Doctor Who 603 Curse of the Black Spot may sound an odd title to some, but a black spot is a fictional literary device invented by Robert Louis Stevenson in his novel Treasure Island. In the book, Pirates are presented with a black spot to officially pronounce a verdict of guilt or judgment. It consists of a circular piece of paper or card, with one side blackened while the other side bears a message and placed in the hand of the accused. It was a source of much fear because it meant the pirate was to be deposed as leader, by force if necessary - or else killed outright.
Source; previously discussed here.
In the Doctor Who story, the Black Spot seems to appear on the skin of your hand, in a similar way the nano-recorder glowed in 602, so possibly a link?
6 comments :
the black spot is also used in the pirates of the Caribbean sequels. when davey jones calls in jack sparrow's debt, the black spot appears on one of jack's hands if i recall correctly.
yes but its origin is still with RLS :)
It's also worth noting that Long John Silver's Black Spot was torn from a bible, an act of desecration. It'll be interesting to see if the fact that it's on their hands has any significance.
i see the link with the nano recorder may be significant
when i heard Black Spot, i immediatly though Pirates of the Caribbean, its used to mark a pirate for death by Cracken, i was really hoping that it would reveal the cracken to me an alien in this episode :-D
But "Black Spot" was planned for the second half of the series, so a connection would be unlikely, though there could be a reference.
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