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Recap / Doctor Who S4 E1 "The Smugglers"

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The Smugglers

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smugg_6549.jpg
Please, you think you can intimidate Hartnell with a knife? This man has crossed swords with fanatical crusaders on a pair of rheumatic knees and lived to tell the tale!
Written by Brian Hayles
Directed by Julia Smith
Production code: CC
Air dates: 10 September - 1 October 1966
Number of episodes: 4

The Doctor: You are now travelling through time and space.
Ben: Yes, well, make sure I get back by tea-time!

The One With… pirates.


Season four kicks off with another historical tale, this time in 17th century Cornwall as the Doctor and new companions Polly and Ben get involved in a search for hidden treasure, smuggling and kidnap - all the pirate movie staples, but this time in Cornwall instead of the Caribbean.

The Doctor inadvertently hears a rhyme telling the location of the treasure and is kidnapped by the pirates. He escapes, but is eventually forced to tell them the rhyme anyway, and the treasure is found - just as the feared "Revenue Men" turn up with the local militia. In the ensuing fight, most of the pirates are killed and the travellers make their escape.

Surprisingly, we won't be seeing much more of the Doctor as we know him now during this season. Because something very strange is about to happen with the Doctor for the first time...

Tropes

  • Anachronism Stew: Cherub yells, "A free trip to Davy Jones' locker", a phrase that wasn't in widespread use until a hundred years later. Similarly, the pirates refer to the Doctor as "sawbones", which originates from the 1830s.
  • Big Bad: Captain Samuel Pike, the leader of the pirates.
  • Bound and Gagged: Polly and later Ben.
  • Buried Treasure: The rhyme the Doctor hears tells the way to Avery's hidden treasure.
  • Chromosome Casting: Polly is the only female character in this story. Anneke Wills pointed this out in the DVD Commentaryinvoked of "The War Machines" and remarked that she was rather annoyed about it.
  • Darker and Edgier: Even by later standards, there's a lot of graphic death in this one.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: The Doctor has one, at the start of the Story?
    The Doctor: "See that Scanner? What is what I call the Scanner!"?
  • Distressed Dude: Yep, this is the first time the Doctor gets explicitly kidnapped (it's even commented upon many times), but it won't be the last.
  • Eek, a Mouse!!: Polly doesn't mind time travel, or even being locked up on suspicion of murder, but her bravado comes crashing down when she spots a rat in her cell.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: The Squire is more than happy to smuggle goods to get rich and avoid paying the taxes on them, but he draws the line at piracy and murder.
  • Hook Hand: Captain Pike
  • I Call It "Vera": Cherub's knife 'Tommy Tickler'
  • Lady Looks Like a Dude: Because she's wearing trousers and has her hair tucked into her cap, everyone mistakes Polly for a young boy instead of a woman. She calls herself Paul.
  • Long John Shout-Out: Pike is an Expy of Long John Silver, only with a missing hand instead of a leg. He even uses Silver's Verbal Tic "and you may lay to that" on one occasion.
  • Oh, Crap!: Jamaica has been tricked into letting Thete and Kewper overpower him. Then he realizes Pike is going to kill him for his failure.
    Jamaica: Captain! I beg thee! NO! *gasps*
  • Pirate Booty
  • Pirate Episode
  • Prophecies Rhyme All the Time
  • Secret Underground Passage: The smugglers use one that leads from a cave on the beach up to the church.
  • Sweet Polly Oliver: Polly is dressed fashionably for the 1960s in trousers and a cap. When she goes back in time to pirate Cornwall, the locals mistake her for a boy, which she admits to the Doctor makes her feel 'very odd'. The Doctor tells her it's better she go along with it for her own safety, as pirates do not tend to be kind to women.
  • You Have Failed Me: The Doctor and Jacob Kewper have played Jamaica, overpowered him, and gotten clean away. Captain Pike very calmly dispatches him.

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