The Time Monster - Episode 5

We move into what is unofficially the second part of this six part adventure. The first thing to notice about this episode is the rather odd way that they resolve the cliffhanger. The Doctor is talking to Jo through the air. There are loads of voices in the Doctors subconscious (some of which are female). Jo flips a switch and all of a sudden the Doctor appears and all is normal. I say normal, as normal as can be considering what happens in this episode. It could be argued that the TARDIS scenes were a transition from the institute to Atlantis. This is I’m afraid where my interest starts to wander. The sets and costumes look rather wonderful but the problem is that things move at such a pedestrian pace that it doesn’t maintain my attention for very long.
The episode introduces the legendary Ingrid Pitt to the story. Pitt is perhaps most famous for appearing in several Hammer Films. Here she plays Queen Galleia and from the moment she appears on screen she comes across as the most important character in the story and it doesn’t take long for her importance to be seen. The look on the Master’s face when he sees the Doctor is priceless. Speaking of the master, one of the most intriguing things (and perhaps most memorable things) about this is episode is the relationship between him and Queen Galleia. In fact she seems to have come under his spell far better than King Dalios. If the Master ever got married then I would like to think that it would have been with her.

The performances from Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning were perfectly fine and it was intesting to see Jo in some different attire. She did seem to revel in her new surroundings and it was good that she was given something to do. I know I keep going on about whether a companion is given something to do but I think that when you compare companions from the classic era to the new era, its shocking to see sometimes how they are at times reduced to window dummies.

It’s not a particularly memorable or interesting episode but what it doesn’t have that is a good thing is Kronos. The thing is that like the previous story, there isn’t a feeling that we are building up to anything. It’s weird that this has happened two stories in a row but I suppose that’s the problem with these type of stories. I still think that this is a better story than ‘The Mutants’.