N.B. there might (or might not) be spoilers in this article!
So, nine seasons into the original run of Doctor Who means that in one way at least – number of series – this marathon has caught up with where the twenty-first century incarnation of the show is.
Is it worth drawing parallels of where the shows are at these comparative stages? Maybe not, although I found it interesting that some of my observations of The Time Monster were similar to those I’d make of more recent episodes.
“He cannot bear not to have the last word.”
The Master, The Time Monster: Episode Four
We also have a show where the doctor is a greying, sometimes patronising, often too-smart-for-his-own-good snazzy dresser with a penchant for ludicrous gadgets. (Sonic sunglasses anyone?). This is perhaps not surprising given Jon Pertwee is probably Peter Capaldi’s “doctor”.
All that aside, season nine continues the steady consistency we’ve had throughout the Third Doctor’s run. There’s nothing here to rival Jon Pertwee’s first season or The Mind of Evil, for example, but at the same time there’s been nothing you would decry as terrible. Even its weakest story – The Mutants – has its moments.
Continuing the minor tweaks to the show’s format, the banishment to Earth this season has been punctuated with two missions for the Time Lords but, by The Time Monster, the Doctor seems confident enough to pilot the TARDIS into the space/time vortex with enough accuracy to materialise inside (and, as it turns out, outside) of the Master’s TARDIS.
Which makes you think that surely this exile cannot last much longer …
"My favourite Third Doctor stories so far are Inferno, The Dæmons and The Time Monster."
"My least favourite Third Doctor story so far is Spearhead from Space."
