67. The Crusade, Part IV: The Warlords

Back to the Loose Cannon reconstruction for episode 4.

Sure enough, as soon as I complimented the producer for a culturally appropriate casting decision (Zohra Sehgal as Sheyrah in Part II), she went catastrophically the wrong direction in Part IV. As soon as I heard Ibrahim’s accent, I knew I had to look up the actor and I knew it would be appalling. Indeed it was but, surprisingly, it was an actor whose name rang a bell: Tutte Lemkow, the Norwegian actor last seen playing Evil Ethnic Eyepatch Guy in Marco Polo. I guess he was Verity Lambert’s go-to guy to be cast in the role of unfortunate ethnic stereotype. Lemkow’s having a bit part in Raiders of the Lost Ark is not quite enough to make up for these cultural travesties.

Also, a harem is not an appropriate setting for a children’s show!

GRADE: B-minus (effective resolution to the story but dragged down by not aging well)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

54. The Romans, Part I: The Slave Traders

I remember liking this story, but this episode did seem rather slow to get going. I’m not sure the previous cliffhanger turning out to be totally irrelevant to the story helped it. I mean, the TARDIS falls off a cliff, and then it’s barely mentioned again? Seems like they could have landed in the Roman Empire and been attacked by slave traders or something for the cliffhanger. At least then it would have had some relevance to the story. The lecherous way the slave buyer asks about “The British woman” does not fill me with confidence that issues related to sexual violence will be handled appropriately for a children’s show in this story.
Read more

100. The Daleks’ Master Plan, Part X: Escape Switch

I realize I shouldn’t expect total plot consistency, but it seems like the Daleks let Mavic Chen off the hook an awful lot, even when he messes up, which seems rather un-Dalek-like. As long as I’m pointing out flaws, there is unfortunate makeup on the lead Egyptian. That being said, the plot seems to be finally moving along. GRADE: B 
Read more

64. The Crusade, Part I: The Lion

Image
My public library system hasn’t yet been defunded by the Trump II Administration and actually had a copy of the DVD “ Lost in Time .” So I didn’t need to spend any money to watch this episode, which was refreshing. Not sure I buy Hartnell as being able to hold his own in a swordfight, but it was nice seeing an actual person of color cast in this episode – even if he played a guard with no speaking lines. I got something of a Master Thespian vibe from Richard, although I realized after the fact that he is, like, a legit actor . Anyway, this is a definite improvement over the Web Planet. Looks like I’ll be turning to the Loose Cannon reconstruction for Part II . Disappointingly, the DVD contains only the audio for Part II. They could have at least thrown in some Tele-snaps! Grade: B
Read more