Written by Glyn Jones | Directed by Mervyn Pinfield | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 04/24/65
I wonder what Steven Moffat thinks about this episode. It's only sorta timey-wimey, but it's fairly complicated for what the show has done thus far. The TARDIS apparently "jumps a time track" which gets our heroes lost in the fourth dimension. Basically, they're walking around an adventure they haven't had yet, and seeing that they lost. The best moment in the episode (which should have been the cliffhanger, frankly) is when they see themselves in cases, having been made into museum exhibits. The four of them stand in their cases, blankly staring out of them, clearly dead (though that's never stated, what else could they be?). It's a pretty creepy moment and is absolutely baffling on the first watch.
Glyn Jones, who doesn't write for Doctor Who again after this serial (though he does show up as an actor, playing a Sontaran in "The Sontaran Experiment"), writes a few good lines in the beginning. When the TARDIS "jumps the time track," our heroes wake up in different clothes, which understandably freaks Ian and Barbara out:
Ian: "Doctor, we've got our clothes on!"
Doctor: "Well, I should hope so, dear boy, I should hope so!"
Barbara: "No, Doctor, our regular clothes!"
That would have flew right over kid's heads, I'm sure, but adults may have chuckled at it (not that it's extremely titillating or offensive or anything). The Doctor isn't very bothered by it, though, strangely. Jones seeds some interesting bits throughout the episode that add to the mystery of what's going on - the glass Vicki drops leaps back up and mends itself before her eyes, they aren't leaving footprints in the sand, the guards can't see or hear them (and they can't hear the guards), and they even see a Dalek exhibit! I love the Dalek showing up - I assume kids seeing this thought the Daleks would end up being behind everything in this episode, so they would have waited with baited breath for weeks only to be let down (next serial, kids). Even knowing what's going on, the episode still watches pretty well. I wish the classic series would mess about with time and dimensions like this more often ("Mawdryn Undead" being my favorite), but seeing it this early on is great.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Dimensions of Time"
KAZIN WHO - One episode and one blog of Doctor Who every weekday
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
"The Warlords" - Season 2, Episode 67
Written by David Whitaker | Directed by Douglas Camfield | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 04/17/65
This one is strange. There are a few loose ends we don't see tied up on screen - whatever Richard's fate, it's hinted at by the Doctor, but he bids them leave and we never see him again. Saladin and Sapahadin do not appear in this episode, so we never find out what happens with William des Preaux. We do see what happens to El Akir, and while his fate is satisfying, it's odd that his plot is the only one resolved. I wish we could have seen more of Joanna as well (she doesn't appear in this episode, either). Yes, history records what happened to most of these people, I'm sure, but for a children's show, not giving us some sort of ending is unsatisfying.
Still, it's a fun episode - Ian gets tortured with ants (by a vaguely racist caricature with an almost comedy Indian accent), Barbara helps free El Akir's harem (at least, I assume - this is another missing episode, and the captions don't say anything about their fate). Haroun's plot strand comes to a satisfying end when he kills El Akir and rescues his daughter. Ian gets to be clever and tricks the Earl of Leicester into thinking he's a real knight with a grievance against the Doctor, which lets them all get away in the TARDIS.
I think this episode got away from Whitaker. It actually feels like it should have gone on longer - odd for a four parter in the 1960s, but there it is. It feels rushed at the end because of the loose plot threads. It's still well made TV, but it's a noticeable drop in quality compared to the first three episodes, sadly. Still, The Crusade is a good serial and is worth watching, and it's a shame half of it is missing.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Space Museum"
This one is strange. There are a few loose ends we don't see tied up on screen - whatever Richard's fate, it's hinted at by the Doctor, but he bids them leave and we never see him again. Saladin and Sapahadin do not appear in this episode, so we never find out what happens with William des Preaux. We do see what happens to El Akir, and while his fate is satisfying, it's odd that his plot is the only one resolved. I wish we could have seen more of Joanna as well (she doesn't appear in this episode, either). Yes, history records what happened to most of these people, I'm sure, but for a children's show, not giving us some sort of ending is unsatisfying.
Still, it's a fun episode - Ian gets tortured with ants (by a vaguely racist caricature with an almost comedy Indian accent), Barbara helps free El Akir's harem (at least, I assume - this is another missing episode, and the captions don't say anything about their fate). Haroun's plot strand comes to a satisfying end when he kills El Akir and rescues his daughter. Ian gets to be clever and tricks the Earl of Leicester into thinking he's a real knight with a grievance against the Doctor, which lets them all get away in the TARDIS.
I think this episode got away from Whitaker. It actually feels like it should have gone on longer - odd for a four parter in the 1960s, but there it is. It feels rushed at the end because of the loose plot threads. It's still well made TV, but it's a noticeable drop in quality compared to the first three episodes, sadly. Still, The Crusade is a good serial and is worth watching, and it's a shame half of it is missing.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Space Museum"
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