Doctor Who, season 2 continued …

Due to the “missing” nature of some early Doctor Who adventures, I only have the audio version of The Warlords.Once again the “older” Ian Chesterton’s scene (from the original BBC VHS release, included in the DVD set) details as much as is necessary of the story to end the adventure, but the audio does have a better sense of depth.

It’s probably better to watch the old Ian prior to listening to the audio so that you have a better sense of what’s going on.

Barbara again escapes El Akir and hides in his harem.  There she finds the other daughter of the man who rescued her, and her father saves the both of them when El Akir discovers Barbara one final, and fateful, time.

Ian is staked out with honey used to attract ants to him, unless he reveals to his captor where his money is.  A clever ruse involving gold and Ian’s boots allows Ian to turn the tables, and use his captor as a guide.

The Doctor and Vicki return to the TARDIS but they’re being followed by the Earl of Leicester who believes the Doctor is a spy for Saladin.  Ian arrives just in time to save them, while the Doctor reveals that, due to the objection of his sister, the King will have no option but to continue to fight a war that he cannot win.Once again, I think this would have been fantastic story if it was still intact.  Episodes 2-4 don’t keep up the pace of the first episode (so we’re fortunate to have that one available), but the story ending with the King apparently forced to travel a road he knows is wrong is a great way to end it.

This is another adventure in which the Doctor tells his companion (in this case, Vicki) that “History must take its course.” when she asks if they can tell King John about the futility of his upcoming battle.

The only downside in The Crusades is that the Doctor and his crew don’t really get involved in the story at all.  For Barbara it’s a series of escape/captured.  For Ian it’s going from A-to-B-to-C to (not) find Barbara.  For Vicki, it’s just following the Doctor around.  The Doctor has no real active part in it, even though Hartnell makes it seem like he does.

Fortunately, there are some great characters in the historical part of the story to keep everything moving along.

In short, The Crusades deserves a place as one of the better classic Doctor Who adventures.  It should, at the very least, have been given a telesnap accompaniment to the audio to help understand what’s going on (particularly at the end of episode 2).

Next time … The Space Museum