We're about five years late for the pirate craze, aren't we?
A lot of other viewers have pointed out the Moffatiness of The Curse of the Black Spot. It's not one of Steven Moffat's episodes, and yet it is extremely Moffaty. The "monster" is a bit of technology gone wrong (and specifically a bit of medical technology, as in The Empty Child), it uses mirrors as portals to menace characters in the past (just like in The Girl in the Fireplace), it looks like a creature from human mythology and zaps people away across the dimensions with its touch (a bit like the Angels in Blink)...
And yet, throw in the fact that it's an emergency medical hologram and suddenly you're looking at a Star Trek sequel series. Star Trek: Voyager, I think. The juxtaposition of spaceship and olde worlde starts to look a lot like one of those many, many episodes in which the Enterprise's holodeck goes wrong, and the native characters fly off in a spaceship at the end just like Professor Moriarty did in that one Next Generation episode I distinctly remember seeing. It's a bit of a shame that we've come to this, sweeping up Gene Roddenberry's leavings.
There's not a hell of a lot else to say about this one. It's lacklustre. It passes the time, and it doesn't make any horrific gaffes (with the possible exception of Amy saving Rory's life with some CPR performed very badly and less than believably). It's just bland. Bland and a bit like Star Trek. Perhaps a 5 out of 10, perhaps less.
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7 comments:
It's very like a writing exercise, isn't it? 'Try to write like Steven Moffat.'
It does make a kind of horrible gaffe, at least in terms of continuity, inasmuch as one of the pirates steps outside for a bit and is never seen again, with no explanation whatsoever, if I recall correctly.
This is where this series' plot twists began to fall into place for me; as soon as one of the pirates (you see, can't remember their names) said that the siren only came after the sick, the ending was obvious. Nice to see Rory dying again; he surely wins some kind of prize for most frequent (near)deaths (not just in Who, but in the entirety of fiction, I'm willing to guess. I really can't think of a competitor). I did think the pirates flying into space was quite funny, though. Although not nearly funny as knowing that this episode was mostly filmed in Cornwall, for no apparent reason save perhaps for some continuity with *The Smugglers* (filmed on the next cove around, by the way). All in all, ein romp, if a little dull. 6/10
Matthew: Let us hope that that wasn't the actual script brief!
Pitsy: yes, the Incredible Vanishing Pirate, although I assume he was zapped by the Siren in a scene that got cut (in favour of keeping which other scenes in, bugger knows and probably best not to ask). I might also suggest in my defence that the episode is so dull, one pirate more or less in any given scene makes little difference, but that would just be mean.
I forgot about Yet Another Rory Death, which was something I meant to raise. But eh, I can pick that up again in the end of demi-season ramble. "Oh my god, they killed Rory!" Had no idea it was filmed in Cornwall - there weren't any location scenes, were there? I'd assumed it was all filmed on a set somewhere. That's what it looked like.
Oh yes, the exteriors were done at Charlestown, St Austell, not too far away from my parents. You may recognise Charlestown as any C18-19 harbour in any film/TV show, with the exception of The Onedin Line, where they used Exeter quay instead (still odd to watch that on Youtube). The irony is that, as you say, you can't tell they're exteriors. But they do have a lot of old ships there and I guess train tickets were cheaper than actually building a whole set.
It's almost as though someone high up in the bbc said to Moffat "Yes, your ideas are very good but could you try and tone them down and be a bit more like RTD?" Result: rehashed ideas, budget cuts and 'well it passes the time' episodes.
SH: Apologies for my previous (now deleted) comment, which I now believe was phrased more facetiously than it should have been. I hope you didn't take offence, if you saw it, and I wasn't (and am not) trying to be funny, but I honestly can't follow the train of thought in your comment. Any clarification from you would be most welcome.
To the room: There is one other way in which Black Spot is worthy of note, but it only occurred to me today. And as it relates to the demi-season as a whole, I think I'll keep it up my sleeve until the big post-ep7 ramble.
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