Thursday 13 October 2011

325 The Time Monster Episode Two

EPISODE: The Time Monster Episode Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 325
STORY NUMBER: 064
TRANSMITTED: 27 May 1972
WRITER: Robert Sloman
DIRECTOR: Paul Bernard
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Myths & Legends: The Time Monster, Underworld & The Horns of the Nimon
Episode Format: 525 video RSC

The Newton Institute Bell tolls slowly as the Doctor, and an immobilised Jo arrive. The Doctor tries to cut the power & reverse the Temporal Polarity to halt the experiment. Stuart Hyde has been aged from 25 to 80. He realises Thascalos is the Greek for Master and that his old foe is involved. Stuart cries out the name Kronos. The Doctor investigates the TOMTIT machine while the Brigadier summons Captain Yates, some men and the Tardis for the Doctor. The Brigadier tells Jo, Benton & Ruth about the Chronovores who leave outside time one of which is Kronos, linking it to ancient Atlantis. The Doctor finds the Master's Tardis disguised as a computer bank. The Doctor reconnects the power and deduces their crystal is linked to the original trident crystal in Atlantis millennia before. The Master attempts to distract Sergeant Benton by impersonating the Brigadier on the phone. However he makes an error, calling Benton "my dear fellow" which allows the Sergeant to capture him. However the Master overpowers him and uses TOMTIT to bring the high priest from ancient Atlantis to the present day....

Ah! so the Trident Crystal is linked to Poseidon after all and is meant to represent something that controlling/imprisoning Kronos. Right got that now. We've got another Dæmons reference in this episode as the Doctor reveals that Thascalos is Greek for Master, just as the Master used Magister, the Latin for Master as his pseudonym in the previous story. And hurrah yet another Reversed Polarity as the Doctor saves the day at the start of the episode.

Benton gets a bit to do in this episode too, which is always good and especially as it gives us that rare treat, a John Levene solo commentary for this episode. Levene has previously appeared commentating by himself on the Doctor Who: Inferno DVD. He'll be back for an episode or two of the Invasion of the Dinosaurs in the forthcoming UNIT Box Set. To say that Mr Levene comes across as eccentric on these commentaries is a little bit of understatement.... have a listen and find out!

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