The Three Doctors Episode Four

The one where the Doctor's recorder saves the universe...

When the Doctor is released from his battle with the dark side of Omega's mind, Jon Pertwee has to pretend to be in a head-lock with the invisible man, but this made me wonder whether the Doctor had been tumbling around the singularity room all this time, fighting an unseen troll? I hope not, because that would've been silly.

Omega finally reveals what it is he wants the Doctor to do: replace him. In a twist reminiscent of The Mind Robber, Omega wants the Doctor to perpetuate the anti-matter universe so that he can leave, because as things stand, Omega cannot leave without relinquishing control, and he cannot do that unless he leaves. It's a paradox. So he needs someone else to take control.

The Three Doctors Episode Three

The one where the Doctors meet one of their heroes (and you know what they say about meeting your heroes)...

I realised while watched the reprise that when UNIT HQ is zapped off into the black hole, it leaves behind a beautifully grassed verge where it once stood, rather than torn foundations, leaking water pipes and sparking electricity junction boxes. It's also rather silly that there's absolutely nobody else in the entire building when it's transported, not even a squaddie on the loo, a cleaner, or a secretary. The only people transported to the anti-matter universe are those who matter. PLUS... when UNIT HQ arrives in the anti-matter universe, we never see it there. It would have been a fantastic shot of an entire building sitting in the middle of a quarry, even if it was done by using a cut-out of the building (as with the black hole effect).

When the Brigadier opens the door to see the CSO beach outside ("I'm fairly sure that's Cromer"), it looks nothing like the reality of a chalk quarry in Rickmansworth. It actually looks quite pleasant outside, which makes me wonder why, if he's all-powerful in this domain, Omega doesn't imagine himself a much more pleasant environment to exist in.

The Three Doctors Episode Two

The one where UNIT HQ is transported through a black hole...

Isn't it interesting how Sergeant Benton has really taken a front seat in this story, as well as in The Time Monster? In the absence of the Second Doctor's actual companions, Benton becomes a replacement sidekick, and the two work very well together, with Benton acting as a sort of ersatz Jamie. I've no idea where Captain Yates is in all this. Richard Franklin appeared in only seven episodes in Season 9, and only appears in three in Season 10 (not The Three Doctors). I think John Levene is more than up to the job, however, and certainly has a more amiable presence than the sometimes smug Franklin.

And with Jon Pertwee's absence, Patrick Troughton really comes into his own, and is able to be the Second Doctor properly rather than a comedy foil for the Third Doctor. Troughton balances his performance beautifully here, being both funny and serious in accurate measure (the bit where he and Benton scarper back into the TARDIS when the organism fizzes is classic!).

The Three Doctors Episode One

The one where the first three Doctors team up...

Doctor Who celebrated its tenth anniversary a whole 11 months before the actual anniversary, because the tenth season started in December 1972. Would it have been wiser to celebrate the anniversary at the start of Season 11, which started in December 1973? Or would that have been too late?

The idea of having more than one Doctor at a time starts here. There'd only been subtle hints and reminders of "earlier Doctors" before now (a glimpse of Hartnell in The Power of the Daleks, and the first two Doctors seen during the Dalek mind scan in Day of the Daleks), but this story was the first to acknowledge properly that there had been earlier Doctors - other actors - and to joyfully bring them back! Now that's pretty damn exciting, isn't it?

The Time Monster Episode Six

The one where Kronos destroys Atlantis...

So why did director Paul Bernard leave the shot of the Minotaur out of the episode 5 cliffhanger? Surely such a reveal would have been more powerful (and scarier?) than simply zooming in on Jo's terrified face? A similar cliffhanger boob happened with The Sea Devils episode 4, when just leaving it a few seconds longer would have made it so much better.

The Minotaur (played by a pre-Star Wars David Prowse) isn't so bad a design either, certainly not as poor as the one seen in The Mind Robber (which looked more like a troll than a bull). Prowse's power and strength are used to the full as he charges around smashing into things, at one point lifting Hippias above his head and hurling him through a sheet of Bacofoil. The silver foil is actually supposed to be a pane of glass (not sure why) and, surprisingly, kills Hippias. The Doctor joins the scene and, in typical Jon Pertwee style, uses his red cape to taunt the Minotaur, as if bullfighting. Finally, and somewhat inexplicably, the Minotaur charges into a wall and smashes it down, seemingly killing itself into the bargain, but also revealing the true crystal of Kronos. The Minotaur is all over in less than three minutes!

The Time Monster Episode Five

The one where the Doctor revisits Atlantis...

The Doctor, last seen thrown out into the time vortex by Kronos at the Master's behest, tries to contact the hopeless Jo using the TARDIS's telepathic circuits. We hear his voice, but also the whispered babblings of his subconscious thoughts, and I must say that whispering Pertwee is just a little bit creepy! There's also a female voice in there somewhere (possibly saying something about singing a song?), which makes me wonder if that is a memory of the Doctor's mother, or Susan? More radical thinkers might suggest that if they are his own subconscious thoughts, that the voice is the Doctor's - a female Doctor's!

The two Time Lords both head for Atlantis, a mythical land the Doctor has visited before, of course. The events of The Underwater Menace are neither mentioned or respected in The Time Monster though, which is perhaps just as well as the Atlantis of the earlier adventure was nowhere near as well-realised as it is by designer Tim Gleeson here.

The Time Monster Episode Four

The one where the Doctor's TARDIS is inside the Master's TARDIS, which is inside the Doctor's TARDIS...

The V-1 explodes somewhere near to the UNIT convoy, but seemingly nobody is killed. The TARDIS is overturned into a ditch, and Captain Yates has a nasty-looking cut to the head, but otherwise all seems well. It's mentioned in passing that a doodlebug bomb fell on the same spot in 1944, so the Master must have brought the bomb forwards through time (but does that mean the bomb didn't hit in 1944 after all, seeing as it has been sent to the future?). The Master is scathingly evil here, asserting that the Doctor's TARDIS "can't be destroyed. But people can."

Meanwhile, Dr Ingram's feminist streak has returned with a vengeance as she tries to get Benton and Stuart to join her in trying to switch off TOMTIT. It's interesting to note that Ruth's strident feminism almost completely disappeared while she was in the presence of the Doctor in episodes 2 and 3, but now he's gone, she's back to her bolshie self, belittling Stu and Benton. Mind you, Stuart is something of a wet lettuce, or as he might say: "Lovey, I'm not 'men'. I'm Stuart Hyde, registered, card-carrying, paid-up coward!" Real men certainly don't say "lovey"...

The Time Monster Episode Three

The one where UNIT is attacked by a knight, Roundheads and a V1 bomb...

"I am Krasis," announces Krasis, "high priest of the Temple of Poseidon, in Atlantis!" I love the way he adds "in Atlantis" onto the end, just in case anybody thinks he means a different Temple of Poseidon. This is the man who the Master hopes will have all the secrets to harnessing the power of the crystal and controlling Kronos, but actually Krasis knows nothing. The knowledge has been lost in the mists of time, ironically. But thankfully, the seal of the high priest which Krasis wears around his neck holds the mathematical solution to the Master's problems, so it was worth it after all.

The Master quickly manages to summon Kronos, and it's when the terrifying Chronovore makes his grand appearance that things start to fall apart. Emerging first as a white dove in slow-mo flight, it manifests as a man-sized angel with a helmet. As a design, in and of itself, it's actually quite lovely, but then the decision is made to suspend Kronos actor Marc Boyle from Kirby wires and "fly" him around the room, squawking like a crow and crashing into the set like a drunken acrobat. It's awful, and thankfully director Paul Bernard saw fit to shoot Kronos either out of focus or in fleeting close-ups

The Time Monster Episode Two

The one where Stuart is aged by more than 50 years...

I do like the way that time is treated in this story. Just look at the time distortion affecting the outside of the laboratory: Bessie speeds to a halt but only the Doctor is able to move, as Jo is held motionless in time's embrace (although her hair and clothes flap in the breeze quite freely!). The Doctor is able to move through distorted time like he's wading through treacle, because he's a Time Lord of course. He runs in slow-mo until he reaches the epicentre of the distortion in the lab and turns off TOMTIT by - what else? - reversing the polarity.

Sadly, Stuart was caught in the "time blast" and has been aged by over 50 years, from 25 to 80, and the make-up by Joan Barrett is pretty impressive, giving Ian Collier huge bags under his eyes, white hair and wrinkled skin (but no beard, oddly). It's quite a challenge for Collier, and the moment where he wakes from his aged stupor and bellows "KRONOS!" into camera, his red-ringed eyes blazing, is very startling (scary even, for kids?).

The Time Monster Episode One

The one where the Doctor invents a TARDIS sniffer-outer...!

The episode opens with what looks like footage from Inferno, of volcanic eruptions and catastrophic earthquakes, but we quickly realise that we're actually witnessing something almost unique - the inside of the Doctor's mind. It's very rare for the viewer to see from the Doctor's point of view (the other example that instantly springs to mind is The Eleventh Hour, but there are also glimpses into the Second Doctor's thoughts in The Underwater Menace and The Moonbase). Here, we're witnessing the Doctor's dream (or nightmare?), which seems to be based around his arch-foe (and old friend) the Master, a crystal, and a chaise longue.

The Doctor's awakes from the dream ("a real pippin", according to Jo) and seems genuinely rattled by the experience, having dreamed of volcanoes and earthquakes (Inferno seems to have had a lasting effect on him, as its fiery events formed part of his inner fears in The Mind of Evil too). Jo hands him a cup of tea, which he barely acknowledges, then hands it back, saying: "Thank you, I enjoyed that." It's a delightfully eccentric, and very Doctorish moment.