The Creature from the Pit (TV story)

On the planet Chloris, metal is scarce. Making a forced landing on Chloris, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 soon find themselves caught up in a long and secret enmity between the Lady Adrasta, who rules the planet in fear, and the mysterious Creature she keeps in a Pit...

Summary
The use of an MK3 Emergency transceiver on the TARDIS identifies a distress signal and brings the craft to the lush jungle world of Chloris, where metal in all forms is a rare and prized commodity. The Doctor, Romana and K-9 venture out to discover the remains of an enormous egg in the jungle, and when they meet the inhabitants they find a matriarchy ruled through fear by the icy and callous Lady Adrasta. Without metal to make the tools needed to keep the jungle under control, lush plant life dominates. The Lady Adrasta controls the planet's very last metal mine, holding on to power through the Huntsmen and the Wolfweeds. Her throne room contains an array of metal including a shield patterned in the same way as the remnants of the shell. She mentions the Creature which dwells in a deep pit on Chloris.

Romana has meanwhile been captured by a party of scavengers, even keen to find and horde more metal, and they are particularly impressed by the possibilities of K9. The robot enables her escape and she is briefly reunited with the Doctor before he leaps into the Pit himself, determined to get to the bottom of the mystery and the Pit. Within the Pit he encounters Organon, an astrologer thrown there by Adrasta some time earlier, and then comes face to face with the Creature: indeed, the vast shapeless blob rolls over him. The Doctor calculates it is not, however, dangerous, and is fascinated to note the Creature produces metal from within itself. It also forms a tentacle and draws a picture which the Doctor recognises as the shield from Adrasta’s throne room. The Doctor, Organon and the Creature now find a way out of the Pit.

The scavengers have meanwhile raided the throne room for booty, including the alien shield. It comes in useful when the Creature is freed from the Pit as the shield is indeed a communication device. Erato, as the Creature is named, is the Tythonian ambassador to Chloris and came to negotiate a treaty exchanging metal for chlorophyll fifteen years earlier. Its craft was the vast egg found in the jungle. However, Adrasta realised her power was dependent on the control of the planet’s metal supply and so imprisoned Erato to maintain her status. It exacts its revenge by crushing her to death. The attempts by Adrasta’s sidekick, Karela, to capitalise on the situation and seize power herself are aborted.

The Doctor has rescued the Tythonian just in time – it seems Tythonus has declared war on Chloris over the missing ambassador, and has despatched a neutron star to collide with Chloris’ star and destroy the system. It is due to collide within the next twenty-four hours. Working against the odds, the Doctor uses the TARDIS to stabilise the star while Erato weaves a metal covering around it and the danger is neutralised. The Doctor’s last act on Chloris is to push Organon, now one of the de facto rulers, toward a mutually beneficial trade agreement with Erato and the Tythonians.

Cast & Characters

 * The Doctor - Tom Baker


 * Romana - Lalla Ward


 * Voice of K9 - David Brierley


 * Adrasta - Myra Frances
 * Organon - Geoffrey Bayldon


 * Karela - Eileen Way


 * Huntsman - David Telfer


 * Tollund - Morris Barry
 * Torvin - John Bryans


 * Edu - Edward Kelsey
 * Ainu - Tim Munro
 * Guard - Phillip Denyer
 * Guard - Dave Redgrave
 * Doran - Terry Walsh
 * Guardmaster - Tommy Wright

Crew

 * Film Editor - M. A. C. Adams
 * Production Assistant - Romey Allison
 * Film Cameraman - David Feig
 * Studio Lighting - Warwick Fielding
 * Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop


 * Theme arrangement - Delia Derbyshire


 * Costumes - June Hudson
 * Visual Effects - Mat Irvine
 * Special Sounds - Dick Mills
 * Studio Sound - Anthony Philpott
 * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson
 * Make-Up - Gillian Thomas


 * Assistant Floor Manager - Kate Osborne, David Tilley
 * Designer - Valerie Warrender


 * Production Unit Manager - John Nathan-Turner


 * Script Editor - Douglas Adams


 * Writer - David Fisher


 * Director - Christopher Barry
 * Producer - Graham Williams

Story Notes

 * This story guest stars Geoffrey Bayldon. Bayldon had been a candidate on previous occasions for the role of the Doctor, and later voiced an alternate version of the Time Lord for the Doctor Who Unbound series of audio dramas. Bayldon was also a close personal friend of Third Doctor Jon Pertwee.


 * This was the first story for Season 17 to be produced, though it was the third to be broadcast. This technically makes it the first story to feature Lalla Ward as Romana, replacing Mary Tamm, and to have David Brierly providing the voice for K-9, replacing John Leeson.


 * In David Fisher's original script, Lady Adrasta was Queen Adastra, whose name meant "to the stars" in Latin. This was changed by Douglas Adams.


 * Christopher Barry is said to have had differences of opinion with both Tom Baker and Lalla Ward regarding their characters and dialogue during filming of this story. This plus frequent technical problems led to his departure from directing on Doctor Who.


 * Morris Barry, who played Tollund, had directed Doctor Who stories in the 1960s.

Myths
To be added.

Ratings

 * Episode 1 - 9.3m (43rd)
 * Episode 2 - 10.8m (23rd)
 * Episode 3 - 10.2m (36th)
 * Episode 4 - 9.6m (36th)

DVD Release

 * This story has not yet been released on DVD.

Video Release

 * Released on VHS in July 2002 in episodic format.

Continuity

 * The Doctor knew Theseus and Ariadne, and gave Theseus the string he used to find his way around the labyrinth.


 * Romana is familiar with the works of Beatrix Potter.

Discontinuity

 * The Doctor cannot read Tibetan, though he could speak it in "Planet of the Spiders."


 * Is there any relationship between the Minotaur the Doctor helped Theseus fight and the one encountered by the Doctor and Jo in Atlantis during "The Time Monster?"


 * The Doctor's mention of a maternity service on Gallifrey seems to contradict the use of genetic looms in "Lungbarrow."


 * The Doctor placing one of Erato's appendages in his mouth and blowing on it to attempt communication has become the stuff of comic legend among fans. This may have been a deliberate prank on the part of Tom Baker, as the phallic nature of earlier designs for Erato had been one of the many technical problems plaguing production of this story.


 * Just where did Organon get all those candles, if he'd been trapped in the pit for years?

Influences

 * In some respects, Adrasta is similar to Ayesha, the title character in H. Rider Haggard's novel, She.

Location Filming

 * All filming for this story was done in studio, beginning on 17 April, 1979.

Quotes

 * The Doctor: "Well, to be fair I did have a couple of gadgets he probably didn't, like a teaspoon and an open mind."


 * The Doctor: "Stupid expression, "stands to reason". Why isn't it "lie down to reason"? -- much easier to reason lying down..."


 * K-9: "Correction, madame; I am not made of tin."
 * Karela: "If I say you are made of tin, you wretched tin dog, then you are made of tin."


 * The Doctor: "I suppose you could say "the yoke's on him", if you were the sort of person who said that sort of thing, which fortunately I'm not."


 * The Doctor:"Oh, you shouldn't be worried; Time Lords have 90 lives."


 * Romana:"How many have you got through?


 * The Doctor:"About 130."


 * The Doctor:"She's tipped the ambassador into a pit and threw astrologers at him."

Story Arcs

 * The Randomiser

More Info

 * Story Synopsis


 * Story Novelization