The Highlanders

Doctor: I am Doktor Von Wer.
Soldier: Doctor who?
Doctor: That's what I said.

The Highlanders is a lesson in pursing quality in a reconstruction. I actually tried to watch this story two times before. Both times, I watched a very poor quality recon with cheap animation. I barely made it the end of Episode One the first time. The second time through I rewatched Episode One and then got through Episode Two before putting it aside again. But third time was the charm and I noticed how much better I both understood the story and enjoyed it this time around. Obviously it would have been better if the story existed, but at least I felt I could enjoy the story rather than just watch it out of some completionist obligation.

Plot Summary

The Doctor, Ben and Polly appear just outside the Battle of Culloden where the English have routed the Scots. Ben runs off the explore, not realizing what is going on and the group is captured by two Scots: Jamie and Alexander. They take them to a cabin where their Laird is lying wounded.

The Scots are prepared to kill the Doctor and his companions, thinking them English army followers, but Ben gets the drop on them with a pistol. Polly offers the Doctor's services to help the Laird and leaves with the Laird's daughter, Kirsty, to find water. To show their good intentions, Ben drops the pistol but it goes off, alerting a patrol of English soldiers.

The soldiers surround the house and Alexander runs out to fight them. He is cut down and the soldiers enter to arrest everyone inside. The Doctor pretends to be from Hannover and a German subject but the English round them up to hang them. Polly and Kirsty observe this from a distance and throw rocks at the soldiers to try and pull the soldiers away. Seeing them, and hearing that Bonny Prince Charlie may be disguised as a woman, the lieutenant and two soldiers go after them, leaving the sargent to carry out the hanging.

Just before the hanging is to occur, Solicitor Grey arrives with his manservant Perkins. Grey is the Royal overseer of prisons but is also doing a side business in slavery. He takes Jamie and Ben but tells the soldiers they can hang the Doctor and the Laird. The Doctor argues that as a lawyer, Grey should know that his breaking the law by executing him without informing the German ambassador. Recognizing the value of having a Doctor, Grey agrees to take all of them, although he doubts the Laird will survive, and has them shipped to the prison at Inverness.

Polly and Kirsty hide in a cave from the soldiers. Polly wants to go and rescue the others but gets angry when Kirsty refuses to turn over her father's ring for them to get money. Polly storms out in the dark but falls into an animal trap pit. Kirsty finds her but also falls in trying to pull Polly out. Whilst trying to get out the patrol arrives. The lieutenant sends the two regulars back for his horse while he rests and has a bite. The ladies make a noise which lures him over and they pull him into the pit. They tie him up and take his money and food. They also take some of his hair to blackmail him if they need help from someone in the army and they climb out.

At the prison in Inverness, the Doctor sees to the Laird's wounds and discovers Bonny Prince Charlie's standard hidden on the Laird. The Doctor rouses the prisoners by playing a the prince's fanfare which alerts the guards. When the guards approach, the Doctor tells them he's discovered an assassination plot and must see Solicitor Grey. The guard takes him out. Jamie is angry but Ben calms him down telling him it was a ruse by the Doctor to get out so he could help them.

Solicitor Grey discusses the transfer of prisoners to the Caribbean by Captain Trask. Dismissing Trask and Perkins, he agrees to see the Doctor. The Doctor, pulling out the Prince's banner, hints that he knows the location of the Prince and will split the reward with him. When Grey leans in to learn more, the Doctor throws the banner over him and grabs his pistol. He ties Grey up and pushes him into a closet. Perkins comes in and he tricks him into lying down and ignoring the sounds of Grey banging on the door.

Back at the pit, the Sargent finds Lieutenant Ffinch in the pit. Ffinch orders him to pull him out but the Sargent waffles until Ffinch agrees to purchase a round of drinks for the men. With his money stolen, he agrees to pay him when they return to Inverness.

Captain Trask returns to Grey's office and releases him from the closet. Grey berates Perkins and they go looking for the Doctor. Trask then loads the remaining prisoners, including Ben, Jamie and the Laird onto the longboat to carry them to his ship. The Doctor, disguised as an old woman, gives the guard resealing the prison some food and drink. The guard leaves to eat, leaving the exit to the prison unlocked and the Doctor slips outside.

Trask throws the remaining prisoners in the hold. There they meet the original captain, Willie Mackay who initially is prepared to kill Ben as an Englishman. The Laird reassures Mackay that Ben is loyal to them as a former English sailor. Ben also enlightens Mackay that Trask, originally the mate, is not working for the king but has gone pirate and is going to sell them as slaves.

Polly and Kirsty disguise themselves as orange sellers (an allusion to prostitutes) and investigate the prison. They find the prisoners gone but are detained by the Sargent. He takes them to Lieutenant Ffinch who dismisses the sergeant. They leave him after he tells them that Solicitor Grey is in charge of prisoners after they are brought to Inverness. The two ladies meet Perkins and arrange a meeting with Grey. The Doctor, still disguised as an old woman, tries to get the ladies attention but must continue to hide from Perkins.

On the Annabelle, Solicitor Grey comes aboard and tells the Highlanders that they will either sign a contract to work for seven years in Barbados or be hanged. Mackay speaks against it but all but him, Ben, Jamie and the Laird agree to sign. Ben asks to read the contract before he decides and tears it up when Grey offers it to him. Trask knocks him out and Grey heads back to get more contracts.

In the pub, Perkins offers to keep the ladies entertained with a game of cards when the Doctor comes up behind him with a pistol. Grey returns and orders Perkins to come to his office to draw up new contracts. After he leaves, the Doctor, the pistol still hidden, orders Perkins to wait ten minutes before going. He and the ladies then leave and head to a barn where they had been hiding. Informing the ladies of the whereabouts of the prisoners, he forms a plan to use the remaining money to buy weapons scoured off the battlefield from the English soldiers.

Polly and Kirsty have little luck getting weapons but the Doctor returns with a large haul. They prepare them but the Doctor notices that Kirsty is wearing a ring with the Stuart seal. The prince had given it to the Laird for saving his life and the Laird had given it to Kirsty for safekeeping. The Doctor asks for it to help save the Laird's life. Reluctantly, she gives it to the Doctor.

Grey returns to the Annabelle with new contracts. The highlanders are prepped to sign the documents, although Grey warns Trask to use a gentle hand as he is fearful of them refusing if pushed too hard. Ben is brought on deck to be used as both an example and to punish him for his earlier deeds. He is tied and dangled from the yard arm and dunked into the sea. But Ben had loosed his ropes and swims free to shore.

Upon reaching shore, Ben meets the Doctor in disguise. He takes Ben back to the barn to dry and have a bowl of soup. The group then plans their strategy and heads back to the Annabelle.

Back on ship, Grey has finished having the highlanders sign the contracts when the Doctor arrives. He offers the signet ring as proof that the prince was captured in disguise and that if he identifies him, he will split the reward money. Cautious, but tempted, Grey agrees and escorts the Doctor into the hold. While he was up there, Kirsty and Polly rowed around and passed arms through the portholes to the prisoners.

In the hold, the Doctor indicates that Jamie is actually the prince but when Grey approaches him, the prisoners leap up and attack. Grey and Perkins surrender immediately and the two guards are quickly overpowered. Trask however holds his own against Mackay, wounding him slightly. Trask, flees to the deck where he sees the remaining men killed or surrendering to the Scots. Knocked off balance by Jamie, Trask faces Mackay pursing him and is knocked overboard.

Retaking command, Mackay sets sail for France where the Scots can wait until the English pacification is over. The Doctor, Ben and Polly take Grey back to the shore as prisoner with Perkins volunteering to stay and serve as clerk to the Laird as he speaks French. Jamie also returns to shore, although on a second boat, meeting the Doctor back on shore.

On shore Grey yells out, attracting the attention of two soldiers. Ben and Jamie overpower them, but Grey escapes in the fracas. Polly then sees Lieutenant Ffinch and prepares to have him escort them back to the moor to find the TARDIS. However, Ffinch's commanding officer appears and to cover themselves, the Doctor gives him the signet ring as proof that he knows the prince's whereabouts. The colonel sends Ffinch with the Doctor and his friends to capture the prince immediately.

Upon reaching the cabin where the Doctor first met Jamie, they are set up by Grey with a small group of soldiers nominally under Ffinch's command. Grey tries to arrest them but the Doctor and Polly expose Grey's scheme of selling slaves. Grey tries to produce the contracts which would have given him an alibi but finds them missing. The Doctor denies all knowledge of them and Ffinch arrests Grey instead. He then leaves with his men, revealing a soft spot for Polly, despite her blackmail of him. She in turn gives him back the token, freeing him of her blackmail.

The group returns to the TARDIS and they invite Jamie with them rather than having him survive in the highlands by himself. Jamie is hesitant at first, but Polly assures him it's ok and he boards. The TARDIS disappears shortly afterward.

Analysis

The Highlanders feels a bit like a missed opportunity. If you go into this story cold, with a title like this, you would think it would focus more on Scotland, especially when opening with the Battle of Culloden. Instead, the battle only serves as a pretext to get us into a swashbuckler story. I have no problem with swashbuckler stories but it still feels a bit like being cheated when you are initially led into a different concept.

Casting that aside and looking at this story with an objective eye, it's not bad. It's a bit slow to start and when I started with an unclear recon, that just made it feel like a chore to get in to. I'd also say that the Second Doctor is still not quite the loveable character from the later stories. He is still quiet and a bit more scheming which also takes a little bit longer to get drawn in.

Neither Ben or Polly start well in this story either. Both are very ignorant of history and completely oblivious to how the Scots perceived the English at this time, or how English soldiers would have behaved to anyone in the company of Scots at this time. So that was a bit frustrating to start.

However, things really picked up in Episode Three. Culloden is discarded and the Doctor moves to reunite with Polly. Now the story is well established against Grey and the pirates and it moves along with a steady clip. In fact, it actually jumps over a few points that could easily have been expanded upon. If the dictate had come down to expand this from four episodes to six, I could easily have seen Polly and Kirsty's exploration of the prison or the Doctor's raid for weapons being expanded. I could even have seen the journey back to the moor with Grey in pursuit being expanded. I wouldn't have minded that actually as some of the duller stuff in Episode One could have been dispensed with.

Jamie doesn't have a lot to do in this story, but then again, neither does Ben. Polly is the companion who stands out but the Doctor also steps up as well. Contrasting with the First Doctor, the Second is still planning but he is also executing many of the same plans rather than letting the companions take the lead. Obviously this is done at Ben's determent but Ben does get a few moments here and there, especially in Episode Three where he stands out.

I have seen a little bit of complaint that this story is a bit corny with the Doctor doing an over-the-top German accent and a very Long John Silver pirate in the form of Trask, but neither of those really bothered me. If anything, Trask's heavy pirate nature helped a bit in the absence of a visual. Nor was I bothered by the German accent of the Doctor's except for the fact that it wasn't that good. The stretch there is that the English actually believed he was German.

So overall, I'd say this story is a tale of two halves. It starts poorly, wandering off what could have been a really good story in pursuit of a middling one. It picks up again with a fun little pirate adventure with the Doctor taking a lead role, excelling in what will become his signature trait of stalling. It dips a little bit at the end but only in that the whole journey back to the TARDIS could have been expanded to give a bit more punch to Grey's exit or Ffinch's interest in Polly towards the end. Balancing it all out, I'd say a middle of the road score is fair for this one. I'd think I'd go so far as to say that I'd give it a better than half rating if it had been an existing story rather than a recon.

Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5