The Time Monster
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| 064 - The Time Monster | |
| Doctor | Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) |
|---|---|
| Writer | Robert Sloman, Barry Letts (uncredited) |
| Director | Paul Bernard |
| Script Editor | Terrance Dicks |
| Producer | Barry Letts |
| Executive producer(s) | None |
| Production code | OOO |
| Series | Season 9 |
| Length | 6 episodes, 25 mins each |
| Transmission date | May 20–June 24, 1972 |
| Preceded by | The Mutants |
| Followed by | The Three Doctors |
The Time Monster is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from May 20 to June 24, 1972.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The Third Doctor and Jo investigate the workings of the TOMTIT machine, a wondrous device created by Professor Thascales. Neither Thascales or TOMTIT are what they seem, and what secret power is locked within the crystal of Kronos?
[edit] Plot
The Master has adopted the alias of Professor Thascales (the Greek version of his name) and is using this cover to tap into the resources of the Newton Research Unit at Cambridge University to conduct time experiments. His TOMTIT (Transmission of Matter through Interstitial Time) experiment, assisted by Ruth Ingram and Stuart Hyde, is focussed around transmitting matter by breaking them down into light waves. Having hypnotised Dr Perceval, the Director of the Institute, into doing his bidding, the Master’s cover is maintained. He is particularly interested in examining a trident-shaped crystal in his possession, using it to attract a being he addresses with the words "Come, Kronos, come!"
The Doctor and Jo Grant visit the Institute following a hunch of his that the Master is back on Earth with his TARDIS. He finds time moving slowly as the TOMTIT experiments disrupt the normal flow while Hyde, who is caught in the field of the experiment, ages to more than eighty years. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who also witnessed the TOMTIT experiment, has the project evacuated and begins to hunt for the Master, whose cover has now been blown. The Doctor explains to Ruth and Jo that Kronos is a powerful Chronovore, a creature from outside time that feeds on time itself, who was once attracted from the vortex to ancient Atlantis using a crystal trident larger than the one used by the Master. That one remains in Atlantis. The Doctor suspects capturing the Chronovore is the Master’s aim too, forecasting such a step is a danger to the entire created universe. Meanwhile the Atlantean High Priest of Kronos, Krasis, is transported through interstitial time by the Master and brought to Perceval’s office. The Master seizes the Seal of Kronos from the priest and uses it to control the Chronovore, bringing Kronos to being in the room. A white, feathered, male-like bird-like figure, Kronos exudes power and devours Perceval without compunction. It is contained briefly by the Master, but breaks free and Krasis surmises this is because the Master only has the smaller fragment of the original crystal.
The Doctor and his allies have been alerted by the actions of the Master and he builds a time flow analogue to interrupt his rival’s experiments. The two enemies then spend time using time to trap each other, often with strange consequences: historical characters are transported into the present; Stuart Hyde is restored to youth, though Sergeant Benton is reverted to a baby when he is caught in TOMTIT’s flow; and the Brigadier is frozen in a time bubble. They even pit their TARDISes against one another and the Doctor is ejected into the vortex, but survives thanks to Jo and his TARDIS.
In ancient Atlantis the aged and wise King Dalios is troubled by the disappearance of Krasis and the threat to the true crystal of Kronos, which is guarded by the Minotaur at the heart of a maze. The Master has travelled to Atlantis in search of the true crystal and soon inveigles himself at the Atlantean court, wooing the vain and gullible Queen Galleia and embroiling her in plots and schemes. Dalios warns of the dangers of the time when Kronos served Atlantis, but his wife is not moved by his pleas or his suspicions of the Master, whom he knows not to be an emissary of the gods. When the Doctor and Jo arrive, the old King – far older than even his looks, since Kronos gave him the power of longevity – forms a bond of trust with the Doctor and confides that when Atlantis turned from Kronos, the civilisation sought to end the link by which the Chronovore could be enslaved. But the crystal is in two pieces because it cannot be destroyed but only split. Dalios also tells the Doctor that the Minotaur was once his friend, but grew eager for the strength of a bull, and Kronos in blind sport gave this man his desire. The Doctor then faces the Minotaur to rescue Jo, duped into the maze by Krasis, and the creature is destroyed. The crystal is now produced from the maze – but the Master’s plotting with Galleia has borne fruit and he has usurped the throne, with Dalios deposed and arrested. Jo and the Doctor are soon detained too, and witness Dalios' sad death after mistreatment and torture.
When the Council of Atlantis meets, Galleia finds that Dalios is dead and, having loved and respected him, his end is enough to break her faith in the Master. Krasis, however, is still in his thrall and uses the great crystal to summon Kronos to Atlantis once more. The enraged Chronovore begins to destroy Atlantis and to survive the Master flees in his TARDIS, with Jo Grant in tow. The Doctor heads off in his TARDIS in hot pursuit while Kronos destroys the city and people of Atlantis.
The two TARDISes are now in the vortex, where the Doctor threatens their mutual assured destruction by causing a Time Ram by which both vehicles would occupy the same space/time co-ordinates. When he carries this threat out Kronos is set free and, thankful for this action, saves the Doctor and Jo and returns them to their TARDIS. On the Doctor’s insistence, the Master is spared too, but he flees in his own TARDIS before he can be apprehended. The Doctor and Jo return to the Institute as Ingram and Hyde operate the TOMTIT machine one last time, thereby returning the Brigadier and Benton to normality. The machine then overloads, its time experiments at an end.
[edit] Cast
- Doctor Who — Jon Pertwee
- Jo Grant — Katy Manning
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart — Nicholas Courtney
- Captain Mike Yates — Richard Franklin
- Sergeant Benton — John Levene
- The Master — Roger Delgado
- Kronos — Marc Boyle, Ingrid Bower
- Stuart Hyde — Ian Collier
- Dr Ruth Ingram — Wanda Moore
- Dr Percival — John Wyse
- Dr Cook — Neville Barber
- Proctor — Barry Ashton
- Window Cleaner — Terry Walsh
- Farm worker — George Lee
- UNIT Sergeant — Simon Legree
- Knight — Gregory Powell
- Roundhead Officer — Dave Carter
- King Dalios — George Cormack
- Queen Galleia — Ingrid Pitt
- Krasis — Donald Eccles
- Hippias — Aidan Murphy
- Lakis — Susan Penhaligon
- Crito — Derek Murcott
- Miseus — Michael Walker
- Minotaur — Dave Prowse
- Guard — Melville Jones
- Neophite — Keith Dalton
[edit] Notes
- Features a guest appearance by David Prowse. See also Celebrity appearances in Doctor Who.
- The Chronovores are also featured in the Virgin New Adventures novel No Future by Paul Cornell. Cornell's 2005 television episode Father's Day features creatures that resemble Chronovores (referred in publicity materials as Reapers).
- The BBC Books Past Doctor Adventures novel The Quantum Archangel by Craig Hinton is a sequel to this story.
- Features a version of the main TARDIS set that appears in no other Doctor Who serial. The producer was unhappy with the redesign, and the set was damaged shortly after filming on this particular serial wrapped; it was redesigned again out of necessity.
- A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in September 1985.
- In this story, the Doctor tells Jo of a Time Lord "guru" who influenced him as a boy. See also Planet of the Spiders and State of Decay.
- This story, along with Colony in Space, was released together in a VHS tin box set, The Master, in 2001.
[edit] External links
- The Time Monsters episode guide on the BBC website
- The Time Monster at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- The Time Monster at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
[edit] Reviews
- The Time Monster reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- The Time Monster reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
[edit] Target novelisation
| Television stories featuring the Master |
|---|
| Third Doctor: Terror of the Autons | The Mind of Evil | The Claws of Axos | Colony in Space | The Dæmons | The Sea Devils | The Time Monster | Frontier in Space |
| Fourth Doctor: The Deadly Assassin | The Keeper of Traken | Logopolis |
| Fifth Doctor: Castrovalva | Time-Flight | The King's Demons | The Five Doctors | Planet of Fire |
| Sixth Doctor: The Mark of the Rani | The Trial of a Time Lord:The Ultimate Foe |
| Seventh Doctor: Survival |
| Eighth Doctor: Doctor Who |
| UNIT television stories |
|---|
| Second Doctor: (The Web of Fear) | The Invasion |
| Third Doctor: Spearhead from Space | Doctor Who and the Silurians | The Ambassadors of Death | Inferno | Terror of the Autons | The Mind of Evil | The Claws of Axos | The Dæmons | Day of the Daleks | The Time Monster | The Three Doctors | The Green Death | Invasion of the Dinosaurs | Planet of the Spiders |
| Fourth Doctor: Robot | Terror of the Zygons | The Android Invasion |
| Seventh Doctor: Battlefield |
| Tenth Doctor: The Christmas Invasion |
| Minor Appearances: The Time Warrior | The Seeds of Doom | The Five Doctors | Aliens of London/World War Three |
| See also: UNIT dating controversy |
