aWill Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...
Day 336: The Time Monster, Episode Six
Dear diary,
Well… let's start with the positives, shall we? To begin with, the minotaur actually surprised me. I grudgingly hit the 'play' button today assuming that I'd have to endure a terrible-looking monster shuffling around in some bizarre maze with Jo. Realistically, I should be complaining that it's just Dave Prowse in a mask (and not a lot else!), but it really does work rather well. Indeed, the whole scene with the minotaur actually surprised me, including the Doctor playing bull fights with the creature - another thing that I'm not sure I should like but I think I rather do!
It set me off on the right foot, and I found myself getting drawn more and more into the story. It's somewhat uncomfortable to see that the Master has managed to worm his way into power so easily, but then it's a truly magical scene where he's found out for what he really is. Ingrid Pitt was a fairly late addition to this story, so I've not really had a lot of time to pay her much attention, either (and I resolved very early on not to draw attention to her very revealing costume!), but she really shines when she discovers that her husband is dead. There's something very believable about her lust for power, but the pain she feels when it comes at the cost of the king's life.
All of this just helped to convince me even more that I'd have loved to see a story that was entirely set around Atlantis and the dealings in the court here. Now, I know what I'm like, so I'm sure that if we'd had events here spread out over several episodes of their own I'd be telling you all how much better it would have worked as a two-parter, but the grass is always greener on the other side!
Just when I thought that the story had really turned itself around and managed to completely win me over… oh dear. Kronos is summoned up once again. We get the awful bird costume swung around on a wire some more as it terrorises the people of Atlantis, and suddenly I'm back to recalling why I'm not enjoying this one as much as I'd like. It's a real shame, because the destruction of the city around this stupid bird is very well done, and one of the better effects we've had in the series.
It's after all of this that things really started to lose their way for me. There's another stand-off between the Doctor and the Master before they find themselves trapped in a Colour Separation Overlay nightmare. You almost get away with the shot of the TARDISes trapped in the void (and the fish-eye effect to the image is great), but then Jo has to travel between the ships and finds herself disappearing in the process. No-one told the costume designer that she'd bee needed on a yellow screen.
Still, I was feeling somewhat charitable after the good start to the story, so I decided that the forces of this void were tearing her apart. That's why she's disappearing. But then she steps back outside again with the Doctor. And he doesn't disappear because he's not wearing or reflecting the yellow. Oh. By the time the true face of Kronos had shown up on the scene, I'd pretty much lost all interest.
The Time Monster as a whole has been a bit of an up-and-down ride for me. It's never really hit above average, but there's several little bits of the tale that feel like they could be doing so much better. The Master tormenting UNIT with foes from history was good fun, I keep on telling you how much I'd like to see this Atalantis given more room to breathe (I do still miss Professor Zaroff, mind), and there's still some great examples of dialogue in this episode ('I'm fine,' Jo tells the Doctor. 'Dead, of course, but fine…'), but the story just never quite hits its potential for me. It comes across as too much like several ideas all bolted together to finish up the season.
Still, it's Doctor Who's birthday party tomorrow! I'm hoping there'll be cake. I rather like cake.
