Julian Glover! I knew he was in City of Death but I never knew he was in Doctor Who before that, and not during William Hartnell's era. So it's a shame that two episodes from this story. Even more so because it's only a four parter (if it was a six or more it would still be a shame but at least most of the story would be surviving) and because it's really good. At least the surviving episodes are (episodes one and three). The last episode is a bit rushed really and is probably the weakest. The audio for the missing episodes survive but it's not very good quality and I found it hard to understand at times what characters were saying. At least we have the audio, but still.
Anyway onto the actual story. The dialogue in this is brilliant, very flowing and eloquent. Especially in episode three, The Wheel of Fortune, when the Doctor argues with the Earl of Leicester and when King Richard and his sister Joanna argue over her marriage. Both arguments, I wonder what that says? Julian Glover and Jean Marsh really play that scene well.
There is a fair bit of action mainly in the first episode in the first few minutes. As soon as the TARDIS crew enter we start right in it and we get some good fighting scenes. The Doctor evens picks up a sword. Even after The Romans, in which the Doctor laughed his way through a fight, I'm still surprised by this.
There isn't much more to say about this story other than there are some great scenes in it and the ending is a bit rushed. It might have actually have benefited from being a six parter. Or at least a fiver parter. Speaking of which why was there never a five parter? Stories of fours and six episodes became standard but six could often be overlong or suffer from too much padding. Whereas four part stories could often be a bit rushed. I can't be the only one who thought of finding the exact middle point between the two before. Especially at this point when the standard story length wasn't quite nailed down. Ah well.
Episode scores:
1. The Lion: 8/10
2. The Knight of Jaffa: 6.5/10
3. The Wheel of Fortune: 8/10
4. The Warlords: 6/10
Average: 7/10
Next up is The Space Museum.
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