Doctor Who Retro Review: Serial 017—The Time Meddler
By T. Scott Edwards
The
Time Meddler is one of my
all-time favourite serials, not just from Hartnell's tenure, but from the
entire history of the show. The first ever pseudo-historical, merging sci-fi
and history together, it is also one of the funniest. It could well be my most
frequently-watched serial, alongside City
of Death and Genesis of the Daleks. It
really is that good.
Uniting Douglas Camfield, one of the
most sublime directors of the show, with Dennis Spooner, whose flair for comedy
is outstanding, is a touch of genius in-and-of itself. But adding to this the
phenomenal Peter Butterworth guarantees class. What is strange, then, is that
in the first episode, The Watcher, Butterworth does very little but watch. He eavesdrops from the cliff
top, after watching the TARDIS materialise, muttering absent-mindedly to
himself. He is rather underused, but in such a way that it enthrals the viewer.
Just who is this man? Bearing in mind that whenever the TARDIS has
materialised, or dematerialised, in front of others before, they have commented
on how they cannot believe their eyes, and yet here is the Monk, simply
watching. It is eerie. He knows more than he should, which makes us want to
know more. It's a wonderful method of engaging the audience.
The opening scene is beautifully underplayed
by Hartnell and O'Brien – their discussion about missing Ian and Barbara really
hits a nerve for the viewers; I know I still miss them too. Hartnell resumes
his grandfatherly role, leading Vicki to the armchair and offering kindly words
to her, before the pair is suddenly interrupted by the sounds of an intruder
within the ship. Peter Purves' return is welcome to the series, yet he comes
across as brash, uncouth and rude – his disbelief pours from him ("IDBI!")
as Vicki attempts to explain the secrets of the ship to him. The dialogue is
witty, yet we are not being asked to warm to Steven straight away. Indeed,
throughout this serial, we see him mellow, becoming a more appropriate
character to be travelling in the TARDIS. Purves does a wonderful job here of
underplaying Steven's appeal, gradually cooling off and becoming less abrasive.
Hartnell's approach to this interloper is also brilliant, as he reels through
his environ whilst ushering Steven out of the way – "A chair with a panda
on it! Sheer poetry, my dear boy!"
The scenes on the beach also include
some fantastically witty lines – "a space helmet for a cow?!" – and
Hartnell is on top form, no doubt because he was aware that he had a holiday
coming up very soon (during part 2 of this story, in fact!) The educational
remit of the show is once again approached in a sensible manner, as Hartnell
deducts their time and place based on the answers given to him by Alethea
Charlton's character, Edith. Discussing past monarchs, as well as using clues
such as the leaves on the trees, the Doctor deduces that they are in 1066, an
infamous time in English history, and one still studied in school today.
What Spooner does with his script, and
which Camfield monopolises in his direction, is the subtle use of anachronisms
throughout. In an earlier scene with the Monk, we see him purposefully glance
down at his watch. We'd be forgiven for thinking this was an unintentional
accident, much like Billy's brilliant fluffs in this first episode, but then it
emerges that he really was looking at
his watch. The Doctor's exploration of the monastery reveals that the chanting
is actually emanating from a gramophone. Rather than attempting to justify
these inconsistencies, the show revels in them, throwing a curveball at the
audience and then forcing them to wait again. What is interesting is that
whilst this serial is held in high regard by many Whovians nowadays, the
audience appreciation index showed that, as the story progressed, most viewers disliked these anachronisms. Many didn't
like historicals at all, and ignored the presence of a potential sci-fi twist. In
addition, those that did like
historicals found the addition of sci-fi made the plot silly and frivolous.
The cliffhanger at the end of part 1 plays
perfectly into Hartnell's absence (fortunately no need for Edmund Warwick to
double as the Doctor again!) and it is in Hartnell's absence that two key
things happen. Firstly, Butterworth's Meddling Monk is given more to do – he
becomes a focal point, and milks comedy out of every movement and line of
dialogue given; the scene in which he prepares breakfast, before having a drink
thrown into his face from off-screen is great. Secondly, it allows Vicki and
Steven to take centre stage. O'Brien is brilliant in this serial as, having
travelled with the Doctor longer, she becomes the leader of the pair, much to
Steven's chagrin. The scene in which the two are captured and taken to the
Saxon village is smashing, as it allows Vicki to dominate, whilst giving Steven
the chance to gradually defrost a little. The low-key way in which, after
shouting at the villagers, he gladly accepts their food and awkwardly mutters "thanks...
thank you." is lovely – he realises what a pig-headed fool he was being. Likewise,
as they then leave the camp, his repetition of "god be with you" is
touchingly delivered, showing this awkwardness again.
Alethea Charlton is wonderful in this
serial – from her welcoming of the travellers, through to her assistance of the
Monk, offering him food, she is fantastic; but her best scenes are following
the attack from the Viking invaders. There is no question what has happened to
her, yet it is never explicitly stated. It is not often that a performance as
convincing as this would make it into children's TV, and the look of shock in
her eyes and her inability to speak utterly sells that she has been subjected
to rape. It is awful, unnerving.
When Steven and Vicki make it to the
monastery and trick the Monk into admitting that he knows of the Doctor is
brilliantly played by all three – Steven tricks him into confessing he has seen
the Doctor by gaining a description of the Doctor, but what adds to the sense
of danger is Vicki's suggestion that perhaps they are not being as clever as
they think they are, and the Monk has pulled a double-bluff.
Eventually, Steven and Vicki make it
into the monastery to discover that the Doctor has escaped – "He's gone!"
Vicki exclaims – and leads us nicely into Hartnell's return for episode 3,
where he really comes into his own. It is clear that he's been waiting for a
performer of Butterworth's calibre to verbally spar with since the show began. As
with Nero in The Romans, he parries
and defends with a razor sharp tongue, the "Battle of Wits" of the
title. What this episode does so effectively is that, once again, the
conventions of the series are being altered, parameters are being moved. Since The Aztecs, it was made clear that
history could not be changed, "not one line!" Yet here, Hartnell
mumbles away to himself about the battle of Hastings and 1066, before finishing
off with "that's what the history books say happened". It's
troubling, because it suggests that time can
be altered, if one is so inclined. It means that things can always be
undone, rewritten.
Following the reveal that the Monk has
his own TARDIS, we are faced with this dilemma – he suggests that by destroying
the Viking ships, all of history will improve thanks to his intervention. Hartnell
instantly dismisses this, claiming it is against the rules of time travel, but
the Monk doesn't care one jot about the rules. He is a man with a plan –
indeed, he even has a chart plotting his plan step-by-step! The conversation
between Vicki and Steven is therefore rather troubling – if history were
changed, then all of the future is instantly rewritten. History books haven't
been written yet, so they'll just have a different account of events in them
when they are published. What is nice
is that they have no concerns for themselves – if history changes, and in the
future rockets are invented hundreds of years earlier, then surely their own
timelines will become null and void – Steven would never have been on his
spaceship, and Vicki would never have crash-landed on Dido either.
The fourth episode is entitled "Checkmate",
rather fittingly – this battle of wits has come to its natural conclusion, and
it is played out for the most part via the Monk's TARDIS, a gleaming black
floor directly juxtaposed by the safe, known confines of the Doctor's white,
sterile control room. The jealousy that Hartnell's Doctor clearly feels for
this superior craft is palpable – he snaps "mind your own business!"
when asked which model he has.
One of the most brutal scenes in Doctor
Who history is, allegedly, the killing of the two Vikings, Ulf and Sven. Sadly,
these scenes were cut and discarded, with only audio to tell by, but based on
the special feature on the DVD "The Missing 12 Seconds" it all sounds
rather gruesome. It is fitting, though that this is missing – this last episode
loses nothing in us not seeing the fate of the invaders. Instead, it focuses on
the lightweight matter of the Doctor and the Monk finishing their business. The
Doctor's clear excitement at his plot, vandalising the Monk's TARDIS, is
wonderful, and he hams it up, giggling like a naughty schoolboy. Upon the Monk's
return, Butterworth has a wonderful scene, alone in the vault, reading his
note, scoffing at the possibility that the Doctor could possibly defeat him. Of
course, by removing the dimensional stabiliser and therefore shrinking the
interior, the Monk is inexorably marooned in 1066.
But this is rather troubling. It is made
clear that the Monk likes to meddle in the history of Earth. Following the end
of Hartnell's tenure, it is made clear that the Doctor, as a Time Lord, can
regenerate into a new body, and it has since been set down that he can do this
12 times. So sticking a fellow Time Lord (although that term isn't used for
quite a few years yet) in the past, with all of his knowledge and technical
abilities, is surely a dangerous outcome?
Scott Edwards is a teacher of English and Theatre Studies at Barnard Castle School in the North East of England, with a BAHons in English Literature and Film Studies. He is also a self-professed ‘ming-mong,' and in addition to timelordapprentice.blogspot.co.uk he also runs facebook.com/Classic.Doctor.Who. You can also follow him on Twitter: @TimelordTSE.
Labels: Doctor Who, Guest Blog, reviews, T. Scott Edwards
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