| Production Code: 6J
First Transmitted
Cast The Doctor - Peter Davison
Plot Outline from Wikipedia In March 1215, the Court of King John of England is at the castle of Sir Ranulf Fitzwilliam to extort more taxes, and when the lord refuses to pay the King insults him. To defend his honour his son Hugh takes on the King’s champion, Sir Gilles Estram, in a joust. The latter wins easily, though the joust is disturbed by the arrival of the TARDIS. The Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough are greeted as demons and welcomed by the King. Having established the date, the Doctor concludes the King is not himself - in fact, he is not the King at all, as he is actually in London taking the Crusader’s Oath. Sir Geoffrey de Lacy, the cousin of Sir Ranulf, arrives at the castle and confirms he knows the King is in London. Sir Gilles is about to torture him as a liar during a royal banquet when the Doctor intervenes. It seems the King's champion is not who he claims to be, either: Sir Gilles sheds his disguise and reveals himself to be the Doctor’s arch nemesis, the Master. He flees in his own TARDIS, which had been disguised as an iron maiden. The King knights the Doctor as his new champion, and he is given run of the castle. After a series of mishaps, including the death of Sir Geoffrey at the Master’s hands, the Doctor confronts the King and the Master and discovers the truth. The monarch is really Kamelion, a war weapon found by the Master on Xeriphas, which can be mentally controlled and used to adopt disguises and personas. Disguised as King John, the Master intends that Kamelion will behave so appallingly so as to provoke a rebellion and topple the real King from his throne, thus robbing the world of Magna Carta, the foundation of parliamentary democracy. It is a small plan on the Master’s usual scale, but nevertheless particularly poisonous to the normal progress of Earth society. The Doctor resolves the situation by testing the Master in a battle of wills for control over Kamelion. He takes control of the robot and steals it away in the TARDIS, thus foiling the Master’s scheme. Kamelion reverts to its robot form and thanks the Doctor for his assistance and rescue.
Analysis by Cuisle The King’s Demons was a two part historical drama with much in common with Black Orchid, though in this case there WAS a storyline more in keeping with Doctor Who. It is not a favourite of fans or critics, lacking something to make it completely great. But it does have some very worthwhile elements. These are chiefly the set piece action sequences. First, the jousting. For the time, the budget, it was very well done. In retrospect, especially for anyone who has seen the film A Knight’s Tale, which features very spectacular and realistic jousting scenes it is quite tame, but still interesting in its context. Secondly, The Doctor’s sword fight with the King’s Champion. Watching The Doctor sword fight is ALWAYS wonderful. Several of them have done so. Most memorable, Jon Pertwee fighting The Master, Tom Baker in Androids of Tara, David Tenant in the very spectacular fight scene with the Sycorax leader. The Doctor is never comfortable with guns, but there is something aristocratic and honourable about a sword fight. This one was no exception. And Peter, being young, slender and very athletic, did it well. The mystery of how the king was in two places at once was not the deepest of mysteries, in fact. The disguised Master was in on the act for one thing. His voice was unmistakeable to Doctor Who fans. The revelation that the impostor was a robot called Kamelion that could take on any appearance – chameleon – Kamelion – was actually quite impressive. The effects were done quite well. Critics have pointed to the historical premise of this story in both positive and negative lights. I am coming down on the positive. The Doctor explaining to Tegan that King John WASN’T the bad guy both history and fiction (Robin Hood, mainly) paint him as. Revisionist history and science fiction don’t always go together. For once they did. It was a lightweight episode. It has to be admitted. But it wasn’t so bad as some critics painted it. Incidentally, the Iron Maiden that was carried out
of the dungeon turned out to be The Master’s TARDIS. This begs
a question about how heavy TARDISes ought to be that has come up more
than once in relation to The Doctor’s TARDIS as well, and largely
remains unanswered.
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