The Time Meddler

Dear Gary—

“I shall miss them.” This time it is Vicki who says it, echoing back to the end of The Chase.

“Who?” asks the Doctor. He has not forgotten; he is simply preoccupied. Preoccupied with his thoughts of loss. “First Susan and now them,” he muses. “Their decision certainly surprised me, although it shouldn’t, I know.” Now the Doctor is left with “a small worry.” First Susan left then Ian and Barbara; will Vicki be next? He hates to think she is staying simply for the “sake of an old man,” he states. But Vicki assures him she has nothing to go back to, and now they discover a new stowaway—Steven.

“Don’t call me Doc.”

Life in the TARDIS goes on.

 “That is the dematerializing control and that over yonder is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner. These are the doors. That is a chair with a panda on it. Sheer poetry, dear boy.” Thus the Doctor describes the TARDIS and welcomes his new companion on board.

I’m reserving judgment on Steven, Gary. Barbara and Ian are hard acts to follow, and there are not a lot of Steven stories that survive. In this his first serial, The Time Meddler, he is passable.

I have mixed feelings about The Time Meddler as well. I think I want to like it more than I actually do. I like the bits of humor scattered throughout; and the revelation that there is a peer of the Doctor, complete with his own TARDIS, is a valued progression in the Doctor Who annals. The Meddling Monk is an interesting character and his concept of changing time and the resulting philosophical discussions (and scoldings) with the Doctor are entertaining. The historical 1066 scuffles between the Saxons and the Vikings, however, tend to bog the story down.

It also doesn’t help that the Doctor and his companions are separated early on and don’t hook back up until the end. It would have been nice to see some interactions with the newly arrived Steven to get a better feel for the group dynamic.  Instead we get Steven and Vicki beating a path to and from the monastery and a missing Doctor for the entire second episode of this four part story (oh how we could use Ian and Barbara right about now).

The Time Meddler is important, though, in its exploration of a Doctor Who staple. The golden rule of time and space travel, as the Doctor spells out: “Never, never interfere with the course of history.” The Meddling Monk argues it is more fun his way and claims to have discussed powered flight with Da Vinci and aided the construction of Stonehenge with the use of his anti-gravitational lift. His current attempt to destroy the Viking fleet and thus alter the outcome of the Battle of Hastings he deems his “master plan to end master plans.”

This begs the question, is the Meddling Monk in fact the Master as some fans have posited? I doubt it myself, Gary.  The Monk is not evil, he is merely mischievous, and “utterly irresponsible” as the Doctor calls him, for seeking to destroy the whole pattern of world history. If he does turn into the Master in later generations he has undergone a serious personality change. Besides, in later years we learn that the Doctor and the Master grew up together, in which case the Meddling Monk and the Doctor would have surely recognized one another.

No, he is simply a mischievous time meddler bent on changing history. The Doctor, however, is determined to prevent this “disgusting exhibition” that the Monk intends. “Remember, no more monkery,” the Doctor admonishes. In order to ensure that the Monk can do no further harm, the Doctor steals his dimensional control so that the inside of the Monk’s TARDIS is no longer bigger on the inside, thus effectively stranding him on 1066 Earth.

The Monk’s TARDIS, we learn, is a Mark IV, a later model than the Doctor’s and one in which he has made several modifications, like the auto-drift control so that the TARDIS can remain suspended in space with safety.   The Doctor displays some mild envy upon encountering this newer TARDIS model and petulantly replies “None of your business” when the Monk asks what type TARDIS the Doctor has. The Doctor does show some pride in his TARDIS, though, when he assures Steven and Vicki that water cannot harm it and that it will not be washed away despite having been covered by the rising tide.

All in all I have to say I am disappointed in The Time Meddler. It has intriguing elements but taken as a whole it just doesn’t quite gel. Similarly the new cast doesn’t quite gel, and again much of this is the fault of the script which keeps them separate for so long. As Vicki tells the Monk, referring to the Doctor, “He’s the crew; we’re just the passengers.” And that about sums it up. They are not one functioning group that clicks together like the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara and later the Doctor, Vicki, Ian and Barbara were. They are merely the Doctor and his passengers.

How sad that the following stories, that might have developed and strengthened the relationship of our three travelers, are missing, swirling somewhere out there in space and time. And so Gary I must leave you with this void, and hope that the hollow echoes find their way across to you.