The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Time Monster
The Time Monster: Episode One (20/05/12)
SO much better this week! The episode started off with some fantastic film footage as the Doctor dreamt of being on a chaise longue near an altar with a crystal and the Master towering over him, followed by the usual video footage as Jo brought him round with a cup of tea and berated him for not listening to a word she said. Great contrast!
The Doctor's taken his dream very seriously, and a good job too as the Master is up by Cambridge with two scientists (a brother and sister team) using said crystal in an experiment humorously named TOMTIT - Transference Of Matter Through Interstitial Time! He's pretending to be Greek - a Professor Thascales (no doubt Greek for Master!) - and didn't bank on the Brigadier and Benton turning up as observers from UNIT (apparently they do a lot of that nowadays - unsurprising given the events of 'The Mind Of Evil') but luckily he had a radiation suit ready, so the Brigadier and Benton didn't see his face... or recognise his voice.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has built a rather rude-looking handheld machine for detecting TARDISes: a TARDIS Sniffer-Outer - and it's working, coinciding with the TOMTIT test experiments. Jumping in Bessie and using SuperDrive to speed along the country lanes to Wooton (nr. Cambridge) the Doctor figured out it's the Master behind TOMTIT. But as the Doctor and Jo arrived outside the research buildings, the Master embarked upon his experiment-proper, calling out to Chronos or something!
Rather wonderful and fun with a lot of tongue-in-cheek and a similar, if more light-hearted, feel to it as last year's season finale. All in all, a great start and a breath of fresh air after 'The Mutants'. I hope it stays like this; it's a while since we've had a story so knowingly comedic. Back on track for best season yet!
The Time Monster: Episode Two (27/05/12)
Another good episode! The Doctor ran into the lab and helped switch the experiment off (Jo followed later as it seems outside was affected by the time experiment - lots of Slow Motion filming - to which the Doctor seems immune!) but the Master had legged it and hidden round a corner watching the Doctor arrive. Worse, Stuart (male scientist) has been aged by about 60 years and, taken to his room unconscious and quizzed in a delirious state, also went on about Kronos.
Kronos, it seems, is one of the Greek gods, the one who ate his children and also father of Poseidon. The Doctor and Ruth (female scientist) went back to the lab (where Sergeant Benton was on guard) while the Brigadier went to call Captain Yates with reinforcements. They figured that the crystal of Kronos (which the Master was using in his experiment) was hooked up to the Master's TARDIS (disguised as a computer bank) and not really there, or there and on Atlantis at the same time. Then Jo rang to say Stuart was waking up, so the Doctor and Ruth went back to his room.
Meanwhile, the Master had been hiding out in Doctor Percival's office (Head of the Institute at Wooton) and, learning that Benton was guarding the lab, impersonated the Brigadier over the phone to get him to leave. However, Benton realised it wasn't the Brigadier because he called him 'My dear fellow', and caught the Master and Percival in the lab after he'd pretended to leave, but the Master knocked him out and used the crystal to bring an Atlantean priest forward in time!
Some more great film sequences of the temple in Atlantis with the Priest being watched by some guy in mascara. Lots of exposition and some nice stuff for Sergeant Benton. Good acting from Ian Collier as an aged Stuart and Wanda Moore's very good as Dr. Ruth Ingram. Really enjoyable, despite one or two dodgy lines (about boa constrictors and rabbits). Lots of talk about Greek mythology which didn't get confusing, too, so full marks! Enjoying this one.
The Time Monster: Episode Three (03/06/12)
Wow! Again, a really good episode with a fair amount of silliness thrown in, but not enough to undermine the story. The Master succeeded in calling Kronos with the help of the Atlantean priest, Krasis, whose badge of office can control Kronos. Kronos, incidentally, is a white, statue-like, helmeted, flappy birdman creature, mercifully shot in brief and mostly blurry footage. The Master called him up, then forced him back into the crystal after he (I can only assume) ate Dr. Percival.
Meanwhile, back in the wonderfully filmic world of Atlantis, the 537 year old ruler, Dalios, was informed of Krasis' disappearance by Mascara-guy (Hippias), showed him where he kept the 'secret of Atlantis' power', and told him to guard it with his life (even though it's already guarded by a half man/half beast!!!
The Doctor buggered about making a construction out of a wine bottle, some cutlery and some tea leaves to thwart the Master's control over Kronos via the crystal, whilst Captain Yates and his convoy got there with the TARDIS (since it was too dangerous to try to stop the Master otherwise as his use of the crystal surrounded the lab buildings with a time field which made the Brigadier, Benton and Dr. Ingram jog on the spot, and (luckily) made Stuart un-age back to 25 (26 in a couple of weeks)), but the Master managed to feed back the power and blow it up. Then he used the power of Kronos to bring forward a knight to force Mike's convoy off the road, some Roundheads to shoot at them, and finally a Doodlebug to (seemingly) blow them all up!!!
The last scene where the Brigadier tried to radio Yates only get static was really quite good. Didn't realise I liked Captain Yates enough to be concerned if he's dead! Anyhow, really good - tonally serious but still lots of fun. And loving the Atlantis sequences!
The Time Monster: Episode Four (10/06/12)
Not a lot happened this week. Captain Yates and his soldiers survived the Doodlebug and the Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier joined him at the crater it left, and the Doctor and Jo went off in the TARDIS, landing inside the Master's TARDIS, which is now inside the Doctor's TARDIS! Much of the episode was spent with the Doctor and the Master quibbling while the Doctor tried to talk the Master out of using Kronos to destroy the universe (?) but there was a cool subplot with Benton, Dr. Ingram and Stuart sneaking up on the Master's lab (in a 'Day Of The Daleks' hiding-behind-trees pastiche) before he and Krasis left (though how they entered the TARDIS from the lab when it was inside the Doctor's TARDIS is beyond me!), but they failed and the Master set up a Time Field around the lab to stop the Brigadier and UNIT (literally) before escaping.
Ruth tried to override the effects but only succeeded in turning Benton into a baby! Then the Doctor finally left his TARDIS (following much silliness) to confront the Master face to face, and the Master called up Kronos who consumed the Doctor. This, however, doesn't mean he's dead; he's just floating about in the Space/Time Vortex. Then the Master ejected the TARDIS with Jo inside.
Very much filler with tonnes of pointless dialogue, but entertaining enough and it was good to have a female scientist taking charge of things for a change. Next week should be better, though, as the Master and Krasis are headed for Atlantis. Quite looking forward to that!
Oh! And the Doctor has redecorated his TARDIS to match the Master's! Quite snazzy with hemispherical wash-bowl roundels on the walls - very impressed!
The Time Monster: Episode Five (17/06/12)
It's only Ingrid bloody Pitt playing Queen Galleia of Atlantis!!! A celebrity guest star for the series finale!
Anyhow, the TARDIS put Jo in psychic contact with the Doctor (what with the TARDIS being sentient and all that) and she rescued him by pulling a knob on the console which fetched him out of the Time Vortex.
Meanwhile, the Master had made an entrance (badly cross-faded thanks to some jiffly extras) at the court of King Dalios of Atlantis, and tried to get him to give him the Crystal of Kronos. Dalios was having none of it, however, because he's old. His wife, nevertheless, has other ideas as she seems to quite fancy the Master.
There was a great bit where the Master, leaving Dalios' chambers, met the Doctor and Jo being escorted in:
Doctor: Lost for words?
Jo: How about "Shucks, foiled again"?
and while Jo was in the Queen's quarters donning a long dress (with a plunging cleavage) and a silly Atlantean wig, Galleia was arranging to give the Master power over the crystal. Jo, obviously, overheard and, thanks to the fact that Galleia's handmaid has the hots for Hippias (the Atlantean Lord from Part Three - Lord of Mascara and Daft Wigs, I think) who Galleia has decided to send after the crystal in a labyrinth guarded by a Minotaur (?!?) since he pissed her off by bringing up their past romances, Jo and the handmaid have gone off to stop him.
Too late, unfortunately. Jo sent the handmaid, Lakis, to tell the Doctor then got grabbed by nutty priest, Krasis, and thrown into the Labyrinth (on film!!!) where the Minotaur was waiting (of screen!).
Great sets, good acting (though Hippias seemed to be constantly fighting his wig and makeup, and determined to underplay the melodrama of his lines) and a gorgeous Burmese kitty cat!!! A bit disappointing that only the last 5 seconds were on film as Atlantis didn't look quite so wonderful on videotape, but good nonetheless and nicely scripted with lots of intrigue. Looking forward to next week's conclusion!
The Time Monster: Episode Six (24/06/12)
A rather cool, if slightly rushed, episode! Well, rushed in the last 10 minutes; maybe it just needed better direction. The scenes in Atlantis were really good, especially at the start of the episode where Jo was confronted by the Minotaur. Lakis burst into Dalios' chambers and told him and the Doctor that Krasis and Hippeas had gone after the Crystal of Kronos with Jo following, and the Doctor turned up in time to Toreador the Minotaur to his death through a wall, but not in time to stop Hippeas dying saving Jo. These scenes were probably the best lit since 'The Sensorites', and the set design was amazing.
Leaving the labyrinth, having found the crystal (through the hole in the wall the Minotaur made) they were arrested and imprisoned by Krasis. The Doctor told a story about a monk on a mountain behind his house as a child and his greatest day seeing 'the daisy-est daisy' - all very Hippie and Buddhist - then Dalios was thrown into the cell, beaten by a guard, and moments later died after prophesying Atlantis' doom.
Then Galleia was presenting Atlantis' new Lord Master to the remainder of the Council (those that had put the Master in power) with the Doctor and Jo tied up beside them. When the Doctor revealed Dalios was dead, Galleia turned on the Master and he released Kronos who began to destroy everything.
The Master grabbed the crystal and legged it to his TARDIS but Jo got free and went in after him. Galleia freed the Doctor and was last seen in the ruins of the temple.
The Doctor threatened to Time Ram the Master's TARDIS but didn't, so Jo did it for him. They ended up in a void where Kronos thanked the Doctor for her (!) freedom, and agreed to send them home and free the Master (on the Doctor's request). The Master (obviously) scarpered.
Back at Wooton lab, Ruth managed to free the Brigadier of the Time Lock and Benton grew from being a baby, but was still naked at the end credits - the nappy he'd been wearing would clearly be too small for a grown man. Cue comedy laughter.
A really good end to an almost great season! Apparently Atlantis was destroyed, but I doubt that as we didn't see it and the Dæmons claimed that one last year. The series has been improving no end since Pertwee joined. Roll on next January!
SO much better this week! The episode started off with some fantastic film footage as the Doctor dreamt of being on a chaise longue near an altar with a crystal and the Master towering over him, followed by the usual video footage as Jo brought him round with a cup of tea and berated him for not listening to a word she said. Great contrast!
The Doctor's taken his dream very seriously, and a good job too as the Master is up by Cambridge with two scientists (a brother and sister team) using said crystal in an experiment humorously named TOMTIT - Transference Of Matter Through Interstitial Time! He's pretending to be Greek - a Professor Thascales (no doubt Greek for Master!) - and didn't bank on the Brigadier and Benton turning up as observers from UNIT (apparently they do a lot of that nowadays - unsurprising given the events of 'The Mind Of Evil') but luckily he had a radiation suit ready, so the Brigadier and Benton didn't see his face... or recognise his voice.
Meanwhile, the Doctor has built a rather rude-looking handheld machine for detecting TARDISes: a TARDIS Sniffer-Outer - and it's working, coinciding with the TOMTIT test experiments. Jumping in Bessie and using SuperDrive to speed along the country lanes to Wooton (nr. Cambridge) the Doctor figured out it's the Master behind TOMTIT. But as the Doctor and Jo arrived outside the research buildings, the Master embarked upon his experiment-proper, calling out to Chronos or something!
Rather wonderful and fun with a lot of tongue-in-cheek and a similar, if more light-hearted, feel to it as last year's season finale. All in all, a great start and a breath of fresh air after 'The Mutants'. I hope it stays like this; it's a while since we've had a story so knowingly comedic. Back on track for best season yet!
The Time Monster: Episode Two (27/05/12)
Another good episode! The Doctor ran into the lab and helped switch the experiment off (Jo followed later as it seems outside was affected by the time experiment - lots of Slow Motion filming - to which the Doctor seems immune!) but the Master had legged it and hidden round a corner watching the Doctor arrive. Worse, Stuart (male scientist) has been aged by about 60 years and, taken to his room unconscious and quizzed in a delirious state, also went on about Kronos.
Kronos, it seems, is one of the Greek gods, the one who ate his children and also father of Poseidon. The Doctor and Ruth (female scientist) went back to the lab (where Sergeant Benton was on guard) while the Brigadier went to call Captain Yates with reinforcements. They figured that the crystal of Kronos (which the Master was using in his experiment) was hooked up to the Master's TARDIS (disguised as a computer bank) and not really there, or there and on Atlantis at the same time. Then Jo rang to say Stuart was waking up, so the Doctor and Ruth went back to his room.
Meanwhile, the Master had been hiding out in Doctor Percival's office (Head of the Institute at Wooton) and, learning that Benton was guarding the lab, impersonated the Brigadier over the phone to get him to leave. However, Benton realised it wasn't the Brigadier because he called him 'My dear fellow', and caught the Master and Percival in the lab after he'd pretended to leave, but the Master knocked him out and used the crystal to bring an Atlantean priest forward in time!
Some more great film sequences of the temple in Atlantis with the Priest being watched by some guy in mascara. Lots of exposition and some nice stuff for Sergeant Benton. Good acting from Ian Collier as an aged Stuart and Wanda Moore's very good as Dr. Ruth Ingram. Really enjoyable, despite one or two dodgy lines (about boa constrictors and rabbits). Lots of talk about Greek mythology which didn't get confusing, too, so full marks! Enjoying this one.
The Time Monster: Episode Three (03/06/12)
Wow! Again, a really good episode with a fair amount of silliness thrown in, but not enough to undermine the story. The Master succeeded in calling Kronos with the help of the Atlantean priest, Krasis, whose badge of office can control Kronos. Kronos, incidentally, is a white, statue-like, helmeted, flappy birdman creature, mercifully shot in brief and mostly blurry footage. The Master called him up, then forced him back into the crystal after he (I can only assume) ate Dr. Percival.
Meanwhile, back in the wonderfully filmic world of Atlantis, the 537 year old ruler, Dalios, was informed of Krasis' disappearance by Mascara-guy (Hippias), showed him where he kept the 'secret of Atlantis' power', and told him to guard it with his life (even though it's already guarded by a half man/half beast!!!
The Doctor buggered about making a construction out of a wine bottle, some cutlery and some tea leaves to thwart the Master's control over Kronos via the crystal, whilst Captain Yates and his convoy got there with the TARDIS (since it was too dangerous to try to stop the Master otherwise as his use of the crystal surrounded the lab buildings with a time field which made the Brigadier, Benton and Dr. Ingram jog on the spot, and (luckily) made Stuart un-age back to 25 (26 in a couple of weeks)), but the Master managed to feed back the power and blow it up. Then he used the power of Kronos to bring forward a knight to force Mike's convoy off the road, some Roundheads to shoot at them, and finally a Doodlebug to (seemingly) blow them all up!!!
The last scene where the Brigadier tried to radio Yates only get static was really quite good. Didn't realise I liked Captain Yates enough to be concerned if he's dead! Anyhow, really good - tonally serious but still lots of fun. And loving the Atlantis sequences!
The Time Monster: Episode Four (10/06/12)
Not a lot happened this week. Captain Yates and his soldiers survived the Doodlebug and the Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier joined him at the crater it left, and the Doctor and Jo went off in the TARDIS, landing inside the Master's TARDIS, which is now inside the Doctor's TARDIS! Much of the episode was spent with the Doctor and the Master quibbling while the Doctor tried to talk the Master out of using Kronos to destroy the universe (?) but there was a cool subplot with Benton, Dr. Ingram and Stuart sneaking up on the Master's lab (in a 'Day Of The Daleks' hiding-behind-trees pastiche) before he and Krasis left (though how they entered the TARDIS from the lab when it was inside the Doctor's TARDIS is beyond me!), but they failed and the Master set up a Time Field around the lab to stop the Brigadier and UNIT (literally) before escaping.
Ruth tried to override the effects but only succeeded in turning Benton into a baby! Then the Doctor finally left his TARDIS (following much silliness) to confront the Master face to face, and the Master called up Kronos who consumed the Doctor. This, however, doesn't mean he's dead; he's just floating about in the Space/Time Vortex. Then the Master ejected the TARDIS with Jo inside.
Very much filler with tonnes of pointless dialogue, but entertaining enough and it was good to have a female scientist taking charge of things for a change. Next week should be better, though, as the Master and Krasis are headed for Atlantis. Quite looking forward to that!
Oh! And the Doctor has redecorated his TARDIS to match the Master's! Quite snazzy with hemispherical wash-bowl roundels on the walls - very impressed!
The Time Monster: Episode Five (17/06/12)
It's only Ingrid bloody Pitt playing Queen Galleia of Atlantis!!! A celebrity guest star for the series finale!
Anyhow, the TARDIS put Jo in psychic contact with the Doctor (what with the TARDIS being sentient and all that) and she rescued him by pulling a knob on the console which fetched him out of the Time Vortex.
Meanwhile, the Master had made an entrance (badly cross-faded thanks to some jiffly extras) at the court of King Dalios of Atlantis, and tried to get him to give him the Crystal of Kronos. Dalios was having none of it, however, because he's old. His wife, nevertheless, has other ideas as she seems to quite fancy the Master.
There was a great bit where the Master, leaving Dalios' chambers, met the Doctor and Jo being escorted in:
Doctor: Lost for words?
Jo: How about "Shucks, foiled again"?
and while Jo was in the Queen's quarters donning a long dress (with a plunging cleavage) and a silly Atlantean wig, Galleia was arranging to give the Master power over the crystal. Jo, obviously, overheard and, thanks to the fact that Galleia's handmaid has the hots for Hippias (the Atlantean Lord from Part Three - Lord of Mascara and Daft Wigs, I think) who Galleia has decided to send after the crystal in a labyrinth guarded by a Minotaur (?!?) since he pissed her off by bringing up their past romances, Jo and the handmaid have gone off to stop him.
Too late, unfortunately. Jo sent the handmaid, Lakis, to tell the Doctor then got grabbed by nutty priest, Krasis, and thrown into the Labyrinth (on film!!!) where the Minotaur was waiting (of screen!).
Great sets, good acting (though Hippias seemed to be constantly fighting his wig and makeup, and determined to underplay the melodrama of his lines) and a gorgeous Burmese kitty cat!!! A bit disappointing that only the last 5 seconds were on film as Atlantis didn't look quite so wonderful on videotape, but good nonetheless and nicely scripted with lots of intrigue. Looking forward to next week's conclusion!
The Time Monster: Episode Six (24/06/12)
A rather cool, if slightly rushed, episode! Well, rushed in the last 10 minutes; maybe it just needed better direction. The scenes in Atlantis were really good, especially at the start of the episode where Jo was confronted by the Minotaur. Lakis burst into Dalios' chambers and told him and the Doctor that Krasis and Hippeas had gone after the Crystal of Kronos with Jo following, and the Doctor turned up in time to Toreador the Minotaur to his death through a wall, but not in time to stop Hippeas dying saving Jo. These scenes were probably the best lit since 'The Sensorites', and the set design was amazing.
Leaving the labyrinth, having found the crystal (through the hole in the wall the Minotaur made) they were arrested and imprisoned by Krasis. The Doctor told a story about a monk on a mountain behind his house as a child and his greatest day seeing 'the daisy-est daisy' - all very Hippie and Buddhist - then Dalios was thrown into the cell, beaten by a guard, and moments later died after prophesying Atlantis' doom.
Then Galleia was presenting Atlantis' new Lord Master to the remainder of the Council (those that had put the Master in power) with the Doctor and Jo tied up beside them. When the Doctor revealed Dalios was dead, Galleia turned on the Master and he released Kronos who began to destroy everything.
The Master grabbed the crystal and legged it to his TARDIS but Jo got free and went in after him. Galleia freed the Doctor and was last seen in the ruins of the temple.
The Doctor threatened to Time Ram the Master's TARDIS but didn't, so Jo did it for him. They ended up in a void where Kronos thanked the Doctor for her (!) freedom, and agreed to send them home and free the Master (on the Doctor's request). The Master (obviously) scarpered.
Back at Wooton lab, Ruth managed to free the Brigadier of the Time Lock and Benton grew from being a baby, but was still naked at the end credits - the nappy he'd been wearing would clearly be too small for a grown man. Cue comedy laughter.
A really good end to an almost great season! Apparently Atlantis was destroyed, but I doubt that as we didn't see it and the Dæmons claimed that one last year. The series has been improving no end since Pertwee joined. Roll on next January!
Your enthusiasm is infectious - but thankfully I've been inoculated ;) I don't dislike the story but don't have anywhere near the love for it that you do. The plot is thin and stretched to breaking point at six episodes, and as you point out is basically a rehash of The Daemons (which is far better in and of itself). It does have some nice zingy dialogue though and elicits pretty good performances. Roger Delgado is even smoother as a ladies' man!
ReplyDeleteI actually prefer 'The Time Monster' to 'The Dæmons' - it's a lot more fun to watch and there's a much warmer, more comfortable atmosphere amongst the regulars which was still developing by the end of Season 8. 'The Dæmons' is a more populist serial and evokes the contemporary penchant for Folk Horror incredibly well, but it's also rather dry in comparison to 'The Time Monster'. Aside from Episode Four, I don't think the plot is stretched very much - there had been and would be much worse, some of them four parters - and entertaining padding is better than dull-but-worthy plot. But Delgado really is smooth in this story; I'd argue it's his finest hour. In 'The Mind Of Evil' he was suave and sophisticated; here he flirts with Ingrid bleedin' Pitt! You don't get much smoother than that!
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