Story 64 - The Time Monster

In which the Doctor has a nightmare involving the Master, a glowing crystal, and a volcanic eruption. Whilst he tries to work out what this all means, the Brigadier takes Benton with him to observe the TOMTIT device being demonstrated at the Newton Institute near Cambridge. This stands for Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time. TOMTIT's inventor - Professor Thascalos - is really the Master. The Doctor develops a machine that will enable him to detect if a time machine is in operation - so that he can find out when the Master is next active. It registers the TOMTIT operation and so he and Jo rush to the Institute in Bessie. Thascalos has two assistants helping him, oblivious to his true identity - Ruth Ingram and Stuart Hyde. After one run of the machine, Stuart is turned into an old man.

The Master is trying to forge a link with ancient Atlantis in order to obtain a great crystal from the temple there. This will enable him to control a powerful creature called Kronos, which is a Chronovore. At one point the creature is summoned, and appears as a white, winged creature. The Doctor endeavours to hamper the Master's work. Stuart is returned to his normal age. The Master brings the Atlantean High Priest Krasis forward in time to help him. The Master and Krasis depart for Atlantis in his TARDIS, and so the Doctor and Jo give chase - the Doctor's ship materialising within the Master's. TOMTIT has been used to bring characters from history into the present day to stop UNIT, and the Brigadier and his men are frozen in time. Efforts by Ruth and Stuart to free them inadvertently cause Benton to become a baby. The Master has the Doctor cast out into the temporal vortex and heads for Atlantis. The TARDIS brings the Doctor back onboard his own ship.

In Atlantis, the Master seduces Queen Galleia, young wife of the aged King Dalios. Dalios is more than 500 years old and can remember when the great crystal was used to trap the destructive Chronovore. The crystal is guarded by a Minotaur. The Doctor and Jo are captured and find themselves locked up with Dalios, when the Master takes over. The old king dies. The Master releases Kronos - and, in revenge for its long imprisonment, it destroys the city. The Master flees, taking Jo as his hostage. The Doctor follows and threatens to initiate a "time-ram" - colliding his TARDIS with the Master's, which will destroy them both. Jo forces the issue, but instead of being destroyed they find themselves in a strange void. They are greeted by Kronos, this time appearing as a beautiful woman, who threatens to punish the Master. The Doctor pleads leniency and the evil Time Lord escapes. The Doctor and Jo return to Newton where Ruth and Stuart finally manage to deactivate TOMTIT. The Brigadier and his men are freed - and Benton reverts to his real age.

This six part adventure was written by Robert Sloman, and was broadcast between 20th May and 24th June, 1972. It is the final story of Season 9. Whilst credited to Sloman, the story was actually co-authored by producer Barry Letts, as with the previous season's The Daemons.
If they were hoping to replicate the success of that earlier serial, they were to be disappointed. The Time Monster suffers from too many plot elements, some of which lack any story logic, and some poor performances and effects.
Why does the Master go to such convoluted efforts to get the crystal? Why not just travel to Atlantis and steal it?
Why does the Doctor not know about Thascalos (Greek for "Master") and TOMTIT when UNIT have an invite to observe the demonstration? Why does the Doctor not take an interest in it, considering it involves time transference?
Why is his "TARDIS detector" calibrated in Venusian miles? Why does the Master release Kronos when he has no hope of controlling it - and why does he want it anyway?
After being unmasked, how is the Master able to hide out right under UNIT's nose? Why no search of the Institute?
I could go on.
There are some positives. There are some nice sequences in the middle part of the story - with the Master bringing historical characters (and a V1 rocket) into the 20th Century to prevent Captain Yates bringing the Doctor's TARDIS to the Institute, and the scenes set in the two inter-joined time machines. The interplay between the Doctor and the Master in the latter is wonderful. There is also a beautiful scene set in a prison cell where the Doctor talks about his childhood on Gallifrey.

The "battle of the sexes" interplay between Stuart (Ian Collier, who will go on to play Omega in The Arc of Infinity) and Ruth (Wanda Moore) is woefully clichéd and simplistic. John Wyse's institute director, Dr. Percival, gives the impression he hasn't got a clue what the script is about. Aiden Murphy's Hippias, who is supposed to be a young firebrand, comes across as rather camp and a bit of a wimp - so no wonder Ingrid Pitt's Galleia would rather hang out with the Master. Pitt was never strong as an actress. A couple of performances that do manage to stand out are George Cormack's noble Dalios, and Donald Eccles' Krasis.
Episode endings for this story are:

1. After successfully transporting a cup of tea from one room to another, the Master ignores Stuart's call to reduce power. He boosts it instead and calls on Kronos to come to him...
2. The Master re-activates TOMTIT and brings a bewildered Krasis into the 20th Century...
3. A V1 rocket crashes down onto the UNIT convoy - and the Brigadier can't raise Mike on the radio...
4. The Doctor has been cast out into the vortex, leaving Jo helpless and alone in the TARDIS...
5. Krasis throws Jo into the crystal chamber, where she is threatened by the Minotaur...
6. In the TOMTIT lab, everyone is surprised to see Benton emerge from behind the machine wearing only a nappy and a bewildered expression on his face.

Overall, a bit of a dog's dinner of a story. The UNIT regulars are all ill-served (except possibly for John Levene who gets a little more to do than usual). The TARDIS scenes are good, but it is probably the worst of the UNIT stories - a great shame when you consider that it is the last of the Master / UNIT tales.

Things you might like to know:

• The Minotaur was played by future Darth Vader, Dave Prowse. The original mask was too cow-like, Letts dubbing it "Daisy".
• Susan Penhaligon as Lakis came onboard at the very last minute after the actress Ann Michelle was forced to pull out.
• Tim Gleeson redesigned the TARDIS interior but it proved unpopular with the production team and so this is its only appearance. The same set, with a different time rotor design, is also used as the Master's ship.
• The Greek word for "Master" is Thascalos - not Thascales. The latter was used in the second edition of the Terrance Dicks / Malcolm Hulke book The Making of Doctor Who and stuck, unfortunately. Dicks corrected this in his novelisation.
• Talking of Greek, Chronovore is a hybrid Greek-Latin word.
• The prison cell scene prefigures events in the Third Doctor's last story, also written by Letts / Sloman. The old hermit will prove to be K'anpo - coincidentally played by George Cormack.
• Regarding this being the third on-screen mention of the destruction of Atlantis, I argued earlier in my post on The Underwater Menace that they don't have to be contradictory if Atlantis refers to both a city and a state.

That Was The Week That Was 10.3.13

Just a brief TW3 today as I covered most of the week's news developments when I looked at the latest DWM on Thursday. Main thing this week has been the first batch of photographs from Series 7 Part 2 - or Series 7b. I was on the point of thinking of it as really series 8, then spotted that the DVD release on 20th May will be called Series 7: Part 2. No word on the Complete box set yet.
Most significant image was of the new Ice Warrior design for the third episode, set on a Russian submarine. I still don't like the lack of fur at the joints.
We now know that the new alien above (who looks like a zombie Draconian) is from the second episode (which has been given the tentative title of The Ring of Akhaten). This is set on an alien planet and it looks like the scene from the trailer with all the assorted aliens comes from this episode also.
Other photos were of the non-spoilery variety - for the Ice Warrior episode and the ghostly fourth instalment - variably referred to as both The Hider in the House and Phantom of the Hex.

The other big news of the week is that there is to be a 3 day convention over November's anniversary weekend at the ExCel in London. Prices, guests and everything else will be advertised soon.
Filming starts on Monday 18th for the anniversary story, and everyone you might expect from the "classic series" and even "Nu Who" is saying they don't think they'll be involved. I suspect it is all a cunning ruse and they have slapped confidentiality agreements on them all, or the Official Secrets Act.

Lastly, don't forget that The Aztecs Special Edition is released tomorrow. I was not going to buy this but the inclusion of the once lost Galaxy 4 "Airlock" episode makes it a necessity. Also included is a brief CG reconstruction of other episodes to give a fuller flavour of the story.
(This weekend I have started to watch every episode in order, to mark the 50th. I was going to start at the beginning of the year, but knew The Aztecs was to be released early on, so have held off until now. I've reached the 6th episode of The Daleks already, and only started last night).
Still no word about The Underwater Menace episode. If it doesn't appear on The Ice Warriors DVD in August then that rumoured release of The Moonbase with the two missing parts animated looks more and more likely.

DWM 458

Issue 458 of DWM was released today. Being a monthly magazine it does mean that some news items are already old hat. We are told about the return of the Ice Warriors - two days after their new design was unveiled, for instance.
One item of interest is the hint from Steven Moffat that a "certain villain" might be popping up again. He as good as says that the next batch of episodes are really Series 8. With the huge gap between The Angels Take Manhattan, the new TARDIS interior, costume, titles and companions, I am inclined to accept this also.
About The Bells of St John, we only get confirmation that it is about alien infiltration of Wi-Fi, includes the Doctor and Clara on both a plane and a motorbike, and includes a rather implausible stunt. The modern day Clara is also a nanny, like the Victorian version.

The 50th Anniversary story starts filming on 18th March, directed by Nick Hurran.
Also appearing in An Adventure In Space And Time are Carole Ann Ford in a cameo as Joyce, and the actor who played Marco Polo - Mark Eden - plays Donald Baverstock, the man who very nearly pulled the plug on the show after 13 episodes.

A couple of celebratory tie-ins are mentioned - a Who-themed edition of the quiz Pointless, and a Culture Show Special which promises to reveal which Doctor Who writer proposed to Lis Sladen...

On March 21st, DWM has another special edition - this time featuring the telesnaps from five missing First Doctor stories - Marco Polo, The Crusade, The Savages, The Smugglers and The Tenth Planet.

Lastly, a word on the current comic strip. I was quite enjoying it, but suddenly it is demonstrating what happens when continuity is allowed to run riot at the expense of good story-telling.

Story 63 - The Mutants

In which the Time Lords have another mission for the Doctor. In UNIT HQ a strange black sphere materialises in front of the Doctor and Jo, and the TARDIS suddenly becomes active. It takes them to Skybase One - a huge space station orbiting the planet Solos. It is the 30th Century, and Earth's empire is in decline. It has been decided that Solos should be granted independence. Opposed to this is its governor - the Marshal. He plans to derail the handover and seize the planet for himself. An Administrator has arrived from Earth to oversee the independence talks, and the Marshal employs the son of warlord Varan to assassinate him - putting the blame on the young firebrand Ky. The Doctor discovers that the black sphere is a message container intended for Ky. The young man flees down to the surface - taking Jo with him as a hostage. Humans need breathing masks to survive on the planet, and they take refuge in an extensive cave system. Ever since the Marshal's incompetent scientist, Jaeger, has begun experiments on adapting the Solonian atmosphere many of the people have been struck down by a mutation. They turn into savage insectoid creatures - and the caves are full of them.

Varan finds that the Marshal has betrayed him and has killed his son. The Doctor joins forces with two guards - Cotton and Stubbs - who are opposed to the Marshal's plans. They help Varan escape down to the surface. The Doctor is forced to work with Jaeger, but he also escapes down to Solos. He is reunited with Jo in the caves and meets Ky. The black container contains small tablets with ancient writing. It can no longer be read, but there are similar markings in the caves. The Doctor meets a scientist named Sondergaard who lives in the caves and has been studying the markings. Together they work out that Solos has seasons of some 500 years, and that the mutation is a natural process. Jaeger's experiments have triggered the metamorphosis prematurely. A crystal in a radioactive cavern at the heart of the caves can aid the process.

Varan is starting to mutate. He captures Jo and Ky and takes them with him on a doomed attack on the Skybase. He is killed when he is sucked out into space. Stubbs is killed in a gun battle. An Investigator arrives from Earth to assess the situation. Cotton, Jo and Ky are trapped in a refuelling bay which is about to be flooded with radiation. Ky starts to mutate. Sondergaard manages to get the crystal to him and he transforms into a radiant energy being. The Doctor has sabotaged Jaeger's equipment - killing the scientist. The Marshal is about to kill him when he is destroyed by Ky. Cotton will work with the Investigator to oversee independence, and Sondergaard decides to return to the surface to help Ky with the transformation of the rest of his people.

This six part adventure was written by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, and was broadcast between 8th April and 13th May, 1972.
The writers took as their inspiration the end of Britain's colonial period and South African apartheid. For instance, Solonians and Earth Overlords have their own separate transmat booths. The Mutants are referred to as Mutts by the racist Marshal, and this was originally scripted as Munts - a derogatory term used by white Rhodesian police for black people.
The story features the highest profile black performance in the programme to date - Rick James' unfortunately monickered Cotton. However he is rather wooden and unnatural. Bob Baker has since stated that the part was written for a Cockney character. James is not alone in the poor performance stakes. The usually reliable George Pravda struggles as Jaeger, and the Solonians rather overact (James Mellor's Varan and Garrick Hagon's Ky). Best performances are Paul Whitsun-Jones' bombastic Marshal - clearly channelling Herman Goering - and John Hollis' noble scientist Sondergaard. Perhaps the best performance of the whole story is Geoffrey Palmer's Administrator - and he gets killed in the first episode.

Special mention must be made of the superb Mutant costumes, by James Acheson. They are particularly effective in the cave setting, though less so in the harshly lit Skybase corridors. The caves were filmed at Chislehurst in Kent.
Episode endings for this story are:

1. Ky drags Jo into a transmat cubicle as the Marshal orders his guards to open fire. The cubicle appears to explode... 
2. The Doctor is on his way to the transmat when he is attacked by Varan...
3. The Marshal orders that toxic gas be pumped into the caves...
4. Varan is sucked into space, and Jo, Ky, Stubbs and Cotton are threatened with the same fate...
5. Jo, Ky and Cotton are trapped in the refuelling bay which is about to be flooded with deadly  radiation...
6. The Doctor and Jo slip back to the TARDIS, hoping to avoid any awkward questions from the Investigator.

Overall, not a bad story, with strong political undertones. It suffers from the usual 6 parter problem of sustaining interest for the duration. Excellent "monsters", which are nothing of the kind, of course. The real monsters are the racist and immoral humans Jaeger and the Marshal.
Things you might like to know:

• Producer Barry Letts had submitted an unsuccessful Doctor Who script in 1966 called "The Mutant" which featured a butterfly-like metamorphosis.
• The first Dalek story - also (partly) directed by Christopher Barry - was generally known as The Mutants. Whilst purists maintain this earlier title a lot of us just call it The Daleks now - such as this blog - to avoid confusion.
• It was purely by coincidence that Christopher Barry found himself filming a Mutant again 3 years later in the opening scenes of The Brain of Morbius.
• Salman Rushdie refers to this story in his book "The Satanic Verses" - commenting on how the Marshal and his ilk equate mutation and physical difference with evil.
• If you visit Chislehurst Caves today, you can still see some of the Solonian markings on the walls.
• If you listen to the DVD commentary, no-one can resist saying "It's..." as the bedraggled Solonian lurches towards the camera - a reference to Monty Python...

New Warriors - first impressions

Have to admit when I first saw the new Ice Warrior images yesterday I thought they were for the Character Options action figure. (I was nursing a birthday hangover at the time). Two things I'm not sold on - the lack of fur at the joints and the fact that there are hands rather than the big pincers. It does appear that they have kept the built-in weapon on the right forearm. Let's see how they look in the context of their new adventure.

Ice Warriors & Spoonheads

From the Radio Times website, close up images from the promotional picture of the new Ice Warrior design and a glimpse of the Spoonheads which feature in The Bells of St John. The Ice Warrior seems very faithful to the original look - but with added teeth. The Spoonheads are robots with heads that look like, well, spoons. But is there a glimpse of a face?

That Was The Week That Was 3.3.13

Just back from a short holiday and I don't seem to have missed too much. Main thing this week was confirmation that the opening episode of Series 7 Part 2 is going to be called The Bells of St John. The promotional image above was released this week - and it covers more than the first episode - as there are Cybermen and Ice Warriors hidden in the glass shards - as well as the robotic Spoonheads from the opener, not previously seen in the trailer.
We know The Bells... is the "urban thriller" episode and that it features guest star Celia Imrie. It revolves around alien infiltration of Wi-Fi, and I suspect that those monks from the trailer may appear.
Other Series 7 news revealed is that we are really going to see a lot more of the TARDIS in the episode Journey To The Heart Of The Tardis - it's not a trick title - and that the finale (which takes place, at least partly, in Victorian Glasgow) will reveal the Doctor's greatest secret...

In other news, principal photography has now wrapped on An Adventure In Space And Time. The Dalek city interior is one of the sets that has been recreated. Actor Sam Hoare has been cast as "Douglas" - so I assume that's Dougie Camfield.
No news yet on the series' 50th Anniversary episode. David Tennant says he hasn't heard anything - but this could be a ruse, of course.
Lastly, it has been announced that August's DVD release of The Ice Warriors is, indeed, going to have animation covering the missing episodes. From what I've seen, it is quite simply done. This may be a breath of fresh air after the dreadful direction on The Reign of Terror release.

As for the week ahead, I shan't be posting on Monday as it is my birthday, and I will be off getting a bit drunk somewhere. I'll be posting on Story 63 - The Mutants on Tuesday. Expect a flurry of activity mid week as the new issues of SFX and DWM are released. This should mean the release of the first set of photos and additional information for The Bells of St John.