Richard 2005-04-22

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

The Doctor and Sarah accidentally stray off course and land on a dark hostile creepy alien jungle planet called Zeta Minor - after receiving a distress call, in this classic four-part adventure written by Louis Marks. Sarah then gets a spine-tingling chill and senses that something is not quite right. She detects a force/presence on the planet. They both then get 'captured' and accused of murder, by ironically a 'rescue team' that was sent down to find the original landing party. This is directed by David Maloney who was responsible for some of the best episodes from the original classic series including this, plus 'Genesis of the Daleks', 'The Deadly Assassin' and 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang'. Wow! - what a track record.

Even today, the jungle set still looks amazing, it really has a visually striking look to it, and it is definitely the best planet that the original series ever did, although the similar one from the 'Face of Evil' is pretty good. It was definitely ground breaking for it's time (1975) and was designed by Roger Murray-Leach who was one of the best set designers the show ever had. Also, the music score by Dudley Simpson is very effective. However, having just praised the set designer, I must admit that the Morestran's spaceship design is pretty poor, but I put this down to the budget being stretched due to most of it being spent on the realization of the jungle, after all, this was the same guy who designed the excellent sets for 'The Ark in Space' and 'The Talons of Weng-Chiang'. Also, I have to say that the costume designs are a bit embarrassing too, but hey it was the mid-Seventies.

Don't let any of the above put you off because this is a great story with a classic 'Jekyll and Hyde' theme in the guise of professor Sorenson - the only survivor from the original landing party, a k a - 'Anti-Matter Man'. Also, I think this is Elisabeth Sladen's favourite episode, and she certainly puts in one of her best performances here.

2005-03-27

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Doctor Who was one of my favourite TV programmes as a child. Every Saturday night I watched it without fail with my dad and older brothers and was terrified of the monsters. Tom Baker played the Doctor as I grew up, so he is the definitive one to me. When Tom Baker left the series, Doctor Who lost its magic for me, (probably also because I was growing up), but my childhood memories always remained.

I never really looked back on Doctor Who, in the sense of buying videos or DVDs to watch the episodes again. Instead I left it all to sit in my misty memories.

That's until a coupe of weeks ago. I accidentally caught a BBC documentary of Doctor Who, which interviewed the actors and showed numerous clips from the series. When Tom Baker's era was covered, a profound burst of nostalgia hit me. The vivid imagery, the sounds, the title music - the whole 'Who aura' - made me almost weep. I felt like I'd been teleported back to my childhood. "Oh my God", I thought. "I need to buy some of those videos!"

So I ordered six Doctor Who videos from Amazon. I was half expecting to be disappointed, I must admit. Everybody knows about the low budget sets, and the fact that the series was aimed at kids. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that the episodes were great viewing. Most of the story lines are classic science fiction. Baker's eccentricity is engaging, and the dialogue - including the Doctor's quirky one-liners - are excellent and witty. The simplicity of the sets add to the overall vivid imagery in my view, and didn't really diminish anything. I think 'the Who' expresses a simple but hearty spirit, which captures the child in us all. ("They don't make 'em like they used to", is so true when comparing today's TV with Doctor Who. But I'm sure they couldn't make 'em like they used to even if they tried.) To top it all off, the nostalgic value is profound.

"The Creature from the Pit" was the first video from the batch that I watched. When I ordered it, I was looking for "Planet of Evil" without knowing it. One of the earliest, most vivid childhood memories I have from Doctor Who is of a white, wire-framed-like monster rising from a big hole in the ground. When ordering the videos, I didn't know which series this was from, and assumed that a title like "The Creature from the Pit" would be the one. I later saw a review for "Planet of Evil" on Amazon.co.uk, and the reviewer wrote: "I had childhood memories of this story involving a wire-frame luminescent monster arising from a hole in the ground."

I thought, "There's a man of my own heart!", and quickly ordered it. And I wasn't disappointed. This story is surprisingly creepy and atmospheric even now. When I saw that particular scene, I was hit by a deep sense of nostalgia - it was exactly as I'd remembered. (I've since learned that I was only three and a half years old when I last saw this episode. Talk about the impact of vivid imagery!)

All in all, the depth and pathos of Doctor Who is profound. This stuff is fantastic, and Doctor Who needs to stay up there with the all-time TV classics.

2000-12-23

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

I had childhood memories of this story involving a wire-frame luminescent monster arising from a hole in the ground. It's an entertaing WHO story with some good acting, the doctor and Sarah being accused of murder and them struggling to get off the hook. Nice plot. I liked this video. Roland.

Ww Leenen 2000-07-26

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

A scary episode where DrWho lands on a living jungle-planet, with monsters of pure energy who can walk through walls. Need I say more? A great DrWho setting with a mad professor, mysterious forces at work and a couple of 'horrible murders'. Yep a good episode :-)