Doctor Who: The Time Meddler

Cody learns some "pseudo-history".

As I've said before in Doctor Who write-ups, you could see a pattern in how the stories of the First Doctor (William Hartnell) were told in the first two seasons. A sci-fi story would be followed by a story where the Doctor and his companions would go to some point in Earth history. Sometimes the show would stray from the sci-fi / historical / sci-fi / historical pattern, but it was in place for the most part. With The Time Meddler, Doctor Who reached what is considered to be the first example in its run of a "pseudo-historical" or "ahistorical" story. That is, one that's set in Earth history, but has a substantial sci-fi element. And I have to say, I would rather see a "pseudo-historical" story than one that just follows the Doctor and his companions through a straightforward historical event. I'm always hesistant going into the historical serials. Spice it up with some sci-fi and I can be more certain that I'm going to enjoy the viewing experience.

I freely admit that my knowledge of world history is lacking. Most of what I know about history is contained within the borders of the young country known as the United States of America. Tell me The Time Meddler is going to be set right before the Battle of Hastings and I'm not going to know what you're talking about until I either look it up on Wikipedia or watch the serial and get a history lesson from Doctor Who. These historical episodes were supposed to be educational for the kids watching the show, and they're educational for me in my adulthood as well. Thanks to Doctor Who and Wikipedia, I now know that the Battle of Hastings is when the recently crowned King of England Harold Godwinson, who had just beaten an invading force from Norway (which was aided by his own brother), had to rush south across his country to meet an invading force from Normandy... and that time was defeated, just outside of the seaside town of Hastings, on October 14, 1066.

The TARDIS materializes on the coast where the Viking invaders from Normandy will soon be landing. The Doctor and his travelling companion Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) are still sad over the departure of their pals Ian and Barbara at the end of the previous serial The Chase when they discovered that Steven Taylor (Peter Purves), a space pilot they encountered during The Chase, is a stowaway on the TARDIS - and he isn't convinced that he's in a vehicle that can travel through time and space.

Steven will come to believe in the TARDIS's abilities soon enough, but it doesn't help that they find anachronisms like a wristwatch on local when they venture out of the police box-shaped vehicle. We'll come to find out that a mysterious monk (played by Peter Butterworth) is to blame for things like that watch, as he has a TARDIS of his own. He is from the same world as the Doctor, he just departed fifty years or so after the Doctor did. And unlike the Doctor, this unscrupulous fellow likes to meddle with time and use time travel for his own gain, and his own idea of heroism.

This monk provided an anti-gravitational lift to help the construction of Stonehenge. He discussed powered flight with Leonardo da Vinci. He made a lot of money by accruing a couple hundred years of interest. He envisions a world that has jets in the sky by 1320, that will allow William Shakespeare to broadcast his stories on television. And a world in which Harold Godwinson will remain King, as he believes this will be the first step in saving the world from a lot of war in the future. When the Viking invasion fleet draws close to the shore, the monk is going to blast them with an atomic cannon. Of course, the Doctor and his companions can't let him alter world history to such a drastic degree.

I really enjoyed this story. In the past, we would have just seen our TARDIS-riders interact with regular 1066 locals and prepare for / deal with the arrival of the Vikings. Putting the sci-fi element of the monk and his time meddling into the midst of the story makes it much more interesting. We can still learn about the Battle of Hastings and all that while also talking about anti-gravitational lifts and atomic cannons. It was also interesting to have a villain who's from the same world as the Doctor. The idea doesn't bring a lot of information on that world with it, but it's cool nonetheless. The Doctor isn't the only bouncing around in a TARDIS out there.

The occasional straightforward historical serial will still be fine with me, but I'm eager to see more of these so-called "pseudo-historical" or "ahistorical" stories. Knowing there's more of them ahead gives my interest and excitement a boost as I continue watching my way through the history of Doctor Who.