 This story is also known as "The Crusaders", due to the title that was used for the novelisation released for this story.
William Russell's only appearance in the third episode is in a brief pre-filmed fight sequence as he was on holiday during the week when this episode was recorded.
The first appearance in Doctor Who of Jean Marsh - Jon Pertwee's first wife - who would later become short-lived companion Sara Kingdom in "The Daleks' Master Plan". She also played the part of Morgaine in the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Battlefield".
Julian Glover was cast by Douglas Camfield to play King Richard I. Seventeen years later, Douglas Camfield again cast Julian Glover as Richard I in the 1982 production of Ivanhoe. Julian Glover would return to Doctor Who to play Scaroth in the 1979 Fourth Doctor story "City of Death". He also provided, alongside former Doctor Who Magazine editor Gary Russell, the DVD commentary for episode three of this story.
Bernard Kay, who played Saladin, had earlier appeared in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth". He would later appear in "The Faceless Ones" in 1967 and "Colony in Space" in 1971.
Veteran Bollywood actress Zohra Sehgal made a brief appearance in episode two "The Knight of Jaffa". She previously appeared as an uncredited attendant in "Marco Polo".
This story has been noted for its non-stereotypical treatment of the two opposing leaders. Saladin is portrayed as calculating but compassionate, while King Richard I is portrayed as volatile and at times childish.
This is one of the more literate of Doctor Who stories, Ian quotes Shakespeare twice: 'A most poor man made tame to fortune's blows' (King Lear) and 'What judgement shall I fear, doing no wrong?' (The Merchant of Venice). While Barbara Wright also quotes Shelley's Epipsychidion ('One heaven, one hell, one immortality'). When she is held at Saladin's court and asked to provide amusement (an allusion to "The Arabian Nights"), she plans to use Romeo and Juliet, Gulliver's Travels and Anderson's fairy tales.
Barbara also is heard telling King Richard of the travellers' recent adventures. Including "The Web Planet" and "The Dalek Invasion of Earth".
In this story, Ian is knighted by King Richard. William Russell had earlier played Sir Lancelot in the television series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot. After Ian is knighted, The Doctor admits that he would have liked to have been knighted, too. He would finally get that honour when, as the Tenth Doctor, he is knighted by Queen Victoria in 1879 ("Tooth and Claw").
The first episode of the next story, "The Space Museum", begins with a brief clip of the finale of the fourth episode, "The Warlords", where the time-travellers stand in period costume round the TARDIS console, literally frozen in time. (it has been confirmed this is a clip rather than a restaged scene by an off-camera cough on the soundtracks to both "The Warlords" and "The Space Museum"). This is the only known surviving footage from the final episode of this story.
This story was not sold to middle-eastern countries due to the crusades being a sensitive subject matter. For those nations that were not sold this story, the final episode of the previous story "The Web Planet" featured a caption with ‘Next Week: The Space Museum’ instead of ‘Next Week: The Lion’. This alternate end tag was on the version of "The Web Planet" recovered from Algeria.
Unfortunately only the first and third episode currently exist in the BBC Archives. Episodes one, two and four were reported missing from the BBC Film and Videotape Library following an audit in 1978. It had also been thought that it was one of the few stories for which no off-air soundtrack was known to exist, until copies were located in 1995. The first episode, "The Lion", was then discovered in 1998 by a private collector in New Zealand. It was eventually loaned to the BBC, in January 1999, for cleanup and eventual video release. This episode is the only lost Doctor Who episode that has been found in New Zealand. Interestingly the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation had purchased this story in the 1960s, but did not transmit it.
This story was novelised as "Doctor Who and the Crusaders". As with Whitaker's first novelisation, this story is converted into a stand-alone novel with a lengthy prologue in the TARDIS where the travellers discuss the paradoxes of their journeys and time travel. The pointlessness of a religious war is also emphasised more. For some reason the name of Susan's husband has been changed from David Campbell to David Cameron.
| |
|
The Firsts:
The first involment in the show for Jean Marsh. She would return as the short-lived companion Sara Kingdom in "The Daleks' Master Plan".
The first (and only) partially held story in Season Two. It is complete except for episodes two and four.
The first Doctor Who story in which a member of the regular cast is knighted. This being Ian.
|
|
(Position = 69 out of 159)
(Position = 100 out of 200)
(Position = 128 out of 241)
