History Recap / DoctorWhoS2E9TheTimeMeddler

'''Production code:''' S

Written by Creator/DennisSpooner. This four-episode serial first aired from July 3-24, 1965.

Episodes: "The Watcher", "The Meddling Monk", "A Battle of Wits", "Checkmate".

-->-- '''The Doctor''' shows Steven around.

!!Tropes

--> '''Steven:''' Say, this is quite a ship you've got here, Doc. Never seen anything like it.
--> '''Doctor:''' Now listen to me, young man. Sit down. Now, there are two things you can do. One, sit there until you get your breath back, and two, don't call me Doc! Now do I make myself clear?
--> '''Steven:''' Yes, yes, whatever you say, Doc--tor!

----

->''"That is the dematerialisation control, and that over yonder is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers that is a chair with a panda on it]]... Sheer {{poetry}}, dear boy! Now please stop bothering me!"''

->''"That is the dematerialisation control, and that over yonder is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers that is a chair with a panda on it]]... Sheer poetry, dear boy! Now please stop bothering me!"''

* ArbitraryScepticism: Steven (who has been rescued by a group of Dalek-tailed time travellers from spherical, apparently sentient robots with flamethrowers, and then stowed away in a huge spaceship that looks from the outside like a tiny Police Box) point-blankly refuses to believe that the TARDIS can travel through time, even though everyone around them dresses and acts like it's 1066, and constantly announces to the Doctor that time travel is obviously impossible and that the joke is over, which the Doctor finds extremely annoying. He later finds a [[SchizoTech Anglo-
Saxon hunter wearing a wristwatch]], which he takes as confirmation of his hypothesis, but which tips off Vicki that something is badly wrong. Turns out that the monk is also a time traveller.

** Though given that the whole village had turned against him, demanding his head, and the fact that his two aides were both dead, it’s just as likely the Monk decided to abandon his plan and get away.

* AnachronisticClue: Vicki and Steven realize that there is something dodgy going on when they discover that a warrior is wearing a wristwatch. The Doctor likewise reaches this conclusion when he hears the monks' chant slowing down, showing that it's a recording.

* ArbitraryScepticism: Steven (who has been rescued by a group of Dalek-tailed time travellers from spherical, apparently sentient robots with flamethrowers, and then stowed away in a huge spaceship that looks from the outside like a tiny Police Box) point-blankly refuses to believe that the TARDIS can travel through time, even though everyone around them dresses and acts like it's 1066, and constantly announces to the Doctor that time travel is obviously impossible and that the joke is over, which the Doctor finds extremely annoying. He later sees a [[SchizoTech monk wearing a wristwatch]], which he takes as confirmation of his hypothesis, but which tips off Vicki that something is badly wrong. Turns out that the monk is also a time traveller.

-> ''"That is the dematerialisation control, and that over yonder is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers that is a chair with a panda on it]]... Sheer poetry, dear boy! Now please stop bothering me!"''

* ArbitraryScepticism: Steven (who has been rescued by a group of Dalek-tailed time travellers from spherical, apparently sentient robots with flamethrowers, and then stowed away in a huge spaceship that looks from the outside like a tiny Police Box) point-blankly refuses to believe that the TARDIS can travel through time, even though everyone around them dresses and acts like it's 1066, and constantly announces to the Doctor that time travel is obviously impossible and that the joke is over, which the Doctor finds extremely annoying. He later sees a [[SchizoTech monk wearing a wristwatch]], which he takes as confirmation of his hypothesis, but which tips off Vicki that something is badly wrong. Turns out that the monk is also a time traveller...he is actually a gramophone record.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: Wulnoth sees vikings in the monastery, and the villagers come to the correct conclusion that they’re in leave with the Monk… before coming to the completely reasonable, but also wrong, conclusion that the Monk was TheMole for Hadrada.

* MetaTwist: Up to now, every story has either been a historical story or a sci-fi story. This one tricks the audience into thinking it's the former, since another historical was "due"... right up until the first cliffhanger reveals it's actually the latter.

The one where a monk has a record player. And a gun. A big gun.

The story has a number of firsts -- the first Time Lord other than the Doctor and Susan (though the race is still not named); the first pseudo-historical story mixing real history with sci-fi elements; and of course, the first story without any of the Doctor's original companions. It also has a second, as in the Meddling Monk being the show's second reoccurring enemy after the Daleks.

-> ''"That is the dematerialisation control, and that over yonder is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers that is a chair]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext with a panda on it]]... Sheer poetry, dear boy! Now please stop bothering me!"''

-> ''"That is the dematerialisation control, and that over yonder is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, that is a chair with a panda on it... Sheer poetry, dear boy! Now please stop bothering me!"''

Written by Dennis Spooner. This four-episode serial first aired from July 3-24, 1965.

Written by Dennis Spooner. This serial first aired July 3-24, 1965.

Written by Dennis Spooner. This serial first aired July 3, 1965.

* AbsenteeActor: Creator/WilliamHartnell does not appear in Episode 2 as he was on holiday. A pre-taped recording of his voice is played when the Doctor is locked in a cell.