The Pirate Planet: Part One

Review of the Complete Story:

THE PIRATE PLANET is a typical outing for oddball Doctor Who star Tom Baker. In it, and he and companions Romana and K9 end up on the titular planet, a place occupied by other oddballs and goofs and presided over by a sinister ruler who runs things with a (literal) iron fist. The story is the usual back-and-forth nonsense of capture, escape, villains and heroes, where the villains are typically the most interesting characters in the production and the supposed heroes are bland in the extreme.

Still, fans of classic Who will find much to enjoy here, not least a Baker on typically manic form. Mary Tamm provides solid support and is given an adequate amount of screen time for a companion, but it's K9 who really steals the show here, engaging in all manners of derring do. The presence of a pre-fame Douglas Adams as scriptwriter is both a blessing and a curse; his characterisations (like the robotic Captain Hook) are fun but the plotting is all over the place and largely unfocused. Still, things do pick up for a nicely explosive climax.