The Smugglers episode 4 discussion:
H: I bet that climax was really exciting.
A: Yeah.
H: I mean, it sounded really exciting.
R: Although that has to be the most muffled and disappointed shot in history when the Spaniard was killed. Everything else was “Blam blam!” but that was just “blorp, fumph.”
H: Which actually reminds me… I was going to talk about how clear most of the soundtrack is and how it was clearly sourced from two different takes. Most of it was very clear, but then some small parts were muffled, like the Spaniard’s death. But this was in generally phenomenal, as they were using 45-50 year old multiple generations of tapes.
Sc: I guess there was some suspense if the Squire would die or not, since he was a bad guy. A cynical person might say they could not kill a representative of the upper class. But the Squire did redeem himself, being a member of the upper class he has an inner life and can make moral choices.
H: So cynical this week.
Sc: Or you might say he is a “nobleman who has gone wrong.”
H: Speaking of quoted jokes, Ben’s line about “Polly, put the Kettle on” was a bit much. I suppose it was inevitable eventually.
M: I think he was just trying to cheer her up.
H: But clearly it was intended.
A: At some point we’ll probably hear him offer her a cracker.
<laughter>
P: A bunch of men go through the cave, pass by the TARDIS and pay no attention. What?
Cz: They walked around it.
P: But they didn’t stop and wonder why.
Cz: They just saw a big blue box.
M: The Harry Dresden defense here – they didn’t know what it was, so they didn’t see it.
P: So, because they couldn’t read they didn’t know what it was?
H: My thought was they were a little focused on their mission. Let’s kill the pirates first, then check this out.
Sc: What was with Blake falling off his horse? It seems unnecessary.
H: It might have explained why he was taking so long, and gave more time for exposition.
K: There was too much exposition in the total story. It could have been been a three parter.
H: I don’t think exposition means what you think it means.
K: I know what it means. But there was too much talking and stuff. Not enough action until this last episode.
M: Well, we just didn’t see the action because it was a recon. There was too much talking in the weird dialecting stuff.
H: Ye got lost in it?
M: Aye, I got lost in the “ye scarvy narve gargernugen.”
H: God bless you.
K: Any thoughts on the riddle?
P: I must admit, I did not follow the riddle very well. They were looking a grave sites at the end of the previous episode…
M: They didn’t know the fourth name. They did not realize that “Deadman” was a name until Cherub told them.
K: And then the Doctor knew enough to solve the riddle.
M: And I was disappointed that no one said “X marks the spot.”
H: The thing about this episode was that it was really one long sequence with small interruptions. Once you talk about the sequence and fight, there’s not much more to say.
P: So, “the coldest place on the planet” and then it said “The Tenth Planet” as the next title and I thought “No, the coldest place in the solar system, or galaxy.”
H: Final thoughts about the Smugglers in general?
A: I had a hard time following all four weeks. Maybe because it was a recon and I got spoiled by “The War Machines” with moving pictures.
H: We get moving pictures again next episode.
A: I kept forgetting that Polly was supposed to be a boy. I constantly amused by that.
P: I had trouble following the story also. I think part of it was coming off of vacation before this started. Also, I think that there were a lot of twisted in the story that depended very heavily on listening carefully to the dialog, and I was guilty of not being a good listener. The story arc itself was more detailed than most. I think that was the strength of this arc.
H: Yeah, I think that this was one of most complex stories that we’ve had since the Massacre.
P: Which, coincidently enough, was the previous serious historical.
<we’re not counting The Gunfighters as serious>
A: And music!
K: This story, folks. We already talked The Gunfighters to death. Ha ha.
Cz: This book <holds up book> was more interesting than this story.
H: Why do you think that?
Cz: <whine> Why are you making me think?
H: Moving on…
Sc: So, one thing that I notices was there was a theme of superstition in every episode.
H: And it’s interesting because the Doctor kind of validates the superstition at the end, which was kind of unusual.
M: Because everyone likes a good pirate curse.
H: There’s the answer. And no Black Spots anywhere around!
R: Overall I thought it was a decent story. But I’m pretty sure that a bunch of rabid horny pirates would have figured out that Polly was a girl.
H: Two be fair, only three pirates encountered her for any length of time.
Cz: One of them grabbed her!
M: I took it all as tongue in cheek. “Oh yes, the ‘lad’ you are traveling with.”
R: Decent episode, looking forward to the next one.
P: So, is this still a kids show? I think this story would have been missed by a lot of kids.
H: Yeah, the show was a still a family show by this point. Kids were reading about this stuff when this was on – classic pirate stories and stuff. Mini-Spoo, would you read books about exciting pirates?
MS: <nods yes>
A: I thought it seemed rather stabby for a kids show, but I’m looking at it from a point of view of a society where kid shows are getting more sanitized.
Sc: That’s a good point. TV did start to get more violent in the 60’s.
M: I laughed, I cried.
Cz: I don’t remember you laughing or crying.
M: Okay, I only laughed. I enjoyed it, it was a good pirate romp. The Doctor was clever and I’ll be sad to see Hartnell gone.
K: Well, I’m not really a fan of this story. I appreciated this last episode a lot better than the previous three. Thought they dragged on too much, and were too muddied with unnecessary plot. There was more plot than needed to get to good bits.
H: I didn’t think it dragged. I think it was a little slower than some of the stories before, but I don’t think that was detriment to the story itself. Had we seen some of the action, I think it would have been elevated a bit. There was likely lots of movement on the ship. I think the plot was nuanced in details, rather than dragging. But, with the exception of the Squire, I thought the characters were pretty simple. The Squire is the only character that actually grew or changed. And I’m really excited about the next story.
K: Agreed. 🙂
—
