History Recap / DoctorWhoS2E9TheTimeMeddler

* RippleEffectProofMemory: Discussed by Steven and Vicki, who wonder whether they'll still remember the old history if the Monk succeeds in creating a new one.
** Also averted - apparently one of the changes the Monk has made was to give Leonardo da Vinci some ideas for a flying machine.

* ExospeakGag: The Doctor breaks the dimensional controller of the Monk's TARIDS, making the interior the same size as the sarcophagus it uses as its outside - tiny, but perhaps just small enough to squeeze into. When the Monk shows up again hell-bent on revenge, they share this exchange:

* ContinuityNod: Vicki mentions that she hopes they've arrived in New York, as she'd like a closer look at it than the brief glimpse they got a few episodes earlier.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The only surviving copies of the story are censored, with the killing of the two Norwegian scouts Ulf and Sven by the villagers cut (though the audio portion survives from an off-air recording and is included on the DVD release as a special feature). The death of Gunnar is uncut, as episode two was still in the archives (albeit as an orphaned episode) when the BBC stopped junking episodes.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The way the Doctor and the Monk each independently use a very similar technique to disable one of the two Norwegian scouts may be foreshadowing of their shared origins.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: It's fairly clearly implied that Edith is gang-raped by the Norwegian scouts.

* HornyVikings: The Doctor and his friends find a horned viking helmet at the beginning of the story, setting up the famous quip about space helmets for cows. The leader of the Norwegian scouts who show up later wears an equally-inaccurate helmet with little metal wings.

* TapOnTheHead: The two Norwegian scouts who take refuge in the monastery are each easily disabled by being whacked over the head with a plank of wood so thin that it breaks dramatically on contact.

* TooDumbToLive: The Norwegian scouts who are supposed to be gathering information for their invading forces, but decide to RapePillageAndBurn at the first dwelling they come across.

[[http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x1kvq7_matrixarchive_the-time-meddler Watch it here.]]

-> ''"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 buggering 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 buggering me!''

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.

** '''Vicki:''' ''"It's a Tardis! The Monk's got a Tardis!"''
* YouLookFamiliar: Edith, the villager the Doctor befriends, is played by Alethea Charlton, who was the cavewoman in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild the very first Doctor Who story]].

-> ''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 [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar buggering]] me!''

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The only surviving copies of the story are censored, with the killing of the two Viking scouts Ulf and Sven by the villagers cut (though the audio portion survives from an off-air recording and is included on the DVD release as a special feature). The death of Gunnar is uncut, as episode two was still in the archives (albeit as an orphaned episode) when the BBC stopped junking episodes.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The way the Doctor and the Monk each independently use a very similar technique to disable one of the two Viking scouts may be foreshadowing of their shared origins.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: It's fairly clearly implied that Edith is gang-raped by the Viking scouts.

* HornyVikings: The Doctor and his friends find a horned viking helmet at the beginning of the story, setting up the famous quip about space helmets for cows. The leader of the Viking scouts who show up later wears an equally-inaccurate helmet with little metal wings.

* TapOnTheHead: The two Viking scouts who take refuge in the monastery are each easily disabled by being whacked over the head with a plank of wood so thin that it breaks dramatically on contact.

* TooDumbToLive: The Viking scouts who are supposed to be gathering information for their invading forces, but decide to RapePillageAndBurn at the first dwelling they come across.

'''WARNING! THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''

* [[{{Bowdlerise}} Bowdlerisation]]: The only surviving copies of the story are censored, with the killing of the two Viking scouts by the villagers cut. The death of Gunnar is uncut, as episode two was still in the archives (albeit as an orphaned episode) when the BBC stopped junking episodes.
** However it should be noted that The audio portion of Ulf and Sven sequence survives from an off-air recording and is included on the DVD release as a special feature.

!Tropes

* DistaffCounterpart: The Meddling Monk receives one in the 2012 novelization of ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]''. Among a list of Time Lords who broke with traditional Gallifreyan inactivity is "The Interfering Nun".

* PortalSlam

Turns out that one of the Doctor's (as yet unnamed) own people is here, complete with his own TARDIS -- whose chameleon circuit actually ''works''. He plans to defeat Harald Haadrada's Viking fleet with nuclear bazookas, allowing King Harold to win the battle of Hastings, and then help the English accelerate their development so that they have "jet airliners by 1320" and Shakespeare's ''{{Hamlet}}'' can premiere on TV.

After thwarting his plans, the Doctor removes the Dimensional Control from the eponymous Meddling Monk's TARDIS, shrinking the interior to the same size as the exterior (a coffin) and leaving the monk stranded.

* CompoundInterestTimeTravelGambit

* GivingRadioToTheRomans
* HornyVikings

* RippleEffectProofMemory: Discussed.
* StickEmUp

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans
* WhamEpisode