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The Doctor: David Tennant
Rose Tyler: Billie Piper
Mr Jefferson: Danny Webb
Zachary Cross Flane: Shaun Parkes
Toby Zed: Will Thorp
Ida Scott: Claire Rushbrook
Danny Bartock: Ronny Jhutti
Scooti Manista: Myanna Buring
The Ood: Paul Kasey
Voice of The Beast: Gabriel Woolf
Voice of the Ood: Silas Carson
Synopsis:
A demonic being controls The Ood, willing them to kill the crew of the
mining station.. while 10 miles underground, The Doctor descends into a
gigantic pit...
The Satan Pit continues the excellent work begun last week in The Impossible
Planet, with telepathic slave race The Ood now being controlled by a demonic
entity beneath the planet's surface - and under orders to kill the crew. As
Rose and the crew try to defeat them, The Doctor makes a descent into the
pit.
After a shaky start, in which a lot of last week's tension and expectation
is extinguished, only to be replaced with tired sequences of people
scurrying around inside air vents, The Satan Pit soon regains momentum to
deliver memorable scenes and fine examples of Doctor Who morality.
There are emotional death scenes sprinkled throughout the show, although the
writing often embraces the sci-fi clichés of deaths that involve slow
stragglers, hatches that can't open for the good of the majority, and verbal
obituaries from the Captain.
Still, for every moment of laughably forced humanity delivered with total
seriousness, there are some decent monologues to keep the balance right,
particularly when The Doctor discusses the human impulse to explore
dangerous environments out of sheer curiosity.
Matt Jones' writing affords David Tennant some jucier moments to relish;
likewise Billie Piper, although the latter's assuming command of a
futuristic crew rings totally false. No matter, as Piper gives her best
performance of the year upon hearing The Doctor's supposed death/loss. As an
actress, she can definitely rise to the challenge of big emotions (and death
doesn't come much bigger), so I only hope the writers create more situations
for Rose to show her mettle in a believable manner, instead of flashing a
toothy grin every five minutes and delivering misplaced gags.
The visual-effects are just as strong as last week, with the new space
sequences and a rocket take-off being fine additions to the Who canon. But
the most striking and accomplished visual (perhaps of the entire show up
till now) comes in the form of The Beast itself - a gigantic horned demon
chained inside the titular pit (right).
A combination of Lord Of The Rings' Balrog
and The Darkness from Legend (with a hint of Jason & The Argonauts), it's a
stunning CGI achievement that increases the sense of grandeur further,
making The Satan Pit particularly epic. Of course, the downside is that it
illustrates just how comparatively pedestrian and childish the rest of the
series has been (New Earth and School Reunion the biggest offenders).
Overall, this is a strong continuation that only falters with some sloppy
clichés in the first ten minutes. By the time the action has built up its
momentum again, culminating in the excellent Beast sequence with The Doctor,
then The Satan Pit is a guaranteed favourite.
It was also interesting to see an episode conclude without a
neatly-explained denouement from The Doctor, who instead admits some of the
mysteries will never be solved (well, I'm sure the religious connotations
also had something to do with it…)
If you also forgive an extremely unlikely plot contrivance with the TARDIS
in the closing moments, you can't deny The Satan Pit offers a level of
competence and scares rarely seen in Who these days…
NEXT WEEK: A man called Elton Pope becomes obsessed with finding The Doctor...
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Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Series 1 Boxset:
Synopsis:
A demonic being controls The Ood, willing them to kill the crew of the
mining station.. while 10 miles underground, The Doctor descends into a
gigantic pit...
The visual-effects are just as strong as last week, with the new space
sequences and a rocket take-off being fine additions to the Who canon. But
the most striking and accomplished visual (perhaps of the entire show up
till now) comes in the form of The Beast itself - a gigantic horned demon
chained inside the titular pit (right).
