The Time Meddler

STEVEN: I remember registering that, well, it didn't look like a ship. It was very small. I must have been delirious.
VICKI: I don't suppose you were. It is very small outside. It's just in here it's big.

ELDRED: I do not trust them!

STEVEN: Well, I'm not mad about you either!

MONK: More visitors. It's getting it's getting so you can't call a monastery your own!

DOCTOR: Well, as it happens, I happen to be a very curious fellow.

VICKI: We haven't got a time machine any more.
DOCTOR: Haven't we now? Oh, I say. Well, I wonder what that's supposed to mean?
VICKI: Well, you know, you know we left it on the beach.
DOCTOR: Yes, I remember very well. It so happens that I was there at the time.

STEVEN: You know, I'm beginning to like the idea of being a crew member on a time machine.
VICKI: A crew member? You'll be lucky. He's the crew. We're just the passengers.

• I like the Monk it's fun to have a villain who isn't actually bad, just mischievous. His argument is that it'll speed up progress, although I think he's a little optimistic if he thinks preventing William I winning the Battle of Hastings means there'll be jet engines by the 13th century and Shakespeare will be able to put Hamlet on TV, even if he does provide a few hints and tips along the way! Still, his idea is that it'll allow for greater progress for the human race. And is also fun. Not exactly evil, eh? 
• It's always nice to see Alethea Charlton popping up to play a woman from the past. She's come quite a way since being Hur, though. Edith is more enjoyable than Hur, and Charlton brings a great liveliness to the role. I don't get why the Vikings left her alive, though. They were strictly told to keep their presence a secret, so leaving her there to tell the other villagers she was attacked by Vikings is rather stupid of them. That said, these are Vikings who get overpowered by the combined force of Peter Butterworth and William Hartnell. Maybe they're like the Daleks from the Chase... expendable idiots the higher ups just want to get rid of. 
  
• The Doctor talks very loudly to himself about the Battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings even though he must surely know Edith is right behind him! And yet he has the gall to criticise the Monk for being a time meddler! And then to strand the Monk in history to meddle even more... 
• It's also nice to have a sceptical companion again. Steven has a few flashes of early Ian in this story with his refusal to believe that the TARDIS can travel in time. It's an appropriate story for it too, coming across anachronistic technology to make him disbelieve that they're in the past. 
• The BBC episode guide claims it's a goof that Steven asks how they could be in the 10th century when he finds a watch, because supposedly the Doctor has told him they're in the 11th. If whoever wrote that had actually been watching the story, they'd know the Doctor guessed either the 10th or 11th century, so calling it a goof is nonsense. The Doctor by that point has found out that it's the 11th, but since Steven wasn't with the Doctor then I don't get how he's supposed to have found out. 
• I like how Vicki overestimates the Monk's intelligence. When he gives himself away by knowing something he couldn't have known, she tells Steven that he may have given himself away on purpose to set a trap. But no, he really was just that stupid! 
• William Hartnell takes his second holiday in three stories here. He just had one in the Space Museum!

Verdict

I love the Time Meddler. It is the first step away from pure historicals, which is a massive shame, but the story itself is great fun. Dennis Spooner is one of the best at telling a fun and involving story. The pace is good, there are lots of

funny lines and interesting characters, and Steven blends in seamlessly with the Doctor and Vicki. It's a lovely way to finish off an enjoyable season.

Season Two

The second season of Doctor Who is one of my favourites, in spite of some of its issues. Part of the reason for that is that the team of Hartnell, Hill, Russell and O'Brien are so much fun to watch I almost don't care whether a story is any good or not. For all its faults, the Web Planet has them guiding it along its ambitious way, and the four of them are perfectly suited to sillier stories that abound under Spooner's watch. It is fascinating watching the show grow as it becomes more and more confident about what it can do and try to do from the first season, and the cosiness of the regulars is a joy to watch. William Hartnell is never less than excellent, but the cuddly, giggly Doctor he plays in this season is him at his most enjoyable. The Romans is my favourite story so far, and one I never tire of watching. The highlight of a mostly fun year.