The day this 6 part serial is found will be a sad one, because it could have been something we actually wanted instead. It really throws writer Robert Holmes' reputation into question. Only Episode 2 exists, and it shows 'The Space Pirates' to be a convoluted mess of facial hair, dodgy accents and wooden acting. It is a hotch podge of science fiction campness and clichés, masquerading as an outer space Western. As an indication to its absurdity, there is a whole scene depicting an egg being boiled, which gets more screen time than Patrick Troughton. With certain stories, the saving grace is the main players. Their involvement keeps things moving, and they act as a conduit for the audience to have their questions answered. Here the TARDIS crew are trapped aboard a space ship away from the action and feels like a waste of a strong regular cast. There is nobody to put the boot up the story. Never mind being lost, this story should never have happened in the first place, yet the BBC held on to the one existing episode because it had 'Technical Historical Significance'. And 'Power of the Daleks' doesn't? This story embodies the kind of silliness and goofiness that the current series is criticized for at times, but turned up to 11.