DOCTOR WHO MARATHON 15th MEET-UP - THE TIME MEDDLER

Sunday 7th September 2014

Yay!  Our next meet-up was cause for celebration!  We had reached the end of Season 2 of Doctor Who!  As we all gathered around Jim's house on a lovely sunny day there was a real sense of excitement and achievement!

Sadly, this was only felt by me!  Still that's not important and after our usual greetings we (and drinks) we settled down to watch this dodgy-sounding ("Time Meddler"???) four parter.

Photo 1: Leigh, Michael (with the sign), Shaun, Jason (holding the DVD cover)
& Mark (at the front - eyes closed) around Jim's house.

The story starts off with Vicki and the Doctor sad at having left behind Ian and Barbara.  This is soon halted when they hear a noise from another room in the TARDIS!  It MUST be a Dalek, they assume so get ready for an attack.

Surprisingly they instead discovery that a disorientated Steven has stumbled into the TARDIS at the end of the previous serial (minus his panda), unknown to Vicki and the Doctor.  When they discover him he laughs at the notion that they are in a time machine and thinks it's all some kind of jokey-trick!  The Doctor and Vicki hope to convince him and land in England back just before the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Photo 2: Leigh, Michael (with the sign), Shaun, Jason (holding the DVD cover)
& Mark (at the front - eyes closed) around Jim's house.

For a change the TARDIS materialisation doesn't go unnoticed and they are observed by a strange monk on some cliffs.  He doesn't seem surprised by the TARDIS, more concerned.  He has a little check and then goes back to his monastery, when singing of the Monks soon floats out of the building.

Photo 3: Jim (with the sign) and a surprised Shaun (holding the DVD cover)
  plus part of a Mark around Jason's house.

Anyhow, it's the usual meet the locals (Saxons this time!  The main women was recognisable as one of the cave-women from the very first serial!) who, at first, think our travellers might be Viking spies!
Soon that's sorted and they decide to go and visit the monks on the hill....

Photo 4: Leigh (bored with photos!), Jim (with the sign), Shaun (holding the DVD cover), Jason (trying to keep awake!) & Mark (at the front - eyes closed) around Jim's house.

Anyway lots happens over the course of the next episodes in which the Doctor has a holiday - aka gets locked in a cell by The Monk.  The Monk reveals he's pretending to help the Vikings as he wants to help Harold (and get rich himself) but the main surprise of the reveal is that the Monk has a TARDIS and is one of the Doctor's own race! (Note the phrase "Time Lord" isn't used yet).

Photo 5: Leigh, Jim (with the sign), Shaun (holding the DVD cover), Jason & Mark (at the front - eyes closed) around Jim's house.

 
Anyhow all goes back to normal - the Viking scouts get killed (in a 12 second scene that's now missing - we have the audio, which we had a listen to afterwards!) and the Monk gets trapped after the Doctor sabotages the Monk's TARDIS!  When the Monk looks inside he realises (the Doctor takes the dimensional control and the interior of his the Monk's TARDIS has shrunk beyond use, leaving him stranded in 1066!  He promises revenge on the Doctor!)

So with the tide having gone out, the Doctor and Co. are free to depart!

Personally I really enjoyed these episodes - The Meddling Monk (played by Carry On star Peter Butterworth - surely the first “Star” guest they’d had?) was really funny and likeable.  The scenes between him and the Doctor were great to watch.  Like all the best “bad guys” he was actually quite likeable (bad is probably a bit strong - “mischievous” might be a better term!) .

So what about the guys opinion?

Shaun: "I liked it, but it could have been an ep shorter.  I was starting to drift during the last one.  I find Purves a bit distant at the moment, kind of wooden, so the full ep without the Doctor suffered for it. Hopefully he loosens up in the near future.  Looking forward to the next one and very much the Daleks' master plan you mentioned. :)"

Jim: "It was OK.  I'm a fan of the whole "can you change the past" malarky but this seemed a bit pedestrian.  I liked the script though and it was the right length."

I'll leave the last quote to Jim's daughter Evie (Driving home from Shana's mum's):

Evie - "Are the boys still there?"
Shana (Jim's wife) - "The boys...?"
Evie - "The man-boys."

Haha!  Yes we are indeed the man-boys!  We'll leave on that fun note!  See you next time!

Until then I shall return, yes, I shall return....


MJ 08-09-14