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| The Pirate Planet | |
| Series: | Doctor Who - TV Stories |
| Season Number: | Season 16 |
| Story Number: | 99 |
| Doctor: | Fourth Doctor |
| Companions: | K-9 Mark II Romana I |
| Enemy: | The Captain, Queen Xanxia |
| Setting: | Zanak |
| Writer: | Douglas Adams |
| Director: | Pennant Roberts |
| Broadcast: | 30th September - 21st October 1978 |
| Format: | 4 25-minute Episodes |
| Previous Story: | The Ribos Operation |
| Following Story: | The Stones of Blood |
The Pirate Planet was the second story of Season 16 of Doctor Who. It was the first contribution to the series of writer Douglas Adams.
Contents |
The Doctor and Romana find that the second segment to the Key to Time is on the planet Calufrax. Yet they arrive on a planet called Zanak, which has been hollowed out and fitted with hyperspace engines, allowing its insane half-robot Captain to materialise it around other smaller planets and plunder their resources.
On a mountain base, the nervous Mr. Fibuli informs the impatient Captain that a new source has been found for Vasilium. Immediate orders to mine it follow. Speaking to the people of the planet, the Captain declares a new golden age. As the people celebrate, a different group, dressed in yellow robes, mentally watch Pralix, who doesn't appear as thrilled with the Captain's announcement as everybody else.
In the TARDIS, the Doctor is securing the first segment of the Key to Time by tucking it in a boot and sticking it in the fridge. The tracer points the Doctor and Romana to the cold and boring planet of Calufrax. The TARDIS is at first unable to materialise, (causing damage to the engines of Zanak as well), until Romana guides it in to a landing and the pair soon discover that they are not on Calufrax at all.
Meanwhile, Pralix is now delirious, watched over by his grandfather Balaton, sister Mula, and friend Kimus. Balaton is concerned that his rantings will be overheard,
The area the Doctor and his entourage have landed in is deserted until they meet a local who tells them that the people of his planet are going to be rich because of the Captain and his latest "golden age of prosperity". He gives Romana some diamonds and rubies, saying they can be found everywhere, and warns her and the Doctor about the Mentiads, though he leaves before he can elaborate. The Doctor finds more precious stones all around, including the extremely rare Oolion.
Balaton is terrified that Pralix will be taken by the Mentiads. Kimus is sceptical, and Mula remembers the death of her father at the hands of the Captain's guards, ostensibly to save him from the Mentiads. Meanwhile, the Mentiads are declaring their "harvest" of Pralix is imminent. As they march across the fields of Zanak, the Doctor hears Pralix and sets off to investigate. Romana waits behind, surveying the Captain's fortress with a telescope, only to be arrested for that forbidden item, and her asking of the forbidden question: "Why?"
The Captain sends more of his soldiers to stop the Mentiads, but their weapons are useless against their psychic powers. Instead, the Captain sends troops to find the telepath and eliminate him. They burst in on the Doctor in Pralix's home, but K-9 quickly stuns them. The Mentiads enter soon after, and strike down the Doctor with a blast of mental energy...
When the Doctor wakes up, Pralix and the Mentiads are gone. K-9 tells the Doctor about Romana's arrest, giving him an incentive to try to get the Bridge atop the mountain, where she has been taken by the guard. Kimus accompanies him, hoping to find a way to rescue Pralix from the Mentiads. They get up to the mountain using an air car, which moves upwards to its destination.
On the Bridge, Fibuli breaks the news to the Captain that the macromat field integrator has burnt out, and they cannot replace it themselves. He suggests one more jump to find mineral PJX 1-8, which would do the same job as the integrator. Romana is brought up to the Bridge, and the Doctor also finds his way up. The Captain isn't taking any chances, and has guns trained on them as he encourages them to lend technical assistance. Romana is confused that the tracer gives out a continuous signal wherever they go. This makes the Doctor realise what's going on. After they escape with Kimus and make their way underground, they find the ground beneath them is frozen. The Doctor explains the planet they are on, Zanak, has been hollowed out and fitted with engines so that it can transmat through space and materialise around others - such as Calufrax - to plunder their mineral wealth.
They have no time to pause however as the Captain's guards give chase from behind, but as they run, they face a group of Mentiads in front.
The danger is nonexistent; the Mentiads are friendly, and have come to save the Doctor and his friends from the guards. The Mentiads, now including Pralix, create a force field using their psychic powers. This power the Mentiads have will not last much longer, because Zanak has come to Calufrax for its crystals which when refined can be used to block their psychic abilities. The Doctor doesn't know it yet, but the Captain is planning to materialise Zanak around Earth after mining on Calufrax is finished, because mineral PJX 1-8 (quartz) has been located there.
The Mentiads tell the Doctor that Zanak was a prosperous planet until the reign of Queen Xanxia, who supposedly had mysterious powers and galactic wars she staged were the ruin of Zanak and its people.
The Doctor and Kimus try to steal an air car but fail and are taken to the bridge. The Captain shows the Doctor his trophy room of crushed remains of planets; the Doctor's secret plan however is to break into the engine room, but while looking for it he and Kimus find a room with an old body connected to a time dam, used to slow down the flow of time, in this case just before death, using the energy Zanak acquires to keep Queen Xanxia alive. The Doctor returns to the bridge, but he is thrown overboard for his troubles.
The Doctor survives because it was only a projection of him that walked the plank; he has figured out the final piece of Queen Xanxia's puzzle using the device he found in the room with the body. Xanxia has been using the device to create an image for herself, disguised as the Captain's nurse. Xanxia is close to immortality because of the power of Zanak, which she is using to give permanent form to her image.
The Mentiads are getting close to the bridge, expecting the Doctor to have taken control of the engine room by now, but because of the psychic interference transmitter they are disadvantaged. The Captain seals the bridge as Zanak prepares to make the jump to Earth. Since Zanak's engines were damaged when the planet materialised in the same place as the TARDIS, the Doctor escapes and tries to employ the same trick again to prevent Zanak from materialising, while the Mentiads do their best to sabotage Zanak's engines. Xanxia kills the Captain when he finally turns against her. The Doctor, Romana, and the Mentiads destroy Zanak's bridge and Queen Xanxia, ending the devastation caused by Zanak's travels. In the aftermath, the Doctor and Romana collect the second segment of the Key to Time, the remains of Calufrax, and set off to search for the next segment.
to be added
DVD Releases
Contents (2007/2009 version):
Notes:
Due to Douglas Adams reserving the novelization rights for himself, The Pirate Planet is one of only a half-dozen original-series serials to have never been officially novelised.
| Season 16 |
|---|
| The Ribos Operation • The Pirate Planet • The Stones of Blood • The Androids of Tara • The Power of Kroll • The Armageddon Factor |
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