Rating: 
Summary: "The concept is staggering. Pointless, but staggering!"
Review: "The Pirate Planet" is, like "The Ribos Operation" immediately before it in the Key To Time box set, a story that mostly went over my head at age 12. A mixture of technical jargon and too-fast dialogue proved too much for my young "Who"-addled brain to grasp. It took the onset of relative old age, and reading the first four Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy efforts, to persuade me to enjoy this story as much as author Douglas Adams intended. Since I'm now older than Adams was when he wrote this, I figured it was about time I caught on."Pirate Planet" is indeed prototypical Adams -- it's his first DW script and was written contemporaneously with the original Hitchhiker's radio serial. There's a brilliant sci-fi concept at the heart of the story: a hollow planet with the power to materialize around other worlds, and crush the minerals and fuels right out of them. Overlaid on that is Adams' trademark satire. I enjoyed how the planet's villagers (exactly 4 speaking parts) are all ciphers with silly haircuts, while the villain is a full-blown pirate Captain: a cyborg with a mechanical bird on his shoulder, and a "plank" at the top of a mountain, off which his victims must walk. There are black leather-clad guards and earnest yellow-clad telepathic rebels. And then Tom Baker's Doctor shows up to smirk at it all, and trade barbs (alternately funny and profound) with the Captain. The story's powerhouse moments come when the Doctor and the Captain square off, and in the end, the Captain is far more than just a one-dimensional villain. The DVD edition is a good showcase for the story. As is the norm for digital "Doctor Who", there are two commentary tracks, which means you can watch the entire story through 3 times before catching it all. The text commentary is one of the best yet, covering everything from the origins of Adams script (including much material deleted in the interest of time, since his scripts were about twice as long as necessary), to the origins of all the numbers cited in the story (fascinatingly, Baker ad-libbed the number 337.98 when the script called for 338.97.......). The audio commentary track is average for DW DVDs, most notable for its offbeat choice of participants: story director Pennant Roberts, and actor Bruce Purchase, whose scenery-chewing Captain was one of "Doctor Who"'s more memorable villains in the 1970s. Between the two, they recall a good deal about the production, above and beyond what they learned from the text commentary). Like a couple of knowledgeable fans, they even provide some insight into what's going on that made me appreciate certain elements of the story anew, such as longtime DW composer Dudley Simpson's orchestral score. On the negative side: well, I really couldn't tell their voices apart. A couple of anecdotes fail to go anywhere, such as Purchase's running gag about Baker owing him 1.25 million pounds. The remaining extras features are disc-filler: a "Who's Who" of selected cast members, and a photo gallery of production stills. While one or two of the photos are interesting behind-the-scenes looks at actors in front of blue screens or out of costume, there's also an unfathomable 10 minutes of raw location film footage. No sound effects, no visual effects... just actors in improbable costumes marching, jumping, and twitching. Help yourself to that!
Rating:
Summary: "The concept is staggering. Pointless, but staggering!"
Review: "The Pirate Planet" is, like "The Ribos Operation" immediately before it in the Key To Time box set, a story that mostly went over my head at age 12. A mixture of technical jargon and too-fast dialogue proved too much for my young "Who"-addled brain to grasp. It took the onset of relative old age, and reading the first four Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy efforts, to persuade me to enjoy this story as much as author Douglas Adams intended. Since I'm now older than Adams was when he wrote this, I figured it was about time I caught on. "Pirate Planet" is indeed prototypical Adams -- it's his first DW script and was written contemporaneously with the original Hitchhiker's radio serial. There's a brilliant sci-fi concept at the heart of the story: a hollow planet with the power to materialize around other worlds, and crush the minerals and fuels right out of them. Overlaid on that is Adams' trademark satire. I enjoyed how the planet's villagers (exactly 4 speaking parts) are all ciphers with silly haircuts, while the villain is a full-blown pirate Captain: a cyborg with a mechanical bird on his shoulder, and a "plank" at the top of a mountain, off which his victims must walk. There are black leather-clad guards and earnest yellow-clad telepathic rebels. And then Tom Baker's Doctor shows up to smirk at it all, and trade barbs (alternately funny and profound) with the Captain. The story's powerhouse moments come when the Doctor and the Captain square off, and in the end, the Captain is far more than just a one-dimensional villain. The DVD edition is a good showcase for the story. As is the norm for digital "Doctor Who", there are two commentary tracks, which means you can watch the entire story through 3 times before catching it all. The text commentary is one of the best yet, covering everything from the origins of Adams script (including much material deleted in the interest of time, since his scripts were about twice as long as necessary), to the origins of all the numbers cited in the story (fascinatingly, Baker ad-libbed the number 337.98 when the script called for 338.97.......). The audio commentary track is average for DW DVDs, most notable for its offbeat choice of participants: story director Pennant Roberts, and actor Bruce Purchase, whose scenery-chewing Captain was one of "Doctor Who"'s more memorable villains in the 1970s. Between the two, they recall a good deal about the production, above and beyond what they learned from the text commentary). Like a couple of knowledgeable fans, they even provide some insight into what's going on that made me appreciate certain elements of the story anew, such as longtime DW composer Dudley Simpson's orchestral score. On the negative side: well, I really couldn't tell their voices apart. A couple of anecdotes fail to go anywhere, such as Purchase's running gag about Baker owing him 1.25 million pounds. The remaining extras features are disc-filler: a "Who's Who" of selected cast members, and a photo gallery of production stills. While one or two of the photos are interesting behind-the-scenes looks at actors in front of blue screens or out of costume, there's also an unfathomable 10 minutes of raw location film footage. No sound effects, no visual effects... just actors in improbable costumes marching, jumping, and twitching. Help yourself to that!
Rating: 
Summary: Two of the British SCI-FI greats collaborate . . .
Review: And the result is synergy! Douglas Adams ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency") worked at BBC for a while, including some work as an Editor on "Doctor Who", until they finally let him write an episode, and here is the result.
Tom Baker's quirky portrayal of the peripatetic Time-Lord is the absolutely perfect marriage of actor to script, as he seemingly fits right in to Adams' view of the universe, and the director seems to have allowed them a bit of a free hand on this go-around. As a result, gags and bits appear here that occur nowhere else in the series thirty-plus (and still growing!)-year history, and fans of the series will be delighted to watch Tom chew up the scenery as he plays Doug's artfully constructed and humorously finished story to the hilt and beyond.
Watching this story makes the viewer feel what a real pity it is that Douglas Adams' other "Doctor Who" story, "Shada" landed in the dustbin due to a filming strike at BBC. If you love this long-running science fiction series and you also loved the late, great Douglas Adams, then this is your rare, one-and-only opportunity to see them both together.
Rating:
Summary: "...by the left frontal lobe of the Sky Demon!"
Review: Doctor Who is at its best taken in a humorous vein and this story is one of the funniest of the lot! The interplay between the Doctor/Romana, Captain/Mr. Fibuli, Doctor/Captain, K9/Everyone, is superb. All the characters have their own agenda and the story manages to do all of this in a humorous, tightly plotted, and ocassionaly very tense and dramatic fashion. The Captain is IMHO one of the best characters created by Douglas Adams. His shouting and emotional swings are hilarious, but this is a front to hide the character's true intelligence and intentions. You'll just have to watch the story to find out more. This story tends to get lost in the shuffle sometimes, as it is in the midst of one of Doctor Who's best seasons. It can, however, stand alone as a great piece of science fiction. This story is probably one of my top ten, and I highly reccomend buying it.
Rating:
Summary: This Douglas Adams script holds up well over time...
Review: I love the Tom Baker Dr. Who, but not all episodes are equally good. This series is one of the better ones -- not unexpectedly, since Douglas Adams wrote it. The plot involves a sinister Captain who brings prosperity to his people by doing something really evil -- and I won't tell you what it is for fear of giving away the plot. The budget for special effects and sets for this series must have been about fifty pounds per episode (makes the original Star Trek series look slick in comparison) but for a true Dr. Who fan, the cheesiness of the sets only adds to the charm. This video has a classic laughably funny scene, with a ride in an "air car" that is obviously a cheaply constructed prop tilted to one side, with a blue back drop, and a fan blowing on the characters to imitate flight. But there are also some very witty lines, beautifully delivered by Tom Baker and others in the cast. If you collect Dr. Who videos, this one is a "must have."
Rating: 
Summary: Well, Mary Tamm is in it, and Douglas Adams wrote it.
Review: I must admit that I gave up on "The Hitchiker's Guide ..." after about 20 pages and hated the TV series (though the BBC radio special has its moments), which looked suspiciously similar to Doctor Who but lacked that certain ... special ... something ... Douglas Adams was an important innovator in our culture's history who will be sadly missed, but his work just goes over my head. And what I see here is essentially a Doctor Who adventure superimposed onto an Adamsesque idea of galactic apocolypse. My lack of familiarity with the "Key to Time" episodes may be a factor here -- American Public Television chose not to air them and skipped forward to the Lalla Ward series. So I am viewing this as someone not "in" on the gist of the encompassing premise and only look at the episodes for what they are. What this particular episode is, is unconvincing; I don't believe anything that is being presented in this installment, and other than the amusing interplay between the Captain and Mr Fibulis [or however his name is spelled] there really isn't much chemistry in the story. What the story DOES have is Mary Tamm's Romana, decked out in marvelous white slacks and heels and looking far too ravishing (her lipstick assistant must have been on constant call; she always looks like a model in every shot) to be in such a childish premise of a story. The question remains, then, is she alone worth watching the episode for? YES. Recommended for fans of Mary Tamm and Douglas Adams.
Rating: 
Summary: The
Review: I've always felt that Tom Baker was historically overrated due to his long tenure on the show, but this story is representative of the beginning of the end of the classic Baker era. While the story itself is an interesting concept (key to time, a parasitic planet that materialises around other planets to drain them of their valuable mineral wealth), the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Blatant over-acting by the Captain, Romana still not comfortable in the role and Tom Baker looking like he has a bad case of leprosy are only offset by Mr. Feebes comic timing and the ludicrous battle between K9 and the Captain's mechanical bird! As part of the Key to Time season, it follows the format of most of the other stories in this season. Interesting idea that fails to deliver upon execution.
Rating:
Summary: "Newton's revenge!"
Review: Searching for the second segment to the Key to Time, The Doctor, Romana and K-9 land on what should be the planet Calufrax, but the reality of the situation is not what the Doctor expected. "The Pirate Planet" might look a little cheap at times, but behind the cheesy CSO effects, is a clever, witty and totally absurd script. There are rampant "Hitch-hicker" jokes, and even a couple of Monty Python influences. Baker is in top form, giving a commanding and goofy performance. The supporting cast sometimes seems a little lazy, but the main characters give it their all. With "The Ribos Operation", this is the highlight of the 16th season.
Rating:
Summary: "The Captain is a very dangerous and clever man-he's playing
Review: Someone said this was the end of Tom's classic stories, I think it was the beginning(after Ribos). These are not only the funniest Dr. Who's ever but the most intriguing. I am watching pirate planet and have just gotten through with episode 2. After writing this review I will watch the rest.(I have watched this thing 10 times before over the past year and it's still good!) Not to give away the plott but there's something of collossally appalling significace in the mines. I rate this five stars in enjoyment, who cares about realism. It's Dr. Who.
Rating:
Summary: The Doctor and Roman encounter a strange planet
Review: The Doctor and Romana land on a strange planet while looking for the second segment of the Key to Time. They land on a planet Zanak. While this was not were they were supposd to go, they are very close. Romana get captured by the Captain, who is fighting some telepaths who feel the planet dying that Zanak is destroying for it's minerals. The Doctor and K9 led a revolt among the planet's people. Eventually the Doctor and Romana are reunited. The Doctor realizes that the planet were they heading for is really the second segment. The Doctor,Romana and K9 finally defeat the Captian and Zanak's real ruler. The telepath's blow up the Captains HQ. The Doctor and Romana get the second segment!This video has pleanty of Hichhiker jokes for fans of that series as well! It still funny even if you have not seen the series of Doctor Who! My favorite of the Key To Time series! I especially love the cliffhanger to part 3!
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