Doctor Who/Recap/S9/E05 The Time Monster



"One moment you're talking about the entire universe blowing up and the next you're going on about tea"

- The Brigadier

The Master has a new alias - Professor Thascales (Greek for "Master" - you'd think the Doctor would have cottoned onto this by now), and he is about to switch on his wonderfully-named TOMTIT (Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time) device. The device will give the Master control over Kronos, a "creature from outside time".

It works, but the Master can't control it, and runs away. The Doctor arrives and deactivates the machine, but the Master then switches it back on again, using it to first kidnap an Atlantean high priest and then to trap the UNIT forces in a time-freeze.

Travelling to Atlantis in his TARDIS, the Master hopes to steal the Kronos Crystal and with it gain control of Kronos. The Doctor follows with Jo, but the Master has already seduced Queen Galleia and staged a coup. However, the queen discovers that the Master is responsible for the King's death and turns against him.

The Master unleashes Kronos, destroying Atlantis and taking Jo captive in the process. Both TARDISes escape the destruction and the Doctor and the Master confront each other in the Time Vortex. The Doctor threatens to "Time Ram" the Master, destroying both ships, but can't bring himself to do it. Jo can, though, and presses the button on the Master's TARDIS console. The ram, however, releases Kronos, who rescues the Doctor and decides to punish the Master with eternal torment. The Doctor pleads for the Master and Kronos agrees to release him... only for the Master to take the opportunity to flee instead.

Tropes

 * A Fate Worse Than Death: The reason the Doctor refused to let Kronos punish the Master.
 * Always Save the Girl: The Master calls the Doctor's bluff about Time Ram, based on this principle.
 * Applied Phlebotinum
 * Atlantis
 * Blessed With Suck: Atlantis, last time Kronos paid a call.
 * Cool Car: Bessie has to qualify. An Edwardian roadster with a overdrive that allows the Doctor to drive it at 200 mph, with brakes that absorb inertia allowing the car to stop in about two seconds flat without throwing the Doctor and Jo through the windshield. Awesome.
 * Conveniently Coherent Thoughts: Somewhat subverted - when making telepathic contact with Jo Grant, at first she hears a cacophony of voices. But the Doctor gets her to concentrate on the "main" one and we get a clear conversation about how to save the day.
 * Evil Is Not a Toy
 * Fan Service: Check out the cleavage. Also Jo in yellow go-go boots.
 * Fountain of Youth: Poor
 * Freud Was Right: You know that Master-detector-things the Doctor builds?
 * And TOMTIT? Come on!
 * Fun With Acronyms: TOMTIT.
 * God Guise: Averted when the Atlantian king sees right through the Master.
 * Going Commando: is brought back to his normal age -- but has no clothes. Cue Everybody Laughs Ending.
 * Hey Its That Guy: David Prowse, who would later play Darth Vader, as.
 * Then there's Ingrid Pitt as the Queen of Atlantis.
 * Humiliation Conga: The Master's God Guise fails, the king laughs off his attempt to hypnotise him, he's arrested by guards and led off only to encounter Jo and the Doctor whom he last saw in his inescapable Death Trap -- making the Master so speechless with fury Jo has to provide his dialogue. "How about: Curses! Foiled again!"
 * Kung Fu Proof Mook: The Master tries his favorite line on the 500-year-old King of Atlantis - who laughs at him.
 * The Master
 * Meaningful Name: Thascalos
 * No Ontological Inertia: Averted. Turning off the machine does nothing to unstick the Brigadier et al., Stu remains aged until he is restored by a second time disturbance, etc.
 * Overnight Age Up
 * Old King Hot Wife: No wonder she tossed him over for the Evil Is Sexy Master!
 * Reverse the Polarity: Ruth and her assistant try to release the folks frozen in time by turning part of the TOMTIT device upside-down. It doesn't work.
 * Something They Would Never Say: As Sgt Benton points out to the Master, Brigadier's do not call Sergeants "old boy".
 * Spot of Tea: Not just the page quote - it also proves the key missing ingredient in the temporal jammer.
 * Straw Feminist: Who ironically is one of the serial's more sensible characters.
 * When Things Spin Science Happens: The jamming device that the Doctor builds