Doctor Who - The Curse of The Black Spot (mild spoilers)

When I was a kid, I wrote a Lego Pirate-inspired Doctor Who story in which Ace and the seventh Doctor found themselves on a 17th century Caribbean island attacked by pirates and, erm, robots.
So, I had some preconceptions going into tonight's offering.

Also it's brave steering the TARDIS into Pirates of The Caribbean territory and, well, this episode's not the weakest but certainly not the strongest.
Lily Cole is remarkably creepy as a siren preying on the ship's crew. Then again she's a model so looking menacing and ethereal isn't too huge a leap for her.
But the main issue is the characterisation, particularly of the pirates. It's just flat. There's an attempt to add human interest to Hugh Bonneville's captain but it's just too contrived.

<< Seriously.... >>

how dense is the captain not to have noticed his kid having stowed away for what appears to have been quite some time

This episode just feels like a first draft and the plot holes are gaping, particularly in the reveal.
A supernatural pirate piece will risk comparisons with PoTC and, yeah, there's no contest.

Next week is the Neil Gaiman episode so hopefully the show will return to awesomeness.

<< And here's some arc points >>

OK. We knew it wouldn't be arc-heavy as there was no "Previously", which also made me switch off a bit.
But who is it that keeps on intruding on Amy's dreams? And the pregnancy question is being rammed home again.
Is it not just Amy's baby phasing in and out but her as well? Yeah, it's a stretch.
Hopefully next week's instalment will start to answer some of the arc questions.