The Time Monster - Episode 4

The cliffhanger lost nothing in the reprise which shows how good it was. When we do finally get to see what happened to Yates it’s a rather good setting. We of course now that the TARDIS is indestructible so to see it at an angle is a wonderful sight. The story moves on a fair bit as we have pretty much done with the institute and the action moves into the TARDIS’. The interior of the TARDIS is silly. It cant be avoided but the roundels look just bathroom sink. It’s obvious why this interior never lasted beyond this adventure because it would have just looked even sillier in the 1980’s than it did in 1972. In the past that there has been a noticeable difference between the Doctor’s and the Master’s TARDIS’. In this case all that is different is the column in the middle of the console. That’s not enough of a difference in my opinion.

The idea of a TARDIS being inside another TARDIS is a fun idea and its done well in this episode. I like the interaction between the Doctor and the Master during these scenes and in particular when the Master turns off the sound and then when the Doctor reinstates it, turns his words into gibberish. It’s a nice bit of fun in what is otherwise a rather fun-free episode.

Its good to see Benton, Stuart and Ruth forming their own little Scooby Doo gang. It doesn’t seem like a team that is going to win when you consider that Benton hasn’t had the greatest luck in any episodes that has been in (remember ‘The Mind of Evil’?). Then there is Stuart who seems like if a strong gust of wind blew his way that he would topple over rather easily. Then there is Ruth who seems to be very animated when talking about womens lib and how pathetic men seem to be but apart from that doesn’t really stand out. However despite these minor quibbles they are more than a match (for a little time) for the Master. This episode is memorable for Benton to be turned into a baby. This is would have been the moment that John Levine would have realised that his days were numbered in this show.

The performances from everyone were fine but Krasis is a bit of a wasted character as he doesn’t contribute anything to the story. The other problem that I have with this episode is that aprt from the story moving from moving the story to the TARDIS, very little actually happens and this is rather frustrating but it’s the perils of having a six part adventure which has a pretty thin premise to it. I’m afraid to say that the rather ropey bird costume makes a return at the end of the episode. Again it was only a brief appearance but its means that we are getting closer to seeing it a lot more in the final two episodes. The cliffhanger isn’t as effective as the previous one. But that’s more to do with the fact that the previous one was so solid. This one was a bit strange as with the Doctor gone it was left for Jo who was in another