The Pirate Planet

099 – The Pirate Planet
Doctor Who serial
Romana dicusses the Doctor with the Captain.
Cast
Doctor Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor)
Companions Mary Tamm (Romana) John Leeson (Voice of K9 Mk. II)
Others Bruce Purchase — The Pirate Captain Andrew Robertson — Mr Fibuli Rosalind Lloyd — Nurse David Warwick — Kimus David Sibley — Pralix Ralph Michael — Balaton Primi Townsend — Mula Clive Bennett – Citizen Bernard Finch – Mentiad Adam Kurakin – Guard
Production
Directed by	Pennant Roberts
Written by	Douglas Adams
Script editor	Anthony Read
Produced by	Graham Williams
Executive producer(s)	None
Incidental music composer	Dudley Simpson
Production code	5B
Series	Season 16
Length	4 episodes, 25 minutes each
Date started	30 September 1978
Date ended	21 October 1978
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → The Ribos Operation The Stones of Blood
List of Doctor Who serials

The Pirate Planet is the second serial of the 16th season in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 September to 21 October 1978. It forms the second serial of the Key to Time story arc. It was written by Douglas Adams, and featured some of his humour.

The Key to Time tracer points the Doctor and Romana to the cold and boring planet of Calufrax, but when they arrive they find an unusual civilisation that lives in perpetual prosperity. A strange band of people with mysterious powers known as the Mentiads are feared by the society, but the Doctor discovers that they are good people but with an unknown purpose. He instead fears the Captain, the planet's leader and benefactor. After meeting the Captain on the bridge he learns that they are actually on a hollowed-out planet named Zanak, which has been materialising around other planets to plunder their resources.

After repairing Zanak's engines, which were damaged when the planet materialised in the same place as the TARDIS, the Captain plans to take Zanak to Earth. The Doctor finds the true menace controlling the Captain is the ancient tyrant Queen Xanxia, disguised as the Captain's nurse, who uses the resources mined from planets in an attempt to gain immortality. Despite the Captain's apparent insanity, he is a calculating person who plans to destroy Xanxia. The Mentiads learn that their psychic powers are strengthened by the destruction of entire worlds beneath their feet.

Throughout Zanak, the Key to Time locator has been giving odd signals that seem to indicate that the segment is everywhere. Once the Doctor and Romana see the Captain's trophy room of planets, they conclude that Calufrax is the segment that they are looking for. They use the TARDIS to once again disrupt Zanak's materialisation around Earth while the Mentiads sabotage the engines. Xanxia kills the Captain when he finally turns against her. The Doctor, Romana, and the Mentiads destroy Zanak's bridge and Queen Xanxia, ending the devastation caused by Zanak's travels.