6x03 The Curse of the Black Spot (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!!)

[Alidar Jarok]

He's human now. He was Auton previously. He was human before that. Sort of Amy bringing people back to life who had been sucked through the crack with a little bit of metaphysical being both type thing. It doesn't have to make sense in a show like Doctor Who, imo.

I gave it an average. It struck me as a Vampires of Venice type episode. It was enjoyable for pirate cliches. It started and ended strong. The middle sagged a lot (I was expecting character moments when they settled into the armory, but, instead, you got some dumb pirate hijinks). Still, I think it's better than Victory of the Daleks, which was just an episode that literally went nowhere from beginning to end.

 

[Anachronus]

Vampires in Venice was a better I think. Agree whole heartedly that Victory is the worst of Moffat's run. Odd that a BBC show would do better with Nixon than with Churchill.

 

[JRoss]

Victory of the Daleks was better than this one. You want to talk about an episode that goes nowhere? Look at Curse of the Black Spot. They show up, and a few pirates now have to spend eternity aboard a ship because they have scratches on their hands, the end.

At least VotD reintroduced the Daleks to Who.

 

[RavenCWG]

I bumped it up to a "Mermaids?" because it seemed to improve in the last ten or fifteen minutes. It really wasn't terribly engaging. Storyline and acting were both a bit off, imo. This may be this year's Victory Of The Daleks - one that you really need to be a kid to enjoy. Ah well, wasn't expecting much anyway. Next week's looks good, though.

Really? While I am most definitely not a kid any more (in fact I'm almost 40 y/o), I found it to be a better then average Moffatt/Smith-era DW episode (In case you can't tell, I'm not a huge fan of the direction Moffatt is taking DW.), but it was the last ten or fifteen minutes that that somewhat ruined the episode for me. At least Matt Smith was actually acting a little more "Doctor-like" then usual (i.e. less silly and more confident, proactive and in charge) for the majority of this episode. And sure there were some glaring plot holes, but over all I found the episode entertaining. I also enjoyed seeing the Doctor and his companions being in that kind of an ultra-low-tech, cramped environment--something we really haven't seen much of in NuWho. What I didn't like, however, was that once they all got on board the alien ship (and particularly when it came to the part of needing to save Rory, the boy and the others) suddenly the Doctor becomes utterly useless and powerless to do anything, and worse yet just gives up and doesn't even try to do much of anything. I mean, just look at the look on his face when he thinks Rory is dead--it's a look of utter defeat and helplessness. To me that’s just pathetic and certainly not at all Doctor-like. And you mean to tell me that the Doctor couldn't have easily helped Rory or cured the boy's Typhoid fever (a disease that typically only has a death rate of 10% and 30% even if left untreated, and which can be quite successfully treated in most cases with simple antibiotics). As for most of the men, their injuries were limited to simple cuts and scrapes; there was absolutely no reason at all he couldn't have helped them, but he didn't even offer to try.

 

[DAK]

Victory of the Daleks was better than this one. You want to talk about an episode that goes nowhere? Look at Curse of the Black Spot. They show up, and a few pirates now have to spend eternity aboard a ship because they have scratches on their hands, the end.

At least VotD reintroduced the Daleks to Who.

Agreed. And Vampires of Venice may not have been stellar but at least it made me laugh. I don't think I even cracked a smile for this one.

 

[Cutter John]

At least now we know for sure that theres actually a companions bedroom of some sort abourd the Tardis.

I always hated RTD's insistence that the ship was just for travelling, not living in.

 

[RevdKathy]

People seem to have missed the point: Rory specified he wanted Amy to be the one to save him, on the grounds she would never give up. With that instruction from the patient, the Doctor was forbidden to intervene. (Whether he should have said beforehand "It's ok, the TARDIS can save him!" is another matter. No doubt everyone would have moans "RTD style deus ex machina" if he had.)

What is a pity is that Amy was seriously poor at delivering CRP - more snog than breathing, and chest compressions with her arms bent.

 

[Deckerd]

She wasn't giving chest compressions to Rory, just snogging him. If you look at the editing and camera angles, it's a common trick, because straight arm chest compressions of a healthy human are not an option. It's the same trick in The Abyss, but there Ed Harris was acting his socks off to camera and making everyone bubble, well done Karen, IMO. When they do have someone stradding a patient on a gurney for instance, they always have to to bent arm compressions for the same reason.

 

[Brent]

I absolutely loved this episode! Much better than the two part premier. It felt like a classic series episode with a modern twist, brilliant this. A+ job. I grade it "ARRGH!!! Pirate Amy has the best booty!"

See what an ep can be like when it isn't all over the place with too much mushed in there! Fantastic!

 

[Brent]

Just read the thread, I don't get the negative comments at all toward this episode. I think everyone has lost their mind. This was a fantastic episode that reminded me of classic Doctor Who. Like I said above, A+ episode, very entertaining and fun.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I thought it was average. There were some serious pacing issues, the main characters reacted far more than they acted, the Doctor basically just waited for the plot to resolve itself, the show didn't have any emotional weight, the ship was full of stock characters and stock ideas.

Yes, it felt like a fifth Doctor episode, but mostly because it was as dull as some of those episodes were.

 

[Pindar]

It was average at best. I won't be rushing to rewatch this one.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Watching it again, I noticed the Doctor's joking with Rory after the spot showed up on Rory's palm about it being nice that someone whose planning to kill you sending a note. Coincidence or foreshadowing? A similar themed line was said to Amy, so I am guessing the Doctor is pretty sure of what Amy and co are trying to hide from him.

 

[DimesDan]

[EDIT]Deleted my comments because it looks like people are starting to do live commentary for another showing (BBC America I assume) and I don't want to spoil the flow. I'll repost my comments later.

Alex

There was one person treating this thread like last weeks and two weeks ago as a commentary thread which it's not and anything that spoils the flow of that is fine by me. It looked like he or she was just talking to themselves.

I must assume they either did not read my previous comment on the matter or did not pick up the not so subtle sarcasm.

.

I gave it an average. It struck me as a Vampires of Venice type episode. It was enjoyable for pirate cliches. It started and ended strong. The middle sagged a lot (I was expecting character moments when they settled into the armory, but, instead, you got some dumb pirate hijinks). Still, I think it's better than Victory of the Daleks, which was just an episode that literally went nowhere from beginning to end.

I rather liked Vampires of Venice and after a rewatch for me and an introduction to nuWho (well season five anyway) to the missus, Victory of the Daleks wasn't as bad as I remember.

I'll have to rewatch Curse of the Black Spot again as didn't really follow it that well last night as the missus housemates were getting ready to go out while it was on and then have a better basis on what to make my opinion.

Although I'll just interpret the Sirens song as Bob Picardos "Please state nature of the medical Emergency?"

Oh and in relation to The Doctor Dances and recycling of story ideas, it's been six years since that episode aired and it's not the first time that Moffat has used the same story motifs with episodes that he has been connected with. Story ideas get recycled in TV dramas all the time, it's the nature of the beast, there are just so many stories ideas that can be thought up and given nuWho is pushing nearly 90 episodes come the end of the year, having this done a few times in that span isn't really a bad thing is it?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

What is a pity is that Amy was seriously poor at delivering CRP - more snog than breathing, and chest compressions with her arms bent.

Still, it's always better to do CPR with two people instead of one. She could have handled the mouth to mouth and the Doctor did the chest compressions. Unless he really would be useless.

I didn't notice her arms bent. They used such a weird angle for the chest compressions, you couldn't see half her arms.

 

[Lonemagpie]

When done *correctly*, straight-arm CPR often cracks the ribs. You don't want to either a) encourage the kiddies to try it, or b) injure the actors by doing it that way...

(FWIW, Rory should have his nursing qualifications revoked! the chest compressions are the important bit, not the mouth-to-mouth, which is just a screen cliche used cos they're a romantic couple, and in real life CPR's mainly effective in keep the circulation going until the patient can be properly defibrillated - it doesn't cause the heart to start beating, or breathing to start...)

 

[Anachronus]

You can't have the regulars going around seriously injuring each other for the sake of a scene.

 

[intrinsical]

Just about everyone whined that the series premiere was too complicated. And now everyone's complaining that this episode is too simple? Too funny, make up your mind guys!

 

[Procutus]

But please, enough with the almost-killing of Rory all the time!

I know, it's getting to be a bit like South Park.


"OMIDGOD! THEY KILLED RORY!!"

 

[StCoop]

Just about everyone whined that the series premiere was too complicated. And now everyone's complaining that this episode is too simple? Too funny, make up your mind guys!

There's a difference between making an episode that people can follow and making an episode where no one involved seems to give a crap about what they're putting on the screen.

Being (very) charitable I'll suggest that the last minute decision to move this episode from being in the second half of the series to third position meant that the script didn't go through as many drafts as they usually do.