So The Time Monster.
The final Pertwee story I had yet to see and it's... Both great and bad.
Its a conflicting one. There is good in here.
As usual the conflict between the Master and the Doctor works wonders. Even simple stuff like them spending a lot of time bitching at each other over their TARDIS scanners. They keep constantly one-upping each other and its a joy to watch.
Production wise the stuff in Atlantis (whatever happened to the Fish People?) looks really good. In particular the stuff in the courtyard and just the sets in general.
I also appreciated the Doctors story about the hermit he used to know back when he was young. Such a simple tale but delivered with such conviction from Pertwee that it sells it.
I have never really laughed at anything in the show so far. But this Story brings with it not one but two really funny moments. The first one is the Master begging for mercy from the Doctor at the end. Its just funny to see him reduced to begging when he's faced with eternal torture, especially as he's having to ask the Doctor for mercy. The second one is the last 10 seconds. Benton got turned into a baby earlier on and he turns back into an adult stark naked. Its just his reaction that got me, easily the best line of the season.
The issue is again, I feel it really drags for the first 4 episodes in particular. There are exceptions: the Master sending troops from the past to fight UNIT for instance, and Bessie outclassing the Brigs land rover in terms of speed but too much of it consists of nothing happening and people just talking without any real substance.
Also... I have to bring up TOMTIT. Okay so... this story revolves around a device called TOMTIT. This really, really needs to be emphasised... A main part of the plot of this story is called TOMTIT... What?? Surely somebody working on this had to have questioned this decision? Did not a single person point out that TOMTIT was a name likely to make any viewer not totally devoid of humour, or dead, laugh? What were they thinking? Could they really not come up with a more sensible name than that? Seriously though just why? I couldn't take it seriously.
I hate to also bring this up but... The Doctors portable time sensor. Couldn’t the Doctor have designed a device that was a little less... Phallic? It looks like Jo is reading those numbers off a testicle. Again like TOMTIT, how exactly was I supposed to take it seriously?
On a plus note though I have actually met somebody from this story. Twice. That is actor David Prowse. Darth Vader gets to play the minotaur. He doesn't really get to do much though, which is sad.
So yeah its the weakest Pertwee so far. Daemons was close but it benefits from a cracking first episode or two... But it says something that Pertwee's weakest is still better than other Doctors best.
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