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The Time Monster (TV story)

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Revision as of 14:33, 27 July 2012 by Tangerineduel (talk | contribs) (Reverted edits by 137.158.153.203 (talk | block) to last version by CzechBot)
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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 - to gain control over Kronos, a creature from outside time. The creature is summoned but proves uncontrollable.

Plot

Episode 1

The Doctor sits before the Master, who stands next to a crystal, laughing. Explosions resound.

In UNIT HQ, Jo wakes the Doctor. He enquires if there have been any reports of volcanic eruptions or earthquakes lately.

The Master - or Professor Thascalos, as he calls himself - holds the crystal the Doctor saw in his dream. He's in a laboratory at the Newton Institute, working with Dr. Ruth Ingram. The crystal, the Master claims, is no different than any other piece of quartz, yet it is. Stuart Hyde, a co-worker, enters. The Master leaves them to conduct further experiments. After he has left, Ruth says she doesn't know which is more annoying: "his dictatorial manner or that infernal courtesy of his."

At UNIT HQ, Mike Yates points out the Thera islands, where the quakes have struck. Jo mentions Atlantis, telling the Doctor that Thera is reputedly its location. The Doctor talks to the Brigadier on the phone and tells him to put out a warning to every UNIT section and HQ, because of a dream he had about a half hour ago. He says he is too busy to see the TOMTIT demonstration at the Newton Institute, so Benton is asked to go instead.

At the institute, the Master hypnotises the Director, Dr. Charles Percival, into believing him about his TOMTIT experiments and his credentials. In the lab, Ruth and Stu decided to run the test without "the Professor". Outside, a window cleaner observes their efforts, having been distracted from his work.

 
The Master apologises to Ruth Ingram and Stuart Hyde for his outburst.

At UNIT HQ, the Doctor uses a time sensor to detect the Master. It shows a TARDIS in use. The experiment at the Institute shows the jar at one end disappearing and reappearing at the other. Looking at the clock outside his window, the Master notices it has slowed down. The experiment is causing an overload, but Ruth and Stu contain it. Outside, the window cleaner falls from his ladder.

The Doctor and Jo decide to follow the signal. They set off in Bessie. Back at the institute, the Master confronts Ruth and Stu, berating them for their foolishness. They tell him about the overload and he tells them they were drawing power from outside time itself. Stu looks out the window; a convoy is approaching with a UNIT Jeep in it. The Master tells Ruth and Stu to leave him to his work.

The Doctor and Jo realise that the signal must be coming from Wootton, where the institute is. Using Bessie's super-drive function, they speed along. UNIT arrive at the institute and find the window cleaner, alive but injured.

The Brigadier, Benton, Dr. Cook, his aide Proctor and Percival enter the control room with Ruth at the research station. Cook complains about his pheasant lunch and expenditures. The Master enters in a radiation suit, his features hidden.

The test begins and Ruth warns the Master that the power is overloading. Stu is in the crystal room. He gets too much power and can't control it. He calls to them to switch off. Ruth shouts the warning at the Master. The Master only yells out, "Come, Kronos, come!!!"

Episode 2

 
Stu aged into an old man.

The Doctor and Jo arrive in Bessie. Jo seems to freeze. The Doctor runs to the laboratory, where he orders Ruth to reverse the polarity and cut the power. They go to help Stu, only to find he has been aged to an eighty year old man.

Different theories are suggested - radiation and a change in metabolism, both of which the Doctor denies. The Brigadier points out that the only thing that makes people age naturally is the passing of time; the Doctor realises this is the explanation - Stu's personal time has been vastly accelerated. They learn that Professor Thascalos is the Master - Thascalos is Greek for Master.

Stu wakes up and starts rambling. The Doctor demands he tell what he saw. With difficulty, Stu replies "Kronos!" The Doctor and Ruth go back to the laboratory whilst the Brigadier orders troops from UNIT, as well as the Doctor's TARDIS. He tells Percival to order an evacuation of the building of all but essential personnel by 3 o' clock.

Meanwhile, Ruth shows the Doctor the crystal. He explains that outside space-time live creatures called Chronovores, time eaters. Kronos is the most fearsome of the lot. The crystal is the original from Atlantis, which summoned Kronos.

Percival finds the Master in his study, and panics. The Master hypnotises him into not worrying and continues with his sums. Both the Doctor and the Master are confused about the earlier power build up, which logically shouldn't have happened. The Doctor discovers that the crystal has been moved through interstitial time. This means it really is the original crystal used to summon Kronos in Atlantis.

The Master tricks Benton out of the laboratory by faking instructions from the Brigadier. Benton, however, climbs back in through the window, having seen through the Master's ruse. The Master knocks him out and summons an Atlantean priest called Krasis.

Whilst the Master orders Krasis to give him the secret to controlling Kronos, Benton escapes and warns the Doctor. Kronos is summoned and devours Percival. The Brigadier, Benton and Ruth all begin to run in slow motion, so the Doctor pulls them out of the time field. Stu's ageing is suddenly reversed, returning his age to twenty-five. The Doctor orders them all back inside.

The Master returns Kronos to the crystal, which Krasis claims is but a portion of the original. In Atlantis, Hippius asks Lord Dallius if the time has come for Kronos to return at last. Dallius is old enough to remember the time of Kronos and fears his return. He shows Hippius the true crystal, which is guarded by a creature "too horrible to imagine".

 
The Doctor constructs a device out of assorted items.

The Doctor cobbles together a time flow analog, which works like jamming a radio signal. He claims he made them at school to spoil his fellow student's time experiments. It works, until the Master uses the TOMTIT device to overload it. He sets about delaying the convoy from UNIT, using a medieval knight, a troop of Roundheads and a Doodlebug (a German bomb).

The Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier go to meet the convoy. Fortunately they are unharmed. Ruth, Stu and Benton go to the laboratory to stop the Master. The Doctor and Jo follow in the Doctor's TARDIS, using the time sensor as a homing device and placing the Doctor's TARDIS inside the Master's.

The Doctor explains that if the frequency of the two TARDISes is too high, even by a fraction, a Time Ram will occur - utter annihilation. This does not dissuade Jo, so they take off. According to the Doctor, the time the journey seems to take (it really takes no time at all) depends on the mood of the TARDIS.

 
The Doctor's TARDIS inside the Master's TARDIS.

They end up stuck in a space loop with the Master's TARDIS - if they enter one, they come out into the other. The UNIT convoy arrives at the Institute, but the Master freezes them in space-time. Krasis and he escape into the TARDIS, leaving Benton, Ruth and Stu trapped inside the building. As this is going on, the Master taunts the Doctor, pointing out that he could easily throw his enemy into the Time Vortex and refusing to listen to the Doctor. When the Doctor forces the sound of his voice through to the Master's TARDIS, the Master feeds the words back to him and makes them come out as garbled nonsense.

With no other options, the Doctor orders Jo to close the door behind him when he steps into the Master's TARDIS. Yet again the Master refuses to listen to reason and summons Kronos, who devours the Doctor. The Master sends Kronos back into the crystal and breaks the lock on the Doctor's TARDIS, sending Jo and it tumbling through the Vortex.

Jo hears the Doctor calling to her, along with many other whispering voices. He explains they are his subconscious thoughts and tells her not to listen too closely. The TARDIS is relaying his thoughts to Jo; she follows his instructions and pulls a red handle on the third control panel, allowing the TARDIS to pull the Doctor out of the Vortex.

Episode 3

to be added

Episode 4

to be added

Episode 5

to be added

Episode 6

to be added

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 asks Jo not to listen too closely to his subconscious thoughts, saying he's "...not all that proud of some of them". At least one of the voices seems to be humming thoughtlessly.

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 others, including the Brigadier.

TARDISes

  • The Doctor tells Jo the TARDIS has been redecorated. (The Master's TARDIS appears to have undergone a similar redecoration.)
  • Jo uses The Master's TARDIS to time ram the Doctor's (both the Doctor and the Master hesitated to start the time ram).
  • The perceived speed of a journey outside of space-time (i.e. in the Time Vortex) depends, according to the Doctor, on the mood of the TARDIS.

Temporal theory

Transport technology

  • The TOMTIT machine works with assistance from the Master.

Story notes

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 novelisation.)

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.
  • Jo is obviously operating a button with her index finger on the time sensor in episode 1 to make the prop spin as it "detects" the Doctor's TARDIS.
  • The crystal moves when Benton tries to lift it, even as he and the Doctor talk about it being impossible to move.
  • The Doctor doesn't close the TARDIS door all the way before taking off with Jo, yet it is completely shut when they dematerialise.
  • The V1 footage is black and white.
  • The Doctor's supposedly backwards dialogue when played backwards is still gibberish.
  • The smashed "mirror" in episode 6 is obviously made of foil.

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 29 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

  • AUS DVD cover

  • AUS DVD Box Set cover

  • US DVD cover

VHS releases

This story was released in the UK as Doctor Who: The Time Monster in November 2001 (as part of the Master box set which also contains DW: Colony in Space).

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

    UK & AUS Box Set

  • UK VHS cover

  • US VHS cover

  • AUS VHS cover

External links

Template:Wikipedia

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