The King's Demons

Great set and costumes here. BBC props and costumes have been well raided. 

In Sir Ranulf's castle, King John makes a bad guest. 

His entourage are starting trouble, too. "Sir Gilles Estram" throws down the gauntlet, but it's Ranulf's son Hugh that picks it up. 

"Take my goods, my lands, my chattles, even the robes I stand in! Well, maybe leave me my undies?" 

Why do you think Sir Gilles has that outraaaaageous accent? 

So it's an early morning call for some horsey fighting... 

Sir Gilles has a last minute loo break before the big fight, while Hugh polishes his helmet.

It looks bloody freezing there. Bet Gerald Flood's glad of that big fur collar. 

Time for a bit of a joustabout! 

 King John's loving this. The royals do love their gee gees.

 Just when you think there's going to be some bloodshed, the TARDIS arrives in the middle of the joust! 

The TARDIS crew are looking much more colourful than they have all season so far. 

CosmicDebris @margitan · Well, Tegan does, at least. 

Davison's got an extra inch of guyliner on in the TARDIS scenes too.

Turlough is *still* wearing that school uniform. Sweaty bastard. 

Tegan's dress looks a bit Primarni. Not sure where she got that carpet coat from though. 

CosmicDebris @margitan · The Doctor probably picked it up off the floor and put it on her.

The Doctor & co. are invited to the joust, after the King names them his "demons". 

When Hugh takes a spill... 

...the Doctor points out there's a clear victor and no need for a death to prove it, so the King calls off his hound.   

"Come, sir, dispatch!" Sir Hugh's 50th Anniversary Boxset still hasn't arrived... 

The Doctor might not have been ginger, but the Master is. Oh, we're not supposed to recognise the Master is the Master yet. 

Actually, checked the Radio Times & he's being played by "James Stoker" so it can't be Tony Ainley having a "Master's Joke."

The "demons" are welcomed into the castle. 

As usual, Turlough strays. Well how else is he going to get sidelined locked up involved in his own storyline? 

"Look at the size of that bed!"

"Another way of keeping warm!"

"Not now, Doctor!" 

"I've just thought... March 15th... shit, I forgot Flavia's birthday!" 

Sir Hugh's taken an instant dislike to Turlough. He must still smell of Black Guardian or something.  

CosmicDebris @margitan ·  He's been wearing that same school uniform since he left, he probably smells of *something*. 

Sir Gilles takes Lady Eleanor for a quick stay at His Majesty's pleasure.

Sir Hugh's a big Iron Maiden fan. 

"Sir Gilles?"

"I like not this man; his french accent is pure Holy Grail." 

Estram?! Oh stop it! 

Sir Ranulf's cousin arrives from London with his squire, Patsy. 

The Doctor thinks King John is being played by an actor. 

Turlough gives it his best dungeon acting. 

Now the King's busking. Do Wonderwall! 

CosmicDebris @margitan ·  Freebird?

No Stairway? Denied! As long as he busts out a mad lute solo everyone's happy. 

Sir Gilles has some more entertainment planned: The live execution of Sir Geoffrey. 

The Doctor steps in to save Sir Geoffrey, calling out Sir Gilles on his "monstrous lack of good taste." 

"I am insulted! And your father smelled of elderberries!" 

So it's duel time; the Doctor vs. "Sir Gilles."

 The Doctor soon has the upper hand. 

But Sir Gilles has one last "surprise" up his sleeve...

"Oh, my dear Doctor, you have been naive!"

Turns out Ginger James Stoker *is* the Master after all. 

CosmicDebris @margitan · You would think the Doctor would start recognizing the Master under all these outfits after a while. 

Think I missed a line there. He seems to go from "your first slip..." to "...and now a third!" Explains why the Master always cocks his schemes up I suppose. Can't add up. 

The Doctor's always been his greatest stimulation? Really? Even with that "Tissue Compression Eliminator"? 

The "King" has the Master thrown into the Iron Maiden... 

The Iron Maiden is the Master's TARDIS after all that, and he's back in his penguin suit chuckle-snorting just like always.

Arriving in the dungeon, the Master tells Lady Eleanor that the Doctor is a demon plaguing the king. 

Turlough calls the Master "the evil one", which is basically his entire character description for the 80s. 

The Doctor is knighted... 

The Doctor has Sir Geoffrey taken to see Sir George and Sir Zippy. 

In the dungeon, the Doctor releases Sir Geoffrey, and explains that the Master has replaced the King with a fake. 

JNT, Saward (& their 'advisors') seemed to believe audiences loved all this Doctor/Master TARDIS sabotage guff. 

Sir Geoffrey makes it away, only to get an arrow in the back. Think he got the point. 

"Father, they hatch plots and lay eggs!" 

Story going nowhere? Use some patented Saward script editing and have Tegan take off in the TARDIS! 

In the confusion caused by the TARDIS' disappearance, the Doctor makes an escape... 

Shall we discover the scheme in a dramatic scene? Nah, here's Kamelion singing. Revelation successfully fudged. 

John Mark Frankland @JMFrankland · Aw, I always like this bit. You're not expecting to see a robot from an ancient civilisation singing and playing a lute. 

True, of course, just seems daft it's so easy to discover. Though I guess the Master would've dealt with any other eavesdroppers. 

The Master found Kamelion on Xeraphas and used him to escape. 

CosmicDebris @margitan ·  Kamelion is creepy. And, he has nipples for no apparent reason. 

"What do you think of it so far?"

"Rubbish!" 

Kamelion cosplays the 5th Doctor... 

...and the Master. 

Sir Geoffrey's still alive... just. 

CosmicDebris @margitan · It is rather a small time endeavor,  for the Master...I really don't get why he bothered. 

"It's time you regenerated!" It's only the end of his 2nd season!  

Had Davison had told them he'd be leaving after season 21 by the time that got into the script? Probably.

Oh noes! A Corpsing corpse! Sir Geoffrey bites the dust. Then has a chuckle about it.

Tegan's still trying to disable the TARDIS' car alarm. 

This battle for Kamelion is quite good fun, actually, with him shifting shape back and forth. 

 Sir Ranulf and the heavy mob bust in, so Kamelion becomes bad King John again. 

At least they've been kind enough to drag Turlough along. 

The Doctor's only hope is to convince them that the King is the real demon. 

Tegan finally manages to shift the TARDIS... 

...which distracts the Master... 

...meaning the Doctor gets the upper hand just long enough to change Kamelion to look like Tegan, and smuggle him into the TARDIS. 

Kamelion (the prop) is bloody awful. 

Bizarre that they didn't have the imagination to use him better. 

I mean, why bother having him in that form? 

He could have been different guest stars or charaters each story. In fact, the Doctor should have had turned him from King John to Robin Hood in this story.

Nick Mellish @nickmellish · They were over-ambitious and it bit them back. Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Kamelion.

CosmicDebris @margitan · JNT is why I guess :/ They should have had Frobisher instead. 

That would have been awesome. Love Frobisher :-)

Simon Pittman @LibraryPlayer ·  Me too! :-) Love all the comic companions, Kroton, Destrii, Izzy, etc. 

So the Master's dispatched in his TARDIS with a misfiring TCE. He'll be back... 

Presumably a script editor worth his salt will see to it that the Doctor's TCE booby trap will have repercussions in the very next story... 

Ah, one of those fake "I'll take you home" bits from the Doctor. 

He promises he'll get them to the Eye of Orion. 

And that's actually where they start the very next story. Obviously easier to get to than Meteblis 3!  

CosmicDebris @margitan · Easier to get to than Heathrow too, apparently. 

John Mark Frankland @JMFrankland · #TheKingsDemons was one of stories I had on video as a kid. I know it off by heart and have a huge soft spot for it

CosmicDebris @margitan · I didn't like it the first time I saw it, but it gets better with repeated viewings. Still feels too short.

It's fun and the costumes and location really lift it, but the usual caveats about the Master's silly schemes apply!

CosmicDebris @margitan · It was almost too petty for him...like he was just trying to pester the Doctor for fun.

I don't mind that; he's always been a wind-up merchant right from Terror of the Autons, where he could've just walked into UNIT HQ and pointed a gun at the Doctor the way he does in part 4 right at the beginning!

John Mark Frankland @JMFrankland · But he wants the Doctor to find him. Who else would he be able to gloat to?

CosmicDebris @margitan ·True...but at least the ultimate goal was a bit higher! I imagine it would have ended a bit differently had that not been the case.I think I like the way it turned out. 

Yes, me too. It makes a nice lead in to the 5 Doctors and Resurrection is better in season 21.

CosmicDebris @margitan ·Totally...I wonder how Tegan would have ended up leaving instead. Apparently Resurrection of the Daleks was originally planned to be the season finale and TKD was last minute.

 I think TKD was always going to be there but "The Return" AKA Resurrection just got pulled, as production on that season was too far behind after strikes had hit Terminus and Enlightenment.

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... Kinda