Stories Television Doctor Who Season 9 Serial: 1 2 3 4 5 The Time Monster 1 image Overview Episodes Characters How to Watch Reviews 12 Statistics Related Stories Quotes 4 Transcript Overview First aired Saturday, May 20, 1972 Production Code OOO Written by Barry Letts, Robert Sloman Directed by Paul Bernard Runtime 150 minutes Story Type New TARDIS interior, Series Finale Time Travel Past, Present Tropes (Potential Spoilers!) Master of Disguise, Mind Control, Reverse the polarity, Time Travel Pivotal Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!) Exile on Earth, Working for UNIT Inventory (Potential Spoilers!) Bessie Location (Potential Spoilers!) Atlantis, Earth, England, Wootton Synopsis The Master, in the guise of Professor Thascalos, has constructed at the Newton Institute in Wootton a device known as TOMTIT — Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time — to gain control over Kronos, a creature from outside time. The creature is summoned but proves to be uncontrollable. Watch Watched Favourite Favourited Add Review Edit Review Log a repeat Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Owned Save to my list Saved Edit date completed Custom Date Release Date Archive (no date) Save 6 Episodes Episode One First aired Saturday, May 20, 1972 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Paul Bernard UK Viewers 7.6 million Synopsis UNIT are invited to observe a demonstration of the new TOMTIT machine, unaware its creator, Professor Thascales, is actually the Master. Episode Two First aired Saturday, May 27, 1972 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Paul Bernard UK Viewers 7.4 million Synopsis The Doctor realises the Master is trying to harness the power of Kronos, last of the Chronovores, but is unaware Percival is harbouring him at the institute. Episode Three First aired Saturday, June 3, 1972 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Paul Bernard UK Viewers 8.1 million Synopsis The Master enlists the help of Krasis to control Kronos while Yates tries to bring the TARDIS to the institute only to come under attack from dangers from the past. Episode Four First aired Saturday, June 10, 1972 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Paul Bernard UK Viewers 7.6 million Synopsis The Master prepares to travel back to Atlantis but the Doctor links his TARDIS to the Master's to try and stop him. Episode Five First aired Saturday, June 17, 1972 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Paul Bernard UK Viewers 6 million Synopsis Both TARDISes reach Atlantis, where the Doctor befriends King Dalios while the Master enlists the help of Queen Galleia to try and obtain the crystal of Kronos. Episode Six First aired Saturday, June 24, 1972 Runtime 25 minutes Written by Robert Sloman Barry Letts Directed by Paul Bernard UK Viewers 7.6 million Synopsis The Doctor enters the labyrinth to try and protect Jo from the minotaur but the Master has seized control of Atlantis and prepares to summon Kronos again. Show All Episodes Characters Third Doctor Jon Pertwee Jo Grant Katy Manning Kronos Minotaur The Chronovores First Appearance The Master [UNIT Era] Roger Delgado The Brigadier Nicholas Courtney John Benton John Levene UNIT Mike Yates Richard Franklin Atlanteans Show All Characters (11) How to watch The Time Monster: Watch on iPlayer DVD Myths and Legends (The Time Monster, Underworld & The Horns of Nimon) Blu-Ray The Collection – Season 9 VHS Colony in Space & The Time Monster (VHS) (Limited Edition) Reviews Add Review Edit Review Sort: Date (Newest First) Date (Oldest First) Likes (High-Low) Likes (Low-High) Rating (High-Low) Rating (Low-High) Word count (High-Low) Word count (Low-High) Username (A-Z) Username (Z-A) Spoilers First Spoilers Last 12 reviews 6 June 2025 · 19 words Review by ErickSoares3 Spoilers This review contains spoilers! The Master doing a little Time Machine; Atlantis out of nowhere... I'm just loving the Third Doctor run. hahaha ErickSoares3 View profile Like Liked 0 29 May 2025 · 290 words Review by Newt5996 Often regarded as one of the weaker Pertwee serials, like The Mutants before it there is actually a lot to like about The Time Monster. The Doctor’s story about the daisiest daisy in Episode Six is the highlight, it’s a fascinating little examination of who the Doctor is and is worth half a star on its own. The big scale ideas at play are interesting and an extension of what Robert Sloman and Barry Letts were examining in The Daemons the year before. Roger Delgado gets to have some of his most charming moments and where the Master ends the story is equally fascinating for the character. It feels like one last hurrah for the UNIT family because it’s so clear that the production team is ready to go all in with time travel. The problem is that there’s a lot of messy ideas in the six episodes of the serial, mainly because Sloman and Letts were writing the serial on the fly after The Daleks in London fell through. Splitting the plot into thirds is a good idea on paper, yet each of the plots, especially the final two episodes on Atlantis, are particularly stretched to their limits. The depiction of Kronos is also something that works on paper, but Paul Bernard tries to obscure it instead of fully leaning into the silly white costume so it doesn’t really work. Sloman and Letts wanted to make an epic finale with a larger scale but then it just doesn’t quite come together. Heck they barely give Jo Grant much to do except banter, so much of the story is carried by the banter of Pertwee, Manning, Delgado, Courtney, and oddly John Levene and it just leaves it kind of meh. Newt5996 View profile Like Liked 0 23 May 2025 · 75 words Review by kawaii2234 Spoilers This review contains spoilers! easily one of my favourite classic doctor who serials, I adore the silly sped up footage of bessie going speedy and the brigadier essentially kidnapping Benton (who's supposed to be on leave) to watch a demonstration coincidently being held by the master. this serial can also be called Mike Yates and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day given everything that happened to him in essentially the space of five minutes, my poor boy kawaii2234 View profile Like Liked 0 24 April 2025 · 38 words Review by Azurillkirby Eps 5 and 6 dragged a little bit, but otherwise, this was an amazing serial! This was the story that Delgado's Master really deserved to truly show his strength as a character. I also really liked the two scientists! A+. Azurillkirby View profile Like Liked 0 19 April 2025 · 40 words Review by Scottybguud A fun way to end the season. Got all the regulars from this era, a good story with some philosophy and mythical aspects. On par with Day of the Daleks as possibly the best of this season in my opinion. Scottybguud View profile Like Liked 0 Show All Reviews (12) Open in new window Statistics AVG. Rating481 members 3.27 / 5 Member Statistics Watched 902 Favourited 59 Reviewed 12 Saved 7 Skipped 1 Related Stories Telos Novellas Fallen Gods Rating: 3.82 Story Skipped Book Reviews(1) More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Telos Novellas Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Other adaptations of this story: We define an adaptation as a recreation of a similar story but on a different medium or with different characters. Target Collection Doctor Who: The Time Monster Rating: 3.33 Story Skipped Book More Actions View Sets Close Related Sets Set of Stories: Target Collection Add Review Edit Review Skip Skipped Unowned Owned Save to my list Saved Quotes Add Quote Link to Quote Favourite BRIGADIER: You know, if this got out, you'd be the laughing stock of UNIT. A dream. Really, Doctor, you'll be consulting the entrails of a sheep next. — The Brigadier, The Time Monster Show All Quotes (4) Open in new window Transcript Needs checking Episode One [Nightmare] (The volcanic eruption from Inferno jolts the Doctor upright from his chaise longue on a mosaic floor. Either side of an altar stand a pair of large Minoan quadruple-headed axes, and behind them a giant complex crystal pulses.) MASTER: Welcome! Welcome to your new Master! (The Master breaks into maniacal laughter, a lightning bolt comes down and he vanishes. Volcanic smoke fills the room, there are images of ceremonial masks and Minoan gods and goddesses.) Show Full Transcript Open in new window
