Once upon a time, there lived a chap named Douglas Adams, who dreamed of being the greatest science fiction writer and remembered forever for his ingenious way of writing funny, intelligent and thought provoking science fiction. There came a time he was given the chance to prove his worth and submit a story for Doctor Who. Along came The Pirate Planet and the rest is history - or the bestselling novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as most of us will call it.
It wasn't a big of a deal back in the day, but when you see that one of the biggest legends in science fiction has written a serial for Doctor Who, you can't help but to have enormous expectations for the story. And Douglas Adams certainly doesnät let the viewer down. While The Pirate Planet certainly isn't quite as legendary as Adams' magnum opus, and while the story itself has some minor flaws, it's still a hugely entertaining serial, harking back to the good old days of the show (and 1950s' cinema) along with the adventurous stories. Pirates have been done a few times in the show before and since (in The Smugglers, The Space Pirates and The Curse of the Black Spot), but never as good as this time. What Douglas Adams excels at is not only his characteristic humour, but also his sense of exciting and catchy storytelling. The Space Pirates has a brisk and adventurous pace, but it also presents two very good twists (at the end of Episode Two and the beginning of Episode Four), which might feel like cop outs, but certainly give the story new speed. In addition, Admas truly respects the traditional pirate story - there is a screaming pirate captain with his parrot, there is a plank walking scene and there is swashbuckling in the form of shooting and running around.
But not everything holds up. The science of this story is a it dodgy (how on Earth could a completely hollow planet exist, let alone dematerialise from one point in space and rematerialise in another, engulfing whole planets inside itself and crushing them into small tennis balls?), bit the show has definitely presented worse science than this, so I can forgive that. But the emphasis is on fiction in this one. I also get annoyed by the Mentiads, a group of psychic monks of some sort, who could have been left out. They barely play a part in the story and kind of ruin the otherwise so believable pirate setting. I also feel like Adams kind of forgets about the quest to find the Key to Time, as we never actually see the Doctor and Romana acquire the second segment, even though they find it.
Adams' greatest feat is his characters - and anyone who has read his novels knows exactly what I mean. The Pirate Planet features his typical funny yet serious, over-the-top and memorable characters, particularly among the villains. Here we have, of course, the Captain, a half-man-half-robot (who brings to mind both Kaler-Jex from A Town Called Mercy and the Half-Face Man from Deep Breath) who constantly shouts about sky demons and seems very unhappy with everything. He is one of the most memorable villains of 70s Doctor Who, and also looks very convincing, but for me he just feels a bit too much. He is definitely over-the-top with crazy dialogue and a very bad temper. Additionally, Bruce Purchase is a believable pirate and a great choice for the part. The Captain's right hand is a Smee-type scientist named Mr. Fibuli, looking like something ripped out from The Simpsons or Futurama, and played very well by Andrew Robertson. Adams does a good job at continuing to develop Romana into what is quickly becoming the greatest and most likeable companion the Doctor has ever had - Mary Tamm is doing a great job here and she is put to good use in this story (but that is because she is so good looking, according to the Doctor).
The script has some obvious plot holes, but they didn't annoy me much. What did annoy me, however, was the wooden acting by Rosalind Lloyd, particularly as her role becomes extremely important in the last episode. I don't want to say too much so as not to ruin the plot for you, but her part in the entire story feels somewhat out of place.
I do like the sets of this story and most of the visual aspects as well. The aircars are a great addition and I am surprised no one thought about using them in a story before. Those cars and the village in the beginning of th story look very similar to much of the beginning of Star Wars, a movie that premiered the previous year and quite clearly had a great influence on the production. The Captain's parrot execution isn't particularly convincing though and the battle sequence between K-9 and the mechanical parrot is nice but very cheesy. The best parts of the story are two scenes in Episode Three; the one in which the Doctor and the Captain shout at each other and the cliffhanger to Episode Three, in which the Doctor is required to walk the plank.
The Pirate Planet is a solid debut from Douglas Adams and an exciting adventure with pirates, flying cars and a stupid and not so convincing thing called a linear induction corridor. It's not the greatest story ever made but also far from worst. It sets the tone for what is to come once Adams takes over as script editor in Season 17.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParent2018-08-05T13:41:19Z
Once upon a time, there lived a chap named Douglas Adams, who dreamed of being the greatest science fiction writer and remembered forever for his ingenious way of writing funny, intelligent and thought provoking science fiction. There came a time he was given the chance to prove his worth and submit a story for Doctor Who. Along came The Pirate Planet and the rest is history - or the bestselling novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as most of us will call it.
It wasn't a big of a deal back in the day, but when you see that one of the biggest legends in science fiction has written a serial for Doctor Who, you can't help but to have enormous expectations for the story. And Douglas Adams certainly doesnät let the viewer down. While The Pirate Planet certainly isn't quite as legendary as Adams' magnum opus, and while the story itself has some minor flaws, it's still a hugely entertaining serial, harking back to the good old days of the show (and 1950s' cinema) along with the adventurous stories. Pirates have been done a few times in the show before and since (in The Smugglers, The Space Pirates and The Curse of the Black Spot), but never as good as this time. What Douglas Adams excels at is not only his characteristic humour, but also his sense of exciting and catchy storytelling. The Space Pirates has a brisk and adventurous pace, but it also presents two very good twists (at the end of Episode Two and the beginning of Episode Four), which might feel like cop outs, but certainly give the story new speed. In addition, Admas truly respects the traditional pirate story - there is a screaming pirate captain with his parrot, there is a plank walking scene and there is swashbuckling in the form of shooting and running around.
But not everything holds up. The science of this story is a it dodgy (how on Earth could a completely hollow planet exist, let alone dematerialise from one point in space and rematerialise in another, engulfing whole planets inside itself and crushing them into small tennis balls?), bit the show has definitely presented worse science than this, so I can forgive that. But the emphasis is on fiction in this one. I also get annoyed by the Mentiads, a group of psychic monks of some sort, who could have been left out. They barely play a part in the story and kind of ruin the otherwise so believable pirate setting. I also feel like Adams kind of forgets about the quest to find the Key to Time, as we never actually see the Doctor and Romana acquire the second segment, even though they find it.
Adams' greatest feat is his characters - and anyone who has read his novels knows exactly what I mean. The Pirate Planet features his typical funny yet serious, over-the-top and memorable characters, particularly among the villains. Here we have, of course, the Captain, a half-man-half-robot (who brings to mind both Kaler-Jex from A Town Called Mercy and the Half-Face Man from Deep Breath) who constantly shouts about sky demons and seems very unhappy with everything. He is one of the most memorable villains of 70s Doctor Who, and also looks very convincing, but for me he just feels a bit too much. He is definitely over-the-top with crazy dialogue and a very bad temper. Additionally, Bruce Purchase is a believable pirate and a great choice for the part. The Captain's right hand is a Smee-type scientist named Mr. Fibuli, looking like something ripped out from The Simpsons or Futurama, and played very well by Andrew Robertson. Adams does a good job at continuing to develop Romana into what is quickly becoming the greatest and most likeable companion the Doctor has ever had - Mary Tamm is doing a great job here and she is put to good use in this story (but that is because she is so good looking, according to the Doctor).
The script has some obvious plot holes, but they didn't annoy me much. What did annoy me, however, was the wooden acting by Rosalind Lloyd, particularly as her role becomes extremely important in the last episode. I don't want to say too much so as not to ruin the plot for you, but her part in the entire story feels somewhat out of place.
I do like the sets of this story and most of the visual aspects as well. The aircars are a great addition and I am surprised no one thought about using them in a story before. Those cars and the village in the beginning of th story look very similar to much of the beginning of Star Wars, a movie that premiered the previous year and quite clearly had a great influence on the production. The Captain's parrot execution isn't particularly convincing though and the battle sequence between K-9 and the mechanical parrot is nice but very cheesy. The best parts of the story are two scenes in Episode Three; the one in which the Doctor and the Captain shout at each other and the cliffhanger to Episode Three, in which the Doctor is required to walk the plank.
The Pirate Planet is a solid debut from Douglas Adams and an exciting adventure with pirates, flying cars and a stupid and not so convincing thing called a linear induction corridor. It's not the greatest story ever made but also far from worst. It sets the tone for what is to come once Adams takes over as script editor in Season 17.
Rating: 8,4 out of 10