Lost in Time
Originally aired 21 Nov 1964 through 26 Dec 1964

The Crusade 1 reviewed 03 Nov 09
The Crusade 2 reviewed 04 Nov 09
The Crusade 3 reviewed 05 Nov 09
The Crusade 4 reviewed 05 Nov 09
The Daleks' Master Plan, episode 2 - "Day of Armageddon" reviewed 07 Nov 09
The Daleks' Master Plan, episode 5 - "Counter Plot" reviewed 09 Nov 09
The Daleks' Master Plan, episode 10 - "Escape Switch" reviewed 10 Nov 09
The Celestial Toymaker, episode 4 - "The Final Test" reviewed 11 Nov 09

The Crusade, episode 1 - "The Lion"
originally aired 3/27/65
Written by David Whitaker
Directed by Douglas Camfield

A forest, men with swords walk through, as - unseen - The Tardis appears.

A king is hunting, surrounded by scared men. They try to convince him to return home, a place called Jaffa.

The Doctor, Vicki, Barbara, and Ian exit the ship. They see one of the hunting groups. As they watch them, Barbara is kidnapped. All around, we hear the sound of sword-fighting. A man is shot by an arrow. The Doctor and Ian grab his body and drag him away, hiding him away from the others.

The king is captured by group number 2. Then there's lots of swordplay. Even the Doctor joins in and puts up a jolly good show. The shot man isn't dead. He gives the remaining crew information about where and when they are. In return, they care for him, providing medical assistance.

In a tent, a man interviews Barbara. He tells her he is the real King Richard. He flirts with her, big time. They concoct a plan - she will pretend to be his sister, the princess Johanna. They're both prisoners of the Sultan's men.

In Jaffa's marketplace, the Doctor plays spy ... and then thief, stealing clothing from a shady salesman.

In the palace, Barbara and the not-King are presented to the Sultan. He sees right through it; see, he knows exactly what the real ones look like. But he takes a liking to Barbara and allows her to live. If she can entertain him over dinner.

Elsewhere, the remaining crew have met up with the real King. Along with the shot man they saved, they are welcomed, though the king is a teensy bit on edge. Ian asks for his help in rescuing Barbara, and that sets him off. He gives a long tirade and then storms out of the room.

* * *

Ok. Not nearly as bad an experience as I feared. While the film has not been cleaned up, it is at least watchable. It reminds me of those public domain movies from like 1920, the kind you find in the dollar store Watchable, but in no way pristine. The audio comes and goes. But the story is there. And what a story it is.

The biggest draw for me is the writer. When I see David Whitaker's name in the credits, I know I can sit back and enjoy the ride. I only remember him doing two-parters before, so I hope there's no padding. But I trust him.

I won't have this opportunity in the next episode, so I'll say it here. The sets and costumes are beautiful. The set designers and costumers outdid themselves here. Even with the grainy video and the choppiness and stuff, we can still see their designs, and they are simply amazing.

This is the first episode of Lost in Time. It's a collection of rare episodes, snippits of larger stories which no longer exist. There are only two stories - this and the Second Doctor story The Moonbase - which are semi-complete.

In each case, of the four episodes, two still exist in video form. The other two in audio. So tomorrow, I'll be listening to Crusade episode 2, no video to go with it.

So far, an excellent story, and I look forward to more.

Lost in Time: The Crusade, episode 2 - "The Knight of Jaffa"
originally aired 4/03/65
Written by David Whitaker
Directed by Douglas Camfield

The Doctor talks the king into working out a trade for his men. We meet the real Johanna.

The shady merchant barters for info and an audience with the Sultan.

The king knights Ian. The Doctor says he wishes he could have been knighted, too.

No idea how it ended. The last 5-6 minutes are all music with no dialog or sound effects.

* * *

I'm lost. Video tomorrow, though, so that's cool.

Also, funny about the Doctor wanting to be knighted, since in the Tenth Doctor's era, that exact thing happens.

The Crusade, Episodes 3 - "The Wheel of Fortune"
Written by Dave Whitaker and directed by Douglas Camfield

Barbara is somewhere, surrounded by the Sultan's men, but a man helps rescue her.

The Doctor and Vicki model new clothes provided by shady guy. She's pretending to be a boy. As soon as shady guy leaves, the princess comes in and admonishes the old man for making Vicki carry on like she's a boy. She then tells the Doctor that she thinks her brother the king is plotting and wants his help to find out what it is.

Ian has apparently run off, or so they say in passing.

The Doctor finds out what the king is planning - he will give his sister to the Sultan, forcing her into marriage. He thinks this will ensure peace through the land, and that she would not dare refuse his order.

Barbara is taken to the man's home and agrees to watch over his daughter, but she is quickly re-captured by the Sultan's men.

The princess finds out about her brother's plans and she is furious.

Barbara is brought before the Sultan and informed that she is to meet her death.

* * *

Ok, first up, Ian's only scene was pre-filmed with none of the regulars. I'm guessing it was this actor's turn to go on holiday.

Vicki shows her comedic chops here, and it works out splendidly.

The actress playing the princess gets a real chance to shine here, and does she ever. She is a force of nature, and it is an absolute joy to witness. I don't know if she was a stage actress before appearing here, but she ... well, she is awesome.

The Crusade, Episode 4 "The Warlords"
I guess I need the video to go along with it. Listening to the audio and trying to figure it out is just not working.

What I do know is that Ian rescues Barbara. They meet up with the Doctor and Vicki, and they depart in the Tardis.

For some reason, the Doctor is once again thought of as a fugitive by the king, and Ian keeps calling himself Sir Ian. Beyond that ... no idea what just happened.

Moonbase is going to be fun. *sigh*

The next episode is The Daleks' Masterplan, episode 2, on Saturday.

The Daleks Masterplan, episode 2
Written by Terry Nation
Directed by Douglas Camfield

The Doctor walks through a forest and crouches down - he sees the Tardis with two Daleks outside, engaged in conversation.

In a room - a council room, perhaps? - a bearded man writes. He looks up when a Dalek enters, followed by another alien. This alien says he rules the fifth galaxy. They appear to be enemies, quickly engaging in verbal sparring.

Steven and a woman are in the woods. They say they've escaped the Tardis. The woman is called Katarina (so I've finally seen this long-lost companion in an episode. Sweet!).

The Doctor argues with a random military dude, played by Nick Courtney. (the Brig!)

The bearded man has a "time destructor" which he gives to the council of bad guys.

Random military dude steals a spaceship and begins taking off, leaving the Doctor (but not his companions!) behind.

* * *

I don't really know what to talk about here, except for the casting. The random military dude is played by Nick Courtney - better known as Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, aka The Brig. He's NOT playing the Brig here. Even so, having the actor alongside Hartnell's Doctor is kind of a thrill. It's the start of a relationship with the series that lasts to this day, nearly half a century later.

The bearded guy is played by the same actor who played Vaughn in the second doctor story The Invasion. I think it was Mel who told me about that, but it took me a few seconds to recognize his voice. The face is all covered in makeup, but his mannerisms and voice are unchanged.

Ok, so this master plan thingy ... I *think* the Daleks are trying to arrange a fight between Earth and some other race. But that doesn't make sense, since there are at least four differing alien races in this little bad guy war council, not even counting the Daleks. I'm just going to hang out and go along for the ride.

The Daleks' Master Plan, episode 5 - "Counter Plot"
Written by Terry Nation
Directed by Douglas Camfield

Sara Kingdom runs down a hallway with another person. A guard, perhaps? Whatever he is, he's wearing the same kind of uniform she is.

The Doctor and Steven enter an odd room, maybe a lab of some sort. There are laboratory mice (their genes have been spliced) inside. Sara enters the lab and demands they hand something over. Then the tests start and they're all in enormous pain.

They are transported to some far distance unknown (for now) planet.

The Daleks pop in for some tea and scones, then drop off screen.

The mice arrive successfully. No sign of the people.

According to not-Vaughn, the planet is called Mara. Oh, and he is absolutely barking mad.

Ok, the Doctor is fine. He wakes up, followed by Steven. Something invisible is coming towards them, leaving monstrous footprints.

The Daleks pop in on Mara to say "hi there" and have some more tea. But they find the mice and get so scared they pee themselves. So they kill the poor lab mice.

The Doctor knows exactly where they are and what those invisible dudes are. But before he can do anything about it, he and the others are captured by the Daleks.

* * *

Just a guess, but I figure Douglas Adams saw this before writing Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It would totally explain the mice thing. And c'mon, Daleks afraid of mice? Really? The whole thing just gave me a case of the giggles.

Sara is kind of an odd character. For some reason that I still don't know, she has split fandom. There are some Who fans who claim she is a companion of the Doctor, despite appearing in only one story. There are some Who fans who claim someone must be in at least two stories to qualify as a Companion (so Adam counts as a companion for Nine, but Astrid Perth wouldn't count for Ten). And then there's someone like me who thinks "Hey, so that's who they're talking about. What's the big deal?" *shrug*

Since this story is more than twice the normal length (12 episodes vs. the usual 4-6 episodes), one could make the argument that is counts as two stories. Me, I just think it's funny and a really stupid thing to nitpick and argue over. And yet, almost half a century after this aired, people are still arguing it. I know, because I've read a few of the arguments just this past weekend.

The Daleks Master Plan, episode 10 - "Escape Switch"
Written by Dennis Spooner
Directed by Douglas Camfield

An Egyptian museum - Steven and Sara are yelling for the Doctor. They explore, searching and yelling.

Back in the council room, not-Vaughn talks about a time traveling monk. Then we see him in the museum - it's the Meddling Monk!

Steven and Sara are captured by the Daleks and not-Vaughn. The Monk is working with the Daleks.

The Doctor negotiates the release of Steven, Sara, and the Monk.

The Monk rushes to his Tardis .... which the Doctor has sabotaged! He takes off and gets trapped on an ice planet.

The Doctor uses a piece from the Monk's Tardis to fix his own. With his friends, and uncertain whether his own Tardis will work or will explode, he sets the control to take off, and here come the credits.

* * *

I know very little about this Sara person. What little I do know is that she is supposed to be some awesome authority figure, a police woman or military leader or something like that. A strong, vibrant woman, basically an early version of Xena. But here? She's like an early version of Peri or Mel. Nearly half of her time on screen in this episode, she's screaming. She's pulling the old Uhura standby "I'm frightened" and I just think it's really silly. Maybe people are remembering her wrong because they haven't seen these episodes in a long time. Or maybe in other episodes, she is better (in Saturday's episode, she was pretty much as described, nothing like the little screaming wimp she is here).

I didn't remember that the Monk was going to make a return, so when not-Vaughn mentioned him, I was kind of nervously watching, thinking "they wouldn't bring him back, would they?" and then bam, there he is, dressed up like a mummy.

not-Vaughn's makeup is deteriorating badly. I know, there were only two episodes to go after this, but holy buckets of icicles, they could have spent a couple minutes fixing it before filming started.

Bye-bye Sara. Nice to have met ya.

The Celestial Toymaker 4 "The Final Test"
Written by Brian Hayles and Donald Tosh
Directed by Bill Sellars
Dodo and Steven have to play a game to rescue the Doctor. The Doctor has been turned invisible by the Toymaker. The Doctor is playing his own game. Dodo and Steven have to win the game they are playing before the Doctor finishes his. If the Doc finishes first, he dies.

The Toymaker is played by the same actor who was Alfred in the Batman movies.

The Doctor outsmarts the Toymaker and he and his friends escape from the Toymaker's clutches.

* * *

Cyril, the guy playing against the companions, is a funny guy. Michael, who played the Toymaker, later appeared in one of the Fifth Doctor's stories.

I'm guessing Hartnell was on holiday during the third episode, and that's why he was invisible for the first part of this episode.

74 episodes down.

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