2 out of 5

Directed by: Julia Smith

The Smugglers isn’t boring, exactly, as much as it feels unnecessary.  Doc and crew landing in a different time and getting caught up in historical foibles ain’t exactly the newest plot, but it’s lent us some fun scripts (and, yeah, some pedantic ones).  Tonally, this serial is somewhat on par with The Gunfighters, which ain’t bad company as that was a good example of this format.  But Smugglers is only there as a matter of balance: Ben and Polly, our new companions, are wonderful additions to the team as, for once, both our companions feel matched in age and intellect, both being aware and active individuals who prevent events from slipping into ‘this only happened because you’re stupid’ territory; this, unfortunately, can only counter Hartnell’s performance at this point, as health deterioration – even in the recording-only version that exists of this serial – makes him sound somewhat lost with his lines (something that was covered up a bit with the bluster of ‘War Machines’).  He also looks rather out of it in the stills, but no guarantees the stills actually match the particular scenes (or moments intended for a final cut), so that’s perhaps a poor method of judgment.  Hartnell’s place in the series has always been that of the curmudgeon, but it was still worth the screentime as his machinations were most responsible for moving any given event forward.  Here, though, Ben and Polly’s bits are such blurs of motion that Hartnell’s scenes pale in comparison and make that youth / age difference all the more apparent.  Carrying us along are a batch of mostly strong performances; the writing and production are getting strong enough now that it doesn’t always sound like play acting for a cheap education show – these are real enough characters with real enough life / death consequences motivating actions.  But again with the balance: writer Brian Hayles’ script feels like a completely separate genre that had Dr. Who characters pasted into it.  The discovery of a smuggling ring involving Captain Avery during the 17th century – the crew temporarily upsets the balance and gets captured by parties on different sides of the law – is a fine setup, but it never really feels like things get going.  We are always waiting for something.  The pirates seem to be waiting to be freed of this niggling sci-fi plot, and the DW crew seem to be waiting to be more actively involved in matters than they are (even though they’re entangled plenty, the vibe is that the two pieces never really mesh).

Ben and Polly get to hang around for a bit, so it’ll be good to see them in action with the new doctor, who presumably will bring a fresh step to the series.