326 The Time Monster Episode Three

EPISODE: The Time Monster: Episode Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 326
STORY NUMBER: 064
TRANSMITTED: Saturday 03 June 1972
WRITER: Robert Sloman
DIRECTOR: Paul Bernard
SCRIPT EDITOR: Terrance Dicks
PRODUCER: Barry Letts
RATINGS: 8.1 million viewers
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who - Myths & Legends: The Time Monster, Underworld & The Horns of the Nimon
EPISODE FORMAT: 525 video RSC

"This isn't a picnic. One moment you're talking about the entire universe blowing up, and the next you're going on about tea. Doctor! What's happening?"

Benton escapes to warn the Doctor. Using the high priest, Krasis, seal with the crystal the Master summons Kronos, a white bird like man, which causes Stuart Hyde to revert to his true age and traps the Brigadier in a time field. In ancient Atlantis Krasis has been missed: King Dalios fears the return of Kronos. The Doctor builds a gadget out of odds and ends which disrupts the Master's work. Captain Yates approaches with troops & the Tardis but the Master uses the crystal to summon a knight on horseback to attack them, forcing them off the road. They are then assaulted by roundhead soldiers. The Brigadier, Jo & Doctor go to rescue them and the Tardis. The Master summons a doodlebug and has it dropped on Captain Yates' party.

Really this episode is just a bit of fun. We've got the Doctor building a gadget out of junk to disrupt the Master's plans ....

.... while the Master is in turn throwing various historical threats at Captain Yates' party to stop them bringing the Tardis to the Doctor, including a Knight on Horseback, Roundhead soldiers and finally a doodlebug!

He even gets in on the Doctor's act by doing reversing some flow not once but twice!

KRASIS: What are you doing?
MASTER: Reversing the interstitial flow. Now don't interrupt me. I've got to concentrate.
KRASIS: You have not the power to control him!
MASTER: I shall have, never fear. Just give me time. Now, I must put him back where he belongs.

MASTER: Right! Now we shall soon be ready to move.
KRASIS: Master, he may return. The Mighty One may return.
MASTER: Oh, fortunate Atlantis, to be blessed with such a courageous high priest. Never fear. Kronos will only return if I desire it.
KRASIS: But the crystal.
MASTER: I am reversing the interstitial flow, thus draining the time energy from the crystal. Otherwise, we couldn't take it with us.
KRASIS: We? Where are we going?
MASTER: Where do you think? Atlantis, of course.

High Priest Krasis is played by well known actor Donald Eccles on his only Who appearance. He'd been in Out of This World as the Father in Immigrant and would have been seen later that year in a third season Doomwatch episode where he plays Lord Purvis in Sex and Violence. The episode was deemed to be too controversial and was never broadcast but does appear on The Doomwatch DVD! He can later be seen in I, Claudius as Pollio in What Shall We Do About Claudius? and the 1979 Quatermass as Chisholm in What Lies Beneath and An Endangered Species.

Stuntman Greg Powell is the Knight on horseback. Greg is the son of stuntman Nosher Powell and is thus the nephew of Dinny Powell who's worked on plenty of Doctor Whos most recently as a stunt guard on Curse of Peladon. Greg's appeared in Doctor Who once before himself as an Auton Policeman in Terror of the Autons and has gone on to make a name for himself doing stunts on the James Bond films which members of the Powell family have worked on since From Russia With Love.

The Roundhead Officer is Katy Manning's favourite bit part player Dave Carter. Once again here's his credits list: He was a Male Rebel in The Power of the Daleks, an IE guard in The Invasion, the Old Silurian and an Ambulance Man in Doctor Who and the Silurians, a Primord in Inferno, the Museum Attendant in Terror of the Autons, a Prison Officer in The Mind of Evil and a Skybase Guard in The Mutants. He returns as Sergeant Duffy in Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Grierson in The Android Invasion.

His troops include Eric Kent, Anthony Hennessey, Geoffrey Brighty and Nigel Winder, all of which have Doctor Who form.

The UNIT Troops facing them are led by Mike Yates and a sergeant, played by Simon Legree. The troops include Nick Hobbs, Reg Turner, Les Conrad, Jim Dowdall, Bernard Barnsley, Bob Blain, James Muir, Brian Gilmar all again with Doctor Who on their CVs.

The battles between UNIT and their various ground based historical foes was filmed at Stratfield Saye Park in Hampshire.

The Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier watch Captain Yates' convoy being attacked by the doodlebug from the nearby Park Lane, Faircross.

Two day after this episode was broadcast Fire and Brimstone, the first episode of Doomwatch Season Three, was shown on BBC1.