DOCTOR WHO-THE CREATURE FROM THE PIT parts 3 and 4
CREATURE
FROM THE PIT parts 3 and 4
All of
fandom might get enraged by this but I freakin love this story. I don’t think
there’s one dull line of dialog in the entire thing. I love Tom and I love his
command of the situation and while the writers of ABOUT TIME might think that
its too much and ruins the threat, I don’t. Adrasta is very much in charge
until maybe the very end of episode 3, the scavengers kill lots of people (and
mostly guards but in gruesome fashion, one scene where a guard is set upon with
knives and spears is clearly cut, another takes place off screen and the worst
scavenger who does all the killing gets away with it by episode’s end with only
their comical leader Torvin who gets six inches of Karela’s steel in his back,
the poor man). Karela’s a horrid human being if she is human. One of the worst
people in DOCTOR WHO set on greed, money, power and murder, all she wants to do
is kill.
Tom and
Lalla’s double act is incomparable, especially here. The scene where she is
holding K9 to the rock wall and Adrasta orders her killed and Romana complains
about her hair is just priceless, almost Steed and Mrs. Peel stuff but, you
know, in space. I think a lot of people just miss all the humor in this story
but it’s all there as is the mystery. Can the Doctor trust Erato? The wolf
weeds get their comeuppance as does Adrasta in a fairly grisly death scene: set
upon by wolf weeds, who eat or bite or web her up while Erato crushes her!
Sure, the space stuff is nonsense but when was the last time the TARDIS was
even used in space maneuvers like this? And the gravity beam is unable to
disconnected? Lovely stuff, all of it.
Oh and
contrary to popular fan myth, the resolution to the cliffhanger isn’t that
Adrasta is killed…she lives a bit longer after the attack on her by Erato at
the end of ep 3 and even takes control again but by her end…she is the
desperate ruler losing control of her people as they come to realize (well the
Huntsmen anyway; Karela seems set to be an even worse person) she’s going to
cause all their deaths. I myself wrote the review thinking she dies very early
in the opening minute of ep4 but she does not.
I also
wondered how alike this story is to the last three episodes of AN UNEARTHLY
CHILD (and let’s not go into that age old treatise about how the stories then
DIDN’T HAVE an overall title but each individual episode DID—Hartnell’s time):
there are savages who kill with ….well, barbaric weapons…wearing furs, sort of;
there’s the death of a woman though this time it is NOT Eileen Way but she
appears in both stories!; we aren’t really sure AN UNEARTHLY CHILD really is
the prehistoric past OF Earth…it might be another planet entirely; fire is
scarce on one and metal in the other; there’s an underling who sees reason when
the leader or possible does not; and…that’s about it. They’re both four episodes.
On the DVD Tom's Doctor, laughably in the hand stocks, appears on ANIMAL MAGIC or something like that and is hilarious there, too, as he speaks to the camera, talks about comparing elephants, a snake and other Earth animals to the Shrevenzale, the Krynoid and the Wirn and finishes with an off screen, "Dear God, help me."
The best
parts are between the Doctor, Romana, and Organon.
DOCTOR: Did
you hear that, Romana? Karela's going to kill you, and you with your hair all
messed up.
ROMANA:
Doctor, I can't do anything about my hair if I'm holding K9.
DOCTOR: Oh,
so you are. I didn't notice. Here, let me help you.
(The Doctor
produces a mirror from somewhere.)
DOCTOR: K9?
Ready, fire!
ADRASTA:
Doctor, order your dog to kill the Tythonian.
DOCTOR: No.
ADRASTA: If
you do not, your friend Organon dies.
DOCTOR:
Organon? Goodbye, old man. So sorry about this. Thanks for all the help.
ORGANON:
Doctor.
DOCTOR: If
my deductions are correct, the well-being of two planets is at stake. Erato
must not die.
DOCTOR: It
was concealed in the pieces he kept hidden in the Pit.
ROMANA:
Doctor!
DOCTOR: Yes?
ROMANA: That
shell.
DOCTOR: Yes?
ROMANA: When
we first landed, it was making a noise.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA:
Could it have been a distress signal? Perhaps it was calling for help.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA: But
after fifteen years?
K9:
Tythonions live for up to forty thousand years, mistress.
ROMANA: So
fifteen years in the Pit for one of them would be no more than the wink of an
eye.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA:
Doctor, I'm sure there's some terrible danger.
ORGANON:
Danger?
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA: And
Erato wants to be out of the Pit and free to escape in his craft before
something dreadful happens.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA: But
Doctor, you've played right into his hands. You've let him go.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA:
Can't you say anything but yes the whole time?
DOCTOR: Yes.
After he's told us whatever it is.
ROMANA: Yes?
DOCTOR: And
before he reaches his space vehicle to escape.
ROMANA: Yes?
DOCTOR: Do
remind me to give him back his photon drive.
(The piece
the Doctor dragged from the Pit on the end of his scarf.)
DOCTOR: Yes?
ROMANA: Yes.
In any case,
should you love this too? YES!
The Creature From the Pit (drwhoguide.com)
Past review:
2-3
With the advent
of ep2 comes one of the best
guest stars and
characters, Organon. Almost
every line he
utters is funny or relevant and
he’s helpful to
the Doctor. It is very funny
when in ep3
Adrasta orders Organon killed unless
the Doctor makes K9 kill Erato,
the monster. And
the Doctor goes
over to the old man/astrologer
and says,
“Organanon, old chap, it’s been
awfully nice
knowing you.” And there are so many
other bits from
both Tom and Organanon that it
would cover too
pages to write them all. Of
course, in ep 2
there’s the bit with the book
how to teach
yourself Everest climbing and/or
how to teach
yourself Tibetan. There’s some
danger when the
savages kill to get into
Adrasta’s lair.
One thing: why did the monster
kill people?
We’re not sure it’s not really bad
or as bad as
Adrasta herself but it seems some
of them died from the fall (one
guard falls in
after being
shot by K9 and the Doctor tut tuts
the guard) or
from fear. Then there’s the
Doctor’s much
publized antics in trying to
communicate
with the thing. Communications never
been a big
problem in DW when you’ve got the
translate all TARDIS or at least
when it was
stated the
TARDIS could do this in MASQUE OF
MANDRAGORA but
never mind. Here it is a problem.
Unlike SPACE:
1999 where survival and
communication
can be the entire problem, here in
DW it’s just a
small thing really but this time
it’s handled
well…both shows have merit in how
they do it all.
SPACE had a whole episode that
could have been
avoided if it could have
communicated
with the SPACE BRAIN, an excellent
episode, not
that there are many first season
eps of that
show that are bad. Anyway, the
Doctor seems to
acquire an awful lot of male
companions in these stories leading up
to his
getting Adric.
In any event, this story is
rather good and
there’s nothing that’s terrible,
really. And
there’s the mystery of how the thing
got in the pit,
and if it is good or bad. The ep
cliffhanger to
3 deals with Adrasta in danger
from…the Doctor
and Erato. In some ways, even
though she’s a
horror harpy, some sympathy can
be felt for
Adrasta, I guess. Still, nothing bad
in these
episodes and thus the season goes on
tremendously.
Oh and more about the Doctor: he
was born under
the sign of crossed computers,
has used up
about 130 of his 90 lives (a joke
surely?). While
this has been compared with STAR
TREK-DEVIL IN
THE DARK, one of the TREK’S I
really like,
here there is more humor; there in
TREK’s DEVIL there was none. It
was morbid,
grim, almost
sad story that ended well. In DW
the story is
sort of similar but with a lot more
humor and a lot
more mystery once the
communication
is had. In TREK there was nothing
to be said once
the humans found out the monster
was a mother
who’s children they were
unwittingly
killing. Ahh and we get Romana
slapped for
being so obnoxious. Adrasta does
seem to be
multi layered in a lot of the early
stuff.
okay, so for
once, the cliffhanger ends with the
person in trouble dying (didn't
that happen in
THE POWER OF
KROLL also?) but anyhow, Adrasta is
dead, long die
Karela, the old hag. Played
uniquely by an
old woman the new villain stirs
up much
trouble. Added to that the trouble with
Erato's people
on the way and a neutron star is
what they are
sending to destroy the
planet...not
sure why. I guess to exact a
revenge?
Anyhow, the Doctor takes care of all
that. There are
some more geninuinely funny
bits, the whole
"YES" routine, Organanon's bits
and as he rails
against the Doc's supposed
allowance of
his almost death...
and another
villain dies. It does drag a bit
here and there
and with the main villainess
gone, it seems
a bit...over already but that's
DW...the
villainess gone, a new one takes her
place in a way
and that was not expected.
The story is a
good one and ends well. K9 is
used to good
effect and I don't really mind his
voice being all
that different but I do miss
John Leeson.
Lalla gets really good in the role
(not that she
wasn't in DESTINY or CITY, she was
but here this was her first
performance and she
goes from a
Mary Tamm impersonation to her own
version of
Romana and it comes off well). Tom is
great as always and during this period he's
rarely bad. One
thing: in this story and a few
others from
last season and maybe this one: the
Doctor seems to
stop his various execution
threats leveled
against him by just shouting,
"WAIT" or "STOP" and the killers obey him.
That's..a bit
strange but he's so commanding as
the Doctor
maybe it would work.
Anyway onward
we go in yes, the best season of
DW ever!
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