The Space Pirates came as
the penultimate story of the Patrick Troughton era. Season six of the show had
been plagued with so many script and production problems that the originally
intended four-part serial that Robert Holmes had prepared for the show was
lengthened to six parts. The question was: was this to the detriment of the story?
My personal informed
answer is a resounding no. The Space Pirates may not have any aliens wobbling
around the sets but it does have some superb character driven drama and a
sublime cast who bring these cowboys and Indians style romp onto the grand
stage of deep space.
In an unusual move for the
show at the time a very large amount of the first episode is given over to
introducing us to the main characters in the story, and indeed the three
regulars don’t turn up until the 14th minute, a record number of minutes before
the TARDIS crew appear. A Good Man Goes to War didn’t have the Doc appear until
the 19th minute but The Space Pirates still has the record for the longest
length of time before the entirety of the lead actors appear in the story! This
is actually once a really good idea as we are not only introduced to some
excellent characters, namely the deep space creep Caven and his obedient
bloodhound Dervish. And then there’s General Nicolai Hermack and Major Ian Warne.
Robert Holmes gives the
character of Miles Caven a real vein of nastiness that makes him a delicious
villain to listen to (as one can only listen to the narrated soundtrack of this
sadly almost completely lost six-part serial). Dudley Foster makes the
character absolutely his own, injecting the character with venom and a totally
overblown sense of self-importance.
Jack May gives a nuanced performance
as the highly motivated and driven Hermack, and Donald Gee is perfect as his
second in command also. Lisa Daniely also has to be mentioned as she injects
her Madeleine Issigri with such a believable warmth that even though she's not
a lily-white hero, one still likes her. When she breaks down at learning that
the father, she thought dead is still alive she gives a superb display of
emotional and broken intensity which really helps sell her character very well indeed.
But the shining jewel of
the whole story is the revelatory casting of Gordon Costelow as Milo Clancey.
Upon my first watching of the sole remaining episode two of this tale I was
totally loving his space cowboy act. He is comedic without ever verging into
rediculous territory. He absolutely steals every scene he is in and makes this
story truly stand and sparkle.
This was only Robert
Holmes second full script for the series but one can already see clear signs of
the master story teller who would go on to weave some of the most inventive and
ghoulish stories in the whole history of the show. Hios superb grasp of
characterisation was always one of Robert's best talents. Honestly, I cannot
pick out a single dull character in any of his stories for the show at all, I
kid you not. The Space Pirates is packed with spicy and accomplished
performances and crammed with witty and amusing dialogue.
This story also possesses
some extremely effective model work. Indeed, just in part two we are given some
gorgeous views of space ships, all sleek and dart like and shot extremely
slickly. It gives the tale a definite feel of being set way out in the middle
of deep space. The palpable sense of fear within just part two for the regulars
(The Doc, Jamie and Zoe) is superbly directed and actually quite gripping. Or
at least I seriously think so. As the TARDIS crew begin to slowly run out of air,
we get some very good interplay between the regulars which is just yet another
reminder of why this team remains my favourite from the show’s history.
I can’t honestly see why
Michael Hart was never contracted again as a director. He clearly has an eye
for great visuals and the whole story hangs together superbly well in my view.
This story also is the
better for its not being overburdened with sub plots galore. Far too many new
series episodes are weighted down under a fierce vein of incomprehensibility
that leaves me cold. But this story is tightly plotted and keeps the pace for
the length of its six-episode run. This is yet another prime example of how
brilliant the show always was at maintaining interest in over 2 hours of TV.
I for one find it odd that
The Space Pirates isn't more fondly remembered. This is probably largely due to
its missing most of the sum of its parts. Were this story to be either found
once more or animated and released this would certainly make this fan one very
happy bunny indeed. The Space Pirates is nowhere near being the worst of Doctor
Who. What it may lack in alien monsters it more than makes up for in involving storytelling
and intrigue.
Despite the monumental difficulties the shows
had during Patrick's final year The Space Pirates stands as a fitting and very
strong penultimate adventure for my very favourite Doctor in the history of the
show.
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