After the much debated “holiday hiatus” Doctor Who returns to Canadian airwaves on Monday, January the 15th (Today!) @ 8pm.
And we want to hear your thoughts on this epsiode entitled:
The Beelzebub Box? , The Evil One’s Canister?, The Lucifer Locker?...um The Hellion’s Hole?, The Mephistopheles Mine?....er… The Beast’s Basement?, El Diablo’s Agujero!!?! ....ah!...
THE SATAN PIT!!!
Posted by Rod on Monday, January 15 at 5:06 pm
Rise And Fall (Spring 2011 season reviews): Enlightenment reviews the stories from Season… um, it’s 6.1 this year, right? Plus:
We’ve had a number of queries from members regarding the delayed publication of Enlightenment this year. The DWIN Executive wants to share the following message concerning Enlightenment with DWIN members. Read more
For the first time in Canada, the Doctor Who Christmas Special will actually air on Christmas Day! December 25 at 9pm
Following the wedding at the top of an Ancient Ameri-Egyptian Pyramid, you are now cordially invited to attend the reception below…
The TARDIS Files are popping in to see an old friend before they have to go…
51 Comments...
The DVD in the box delayer.
Posted by Ryan on 01/16 at 06:33 AM
Erg.
But man what a good episode! We seriously need more “off-Earth” stories in Doctor Who. It was so refreshing, and exciting… alas that’s not in the cards…
Posted by Rod on 01/16 at 06:13 PM
How about ‘Planet of Evil: Revisited’? Can anyone say remake? Too many stories are borrowing major ideas from a lot of the original series, if people want to sit back and think on that for a while. And the Ood… I mean, what the hell? No, seriously, what the hell??? When I first saw them in the first episode I thought we were getting the millennium version of the Sensorites. Admittedly, the devil creature thing was impressive (but so were some of the puppets in the original series), but what did he do other than scream? Watch these two episodes again, along with Planet of Evil, then tell me how different they are. Not impressed! Can’t wait for Love & Monsters. Actually, I can.
Posted by PersonalPrivate on 01/16 at 06:33 PM
Ok. Planet of Evil has a big hole. So does the Satan Pit. Planet of Evil’s hole was a gateway into an Anti-matter universe, The Satan Pit wasn’t. This one had a “monster” locked up in it, Evil did not. Although Evil had Professor Sorenson “turning” into an Anti-Matter man, Satan Pit had the virgin “turning” into Satan. In this case Satan was “possessing” and controlling the character, while in Evil it was more of an infection/transformation ala Jekyll and Hyde. If anything Evil is a riff on The Forbidden Planet. While the Ood could be compared to the Robots in Robots of Death, and so on. So I disagree with your claim that Satan Pit is a complete rip of Evil…
...oh and the Satan Monster screamed because his “mind” was in the body of Toby, the monster creature was just the “body”. I can buy that.
Posted by Rod on 01/16 at 06:56 PM
Off earth or out of the solar system?
Ain’t gonna happen.
Posted by mike on 01/16 at 08:21 PM
And so the debating starts…
Ok, I’ll make this quick as I don’t want to make this a big deal. I agree, both Planet of Evil and Satan Pit had big holes. However, if you recall, when Tom Baker fell into the hole, what was there? Yes, the anti-matter monster. Like Sorenson in Planet of Evil, the virgin guy in Satan Pit was an extention of the creature it was being controlled by. Both creatures in both stories had the desire to escape their confinements. There were too many similarities with this storyline, in my opinion.
Hey man, it’s cool that you “fought back” as it were. That’s the great thing about opinions… no one is necessarily right or wrong, but we all have them. I wish more people would share them.
Posted by PersonalPrivate on 01/16 at 08:29 PM
I didn’t say you were wrong. I just disagree.
as I do with this statement:
“extention of the creature it was being controlled by. Both creatures in both stories had the desire to escape their confinements”
I don’t believe Sorensen was an Extension of the Anti-Matter creature but rather becoming one. Infected, as it were.
And I don’t believe the Anti Matter Creature was trying to escape, IT wanted the return of the “stolen” Anti-Matter… hence the Doctor’s agreement with it down in the “pit”. The creature would not let the ship leave with the anti-matter on board, it had nothing to do with Escape.
Howz that for a “fight back”? Haha. Just kidding.
Posted by Rod on 01/16 at 08:37 PM
Loved the set design on this one. Even all of the cast were great.
After watching this episode and reading the comments, I definitely agree that there should be more stories that take place off PRESENT DAY Earth.
Watching the preview of next episode I’m not thrilled it’s back to the present. There’s always the crew at Torchwood Three (Cardiff) to handle those stories.
Posted by Gajo on 01/16 at 08:46 PM
Ok man, the gloves are coming off now… just kidding!
True, Sorenson was infected by the anti-matter monster, thus becoming an extention of the creature itself. Remember all those little anti-matter Sorenson creatures in the ship? There you go! And, the virgin guy became consumed by the devil thing in Satan Pit, hence the reason why it only stupidly growled at David Tennant. So even though it still existed in its physical form as a growling nuisance, virgin boy became an extension of the creature as its soul, if you will, was projected into him. The Ood weren’t extensions but merely puppets. However, if I wanted to be a pain in the ass, I could say that they too were like extentions of the creature, as were the anti-matter Sorenson creatures were in Planet. Speaking of the Ood… did anyone else notice how quickly they moved their asses in the tunnel, yet in wide open spaces they were as slow as molasses?
Hey man, I got to thank you. This is seriously my first debate ever in my life over Doctor Who. I hope you’re happy now! LOL!
Posted by PersonalPrivate on 01/16 at 09:35 PM
I don’t believe that Toby was an extension of the Satan monster…he WAS the Satan monster. He was possessed. If he was an “extension” then the big monster would have been able to speak. I don’t believe that the Satan Monster was in both places at the same time, the essence…the important controlling bits, were in Toby. That was his means, and plan of escape. The BODY would have been destroy, had his plan worked. While the Anti-Matter creatures’ purpose was to return the anti-matter and/or destroy the thieves and therefore stopping the theft of the anti-matter from the planet/pit/anti-universe thingy. Although I’ll could conceed that MAYBE the anti-matter creatures, and Sorensen/Anti-matter man were under the control of the Big Anti-Matter monster (but feel that the creatures were more primal, and self aware/serving/instinctual)...
I however don’t conceed to your claim that IT wanted to Escape, as Satan did.
That was your main point and I cannot agree.
The Idea of one creature controlling another is not new to Doctor Who and cannot be the sole reference to support the claim that Satan Pit was a remake of Planet of Evil. If the escape idea was true…then maybe. But it’s not. Sorry bro.
Posted by Rod on 01/16 at 09:54 PM
Hey man,
I just have to ask, were you at “Who Party 7” I think it was, back in 1997, with Anneke Wills and John Levene? I think I remember you. LOL!
Anyway, it’s all cool! I think there’s a lot of Planet of Evil similarities, but you don’t. It’s cool. We could probably be at this for days and not get anywhere, except maybe scaring away other potential comments from other people.
It was fun. We’ll have to do it again sometime.
Posted by PersonalPrivate on 01/16 at 10:06 PM
Indeed I was. But I don’t remember an attendee called “Personalprivate”.
LOL.
It was a fun event, and DWIN hopes to do another at some point. Check out www.dwin.org for updates…if and when they are forthcoming.
As for the debate…. well, it wouldn’t be a debate without two different POVs!
One would hope that people either lurk and be amused or join in, and not be “scared off”. Anywho… was fun.
Posted by Rod on 01/16 at 10:17 PM
“If there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last.”- Anton Chekhov
Rose proved that well enough.
I liked what the Doctor said, that he hadn’t seen everything. “...that’s why I keep traveling – to be proved wrong.”
A nitpick, that opening the overhead grate of the air duct right when it’s necessary kind of means the ducts aren’t airtight at all, are they? Oh well.
Posted by Randalt on 01/17 at 12:43 AM
I don’t care if The Satan Pit is a ripoff of some story from the seventies or not. The important thing is that it rocked well.
Posted by John on 01/17 at 03:30 PM
I try to maintain the frame-of-mind that Doctor Who (2005) is a reboot of the concept, not merely a continuation of the old show. It’s similar to Battlestar Galactica, new and old, in that regard. So the new Doctor Who may very well recycle concepts, events, etc. from the original series if they were good ideas in the first place.
How would Russell T. Davies respond to the assertion that The Satan Pit was similar to Planet of Evil? “So what? There’s only about 100 fans of the original Doctor Who in the whole wide world who would notice!”
Posted by Jean-Paul Samson on 01/17 at 09:52 PM
Of course only 100 fans of the original series are going to notice - we’re all old now. I can’t wait for Rod to say, “Speak for yourself!” lol!
But, I could also say, why does Russell T. Davies, as a gay writer, constantly and continually feel the need to make a point by making everything he writes gay? Why make the whole series an Eastenders melodrama?
My point is… If you’re going to revive a television show like Doctor Who, especially at a time when a lot of great tools are at your disposal - why not just go for it, instead of re-hashing a lot of old ideas!? Of course a lot of people are going to think the Impossible Planet & the Satan Pit were incredible stories. In a way they were, considering the majority of the Eccleston/Tennant stories have been Earthbound to begin with. The majority of Jon Pertwee’s stories were Earthbound stories. His worked - these do not. I still get a thrill watching Pertwee’s stories now. I can’t honestly say I will feel the same way in ten years time about Aliens of London or World War Three. Jackie Tyler and company are not UNIT. Let’s not have a repeat of that in Series 3 with the new companion - it’s wearing thin!
So yes, I’m sticking to my guns. Eventually, this new series will burn itself out. It won’t by any means sustain the longevity the original series had. This series has so much more opportunity than the original series ever had, but it’s burning itself out at both ends. I give it less than ten years on air… and I think I’m being more than generous here.
Posted by Personal Private on 01/18 at 03:48 PM
Gay? The Doctor is straighter than ever.
Posted by John on 01/18 at 04:42 PM
Well… even if the series does ONLY run 10 years…in today’s market 10 Years is an incredibly long time. 10 Years of new Who is a great success. I agree that we need more “space” stories… I don’t agree that these stories “don’t work”. There have been weak stories, and strong ones… much like the classic series.
Posted by Rod on 01/18 at 04:55 PM
OH MY GOD! I give up! Seriously!
Posted by personalprivate on 01/18 at 04:57 PM
I also prefer the UNIT family over the Tyler family.
Posted by Rod on 01/18 at 05:04 PM
Well Rod,
Now that you’ve said that, it’s all been worth it. LOL! I think I remember you from Who Party 1993 as well, with Frazer Hines and Sarah Sutton. Weren’t you dressed as a yeti? LOL!
Posted by personalprivate on 01/18 at 05:27 PM
Who are you? And I was dressed as a Wolf Weed.
-Rod
Posted by Rod on 01/18 at 08:32 PM
LOL!
Were you really? I was only kidding you man! However, I was really there, and I assumed you were too! I even had Sarah and Frazer sing, ‘Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son’, to me. Yes, the cat’s out of the bag now. My name is Tom. Honestly though, I don’t know you. So don’t lose any sleep over it, ok?
Posted by personalprivate on 01/19 at 12:10 AM
“Were you really? I was only kidding you man!”
I was kidding. I never costume.
“However, I was really there, and I assumed you were too!”
And like I said, I was there too. Great event, but I don’t remember the sing-along. Must have been busy doing something else.
Posted by Rod on 01/19 at 12:18 AM
Oh, you’re a tricky one! Making me give up personal information like that. Bad Rod. lol!
It wasn’t an actual sing-along. Frazer noticed my name tag during the picture taking festivities and started singing, and then Sarah just had to join in. It was very embarrassing, but it made me smile… it doesn’t take much.
Anyway, this is totally getting off topic. Maybe you should do a separate blog for people and their memories of Who Party events. That would be so cool.
Later!
Posted by personalprivate on 01/19 at 12:28 AM
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