Sunday 24 March 2013

Days 484 to 487 - The Pirate Planet

 
 

So now I'm back to the present day! The second story of season 16 - The Pirate Planet!

This story was written by Douglas Adams, more famously known for creating The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, and it certainly shows as there are a great deal of humorous scenes and funny characters including the Captain as shown in the picture above.

The Doctor and Romana are on the hunt for the second segment of the Key to Time. They are drawn to the planet Zanak, the Pirate Planet of the story. They discover that the planet is in fact hollow and being transported around the galaxy and materialising around other planets to mine them of all their wealth. Of course it doesn't take long for the Captain's sites to be set on the Earth.

The Captain is a great character and every scene he shares with his subordinate, Mr Fibuli is a joy to watch.

The idea of the story is also fantastic with the revelation of the planet being hollow being a major and exciting twist in the plot. I'm sure there was a hollow planet in The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy too...not sure which story came first but I'm thinking it may be this one.

I've never really been a big fan of K9 but he is pretty good here. The Captain had a robot parrot (of course!) and so the rivalry between the K9 and the parrot make for an interesting little side plot.

The Key To Time series is shaping up to be just the tonic I needed after some pretty mediocre stories. I'm looking at you Invasion Of Time!!

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