The Curse of the Black Spot (TV story)

The Curse of the Black Spot was the third episode in the sixth series of Doctor Who.

Synopsis
The TARDIS is marooned onboard a 17th-century pirate ship whose crew is being attacked by a mysterious and beautiful sea creature. Becalmed and beset by cabin fever, the pirates have numerous superstitious explanations for the Siren’s appearance. The Doctor has other ideas but, as his theories are disproved and every plan of escape is thwarted, he must work to win the trust of the implacable Captain Avery and uncover the truth behind the pirates’ supernatural fears – and he must work quickly, for some of his friends have already fallen under the Siren’s spell…

Plot
On a becalmed ship, a man with a minor cut is brought to the captain, Henry Avery. Avery says that he is a dead man after a black spot is found on the man's palm. The give him a sword and force him outside, tying the door shut with a medalion,. An eerie song and glow come from outside. The wounded man is heard screaming as the glow and song stop. When the crew leaves the cabin, Avery remarks that his disappearance is the same as 'all the others', with no sign of what happened. A banging is heard below the deck; a wooden grille is flipped open to reveal the Doctor, Amy and Rory, with the TARDIS behind them. The Doctor greets the pirates with "Yo! Ho! Ho!" but then wonders if any pirate actually says that.

They are taken into Avery's room and the Doctor says the TARDIS picked up the ship's distress signals (after trying to re-say his sentences as they are in a technology-ignorant age), though the crew never made any signals. When the Doctor says the trio are sailors, he is held at gunpoint, as they are believed to be stowaways due to not beleiving they used another ship to board theirs. Avery decides to force the Doctor and Rory off the plank and force Amy to work for them. However, right after the Doctor notices that the ship is too big for a crew of five, Amy is shoved below the deck to be put to work, but emerges in pirate attire, sword and all. She quickly engages in sword fights with some of the crew (who use brooms and mops instead), cutting a man's hand in the progress, and when she drops the sword it cuts Rory as well. She is surprised by the over-reactions of the crew, and by the black spots which quickly appear on both of the men's hands. The strange song is heard again; Rory and the wounded pirate begin to act like fools. A ghostly teal woman (who the crew refer to as a demon) rises from the sea and lands on the deck, stretching out her hand to the men. The wounded pirate takes it and instantly disappears with a scream. When Rory begins to walk towards her, Amy steps between the demon and him. The demon turns red and hisses at Amy, sending her flying across the deck. As the crew head below deck with the Doctor, Amy and Rory, the crew refer to the demon as the Siren; she has been taking any members of the crew with the smallest wound, as if she can smell blood. Avery decides to believe the Doctor used another ship to board them and once again points his pistal at him, demanding to make it "sail". The Doctor feels as though they're fighting over who's in charge and berates him for it. A man suddenly realises there is a leech on his leg; as everyone scrambles out of the puddle of water, a black spot appears on his hand. The Siren appears in the room and takes the bleeding man. The Doctor concludes that she is using water as a portal, and so the group head to the driest room on board- the armoury. They discover Avery's son Toby (whom he abandoned) hiding, and clearly ill. He explains that his mother died the previous winter and he wanted to meet his father, an honorable Captain in the Navy. He also reveals that he has the black spot, despite having no wounds. The Doctor concludes that the Siren is coming for the sick as well as the wounded.

Avery and the Doctor head to the TARDIS. Avery tries to express his surprise, but the Doctor cuts him off and quickly says the whole conversation. The Doctor then tells Avery where he may find a kitchen to fill his empty belly and where a bathroom is. Elsewhere, Boatswain and Mulligan (two remaining crew) plan to leave the ship, revealing to Toby that his father is a pirate. Still loyal to his father, Toby grabs a sword and cuts Boatswain, as the Mulligan leaves. Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor begins to try explaining the function of his console beginning with navigation, only to be surprised that Avery has easily figured it out (as "a ship's a ship" to him). Suddenly, the TARDIS begins to dematerialise. Not knowing where it's going, the pair leave only to see the TARDIS vanish. Mulligan, Avery and the Doctor all run into each other, and Mulligan is chased into a small room, where he accidentally burns himself. The Doctor hears the Siren's song and sees a glow from under the door. They enter the room, but there is no water; she doesn't just use water as a portal, but any reflective surfaces. They run back to Amy, Rory and Toby (who are now lacking the other crewmate as well), and they realise that the only option is to sit and wait.

As everyone sleeps, Amy sees the Eye Patch Lady looking at them through a hatch in the door; the hatch quickly disappears. As she goes to tell the Doctor, a storm begins, and all head up to the deck to lift the sail. A crown Avery had been unable to throw away falls out of his coat and the Siren emerges, taking Toby, but the Doctor throws the crown overboard before she can take Rory. However, Rory is knocked overboard and begins to drown; knowing he will die anyway, the Doctor allows the Siren to come and take Rory after finding another hidden crown. The Doctor decides that the only way to end this is to have the Siren take them as well and has Amy and Avery prick their fingers along with him. The Siren appears and before her song can hypnotise them, they touch her hand and blackout.

They soon wake up in an invisible alien ship that is taking up the same space as the Fancy. The Doctor, Amy, and Avery walk through the ship to find that all of the crew had died long ago from an earth disease, leaving their skeletons littering the ship.

They go further into further into the ship, where they find sick bay. In the sick bay are all the crew members, Toby and Rory as well as the TARDIS. Amy attempts to unhook Rory from the machine he's hooked up to, but the Siren appears and hisses her away. The Doctor explains that the Siren is not a demon, but rather, a virtual doctor who takes the appearance of the species she treats. Amy once again tries to help Rory, but the Siren doesn't allow her near him. Crying over the safety of her husband, Amy complains about the Siren not letting Rory's wife take care of him. The Doctor then realises that the Siren will not let anyone help her, prompting him to have Amy show her ring to her to prove that they're "connected". The Siren produces a glowing yellow arch on her hand and the Doctor explains that its a contract of consent that Amy will take responsibility for Rory. Amy "signs" the contract and prepares to take Rory to the TARDIS.

However, upon unplugging Rory from life support, the Doctor realises that if Rory is disconnected, he will drown. However, Rory is sure that Amy will save him and he begins to inform her how to perform CPR. In the meantime, Avery tries to make sense of the life support machine Toby is hooked up to as the Doctor explains that if he's taken off life support, he'll die of his fever. Avery decides to captain the vessel and give the Siren others to look after, with the Doctor wondering if he can handle such advanced technology. Avery simply asks where the "atom accelerator" is, assuring the Doctor that he can. Amy and the Doctor disconnect Rory from life support and pull him into the TARDIS as Amy begins CPR to revive him. Though it seems unsuccessful, Rory does recover after a minute of them believing him to have died and Mr and Mrs Pond share a loving hug.

Back on the ship, Avery takes the captain's seat with Toby, still on life-support, taking co-pilot and the crew behind them. They set off on a journey to see Sirius up close.

In the TARDIS, Amy and Rory says good-night to the Doctor, who seems to be worring about Amy as he called her Amelia. The Doctor says that he always worries about her, prompting Amy to remember his death. Amy and Rory head off to bed while the Doctor looks at his monitor, one again viewing Amy's pregnancy going between positive and negative. The Doctor can only say, "Oh, Amelia".

Cast

 * The Doctor - Matt Smith
 * Amy Pond - Karen Gillan
 * Rory Williams - Arthur Darvill
 * Henry Avery - Hugh Bonneville
 * Boatswain - Lee Ross
 * The Siren - Lily Cole
 * Mulligan - Michael Begley
 * Eye Patch Lady - Frances Barber
 * Toby Avery - Oscar Lloyd
 * DeFlorres - Tony Lucken
 * Dancer - Chris Jarman
 * McGrath - Carl McCrystal

Cultural references

 * The Siren in this episode is based on Greek mythology.
 * The Black Spot is an allusion to the Black Spot in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
 * The title of the story, as well as several mentions of a compass, may be a nod to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its sequels. Amy is shown fighting off numerous pirates like Elizabeth Swann, and the Black Spot is shown appearing on the palm of the victim's hand as it did for Jack Sparrow.
 * Having an automated program running the sickbay is similar to The Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager, who also happens to have the same name as The Doctor.
 * Walking the plank is a staple of modern pirate lore, but the practice itself was actually quite rare. Some believe it to be entirely apocryphal, but there are historical instances of it.

Individuals

 * The Doctor again scans Amy using the TARDIS console regarding her pregnancy or non-pregnancy.

Story notes

 * This episode was supposed to air in the autumn half of the series, but was swapped around, along with The Doctor's Wife being fourth instead of third and Mark Gatiss' episode being ninth instead of fourth. This was because Steven Moffat felt Gatiss' episode was too dark.
 * A prequel for this story was released online.
 * Lily Cole is credited as The Siren on-screen, and as Sea Siren in Radio Times.
 * This episode is notable both in that none of the guest cast die and there is no villain of the piece.
 * As with this story, Earth-born diseases were the bane of the aliens in The War of the Worlds.
 * This story bears some resemblance to the Ninth Doctor two-part story The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. In both stories an automated medical entity is initially perceived as a threat due to its lack of familiarity with human physiology. In addition, in both stories all the characters survive.

Ratings

 * 7.85 million (35.5% market share)

Myths

 * The Eye Patch Lady will reappear. This was proven true.

Filming locations

 * Cornwall

Production errors

 * Although Boatswain was marked, he is never seen after Mulligan leaves the hold. In fact after Mulligan leaves, he is shown blockading the door again, but is not seen in there when the Doctor and Captain Avery come back.
 * Like many television shows and films, this episode shows a very unrealistic depiction of CPR. The process of CPR is not intended to revive a victim. The purpose of CPR is to keep a minimum amount of oxygen flowing to the brain to prevent brain damage until professionals arrive to treat the victim.
 * When the Doctor presses the bell the scene is taken from the Eleventh hour as you can tell by his jacket sleeve.
 * When the Doctor takes the hat from the disappeared pirate in the belly of the ship he puts it on, the camera switches away, when the camera switches back he's putting it on again, and then he takes it off, the camera flashes outside the hold and the Doctor is once again taking off the hat.
 * When the Doctor discovers the dead "captain" of the "ghost ship" he scans the body and says that the cause of death was "human bacteria." He then elaborates, explaining that it was "A virus, from our planet. Airborne, travelling through the portal." Viruses and bacteria are not the same thing.

Continuity

 * Amy remembers the Doctor's death. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut)
 * The Eye Patch Lady reappears. (DW: Day of the Moon)
 * The marking of the hand is akin to the green mark individuals experienced before mutating into a Primord. (DW: Inferno)
 * Prior to this occasion, the TARDIS had landed in the hold of the Shadow. (DW: Enlightenment)
 * Captain Avery was previously mentioned in DW: The Smugglers.
 * The TARDIS again seems confused as to whether Amy Pond is pregnant or not. (DW: Day of the Moon)
 * The Doctor was previously forced to walk the plank in DW: The Pirate Planet.
 * The idea that two objects can inhabit the same location, but not being able to have direct travel between them happened durring The Doctor's quest for The Key To Time, where a judicial space ship containing Cessair of Diplos ran aground on top of the The Nine Travellers in Cornwall. The Stones being in our space but the ship being located in Hyperspace, travel being avaliable via use of The Great Seal of Diplos or a machine made by the Doctor and K-9. (DW: The Stones of Blood) 

Home video releases
Released as Series 6 Part 1 with The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon, The Doctor's Wife, The Rebel Flesh, The Almost People and A Good Man Goes to War on 11th July 2011.