1)The surprise return of the Master (Sarcasm!) as he once again tries to control an alien menace that he has no real chance of dealing with. It occurs to me that you can't really call him a "Master of Disguise" since he doesn't really try to disguise himself, particularly. I also begin to wonder why the Master stays on Earth, when he can leave and the Doctor can't. Why not just go off into space, steal a planet-buster bomb from the Sontarans or somebody, and blast the Earth from a safe distance, instead of sticking around and committing these demented shenanigans which never work? You have a time machine and your enemy doesn't, how can you keep on losing? In this case, when he was bringing in threats from throughout time, maybe he could've brought in some threats with more advanced weapons than UNIT had? On the other hand, he does have some good moments in this:
- "You know, I thoroughly enjoyed that." His glee at blwoing up Mike Yates, and later when he thinks he's killed the Doctor.
- "I'm sorry about your coccyx, too, Miss Grant."
- "You know, he has an excellent brain, that man, though a little pedestrian."
- Lost so good Doctor/Master banter in this - you get a sense that their current conflict is just an extension of their fights from when they were kids.
- "You're mad - paranoid." "Who isn't?"
- It's interesting seeing him play Mr. Smooth with Galleia.
- "You know, I'm going to miss him."
2)"TOMTIT", indeed.
3)"Chronovores - time eaters." OK, there's nothing to be said. Kronos the squawking Time Chicken is one of the direst critters in the show's history. In the running for the "Goofier than even the Myrka" award. When Kronos appears as a giant face, it's somewhat mor eimpressive. "I'm beyond good and evil as you know it."
4)Good to see Sergeant Benton get to do something in this story. And we get to see Baby Benton!
5)The "slow running" that the Brigadier and Dr. Ingram do when they're caught in the time field is purely comical - it reminds me of the effect they used to use when Steve Austin was trying to seem "bionic".
6)"We used to make them at school to spoil each other's time experiments." I like the little insights we get into the Doctor's past in this story. Another good moment is when he cautions Jo not to listen to his subconscious thoughts: "I'm not all that proud of some of them." We also get the story of the hermit and the flower which is a very well-done moment.
7)Hey, the Master's got the Stanley Cup on his TARDIS console!
8)"Just a spot of redecoration, that's all." The Doctor's got a new console, too.
9)And there's Ingrid Pitt as Galleia, who obviously has two things going for her.
10)The Minotaur was played by Dave Prowse, who would go on to feature in a series of science fiction movies, the name of which escapes me at the moment.
11)Some fun quotes:
- "Really, Doctor, you'll be consulting the entrails of a sheep, next."
- "I am a life-long pacifist." Uh-huh.
- "I'll get them to send some sandwiches across to you." I'm only nowe beginning to realize that this show was not about time travel or fighting alien menaces. No, it was all about sandwiches.
- "Sort of the crack between now and now, sir."
- "The brakes work by the absorption of inertia, including yours." I always liked that idea.
- "You're an interfering dolt, Percival."
- "You're wrong, Sergeant Benton, that is the oldest trick in the book!" Be funny if Benton had just up and shot him at some point in this.
- "For all your sorcery, you are as but a child trying to control a rogue elephant!" "You are rogue elephants. You will be deleted."
- "O fortunate Atlantis, to be blessed with such a courageous high priest!" Delgado does sarcasm well.
- "A small fly in the Master's metaphorical ointment." Agh, don't make me think about the Master's ointment!
- "It doesn't work." "You astound me."
- "You have been drinking." I like how the Brigadier's first assumption is that Yates is a drunk.
- "Oh, why are you men so spineless?" Ingram the Feminist is a little heavy-handed.
- "Any friend of the Master's is an enemy of mine."
- "Tell me of great Poseidon - what did he have for breakfast?"
- "He's a jolly fellow, our friend Krasis. He loves a joke." The look on Krasis' face at that point is priceless.
12)Cliffhangers:
- Episode One: The Master attempts to summon Kronos!
- Episode Two:The Master summons up an old guy with a bad wig!
- Episode Three: A buzz-bomb drops on Mike Yates!
- Episode Four: The Master separates the two TARDISes!
- Episode Five: Krasis locks Jo in with the Minotaur!
- Episode Six: Everyone laughs at Naked Benton!
Overall:
So-so story-wise, but alot of good character moments in this.
[Part of list of Doctor Who episodes here.]
Replies
Kronos the squawking Time Chicken is one of the direst critters in the show's history.
I resemble that remark!
I always liked this -- as you say, more for the character bits than the story -- but I didn't remember it being a 6-parter. Must drag less than the typical 6-parter.
In "Terror of the Autons" the Doctor traps the Master on Earth, but in "The Mind of Evil" (minor spoiler warning) he leaves it. (Incidentally, I think he is first seen in the costume he often wore later at the end of this serial.) In "The Claws of Axos" the Axons bring him back to Earth and in "Colony of Space" the Time Lords send the Doctor after him, so the first time we see him voluntarily on Earth in the present day getting up to shennanigans despite past experience of being foiled here is "The Daemons". In "The Sea Devils" his involvement with the title creatures is his escape plan, so "The Time Monster" is the second time. His remaining Pertwee appearance was in "Frontier in Space".
Interesting - I hadn't thought of it that way.