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.

The Doctor seems all over the place in the wake of his dream, at first demanding to know about any recent volcanic eruptions or earth tremors, then deciding he's not interested after all, until Jo mentions Atlantis ("The Minotaur and all that Cretan jazz"). There have apparently been natural disasters around Santorini in the Aegean Sea, and this seems to prompt the Doctor into thinking the Master's up to something, all based upon visions in his feverish imagination. If anybody else suggested putting the entire world on high alert based upon what they'd seen in a dream, the Doctor would soon cut them down to size! It's amusing that the Brigadier sees this too, and basically brushes the Time Lord's demand aside so that he can get on with his work.

It all feels quite familiar, and would feel right at home in Season 8, not least because the Master is masquerading as someone else and tinkering with something he probably shouldn't. He's experimenting with time using a device amusingly called TOMTIT (Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time), which is basically a transmat. He is working with two mildly annoying scientists: the voracious feminist Dr Ruth Ingram, and her assistant Stuart Hyde. Ruth wears her feminism very clearly on her sleeve, and doesn't believe in subtlety or tact, while Stuart comes across as a hippy buffoon. Ruth talks to and treats Stuart like shit, which to her is probably the pinnacle of feminism.

The experiments are taking place at the Newton Institute near Cambridge, run by director Dr Percival, who rather wonderfully tears the Master off a strip by completely demolishing his false credentials and academic achievements. John Wyse makes Dr Percival positively incandescent with rage, until the Master placates his ire by hypnotising him into submission (I love the passing mention of Percival having replaced his "drunk" predecessor!).

Stuart and Ruth give TOMTIT a trial run before a demonstration for the institute's grants committee (Dr Cook) and manage to successfully transfer a vase from A to B, supposedly through space and time. I find the treatment of time in this episode quite interesting, as Doctor Who deals with time so rarely in the classic era. Dr Ingram explains that time is not smooth, but instead made up of lots of little bits of time, "minute present moments". TOMTIT is able to push a physical object between these present moments, although the demonstration makes it seem more of a matter transmitter than a time machine. Sergeant Benton sums it up beautifully when he says it can transfer objects through the crack between now... and now. It feels like bunkum, but bunkum we can somehow understand and go along with.

Meanwhile, the Doctor has built a very phallic time sensor to trace when the Master uses his TARDIS, and they set off to track the distortions down. The scene where the Doctor suggests to Jo that they jump in Bessie to get closer to the source is a lovely moment, as we see expressions of mischief and glee flash across Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning's faces. It's adventure time! Out on the road there's more examples of the chemistry these two enjoyed working together when Jo comments on what a "doomy old day" it is, and the Doctor tells her to "stop whiffling"!

There's plenty to enjoy in this opening episode, but it's laced with moments and choices which mar it somewhat, including the truly awful music Dudley Simpson uses to accompany Bessie on location and when using the "super drive" (it's almost as awful as Paddy Kingsland's score for Turlough and Hippo driving the Brig's car in Mawdryn Undead). The idea of the super drive is silly too, leading to speeded-up footage of Bessie in country lanes which make it feel more like a Carry On film, or The Benny Hill Show.

The bit where Stuart and Ruth dance around the lab chanting "We've done it!", again accompanied by some appalling music, gets my back up too, and the fact there's so little urgency in trying to get the poor fallen window cleaner to hospital when the Brigadier finds him lying unconscious on the floor. The man could be paralysed, for goodness sake!

The cliffhanger sees the cleverly shrouded Master pushing TOMTIT to its limits and summoning something called Kronos, but seeing as we have no idea who or what Kronos is, it's a bit of a weak way to end.

At least we've learnt one thing: that 16.39 Venusian miles equals 72.79 Earth miles!

First broadcast: May 20th, 1972

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: I really like the description of time being a series of moments, and that TOMTIT can push things between one now and the next now.
The Bad: Dudley Simpson's Bessie super drive score.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

"Now listen to me" tally: 19 - we get two in quick succession. The Doctor says "Jo, now listen to me" when asking her to get reports of volcanic eruptions, and then less than four minutes later he tells the Brigadier to listen to him on the phone.
Neck-rub tally: 7

NEXT TIME: Episode Two...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode Two; Episode Three; Episode Four; Episode Five; Episode Six

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-time-monster.html

The Time Monster is available on BBC DVD as part of the Myths and Legends box set. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Legends-Monster-Underworld/dp/B002SZQC98