One of the finest things Doctor Who can do as a framework of telling stories is to experiment and do what had not been done before. Doctor Who and The Pirates is perhaps the pinnacle of this experimentation and what it can do for a series at the top of it's game. This isn't a Pure Historical. This isn't a Sci-fi tale. It's not even, though it tries to convince you, a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. This is Doctor Who at it's unreliable best: a bit of lightning in a bottle, the spark to a beautiful cascade of fireworks, something bright, small and new, and you'll never see anything quite like it again. Weird, sad, unapologetic, and mad in all the ways. Love this one to death.