Customer Reviews

Doctor Who: The Smugglers

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'The Smugglers' was the penultimate adventure of the first (William Hartnell) Doctor, and is here adapted by Terrance Dicks. The adaptation and the story are very straightforward and uninspiring.

The TARDIS arrives in 17th Century Cornwall, and the Doctor has to convince new companions Ben and Polly that they have travelled. (They can accept the TARDIS is bigger on the inside, but not travelling in time?) They become caught up with some pirates, who are searching for buried treasure.

Probably this story would have benefited from a less traditional adaptation. It tells the story well enough, but lacks any real spark. It also fails in the original mission for Doctor Who historicals, which was to educate the viewers. It is not truly an historical story, more of a period piece.

For Doctor Who enthusiasts only.

Partial video has been found for this episode in Doctor Who - Lost in Time Collection of Rare Episodes - The William Hartnell Years and the Patrick Troughton Years along with many other partial episodes not shown due to being incomplete.

The British had a subgenre in both film and literature that dealt specifically with the massive smuggling going on under the early Georges in response to oppressive taxation and import/export laws of the time. Dr. Syn is probably the most famous example. So it is no surprise that Doctor Who undertook a similar story. One of the stories destroyed by the BBC;this book is the only way THE SMUGGLERS will ever be experienced. And, as always with Target books, the writing is very basic and uninspired. Despite that, the strong sense of "fun" still makes it through. This must have been a great serial. I can well imagine the regulars particulary Hartnell having a field day and, despite the limitations, author Dicks just manages to bring the characters to life--a familiarity with the genre or at least TREASURE ISLAND doesn't hurt either. A good read. Not brilliant but solid. Strange. Despite all of the heavy SCI FIC Who stories destroyed, it is the historicals that both translate to print the best and that this reader ends up wishing he could have seen.