Day 514: The Creature from the Pit Part 1

There are a few things that immediately strike me about this story. One such thing is the fact that this is the first story of the series to be produced, something which normally wouldn't be worth mentioning, except that in this case it means that we are watching Lalla Ward's first performance as the new incarnation of Romana. It's not the performance that we normally associate with this version of the character, being aloof and looking down on everyone that she comes across, as opposed to the slightly more fun version that we're more used to. It's particularly odd because she gets a much firmer grip on the character in stories that were produced later, but shown earlier, meaning that we're getting a bit of character inconsistency that doesn't entirely work well for the story.

Another thing that strikes me about the story is the fact that it's the first story since The Robots of Death that I haven't seen before. It's odd to come to a story and have everything be unfamiliar again, with no prior impressions guiding my thoughts. That said, there is a certain 'reputation' about theis story that makes me a little bit nervous as we continue on to meet the Creature from The Pit.