The Randomiser: The Creature from the Pit
Feb. 29th, 2016 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatOnce upon a time, if you read Doctor Who Monthly, The Celestial Toyroom and Doctor Who Bulletin, you could claim to have a pretty good handle on the opinion of UK Doctor Who fandom as a whole. Back in the 1980s, when I was doing this, I think it is fair to say that the vituperative parts of fandom were pretty scathing about the Graham Williams era but there was already a revisionist movement which wanted his stories reassessed. These days fandom is sufficiently decentralised I'm not sure it can claim to have an opinion, as such, about anything.
At any rate, I've always erred towards the revisionist camp when it comes to Graham Williams. I think most of his stories are at least moderately clever and amusing, even if they don't have the consistent quality of the Hinchcliffe stories that preceded them.
That said, Creature from the Pit really is bad.
Interestingly, I think the story has a pretty good script. The basic premise, of a planet with very few metals and an alien ambassador who wants to trade metal with them, is quite a clever one. There are also some nice touches in the script, in particular the slightly unworldly astrologer in the pit, but also some of the gags, such as the Doctor trying to read books on rock climbing while hanging from his scarf.
Sadly, this seems to be the story where the budgetry cuts Graham Williams was facing came home to roost. It isn't just the terribly unfortunate monster design, which is, admittedly, terribly unfortunate even for classic Doctor Who, where cheap-looking monster costumes are arguably part of the charm.
Terribly unfortunate monster design
But the really daming thing is that the whole story feels desperately under-rehearsed and ends up looking like the kind of amateur dramatic production put on by well-meaning but inexperienced university clubs. Fights are muddled and confusing. Extras shuffle around looking vaguely bewildered. Lalla Ward, never the strongest actor in a production, succeeds in cowing the metal scavengers by force of personality alone, only because it would seem, they consist of even worse actors than she is. The scavengers are clearly meant to be comedy yokel rebels but are toe-curlingly embarrassing to watch in nearly all their scenes rather than even slightly amusing. They are probably the worst aspect of Creature from the Pit.
It's sad in a way because the core of this script is far from stupid, even if it has some fairly stupid bits. The final effect is of a production that ran out time and what we see is the equivalent of an early run through before the performances (and monster costume) could be brought up to standard.
At any rate, I've always erred towards the revisionist camp when it comes to Graham Williams. I think most of his stories are at least moderately clever and amusing, even if they don't have the consistent quality of the Hinchcliffe stories that preceded them.
That said, Creature from the Pit really is bad.
Interestingly, I think the story has a pretty good script. The basic premise, of a planet with very few metals and an alien ambassador who wants to trade metal with them, is quite a clever one. There are also some nice touches in the script, in particular the slightly unworldly astrologer in the pit, but also some of the gags, such as the Doctor trying to read books on rock climbing while hanging from his scarf.
Sadly, this seems to be the story where the budgetry cuts Graham Williams was facing came home to roost. It isn't just the terribly unfortunate monster design, which is, admittedly, terribly unfortunate even for classic Doctor Who, where cheap-looking monster costumes are arguably part of the charm.
Terribly unfortunate monster design
But the really daming thing is that the whole story feels desperately under-rehearsed and ends up looking like the kind of amateur dramatic production put on by well-meaning but inexperienced university clubs. Fights are muddled and confusing. Extras shuffle around looking vaguely bewildered. Lalla Ward, never the strongest actor in a production, succeeds in cowing the metal scavengers by force of personality alone, only because it would seem, they consist of even worse actors than she is. The scavengers are clearly meant to be comedy yokel rebels but are toe-curlingly embarrassing to watch in nearly all their scenes rather than even slightly amusing. They are probably the worst aspect of Creature from the Pit.
It's sad in a way because the core of this script is far from stupid, even if it has some fairly stupid bits. The final effect is of a production that ran out time and what we see is the equivalent of an early run through before the performances (and monster costume) could be brought up to standard.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-03-01 11:49 am (UTC)On reflection I think it also suffers from not having enough story for 4 episodes. You could probably trim it down to 2 episodes and get something much better.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-03-01 12:38 pm (UTC)