Who Review #100 - the Pirate Planet

scene by scene, episode by episode

This is the story where the late and very great Douglas Adams began working in Doctor Who. Not surprisingly, the script has a certain Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy feel to it: Technobabble and witty dialogue abound.

Bruce Purchase puts in a lovely performance as the wonderfully over the top Pirate Captain - he rants and raves and can be quite vicious . He has some great exclamations : moons of madness! ; by the raging fury of the sky demon!; by the great parrot of Hades, you will pay with your blood...every corpuscle!; Doctor, beware - your manner only appeals to the homicidal side of my nature.

The special effects are not particularly good. The CSO is awful (Avatron, the parrot!) and the laser guns make red spots on the person shot. The supporting cast rarely shine and their characters are quite drab anyway. These detract from an otherwise excellent story.

It's obvious to see the changes that had happened in the show when you compare Tom's Doctor here and the nature of this story with something from season 13.
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