Never have two stories been so radically different from each other. After the mess that was The Web Planet, The Crusade was everything the previous story wasn't. Polished, slick, beautifully written and acted and it was also more in line with the more serious historicals of Season 1. I can quite happily watch/listen to this story and completely forget it was made in the 1960's.

The scene between Richard and Joanna in the the third episode where they have a row was one of the most well written and acted of any scene I can remember in the show. It's hard to believe watching it that one would go onto become a companion while the other would become a certain Jagoroth many years later.

In my opinion, all those who moan about Doctor Who's effects in Classic Who and subsequently won't watch it should get hold of this story and watch the surviving episodes. It proves beyond doubt that Doctor Who can tell a good story without any special effects whatsoever and I'd rather watch this story again and again than crap New Series episodes like Love and Monsters.

A bit unexpected is the little scene between Vicki and the Doctor where she is anxious that he might abandon her. He's very warm and reassuring and I believe this was the first time he hugged a companion.

This is not the last time we observe that people in the past are supposedly too dense to recognise a female if she isn't properly dressed.

The Crusade is one of the first Hartnell's I ever saw, I had the Crusade/Space Museum VHS Box Set. So not knowing what this era really was like it felt more like a drama, agree wholeheartly that you can just watch this and forget the time it was made in. I think the performances by all the cast are some of the strongest acting you will find in any Doctor Who serial.
Quite a common theme in these stories (see Reign of Terror) you get the TARDIS crew tricking their way out of situations, which as pointed out makes the plot as there are no aliens or special effects set pieces to build up to or base the story around. These Hartnell Historials are actually Historicals more than any other Who era.

Yeah, I did find it absurd they thought Vicki was a boy in this, but even the best stories have minor faults.

I think by this stage Hartnell's transition to a gentler Doctor was complete. I think on The Hartnell Years Video McCoy mentioned how much he'd mellowed by this point in comparison to the Pilot episode.


Have to agree with this. Jacqueline Hill puts in yet another brilliant performance. Doing these threads makes me realise what a great companion Barbara truly was. Can't forget William Russell though, as it was very much Ian's story as well. Can't really comment that much on Vicki as she didn't actually have that much to in this story except be mistaken for a boy.....

Women dressing as men and not being recognized is an old, old staple of comedy and drama, going back to Elizabethan times at least. It's not just something they did in Doctor Who. The most notable modern example is the two episodes of Blackadder involving 'Bob', which play up to the trope. Sure, it's not really believable but it's nothing i can't live with personally. Though actually, Vicki can be quite boyish in some lights and she's petite enough not to 'stand out' in boy's clothing so I guess she could be an effeminate boy. Obviously the voice is the main problem. But history is full of examples of this kind of thing actually happening.

This story never does much wrong but has never really been able to grip me. I think mainly because I find it too far fetched. This begins in the very first scene where we are expected to believe that Ian could hold his own in a sword fight with a saracen warrior; this is surely more absurd than Vicki passing as a boy! In that situation the 20th century schoolteacher would be dead within seconds. And the story contiinues in this kind fo vein, right up to Ian being knighted.

I also find all of the sequences with Barbara hard to believe. I don't want to put too fine a point on it but in the situation she finds herself in she certainly wouldn't have been treated as civilly as she was, especially with her defiant attitude, and to be honest, there's no way she would ever have been found. She gets a very good part to play in the story, and that is good for the actress and character I guess but it's not one i can really believe.

Now, these kinds of complaints could, to a greater or larger extent, be applied to any Doctor Who historical (any Doctor Who story for that matter) but I just think this is possibly the one that pushes credulity the furthest.

The Doctor also gets a minimal role, which is never good in my opinion.

The story is by no means bad, but has to stand as one of the weaker historicals, by my reckoning.

Jackie Hill was indeed brilliant as always.

I suppose 'unexpected' was too strong a word for me to use, but I've been into this rewatch of the Tribe of Gum business and that probably affected my thinking. I do think it was the first hug though, but I could be wrong.

I think you maybe right!

He was certainly a different Doctor from the original story by this point, no doubt about that and giving hugs was the culmination of all that.

I've listened to this story and watched episode 3 and I agree its very well written.
What I like is neither Richard or Saladin are portrayed as heroes or villains. Both want an end to the conflict. The issues have modern echoes I think. Richard seems the more desperate even considering the marriage of Joanna to Saladin's brother Saphadin. Joanna seems tougher than him and Saladin a bit more calculating ' put one hand out in friendship and keep one on your sword'.

What comes across is that the actors embrace the historical material especially Julian Glover and Jean Marsh. Love that fight they have over her marriage.
The regulars do well. Ian is dashing and handsome Barbara I really like, she is feisty and brave, sympathetic and protective of Haroun's daughters. Vicki paired with the Doctor works quite well, they have a sweet funny close relationship,

the Crusade a great example of a pure historical that succeeds without any alien intervention . i wish we had more like this. I hope they find the two missing episodes.

Agree with all that. The regulars all get a fair share of the action. I wish they'd find the other two episodes as well but the telesnaps for now make up for it quite well.

Very well put, it's a story that lets you make your own decisions instead of forcing this "good vs evil' story down your throat, which is very impressive considering the time it was written, when you'd expect the English Christians to be portrayed as the unstoppable heroes and the Muslims as inherently evil and dirty. It's also birthday cake for anyone interested in the crusades or history in general. David Whitaker was a remarkable writer and an asset to the earlier days of Doctor Who.

Totally agree, not only did he write this wonderful piece of work, but he did lots of my other sixties faves as well like The Edge Of Destruction and his two Dalek Troughton stories surpass anything Terry Nation did imo.

Ditto, the Daleks have never been as menacing or utterly terrifying as they were in Power of the Daleks... and I've only seen it as a reconstruction. If that and Evil had survived today, I think they'd both be regarded by fans as up there with Genesis as the best Dalek stories.

Terry Nation treated them as fodder used to constantly shout out catchphrases. Notice how Whitaker's Daleks often talked very little, which made them feel a lot less silly and all the more unnerving (a trait I think Robert Shearman intentionally applied in Jubilee and Dalek), the way they drifted along like ghosts rather than noisily crashing into every room, and the sense of paranoia their presence created. Whitaker's Daleks were primarily survivors who would do unspeakable things to fulfill their duty, manipulating others until they were driven insane.

I agree with your comments about David Whitaker. I watched the Reign of Terror and really liked the characterisation there too. What is interesting for me is the early stories did try to educate and entertain.
It doesn't feel patronising either.

I've noticed in modern who that the historicals are mainly a backdrop for the aliens but I always enjoy if they do put in some historical detail about the people who lived then

Agreed, although Naton's Daleks were still great, but when Whitaker wrote them, simply there presence in the room left you scared. I remember one scene in Evil of The Daleks, where the Doctor first sees The Daleks and i was genuinely terrified of what was going to happen.

And i so hope they find Power of the Daleks, probably my favourite Dalek story and its lost.

The thing Whittaker did in both Dalek stories was that he he varied the usual Dalek Story format. No jungles, no radiation, no repetitiveness, the usual staple of a lot of Nation Stories.

In these two stories, the first, The Daleks were seen as being manipulative and cunning in their objectives rather than just exterminating everywhere and wanting to destroy the universe and as you said it created this real intense feeling where the Daleks were pretending to be friendly and servants to humanity but everything they said was laced with hidden menace and contempt.

Then in his second story he really did create friendly Daleks! That in itself was something different and the variety of settings and the whole human/Dalek factor thing was an excellent idea.

In short, he just did something different with them. I find, perhaps with the exception of Genesis, that a lot of Nation's Dalek stories very samey. These two weren't!

Anyway, don't want to detract away from this thread topic. I think David Whitaker wrote this story very well and for me he's right up there with some of the top writers in Classic Who.

Well this is just bizarre! I finished reading the novelisation last night, and now I see this thread here! I think I need to rewatch/listen to the Crusade as it is a while since I last saw/heard it. Richard and Joanna are not in the book much, and the Doctor and Vicki get quite sidelined too. The majority of the middle of the book deals with Barbara, Safiya and El Akir, or with Ian's adventures while rescuing her (and getting staked out in the sand). I was amazed how little Richard and Joanna feature, as this is the bit that everyone talks about.

A literate, intelligent piece of historical Who. And it works superbly with a 'recon' of the missing half as its such a wordy script. Think it's a classic and it's one of the first books I read. With that and the superb '...in an Exciting Adventure with The Daleks' Whitaker set a very high standard for the novelisation of stories.

He was a vital part of the show's early success.As a recent convert to recons have now got a better idea how brilliant the vitally important Power of the Daleks was, and have always liked The Rescue very much. Was also surprised and delighted to discover how good Enemy of the World was, as the for so long sole remaining episode wasn't a fair reflection of that story's overall quality. Yeah....good man. Shame Ambassadors...was his last story.

That's a great, intelligent story, I think. Meant shame he didn't write a few more for Who in the 70's!