Written by David Whitaker | Directed by Douglas Camfield | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 03/27/65
This is more like it.
I don't often comment on the directing on this blog, but looking at the episodes he'll go on to make for Doctor Who (along with Planet of Giants, which we've already seen), Douglas Camfield has an almost 100% hit rate for good episodes (I wish I could see more of the Daleks Masterplan to say he's batting a thousand, alas). The actors are on fine form here, too, but the sword fights near the beginning of the episode look pretty great. Compare the fight scenes here to the Aztecs, where Ian and Ixta roll around and hug awkwardly with a static camera in "The Warriors of Death." It's night and day - just when a fight looks like it could get awkward, it cuts to another piece of action elsewhere where something visually interesting is going on. I could do without the white actors playing Middle Eastern people, but that's not something the series will stop doing for a long while yet (and happened back in Marco Polo, as well).
Still, Julian Glover as King Richard is amazing, and despite being white, Saphadin as played by Rover Avon is menacing and interesting, and so far, fairly carefully done - he comes across as very competent and merciful, if it suits him. When El Akir says he can make Barbara walk across hot coals or through sharp sword tips, he asks Barbara how that sounds, and she says "it sounds like a punishment for a fool," and Saphadin agrees. "Who is the fool here?" he asks. "El Akir, I can devise my own pleasures," before implying that he'll make him do those awful things.
Watching the episodes in order, I have to say I've gotten sick of everyone who captures Barbara implying her captor could rape her. It's way too common and I'm not sure why it didn't stick out to me when I watched in the past (though I watched random episodes from the various Doctors, so it's pretty stark in order like this). Vicki, too, is underused so far, too - she gets a great turn in the next serial, but she's been pretty extraneous to events since she joined the TARDIS team (as I recall, David Whitaker actually does something with Vicki later on this episode. That means David Whitaker is the only writer so far to actually write for Vicki well, since he wrote her debut, The Rescue).
Really, though, what is good about this episode can be traced back to David Whitaker's deft characterization and plotting skills. I must note - this was the first episode of this watch through where I lost track of time and was surprised when the credits rolled. Despite having seen the episode before, I had gotten invested in it enough to forget the cliffhanger comes right after Richard says he will never trade with Saladin and Barbara can rot for all he cares. Whitaker does a great job sketching out all these characters quickly, even if Vicki is underused (and Ian, weirdly, is more stoic than usual. I think William Russell had an off week, because outside the fight scenes, he's a little too stiff).
I really need to get around to reading Whitaker's novelizations. He's definitely the most interesting writer so far, and he still has his best script ahead of him. I hate to keep bashing The Web Planet (irks me to agree with conventional fan wisdom, but I just don't like that serial), but this is a breath of fresh air after that mess. I'm certain the only two missing episodes of this season will be better than that (both of which fall in this serial, sadly - tomorrow's and Tuesday's).
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Knight of Jaffa"
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