Doctor Who is a show that when it's good it's great but when it's bad it's really bad with the show always adding things to it's lore. With the episode that i'm about to review for you all today being one such episode as this really is the first episode that sees the TARDIS get the name that we really all know it by and sees introduction of a time travelers golden rule and so then join me as I review the episode that sees Steven officially join the TARDIS team with the episode in question being called simply just "The Time Meddler" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is The Doctor , Vicki and Steven land on earth and have to stop an evil time travelling from changing the course of European history forever. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time tho that's also the issue this episodes plot really isn't all that good as the episodes plot just isn't that interesting and while it's normal for a TV show to have some bad episodes it is unusual for that episode to be written by the shows then script editor with this episodes plot not really being all that entertaining nor is it all that engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is William Hartnell as The Doctor , Maureen O'Brien as Vicki and Peter Purves as Steven Taylor. Also starring in this episode is Peter Butterworth as The Monk , Alethea Charlton as Edith , Peter Russell as Eldred , Michael Miller as Wulnoth , Michael Guest as A Saxon Hunter , Geoffrey Cheshire as A Viking Leader , Norman Hartley as Ulf , David Anderson as Sven and Ronald Rich as Gunnar The Giant.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty alot better then what it really had right to be. With both William Hartnell and Peter Butterworth rather rightfully getting alot of praise for there performances as they both turn in some truly wonderful performances in this episode and while both Maureen O'Brien and Peter Purves try to turn in some good performances both they and the rest of the episodes cast are let down by the episodes script which gives none of them absolutely nothing to work with interms of what there respective characters personalities are even meant to be.
As was stated at the very start of this review this is the episode that sees Steven Taylor officially become a companion.While yes the character was indeed introduced in the previous episode "The Chase" he didn't become a companion as they all believed that he died in that episodes climax with the character officially becoming a companion in this episode which was a really smart move as of course the previous episode was all about saying goodbye to Ian and Barbera two characters who have been with the show since episode one and by introducing him in that episode it means that when he does show up at the start of this episode the audience is already very familiar with him altho the episode doesn't really give a reason as to why The Doctor Would indeed take him on as a companion as Steven doesn't really display anything that would catch The Doctor's attention.
This episode does add to the lore of show by explaining what the one golden rule of time travel with it being to never interfere with history. However it also adds to the lore in another way by introducing us to an evil time traveler something which we really hadn't seen before at this point in the shows history and while the episode doesn't really go as far with that idea is it perhaps could have done it is a solid idea so much so that that basic core concept would resurface again years later and to more success with the introduction of The Master but at the same time it would have been nice to see The Monk become somewhat of a regular villain as he's someone who have outwitted The Doctor and his companions during other episodes and while the character would indeed be brought back for The Dalek's Master Plan it would have been great to see the character show up after the events of that episode and become a recurring villain like The Daleks for example.
This episode is the very definition of a nothing episode as not alot actually happens in this episode with Steven and Vicki mostly wondering around looking for The Doctor and The Doctor himself spending alot of time being captured by The Monk. Which while those scenes with The Doctor and The Monk are some really good scenes there also quite alot of scenes that add nothing to the overall plot of the episode and the same thing also being true for the stuff with Vicki and Steven as alot of their scenes could have been removed from the overall plot of the episode which means that for alot of the episode we are just watching the characters looking around trying to find each other and there's only so long that you can see something like that before it starts to get boring which in the case of this episode is very quickly and when you take into account that this episode really should have shown us why Steven should be a companion to The Doctor is really something that shouldn't been the case as this episode should have been a showcase for Steven and for showing us why he should get to travel with The Doctor and what his relationship with The Doctor is going to be like in the show moving forward and yet the episode doesn't do that at all with the episode instead just focusing on giving us scenes that add nothing to the overall plot of the episode and really nothing more then that.
It was rather interesting seeing The Monk's TARDIS given that it's meant to be a more newer model to The Doctor's. However mostly due to budgetary reasons the two TARDIS'S look exactly the same on the inside with there being nothing to make them look visually different which is something that they really should have done just to make The Monks TARDIS interior look different to that of The Doctors but as it is they both look exactly the same which does make it hard t tell which interior is who's in any scene but if they did have the budget to make The Monk's TARDIS interior different then they could have gone with a more gothic steampunk look which would have been perfect for this character as this character is evil to the core and due to the fact that he's willing to change human history just for a laugh giving his interior a more darker theme would thematically make a whole lot of sense and it would have looked really visually interesting as well.
Now then while I cannot for the absolutely life of me remember whatever this episodes grand total running time was I do know that for a fact that this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of roughly one hour and thirty minuets. Which was such a short amount of time for this episode to have as instead of being just four incredibly short episodes this episode really should have been five or even six episodes long as that would have allowed for the story of the episode to become more fully fleshed out and it would have allowed the makers of the episode to fully develop it's characters and yet because of the fact that the episode is only four episodes long it means that the episode can't fully develop either it's pot of it's characters as they have to rush along to get to the next plot point but I will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a drama show that means that I have to actually talk about the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual drama that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With this episodes drama not really being all that forced as alot of it felt very in character but at the same time as the story behind the episode is so weak it doesn't matter how good the drama is as the episode just doesn't have the story to back it up and yet it's in this episodes drama where the acting between William Hartnell and Peter Butterworth really does shine through with those two having a bunch of really good dramatic scenes together all of which work really well for this episode are all mostly in character for both the Monk and the Doctor in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this episode was a rather fun episode it's also one that felt like the waste of a good idea and of a potentially good villain as well but the episode is still a fairly fun episode to watch in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that means that means that this very episode really does earn itself a grad old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Doctor Who fandom wiki page , Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from these very episode that I used in this very review being Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not all of the images that are really from this episode and are of course on Google Images are really all really fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.