Doctor Who, The Curse of the Black Spot
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
Don't you listen to Dr River Song!
SPOILERS
I started writing reviews, after the Doctors wife. I re watched this episode, several times. Since than.
Well the pre credits teaser starts with atmospherically enough. With a team of men, rowing back to a pirate ship. ( One wonders where they were rowing to. As the ship was becalmed somewhere in the middle of the ocean.
One of the crew reports the matter to first mate. Whom decides to wake the captain. There was a man wounded. The man slipped while he was pumping out bilge water. It seems like a minor wound.(*)
A black spot rises upon the unfortunate sailors hand. The wounded sailor's name is MacGrath
MacGrath is told he is a dead man. The viewers get to hear singing, beautiful singing. Macgrath, snatches a pistol and makes a run for it. Tripping on the deck.
The Captain locks, himself, and the rest of his crew, in the captain. Closing the door by tying a knot on the handle with a medallion.
The crew having heard MacGrath expire, make there way out to the deck. There is no blood, no bones, and no sign of a struggle.
One of the crew swears they will be shark bait.
There is noise from below
The Captain, and his crew, open the hatch.
Yo-ho-ho. Oh look its the Doctor, Rory and the lovely Amy....
cue Credits.
Well the Doctor tries to explain the situation. However his mentions of sensors, brought forth blank looks. So the doctor, decided not bring up multi dimensional engineering
The Captain, is not impressed. He orders, Rory and the Doctor seized. The Doxy (Amy) is to be put to work on the Galley. Rory protests that his wife, is not a Doxy.
The Doctor is compelled at pistol point to walk the plank. Amy bundled below stairs, finds a cutlass, and a great coat and tri cornered hat.
The Doctor is belaying, the attempt to make him take a long walk off a short plank, he calls for more guffaws.
With one mighty bound, are beloved redhead is free. She is warned a sword could kill us.
There follows some sword fighting. Amy is attacked by a guy with a cudgel. Amy scratches the man, with the sword.
There is a stunned silence. ``You have killed me''
A sword goes flying, and Rory catches it before it can hit, his wife.
A black dot, appears on Rory's hand.
The crew are shocked, the black spot, brings the monster. They hear its voice. Its siren song. A nice classical reference that.
Anyway, out from the Sea rises Lilly Cole. She sings, and stretches her hand out. Rory, is drunk, on the site of her. He flirts with Amy. Telling her to dress up as a pirate more often. One for the dads there...
The Siren tries to grab Rory. Seeing this Amy, tells her no, Rory is taken for. The siren hisses, and turns red. Propelling Amy back several meters. This leaves her unharmed.
Lilly cole is lovely. I guess Steven Moffat has a thing for red heads. As we need to keep hold of rory for the moment. The crewman who Amy scratched with her sword, touches the siren, and than disappears into the night. Leaving no trace.
They Grab Rory, and bring him below. The Captain, points his pistol. The Doctor makes a quip about it being freudian.
Believing that the Siren, travels via water. The doctors theory seeming being confirmed, when she appears, from the bilge water, and from a barrel of drinking water. Our Tars and time travellers make there way to the magazine. Which is the driest part of the ship
However the Key to the powder room, is gone. The door is open, someone had the same idea
``Whose been sleeping in my gun room'' That would have made the little ones laugh
Our heroes, push the door open. We discover a stowaway the Captains son.
A cough comes from a powder barrel
The father tells his son. His mother will be searching for him. The son replies, his mother is dead, with fever. Last winter. She had told her son, about his father, the Captain of a ship.
The boy coughs, and we catch sight of his hand. The black spot. The lad is marked, for the siren
When the boy opens,a water barrel.
The Doctor remarks, Humans are second rate. The get damaged to easily. Than he chases off talk of a curse. A curse means game over means your helpless. Which is a good message for the children to hear.
The Doctor goes on to share another purple passage about the Siren, boiling a sauce pan, and grating cheese, and licking her lips. I had the image of Lilly Cole, doing just that as he spoke of it. Well done to the writer there.
The Doctor makes a crack, about we all have to go, sometime. (Remember the events of the Impossible Astronaut)
The Doctor takes Captain Avery into the Tardis. Dodging a fall, on a nail. Once inside the TIME AND RELATIVE DIMENSIONS IN SPACE. We get the famous ``Bigger on the inside''
``Kitchen that way-choice of Bathrooms
`` The most beautiful thing you've ever seen'' Rory is apologizing to Amy, because of what he said, under the sirens influence. Now, and until the heat death of the universe. However the pirates have different ideas. They want to get off, the ship rather than molly coddle the boy
Avery and the Doctor, discuss, the Tardis controls. Avery, grasps it pretty quickly. Wheel, telescope. A Ship is a ship.
The captains son, confronts the deserters. Who sneer, at his words. When he demands, that they obey his father, as honour demands. The sailors, tell him, it is a pirate ship, they sail under the black flag. The jolly Rodger, and the Captain, is a man who shoots down the innocent.
The two sailors, will steal the treasure, and row for it.
The Boy, grabs a cutlass. The Sailor, tells him, he doesn't know how to use it. The boy replies he doesn't have to, he cuts the sailor slightly. Enough to bring down, the wrath of the siren upon him. The boy's actions madden the pirate enough that he draws his pistol. Only to belay when Rory, tells him that there in the Magazine, and the spark and shot, will cause an explosion which kills them all. Luckily, the pirate does not wish to blow himself up. Even though this might be a swifter simpler demise, than meeting the sirem The other deserter, Mulligan makes a break he steals the key at sword point and and runs
The Doctor, wass having problems, with the Tardis. Its stuck. ``Becalmed'' indeed its sulking In fact, its about to Dematerialise. The Captain and the Doctor make a swift exit stage left. The Tardis is gone. We see it flash off, into nothing
Meanwhile mutinous Muligan meets his maker, in the form of the Siren. However Muligan had fled into a cabin, from his Master So there was no water., The Doctor, than has another inspiration, the Siren, travels via reflective surfaces into our world. The treasure has a reflective surface. Such as still water
The Captains boy, Toby is polishing the Mermaid medallion up to a nice shine. Oh dear, and the boy has fever. The Siren.....
The Siren legend, the curse. The Siren attacks ship filled, with treasure. Where else would she find a lot of reflective surfaces, but ships loaded with polished metal
The Doctor than leads his shipmates, to smash all the reflective surfaces. The Glass, windows. Did 17-18th century pirate ships have glass? The Mirrors. To hell, with the seven years of bad luck, that it would entail.
Than he comes to the chest, full of gold, in the Captains cabin. The Captain stops, him. Its the treasure of Mogul of India. (*) A bunch of Anglo American pirates did steal it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Every#In_popular_culture
However the crown, that Henry polishes. Looks a bit western.
Any reflection will bring the siren. However Henry hides, the crown, in his coat
The travellers, in time, and the shipmates
Henry talks to his son. Tobys Mother, has been dead three years. Toby asks his father why did he turn pirate, however his father will not answer
The camera passes over Rory and Amy asleep
Amy sees the woman with one eye. She tells her, she is doing fine, and to stay calm.
Henry goes on Deck. The Doctor, mentions Sirius which is two stars. A binary system. Henry uses it to navigate the ocean. Henry discusses his plan for the boy. The Doctor asks, the Captain, the same question that Toby did. Why did he turn pirate?
Henry won't answer the question from either his son, or the Doctor, but insists his course is set. The Doctor, tells him not to be so sure. Sometimes things change
The wind rises. Henry summons, what is left of his crew. Shouting into the storm, which follows the wind. Rory and Amy are, well all at sea. They cannot understand Henry's commands
Henry shouts for his son, to bring his great coat
. Toby does, and falls, letting the crown, slip onto deck. The golden bright and shiny crown. The Siren is released and she claims, the boy
Toby is gone.
The Doctor throws the crown overboard. The Doctor berates Henry Avery. The Man loved gold, more than his wife, and son. More than his commission, and now look what the pirates lust for gold is has done.
Rory falls, overboard. At the mercy of the sea, he is drowning.
The Doctor, makes another leap of faith. Better the Siren, than the sea. The Siren, snatches Rory from the waters and spirits him away.
With Rory and Toby gone, a gale blowing up, The doctor tells Henry and Amy, that they must let the Siren take them, they prick there fingers, and hold out there hands, for the beautiful Lilly cole.
They awake, on the deck, of another ship. In dry. They can see the deck of the pirate ship, even hear the rain. The Doctor, explains that the two ships are in other universe. Two things trying to hold the same place in time and space.
There is a klaxon, in the background. A distress call. The Doctor,Henry and Amy, go off to investigate. They find one of the crew, from an Alien ship. It is dead ship. Or as Henry observes ``long enough for the Captain to run out of grog''
The crew have been killed by Human bacteria, and the Doctor puts his hand, on a sneeze. Alien bogies. Okay the sneeze persists but bodies rot? Odd biology
By the way, I thought the Alien, skeleton, looked a bit like Beta ray bill.
The trio enter a room, with the crew of the pirate ship and rory, and Toby on the beds. There is a scene where all three are reunited with the loved one. Look at Matt Smith, hug the Tardis. The Tardis, is there too. The crew are in suspended animation on beds, suspended from mid air. So they are suspended in suspense. The curse of the black spot is solved. Its a tissue sample. But why would you take tissue samples from someone who you are about to eat, the doctor inquires. Amy had been fiddling with Rory's bed. T
As Lilly/Siren re enters the room. The Trio hides. The Doctor watches the effect the singing has on the crew, and he realises. The Song is an antahesitc
The Siren, walks over to check on Toby. Captain Henry having reloaded his pistol, takes aim, at her. Lilly goes into attack mode. The Doctor tries to draw her attention. His sneezes
The Siren, is helping the crew. Not eating them. She sets the soiled hanky of the Doctors on fire.
The Siren, is a super intelligent automated medical system. She has been keeping the crew alive, but cannot heal there wounds.
Amy wants to free her Husband but the siren refuses to let her. The Doctor tells Amy, to tell the automated siren that, Rory is her husband. ``Show her, your (wedding) ring'' The doctor guessing that the system is intelligent enough to release, Rory to Amy's care
Rory is still drowning. One of the few moments of tension on the show, as Rory tells Amy how to give him the kiss of life. With the tender and frantic touches of his loving wife, Rory Williams, is brought back to life. The Nurse, provided the little bit of practical knowledge that the Doctor did not have
The crew, are still there. Toby still has fever. Hugh decides to stay aboard the ship. He will pilot it home. Lead his son, and crew, to a great adventure across the Ocean of stars
Back on the Tardis. The Williams-Ponds, are settling in for the night. Amy is troubled with the revelations that the Doctor will die. `You can't tell him. Its his future'' Her Husband insists
Good night Amelia, says the Doctor.
You only call me Amelia when your worried about me
Go to bed Pond
The Doctor is still trying to understand, why his scanner, tells us that Amy is and isn't pregnant
**********
Grrr Pirates!!!!!! I guess Doctor who is Cashing in. On the Pirates of the Caribbean. Well its an interesting enough trope
The plot is the same, as the Doctor dances, the girl in the fireplace, and the Lodger. Its alien/advanced technology gone astray. With no one to turn it off. I was going to say, it ended well here. However it did too in the Doctor Dances.
There is a flaw in the black spot in that in the world the pirates live in. A scratch is enough to kill you. There was no way of treating lockjaw, before antibiotics, and antiseptics. There is no ships surgeon either. Oh and there pirates. Remember people in the days of sail, died not from cannonballs, but the splinters, when they hit the ships. The episode does realise this. The point about its only a matter of time, before everyone gets bruised.
I also wondered, why could the Captain, simply not dump his jewelry in the gunpowder magazine. Remember fresh water, was used as a portal, for the Siren. Why did she not use the glass, in the first place. I know the Captain, had to be redeemed. On the other hand, the moment he sails off. The captain, and his son, are stuck on a ship alone. Might not the Captain, need to hire a crew. How will he keep himself, and his son.
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
Don't you listen to Dr River Song!
SPOILERS
I started writing reviews, after the Doctors wife. I re watched this episode, several times. Since than.
Well the pre credits teaser starts with atmospherically enough. With a team of men, rowing back to a pirate ship. ( One wonders where they were rowing to. As the ship was becalmed somewhere in the middle of the ocean.
One of the crew reports the matter to first mate. Whom decides to wake the captain. There was a man wounded. The man slipped while he was pumping out bilge water. It seems like a minor wound.(*)
A black spot rises upon the unfortunate sailors hand. The wounded sailor's name is MacGrath
MacGrath is told he is a dead man. The viewers get to hear singing, beautiful singing. Macgrath, snatches a pistol and makes a run for it. Tripping on the deck.
The Captain locks, himself, and the rest of his crew, in the captain. Closing the door by tying a knot on the handle with a medallion.
The crew having heard MacGrath expire, make there way out to the deck. There is no blood, no bones, and no sign of a struggle.
One of the crew swears they will be shark bait.
There is noise from below
The Captain, and his crew, open the hatch.
Yo-ho-ho. Oh look its the Doctor, Rory and the lovely Amy....
cue Credits.
Well the Doctor tries to explain the situation. However his mentions of sensors, brought forth blank looks. So the doctor, decided not bring up multi dimensional engineering
The Captain, is not impressed. He orders, Rory and the Doctor seized. The Doxy (Amy) is to be put to work on the Galley. Rory protests that his wife, is not a Doxy.
The Doctor is compelled at pistol point to walk the plank. Amy bundled below stairs, finds a cutlass, and a great coat and tri cornered hat.
The Doctor is belaying, the attempt to make him take a long walk off a short plank, he calls for more guffaws.
With one mighty bound, are beloved redhead is free. She is warned a sword could kill us.
There follows some sword fighting. Amy is attacked by a guy with a cudgel. Amy scratches the man, with the sword.
There is a stunned silence. ``You have killed me''
A sword goes flying, and Rory catches it before it can hit, his wife.
A black dot, appears on Rory's hand.
The crew are shocked, the black spot, brings the monster. They hear its voice. Its siren song. A nice classical reference that.
Anyway, out from the Sea rises Lilly Cole. She sings, and stretches her hand out. Rory, is drunk, on the site of her. He flirts with Amy. Telling her to dress up as a pirate more often. One for the dads there...
The Siren tries to grab Rory. Seeing this Amy, tells her no, Rory is taken for. The siren hisses, and turns red. Propelling Amy back several meters. This leaves her unharmed.
Lilly cole is lovely. I guess Steven Moffat has a thing for red heads. As we need to keep hold of rory for the moment. The crewman who Amy scratched with her sword, touches the siren, and than disappears into the night. Leaving no trace.
They Grab Rory, and bring him below. The Captain, points his pistol. The Doctor makes a quip about it being freudian.
Believing that the Siren, travels via water. The doctors theory seeming being confirmed, when she appears, from the bilge water, and from a barrel of drinking water. Our Tars and time travellers make there way to the magazine. Which is the driest part of the ship
However the Key to the powder room, is gone. The door is open, someone had the same idea
``Whose been sleeping in my gun room'' That would have made the little ones laugh
Our heroes, push the door open. We discover a stowaway the Captains son.
A cough comes from a powder barrel
The father tells his son. His mother will be searching for him. The son replies, his mother is dead, with fever. Last winter. She had told her son, about his father, the Captain of a ship.
The boy coughs, and we catch sight of his hand. The black spot. The lad is marked, for the siren
When the boy opens,a water barrel.
The Doctor remarks, Humans are second rate. The get damaged to easily. Than he chases off talk of a curse. A curse means game over means your helpless. Which is a good message for the children to hear.
The Doctor goes on to share another purple passage about the Siren, boiling a sauce pan, and grating cheese, and licking her lips. I had the image of Lilly Cole, doing just that as he spoke of it. Well done to the writer there.
The Doctor makes a crack, about we all have to go, sometime. (Remember the events of the Impossible Astronaut)
The Doctor takes Captain Avery into the Tardis. Dodging a fall, on a nail. Once inside the TIME AND RELATIVE DIMENSIONS IN SPACE. We get the famous ``Bigger on the inside''
``Kitchen that way-choice of Bathrooms
`` The most beautiful thing you've ever seen'' Rory is apologizing to Amy, because of what he said, under the sirens influence. Now, and until the heat death of the universe. However the pirates have different ideas. They want to get off, the ship rather than molly coddle the boy
Avery and the Doctor, discuss, the Tardis controls. Avery, grasps it pretty quickly. Wheel, telescope. A Ship is a ship.
The captains son, confronts the deserters. Who sneer, at his words. When he demands, that they obey his father, as honour demands. The sailors, tell him, it is a pirate ship, they sail under the black flag. The jolly Rodger, and the Captain, is a man who shoots down the innocent.
The two sailors, will steal the treasure, and row for it.
The Boy, grabs a cutlass. The Sailor, tells him, he doesn't know how to use it. The boy replies he doesn't have to, he cuts the sailor slightly. Enough to bring down, the wrath of the siren upon him. The boy's actions madden the pirate enough that he draws his pistol. Only to belay when Rory, tells him that there in the Magazine, and the spark and shot, will cause an explosion which kills them all. Luckily, the pirate does not wish to blow himself up. Even though this might be a swifter simpler demise, than meeting the sirem The other deserter, Mulligan makes a break he steals the key at sword point and and runs
The Doctor, wass having problems, with the Tardis. Its stuck. ``Becalmed'' indeed its sulking In fact, its about to Dematerialise. The Captain and the Doctor make a swift exit stage left. The Tardis is gone. We see it flash off, into nothing
Meanwhile mutinous Muligan meets his maker, in the form of the Siren. However Muligan had fled into a cabin, from his Master So there was no water., The Doctor, than has another inspiration, the Siren, travels via reflective surfaces into our world. The treasure has a reflective surface. Such as still water
The Captains boy, Toby is polishing the Mermaid medallion up to a nice shine. Oh dear, and the boy has fever. The Siren.....
The Siren legend, the curse. The Siren attacks ship filled, with treasure. Where else would she find a lot of reflective surfaces, but ships loaded with polished metal
The Doctor than leads his shipmates, to smash all the reflective surfaces. The Glass, windows. Did 17-18th century pirate ships have glass? The Mirrors. To hell, with the seven years of bad luck, that it would entail.
Than he comes to the chest, full of gold, in the Captains cabin. The Captain stops, him. Its the treasure of Mogul of India. (*) A bunch of Anglo American pirates did steal it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Every#In_popular_culture
However the crown, that Henry polishes. Looks a bit western.
Any reflection will bring the siren. However Henry hides, the crown, in his coat
The travellers, in time, and the shipmates
Henry talks to his son. Tobys Mother, has been dead three years. Toby asks his father why did he turn pirate, however his father will not answer
The camera passes over Rory and Amy asleep
Amy sees the woman with one eye. She tells her, she is doing fine, and to stay calm.
Henry goes on Deck. The Doctor, mentions Sirius which is two stars. A binary system. Henry uses it to navigate the ocean. Henry discusses his plan for the boy. The Doctor asks, the Captain, the same question that Toby did. Why did he turn pirate?
Henry won't answer the question from either his son, or the Doctor, but insists his course is set. The Doctor, tells him not to be so sure. Sometimes things change
The wind rises. Henry summons, what is left of his crew. Shouting into the storm, which follows the wind. Rory and Amy are, well all at sea. They cannot understand Henry's commands
Henry shouts for his son, to bring his great coat
. Toby does, and falls, letting the crown, slip onto deck. The golden bright and shiny crown. The Siren is released and she claims, the boy
Toby is gone.
The Doctor throws the crown overboard. The Doctor berates Henry Avery. The Man loved gold, more than his wife, and son. More than his commission, and now look what the pirates lust for gold is has done.
Rory falls, overboard. At the mercy of the sea, he is drowning.
The Doctor, makes another leap of faith. Better the Siren, than the sea. The Siren, snatches Rory from the waters and spirits him away.
With Rory and Toby gone, a gale blowing up, The doctor tells Henry and Amy, that they must let the Siren take them, they prick there fingers, and hold out there hands, for the beautiful Lilly cole.
They awake, on the deck, of another ship. In dry. They can see the deck of the pirate ship, even hear the rain. The Doctor, explains that the two ships are in other universe. Two things trying to hold the same place in time and space.
There is a klaxon, in the background. A distress call. The Doctor,Henry and Amy, go off to investigate. They find one of the crew, from an Alien ship. It is dead ship. Or as Henry observes ``long enough for the Captain to run out of grog''
The crew have been killed by Human bacteria, and the Doctor puts his hand, on a sneeze. Alien bogies. Okay the sneeze persists but bodies rot? Odd biology
By the way, I thought the Alien, skeleton, looked a bit like Beta ray bill.
The trio enter a room, with the crew of the pirate ship and rory, and Toby on the beds. There is a scene where all three are reunited with the loved one. Look at Matt Smith, hug the Tardis. The Tardis, is there too. The crew are in suspended animation on beds, suspended from mid air. So they are suspended in suspense. The curse of the black spot is solved. Its a tissue sample. But why would you take tissue samples from someone who you are about to eat, the doctor inquires. Amy had been fiddling with Rory's bed. T
As Lilly/Siren re enters the room. The Trio hides. The Doctor watches the effect the singing has on the crew, and he realises. The Song is an antahesitc
The Siren, walks over to check on Toby. Captain Henry having reloaded his pistol, takes aim, at her. Lilly goes into attack mode. The Doctor tries to draw her attention. His sneezes
The Siren, is helping the crew. Not eating them. She sets the soiled hanky of the Doctors on fire.
The Siren, is a super intelligent automated medical system. She has been keeping the crew alive, but cannot heal there wounds.
Amy wants to free her Husband but the siren refuses to let her. The Doctor tells Amy, to tell the automated siren that, Rory is her husband. ``Show her, your (wedding) ring'' The doctor guessing that the system is intelligent enough to release, Rory to Amy's care
Rory is still drowning. One of the few moments of tension on the show, as Rory tells Amy how to give him the kiss of life. With the tender and frantic touches of his loving wife, Rory Williams, is brought back to life. The Nurse, provided the little bit of practical knowledge that the Doctor did not have
The crew, are still there. Toby still has fever. Hugh decides to stay aboard the ship. He will pilot it home. Lead his son, and crew, to a great adventure across the Ocean of stars
Back on the Tardis. The Williams-Ponds, are settling in for the night. Amy is troubled with the revelations that the Doctor will die. `You can't tell him. Its his future'' Her Husband insists
Good night Amelia, says the Doctor.
You only call me Amelia when your worried about me
Go to bed Pond
The Doctor is still trying to understand, why his scanner, tells us that Amy is and isn't pregnant
**********
Grrr Pirates!!!!!! I guess Doctor who is Cashing in. On the Pirates of the Caribbean. Well its an interesting enough trope
The plot is the same, as the Doctor dances, the girl in the fireplace, and the Lodger. Its alien/advanced technology gone astray. With no one to turn it off. I was going to say, it ended well here. However it did too in the Doctor Dances.
There is a flaw in the black spot in that in the world the pirates live in. A scratch is enough to kill you. There was no way of treating lockjaw, before antibiotics, and antiseptics. There is no ships surgeon either. Oh and there pirates. Remember people in the days of sail, died not from cannonballs, but the splinters, when they hit the ships. The episode does realise this. The point about its only a matter of time, before everyone gets bruised.
I also wondered, why could the Captain, simply not dump his jewelry in the gunpowder magazine. Remember fresh water, was used as a portal, for the Siren. Why did she not use the glass, in the first place. I know the Captain, had to be redeemed. On the other hand, the moment he sails off. The captain, and his son, are stuck on a ship alone. Might not the Captain, need to hire a crew. How will he keep himself, and his son.
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