Series:
4
Episodes:
4
Doctor:
Patrick Troughton
Companions:
Ben Jackson (Michael Craze), Polly Wright (Anneke Wills), Jamie
McCrimmon (Frazer Hines)
Synopsis:
Landing in Scotland during April of 1746, the exploring TARDIS crew are quickly caught up
in the war between the Scotts and the British as they stumble into a
Scottish hut with a wounded Laird inside, and after Ben accidentally
alerts the British patrolling the area, they are taken captive by
redcoats. The Doctor feigns being a German physician and claims
neutrality, but the group is ultimately saved from hanging by British
Solicitor Grey and his hapless clerk Perkins, who transfer them to
nearby Inverness prison for slave labor purposes. The Doctor, Ben, Scotsman Jamie McCrimmon, and the Laird of his clan are taken away-
but Polly and the native Kirsty (who had avoided capture) manage to draw
Ffinch, the leader of the patrol that captured the others, into a pit
trap. There, they take him prisoner, stealing his papers and money.
At Inverness, the Doctor
discovers that the Laird bears the standard of Bonnie Prince Charley,
concealing it- the Doctor takes it, then incites the prisoners to a
rebellious state with his recorder and traditional Scottish tunes,
then convinces the guard that he has information on an upcoming rebel
insurgent attempt on the life of an English noble. Once taken to
Solicitor Grey, he tricks his way into incapacitating both Grey
(tying him up) and Perkins (playing on his hypochondriac fears) and
escapes. Grey, meanwhile, has ordered Trask, a sea captain, to take the
prisoners aboard his ship, the Annabelle- where they will be forced
to sign a life-long labor contract and be shipped to the Indies as slave labor.
Hapless Ffinch is found
and rescued by his men, who exploit him for cash- which has been
stolen- and he is returned to the Sea Eagle Inn, where Grey and
Perkins are staying, and next to which the Annabelle is docked. The
Doctor, disguising himself as an old woman (Note from Sarah: You'd think with a scene like that I would remember this one better....), investigates the
Annabelle, while aboard the ship, Ben, under the guise of reading the fine print,
tears up the contracts and is clapped in irons. The Doctor reunites
with Polly and Kirsty and they make their escape, lying low in a barn.
Polly hatches a plan to use the stolen money to buy weapons and
smuggle them aboard the Annabelle, to incite a prisoner revolt.
Ben escapes both the ship
and death after he is bound and thrown overboard, escaping his bonds
and swimming to shore, where the Doctor meets him in disguise. (Man,
I really wish I could’ve seen this one as a video!!!) The Doctor later allows
himself to be captured and uses a ring from Kirsty to perpetuate a
con that Bonnie Prince Charley in disguise is actually one of the
prisoners aboard the Annabelle. Solicitor Grey and Perkins are thus
lured aboard the ship… just in time for the prisoners to rise up
and fight off their captors. Trask attacks Ben in a grudge-based
duel, but Jamie subdues him and saves Ben’s life.
Kirsty is reunited with
her father, the Laird, while the once-captured Scotsmen take the ship (with
Perkins joining them in sailing to France, and safety) and the TARDIS
crew disembarks (along with Jamie, who joins the group with the
stated goal of teaching the Doctor to play the bagpipes, rather than
his beloved recorder) bearing Solicitor Grey as a hostage. Grey
proves a particularly troublesome one- attracting attention of
several redcoats and escaping in the ensuing fisticuffs. Instead, the
group returns to the Inn and blackmails poor, hapless Ffinch into
aiding them- who, along the route back to the TARDIS, is told the
tale of Grey’s illegal slave trade and dishonorable conduct. Nearly
to the TARDIS, the group is waylaid by redcoats, led by Grey- but
Ffinch takes charge and orders Grey arrested. Grey tries to wriggle
away by presenting the contracts (replacements drawn up for the ones
Ben destroyed), claiming that since the captured men agreed to become
slaves by legal contract, he had done nothing wrong in taking slaves…
but the contracts have been pick-pocketed by the Doctor, and Grey,
unable to produce them, is hauled off to Inverness prison.
Review:
The Highlanders is a
mixed bag. On the one hand, it is of note for numerous landmarks in
the show- the introduction of Jamie, one of the longest-running
companions of the early years (who, if what I've read is correct,
will remain with the Second Doctor for the rest of his tenure) (NFS: It's weird reading this blog after we've already seen all of Jamie's adventures, he's definitely destined to be a favorite). It is
also the last true 'historical,' in which the Doctor and company get
involved in (sensationalized) actual historical events. Future
stories take place in the past, but always with alien intervention
or an alien twist, and seldom around specific historical events-
history becomes a backdrop or setting, instead of a story focus.
Despite these landmarks,
however, the story is dull and relatively simplistic- capture and
escape, cut and dried- with not even that many twists to it. Add to that
the fact that it's a recreation, and... well, there's not much to
offer in the way of 'compelling', 'thrilling', 'engaging', or even
'not boring'.
On the other hand,
though, the Doctor is fantastic in this serial- a master of gambits
and disguises, funny, clever... a worthy successor now coming into his
own! From his disguise as an old woman ("It'd be a shame to
waste good broth...") to his insane bamboozling medical doctor
routine ("That noise is all in your head. In your eyes!")
he is fantastic and proactive all throughout- this Doctor being part
secret agent, part comedian- he's a good sight less passive than the
first Doctor was, and very entertaining to boot- even as the
situation keeps going straight to heck, the Doctor instantly comes
into mastery of whatever the new situation may be. He always has a
plan, a way of working out of the danger, an idea, a plot...
qualities that typically are ascribed to the Seventh Doctor... except
done with great humor. I am officially a fan of the Second Doctor
(I'd put him above the Ninth AND Tenth at this time, from my sampling
of Doctors 1, 2, 9, 10, and 11... rising to 3rd on the second appearance? That's pretty impressive. That said... I haven't seen a
Doctor I don't like yet! But then, I haven't seen the Sixth yet...) (NFS: The Second Doctor is my favorite, FOREVER!)
Ben is his usual
headstrong, slightly-foolhardy-but-active self. He touches off a
needless confrontation by taking charge at the beginning, and in a
moment of careless idiocy, kicks off the whole capture by tossing the
pistol. He later tears up the contracts, an impetuous and somewhat
foolish move of defiance that is nonetheless courageous. All in all,
his heart is in the right place, but his actions are... rather
useless.
Polly comes off very
strongly here, though- taking charge in the Doctor's absence and
handling herself- and a hapless redcoat- quite effectively. One of
her strongest outings, and proving herself to be more proactive than
most female companions of the time. The humor subplot with Ffinch is
a lot of fun, as she repeatedly takes advantage of and blackmails the
helpless Captain.
Our Loose Canon
productions reconstruction was neither anything to complain about,
nor anything to write home about. It merely was. And, in what I
suspect will soon become a pattern with Troughton stories, this one
was a largely visual story (what with all the Doctor’s clowning
around) of which I suspect much has been lost due to its
slide-show format. The Second Doctor was hit the hardest in terms of
episodes lost, folks… so it begins. :-( (NFS: It's a testament to how good Patrick Troughton is that he can be our favorite and...we mostly can only HEAR him!)
Not much to say about The
Highlanders- historicals go out not with a bang, but a whimper- a
necessary bridge story to get Jamie aboard, and some hilarious Doctor
bits, save it from being useless like, say, the Savages or the
Smugglers, which practically drown in their own mediocrity (The
Savages being likewise saved by a great Doctor-performance… from
another actor! :-) )- but for the last historical, it’s really
just… not much.
Great moments:
The old woman, the
soldier, the German Doctor (and his ‘treatment’ of Grey and
Perkins)- every one of the Doctor’s impersonations.
Rating:
2 out of 5 Deadman’s
Keys to the serial- which would have been worse had it not been for
the Doctor’s broth-shilling old lady- and 2 as well for the
lackluster but serviceable reconstruction. (Perhaps I’ve simply
been spoiled!)
No comments:
Post a Comment