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At four episodes a thin story is over-stretched, the finale seems tacked on, and the shoddy creature effects are more remarkably phallic than anything in the same year's theatrical release, Alien. On the plus side, Lalla Ward in her third story grows nicely into her role as Romana, David Brierley takes over from John Leeson as the voice of robot dog K-9, and the set design and costumes are well up to the show's late-'70s high standards. Not a patch on the immediately preceding "City of Death," but an entertaining Whovian pantomime nonetheless. --Gary S. Dalkin
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4.0 out of 5 stars
We call it the Pit,
By
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Creature From The Pit (VHS Tape)
To which the Doctor responds to the despotic Lady Adrasta of the planet Chloris, "Ah, you have such a way with words." The pit refers to an opening where people who displease Adrasta, perceived incompetents, are thrown down and meet their fate to a horrible monster.The Doctor and Romana respond to a distress call on Chloris, where they are caught up in Lady Adrasta's dictatorial ways. On Chloris, metal is needed to contain the increasingly fecund jungle. Adrasta has the monopoly on metal--she owns the only mine, and that is the source of her power. She also employs the service of the Huntsman and his band of Wolf Weeds, which resemble green tumbleweeds. However, there are some rebels under Torvin, former miners, who are staging ambushes to steal anything metal. The Doctor meets Organon, Adrasta's former astrologer, a bearded talkative soul who introduces himself thus: "astrologer extraordinaire, seer to princes and emperors. The future foretold, the past explained, the present apologized for." Together in the pit, they discover the nature of the title creature, which is huge and glows an eerie green colour. Myra Frances plays Adrasta as a cruel despot--she even slaps Romana in one scene! Eileen Way, who is Karela, Adrasta's vizier, appeared in the very first Doctor Who story as the Old Mother. Karela is indeed someone just as ambitious and cruel as her mistress. Geoffrey Bayldon is good as the chatty but clearly sign-obsessed Organon. However, John Bryans plays Torvin as a hammy East London Jew, complete with accents and bushy beard: "My beautiful boys," he calls his subordinates, who are just as hirsute and bearded as he. The Doctor has a funny line when he asks Adrasta to spare Doran, a court engineer-scientist who displeased her: "He may be an idiot, but he is a conscientious idiot, and engineers are hard to come by." Romana's aristocratic bearing is apparent when she is captured by Torvin and his rebels. She is hardly scared when they threaten to kill her. Indeed, she keeps calm until K9 comes along, and then walks off. Dressed in her white robe, it's no wonder, as Lalla Ward's full name is Lady Sarah Ward, who is the daughter of Lord Bangor (Edward Ward). Ward really plays it straight here. Some of Douglas Adams' silly humour is apparent in the story following the classic The City Of Death. One of the funniest moments involves the Doctor who's clinging along the side of the pit and is reading a book on mountain climbing, only to find out the book is in Tibetan. He then pulls out a book, Teach Yourself Tibetan. Unfortunately, it's established in other stories that the Doctor already knows Tibetan, so either the book is highly technical or this was just a scene done for laughs. And when going through some of the Doctor's old junk, Romana asks him if he really needs the jawbone of an a**, to which the Doctor retorts, "Don't be a philistine." That's a biblical joke, for those who don't get it. Not a bad story, but seeing as how this came after the top-rated City Of Death, something of a comedown.
4.0 out of 5 stars
"And with her, die the dark ages for this planet...",
By Huntsmæñus "Lord of the Wolf Weeds" (New Orleans, La) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Creature From The Pit (VHS Tape)
Landing on the planet Chloris, the Doctor and Romana discover a giant egg shell-like structure in the middle of an overgrown forest. They later find out that the planet Chloris is low on metal and has an over abundance of foliage, and the completely insane and greedy Lady Adrasta has a hidden agenda and a hidden horror trapped in a pit! The Creature From the Pit is another silly installment from Season 17, where humor and sillieness is rampant, and production values have dropped. But apart from Erato himself, the production of this underrated serial is very good. The forests scenes are very well realised on film. Tom Baker excells in one of his funniest outings. Line after line after line! Geoffrey Balydon as Organon, Court Astrologer, is another highlight in an amusing role. And David Brierley filling this season as the voice of K-9 gives him some humor, as well. Though, Tom Baker's communication with Erato for the first time is very phallic indeed! There's a reason why there's so much sillieness. David Fisher's scripts are filled with great Tom humor and Douglas Adams' script editing gives it that final absurdity. Though most discriminating Who fans might not give this serial the time of day, it is surprisingly enjoyable. Especially with a few bottles of beer!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews) 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
"And with her, die the dark ages for this planet...",
By Huntsmæñus "Lord of the Wolf Weeds" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Creature From The Pit (VHS Tape)
Landing on the planet Chloris, the Doctor and Romana discover a giant egg shell-like structure in the middle of an overgrown forest. They later find out that the planet Chloris is low on metal and has an over abundance of foliage, and the completely insane and greedy Lady Adrasta has a hidden agenda and a hidden horror trapped in a pit! The Creature From the Pit is another silly installment from Season 17, where humor and sillieness is rampant, and production values have dropped. But apart from Erato himself, the production of this underrated serial is very good. The forests scenes are very well realised on film. Tom Baker excells in one of his funniest outings. Line after line after line! Geoffrey Balydon as Organon, Court Astrologer, is another highlight in an amusing role. And David Brierley filling this season as the voice of K-9 gives him some humor, as well. Though, Tom Baker's communication with Erato for the first time is very phallic indeed! There's a reason why there's so much sillieness. David Fisher's scripts are filled with great Tom humor and Douglas Adams' script editing gives it that final absurdity. Though most discriminating Who fans might not give this serial the time of day, it is surprisingly enjoyable. Especially with a few bottles of beer!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
one of the most annoying things about this movie is it's critics say it's stupid,
By Kid Prometheus "The Lad from Hades" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Creature from the Pit (Story 106) (DVD)
The most underrated of Doctor Who is season 17. It may not seem beleivalbe or realistic, but it is darn fun to watch, and this one more than most of the others. Though Nimon can get a little bland and Nightmare of Eden(except for Dakar's performance) is a bit dull too, this one is very good, like a classic storytelling drama that plays out good/evil to the bitter end(of Adrasta). Most, if not all of the actors here are guest star quality. And it plays out and grabs your attention like nothing made to day could hope to do. The writing may not be perfectly acceptable in realism but it is a strait foreward plot(that I love) the sets are good for 1979, and far as I'm concerned with this performance, today, as in a play. Because Doctor who was not about what was/wasn't "cardboard" it was like watching a theater in your set. If you think of it that way, it is better than the gloss glitz and stupid headed rushing around witlessly talking down to your audience like Doctor Who of today(Ecleston/Tennent and presumabley Mat2).The charm also is the light, tonuge/cheek humor by Tom Baker and of course Adresta's rediculously(creative) references to everything in non-proper nowns and lack of agjectives.(ecept her agjective of K-9 and her contept of "princess" Romana's meddling). though nimon/eden could get pretty bland, Creature of the Pit, and City of Death were very entertaining and stylishly gothic. Both had serious actors and I am to assume serious directing too. only complaint, Lalla wore far too much lip stick, she -is- a child though.lol(and it is that funny) 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
We call it the Pit,
By Daniel J. Hamlow - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Doctor Who: The Creature From The Pit (VHS Tape)
To which the Doctor responds to the despotic Lady Adrasta of the planet Chloris, "Ah, you have such a way with words." The pit refers to an opening where people who displease Adrasta, perceived incompetents, are thrown down and meet their fate to a horrible monster.The Doctor and Romana respond to a distress call on Chloris, where they are caught up in Lady Adrasta's dictatorial ways. On Chloris, metal is needed to contain the increasingly fecund jungle. Adrasta has the monopoly on metal--she owns the only mine, and that is the source of her power. She also employs the service of the Huntsman and his band of Wolf Weeds, which resemble green tumbleweeds. However, there are some rebels under Torvin, former miners, who are staging ambushes to steal anything metal. The Doctor meets Organon, Adrasta's former astrologer, a bearded talkative soul who introduces himself thus: "astrologer extraordinaire, seer to princes and emperors. The future foretold, the past explained, the present apologized for." Together in the pit, they discover the nature of the title creature, which is huge and glows an eerie green colour. Myra Frances plays Adrasta as a cruel despot--she even slaps Romana in one scene! Eileen Way, who is Karela, Adrasta's vizier, appeared in the very first Doctor Who story as the Old Mother. Karela is indeed someone just as ambitious and cruel as her mistress. Geoffrey Bayldon is good as the chatty but clearly sign-obsessed Organon. However, John Bryans plays Torvin as a hammy East London Jew, complete with accents and bushy beard: "My beautiful boys," he calls his subordinates, who are just as hirsute and bearded as he. The Doctor has a funny line when he asks Adrasta to spare Doran, a court engineer-scientist who displeased her: "He may be an idiot, but he is a conscientious idiot, and engineers are hard to come by." Romana's aristocratic bearing is apparent when she is captured by Torvin and his rebels. She is hardly scared when they threaten to kill her. Indeed, she keeps calm until K9 comes along, and then walks off. Dressed in her white robe, it's no wonder, as Lalla Ward's full name is Lady Sarah Ward, who is the daughter of Lord Bangor (Edward Ward). Ward really plays it straight here. Some of Douglas Adams' silly humour is apparent in the story following the classic The City Of Death. One of the funniest moments involves the Doctor who's clinging along the side of the pit and is reading a book on mountain climbing, only to find out the book is in Tibetan. He then pulls out a book, Teach Yourself Tibetan. Unfortunately, it's established in other stories that the Doctor already knows Tibetan, so either the book is highly technical or this was just a scene done for laughs. And when going through some of the Doctor's old junk, Romana asks him if he really needs the jawbone of an a**, to which the Doctor retorts, "Don't be a philistine." That's a biblical joke, for those who don't get it. Not a bad story, but seeing as how this came after the top-rated City Of Death, something of a comedown. |
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