The Time Monster (TV story)

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The Time Monster was the fifth and final story of Season 9.

Synopsis

The Master, in the guise of Professor Thascalos, has constructed at the Newton Institute in Wootton a device known as TOMTIT - Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time - with which to gain control over Kronos, a creature from outside time. The creature is summoned but the effect proves uncontrollable.

Plot

The Doctor has a foreshadowing dream in which he sees the Master, a trident-shaped crystal, and images of ancient Atlantean culture.

The Master, adopting the alias of Professor Thascalos, uses his 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 focused around transmitting matter by breaking it down into light waves. Having hypnotized Dr Percival, 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, which he uses to power the TOMTIT device, attempting to summon an entity called Kronos.

The Doctor and Jo Grant visit the Institute following a signal from a time-field detector. 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 to be a danger to the entire created universe.

Meanwhile Krasis, Atlantean High Priest of Kronos, is transported through interstitial time by the Master to the present. The Master seizes the Seal of Kronos from the priest and uses it to summon the chronovore. A white, feathered, bird-like figure, Kronos exudes power and devours Percival 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 attempt to outwit each other, often with strange consequences: historical characters (and a V1 flying bomb) 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 several UNIT troops, led by the Brigadier, are frozen in a time bubble. The two Time Lords 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 traveled 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 he looks, since Kronos gave him the power of longevity – forms a bond of trust with the Doctor. 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's faith in the Master is broken when the Doctor informs her of Dalios' death. Krasis, however, is still in his thrall and uses the great crystal to summon Kronos to Atlantis once more. In the resulting melee the Master flees in his TARDIS with Jo Grant in tow. The Doctor heads off in his TARDIS in pursuit while Kronos destroys the city and people of Atlantis.

In the Vortex, the Doctor threatens their mutual destruction by causing a Time Ram by which both TARDISes would occupy the same space/time co-ordinates. The Master, knowing the Doctor could never cause Jo's death, calls his bluff. Jo, however, has no such hesitation, and initiates the Time Ram. Kronos is set free and, thankful for this action, saves the Doctor and Jo and returns them to their TARDIS. Kronos intends to subject the Master to endless torment for his imprisonment, and the Master begs for mercy. The Doctor appeals successfully for the Master's life, who then flees in his own TARDIS. The Doctor and Jo return to the Institute as Ingram and Hyde operate the TOMTIT machine one last time, thereby returning the UNIT men to normality, albeit leaving Benton in a nappy. The machine then overloads, its time experiments at an end.

Cast

Crew

References

The Doctor

  • The Doctor's reaction times are ten times faster than those of a human.
  • The Doctor talks to Jo (while they're tied up) about his home; "When I was a little boy, we used to live in a house that was perched halfway up the top of a mountain. 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 had learned the secret of life. So, when my black day came, I went and asked him to help me.'"

The Doctor's items

  • Bessie has brakes that absorb inertia, resulting in an instant, safe stop, even at high speeds.

Earth locations

Governments

Individuals

The Master

  • The Master is capable of flawlessly imitating the voice of another, such as the Brigadier.

TARDISes

Temporal theory

Transport technology

  • The TOMTIT machine works with assistance from the Master.

Story notes

  • During the Doctor's vision, the volcano stock footage used in the title sequence of the parallel Earth story DW: Inferno is re-used.
  • This is the only appearance of the "washing up bowl" interior for the TARDIS (designed by Tim Gleeson).
  • Dave Prowse, later to play (but not voice) the masked Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, features in an equally incognito role as the Minotaur. He was also well-known for playing the Green Cross Code man in 70's ITV public information films.

Ratings

  • Episode 1 - 7.6 million viewers
  • Episode 2 - 7.4 million viewers
  • Episode 3 - 8.1 million viewers
  • Episode 4 - 7.6 million viewers
  • Episode 5 - 6.0 million viewers
  • Episode 6 - 7.6 million viewers

Myths

  • Well-known actress Susan Penhaligon, making an early television appearance as Galleia's handmaiden Lakis, was originally to have been credited as Virginia Mull. (Virginia Mull was a different actress who had a small uncredited walk-on role as a serving girl in the Atlantis scenes of this story. Susan Penhaligon, who was a late replacement for actress Ann Michelle, was always to have been credited under her own name.)
  • The Master's alias is 'Thascales'. (The majority of printed and online episode guides say this. Unfortunately, (a) 'Thascales' isn't the Greek for 'Master', and (b) no-one in the story says 'Thascales'. They all say 'Thascalos', which is the Greek for 'Master'. The error first appears in the second edition of Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke's The Making of Doctor Who, and presumably has been taken from there by all subsequent episode guides, without checking against the broadcast episodes. Terrance Dicks, however, has the correct spelling in the novelization.)

Filming locations

  • Swallowfield Park, Swallowfield, Berkshire
  • Stratfield Saye Park, Stratfield Saye, Hampshire
  • Old Church Farm (road), Hartley Wintney, Hampshire
  • Park Lane, Fair Cross, Berkshire
  • School Lane, Heckfield Heath/Riseley, Hampshire
  • Ealing Television Film Studios, Ealing Green, Ealing
  • BBC Television Centre (Studio 3 & 4), Shepherd's Bush, London

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • In episode one, the interior of the police box prop is visible.
  • The V1 footage is black and white.
  • The Doctor's supposedly backwards dialogue when played backwards is still gibberish.

Continuity

Timeline

For the Doctor and Jo

For the Brigadier

For the Master

Home video and audio releases

DVD releases

  • This story was first released on DVD in the UK on 29th March 2010 as part of the Myths And Legends Boxset. The one disc set includes a restored version of the story, as well as the following special features:
  • Commentary by John Levene (Benton), Susan Penhaligon (Lakis), Barry Letts (Producer), Marion McDougall (Production Assistant), Graham Duff (Fan/Writer), Phil Ford (Fan/Writer), Joe Lidster (Fan/Writer), James Moran (Fan/Writer) and Toby Hadoke (Moderator).
  • Between Now… And Now!
  • Restoration Comparison
  • Coming Soon Trailer
  • Radio Times Billings
  • Production Subtitles
  • Photo Gallery
  • UK DVD 2010 Cover

    UK DVD 2010 Cover

  • UK DVD 2010 Boxset

    UK DVD 2010 Boxset

  • AUS DVD cover

    AUS DVD cover

  • AUS DVD Box Set cover

    AUS DVD Box Set cover

  • US DVD cover

    US DVD cover

VHS releases

Released in the UK as Doctor Who: The Time Monster in November 2001 (As part of the Master box set which also contains Colony in Space)

  • 367px-Limited edition colony in space time monster tin vhs.jpg

    UK & AUS Box Set

  • UK VHS cover

    UK VHS cover

  • US VHS cover

    US VHS cover

  • AUS VHS cover

    AUS VHS cover

Novelisation and its audiobook

Time Monster novel.jpg
Main article: The Time Monster (novelisation)

External links

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According to one account, the Master had the appearance of Roger Delgado while on Gallifrey. According to another, he had Anthony Ainley's likeness. According to another one, the one with James Dreyfus's appearance was the incarnation who ran away from Gallifrey.

Divided Loyalties, A Brief History of Time Lords and The Legions of Death feature, or otherwise acknowledge, the War Chief, but in the process contradicted the notion put forward by other stories that he was an incarnation of the Master.

One account suggests that the incarnation portrayed by Roger Delgado may be the same as the one portrayed by Peter Pratt while some others distinguish them.

According to one account, the incarnation portrayed by Gordon Tipple is the one portrayed by Anthony Ainley, while some others state that the Ainley one was already lost by then.

While fighting to extend his life at the end of his regeneration cycle, many bodies were possessed by the Beevers incarnation, but all kept somehow reverting to his real being until he finally regenerated into the MacQueen one. Hence, these sections cannot be strictly chronological
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