Classic Who "The Pirate Planet" Parts 3&4 Reaction

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[@UncleMilo]

The Doctor's reaction to the gravity system and the horror it represents is truly one of my favorite moments for the 4th Doctor. Just the raw emotion of the "But what's it for?!" always gets me.

[@pauldonald4676]

Could not possibly agree with you more.

[@stephencoppins9467]

I would dare say this is one of my favourite moments of the Doctor, from any of their incarnations.

[@richwagener]

Tom Baker being intense is always engaging.

[@mmattson8947]

One of Baker's signatures is when his voice goes deep and raspy when the character is outraged. Baker mentioned that in a stage production where he was playing Rasputin (before he got roles in Doctor Who or the Golden Voyage of Sinbad), he somehow got a bit of peanut stuck in his throat. He barely resisted having a coughing fit, and struggled to get through a major speech. The intensity of that performance went over so well, he kept doing it (even when not choking on a peanut).

[@Faction.Paradox]

"Appreciate it? Appreciate it? You commit mass destruction and murder on a scale that's almost inconceivable and you ask me to appreciate it? " - That has been seered into my soul since I first saw this story.

[@turtleboy991]

Ciggo

[@pauldonald4676]

I especially loved the next line. Just because you've made a brilliantly conceived toy out of the mummified remains of planets.

[@TheElderBlotch]

Just when you think no battle in Doctor Who could be more epic than Lethbridge-Stewart and his soldiers battling endless waves of Yeti at Covent Garden, you get the thrilling bloodbath that is K9 vs the Polyphase Avatron (aka the robot parrot). Although the moment that always struck a chord with me is the Doctor's disgusted outrage at the Captain and his planet collection, love the sheer fury in Tom Baker's voice. The Captain is a great villain, he goes from over-the-top buffoon with a silly pirate gimmick to dangerously clever, planet-plundering foe to sympathetic puppet with an endearing love for his pet bird and, despite their abrasive relationship, "MISTER FIBULIIIII".

[@TheNoiseySpectator]

I have never seen "Dr. Who and the Abominable Snowman". I thought the complete story was lost and there are only a few parts of it. Where can we see it?

[@stickytapenrust6869]

@@TheNoiseySpectatorLike all 60s episodes, there are fan-made off-air audio recordings of them.

[@Problembeing]

The whole "What's it for? WHAT'S IT FOR?" performance is one of my favourite Tom Baker moments.

[@cameronmonaghan6883]

Love this story. Xanxia is brilliantly set up and revealed. Such a brilliant concept of a villain ruling in the shadows. And another appearing mad to dupe his enemies. It's rare for a story nowadays to have such a perfectly mapped up drama. Also like how the Captian mourns his loyal followers. Good way to separate him from Xanxia. Makes me want to see him back.

[@rogershore3128]

The Doctor's reaction at the scale of mass murder committed by the Captain is a superb moment in the classic show. It really is in the league of "crimes against humanity" moment.... and Tom's outrage captures the moment perfectly......

[@whobp8]

Things I love about this story: The Doctor's "Appreciate it?" speech. The Captain's sadness at the death of Mr Fibuli, revealing how much of his threats and temper tantrums were just bluster. And K-9's fight with the robot parrot. The actress who played the old version of Queen Xanxia asked for extra money to appear without her false teeth.

[@turtleboy991]

Ngl, my favorite scene is the fight between K9 and the Polyphase Avatron. And then K9 strolls back in with the dead bird bot LIKE A BOSS!

[@loislane7482]

Mary Tamm's delivery of 'very impressive' after the Mentiads mind-throw the polystyrene rocks at the approaching guards is one of my favourite moments of unintentional comedy in all of Doctor Who.

[@johntomlinson6849]

I think the Part 3 cliffhanger is one of the best in the programme's history, not because you think that the Doctor might be dead, but because it's a head-scratcher as to how he's going to get out of it. I remember in 1978 being really puzzled as to how it would be resolved. Not often the cliffhangers manage that.

[@pauldonald4676]

I agree with what you said. I think a better example is episode Two of The invasion of time when the Vardans appeared. Doctor: I am privileged to introduce to you your new masters.. ( cue insane laughter) Now that really blew your mind.

[@keithgoodnight3463]

One of my favorite stealth puns happens in this story: the Captain's robotic parrot is said to operate using "polytronics." I.e. Polly - tronics.

[@joshuajoshua2732]

Now you know where the shrinking planets idea came from which Chris Chibnall adapted in one of the Jodie Whittaker episodes "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos". The Captain is another one of my top Tom Baker Doctor villains along with Sutekh the Destroyer, Magnus Greel and Mr. Sin and Chase. Speaking of guards with who are bad shots that's always been the case with older movies and television bad aim guards. The Doctor's angry speech to the Captain is also one of my favourite Tom Baker moments.

[@Wannabe_Baby]

I will always enjoy your love for K9. You were so proud of that robot dog when he defeated that robot parrot. :) Maybe the reason the guards kept missing was because those helmets covered their eyes. I think the only guard who successfully shot someone wasn't wearing his helmet at the time.

[@robertkramer2271]

I'm so happy that you've finally made it to this story! This was the episode that made me a DW fan! I was aware of the show and what it was about, but it didn't seem to be something I'd like. But, a friend of mine was a big fan and taped them on vhs when they showed it on PBS during the 80's. I was over at his house and he popped this episode on and I really enjoyed it. Since he'd taped tons of episodes, he let me borrow them and I became a fanatic! So, thanks to watching this episode 30+ years ago, I became a fan!

[@scottboswell6406]

Another all-timer!! Love the K9 vs. Robot parrot fight. the plot twist, the humor, the reveal of the segment!! It makes me miss Douglas Adams!

[@DarknessLovesAll]

"Newton's Revenge", one of Tom best and perfectly delivered lines. Great reaction to a good story

[@pauldonald4676]

I always liked, I'll never be cruel to an atom in a particle accelerator again.

[@meropetied]

"A bird of some kind" -- a pirate captain's parrot. But you know, a cute robot foil for K9. Except nothing like as cute as K9.

[@darrylguerrant5101]

Welcome to a Douglas Adams story for Doctor Who. Yes the man who wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' book series. Loved the reaction, I was waiting for it!

[@stephencoppins9467]

The television series adaptation of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, is well worth a review, too.

[@detectivesquirrel2621]

What I particularly liked about this whole season was the "Shoerunner", not a term used at the time, they were called Chief or Lead Writer was Douglas Adams, writer of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[@geoffmason7215]

making your way through this season and the fun has just started some great characters still to come

[@cje499]

There's something about the part 3 cliffhanger (the theme starting as the Captain let's out a diabolical laugh) sends chills down my sign

[@andrewroberts299]

Not a spoiler, but the next story you watch just happens to be Doctor Who’s 100th transmitted story! And it’s a good one, too!

[@pauldonald4676]

They actually had a deleted scene where Romana presented the Doctor with a birthday cake.

[@Clayton-S.]

A good, fun, quirky tale! Douglas Adams sure did a job on this one. It veers from irreverent humour to very dark drama. Bruce Purchase as The Captain and Andrew Robertson as Mister Fibuli are such a great pair. And for me, The Captain steals the show with his ludicrously OTT but hilarious lines. Very much from the Brian Blessed School of Shouty Acting (love Brian though, a class act.) My personal favourite is when The Captain berates poor Fibuli for daring 'to lay the rotting fruits of your incompetence at my door!!!'

[@Mrazmatmahmood]

(1) The Pirate Planet marks the debut of the inimitable Douglas Adams and what a story it is! It's an immensely entertaining story and just chock full of the trademark humour and witticisms Adams is known for. It also has some of the most brilliant and creative ideas this show has ever had, and that's saying a lot! I mean, a planet that can dematerialise around other planets to mine them of all their valuable materials is a genuinely brilliant concept that could only come from the crazy mind of someone like Douglas Adams. The twists and turns this story has are also sensational; from the initial reveal of what the planet is, to the Mentiads actually being good guys, that the Queen Xanxia people keep mentioning is still alive and then that the random young women standing behind the Captain is just a projection of her and this whole thing is an attempt to stay alive, the Captain is just a puppet of the Queen and has secretly been working on a plan to destroy her, just wow. This story constantly keeps you on your toes, the way the story unfolds and develops is extremely well done. I also must say this story is full of great performances that bring it to life. Bruce Purchase gives a wonderfully larger than life and OTT performance that feels perfectly natural given the hilarious dialogue Adams has written for him and the overall tone of the story. The revelation that all of that shouting is just an act is brilliant though and completely recontextualises the character and Purchase really shines in those quieter moments also. His reaction to Mr Fibuli's death is strangely poignant considering he spent the entire story up to that point berating him. Speaking of Mr Fibuli, Andrew Robertson does an excellent job as the downtrodden assistant, underplaying everything to perfection to maximise the comedic potential of his scenes, which made him the ideal complement to Purchase's much louder performance. The star that shines the brightest of them all however is the leading man himself, Tom Baker. Adams' humour and Tom Baker are a match made in heaven. You can tell Baker is loving this script and just relishing the opportunity to deliver these lines that are so tailormade for his personality. What really impresses me though are the serious moments sprinkled in there. Adams gives Baker one of his best moral outrage scenes ever with the "then what's it for" scene and Baker wrings every last bit of anger, pain, horror and even despair at the horrific crime he is witness to out of that scene. The scene is rightly remembered as one of Baker's very best during his long tenure and perhaps the reason it works so well is the stark contrast with the humour and flippancy it's surrounded by. To see the Doctor suddenly become so gravely seriously has an even greater impact in a story like this because it feels so unexpected. It really is a brilliant, spine-chillingly great scene.

[@Redfern42]

When some fans look for "great speeches" by the Doctor and present us Smith's "I am TALKING!" scene at Stonnhenge or Capaldi's "game show" bit involving the Zygons, they usually point to Baker's "indomitable humanity" scene from the "Ark in Space". I think the "What's it FOR?!" scene is better suited because it aligns with the moral outrage presented in the other examples. There's a thought. Just as we've had other Doctor (either the genuine actors or impersonators) swap around the "I am TALKING!" and the "game show host" bits, it would be interesting to see other Doctors do the "What's it FOR?!" outrage.

[@Redfern42]

And this, my dear Sesska, is the magic of Douglas Adams, "high concept" science fiction (a planet that engulfs others to mine them, worlds crushed to neutron star densities to generate time dilation fields, etc.) mixed subtle satire and broad farce, cornerstone of his "Hitchhiker's Guide" franchise. For me, this is the highlight of the season. Alas, the rest kinda' "taper off" concluding with a rather "meh" six parter (though it does have a few "moments". One can only wonder what kind of finale Douglas Adams might have written.

[@rtozier2011]

The answer to that has crumpled out of all possibility.

[@stevetheduck1425]

It's worth comparing this story to what was happening in Britain about that time and before. Just a thought.

[@billthewhovian]

That misdirect caught me off guard when I first saw it, when you find out that the captain isn't really in charge you kind of feel sorry for him as it's clear that he isn't doing this off his own back and that he too answers to a higher up, so when he dies there is a tinge of sadness.

[@tenmark7055]

You would think that all these futuristic guns (Star Trek, Star Wars, etc). would have automatic guidance systems so they always go for the living target instead of the nearest rock wall.

[@mmattson8947]

The writers for ST:DS9 kinda address it in a late episode. The protagonists do hit more often, because Federation hand weapons have better guidance systems. Other weapons (especially disruptors) don't have that, but are cheaper, require less maintenance, and less likely to break from rough treatment.

[@tenmark7055]

They're building starships, they're trading tech with alien civilizations. Someone, someplace must have a gun that always hits the target! They can fire a torpedo across hundreds of thousands that they can aim in a couple of seconds. It cant be that hard! And why do they need to carry & point flashlights? Cant they program floaty ones that always aim where the eyes are pointing. It not only frees up one hand, but the light tells the bad guys where you are in the dark. We have drones, we have leds. Why doesnt Star Fleet?

[@charger70s]

The Doctor and Romana enlist the aid of the powerful Mentiads to attack the Captain after they discover his terrible secret.

[@charger70s]

The only hope the Doctor and Romana have of defeating the Captain and the evil Queen Xanxia is to risk destroying the TARDIS in the most dangerous maneuvers it has ever attempted.

[@fatwolf]

Don't annoy K9, he will mess you up!! Plus he can read your intentions.

[@Concreteowl]

The Medusa Cascade and Tim Shaw's shrunk worlds are come from here.

[@gluuuuue]

My favorite Classic serial. And I saw some definite "dna", many similar thematic elements, in Jodie's first season story "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos". The hijacking and miniaturizing of planets for a grander nefarious purpose, down to the prop mini-planets. The aliens with mental powers. Evil villains trapped in machinery.

[@ladycplum]

Devil-storms, Mr. Fibuliiiiiii!

[@alexfletcher5192]

As usual in Douglas Adams' work, even modified, is the sense of science being bent to the purposes of the story - but it all seems eminently plausible, no matter how grand or ridiculous. Why shouldn't there be Time Dams? And the energy would be endless. But half the time you're so busy listening to the dialogue that it's hard to take it all in.

[@charlesclinton3305]

Is it just me or does the parrot look like it's laser pooping people to death?

[@stevetheduck1425]

You may have hit upon something there...

[@srmcd1]

Random bit of trivia: Douglas Adams originally wanted the Nurse to be an female incarnation of the Master

[@pauldonald4676]

Are you suggesting that the Master at the point of death would have been frozen in the time dams? What's your source for the information?

[@dblauveltify]

@@pauldonald4676 I heard this recently in a podcast as well... if true, wish they had done it.

[@Eltonlaleham]

This Dr WHo story is well awesome in billions of ways.

[@Mrazmatmahmood]

(2) That extends to the rest of this story too, I really love how underneath all that humour, this is one of the best and most blatantly anti-imperialist stories Doctor Who has ever done. The entire plot revolves around a society that has unknowingly benefitted and become rich off the suffering and genocide of others and it is run by a government that on the surface is run by a silly, buffoonish man, who turns out to just be the figurehead for an old Queen everyone else presumes is dead and powerless.... Douglas Adams asks the question of how a system like this would affect certain people. Some people, like Balaton, would want to live in a fantasy and pretend that everything is alright when it very clearly isn't. They're too afraid and too self-interested to do anything about the corrupt and oppressive government and want to maintain the status quo because it keeps them safe and able to enjoy the wealth the government brings them. Then there's Kimus, young and brash and able to see the surface level problems like guards killing people and freedom restrictions, but too part of the system and society to see the deeper, real issues. That's where Pralix and the Mentiads come in, which are a brilliant creation because they represent the rejection of society. They can intuitively sense the suffering of others and feel too guilty to reap the rewards and take accountability for being complicit. They reject society and return to a simpler way of living as a form of protest, but they also bide their time to fight back. As more time goes by and more people come to the same realisations and their numbers grow, they get stronger and better prepared to overthrow the government. The message being that it's only when you truly care and understand what the real issues are and how people are suffering that you can do anything worthwhile and effective to help them. Empathy is a virtue. In a story that's so known for its humour and outlandish sci-fi concepts, it's truly breathtaking how much depth and heart there is in this. It is one of the best, most openly political, left leaning story this show has ever put to screen. What makes it so great is that it's so subtly done, Adams doesn't beat us over the head with his messaging. He presents it all through allegories and an interesting sci-fi story. It doesn't feel preachy or in any way "woke" because of this, he doesn't get so wrapped up in delivering a message that he forgets to write an entertaining story that has a fully developed plot. He puts both the plot and political messaging on equal footing. An ingenious first story from Douglas Adam, one of the most confident first stories anyone has ever had. He immediately sets himself apart from other writers and establishes his own unique style. And yes, I'm pleased to say that this is far from the final contribution from him. On the strength of this story, incumbent producer Graham Willaims appointed him as the new script editor during the final story of this season and he would continue in that role until the end of season 17. He would also go on to write two more actual stories as well. The Key to Time season is off to a brilliant start with its first two stories, can it maintain this momentum?

[@kyrauniversal]

The fact this episode doesn't have clips on the KZbin page is sickening.

[@andrewcormack-foster3790]

Xanxia = Wowbagger the infinitely prolonged.

[@ooklathemokfan]

Written by the late great Douglas Adams.

[@thomasstevens2746]

Love Romana

[@robertsteele-is4ug]

this is the best of all six

[@frangrock]

THE PARROT PLUMMET 🦜

[@Payne2view]

What if someone 40 or so years later wrote another story using the idea of shrunken planets in boxes on display. That would be quite inimaginative.

[@pauldonald4676]

Not if they were drawing inspiration from the pirate planet it wouldn't.

[@rtozier2011]

​@@pauldonald4676Technically the word used was 'inimaginative', so yes it would.

[@Payne2view]

@@rtozier2011 Yes I was trying to say Chibnall was unimaginative, without explicitly saying Chibnall is unimaginative and copied the idea of shrunken worlds in "Battle of Ranskor Av Kolos" from "The Pirate Planet".

[@pauldonald4676]

@@rtozier2011 I missed that. Actually I believe this is the very first time I have come across the word inimaginative. Even the spell check is having trouble with it. Presumably it has a different meaning to unimaginative. So what is the exact meaning? Is this word a double positive?

[@rtozier2011]

@@pauldonald4676 This is the same language in which inflammable means flammable, so don't presume anything. In this instance from context it seems it was initially a typo, as the word 'inimaginative' has not been used to my knowledge before this thread.

[@johnyesjustjohn]

19:38 Over the top villains in Doctor Who? Boy, I hope none of those show up for the rest of the season… 😁

[@alicehodges9964]

K9 Is Cute I Love Him

[@Concreteowl]

Fantastic!

[@allistairlethbridge-stewar163]

K9 the goodest boy.

[@matthewclarke4127]

The Captain and Xanxia are classic Tom Baker villains; pompous, self-important and humorless.

[@DNulrammah]

ahhh, you clipped out the "bent fork" joke.