DVD Extras include:
- Audio commentary by
actor Peter Purves (Steven Taylor),
producer Verity Lambert,
script editor Donald Tosh,
designer Barry Newbery,
and moderator Clayton Hickman.
- "The Lost Twelve Seconds" audio reconstruction (1 min.)
- Before and after Restoration featurette (5 min.)
- First Doctor in Comics interview featurette (14 min.)
- Pop-up Production Note Subtitles
- Photo Gallery (3 min.)
- Verity Lambert Obituary (may feature on Region 1 discs only)
In-Depth Analysis Review
by Martin Izsak
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WARNING: This review contains "SPOILERS", and is intended
for those who have already seen the program.
To avoid the spoilers, read the
Buyers' Guide version instead.
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Episode One - The Watcher
Director Douglas Camfield is the man,
bringing us a story with much better senses of drama and
atmosphere than the last one, and a much higher quality of acting.
The cinematography is artistic as well, and we get a beautiful
angle of the TARDIS materializing in a nice, atmospheric sequence.
The Monk's watchful eye helps focus attention on the effect as well.
Too bad Camfield didn't pick up on the idea of reversing the sound for
landings, though - Richard Martin still has one tiny one up on him.
I also don't know about the superimposed titles for episode
one - there's a bad risk of totally blurred whitewash if the
recording drops a generation or two. Luckily, credit legibility
improves for the remaining episodes.
Steven joins the crew properly at this point, and his
perspective allows the story and the episode to stand alone
and be watchable to anyone who has never seen the series before.
Excellent. The sub-plot about whether or not he will believe
in the TARDIS's time traveling ability is a good source of
thoughtful drama as well. William Hartnell turns in a good
performance, as the Doctor has plenty of interesting scenes
this episode and gets nicely intrigued by a mysterious set
of anachronisms that only he and his friends can really notice.
His interaction with Edith is refreshingly pleasant. The
Gregorian chants lend a wonderful atmosphere to the episode,
apart from providing yet another important clue. This is
an excellent half-hour.
Episode Two - The Meddling Monk
Here we get a Doctor-less episode, and a disappointing one
at that. This one needs a pre-filmed insert presence of
the Doctor even more than episode three of
"The Space Museum" (story no. 15).
Sorry, a
couple of pre-recorded lines on voice-over and a flying
pan of liquid egg just don't cut it. We need the Doctor
confronting the Monk - full visual face to face confrontation
to keep the story moving, but this the script denies us.
Well then, it's up to the companions to keep the story
moving. They don't. Their focus isn't really on the story,
it's on finding the Doctor, and thus they lead the audience
to focus on the Doctor's absense as well. Bad scripting move.
Well, what's left? The subplot of belief in time-travel
threatens to become old, so thankfully it comes to an end
in this episode while it's still fresh and the companions have
all the time in the world to kill. In fact, it's truly emotional
when Steven feels he has to accept the kind and friendly villagers
at their face value - nice moment!
Peter Butterworth begins to get more speaking scenes, and
the Monk begins to shine - a worthy and very watchable recurring
adversary for William Hartnell's Doctor, if only he were here.
Episode Three - A Battle of Wits
The Doctor's back, and the Monk's no longer hiding in the shadows,
so the real main conflict of the story finally has a chance to
build. Too bad it barely goes anywhere. The Monk has a plot,
but the script doesn't. Plotwise, the Doctor merely repeats
his episode one movements, then when he gets to the Monk, their
conversation gets distracted into deceptive, illogical silliness
by the pair of rogue Vikings. At least the Doctor is seen to
get the upper hand in a lot of action this episode. Right on,
thank you Dennis Spooner! Vicki and Steven make a couple of new
discoveries, but enough of this already. Most of us long-time
fans already know what the Monk is all about, and we're waiting
for some kind of tangible conflict to arise out of the situation.
So far all we've got is a lot of characters running around and
missing each other, and when they do find each other, they then
miss out on the opportunity to talk to each other.
Reportedly, script editor Donald Tosh was a bit upset when
William Hartnell decided to provide more background information
about the time period to the audience in a little soliloquy just
out of Edith's earshot. Giving away the whole plot prematurely,
was he? Well, he doesn't say anything that anyone couldn't have
got out of a history book, so if that's your whole Doctor Who
story plot, then you haven't got much of a plot. My point exactly.
I think the story is better with Hartnell's little addition and it
makes a great and interesting scene. The writer should have given
us that at this point anyway, and then built on top of that.
The absense of plot final comes to an end with the cliffhanger,
which for once has nothing to do with the mechanics of an absent
Doctor. It's an excellent cliffhanger, but somehow I feel it's
at least one half hour too late.
Episode Four - Checkmate
Now that all doubt about the Monk's time-traveling background
has been vanquished, we can finally get to some serious conflict.
At last, the Doctor and the Monk confront each other on the
main issue at hand. These are some of the best scenes in the story,
as philosophies about changing history are batted about. It's
good, but not as good as the banter with Barbara in
"The Aztecs" (story no. 6),
which took place mostly in the second episode, leaving two
more to build on the juicy conflict.
Notice that what really gets the Doctor upset is not so much
the Monk's meddling in time as is the part about him blowing
up a lot of human beings with atomic weapons - even the Monk
is embarrassed at that part, knowing he's not putting his best
foot forward or staying true to his pretense of common goodness.
That's pretty much all the conflict this story has to offer
on this level though. As our three friends decide that they
must stop the Monk, they are soon captured and tied up. By the
time they are released, the Monk's plans are already in shambles.
Well, how did all this come about if they haven't had a chance to
do anything yet?
You have to look right back to the beginning of episode three
for your answer - yes, that's right, all the way back to the
middle of the story. William Hartnell's first scene with Edith,
after coming back from his holiday, the part in which he expertly
imparts his knowledge of historical plans without breaking out of
his character as a medieval traveller - this scene gives Edith the
clue she needs to become suspicious of the Monk's motives later
on in the episode. This eventually
leads to her cavalry saving the day at the end of the story,
although they remain totally in the dark as to the Monk's true
motives or plans.... and if they knew they might well let him
blow the Vikings up into atomic dust! Knowing the Monk's glib
tongue, I'm surprised the Doctor doesn't do more to ensure
that no anachronistic detonations occur in this time period.
The comedic deceptions concluding this story weigh heavily
against the philosophical arguments that form the main subject
matter of this story's plot.
Although the stopping of the Monk's current plan leaves
a lot to be desired, we can at least enjoy the Doctor's prank
in stranding the Monk where he is, and leaving him to the mercy
of the angry villagers. This is well done, and gives a much
needed dramatic satisfaction to the story's conclusion.
No wonder this is so much better remembered than how the
Doctor stopped the Monk from actually "changing" history.
This story is generally good for the regular characters,
especially for firmly establishing Steven Taylor, and creating
the beloved old Meddling Monk. Edith is also a strong and
well-developed character who makes a good appearance. One of
the big problems with this story though, is the lack of any
other really good memorable characters, particularly a local,
powerful one to be feared and swayed with convincing arguments.
(Shall we bring back Tlotoxl?) The Viking ship captain
who appears in episode two looks like a formidable opponent
who could create many obstacles for the TARDIS crew and/or the Monk
to overcome, upping the stakes and building the plot, but sadly
he never appears beyond his initial scene. Neither the other
Vikings nor the restless Eldred can manage the job either - they're
all too visionless, and all become less powerful and interesting
as the story moves on. Wulnoth is a pleasant and reasonable guy,
capable of calming others and keeping everyone focused on the
task at hand, but he still has only a pawn's role to play in
the larger plot, and he remains largely in the dark throughout
the story. Douglas Camfield and his troupe of actors
do a fine job of realizing the characters and squeezing as much
drama as possible from them, but the right essence just isn't in
them in the script to begin with.
So.... The Time Meddler is a rather quiet story with quiet
characters and not much plot, but is on the whole very enjoyable
anyway. As the TARDIS leaves and a very interesting superimposed
shot leads into the credits, a very odd and mismatched season
of Doctor Who comes to a close. With Sir Ian gone, the Doctor
will now have a much greater chance to play the solidly heroic
main character.... if William Hartnell can only remain present
during the episode recordings. With this new challenge in mind,
season three is set to bring us much closer to the sort of story
that Doctor Who thrived on for years to come......
Season Two Rankings:
Best Story (from best to worst, or favourite to least favourite):
The Rescue
The Crusade
The Romans
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 (Peter Cushing feature film)
The Time Meddler
The Space Museum
The Chase
Planet of Giants
The Web Planet
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV)
Best Heroic Doctor conclusions:
Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 (Peter Cushing feature film)
Planet of Giants
The Rescue
The Romans
The Chase
The Time Meddler
The Crusade (tv)
The Dalek Invasion of Earth (TV)
The Crusade(r)(s) (novel)
The Web Planet
The Space Museum
Best Writer:
David Whitaker
Dennis Spooner
Milton Subotsky
Louis Marks
Terry Nation (he's often good, but not terribly so in this season)
Glyn Jones
Bill Strutton
Best Director:
Douglas Camfield
Christopher Barry
Gordon Flemyng
Mervyn Pinfield
Richard Martin
Best Musician:
(Tristram Cary's recycled material)
Raymond Jones
(BBC Library contributors)
Barry Gray
Dudley Simpson (The Crusade)
Bill McGuffie
Charles Botterill
Dudley Simpson (Planet of Giants / The Chase)
Francis Chagrin
Absences:
The Doctor: - Dalek Invasion Earth 4 (Accident - fainting double)
- Space Museum 3 (Holiday - absent)
- Time Meddler 2 (Holiday - voice over)
Barbara: - The Web Planet 3 (Holiday - absent)
Ian: - The Crusade 3 (Holiday - filmed insert)
This story has become available on DVD and VHS video.
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VHS Video
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NTSC
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Contact page
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Read the In-depth Analysis Review for the next story:
"Galaxy Four"
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