Ah, back to DVD for the third
episode. How I regretted not listening to the narrated CD for ‘The Knight of
Jaffa. I missed the bit in episode two where Vicki has to pretend to be a boy.
However its something that doesn’t really last long as Joanna overhears Vicki
and the Doctor talking which thankfully puts an end to this rather silly part
of the plot.
William Russell only appears in
this episode in pre-filmed scenes. This happened back in ‘The Reign of Terror’.
There is another fight scene between Ian and some random man. Like in the Reign
of Terror, Chesterton doesn’t actually say anything. His involvement in the
episode is very small and despite its being short its still a good performance
from Russell. I like the relationship between the Doctor and Vicki, it feels
more like the relationship that the Doctor had with Susan in the early days of
the show. However an issue that I have is that they have very little to do in
the story. The most that really happens is that Vicki is found out to be a girl
and gets a costume change. Not much, it seems that she is suffering the same as
Susan except without the shrieking.
Barbara is left with the possibility
of being taking a life or even her own. This horrifies Barbara and is in
keeping with her character. Though there is a moment where it’s clear that she’s
giving it some clear thought. It’s a great performance from Jacqueline Hill and
possibly one of the finest that she has given for sometime (possibly even
ever).
It’s good to see Julian Glover
again and he is rather good and gets a nice speech in his first scene in the
episode. He is a great actor and the role of King Richard doesn’t exactly seem
like the greatest that there has ever been on TV but Glover manages to make
something of it and I liked the character and performance. Despite being
introduced in the previous episode, this episode is the first time that we see
Jean Marsh in the flesh. It’s hard to see Jean Marsh without thinking about
Sara Kingdom. It’s a shame really because as Joanna it’s a strong performance. The
scene between Marsh and Glover is one of the finest in the episode. It elevates
the episode from a standard episode to something resembling theatre.
The final episode is another lost
episode and whereas there I listened to the narrated free episode on DVD, I will
listen to the CD. This episode started off a bit slow but soon picked up and
whilst its not the finest episode of Doctor Who ever it is still way better
than ‘The Web Planet’.
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