The space pirates (1969)

Review
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Review

This was a six-part serial, first broadcast between 8th March 1969 - 12th April 1969. A brief and somewhat spoiler-ish summary of the plot: the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find themselves in the wild-west of outer space, caught between pirates who capture space beacons so they can sell the precious material that they contain, and the lawmen who're trying to stop them.

What I've seen:

Part two. The other five episodes are lost.

This is a very early story by Robert Holmes, would go on to write great Doctor Who serials like 'Pyramids of Mars' and 'The caves of Androzani'. From what I've seen of it - part two, the other five episodes are lost - 'The space pirates' shares some of its strengths and weaknesses with another early Robert Holmes story, 'Carnival of monsters'. Like 'Carnival', 'Pirates' does an ambitious bit of world-building. Unfortunately, as in the parts of 'Carnival' that were set on Inter Minor, this is mostly conveyed through dialogue which means that, once again, much of the one remaining episode of 'Pirates' consists of characters spouting exposition at each other.

To start with the not-so-good bits:

not a lot happens in the one remaining episode
not only is there a lot of exposition, but also the story as a whole is 'told' rather than 'shown'

Going on to the good bits:

the 'wild west meets space opera' concept is cool
Milo Clancey, an old-timer exploring outer space in his antiquated spaceship, is a great character and we see quite a lot of him in part two
good incidental score
nice model work

My verdict:

Interesting.

Doctor Who fans may want to see this because it's an early work by one of the series' best writers. The one remaining episode isn't boring, exactly, but it's not that entertaining either.

More about Doctor Who

An introduction:
Doctor Who reviews: introduction

More "interesting" Doctor Who:
Doctor Who reviews: interesting

More from the Patrick Troughton years:
Doctor Who reviews: 1966 - 1969

Similar stories:
Doctor Who reviews: space opera

Original version of this review:
07/01/05

More about this serial

Episode guides:
BBC Cult

Serial reviews:
Outpost Gallifrey

DVD reviews (of the 'Lost in time' boxed set):
Outpost Gallifrey

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