‘Doctor Who: The King’s Demons’ (1983)


It feels like an absolute age since I last did one of these posts because, well… It really has been a while. A fair bit has happened since then but some things still remain the same. Every now and then, I pop my head round the door of the Lewisham CEX and see if they have any ‘Classic Doctor Who’ that I don’t already have. If they do, I’ll buy it, watch it then post about it here; it really is that simple ;o)

All of which brings me round to ‘The King’s Demons’, a story that I hadn’t seen since it first aired back in 1983. I was only seven at the time so could be excused for not remembering much more than a cool looking robot and the King singing a song. And then I watched it, the other night, and realised that those two bits were the only two memorable moments in the whole two episode story. At least this proves that my memory isn’t completely shot then but even so, a very disappointing story to sit through. There will be spoilers, just so you know...

England, March 1215. King John is visiting the castle of Sir Ranulph Fitzwilliam. The arrival of TARDIS disturbs a medieval joust, but the Doctor and his companions are proclaimed to be friendly demons by the King, who seems strangely interested in their ‘blue engine’…

It soon becomes clear that neither King John or his champion, Sir Gilles Estram, are who they pretend to be. One of the Doctor’s oldest and deadliest enemies threatens the future of democracy on Earth, and he must be stopped!

‘The King’s Demons’ looks stunning, from the medieval set all the way to the robot Kamelion itself (which looked awesome then and still holds up well on viewing today, at least from where I was sat). Chuck a nicely choreographed sword fight and you’ve got a story that looks like it has potential. It’s a real shame then that the plot doesn’t come anywhere near to matching the scenery. The Master can always be counted on for a bit of scene chewing and a devious scheme but this time, Anthony Ainley only manages one of these. Scenery is duly chewed but a strangely subdued plan to sabotage the signing of the Magna Carta is a real anti-climax. For a start, humanity is more than capable of screwing up democracy all by itself; all the Master needed to do was come back in a few hundred years and marvel at how much we hate ourself as a species. More than that though, this just seems like small change to a villain who normally aims for a lot more, it’s like he’s just practicing to keep his hand in…

And a lackluster ‘evil scheme’ results in a lackluster ending. The plot had already more or less been reduced to people hanging around awkwardly, in various parts of the castle, and discussing why the King was somehow in two places at the same time. It ends with the Doctor and the Master having a ‘stare-off’ to determine control over Kamelion and… It ends just as you’d expect.

No wonder I couldn’t remember much about ‘The King’s Demons’, it has to rank as one of the least memorable ‘Doctor Who’ stories that I’ve seen. Oh well, I’ve got a few more to watch so hopefully the next one will be better.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘Deathworlder’ – Victoria Hayward (Black Library)

Image
Before I get into the review proper, thank you Black Library for sending me a copy of ‘Deathworlder’ in return for a fair and honest review. Talking of ‘fair and honest’… There will be loads of the latter but I enjoyed the hell out of ‘Deathworlder’ so… We’ll see how being fair goes ;o) That’s your only warning, lets talk ‘Deathworlder’… Lazulai is a world beyond the brink, its battle against the tyranids all but lost. Once-magnificent cities lie in ruin. The seas boil. The skies crack. Horrific alien bioforms devour. In mere days the planet will be consumed. The 903rd Catachan ‘Night Shrikes’ defend one of the last fortresses still standing. Led by Major Wulf Khan, to die fighting is all that is expected of them… until she is given one last mission: to lead a squad through the apocalypse and recover a piece of archeotech that may doom or deliver the entire Lazulai System. Facing insurmountable odds and zero hope for aid, the major must hold her squad together as they pick their way ...
Read more

‘Cursed City’ – C.L. Werner (Black Library)

Image
I always have these vague ‘reading resolutions’, for the New Year and without fail, they all come to absolutely nothing. I still read loads, just none of the books that I meant to… This year is panning out slightly differently and I think I’m going to enjoy it. All the books that were originally ‘out of sight, out of mind’, in the loft at my old place, are now all over my new place and wherever I look, I’m constantly discovering books that I totally forgot I had but now quite fancy reading. Books like ‘Cursed City’ for example… I’m not going to tell you how long ‘Cursed City’ was sat in my loft, lets just say it was long enough for me to totally forget it was there and buy myself another copy… Oh well. I found it on the shelf the other day (only the one copy now) and figured it was way overdue a read, let me tell you about it… Ulfenkarn is a city of nightmares. Its vampiric rulers have indulged their bloodlust in every shadow-clad alley, turning the once-proud metropolis into a charnel...
Read more

‘Day of Ascension’ – Adrian Tchaikovsky (Black Library)

Image
Page Count – 196 Pages There isn’t a lot that’s good about moving house (especially when it slowly dawns on you just how much the new place is going to cost to run, I need to get another job…) but there are some good bits if you look for them. For me, it was mostly around getting all my books unpacked and back on shelves around me again, not stuffed up in the loft where I couldn’t see them. Old favourites were back within easy reach, along with a whole load of new books that I really should have read ages ago. You can probably guess what my main New Year’s resolution will be… ;o) ‘Day of Ascension’ was one of those new books and I figured it was as good a place as any to start over in making a dent in the ol’ TBR Pile. And I’m really glad I did. On the forge world of Morod, the machines never stop and the work never ends. The population toils in the mines and factoria to protect humanity from the monsters in the void, while the Adeptus Mechanicus enjoy lives of palatial comfort. Gene...
Read more