The TARDIS is marooned onboard a 17th-century pirate ship and the Doctor is soon being forced to walk the plank at gunpoint. But things are about to get much, much worse...
Beset by terror and cabin fever, the pirates have numerous superstitious explanations for the appearance of a mysterious Siren. The Doctor has other ideas but as every plan of escape is thwarted, he must win the trust of the implacable Captain Avery and uncover the truth behind the pirates' supernatural fears - and he must work quickly because some of his friends have already fallen under the Siren's spell...
(from the BBC site)
It's time for me to do some catching up. Another episode has aired since this one appeared.
It is obvious that "The Curse of the Black Spot" was done to help pull in fans of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. Does that make this a bad episode? Not necessarily.
Any time a pirate gets cut, a black spot appears on their hand. Shortly thereafter the Siren manifests and takes the pirate. When the Doctor and his companions (Amy and Rory) arrives he knows that there has to be a logical explanation. Rory gets cut and the action kicks into high gear. Amy goes all out to become a pirate and try to save the boys. She does a good job with the action sequences.
"Curse" is a more traditional straight forward Doctor Who episode. Some fans will like it more than the two parter that opened the season. I liked this one but enjoyed the two parter more. The storytelling in it was challenging and demanded more from the viewer.
Once again the special effects are fantastic for a television series. This season has featured some of the best effects.
A solid episode that will be followed by "The Doctor's Wife" (the Neil Gaiman scripted story).
3 comments:
Jim, just stumbled on your site. Great stuff. It's nice to see other sci-fi blogs out there. I haven't had a chance to watch the new season of Doctor Who, but I'm looking forward to it, especially the episode Neil Gaiman wrote. I'll make sure to keep up with your site though!
Thank you for the kind words.
You might want to check out another sf site the I follow: Visions of Paradise (http://visionsofparadise.blogspot.com/). You will find reviews of similar fiction there. We share many of the same favorite authors.
Didn't read this, but had to comment because my wife and I are finally back to watching Dr. Who and are trying to get caught up. We have a long way to go. We are one episode away from closing the door on season two. Its fun getting in the Dr. Who mood again, I missed it.
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