“How dare you follow me into the TARDIS?” And so two new
companions are greeted as The Smugglers begins. “Oh dear, all this distraction;
and I really thought I was going to be alone again.”
But Polly and Ben have entered the TARDIS and are now on an
adventurous ride with the Doctor. I find it amusing, Gary, that these two seem
to have a role reversal going from your usual male/female companions. Polly shows more intelligence and wherewithal,
whereas Ben, as Polly exclaims, has “no imagination.” Ben just wants to report
back for duty on his ship; Polly finds the adventure exciting.
As we begin this new jaunt with our new companions, we find
the Doctor admitting from the start that he cannot control the TARDIS. In the
past he has been quick to defend his TARDIS and his mastery of it. Now,
however, he confesses, “I have no control over where I land; neither can I
choose the period in which I land in.” This, he claims, is the cause of half
his troubles.
Polly has worked out from their surroundings that they have
landed in Cornwall. But, as the Doctor states, “You may know where you are, my
dear, but not when. Oh, I can foresee oodles of trouble.” The when turns out to
be the 17th century, and the oodles of trouble comes in
the form of smugglers and pirates in search of hidden gold.
“We’ll just have to like it and lump it,” Polly states when
informed that they are no longer in the 20th century. Later, when
she and Ben are captured, she uses her wit and imagination (that she claims is
lacking in Ben) to fashion a straw doll with which to threaten wizardry, thus
bluffing their way out. She is a shrewd and practical companion. In fact,
despite the Doctor deciding that he must follow his two new tagalongs because
they are “quite incapable of looking after themselves,” both Polly and Ben
(after he gets into the full swing of the escapade) prove that they are capable
of handling themselves in a pinch.
The Doctor, meanwhile, finds his own trouble, but as usual
he is more than capable of handling himself. He too uses a bit of ‘wizardry’ to
manage his escape, distracting his captor by pretending to read his fortune in
the cards.
I find this story (yet another lost one available only
through reconstruction) difficult to follow, however. Without proper visuals, I
get the ranging cast of characters mixed up. Between Pike, Cherub, Blake, the
Squire, and Longfoot, I find it hard to sort out who is good and who is bad;
who is a pirate and who is a smuggler and who is the revenue man.
But as with any good Doctor Who story there is enough action
and humor to keep me entertained. It is amusing, for example, how one of our
confusing cast of characters, I think a pirate, keeps calling the Doctor
‘Sawbones.’ Finally in his most exasperated style the Doctor responds, “I would
prefer you to use the correct term, sir. I am a Doctor.”
Finally, the Doctor passes on to his new companions a lessen
he has learned from previous companions. That is, when faced with the opportunity
of returning to the TARDIS to make his escape, instead he feels himself “under
a moral obligation” to stay and put things right again. “I feel that I might be
responsible for its destruction,” he says of the village that is under threat
of pillaging. He must stay to try and avoid this; after all, “there is no need
for innocent people to suffer.”
He does avoid it, after solving the riddle to the hidden
gold, and with some help from the revenue man. Only then can he enter the
TARDIS and leave.
But where can he leave to? Where to now, Polly
wonders—forward or back in time? She is up for the excitement of time travel.
Ben, however, still only wants to get back to 1966. The Doctor can’t promise
them anything: “I have no idea; I have no control over such matter.” He can’t
even guarantee that their journey won’t lead them into even more danger than
they have just left.
Where to now? Forward or back? Into the swirling uncertainty
of time and space . . .
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