A mediocre story. We have a dramatic history setting, with several smaller conflicts. But sadly, they lack connection.

The party lands in the 1190s, where a Barbara quickly gets captured. The rest of the group goes looking for the help of king Richard to get her back.

After that the story has a lot of smaller storybeats with different characters. Ian gets knighted, Barbara has to hide a child in a plundered home. The Doctor talks to Richard about a marriage plan and Vicki pretends to be a boy. And these are just some of the events. The story just keeps stacking them on.

And I think that’s the problem. The individual small parts are all fine, but it misses a bigger picture tale. Except for Ian, the rescue of Barbara seems almost forgotten. Instead we become quite aimless. Stuff just happens, and it can be interesting stuff, but why should it keep my full attention? How does it all tie together?

What could’ve helped, is a better explanation of the time period we’re in. Why are these things happening? Who is ‘Richard the Lionheart’? What does history have to say? We even have a character tailor made for this kind of stuff! But she gets shoved aside real quick and no one fills her role. With a better established time period, it would be easier to understand character motivations and plans. It would all connect just that little bit better. We could even know the end result in advance, if that would help! The only thing we get here, is some small hints from the doctor, but it’s so minimal it’s basically a footnote.

And that leads to a lack of foundation. A mismatch between the history knowledge of the writer and the audience. We have the smallest inclination of where we are, but the story acts like we’re supposed to know it all. Since this is still, at the most basic level, a kids show, I consider that a flaw in the storytelling.

It is, however, a story that makes me look back at its writer. This is the 3rd story by David Whittaker. And while I like his character work a lot, he seems to struggle with making a spread out main plot. I look back at his other tales, “The Edge of Destruction” and “The Rescue”, and similar problems prop up: He has a very cluttered and oddly random main story, but with some great character beats. Those beats always show he completely gets these characters.

But even those are mostly absent in this tale. It’s his longest one yet, at four episodes, but there’s really only one good, introspective character moment. It’s between the doctor and Vicki, and she shows separation anxiety from the party, who are her only family. It’s a very nice moment for both. Great as always, but it's 2 minutes in 100 minutes of storytelling. And that's not enough.

This is a story that lacks foundation. A reason to keep you hooked to the separate moments on screen. Historical knowledge could’ve filled that void, but it is just not there. And the main appeal of this writer, character defining moments, are sadly lacking as well. So that leaves the story very fractured and unfocused. It’s not the worst or unsalvageable, but it could have been more.