YY6 - The Space Pirates 6

What more can you say about a story that is seen as so inconsequential that the regular cast don't even turn up for the recording of the final episode? Because Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines, and Wendy Padbury were knee deep in mud filming in a quarry for the upcoming season finale, The War Games, they pre-filmed all their scenes for this episode some seven weeks before the studio recording. So, because I'm fascinated with how 1960s Doctor Who was produced, I'm curious to see how this was put together during the studio recording of the episode. Were the many filmed inserts switched in via telecine as was often done in those days? Or was this an episode borne of the editing suite?

Sadly, we may never be able to see the final product. But, less sadly, this was the last missing episode I'll have to watch during this whole Chronic Hysteresis. Hooray! Fair dos to the various folks out there who have made up all the reconstructions that have made watching the missing episodes so endurable. From now on, though, all the pictures move.

This is a passable story that had some well shot model footage (although use of an (inaccurate) starfield in the background might have added to the atmosphere a bit), but the mammoth that is following The Space Pirates casts a long shadow indeed...