The Space Pirates

The Space Pirates is the final serial to contain a missing episode in Doctor Who, and one of only two serials in Season 6 to contain missing episodes. Unfortunately, this episode doesn't have the best audio soundtrack as it was not made by Graham Strong, nor does it have Tele-Snaps as it was made after John Cura passes away. This already makes it a bit of a drag to get through, but reconstructions always do the best they can.

The main problem with this story is that it's very rushed as Robert Holmes wrote this quickly after the Krotons, and Terrance Dicks was too busy writing the excellent War Games. The War Games' ambition also caused some of the budget to be taken out of this production to be syphoned off to that story. Even the main three actors had to pre-record all their episode 6 scenes to do the extensive location work for the War Games.

Even after all of this, the story just isn't good. This could have been a space opera on the scale of Frontier in Space, but it just ends up bland and forgettable with barely any substance to get your teeth on. Nothing much happens, and a lot of the acting isn't good.

There are a few (and I mean a few) good things about this story though. As always the main three are amazing, and Wendy Padbury is particularly good in this serial surprisingly. Milo Clancy is also quite funny at times (but at other times quite cringy). Episode 2 also gives us a fun scenario to see and the music is very grand and quite good.

Apart from this, this serial is not good at all. If your determined to watch every episode, go for it. If not, avoid this episode and move onto The War Games or just another better serial.

It's boring, filled with bad performances and badly written. The main crew constantly acts out of character and it's just never funny. I liked about one part of this, episode 2 where the doctor, jaime and zoe are stuck together and struggling for air.

This story is one of the lower points of Doctor Who for me. It does not have a reputation as a good story and in my opinion it is surely one of the 10-15 weakest entries in the series first 55 years. Bear in mind that I am comparing it to the immensely high standards of what I think is one of the finest TV series of all time. This story is not terrible compared to the bad TV shows out there or even the bad science fiction shows (e.g. 10.5 Apocalypse or Flash Gordon 2007), compared to a lot of dross on TV this is reasonably acceptable. For Doctor Who though this is very disappointing with cheesy delivery of dialogue, often unimpressive American accents and weak performances. As well as that the story lacks any real excitement or cleverness. I was just bored at times.

This is a 'space opera' similar to some 1960s Star Trek, based around Western motifs. It has 'Space Pirates' who are like bandits, a mining company and an old prospector type, 'Milo Clancey', who some fans see as a fun and interesting character. I see him as an embarrassment with his dodgy accent, over the top acting and poor, sometimes laughable delivery of strange Western style dialogue. There is nothing of great quality or interest in any of the guest characters, the acting or the direction. One thing which is of good quality in reconstructions (which are all that remains of most of this story) is the special effects. Almost Gerry Anderson style space ships and space stations all done very well giving some great visuals going by reviews of the original production and sequences in reconstructions. The story and script are unexceptional and nowhere near writer Robert Holmes later classics, but the direction (by Michael Hart) and delivery by the actors is what makes it dull and really cheesy.

Apart from the good effects, this is in my opinion one of the weaker stories in the series' rich history.

My Ratings: Episodes 1, 4 and 6 - 4/10, Episodes 2 & 5 - 4.5/10, Episode 3 - 3/10

Overall: 4/10

Easily the worst story of the Troughton era. It lacks all the "so bad, it's good" weirdness of "The Dominators" and the strong presence of Gemma and introduction of Zoe in, "Wheel in Space." What we get is a story that crawls particularly with the first two episodes where our heroes are left with little to nothing to do. The characters are all dull stock characters, except for Milo Clancey, who's fairly insufferable.

The story's one redeeming point is that it features a mystery, which has an obvious solution to the main question of who's behind the Space Pirates does actually have a couple twists in some minor points. Other than that, this is a dull story with very little to offer.