 "The Creature from the Pit" was recorded entirely in studio and was the first story to be recorded for Season Seventeen, although it was transmitted third. 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 K9, replacing John Leeson.
Being the first story of the season to be recorded, but not the first to be transmitted, Lalla Ward’s performance and manner of dress as Romana is somewhat different than that seen in the previously broadcast stories, since she was still working out her character at the time.
This story was directed by Christopher Barry whose last Doctor Who credit had been on the 1976 story "The Brain of Morbius". Christopher Barry is one of the longest-serving contributors in Doctor Who history, though this story would be his last contribution to the show. He went on to helm episodes of All Creatures Great And Small, Juliet Bravo and The Tripods. Christopher Barry was largely retired by the late Eighties, although he did agree to direct the video spin-off "Downtime", made by Reeltime Pictures in 1995.
It has been reported that David Brierley reluctantly agreed to take the job of providing the voice of K9. He had mostly worked in theatre, but had also earned credits on radio and television, including Coronation Street and Armchair Theatre. He was not keen to voice K9, but was convinced to accept the role by Christopher Barry, who was a longtime friend of his. David Brierley would only voice K9 during this season as John Leeson, the original voice of K9, would return to this role in Season Eighteen.
Eileen Way, who had appeared as Old Mother in the very first Doctor Who story, the 1963 First Doctor story "An Unearthly Child", appears here as Lady Adrasta’s assistant Karela.
Geoffrey Bayldon, who played Organon, is better known playing the part of Catweazle in the LWT series of the same name and as the Crowman in Southern’s Worzel Gummidge - which stared Jon Pertwee. Geoffrey Bayldon had been a candidate on previous occasions for the role of The Doctor, and later voiced an alternate version of The Doctor in the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who Unbound audio stories "Auld Mortality" and "A Storm of Angels" written by Marc Platt.
This was his final appearance in the show for Terry Walsh, who played Doran in Part One. Since 1966, Terry Walsh had appeared in various roles - including the Fight Arranger and the stunt double for both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.
Former Doctor Who director Morris Barry played the small part of Adrasta’s engineer Tollund in the first episode. Morris Barry had helmed three stories in the Sixties most recent of which was the 1968 Second Doctor story "The Dominators".
Both Christopher Barry and visual effects designer Mat Irvine became concerned about the feasibility of the enormous Erato; another colossal Doctor Who monster, the giant squid Kroll, had been a notable failure in the previous year’s "Power of Kroll". During recording however, when the Erato costume arrived, a new problem was identified - the monster was unmistakeably phallic and so a hasty redressing was in order.
The Doctor finally discovers that Erato is an ambassador from the planet Tythonus, a more advanced world rich in metal, but which is rapidly depleting its vegetation. Tythonians consume chlorophyll and mineral salts, and Erato has been ‘starved’ for 15 years. Their life span is anything up to 40,000 years. Erato travelled to Chloris in a starship that was actually a woven ‘egg’ of living metal. They can only communicate via a pentagonal device which allows them to utilise another creature’s larynx. Erato measures time in ‘ninods’ of which 26 of them equals one hour and seven minutes.
The Doctor uses as stethoscope to listen to the metal egg. The Tenth Doctor is also known to have used a stethoscope when investigating strange goings-on.
It is revealed that Chloris is a primitive planet rich in plant life, but with little metal. Lady Adrasta has a monopoly on metal, although it seems that she does not rule the whole planet as Organon mentions being at the court of other rulers on the planet.
In David Fisher’s original script, Lady Adrasta was Queen Adastra, whose name meant ‘to the stars’ in Latin. Her name was changed by Douglas Adams.
At the beginning of this story The Doctor and K9 are seen reading "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by the famous children’s author Beatrix Potter.
The Doctor is heard to jokingly claim that Time Lords have ninety lives (and that he has used one hundred and thirty of his).
The Doctor is heard to say that his lucky number is 74,384,338.
The Doctor claims a ball of string Romana finds in the TARDIS helped Theseus and Ariadne out of the Minotaur’s maze.
It is revealed that the TARDIS can generate an external gravity tractor beam, which it is also revealed hasn’t been used for 12 years. The BBC Books’ The Eighth Doctor Stories novel "The Taking of Planet 5" features a vague reference to this story, regarding the use of this tractor beam.
Although The Doctor’s solution to the problem of the neutron star, weaving a shell of aluminium around it, has been criticised by many fans as silly, the idea was, it seems, proposed to David Fisher by members of the Cambridge University Institute of Astronomy.
This story is one of few that does not challenge The Doctor to decide the fate of the Earth or the universe. In this story the events concern just the politics of a single planet.
A clip of this story was used in the documentary "Synth Britannia" which was first broadcast on BBC 4 on the 16th October 2009.
The audiobook, read by Tom Baker, of the Target novelisation of this story, which was released by the BBC in April 2008, was broadcast, in seven parts, on BBC Radio 7 in April and May 2010.
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The Firsts:
The first story to feature K9 voiced by David Brierly.
The first story to be recorded for Season Seventeen.
The first time where the TARDIS is seen to use a tractor beam.
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(Position = 132 out of 159)
(Position = 184 out of 200)
(Position = 211 out of 241)
