The Smugglers

"This is Deadman's secret key. Kingwood, Smallbeer and Gurney."

Writer: Terrance Dicks

Format: Novel

Released: February 1993

Series: Target 133

Featuring: First Doctor, Polly, Ben

Synopsis 

A 17th century Cornish town - villainous pirates roam the seas searching for treasure while the townspeople have turned to smuggling, wheeling and dealing in contraband.

Into this wild and remote place the TARDIS materialises and the Doctor and his companions find themselves caught up in the dubious activities of the locals.

When the Doctor is unwittingly given a clue to the whereabouts of the treasure the pirates are determined to extract the information - whatever the cost...

Verdict 

The Smugglers was an excellent read and absolutely brilliant novelisation of the long lost televised story of the same name. It's such a shame that early episodes of Doctor Who are missing from the BBC archives and I imagine that it's one of the biggest regrets the company has. I think the fact Doctor Who has missing episodes, and so many of them, just adds that little bit to the legendary status of the programme and you can really see just how long this glorious thing has been on our screens for, albeit not consistently. Where episodes are missing though, Target novelisations step in and go some way to filling the gaps. I have of course already blogged the TV version of this story and so it joins a rather elite club of episodes by having both the TV and novelisation versions blogged. There aren't many that I have done that for and I guess it's only natural as my memories will still be relatively fresh and I'll want to broaden my knowledge. I loved the little recap to The War Machines at the beginning of the novel and I often forget how good that respective story is. It was one of my earliest Classics and the first ones I watched always seem to hold a special place in my heart, as is often the case with many fans. The Doctor's reaction to Polly and Ben intruding on the TARDIS brought back my memory of the TV recons I watched of this story and it put a smile on my face whilst I was on the train back home. This will be the last blogged story that I have completed on the train for a while now as all further journeys will be in a car and then I'll be home for the summer! Time has certainly flown by. Speaking of time, I loved the Doctor having to explain with a slight sorrow that he had no control over where the TARDIS would land. He didn't seem proud of that but the pride he had in his time machine was clear to see which was wonderful. I thought the characterisation of the First Doctor was excellent with Terrance Dicks capturing William Hartnell's likeness very well. To be fair, I wouldn't expect anything less as he really is the master of novelisations. There definitely isn't anybody better and I think that's proven by the sheer volume of stories that he novelised. His characterisation of both Polly and Ben was also superb and in the novelised format I noticed for the first time just how quickly the pair were thrown into the thick of the action that came with being companions of the Doctor. Ben was rather sceptical about travelling backwards in time to the seventeenth century but Polly found everything so exciting which I just loved. She is one of my all time favourite companions and I think it's a great shame that a large quantity of her episodes are lost. Thankfully we have the novelisations and audios to experience more of her but there's nothing quite like the televised format and that's where she absolutely shines. She's terrific and the way she just accepts being called a boy or lad in this story is brilliant. How anyone could look at somebody like Polly and not see the beauty she possesses in abundance is beyond me but it did add some humour to a rather serious story. It was a pure historical which I really liked and I think we definitely need more of them nowadays. Stories like The Aztecs and The Reign of Terror are fine examples alongside this story of how the type of story absolutely works. Cornwall in the seventeenth century is a great setting and thrown in smugglers looking for the treasure of Captain Avery and immediately you have a superb basis for a story. The connections to The Curse of the Black Spot are pretty minimal but wonderful at the same time. Each story impacting the other with the distances between broadcast is just magnificent. The death of the churchwarden at the hands of Cherub was quite brutal but the early timing of it was key in setting up the story. The Doctor had acquired vital information from the warden just in time and he wasn't going to give it up lightly. Captain Pike was a good villain and I liked the amount of double crossing and differences of opinion there were amongst the smugglers. Even the Squire was heavily involved in the smuggling which I thought was very good. The plot was an excellent one and I liked the bloody but action packed ending very much. One highlight of the story for me was the Doctor acquiring an obligation to not just leave but to put things right before doing so. Overall, a great setting, exciting plot and some good characters. 

Rating: 9/10