellent performances. Bruce Purchase fills the boots of the loud, blustery billowing Captain with gusto! The Captain is perhaps winner of the title of loudest character in the history of Doctor who, and since Who stories are my usual bed time television, this story has reawoken me after snoozing off numerous times, usually with The Captain yelling "Moons of Madness!" or "By the Great Parrot of Hades!" or some other delightful nonsense. No less admirable in giving his all is Andrew Robertson as the creeping sidekick of the Captain, Mr. Fibuli. Together they create a great atmosphere and the plot really revolves around their excellence. Tom Baker is on form, although I confess that the years when Tom Baker was a "silly and funny for the kids" Doctor suited me less well than what went before them. In this story he has call to be both silly and serious. He performs both roles well; your kids will love it. A justly remarked-upon scene between The Doctor and The Captain, when the former realizes that behind the bluster of the latter lies a slow-burning genius for revenge is classic.

John Leeson was as magnificent as ever as K-9. He seemed to find the role of a haughty metal dog with a high IQ to be a piece of cake....or should I say "Radial segment of baked confection"?!

Less outstanding performances abound in other area of this story. Personally, I have no problem with this, as two-dimensional characterizations are part of Who's charm in my opinion, and Douglas Adams was never afraid of using cardboard characters to carry a good idea....consider Zarniwoop in the Hitchhikers Guide.

On a personal note, whilst Rosalind Lloyd's performance as Nurse/Xanxia was less than outstanding, her cold aloof manner and hard-nosed celtic/teutonic beauty was a combination that made me weak at the knees. Sigh!

I personally thought that the costume and sets for this story were most eye-catching and clever for the greater part. The Captain's half-cybernetic wardrobe will not fail to spark the memory of anyone familiar with Star Trek's Borg, dating from some fifteen years before them. It is true to say of course, the accepted wisdom on what anyone will telepathic abilities favored for clothing was somewhat stereotyped in these heady days......I know the Mentiads were supposed to be tortured by their sense of the planets dying beneath them, but did they all have to look like a cross between a Hare Krishna and a strung out heroin addict?

All in all this is one of the most interesting, entertaining and reliable stories for the Doctor Who canon, and a particularly good starting place for anyone who enjoys Douglas Adams, who needs an "in" to Doctor Who.

CAST

Tom Baker The Doctor
John Leeson Voice of K9
Rosalind Lloyd Nurse
Ralph Michael Balaton
Bruce Purchase Captain
Andrew Robertson Mr. Fibuli
David Sibley Pralix
Mary Tamm Romana
Primi Townsend Mula
David Warwick Kimus

CREW

Pennant Roberts Director
Douglas Adams Writer
Elmer Cossey Film Cameraman
John Dunstan Film Editor
Mike Jones Studio Sound
Anthony Read Script Editor
Graham Williams Producer
John Nathan-Turner Production Unit Manager
Dick Mills Special Sounds
John Pusey Designer
L Rowland Warne Costumes
Colin Mapson Visual Effects

My Reviews of Doctor Who:
Logopolis
The Brain of Morbius
The Pyramids of Mars
The armageddon Factor
The Ark in Space
The Ribos Operation
The Revenge of The Cybermen
The Stones of Blood
The Sontaran Experiment
The Genesis of The Daleks
The Destiny of the Daleks
The Pirate Planet
The City of Death
The Androids of Tara
The Talons of Weng Chiang
The Robots of Death
The Power of Kroll
The Leisure Hive
Terror of the Zygons
The Horror of Fang Rock
The Invasion of Time
The Seeds of Doom
Full Circle


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8