The Highlanders - Episode 4

Right lets get this final episode out of the way. It seems like an awfully long time ago since that promising opening episode. It’s probably fair to blame the lack of visual for my lack of interest but actually that would exonerate the writers which would be too good for them. The Highlanders is a terrible story though certainly not as bad as other stories I have mentioned previously. Thankfully the episodes in this story are only 25 minutes long because it meant that we are spared anymore torture of a rather tedious historical adventure.
There is nothing more that I could say about this story because there is nothing more than happens. This is the last pure historical adventure until 1982’s Black Orchid so at least there is sometime to go before we go back into this territory. I cant even comment about the regulars (minus Jamie) because I don’t really recall what happened. No one gets a good amount to do in this story and it seems like Patrick Troughton features very little in this but to be honest I don’t recall much and I am not willing to listen to it again.

The final few minutes were the only good things in the episode. The historical stuff had been dealt with and I couldn’t care less about that but it was how they were going to include Jamie on board the TARDIS. It falls to Polly to do the ‘hang on a minute’ thing which is a fair enough thing considering that Frazer Hines hasn’t exactly been used well in the four episodes and if you didn’t know better then you would be totally surprised and somewhat underwhelmed. I love that the only condition the Doctor has for letting Jamie join them is that he teaches him the bagpipes.

It’s interesting to note that at this moment in time, episode four of The Highlanders is ranked 143^rd out 144. Only The Web Planet – Escape to Danger scored a worst rating. Though the ratings have been on a downwards spiral, in terms of stories its currently 29^th out of 31 with The Web Planet and The Myth Makers getting a worst score. It’s a fair result because as much as I have found the last two episode really boring I cant say that I think that the story is worst story. There is enough goodwill from the fact we have a new Doctor that means I just don’t have it in me to be totally down on this story.

The Highlanders - Episode 3

The third episode starts is where any goodwill that I had for this story has well and truly gone because this is another episode where nothing really happens. It’s so lacking in anything resembling a plot that when the cliffhanger did come I was more surprised than engaged with the adventure. I really couldn’t tell you what happened in this episode because it was so lacking in life that it’s really hard to find anything to say. It must be said that it’s not 9 episodes without seeing an episode. There are some good things to like about this story/episode and it’s that the regulars are settling in well. I think that Patrick Troughton does come across as the Doctor. Even Anneke Wills and Michael Craze seem to do well in this episode but Anneke Wills has gone backwards after the impressive episode we got last time. Jamie is the biggest disappointment in this episode as he should really be more involved in the story than he is considering he’s about to join the TARDIS. Even the supporting cast don’t really seem to be doing much and despite a bit of interest about Ben being sold into slavery it seems like Gerry Davis is just counting down the minutes to the final episode.

I have struggled in recent days to find something substantial to write because without being able to see it it becomes hard to get really involved in the story but what makes it harder is that it’s a historical and its becoming more obvious that historicals are somewhat dull and its easy to see why they were fazed out. Episode three is arguably the worst episode of the Troughton era so far and of series four.

The Highlanders - Episode 2

The second part of this historical adventure is where it goes off the rails a bit. It’s a bit deceptive because when it starts it does so quite well. Unusually the episode starts with Polly and she gets a nice chunk of the action. I’ve commented on the fact that it seems the Doctor and Ben have been in the limelight and I’ve been worried that Polly is going to be the new Vicki or Susan. Jamie, Ben and the Doctor take a back seat in the early part and its good how after several episodes of being on the side-lines, she finally gets to be entertaining. It’s not just a small 5 minute bit of fluff but actually shows the character in a positive light. The Doctor seems to having a whale of a time with his hysterical German accent.  But apart from that he has a somewhat light episode.

This is the ninth episode in a row now that is missing from the archives. Thought I should provide a counter just in case you had lost count. As you can imagine I am waffling because it’s a bit hard to get excited when there isn’t much to get excited about.

Despite the positive start to the episode, it goes a bit dull in the last half. It’s quickly turned into a rather dull historical story which is a shame considering how much I enjoyed the first episode but whilst nothing of any note happens its far from being a disaster. It’s certainly not as bad as any of the Myth Maker episodes or even The Web Planet but that is more to do with the central characters and Jamie (not ready to call him a regular yet).