2 - A strong Hartnell era historical. The Crusade has a bit of a soft spot in my heart - it combines an interesting historical era with a tense plot and amazing guest performances, and it is one of the stronger William Hartnell era historicals despite two of its four episodes currently missing.
1 - A swift beginning. Our heroes are drawn into trouble and separated instantly, setting off the events that will eventually make Ian and Barbara in particular face some rather difficult times.
2 - Barbara's torment... This story is most interesting from Barbara's and Ian's points of view. Barbara is hunted by El Akir and almost killed when trying to escape. Also, consider the unusually dark and bleak turn in Part Three, where Barbara is essentially instructed to murder someone and then commit suicide - this was a children's program after all!
1 - ...and Ian being the knight in shining armor. Ian is knighted in his attempts to save Barbs, facing torture by ants along the way!
1 - The power of danger and excitement! The Crusade finds its strength in the various fight scenes, dangerous situations, and glorious character conversations.
2 - I love the Shakespearean dialogue. The actors put a lot of power and emotion into the dialogue, making it some of the most enjoyable in Classic Who. The fiery argument between King Richard and Joanna at the end of Part Three remains among my favorite scenes in Doctor Who history: here we get two acting giants passionately shouting at each other, culminating in the classic line "You defy me with the Pope?!!".
3 - The greatest guest cast ever? Julian Glover remains one of the finest guest actors to appear on the show, both here and in his later (and more well-known and beloved) appearance in City of Death (1979). Glover's King Richard the Lionheart is as commanding as he is just, and Glover plays him with utmost honesty. Another acting legend comes in Jean Marsh, making her first of three glorious guest appearances on the show as Richard's sister Joanna. She climbs right up to the top as the best actress to appear on the show and will remain there for quite some while (she'd be back in the 12-part epic The Daleks' Master Plan (1965-1966) in the following season).
2 - Villains to root for. And the brilliance of the guest cast doesn't stop there. Bernard Kay returns from The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) to play famous Saracen leader Saladin with a treacherous calm that makes him instantly memorable. His brother Saphadin is played by the equally brilliant Roger Avon. Another returning actor, Walter Randall (The Aztecs, 1964) becomes the villainous El Akir, calculative and sadistic, despite his similarities with Tegana from Marco Polo (1964).
2 - Loose Cannon brings back the lost episodes. I watched the missing parts Two and Four through the Loose Cannon reconstructions. They use what little material exists in form of the complete soundtrack, telesnaps, and publicity shots to fill in the gaps left by the absence of moving pictures. It's a shame there are so many iconic moments in these lost episodes, but the reconstruction does a good job of bringing them to life again.
3 - Breathtaking sets and costumes. The costume design and set decoration is impeccable as always, and what we can see from Douglas Camfield's direction, he brings these characters and the setting to life perfectly.
THE BAD:
1 - What are the Doctor and Vicki up to? The Doctor and Vicki spend a majority of this story in King Richard's court and don't get a whole lot done.
1 - Ian's story is too hurried. Ian's rescue operation doesn't get underway properly until Part Four and by that time, they have to desperately hurry up to make it in time for the end credits.
2 - A plot that goes nowhere. The political tension between Richard and Saladin is in full bloom at the beginning of the story and nothing is resolved or has progressed by the end of it, so this story does feel slightly redundant. I cannot help but feel that the political empty talk is there just to fill in the runtime and hide the fact that there isn't much of a plot here.
1 - The very brief ending. I'd argue that the only bigger problem with the story is the fact that David Whitaker fails to develop any of the plot strands during the first three parts, and so is left in a great hurry to wrap everything up in the final episode before hurling the Tardis crew into their next adventure.
1 - The missing episodes don't flow as well as the existing ones. The Crusade is a dialogue-heavy story, so the missing episodes don't flow quite as well as the existing ones. This goes especially for the last part, which has a lot going on that simply doesn't translate well in reconstructed form.
2 - The use of blackface. Sadly, the use of blackface on the actors playing the Saracen characters, most notably Bernard Kay, means this story hasn't aged very well and should be seen as somewhat problematic nowadays.
Review by Theo KallströmVIP 6BlockedParentSpoilers2022-04-07T10:58:12Z
:white_check_mark:70% :thumbsup:19 :thumbsdown:8
THE GOOD:
2 - A strong Hartnell era historical.
The Crusade has a bit of a soft spot in my heart - it combines an interesting historical era with a tense plot and amazing guest performances, and it is one of the stronger William Hartnell era historicals despite two of its four episodes currently missing.
1 - A swift beginning.
Our heroes are drawn into trouble and separated instantly, setting off the events that will eventually make Ian and Barbara in particular face some rather difficult times.
2 - Barbara's torment...
This story is most interesting from Barbara's and Ian's points of view. Barbara is hunted by El Akir and almost killed when trying to escape. Also, consider the unusually dark and bleak turn in Part Three, where Barbara is essentially instructed to murder someone and then commit suicide - this was a children's program after all!
1 - ...and Ian being the knight in shining armor.
Ian is knighted in his attempts to save Barbs, facing torture by ants along the way!
1 - The power of danger and excitement!
The Crusade finds its strength in the various fight scenes, dangerous situations, and glorious character conversations.
2 - I love the Shakespearean dialogue.
The actors put a lot of power and emotion into the dialogue, making it some of the most enjoyable in Classic Who. The fiery argument between King Richard and Joanna at the end of Part Three remains among my favorite scenes in Doctor Who history: here we get two acting giants passionately shouting at each other, culminating in the classic line "You defy me with the Pope?!!".
3 - The greatest guest cast ever?
Julian Glover remains one of the finest guest actors to appear on the show, both here and in his later (and more well-known and beloved) appearance in City of Death (1979). Glover's King Richard the Lionheart is as commanding as he is just, and Glover plays him with utmost honesty. Another acting legend comes in Jean Marsh, making her first of three glorious guest appearances on the show as Richard's sister Joanna. She climbs right up to the top as the best actress to appear on the show and will remain there for quite some while (she'd be back in the 12-part epic The Daleks' Master Plan (1965-1966) in the following season).
2 - Villains to root for.
And the brilliance of the guest cast doesn't stop there. Bernard Kay returns from The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) to play famous Saracen leader Saladin with a treacherous calm that makes him instantly memorable. His brother Saphadin is played by the equally brilliant Roger Avon. Another returning actor, Walter Randall (The Aztecs, 1964) becomes the villainous El Akir, calculative and sadistic, despite his similarities with Tegana from Marco Polo (1964).
2 - Loose Cannon brings back the lost episodes.
I watched the missing parts Two and Four through the Loose Cannon reconstructions. They use what little material exists in form of the complete soundtrack, telesnaps, and publicity shots to fill in the gaps left by the absence of moving pictures. It's a shame there are so many iconic moments in these lost episodes, but the reconstruction does a good job of bringing them to life again.
3 - Breathtaking sets and costumes.
The costume design and set decoration is impeccable as always, and what we can see from Douglas Camfield's direction, he brings these characters and the setting to life perfectly.
THE BAD:
1 - What are the Doctor and Vicki up to?
The Doctor and Vicki spend a majority of this story in King Richard's court and don't get a whole lot done.
1 - Ian's story is too hurried.
Ian's rescue operation doesn't get underway properly until Part Four and by that time, they have to desperately hurry up to make it in time for the end credits.
2 - A plot that goes nowhere.
The political tension between Richard and Saladin is in full bloom at the beginning of the story and nothing is resolved or has progressed by the end of it, so this story does feel slightly redundant. I cannot help but feel that the political empty talk is there just to fill in the runtime and hide the fact that there isn't much of a plot here.
1 - The very brief ending.
I'd argue that the only bigger problem with the story is the fact that David Whitaker fails to develop any of the plot strands during the first three parts, and so is left in a great hurry to wrap everything up in the final episode before hurling the Tardis crew into their next adventure.
1 - The missing episodes don't flow as well as the existing ones.
The Crusade is a dialogue-heavy story, so the missing episodes don't flow quite as well as the existing ones. This goes especially for the last part, which has a lot going on that simply doesn't translate well in reconstructed form.
2 - The use of blackface.
Sadly, the use of blackface on the actors playing the Saracen characters, most notably Bernard Kay, means this story hasn't aged very well and should be seen as somewhat problematic nowadays.