The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Lion - The Warlords
Doctor Who - The Lion (27/03/05)
Ooh, another Historical! The TARDIS materialises in a forest and immediately the crew are embroiled in a battle between King Richard I & his men and some Saracens. It was great to see them arrive; no words, just all of them exploring their surroundings. The Doctor had a great fight scene with a Saracen, clashing swords - even better than his trouncing the assassin in Rome! And there was a really gross bit where a sword got thrown at a Saracen and it embedded itself in his chest with a heavy thud!
Anyway, Barbara got kidnapped, and the Doctor and Vicki had a cool, funny bit stealing some clothes from a dodgy merchant in Jaffa. Barbara's meeting with Saladin was good, portraying him and his brother as intelligent, thoughtful and moral(ish) leaders, a complete contrast to King Richard's childish and petulant character. Saladin and Barbara's ridiculing of El Akir was ace.
The costumes and sets are brilliant, much more spectacular than the last story and possibly any so far in the series (except the Marco Polo serial, of course). And the cliffhanger, following Barbara's relatively good treatment by the Saracens, albeit still a prisoner over whom death hangs, was great. Richard's petty refusal to help the Doctor and Ian rescue her was really striking. Can't wait till next week!
Doctor Who - The Knight Of Jaffa (03/04/05)
Yet another great episode! The Doctor manages to talk King Richard round but is helped by the fact that Saladin's brother fancies Richard's sister Joanna. He knights Ian (!) and sends him off to find Barbara and propose marriage between Joanna and Saphadin. Meanwhile, Barbara escapes, helped by a merchant working for El Akir, is captured by El Akir again but escapes again. Okay, so this followed the old structure of captured, escapes, captured, escapes, but it works well and gives Barbara something to do.
Richard is coming across as much more sympathetic this week - desperate for peace, and there was a good bit where the merchant who had received the stolen clothes that the Doctor stole off him tries to get the Doctor in trouble with the Chamberlain (who had the clothes in the first place) but both end up totally flummoxed by the Doctor.
Still really good - oh, and Vicki is pretending to be a boy called Victor. It's got its silly bits, its serious bits, dramatic bits and downright clever bits, and, thank god, no crap bits! Looking forward to next week (again!).
Doctor Who - The Wheel Of Fortune (10/04/05)
Wow! This was good to begin with; the pathos of Haroun's story of the murder of his wife and son; the dilemma where he told Barbara to kill his daughter and herself if they were discovered; the comedy of the Doctor and Vicki being found out (that Vicki isn't a boy); and the conversation with Ben Daheer ("Who's your friend!?" indeed!). But all of this paled compared to the screaming match between Richard and Joanna! I don't think Doctor Who has ever been so tense or heated as when Richard let out a disbelieving rasp of "Cannot!" and Joanna's roar of "Infidel!". The acting is the best so far in the series and the script is, likewise, the best. The cliffhanger with Richard turning on the Doctor, and Barbara again caught by El Akir with his threat that "death is the only pleasure (she has) left and that is very far away" were brilliant, lifted from the mundanity they seem to have written down by following on from the screaming match.
Again, Saladin and Saphadin came across as intelligent and cultured, and the scenes with the Doctor and Vicki just get better. Their relationship comes along in leaps and bounds with every episode, and it's much warmer than the Doctor's relationship with Susan. Really can't wait for the next episode. The Historicals seem so much better than the Sci Fi stories; even though the Sci Fi are still entertaining, there isn't the intensity and warmth.
Doctor Who - The Warlords (17/04/05)
Not as exciting a final episode as the Roman story had, but worthy and believable. The story could have done with being a bit longer as the final rush to the TARDIS seemed a little, well, rushed. Still, all the plot strands were tied up - Haroun found Maimuna, his missing daughter, rescued Barbara and killed El Akir as he had vowed. Ian found Barbara with the help of the bloke who'd attacked him, and the Doctor and Vicki left Richard's court in good faith and history stayed as it should be (no marriage between Saphadin and Joanna). Could have done with seeing Joanna once more, but that wouldn't have fitted with the plot, I guess. And the end where Leicester believed Ian was spirited away by a Demonic Doctor and Vicki the Witch fitted fine with the period they were in.
Fatima's fate was nicely hinted at, surrounded by the other women in the Harem when they realised she'd betrayed Barbara; I can't imagine she'd've lasted long! All in all, this was a good episode rounding off a brilliant story. What this episode lacked was tension, not that there wasn't any, but it just felt like it wasn't about to end and then it did. Still, it couldn't have outdone last week's screaming match!
Ending was weird, though. Looks like we've got more Sci Fi next week in 'The Space Museum'!
Ooh, another Historical! The TARDIS materialises in a forest and immediately the crew are embroiled in a battle between King Richard I & his men and some Saracens. It was great to see them arrive; no words, just all of them exploring their surroundings. The Doctor had a great fight scene with a Saracen, clashing swords - even better than his trouncing the assassin in Rome! And there was a really gross bit where a sword got thrown at a Saracen and it embedded itself in his chest with a heavy thud!
Anyway, Barbara got kidnapped, and the Doctor and Vicki had a cool, funny bit stealing some clothes from a dodgy merchant in Jaffa. Barbara's meeting with Saladin was good, portraying him and his brother as intelligent, thoughtful and moral(ish) leaders, a complete contrast to King Richard's childish and petulant character. Saladin and Barbara's ridiculing of El Akir was ace.
The costumes and sets are brilliant, much more spectacular than the last story and possibly any so far in the series (except the Marco Polo serial, of course). And the cliffhanger, following Barbara's relatively good treatment by the Saracens, albeit still a prisoner over whom death hangs, was great. Richard's petty refusal to help the Doctor and Ian rescue her was really striking. Can't wait till next week!
Doctor Who - The Knight Of Jaffa (03/04/05)
Yet another great episode! The Doctor manages to talk King Richard round but is helped by the fact that Saladin's brother fancies Richard's sister Joanna. He knights Ian (!) and sends him off to find Barbara and propose marriage between Joanna and Saphadin. Meanwhile, Barbara escapes, helped by a merchant working for El Akir, is captured by El Akir again but escapes again. Okay, so this followed the old structure of captured, escapes, captured, escapes, but it works well and gives Barbara something to do.
Richard is coming across as much more sympathetic this week - desperate for peace, and there was a good bit where the merchant who had received the stolen clothes that the Doctor stole off him tries to get the Doctor in trouble with the Chamberlain (who had the clothes in the first place) but both end up totally flummoxed by the Doctor.
Still really good - oh, and Vicki is pretending to be a boy called Victor. It's got its silly bits, its serious bits, dramatic bits and downright clever bits, and, thank god, no crap bits! Looking forward to next week (again!).
Doctor Who - The Wheel Of Fortune (10/04/05)
Wow! This was good to begin with; the pathos of Haroun's story of the murder of his wife and son; the dilemma where he told Barbara to kill his daughter and herself if they were discovered; the comedy of the Doctor and Vicki being found out (that Vicki isn't a boy); and the conversation with Ben Daheer ("Who's your friend!?" indeed!). But all of this paled compared to the screaming match between Richard and Joanna! I don't think Doctor Who has ever been so tense or heated as when Richard let out a disbelieving rasp of "Cannot!" and Joanna's roar of "Infidel!". The acting is the best so far in the series and the script is, likewise, the best. The cliffhanger with Richard turning on the Doctor, and Barbara again caught by El Akir with his threat that "death is the only pleasure (she has) left and that is very far away" were brilliant, lifted from the mundanity they seem to have written down by following on from the screaming match.
Again, Saladin and Saphadin came across as intelligent and cultured, and the scenes with the Doctor and Vicki just get better. Their relationship comes along in leaps and bounds with every episode, and it's much warmer than the Doctor's relationship with Susan. Really can't wait for the next episode. The Historicals seem so much better than the Sci Fi stories; even though the Sci Fi are still entertaining, there isn't the intensity and warmth.
Doctor Who - The Warlords (17/04/05)
Not as exciting a final episode as the Roman story had, but worthy and believable. The story could have done with being a bit longer as the final rush to the TARDIS seemed a little, well, rushed. Still, all the plot strands were tied up - Haroun found Maimuna, his missing daughter, rescued Barbara and killed El Akir as he had vowed. Ian found Barbara with the help of the bloke who'd attacked him, and the Doctor and Vicki left Richard's court in good faith and history stayed as it should be (no marriage between Saphadin and Joanna). Could have done with seeing Joanna once more, but that wouldn't have fitted with the plot, I guess. And the end where Leicester believed Ian was spirited away by a Demonic Doctor and Vicki the Witch fitted fine with the period they were in.
Fatima's fate was nicely hinted at, surrounded by the other women in the Harem when they realised she'd betrayed Barbara; I can't imagine she'd've lasted long! All in all, this was a good episode rounding off a brilliant story. What this episode lacked was tension, not that there wasn't any, but it just felt like it wasn't about to end and then it did. Still, it couldn't have outdone last week's screaming match!
Ending was weird, though. Looks like we've got more Sci Fi next week in 'The Space Museum'!
As much as I'd love to see Episodes 2 and 4, I'm forever grateful we have 1 and 3 - the latter of which, as you rightly point out, features some of the best writing and acting the series has ever given us. Which is to say that if Doctor Who could ever be said to have come close to Shakespeare, this is it. The whole scene - the whole story indeed - is beautifully written. There are only two things that leave me unsatisfied: Walter Randall's wooden performance as El Akir; and the ending, which as you say feels rushed. It's a very true-to-life denouement in that things do just come to a head and get wrapped up sometimes without finding out what happened to everyone else involved, so I can accept it for that, but it does feel like the big players in the story get short shrift once they've served their purpose. To even things out a bit more I would love for this to have been six episodes - and the following story to be reduced to just two! ;)
ReplyDelete