Day 40 — February 9th 2021
The Watcher and The Meddling Monk
The Watcher (The Time Meddler — Episode One)
It’s surprising, given their importance up to now, how little impact Ian and Barbara’s departure has on the series. When Susan left, it almost didn’t matter because she was replaced a fortnight later with another young girl from the future who could fill generally the same role. This time around, you’d expect it to be different. More challenging. But the programme doesn’t bat an eyelid, and simply carries on by presenting one of the best episodes we’ve had.
Ooh, I can’t tell you what a relief it was — having been so negative for the last week — to watch this episode and genuinely love it.
If anything, the show uses this as a chance to establish itself; setting out the premise all over again. Strangely, this is the first time the show has really done that since the very beginning — when Vicki came aboard the TARDIS she was drip fed information throughout The Rescue, and then just sort of slotted in. It’s great to see Steven struggling with the idea, and acting as a way in for new viewers. Not that there would have been many, I suppose, given this was the last story of the season…!
Peter Purves comes across really well here, and Steven has instantly become someone I like. In some ways I feel like his denial of the facts should irritate me, but it doesn’t, and it’s fun to watch the little battle between him and Vicki. I’ve been complaining throughout The Chase that things have all gotten a bit too cosy, and this is the perfect antidote to that. I particularly like his line in sarcasm;
Vicki: This isn’t an ordinary ship, you know. This is a time machine.
Steven: Time? Look, this ship may have a way-out design, but time machines? That’s ridiculous.
Even better is his incredulity when Doctor Who explains the concept of the Chameleon Circuit to him;
Steven: If it landed on the beach against the cliffs, it’d take on the appearance of a large rock?
Doctor Who: Yes, yes, yes, but you do keep on, don’t you?
Steven: Do you wonder why I don’t believe you? You know, that large rock over there looks exactly like a Police telephone box.
Indeed, this episode is full of brilliant dialogue, and it’s very funny. The humour here hits the mark in a way that it didn’t in The Chase. I could quote lines here all day, from ‘that’s a chair with a panda on it’ to the famous ‘space helmet for a cow’, but I’ll avoid it or I’ll just end up typing out the whole script.
It’s perhaps strange that Dennis Spooner’s tenure as Script Editor on Doctor Who (from The Rescue to The Chase) really didn’t work for me, while his two stories so far, The Romans and this one, are perfect examples of what I enjoy about the show. Taking a look at the scores for the episodes I’ve watched so far, Spooner’s time on the show averages just 4.27/10, compared to an almost 7/10 average for David Whittaker. I think I’ll have to chalk it up to Spooner being a better Doctor Who writer than he is at running the show — the 1960s equivalent of Steven Moffat.
But even more than the humour, I think my favourite thing about this episode is the steady drip of mystery throughout. I’d never really noticed how cleverly Steven’s scepticism is tied in with them finding the wrist watch in the forest, but it’s a really neat bit of storytelling. And the idea of the writst watch, as well as the record of the monks’ singing, is brilliant. It’s so unlike anything we’ve seen in the series before, and it feels like a really bold reinvention for the format of the history serials.
I’m very pleased to give this one a 10/10.
The Meddling Monk (The Time Meddler — Episode Two)
To start with, I was a little disappointed that William Hartnell isn’t actually in this episode. It felt like a bit of a waste to have him come face-to-face with the Monk at the end of Episode One, and then reduce him here to shouting through the door with a bit of pre-recorded dialogue. Especially as that dialogue doesn’t always line up — in one scene he’s not leaving his cell because he doesn’t want to (‘I’ll come out when I’m ready,’ he says), but a couple of scenes later he’s screaming and shouting about being locked up and demanding to be set free.
I got over his absence pretty quickly, though, because it gives so much of this episode over to Steven and Vicki, and they’re brilliant together. I’ve already said that the series doesn’t worry too much about losing Ian and Barbara, and more than that — I don’t miss them either! There’s something really refreshing about the dynamic between these two, and I’m enjoying spending time with them.
Steven continues to be brilliantly sarcastic and funny, and Vicki feels like she’s got a bit more of her own voice now she’s the ‘senior’ companion — she’s not the ‘kid’ that’s there to get into trouble any more, she’s as important as Steven. Once again I could simply sit and type out the whole script for this one, but particular favourites to highlight include him using the wrist watch they found to prove a point, and their joint ‘follow me’ before heading in different directions inside the monastry.
Speaking of the monastery, the set for it is brilliant, isn’t it? Towards the end of the episode, when Steven and Vicki are creeping around trying to find Doctor Who, it has some genuine scale, and you can really feel like it’s a real place. That’s true of all the sets in this story, to be fair. Even the outdoor areas are so well done that you could believe they’re on location. I think back projection was used for the sky, and it makes all the difference, even when you only catch a tiny glimpse of it at the very top of the picture.
This is Douglas Camfield’s third appearance in Season Two (following half an episode of Planet of Giants and all of The Crusade), and he’s quickly established himself as being the best director currently on the programme’s slate. Everything we’re given here is head and shoulders above production on The Chase, and it makes you long for this quality of direction all the time.
A dip from Episode One — how could there not be — but a solid 7/10.
