Doctor Who: The Highlanders
(4 episodes, s04e15-e18, 1966-1967)
In the Second Doctor’s second adventure, we get a pretty straightforward story about the Scottish Highlanders, and an introduction to a new companion.
Jamie is very resourceful, but the weakest of the companions at this point simply because he doesn’t know how all of this craziness works. I’m eager to see how he develops as he travels with the Doctor, and I hope that he doesn’t turn out like poor Katarina. He seems much less shallow than she did, so he’ll fare better.
This incarnation of the Doctor is quite devious, between the (terrible!) German accent (Doctor von Wer… Doctor (of) Who) and disguises (cross-dressing as an old woman and masquerading as a wounded solider with a hilarious mustache), this Doctor is truly a man of many faces.
Ben continues to be a strong character, and the Doctor still doesn’t like guns. The ending was a nice twist, with a fate better than death (story-wise, anyway) for Grey.
I waffled between a 3 and 4 as I watched, and I think it ends up as a high 3. So, optimistically…
Rating: 4/5 – “Would you care for a jelly baby?”
UP NEXT – Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace
The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.
Creative Criticality 
I never cared much for the Lloyd/Davis historicals and this is the last of them. The whole genre retires with this one but gets a lasting legacy in the companion of Jamie. Jamie certainly puts a lie to the belief that a historical companion doesn’t work in a few serials you’ll see how he develops. The first few with him don’t work as well IMHO because they were written with Ben and Polly and Jamie was only introduced at the last minute because of how much everyone enjoyed working with him. By the Faceless Ones he’ll start to really come into his own.
[…] was really skeptical about this season after The Power of the Daleks and The Highlanders came out so strong, and then The Underwater Menace took a nose-dive. The gradual climb back to the […]
[…] Jamie, assumed to be a deserter from the Highlanders, gets placed under guard with a Redcoat prisoner who thinks it is 1745 instead of 1917. Though it’s not explicitly stated, this Redcoat was apparently abducted from the same foggy battle where Jamie originally left with the Doctor. […]
[…] It’s nice to visit Scotland again, but this doesn’t come close to the spirit of Jamie McCrimmon. It was a fun, but ultimately routine and forgettable […]
[…] it’s also a (partially) historical serial, which we haven’t seen for 15 years. That’s minor reset […]
[…] A kilt; […]