The Highlanders episode 3 discussion:
M: Perkins made a not very intimidating Vader to Grey’s Tarkin.
R: <in a bad accent> “Don’t be so impressed with this tin plated terror, you’ve created Doctor!”
M: The TARDIS is nothing compared to the power of the force? I grow tired of asking, so this is the last time – where is the hidden Scottish prince?
R: This whole episode had kind of a Monty Python feel.
H: Only because the Doctor was dressed as a woman.
R: No, not only because the Doctor was dressed as a woman.
E: I thought that was actually bad ass. It took some guts to pull that off.
M: Hey Fa-Finch, wink wink. Say no more!
R: I’m not saying it to belittle the episode. I enjoyed it a lot, and it was genuinely very funny.
H: Except the parts that weren’t intended to be.
M: I thought it had less humor than last week. More of the dark stuff from the first episode.
R: Something about the bad pirate accents, and the cross dressing, and the various other comedies of errors that took place. It just felt very Python. But there was also some very good drama. The whole thing with Ben in the hold of the ship, and everyone looking around going “he’s English. He’s a spy.” God, that has got to be the dumbest way to die. “I’m also on board the slave ship, also in chains. Hi.”
M: Grey I thought was in full Baron Von Sinister mode.
R: It’s a shame that the war has curtailed his supply of mustache wax.
H: And how about bad ass Ben. That was a really gutsy move.
E: Yeah, I was like <gasp!>
K: Is Ben suicidal? Because ripping up that contract was a sure guaranteed way to get shot.
P: They wouldn’t waste a bullet on him for that, even then. They would find a more evil way of killing him.
R: Which, in fact, they have. Ducking is not a terribly pleasant way to die.
K: Still, my point is made. Ben is suicidal! Or stupid.
M: I think the word you are looking for is heroic.
H: He saw injustice, and decided it would not stand. The Doctor has rubbed off on him.
P: Or being a sailor he knows what will happen next historically.
H: And Polly continues to show her resourcefulness. And interestingly the Doctor continues in this story to be relatively passive, and having to appear to be goaded into action.
M: Definitely a very different Doctor. Hard to imagine the first Doctor taking a nap when a companion is in peril. Unless he had not choice. It’s easy to imagine if he couldn’t do anything anyway.
R: It is much easier to imagine him saying “Well, yes, it’s a terrible shame. There’s nothing we can do. We should go back to the TARDIS.”
H: Actually, I can’t see Hartnell saying that personally, but I can see Troughton saying it. Not necessarily meaning it, but saying it.
R: I can remember several times when Hartnell was pretty willing to leave companions to lie in the bed that they made for themselves.
K: But Ben didn’t make a bed. None of what happened to him was his fault. Well, except the ducking – he could have avoided that by not tearing up the contract.
M: But then he made the choice to put the lives of all of the other men ahead of himself.
P: I thought that maybe knowing the tide schedule he would have bought himself another 12 or so hours.
R: I think that’s a lot cleverer than Ben is capable of.
M: Haters gotta hate.
H: I think that’s a fascinating idea, but I don’t really see any direct evidence of that in the script.
P: So the sets, I think again, were worth noting again. Even the dunking scene was clearly done over a large piece of water.
H: Probably in Ealing Film Studios.
R: I agree with you, I thought that the sets were especially good. I remember seeing the dunking and thinking “Wow, that’s really well done.”
P: I thought a lot of care was put into the stagecraft of the actors actually doing blocking during the scene.
K: How could you tell? It was random stills.
M: I think it shows that your brain was constructing a visual narrative out of the pieces that were there.
H: Demonstrating how good the recon was.
M: Or to the massive power of Photobug’s imagination.
P: Wait… so none of you saw them moving?
<stunned silence mixed with nervous laughter.>
H: Well… I liked the fog effect on some of the pictures. That was moving.
P: See!
R: And they zoomed a couple of times very dramatically.
M: At least there were no obviously appearing and disappearing characters. It was good the one time they used it, but it could have easily gotten comical if overused.
H: So, final thoughts?
Cz: The Doctor hasn’t grown on me yet. I’ve got nuttin’.
E: I don’t really have much to say, other than I think the Doctor was kind of bad ass in this episode.
H: Please explain.
E: Well, the way that he handled Perkins, for one. I kind of makes me wish there was the full episode so I could see his reaction. That was probably priceless. I can imagine the eyes now!
H: Yeah, I wish we could have seen the ducking scene.
K: I’m surprised the Australian censors didn’t provide us with that scene.
P: Okay, so you’re saying the pictures weren’t moving!
H: Yes, we are saying that.
P: Okay. I thought the plot had a glacial movement, it moved, it was really slow, you could see where it was going, but you couldn’t stop it either.
R: Wow, way to stick with the metaphor.
M: And about two-thirds of the way it calved an iceberg into the ocean.
K: I didn’t see where it was going regarding Ben. I still don’t know how they are going to rescue him, and they even have a plan now.
P: I think the plot is going to move to the rescue. And yes, now that we’ve talked about it, I can see that the Doctor has been working on this since the point that he knew they were on the ship. I think it’s a good example of how loyalty and this symbol of the ring are being translated into action.
K: You are being way heavy on the metaphors there. Your analysis of the plot is deep.
R: You see, like a boulder, picked up by a glacier, and deposited into the silt of a field. The ring will not be discovered until the glacier melts.
K: Brain hurts.
H: Speaking of the ring, did anyone else think, when they saw the picture of the Doctor holding it “My pressssious.”
K: Only because I heard you say that out loud when we were watching it.
M: My cross-contamination was all Star Wars in this episode. My thought – Go Polly! Go Polly!
I am once again loving that Polly is large and in charge.
H: To be fair, she’s not that large.
R: I loved the moment where she mentions having dressed as a boy the last time they went into the past, and Kirsty was all “wha???” The impression I got was that she was just very horrified and the idea that she was dressed as a boy.
H: I got more confusion than horror.
M: And then the Doctor mentioned, when they said they had 17 guineas that that was a fortune in this time period. So Kirsty is either thinking they are nuts… or I don’t know.
K: Or from THE FUTURE!
E: If it were me at some point, I would just throw my hands up in the air and go with it.
H: Wow, you’ve correctly divined Jamie’s character arc.
R: I wonder if Ben was smart enough to hold is breath before he went under.
K: Well, he is a sailor. Was that a double entendre?
H: No.
P: If he’s not smart enough to hold his breath before going under, then there’s no more damage that could be done before going without oxygen.
K: Are you saying he’s dumb?
P: Only if he doesn’t hold his breath.
R: No, just saying he’s pretty.
K: He is a blond, right? Stop me now.
H: Well, it is your turn.
K: I liked the previous episode more, because there was more funny. They have a plan, and I still can’t figure how they’re going to rescue Ben before he drowns. Particularly if they are napping at the time. But I am very interested in seeing how this is going to wrap up.
H: Speaking of wrapping up…
P: <pseudo beat-box sounds>
R: Nice segue Fozzie! Thank you Fozzie.
H: No, thank you. But seriously, folks, most of what I have to say has been covered already. I agree that less happened this week than last week. But the plot did advance nicely. I didn’t feel there was much padding going on. I’m looking forward to the next episode.
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