Och!

 

I am creeping ever closer to actually watching a Second Doctor story. It's been 16 written stories since one that was televised.

"The Highlanders" is notable for being a lost story as in no complete TV episodes are known to exist and for introducing Jamie McCrimmon, loyal piper for the clan McLaren, to the TARDIS crew. This is a pure historical with no sci-fi trappings beyond the presence of our heroes and the existence of the TARDIS.

I suspect that, if the story weren't lost, it would be regarded as very middle of the road. I got some "The Smugglers" vibes from scenes when Ben and Jamie are trapped on a slave ship. Polly spends a fair amount of time with the Laird's daughter, Kirsty, who is rather pathetic at first. Our liberated, mini-skirted blond heroine is having none of this weaker sex stuff and is rather viscous towards the red-headed lassie. "You're a weeping ninny." "...you're just a wild wailing peasant."

I noted how the Doctor dressed as a woman in The Murder Game and he does so here - the little auld lady, presumably setting the precedent. There's a lot of comedy here which stands in stark contrast to the tone of the stories that are set chronologically between "Power of Daleks" and this tale. The scene where the Doctor poses as a German doctor and treats Perkins by slamming his head into the table was rather funny on the page and no doubt funnier onscreen.

Despite being famous for introducing Jamie, he does very little here and I highly suspect his Scottish dialogue is not particularly Scottish.

At one point, the Doctor just goes to sleep leaving Polly to make excuses for him. Och!

Overall, I found "The Highlanders" to be on the mediocre side. While I liked the funny bits, the story was, on the whole, very rote with little sense of our heroes confronting genuine menace.