Season 16, Episode 2 | 4 parts | First broadcast: 30 September – 21 October 1978 | Writer: Douglas Adams | Director: Pennant Roberts
Cast
- Tom Baker as the Doctor
- Mary Tamm as Romana
- John Leeson as the voice of K9
- Bruce Purchase as the Captain
- Andrew Robertson as Mr Fibuli
Summary
Tracking the second segment of the Key to Time, the Doctor, Romana and K9 arrive on Zanak, a seemingly prosperous world secretly hollowed out and materialised around other planets by a cyborg tyrant known only as the Captain, who mines them for wealth before discarding their crushed remains. As the Doctor uncovers the true, monstrous scale of Zanak’s economy of planetary plunder, he must stop the Captain and the sinister intelligence secretly manipulating him from claiming the Key segment for their own ends.
Interesting Facts
- This was the first Doctor Who script by Douglas Adams, who would later create The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and go on to serve as the show’s script editor.
- Its concept of a hollow, planet-devouring world is often cited as one of the most audacious and imaginative science-fiction premises in the classic series.
- The Captain’s booming, cyborg pirate persona and his robot parrot Polyphase Avatron gave the story a distinctly theatrical, swashbuckling flavour.
- Adams’s script was heavily reworked during production, but its trademark wit and scale still shone through as an early sign of his later career.
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