Doctor Who: The Creature from the Pit (1979) written by David Fisher and directed by Christopher Barry
The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) has unintentionally landed (actually, the TARDIS auto-answered a distress call) on Chloris, a planet with a lot of vegetation and some strange, gigantic eggshell fragments near where they landed. The locals have a shortage of metals, except for Lady Adrasta (Myra Francis) who has control of the only mine. The mine has played out and is now used for dumping her enemies because there's a creature in the pit. The Doctor is intrigued about what is really going on, so he and Romana (Lalla Ward) investigate, which means the typical running around, getting into trouble, and saving the day.
The story has a lot of humor (it's from the period where Douglas Adams was script editor) and has some interesting mysteries. The pacing is a little faster than usual and Romana is very sharp and in control of her part of the story. She's much more of an equal to the Doctor than a damsel in distress. The creature is a big fake blobby thing, though they gave it an appendage in the first episode that looks ridiculously phallic. They toned that down for the subsequent three episodes of this four-parter. The final episode had some extra drama thrown in after the main baddie was vanquished.
Recommended for fans of the old Doctor Who--the comedy is pretty good, except for the unintentional comedy.
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