Who Review #18 - the Time Meddler

Season 2 ends with another light hearted story.

Steven has stowed away on the TARDIS (with his Panda bear toy). The new crew land in 1066. But there are some anomolies, such as a watch. The mystery revolves around a monastery and a monk. The monk wants to interfere with time, by providing bazookas for use against the Vikings so Harold can defeat William at the Battle of Hastings.

Peter Butterworth, more known for his roles in the "Carry On..." films, is superb as the Monk. The scenes with him and Hartnell are the high points of the story. Peter Purves, of "Blue Peter" fame, has a lot of good dialogue/scenes with Maureen O'Brien and thus makes a good companion debut.

The only weak spot in the story are the supporting cast who run about fighting, and nothing else. This is all the more weird given one of the women has been raped - a rather adult theme to put in the show - so some time could have been used on that, perhaps?

There are some great lines in the story. My particular favourite is when Steven doesn't believe they have travelled in time, so the Doctor passes him a Viking helmet and says: "What do you think it is, a space helmet for a cow?"

And a fluff from Hartnell: "I am not a mountain goat and I prefer walking to any day... and I hate climbing."

The story is important for the show because the Monk turns out to be a Time Lord, although we don't learn the name of his people til much later in the show's history. It's the first person we have met, other than Susan obviously, from the Doctor's race. The Monk, who is more naughty than evil, is left stranded in 1066 when the Doctor shrinks the inside of his TARDIS. But he would return....
******