The Time Meddler

So. Now travelling without Barbara and Ian, Vicki and the Doctor discover that Steven Taylor did not perish in the war between the Daleks and the Mechanoids - he managed to find the TARDIS and pass out inside. Of course he doesn't believe that the TARDIS is a time machine, and remains skeptical until they arrive on the English coast in 1066. The travellers meet the local Saxons, who are living in fear of Viking raiders, but then they realize that they are not the only time travellers here: there is another present, in disguise as a holy man.

Enter the meddling Monk.

The Monk, however, is not any old time traveller, he is actually one of the Doctor's own people come to Earth on a mission of his own to change the course of history. Think back to The Aztecs when the Doctor continually stressed that history could not be changed - it now appears that it can be changed, and if the Monk gets his way it certainly will.

A lot of people erroneously go on about this being the Doctor's first encounter with another of his own race, but it's really the second, seeing as Susan was also from the same planet. Oh how fast we forget, but it her case why not. It is, however, our first glance inside a TARDIS that is not the Doctor's. As the years progress there will be others, but at the time when The Time Meddler was made there had been no real discussion of exactly where the Doctor came from, what his society was like, and why he left. This is not a wasted opportunity, either, for it's just not time to go into detail about it when the Doctor is still a stranger to us; all will be revealed in the fullness of time.

So how does Steven stack up as the new companion? Well, he's headstrong and demands proof when the Doctor and Vicki try to explain time travel to him, but once he is given that proof he requires no more convincing. He's not as cautious as Ian, and has a bit more of a sarcastic edge to him; but then again Steven is an astronaut and a trained explorer, not a school teacher ripped from his normal time and place. Steven seems a bit cowed at Vicki's familiarity with time travel and doesn't want to be told what to do by a young girl, but he eventually relents and acknowledges that she is the more experienced of the two. As for his relationship with the Doctor, he makes the huge mistake of referring to him as "Doc" and must be put back in his place, although it is played as an obvious gag.

And thus season two closes. As with The Reign of Terror the closing credits are scrolled against a vista of stars, but not before the faces of the TARDIS crew are superimposed over it, gazing at their future with wonder. Season three will be a trial for all of them, no matter how optimistic they are.

But before we go into season three, let's take advantage of the break between stories and look at a non-canon adventure in fan fiction...

NEXT EPISODE : OFFWORLD VEGAS