['Doctor Who' – 'The Curse of the Black Spot']

The Doctor set sail on a limey, low-budget adventure on this week's episode of 'Doctor Who.'

'Curse of the Black Spot,' while funny and genuinely rousing in places, felt like a letdown coming after the epic and cinematic two-part series six opener.

But, to be fair, almost anything that followed that brilliant, brain-searing opening arc was gonna feel like a letdown. Still, pirates? Yeah, OK ...

The Doctor and his companions landed on a 17th century pirate ship after the TARDIS picked up a distress call. Armed with his wits and trusty sonic, our man with the bow tie went up against a glowing sea siren, or, as he dubbed her, "a stroppy, homicidal mermaid trying to kill all!"

It was fun trying to figure out the mystery of the creepy siren/mermaid/demon thingy, but the most amusing thing about 'Black Spot' was watching The Doctor locked in a mini power struggle with Captain Henry Avery (guest player Hugh Bonneville).

Unlike most people, the Captain refused to let The Doctor take charge of the situation, even after The Doctor insisted, "we're equals because I'm wearing a hat now." (I love The Eleventh Doctor's obsession with hats!)

Captain Avery proved pretty savvy for a 17th century scallywag. I liked seeing him get the hang of the TARDIS controls in minutes ("A ship's a ship."). It seems like everyone BUT The Doctor knows how to properly fly that thing.

The arc with the Captain bonding with his oh-so-cute stowaway kid was a bit of a snore, but Avery's redemption tale proved to be surprisingly satisfying in the end. Well, the image of Avery and his crew manning the alien ship, space pirate style, was pretty cool. I'd love to see The Doctor run into the Captain and crew again later this season, especially now that they're officially space pirates. But maybe next time they'll leave that crazy demon "nurse" in sickbay.

Oh, yes, the glowy killer siren lady turned out to be a holographic nurse -- sort of like Robert Picardo's Doctor from 'Star Trek: Voyager,' but with boobs and fangs and fingers that shot fireballs! Sure didn't see that one coming.

The nurse was a program on a spaceship that was trapped in a temporal rift. The vessel was occupying the same space as the pirate ship but in a different dimension. (Making the mirrors gateways between the two universes was pretty clever.) Besides Nurse Demonface and her charges, the ship's only passengers were the dead crewmembers and their yucky alien "bogeys." (Anyone still longing for an Amy-Doctor hookup probably had their hopes dashed when he wiped snot all over her jacket like a careless older brother.)

So the "nurse" was snatching the wounded pirates in order to take them to her sickbay to heal them? Right. This didn't really explain why she would go all demon face every now and again, or why every pirate with a simple cut was lying unconscious and on life support. Or why she hypnotized people. Or why she risked burning her patients' faces off by sterilizing handkerchiefs with scary demon fire. But, hey, who says everything has to make sense! Making sense went out the window two weeks ago when the astronaut killed The Doctor dead!

The show reminded us about The Doctor's pending doomsday with quick flashbacks as Amy and Rory went off to bed. It seems like death is stalking our heroes, as Future Doctor's death still seems inevitable, and Rory almost drowned in the TARDIS. I'm glad Rory didn't die; losing him in such a goofy episode would have felt more than a little awkward.

This was a silly one, folks, but I still found it pretty charming. What did you think? Do you wanna see The Doctor meet up with the space pirates again?

Other thoughts/quotes:

- The Doctor, always trying to amuse himself, demanded that the pirates act like belligerent clichés as he walked the plank.

- Swashbuckling Amy was cool for about five seconds, and then it just got way too silly.

- The Doctor has sat on Freud's "comfy sofa."

- Humans are "second rate" and "damage too easily," according to The Doctor.

- Eye Patch Lady showed up again as Amy slept. The mysterious figure woke Amy up by saying, "Just stay calm." Who. Is. She?

- Amy is still pregnant and not pregnant at the same time.

- They still haven't told The Doctor about his futuredeath. But he'll probably find out eventually, and I'm guessing he'll be ever so cross when he does.

- If I were British, I'd probably have something to say about guest star Lily Cole. But I'm not, so I don't. Honesty!

- River Song, you are missed.

- "Yo! Ho Ho! ... What, does nobody actually say that?"

- "What kind of rubbish pirates are you?"

- "Look at these brilliant pirates! Look at their brilliant beards! ... I'd like a beard."

"... OK, just like a shark, in a dress and singing, and green. A green, singing shark in an evening gown!"

- "She's out there licking her lips, boiling the saucepan, grating the cheese!"

- "We've all gotta go sometime. There are worse ways than having your face knocked off by a dodgy mermaid."

- "I know you can do this. Of course if you muck it up I am gonna be really cross. And dead."

- "Space can be lonely. The greatest adventure is having someone to share it with you."

'Doctor Who' airs Saturdays at 9PM on BBC America.

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