The Creature From The Pit (1979) Review

"WHAT THE FUCK?!?!!?!"
"Literally."

The Creature From The Pit. How... could they get away... with that? 

WRITTEN BY

David Fisher... fortunately for him, there are many interesting elements about this story, kind of like Planet Of Evil. It has good characteristics in it, but none of it matches together for a fully satisfying story. And then there's Erato.

PLOT

The Doctor, Romana and K-9 are captured and interrogated by Lady Adrasta, who holds the monopoly on metal on the planet Chloris and is intent on using the Time Lords to wipe out anything standing in the way of her power.

ANALYSIS

The early episodes are alright and presumably because of Christopher Barry's direction, have a slightly 60s feel to them. The strange Wolfweeds aren't that far removed from the Hartnell era either. There's a sense of mystery and quirky aliens to draw the attention, although it's quite slowmoving, especially compared to the two previous stories. 

However, everything collapses once Erato is introduced. If you haven't seen this story yet, let me put this way: Erato is a green, spotty penis. There's just no way to get around that. It's a giant willy. I don't care what budget they were on, they could've found a better way to present the character, even if they had to cut off the... oh God, I'm just making it worse now. But you get what I mean. 

It doesn't help that Tom Baker sticks his head into it. And blows. How this was allowed to air I will never know. 

Meanwhile, the slow pace turns quite tedious. Maybe it's just me, but I'd like to know what the basic story is at the end of Episode 2, at least. And then I'd like to see it explored instead of just dispensed with the moment we get explanations, thus meaning that Episode 4 is completely superfluous. Seriously, the main villain isn't even in it, it's just a bunch of cockamamie about a random neutron star flying towards the planet. Since when can stars attack planets, anyway?
Awful plotting, preposterous effects. However...

CHARACTERS

The one saving grace here are the characters. Apart from Baker's encounter with Erato(I don't care if it was his idea or not, THERE ARE LIMITS), he's quite enjoyable in this story and I loved the book gag when he's hiding in the pit.

Notably, this is the first story that Lalla Ward filmed as Romana and it's clear that her character was still being ironed out, as she wears flowing robes similar to Mary Tamm(and looks very beautiful in them, although Tamm was of course... I don't think I'm ever going to get over my crush on her). 

We're also introduced to David Brierly(or Brierley... no one seems to be able to decide), who serves as the temporary replacement for John Leeson as K-9 and he is absolutely fantastic. Instead of Leeson's loyal, subtly egotistical portrayal, he goes completely off the rails with a campy diva performance, shouting at guards, whining and being generally so above the situation that he's in the clouds. This is a completely different K-9, although why they felt the need to move so far away from Leeson's incarnation, I have no idea. 
It's clearly not just the actor, the script itself has him say sentences Leeson would never have. David Fisher knows K-9 through and through, so I can only presume this was something that Brierly developed with script editor Douglas Adams. If so, it'd be the first thing Adams added to the show that I completely approve of.

Geoffrey Bayldon is hilarious as a slightly crazy old astrologer. I'm not really sure what his character's purpose or motive is(he's weird, in an enigmatic sort of way). Whatever the case, Bayldon plays him perfectly and makes a great pair with Baker's Doctor. 

The story features several villains, such as the greedy Lady Adrasta, who was so pompous that I love-hated her almost immediately and her old handmaiden who is equally greedy, although underused. She appears as a major threat in the first and last episodes, but is otherwise absent. 

But by far the most hilarious of the baddies were the scavengers, a dimwitted comedy troupe of metal-craving thieves who just can't get enough of pots and pans. So adorable. They're really out of place in a fairly serious-minded story like this(you know, apart from... Erato), so I'm guessing it's Douglas Adams yet again. Whatever the case, I think they're a fun addition and brightened up the story considerably.

NOTES

*I don't really see the point of the Wolfweeds. They're a cool concept(rolling balls of weed serving as hunting wolves), but apart from providing one cliffhanger and threatening Adrasta, they have very little to do with the story.

*One of the scavengers was played by Terry Walsh, a regular stuntman since the Troughton era(you can very clearly spot him in the Venusian aikido scenes in The Green Death and The Monster Of Peladon).

*In classic Terry Nation style, the plant-enveloped planet is known as Chloris and the phallic alien is called Erato. 

*Adrasta's handmaiden was portrayed by Eileen Way, who also played the Old Mother(the old cavewoman) all the way back in An Unearthly Child. 

*How is the Doctor able to deduce the nature of the eggshell from a teaspoon and an open mind? 

*What exactly is that Time Lord gadget that he and Romana find anyway? The Doctor implies that it's what he used to communicate with the Time Lords and receive messages and the like(apparently he got bored of the Bowler Hat Guy and the Jester from Terror Of The Autons and Genesis Of The Daleks, respectively). So, for no real reason, he puts it on again, causing the TARDIS to immediately go crazy and land at the source of the nearest distress signal.

*I wish the Huntsman had more of an arc to him. It makes sense for him to keep quiet until he found proof against the Lady Adrasta, but it feels kind of odd seing a henchman just suddenly jump to the Doctor's defense.

*Geoffrey Bayldon has a most interesting career... he was offered the roles of both the First and Second Doctors, had a recurring role on Worzel Gummidge, portrayed the titular character in Catweazle and also played Q in 1967's "Casino Royale"(a bizarre James Bond parody based on Ian Fleming's first novel. Bernard Cribbins, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Honey Ryder from "Dr. No" and even Woody Allen were in it too). He's also still alive and 92 years old! I sincerely hope he gets to at least 100, he deserves it. 

BEST QUOTE

"Astrologer extraordinary. Seer to princes and emperors. The future foretold, the present explained, the past... apologised for." - Organon introducing himself. I love him.

CONCLUSION

A Hartnell-era story invaded by a GIANT MALE PART... what the heck?!?