Episode #106: The Creature from the Pit

"Astrologer extraordinary. Seer to princes and emperors. The future foretold, the present explained, the past - apologised for."

Episode 106: The Creature from the Pit.
Companions: 4th Doctor, K9 and Romana.
Air Date:       Four episodes. 27th October to 17th November 1979.

The Doctor and Romana receive a distress signal and arrive on Chloris. It is a lush and verdant world with only small quantities of metals, all of which are controlled by its ruler, Lady Adrasta. Adrasta keeps order with the aid of her Huntsman and his Wolfweeds - mobile balls of vegetation. A band of thieves, led by Torvin, organise raids on her palace to steal whatever metal they can. But in the mines of Chloris is something huge, a creature thrown into the pit to be forgotten... and the Doctor is about to join him.

The Creature from the Pit is a story that combines yet another medieval world with limited science futuristic trappings which then turns very science fiction with the introduction of an alien intelligence from another world. The villain of the piece is again very typical of villains at this time it seems, as she is far from being a fully fleshed out character. Another two dimensional, one plot, character.

The story also gets a mention for one of the more physically disturbing monsters. The first two instances where it is seen the creature unfortunately resembles a giant green penis. This must have been spotted at the time so why it was allowed seems odd.

Compared to other stories of this time, this isn't a particularly good one. It never really gets off the ground and once it does start to, it comes to an end and time travellers vanish off into time and space. The concept of the story is sound just not the execution.