The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Smugglers
The Smugglers - Part One (10/09/06)
Well, it's back and we're starting with an Historical! Yay! Doesn't seem as long a break as last summer - I'll have to check the dates.
Anyhow, Polly and Ben have joined the Doctor and travelled back to the Seventeenth Century. Polly used her 'recognise Cornwall' skill but it took them both a while to figure out they actually had travelled back in time. Classic line from the Doctor this week: "You see that scanner up there? That's what I call a scanner.". Um, right you are, Bill.
Lots of Cornish accents and pirates going 'Arrr!' and Polly's been mistaken for a lad. The Doctor got kidnapped by some pirates cuz an ex-pirate told him three words - 'Smallwood, Ringwood, Gurney', and Polly and Ben have been arrested by the Squire for the ex-pirate/Churchwarden's murder though the real murderer was the caretaker from Grange Hill.
A rather light and fun episode, a million miles from the last two rather dull season openers. Hope this is indicative of things to come!
The Smugglers - Part Two (17/09/06)
Lots of action focusing on Polly and Ben this week, while the Doctor took the secondary plot on board the Black Albatross (how come pirate ships are always the Black something?) discussing the plot. Polly and Ben are really quite good as companions working together better than any coupling since Ian and Barbara. Polly came up with a way of fooling their prison guard using 'magic' and superstition, then Ben got to do some actiony stuff at the church capturing what turns out is an officer of the King's Revenue.
Then there was the Innkeeper who may or may not be a villain trying to make a deal with Captain Pike on behalf of the greedy Squire who's after cheap imports smuggled via the church. They captured Polly who was trying to prove Ben and her own innocence, returned to the church and have pulled a gun on Ben.
A pretty good episode and much more fun than some of the more serious or farcical Historicals of the past. A bit Romanticised, but nevertheless a really good, light-hearted adventure.
The Smugglers - Episode Three (24/09/06)
A bit of a slow episode this week. Lots of running around and explaining stuff and solving the mystery, but it leaves me wondering how they'll fill 25 minutes next week. The Doctor did a bit of card reading (which was different, in a cool way, and shows he's still the same wily old goat we met three years ago) before escaping and finding Polly and Ben. The King's Revenue man seems to be the only other good guy in this - everyone else (eg. the Squire, the Pirates, the Innkeeper) seems to be obsessed with treasure.
Speaking of which, the Doctor misquoted the Deadman's secret (leading to the treasure) changing one name to Smallbeer (possibly inspired by Polly's discovery on a gravestone referring to the deceased's liking of alcohol). Pike killed Jamaica, and the conclusion had the Doctor et al. ambushed in the crypt by Cherub who killed Kewper and shot someone!
Not bad in retrospect! Plus Polly and Ben make great companions - the best relationship between two travellers since Ian and Barbara!
The Smugglers - Episode Four (01/10/06)
A rather good episode this time round, though not much happened. There were some good sword fights and a lot of double crossing. Pike eventually killed Cherub for his treachery, the Squire repented, the pirates fought amongst themselves and Blake, the Revenue man, turned up with the Militia to overpower Pike in the last few minutes. Ben actually said "Polly, put the kettle on", but I suppose someone had to at some point - better sooner than later.
All in all, this was a good story, but not as good as previous Historicals. Still, it's an aspect of history they hadn't explored before and was well presented with lots of buckles being swashed and some good set pieces (Polly and Ben duping the stable boy in Part Two; the Doctor's first meeting with Pike...). A little more graphic than last year's Historicals - there were a lot of on-screen murders (Jamaica, Cherub, Pike), but this made up for it being more Romantic than gritty (in comparison to, say, the French story last year). A good start to the new season!
Well, it's back and we're starting with an Historical! Yay! Doesn't seem as long a break as last summer - I'll have to check the dates.
Anyhow, Polly and Ben have joined the Doctor and travelled back to the Seventeenth Century. Polly used her 'recognise Cornwall' skill but it took them both a while to figure out they actually had travelled back in time. Classic line from the Doctor this week: "You see that scanner up there? That's what I call a scanner.". Um, right you are, Bill.
Lots of Cornish accents and pirates going 'Arrr!' and Polly's been mistaken for a lad. The Doctor got kidnapped by some pirates cuz an ex-pirate told him three words - 'Smallwood, Ringwood, Gurney', and Polly and Ben have been arrested by the Squire for the ex-pirate/Churchwarden's murder though the real murderer was the caretaker from Grange Hill.
A rather light and fun episode, a million miles from the last two rather dull season openers. Hope this is indicative of things to come!
The Smugglers - Part Two (17/09/06)
Lots of action focusing on Polly and Ben this week, while the Doctor took the secondary plot on board the Black Albatross (how come pirate ships are always the Black something?) discussing the plot. Polly and Ben are really quite good as companions working together better than any coupling since Ian and Barbara. Polly came up with a way of fooling their prison guard using 'magic' and superstition, then Ben got to do some actiony stuff at the church capturing what turns out is an officer of the King's Revenue.
Then there was the Innkeeper who may or may not be a villain trying to make a deal with Captain Pike on behalf of the greedy Squire who's after cheap imports smuggled via the church. They captured Polly who was trying to prove Ben and her own innocence, returned to the church and have pulled a gun on Ben.
A pretty good episode and much more fun than some of the more serious or farcical Historicals of the past. A bit Romanticised, but nevertheless a really good, light-hearted adventure.
The Smugglers - Episode Three (24/09/06)
A bit of a slow episode this week. Lots of running around and explaining stuff and solving the mystery, but it leaves me wondering how they'll fill 25 minutes next week. The Doctor did a bit of card reading (which was different, in a cool way, and shows he's still the same wily old goat we met three years ago) before escaping and finding Polly and Ben. The King's Revenue man seems to be the only other good guy in this - everyone else (eg. the Squire, the Pirates, the Innkeeper) seems to be obsessed with treasure.
Speaking of which, the Doctor misquoted the Deadman's secret (leading to the treasure) changing one name to Smallbeer (possibly inspired by Polly's discovery on a gravestone referring to the deceased's liking of alcohol). Pike killed Jamaica, and the conclusion had the Doctor et al. ambushed in the crypt by Cherub who killed Kewper and shot someone!
Not bad in retrospect! Plus Polly and Ben make great companions - the best relationship between two travellers since Ian and Barbara!
The Smugglers - Episode Four (01/10/06)
A rather good episode this time round, though not much happened. There were some good sword fights and a lot of double crossing. Pike eventually killed Cherub for his treachery, the Squire repented, the pirates fought amongst themselves and Blake, the Revenue man, turned up with the Militia to overpower Pike in the last few minutes. Ben actually said "Polly, put the kettle on", but I suppose someone had to at some point - better sooner than later.
All in all, this was a good story, but not as good as previous Historicals. Still, it's an aspect of history they hadn't explored before and was well presented with lots of buckles being swashed and some good set pieces (Polly and Ben duping the stable boy in Part Two; the Doctor's first meeting with Pike...). A little more graphic than last year's Historicals - there were a lot of on-screen murders (Jamaica, Cherub, Pike), but this made up for it being more Romantic than gritty (in comparison to, say, the French story last year). A good start to the new season!
Another story underrated by sheer virtue of its absence. True, it's no masterpiece, but it is better than expected, and as you rightly point out, it's a good first fully-fledged-companions story for Ben and Polly. Both Anneke Wills and Michael Craze benefitted from William Hartnell's role being scaled back in his last few stories, and from being the audience touchstone in Patrick Troughton's first story, but as soon as Jamie was introduced the characters suffered and, save for a few moments here and there, they were never the same again. So it's nice to see them at their ingenuous and ingenious best here early in their run.
ReplyDeleteI think they work incredibly well together, sort of like Ian and Barbara or Mulder and Scully - one more open minded and the other fairly sceptical. I like the fact that, having helped the Doctor defeat WOTAN, their first story as companions is set in the past and gives them chance to take in that the Doctor's machine can teleport them to Cornwall, but allows the fact that they're actually several hundred years in their past time to be discovered and sink in. Likewise, the next story is in Earth's future so they're practically seasoned travellers by the time they visit another planet.
DeleteIn retrospect, Season Four is one of my favourite seasons of the Classic era, but I think it a shame that Jamie was introduced so soon. It may have been better if they had delayed airing The Highlanders until after The Underwater Menace and The Moonbase, not had to rewrite those stories and allowed time for Pat to settle in alongside Anneke and Michael. Unfortunately, I imagine that the episodes were being recorded so close to transmission that this was basically impossible.
Of the first four seasons, I think this is my favourite opener. It possibly vies with Tomb as best start of the 60s. An Unearthly Child is great, but following the first episode it gets a bit dull.