Wednesday 22 February 2017

The Time Monster

Season 9, Story 5/5, Serial OOO: 6 x 25min episodes, 20th May to 24th June 1972, Writer: Robert Sloman, Director: Paul Bernard, Script Editor: Terrance Dicks, Producer: Barry Letts

Simon Threadgold@dimwittedly Utterly gutted to be missing this one. It's got some painful flaws and bad panto acting but still fun. Deranged, but fun.
50dw50@50dw50 The Time Monster or It Seemed To Work OK In The Daemons Lets Remake It.
50dw50@50dw50 memories of asking a lady from work to record me this from UK Gold in the days before i had Sky.
Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 It's a load of old TOMTITT if you ask me!!
50dw50@50dw50 i rather like The Time Monster despite it being a bit tom tit.

Atlantis, here we come! Again.


A tall, thin man with a young-old face and a mane of prematurely white hair wakes in a nightmare. Not a great start for Doctor Who, now in his third incarnation.

Instead of his laboratory he's in an ancient temple, plagued with visions of natural disasters. 
David@davadsteel  Dudley's off to a great start with the Synths!

The Doctor dreams of a giant Master through a vaseline-smeared lens.

At least they've given up trying to hide that it's the Master.

His vision ends in the total destruction of the temple, and the world around it.


Pertwee's hair is starting to get ridiculous now, and is it me or is his shirt even frillier than usual?
David@davadsteel He's been working all night but clearly managed to nip down to the UNIT salon for a blow dry.

The Doctor asks Jo to see what's shaking.

Turns out he's been ignoring her again; just last night she read it out of the paper: 

"New eruptions in the Thera group of islands. Somewhere off Greece."

But there's no mention of the Trident-shaped crystal he saw in the dream.

Funnily enough, though, there's a Trident shaped crystal in a scientific lab not so far away, and it looks like it's fallen into the wrong hands.

The Master is masquerading as research scientist "Professor Thascales."

He's conducting time experiments with Doctor Ruth Ingram and her daft assistant, the ridiculously moustachioed Stewart Hyde.

When Stu addresses the Time Lord as "Prof" Dr. Ingram tells Stu to "simmer down!"

The Master's usually flawless charm fails him when he tells Ruth "My dear, there's no need for you to worry your pretty little head"!

Ruth curses his "infernal courtesy" as he immediately apologizes...

...but Stu's "May God bless the good ship women's lib and all who sail in her!" isn't much better.


With a little help from Mike Yates, Jo has narrowed the list of suspects to San Torini, but the Doctor has lost all interest...

...until she clues him in that it's the supposed former site of the lost city of Atlantis.

Dopey Yates thought Atlantis was in the middle of the Atlantic.

Jo corrects him: It was part of the Minoan civilisation. "You know, the Minotaur and all the Cretan jazz!"

The Doctor wants the Brig on the phone straight away.

Luckily, nothing fazes the Brig any more, not even when the Doctor tells him where he saw the Master. "In a dream, not half an hour ago."

Little does he know that the Master is at the not too distant Newton Institute.

To his credit he's soon on the scene anyway, but can't help administering a swift "You'll be consulting the entrails of a sheep next!"

The Doctor accuses him of not taking the hunt for the Master seriously but is assured it's priority A-1.

The Brig's wangled the Doctor & Jo a visit to the Newton Institute to see a demonstration of TOMTIT.

You couldn't make it up. Unless you were Sloman or Letts. Or Lalla Ward, probably.

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 Did no one in the production question that acronym at all??

TOMTIT stands for Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time.

Benton thinks he has a 48hr pass. Anyone believe these 'dancing sister' stories? Thought not.

At the Institute, the Master is in danger of being rumbled, as Dr. Percival has checked out his Academic credentials and accuses him of being a Charlatan.

50dw50@50dw50 i always think The Master looks better in a suit.
David@davadsteel Wobbly accent aside Delgado is very contained. A sane and stable Master works much better than a scenery chewer like Missy.

50dw50@50dw50 it kind of makes sense that the Master would have just gone mad over the centuries of being thwarted.

Dr. Percival calls the Master's assurances "Aggorant nonsense." They sure are.

Of course, the Master is able to gain the upper hand when he puts the 'fluence on Percival.

Ruth & Stuart grumble about having to take the usual boring readings ahead of the demonstration.


They decide to take TOMTIT for an unauthorised spin and really put it through its' paces. 
50dw50@50dw50 it is hard to decide which one of the two i would least like to get trapped in a lift with.

The Doctor shows Jo his rather suspect looking time sensor. Get a load of that! Actually, don't.


She correctly deduces that it detects disturbances in a time field.

"Well done, Jo, you're learning!" is said in possibly the most patronising tone Pertwee uses in his whole era. 

David@davadsteel You're right about his being patronising. As bad as he gets?

Can't think of a worse example right now!


50dw50@50dw50
 i was thinking he is much nicer in this, he was horrible in his first two years!David@davadsteel  He's used to the exile now, he's relaxed and happy with his UNIT family!

50dw50@50dw50
 after being really horrible to everyone in Daemons, Dr Who seems to be much more pleasant and relaxed these days

So in other words, the device is a "TARDIS-sniffer-outer." 

David@davadsteel  Jo's grating a bit here. The wide eyed stuff is a bit overdone though her dim dialogue does contrast with Ruth's.

Stuart suits up to begin the experiment, all the while "beefing" that he feels like the back end of a pantomime horse.


This window cleaner makes a change from a tramp. Wherefore art thou Pigbin Josh?

The Doctor has Jo keep a close eye on the time sensor.

Sure enough, as he's pottering about in the TARDIS - and funnily enough, as Ruth and Stuart are fiddling with TOMTIT - the sensor starts to go nuts.

"Doctor, this gadget is vibrating again! I'm not complaining, just saying."

The Doctor is quick to conclude that his gadget has indeed sniffed out another TARDIS, and you know what that means - if the Master turns up again, they'll play Bingo! Apparently.

TOMTIT's really cooking now; Ruth and Stuart are on the verge of slipping that jar through interstitial time...

The Master works on, oblivious to his protege's shenanigans.

They ramp up the power, and the experiment is seemingly a success...

...but even though it's over, the crystal continues to glow with time energy...

...and the peeping window washer is thrown from his ladder, in a slowed down bubble of time.

The Master is less than pleased that Ruth and Stu have been fiddling with his crystal.

Stu and Ruth dancing and the music that accompanies it is pure children's TV. 
50dw50@50dw50 Ruth is more jolly than i remembered

The Doctor and Jo are starting to narrow down the location of the time disturbance, but they'll need to get mobile to pinpoint it - to Bessie!


The Master is annoyed at first...
David@davadsteel The accent is hilarious. Only does it when he remembers!

...but seems pleased with the data they gathered from the glowing crystal.
50dw50@50dw50 he is more annoyed at people sniggering at the name of his time machine.

When UNIT rock up, the Master decides he won't show his face at the fancy do after all.

50dw50@50dw50 he could have worn one of his rubber faces that he always seems to have loads of.

The Brig and Dr. Cook, Chairman of the Grants Committee, examine the time addled window cleaner. Falling down in slow motion cushioned his fall.

Lovely little outing for Bessie's theme (which is also used at the start of the next season, in The Three Doctors) there.

Simon Hart@Si_Hart I love the dialogue in this scene - "It's a doomy old day..." "Oh do stop whiffling Jo, we're not out on a pleasure jaunt!"

The TARDIS sniffer-outer indicates that the time disturbance is emanating from a point 16.39 Venusian miles away.


That's 72.79 miles in Earth money, and coincidentally, exactly where Benton and the Brig have gone for a TOMTIT.

If they're to make it in time, they'll have to activate Bessie's newly installed "Super Drive". Burn rubber, baby!

After quaffing a pheasant the Grant Committee arrives for the demonstration of TOMTIT.

The Brig asks Dr. Ruth to explain what TOMTIT does in words of one syllable. Careful.
David@davadsteel  "Time isn't smooth... It's made up of wibbly wobbly timey wimey... Stuff."

Right. "So, if one could push something through the interstices between them, it would be outside our space-time continuum altogether." Cook's lost. Is he really qualified to make decisions about grants for this sort of project?

C'mon, Brig - even Benton gets it!

"Professor Thascales" arrives to begin the experiment.

Jo wants the Doctor to take it slow, but he retorts that his reactions are ten times faster than hers, and the brakes work by absorption of inertia. Well, obviously.

"Right, come on, Bessie, old girl. It's up to you now!"

This time the test subject is nice hot cuppa.

The experiment is a success, but the machine is running wild, causing the crystal to glow once again.

As Stuart warns that the power is overloading...

...the Master ramps the power up higher, calling out "Come, Kronos, come!"

End of episode 1, with the Master summoning a powerful mystical being in The Daemons 2: The Time Monster


The Master scarpers, as the power of Kronos seems to overwhelm Stuart...

Ruth tries to wrangle TOMTIT back under control, without much joy.

As the Doctor and Jo arrive at the institute, time is slowing all around the building...

...causing Jo to freeze. 

The Doctor is able to battle through the distortion to the lab, but fails to spot the Master as he does so.

Once there, his advice enables Ruth to finally turn TOMTIT off: When in doubt, reverse the polarity.

Stuart got a dose of time energy in the face and has aged terribly; from 25 to 80 in 8 seconds. 

With Stuart made comfortable...

 ...the Doctor starts to ruminate on the source of TOMTIT.

He's on it as soon as Ruth lets slip that TOMTIT is the baby of Professor "Thascales".
David@davadsteel  Lovely work from Jonsy and the Brig here.

A fortnight later, Jo cottons on that "Thascales" is Greek for "Delgado".

Stuart becomes restless and begins predicting doom: "No one's safe, he's here, I saw him..."


The Doctor demands to know who he saw. "Kronos!" comes the answer.


The Doctor asks Ruth to give him a closer look at the Master's TOMTIT.

The Brig orders up some reinforcements from cloth ears Yates. 
50dw50@50dw50 ash tray on an office desk, those were the days.


David@davadsteel  The Brig is hilariously dry giving his shopping list to the Captain. Courtney is a joy.

50dw50@50dw50 he really is very under-rated as an actor.

"Bring some men with you. I feel as naked as a babe in his bath. I'll want light and heavy machine guns. Oh, and Yates? Shove a couple of anti-tank guns in the boot, will you?"

Doctor Cook is ready to return to Whitehall to give TOMTIT the thumbs down.
Percival is ready to stake his reputation on the "Professor"'s integrity.

The academics' spat is rendered, er, academic as the Brig takes command, boring everyone to tears by quoting the regs at them.

Percival suggests that the Master must be miles away by now...

...but the Brig knows better than to think they'd be that lucky.

"Any trouble?"
"I've been a bit lonely, but that's all."
Oh, Benton you are a card.

The Doctor gets a closer look at the crystal, confirming that it is indeed "the crystal of Kronos", and tells Ruth he has actually been outside of time before...

He tells Ruth that there is some element of truth in the legend of Atlantis and that's where the crystal is from.

The crystal was used to harness the power of a creature from outside of time - Kronos, the Time Monster!

In Percival's office, the Master's study looks very cosy indeed. He always gets his feet under the table pretty sharpish.

The Doctor continues his potted history of Kronos, the Kronovore: "a living creature, drawn out of time by the priests of Atlantis, using that crystal as its centre." 

Percival has a wobble, so the Master reasserts his hypnotic control.

The villainous Time Lord is having a whale of a time:"Now you go along there and carry on with your telephoning, and let me get on with my sums. You know, it's a long time since I came across a hypnotic subject who turned out to be as good as you are. It's just like old times!"

The Doctor decides they'll need to have another go on TOMTIT to work out what happened to Stuart.

At least they've found the Master's TARDIS.

When Percival picks up on the Master using "E = M x C Cubed" for his temporal homework, the Timne Lord tells the interfering dolt to shut his yap.

The Doctor demonstrates that the crystal "isn't really there" by making Benton look like a plank; the Sergeant can't lift it because it's anchored to the crystal in Atlantis!

A long time ago in a temple far, far away, a young boy informs High Priest Krasis that the Great Crystal is alight.

The priest reaches out, watched by an Atlantean fisherman, Hippias.

Jo & Benton have a natter on the phone while Stuart rambles about Kronos in his sleep.

The Master has finished his sums, so now he needs to get back to the lab. Percival points out that Benton is on guard. "Really? Well, I think I know how to deal with him."

By the time the Doctor arrives, Stuart can't really remember how Kronos got in his head.

Percival tries to blag Benton that the Brig's ordered him to lock up and go home, but the Sgt. fears for his stripes.

So the Master has a crack by giving it his best Brig impersonation.

"Nothing peculiar about it, my dear fellow. Perfectly simple. I need you over here, on the double."

Benton actually gets to be quite smart in this one, but tell you what episode 2 is mostly pure padding.
David@davadsteel  One thing about a good Pertwee six parter is that it gives you plenty of time to clean the kitchen.
50dw50@50dw50  change the sheets, phone a distant aunt, download Big Finish onto a smart phone...

Even the Master has to give Benton his due for the double back trick.

"The Brigadier's not in the habit of calling Sergeants 'my dear fellow'!"

But after all that, Benton lets himself down by falling for the oldest trick in the book.
50dw50@50dw50 shame as he was doing rather well, mind you if a Timelord could not outwit Benton then it would reflect badly on Gallifrey.


With Benton unconscious, the Master fires up TOMTIT...

...the crystal forges its' link to its larger counterpart in Atlantis...

...and the High Priest is swept into the future!

Aarrgh! Creepy-old-guy-in-way-too-dark-wig cliffhanger!

Love the way the credits fade in with the time disturbance here. 

Actually, starting Episode 3 of The Time Monster now is the oldest trick in the book, Sgt. Benton.

Krasis introduces himself as "High Priest of the temple of Poseidon" and tells the Master to wash his mouth out when he mentions Kronos.
50dw50@50dw50 thats what modern drama misses these days, decent finger pointing.

The Master counters that he is "Lord of Time, and of Kronos!"

Benton scarpers, but the Master's not bothered.


He's more interested in how the high priests of Atlantis used to make Kronos obey them like a dog.

Krasis says the secret has been lost for 500 years...

...but the Master thinks he can figure it out using the crystal - and the seal of Kronos!

Benton breaks the news to the Doctor as an ambulance prepares to take Stuart to hospital to convalesce.

The uses the measurements contained in the Atlantean seal to fire up TOMTIT once again.

As Kronos begins to manifest...

...time around the lab slows down again.

But this time, the effects are reversed, and Stuart is yoofed back to normal.

As Kronos materializes, Percival panics...

...and Krasis proclaims doom.

But the Master becalms the creature using the seal:

"So the pet dog does obey his Master, eh? Right, you stay in your kennel until I have need of you!"

The Doctor seems to be immune to the time distortion, and is able to jog first Ruth...

...and then the Brigadier and Benton back outside the sphere of influence.
David@davadsteel  This is all pretty good fun. And they haven't done this sort of time distortion in a story before.

"Don't worry. The Doctor'll explain later. I hope!"

The Master reverses the interstitial flow to wrangle the Time Monster back into the crystal.

This is proving harder work than the Master had expected.

Krasis explains that the crystal he possesses is only a small fraction of the true crystal in Atlantis. Without it, "For all your sorcery, you are as a child trying to control a rogue elephant."

"We shall see!"

Back in Atlantis, Hyppias reports the vanishing of Krasis to King Dalios. 

These film sequences are terribly washed out. I'm surprised at the Restoration Team, to be honest.

Dalios fears the return of the destroyer Kronos.

With Stuart back up to hosting duties, the Doctor knocks back some tea and marmalade sandwiches while he tries to explain the time distortion to the Brig.

You can pretty much guess how well that goes.

Wonder why the Doctor's starting a collection of tat? All will be revealed...

Back in his usual togs, the Master prepares to drain the energy from the crystal.

Once that's done, he'll be off to Atlantis itself.

The Doctor continues to collect odds and ends. "A bottle, I must have a bottle!" Not now, Jon.

The Doctor assures the Brig that his contraption will be a fly in the Master's ointment. 

The Master prepares to disconnect the power unit from TOMTIT to move the crystal into his TARDIS.


Believe it or not, this modern art monstrosity of the Doctor's is precisely designed to disrupt the Atlantean crystal.

"The relationships between the different molecular bonds and the actual shapes form a crystalline structure of ratios." 
"Does this make any sort of sense, Doctor Ingram?" 
"None whatsoever." 

Just needs a cup of tea for the finishing touch, and we're away!

Realizing he's being jammed, the Master pushes TOMTIT to the limit to blow out the Doctor's whatchamacallit. "It was fun while it lasted!"

Yates is on the way with the TARDIS.

Get the Master' snazzy video watch!

Krasis marvels at Yates' wheels, but the Master promises to show him something more impressive.

He manipulates time to attack the UNIT convoy with a jousting knight!

The Brig is less than impressed when Yates reports being stuck in the mud. 

With the UNIT lads having to dig in, the Master presses home the attack with an attack of roundheads! 

The Brig can't quite believe his ears.

While the Doctor, Jo and the Brig ride out...

...Benton stays behind for a cheery cuppa with Ruth and Stuart.

Mike chucks a grenade with a loopy swanee whistle effect, but the roundheads vanish. 

The Master's in the mood to set up a cliffhanger. "I could have told you that wouldn't work, Captain Yates. Now stand by to duck, for here comes the grand finale..."

The Doctor, Jo and the Brig watch helplessly...

...as the Master aims a V1 rocket squarely at Yates and the convoy.

The Brig lets the mask slip ever so slightly when his concern takes over: "Mike?"


Benton assumes the worst. "They must have copped it!"

He's wrong, of course, but Yates and the lads look a little worse for wear as they clamber out of a crater.

Not a tramp, but the farmer imparting that a doodle bug landed on this spot in 1944 has a suitably yokelly accent, so all's right on planet Pertwee.

David@davadsteel  The Comedy Farmer looks familiar. Was he in any other stories?

He's the UNIT soldier that tells Sam Seeley to be on his way in Spearhead from Space.


The Master admits that the TARDIS can't be destroyed, but he enjoyed himself trying to bomb Yates back to 1944 anyway.
David@davadsteel  Mike now set up for sick leave which explains why he's not in the next story and has some time to think...

With a little help from the farmer's tractor, they'll soon have the Doctor's TARDIS out of the crater. The Doctor asks Jo to keep an eye out for any sign of the Master's.


Benton is relieved that his pals are okay, but - like stu - he's not so keen on Ruth's plan to storm the lab and knobble the Master.

Krasis is astounded to discover that the Master's "temple" is bigger on the inside.

Worst. TARDIS interior. Ever.
David@davadsteel  I like it actually. Very shiny!

Jason McLaughlin@jangomac72 It's like a series of washing up bowls stuck on the wall

🍻🍻SimonG💜💜@SHGB001 The Chocolate Fountain column.

50dw50@50dw50 before seeing the story i had always assumed the washing up bowl interior was just The Masters TARDIS

🍻🍻SimonG💜💜@SHGB001 Yeah they could at least paint it black to make it look different to show he is evil.


Jo detects that the Master's on the move.

With the TARDIS back in action, the Doctor makes ready to follow his old enemy.

Jo refuses to be left behind.

The Doctor's TARDIS interior is the same. Funny that.

50dw50@50dw50 i always love the TARDIS console room... this one is tricky to love however...

The Doctor explains the dangers of a "Time Ram" to Jo. If the TARDISes collide, and end up occupying the exact same space, it means "utter annihilation!"

Jo's still up for tagging along, though: "It's my job, remember!"

"Londoners!"

As Benton, Ruth & Stu scurry along to the lab...

...the Doctor & Jo are hot on the Master's trail.

It's not long before they arrive at their destination, although they're a bit too bang on target. 

In fact, any more and there really would be a bang - the two TARDISes are inside one another. Oops.

The Brig rocks up at the Institute, much to the consternation of Krasis.

The Master gives TOMTIT a fiddle to stop them in their tracks.

He's not quite made his getaway, however, when Ruth and Stuart arrive to block his way.

Although this is the second time today that Benton has gotten the drop on the Master...

...the crafty Time Lord gives him the slip again.

Ruth and stuart can only look on helplessly...

...as the Master takes off, dragging the Doctor's TARDIS with him as he heads for Atlantis.

It's a rocky ride for the Doctor and Jo...

...and soon they've got the Master on the blower rubbing it in about Jo's bruised tailbone:

"I'm sorry about your coccyx too, Miss Grant...!"

Ruth proposes to turn TOMTIT off to unfreeze the Brig but Benton wants to leave well enough alone.

He eventually caves in, but even with TOMTIT switched off, the Brig's still frozen.

The Master has put a Time Lock on the Doctor's TARDIS, so he can't leave unless the Master lets him.

As bobbins as the story is, Delgado is, as always, in world-beating form. Sheer class.

When the Doctor starts to protest his imprisonment, the Master just mutes him.

We'll soon see about that...

"If the Thraskian puts his fingers in his ears, it is polite to shout!"

Ruth decides that having turned TOMTIT off her best bet is to turn it on again.

Benton will regret going along with the plan to reactivate the machine... 

...in about 30 years or so.

The UNIT entry for the statue challenge still stands, as well.


When the Doctor manages to hack the Master's audio system, the Master makes him eat his words by feeding them back to him at the precise moment in time that he's uttering them...
David@davadsteel This is all bollocks isn't it? Pure padding. 💤

It is, but I've more time for scenes in the TARDIS than the traipsing about in part 2, to be honest.

There's only one thing for it, the Doctor's going to have to go outside and have it out with the Master face to face.

The Doctor is introduced to Krasis and the Master asks if he's anything to say "before I destroy you."

Jo can only watch on the TARDIS scanner.

When the Doctor warns the Master that he's risking the total destruction of the entire cosmos, he doesn't exactly get the response he was hoping for:

"Of course I am. All or nothing, literally! What a glorious alternative!"

With that, the Master unleashes Kronos to devour him!

50dw50@50dw50 "quack quack quack" roared the horrific time creature as it cornered Dr Who

The Master admits to Jo that the Doctor wasn't really gobbled up, he's out in the time vortex somewhere, in a state of living death.

Now what to do with Jo herself and the Doctor's TARDIS?

"Do what you like, just get it over with."
"Your word is my command. Goodbye, Miss Grant!"

As good as his word, he ejects the Doctor's TARDIS into the vortex...


As the Master leaves Jo for dead in the time vortex, she hears the familiar voice of the Doctor!

He instructs Jo how to retrieve him from the vortex...

...and soon enough, he reappears in the TARDIS control room.

Next stop: Atlantis, where King Dalios, joined by his queen, Galleia, arrives to give an audience to hear the concerns of his people.

The set's not bad. Not far off the same standard as I, Claudius when you think about it. 

Hyppias challenges Dalios; seems Atlantis has fallen on hard times. 

The Master wants to make a grand entrance, smack bang in the middle of the temple.

Hippias wants to go back to the good old days of Kronos' rule, but Dalios is old enough to remember that with "Ten crops in one season, a surfeit of fishes [and] an ocean of wine" comes "the barren soil... the stinking piles of rotting meat, an idle drunken people."

He's not just saying that as some sort of pro-austerity kick, though: "I have seen a temple twice the size of this fall through a crack in the very bedrock of the earth. I have seen a city drowned, a land laid waste by fire."

The Queen hears the sound of rolling thunder...

...and the Master's TARDIS makes its' grand entrance, much to the consternation of the Atlanteans. 

The Master's come "to speak of the ancient mysteries, the secrets of the mighty Kronos!"

As proof of his power, he returns Krasis to them.

He's got the queen's attention, anyway. "He has the very bearing of a god himself."
50dw50@50dw50 the queen swept out of the throne room, giving the poor myrka a crafty kick on the way out.

Learning that the Master was able to summon Kronos, Dalios decides to give him a private audience.

The queen's attention does not go unnoticed by Hippias. Jealous?

Jo remembers the TARDIS was scuppered by the Time Lords, but the Doctor explains it can use the wibbly detector wotsit to plot a course to Atlantis.

When they arrive in the Atlantean plaza, Krasis identifies them as enemies of the Master's and orders the guards to cart them off.

Galleia earwigs as the Master tries to blag Dalios that he has control over Kronos, claiming that Krasis will back him up.

The Master is soon up to his old tricks...

...but Dalios just laughs in his face!

Turns out that Dalios is too old and wise to succumb to the Master's hypnotism.

Things go from bad to worse for the Master: he huffs off straight into the path of the Doctor and Jo, about to get their own little pow wow with the king.

Galleia slinks back to her own chambers to scheme.

"This is Jo, Jo Grant, your Majesty." 
"You are welcome, Jojo Grant."
GROAN!

Dalios has more time for the Doctor and the lady JoJo Grant, and after a clumsy attempt at chivalry that he admits is beyond his years, he packs Jo off for some girtl talk with the queen(!).

Blimey, it's all gone a bit Deliverance. "Hyppias has all the delicacy of a redknecked fisherman."
50dw50@50dw50 "and the acting ability of the haddock the fisherman has caught"

Seems Galleia has designs on the Master, while her servant Lakis only has eyes for Hyppias.

Seems Hyppias had a thing with Galleia before she became queen and it went to her head.

Hyppias relays Dalios' command to show Jo every hospitality so Galleia has Lakis take Jo out for an Atlantean makeover.
David@davadsteelThis is all much better, could've been a great four parter!

I actually find this with quite a few of the Pertwee six-parters: most of the dull padding people complain about is actually round the earlier part of the story, things kick up a gear towards the end. 

The Monster of Peladon being one of the worst offenders - a story with a bad rep that I reckon more people would appreciate if they could just get past the first 2 episodes. 

Or, I guess more to the point, if it was edited down to 4 parts, obviously. Most of the flab is round episodes 1 to 3.

Galleia recalls Lakis and commands her to go to the Master and say just one word: Kronos!

Dalios fears the return of Kronos, and relates how he once tried - and failed - to destroy the crystal. He muses that as a seeker of truth, the Doctor is a philosopher, and he asks for his help in defeating the Master.

Having drawn a blank with Dalios, the Master decides he'll have a better route to the crystal through the queen.

Y'know, at the risk of going all "stroking her pussy", that cat's very docile and co-operative for Ingrid Pitt; she's obviously a cat person.

Watch the Blofelds in the Bond films: Pleasance is a cat person, Gray isn't. But the most contented cat ever committed to celuloid is the one on Marlon Brando's lap in the "this, the day of my daughter's wedding" scene at the beginning of The Godfather.

The Master turns on the charm: "Lady Queen, you are beautiful..."

Jo digs the groovy Atlantean gear that Lakis has picked out for her.
David@davadsteelWorth mentioning that Katy did a play with Susan Penhaligon in 2015 at the Edinburgh Fringe?

Reunited!

Jo promises to be as quiet as an Atlantean mouse to eavesdrop on the Master & Galleia's evil flirting.

"You're a man who knows what he wants, Lord Master." 
"And takes it!"
Get a room, you two.

The Master says he can restore Atlantis to its former glory once the crystal in his possession. Galleia will stand with him but no harm must come to Dalios.

The Master assures her that the king will rule for many years, although he might just relive him of "some of the more onerous duties of kingship..."

"The reins of power, Lady Queen, should be in stronger hands. Hands such as yours..."

The Master will serve Galleia, and in return she promises that when Dalios dies, the crystal will be his. Don't fancy Dalios' chances much. 

Jo listens intently as Galleia reveals that the crystal is kept in the catacombs beneath the temple.

When the Master hears that only Dalios and Krasis have a key, he thinks his luck is in, but Galleia warns him that the crystal has a guardian, and to attempt to get past him is a death sentence.

Elsewhere Dalios is filling the Doctor in about the guardian: "Once he was my friend, a fellow councillor, a great athlete, and just as I longed for the wisdom the years alone could bring, so he craved great strength. The strength of the bull and a long life in which to use it."

Kronos gave him both, but the head of a bull to go with it. Yep, that's right, the Time Monster turned Dave Prowse into the Minotaur!

The Master plans to send Krasis into the Minotaur's den, but the priest chickens out so Galleia proposes that Hyppias go instead.

Jo and Lakis race to tip the Doctor off, but the captain of the guard is crooked and has it in for Hyppias, so she leaves Lakis to warn the Doctor while she goes to the catacombs to warn Hyppias.

When she calls out, Krasis shoves her through the door and locks her in.

It's not long before the roaring beast is bearing down on her!

A load of bull! End of part 5!


Crikey, it's the minotaur!

Lakis manages to get past Crito and warn the Doctor that Jo's at the mercy of the beast.

Let's hope he can get there in time...

...Jo can't give the Darth Minotaur the runaround and keep getting away with it.

Not for much longer, anyway.

Hyppias tries to take on the monster himself, with predictable results.

Pertwee obviously having a whale of a time using his trusty cape to fight the bull...

...but the whole bullfighting act is very silly.

At least the creature provides the means of their escape when it charges through the wall.

Well, I say escape, no sooner have they found the crystal...

...than they run straight into Krasis and the heavy mob. The Doctor demands to be taken to the king.

He should have been careful what he wished for, because now, it seems, the Master is king!

Dalios is being slowly elbowed out, leaving the Master & Galleia to run the shop.

The guards take the Doctor and Jo away, but the Master promises them that their introduction to the mighty Kronos will come all too soon.

When Galleia asks what the Master has planned, he expects her to fall into line like a good soldier. 

The Master must learn that Galleia is a Qvvvveeen! 

Rog looks she's just goosed him.

In the Atlantean dungeon, Jo has to fess up that her UNIT escapology training neglected Atlantean manacles.

Jo begins to think their situation is hopeless, but the Doctor tells her all is not lost... *MOMENT OF CHARM KLAXON*
David@davadsteel Gives me proper chills this one. And more foreshadowing.

"When I was a little boy, we used to live in a house that was perched halfway up the top of a mountain. And behind our house, there sat under a tree an old man, a hermit, a monk. He'd lived under this tree for half his lifetime, so they said, and he'd learned the secret of life. So, when my black day came, I went and asked him to help me."

"I'll never forget what it was like up there. All bleak and cold, it was. A few bare rocks with some weeds sprouting from them and some pathetic little patches of sludgy snow. It was just grey. Grey, grey, grey. Well, the tree the old man sat under, that was ancient and twisted and the old man himself was, he was as brittle and as dry as a leaf in the autumn."


"He just sat there, silently, expressionless, and he listened whilst I poured out my troubles to him. I was too unhappy even for tears, I remember. And when I'd finished, he lifted a skeletal hand and he pointed. Do you know what he pointed at? A flower. One of those little weeds. Just like a daisy, it was. Well, I looked at it for a moment and suddenly I saw it through his eyes. It was simply glowing with life, like a perfectly cut jewel. And the colours? Well, the colours were deeper and richer than you could possibly imagine. Yes, that was the daisiest daisy I'd ever seen."


"So, later, I got up and I ran down that mountain and I found that the rocks weren't grey at all, but they were red, brown and purple and gold. And those pathetic little patches of sludgy snow, they were shining white. Shining white in the sunlight."


"You still frightened, Jo?"
"No, not as much as I was."



Great scene. Made light of by fans, but genuinely insightful and a soothing delivery from Jon!
David@davadsteelWhen watched as a whole the Pertwee/Letts era is very coherent with strong themes and plotting. Moffat could have learnt from this.

Seems even the daisiest daisy can't save Dalios from being locked up with them.

With his dying breath, Dalios forewarns them that Atlantis is doomed.

The Doctor & Jo are summoned to the plaza to witness Galleia's announcement of her new squeeze, "his holiness, the most venerable, Lord Master."

The Master promises to give the people what they want: Kronos.

The Doctor spoils the party by delivering the news of Dalios' death. 

Things soon sour between the Master and Galleia.

The Master summons Kronos to facilitate his escape...

...snatching Jo as he makes a dash into his TARDIS.

Galleia frees the Doctor to give chase.
50dw50@50dw50 so good old Dr Who and his best mate Lord Master have managed to slaughter the population of an entire island...

You can't make a Time Monster without breaking some Atlantean eggs...
50dw50@50dw50  but what happened to the cat?

Soggy moggy.

The Master crows that they'll never see the Doctor again, and now he has the crystal he has control over Kronos.

"Dominion over all time and all space, absolute power forever! And no Doctor to ruin things for me!"

But contrary to the Master's belief, the Doctor is hot on his trail, and in fact is on the old blower!

The Doctor determines to stop the Master once and for all, threatening him with a right good time-ramming.

The Master thinks the Doctor's threat is an empty one, so dares him to do it.

The threat certainly seems empty when the Doctor pauses right at the last minute to give the Master once last chance. 

The Doctor might have bottled the time ram, but Jo doesn't.

It's a Time Ram, a bang, a ding dong!

To everyone's surprise, they're not dead.

Instead, they find themselves in a CSO limbo dimension outside of time.

Jo is surprised to find that in this nowhere place, Kronos manifests as "a girl".
"Shapes mean nothing," laughs the Chronovore, before agreeing to let the Docto rand Jo return home in the TARDIS.

The Master uncharacteristically begs for mercy, and is met with short shrift after having sought to make a prisoner of Kronos.

The Doctor asks for the life of his fellow Time Lord, even though he was responsible for the destruction of Atlantis (one of them, anyway), and gets his second wish...

...only for the rotter to do a runner once again!

Wow. The Master got away again. Never saw that coming.


Kronos isn't too bothered. "You asked for him to be given his freedom; He has it!" Smart-arse.

Back at the institute, Ruth and Stuart are drawing straws to see who gets to change Sgt. Benton's nappy.

The Doctor tells Jo that he couldn't just see someone, even the Master, condemned to death.

He and Jo arrive safely back at the institute, to find Ruth finally solving the problem of TOMTIT and the frozen UNIT lads in explosive fashion.

The Brig can't quite believe his eyes when, thanks to TOMTIT's destruction, Benton suddenly starts acting his age whilst standing there in a nappy.

So bye bye giant baby Benton, that's The Time Monster over. 


Silly, but fun in places, and Delgado magnetic as always.

50dw50@50dw50  amazing how many fans this claim this story shows Benton in a nappy when it clearly does no such thing

The memory cheats!

50dw50@50dw50 totally daft and i adore it!


David@davadsteel
 Lots and lots of good bits, better than I remembered!
Yeah, like most Pertwee 6 parters, it'd be better as a 4 parter, but it's enjoyable, even at its' daftest! :-)


TTFN! K.
Coming Soon: The Dominators