2.06 The Crusade

[whatinthewho]

First Doctor with Ian, Barbara and Vicki
Follows on from Season One, Planet of Giants, The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Rescue, The Romans and The Web Planet

Comments

[blogger_who]

I like to think of this story as the one where Ian realizes that he's in love with Barbara. The way that he's acting and the sheer desperation with which he acts is just so obvious. I can't believe that they can delude themselves any longer. I totally believe that it was the intention of the production team that they were in love. Yeah they hadn't gone on a date yet or kissed but when you spend these kinds of dangerous situations together, I'd say it's more informative about a potential partner than a hundred dates. The novelization of The Daleks Masterplan has the Doctor hoping that Ian and Barbara ended up having lots of annoying children and that's my dream as well of a blissfully happy Ian and Barbara enjoying their lives and each other to the fullest and I think that we see a lot of the seeds of that here.

Things that I thought about:

El Akir is the same guy who played Mr Wooden Aztec himself, Tonilla. What a change a season makes. Tonilla was the only character in The Aztecs that seemed to be reading from a cue card. Contrast that with this story where El Akir is the nastiest, meanest villain that you could ever imagine and he seems to enjoy being such a petty and cruel tyrant. I have to respect a man who hones his craft and I know that Walter Randall had just changed from being a dancer to an actor when the previous story had gone out but he's certainly in fine form this time. El Akir, like Tlotoxl is one of those villains that you love to hate.

What is amazing to me is that although everyone brings up the blacking up is that Saladin and the Saracens are depicted in a far more favorable light than Richard and his court. Saladin is awesome and I love the scene where he refrains from denouncing El Akir directly but manipulates events so it's clear to all who the most foolish man is in the room. He's also shrewd looking at the peace attempt of Richard as an opportunity but also being cautious and preparing for both contingencies. I disagree with you about Tyler who I think was one of the best things in The Dalek Invasion of Earth and I think that Bernard Kaye definitely puts in another fine performance here.

I have this vision in my mind of Barbara performing the last 13 serials in a formalized manner like Ping Cho did with the Hashashins in Marco Polo. I realize that they have her switching to literature but I'd really love to see her come up with a storyline that'd fit the sensibilities of these medieval saracens while still explaining their adventures up to this point. I think that would have been really fun to watch.

The scene with Maimuna is amazing because you get the whole horror of the situation conveyed to you and it really takes you into the gritty realism of what they're talking about here and even about how her culture would have viewed someone in her position. Our culture embodies Barbara's attitude that where there's life, there's hope. But somewhere like here where family honor is so important that someone could want to kill themselves because of something that they're not even responsible for is just so horrific. My heart really goes out to her and its amazing that they can do that with a character that we only see briefly in one episode.

I must have been 7 give or take a year when I read the novelization for this one. Unlike you I think that I would have rather had the more elaborate rescue by Ian because I feel like the ending needed a little more danger in it. El Akir's base is so easily broken into and I love the far longer sequence with Ian and Barbara reunited. I also think that it might have lead to a little more affection between the two of them and that cannot be a bad thing.

David Whitaker remains the master of character. I call him the Rob Holmes of the 60's. He never did a bad story and he understood the people in his stories better than I think any other writer in this period. He's also a very clever wordsmith. Some of the lines in this one are in iambic pentameter. It's amazing and yet this is partially lost and the Space Museum is complete. Ho hum. Here's hoping they find these soon.

[whatinthewho]

Oh, I didn't mean that Bernard Kaye's performance as Tyler was any less excellent, I'm sorry if it reads that way - I just meant that the two characters are worlds apart!

I don't think there's much more I can say that wouldn't be repeating myself. This is a gorgeous story - such a nuanced insight into another place and time, different cultures and mores and outlooks. It's a snapshot of history, our protagonists merely there as the vehicle that allows us access to that snapshot, and it's such beautiful storytelling, it saddens me all over again that the historicals fell out of use.

[blogger_who]

Ah, I see how it can be read that way. You just complemented his performance as Saladin and then said "a far cry from his previous role" and I thought that you meant the performance but I should have paid attention to your exact language because you mean the role. I love Kaye. Every time he turns up on the show he plays a great character.