Doctor Who - Myths And Legends Box Set: The Time Monster / Underworld / The Horns of Nimon [DVD]

Three generally unloved DOCTOR WHO stories from three distinct eras of the show bundled together in a (very) loosely themed collection. Certainly these are not fan favourites, but there's still a lot of entertainment to be found here, not least because even below average DOCTOR WHO has a lot to enjoy if you're in the right mood for it.

THE TIME MONSTER from 1972 brings to a close Jon Pertwee's third series playing the role of the Time Lord and is a mish-mash of ideas that starts with a nightmare and ends with a gag that might have been written for a "Carry On" film. Along the way there are some dodgy scientific shenanigans afoot as the Doctor and Jo Grant (as played by Katy Manning) have their final Earthbound battle with Roger Delgado's original (and rather splendid) Master and take a trip to ancient Atlantis where Ingrid Pitt (amongst others) is plotting a downfall or two. The next broadcast story, THE THREE DOCTORS, would see the Doctor's exile ended, so this is one last "proper" outing for the era's UNIT "family" and at times it makes for a gloriously colourful and mad romp whilst occasionally looking rather underwhelming.

THE TIME MONSTER has comparatively few extras, really, although the DOCTOR WHO range does generally give you more than most and all these three stories have the usual PDF materials and photo galleries, etc. This story has a longish background piece that concentrates on the bonkers science and a commentary track that uses various styles across the 6 episodes. John Levene (Sgt. Benton) commentates all alone on parts two and four with limited effect, Toby Hadoke mediates the late Barry Letts and others on three more, and some professional fans have a ball with episode three.

UNDERWORLD is the second to last story of Tom Baker's fourth series playing the part, alongside Louise Jameson as Leela, and is a four parter that dates from 1978. This was the first series with Graham Williams as Producer and is most kindly described as where the money ran out. Actually part one is a cracker, and is very visually impressive in many ways, but the production values rather fall apart after that. However the script for the whole story isn't half bad at all despite its JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (amongst others) roots showing, and there are still many moments when it manages to shine, before the Doctor and Leela save the day and head off to combat THE INVASION OF TIME.

Tom Baker and Louise Jameson have great fun on commentary duties alongside Bob Baker, the surviving half of the scriptwriting duo. Other extras include fairly extensive "behind the scenes" items which prove very interesting on the whole and go a long way towards explaining the production problems.

THE HORNS OF NIMON dates from the cusp of 1979 and 1980 and is Graham Williams' last broadcast story as Producer before John Nathan-Turner's "new broom" would introduce wholesale changes to the programme with THE LEISURE HIVE. Tom Baker is in his penultimate year in the part, this time alongside a rather foxy Lalla Ward as Romana in a script overseen by Douglas Adams and everyone seems to be having an awful lot of fun with this mad old science fiction take on THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR whilst the budget has once again been stretched well beyond breaking point. Actually, there's quite a lot to like in this four-part story, but there's also quite a lot of silliness too.

Commentary this time is from actors Lalla Ward, Janet Ellis, Graham Crowden alongside writer Anthony Read and fairly bubbles along. The pick of the other extras is a lengthy piece looking at the long connection between DOCTOR WHO and BLUE PETER which is fairly interesting if you like that sort of thing.

All-in-all a loosely linked collection of stories like this is never going to be to everyone's taste, as you have to buy all three to get the one(s) you like, but with the number of potential new releases ever diminishing, you're bound to get the odd story that is less popular being put out, and all of these stories do at least have something to offer, if you're in the right frame of mind to enjoy them.

Okay, first off I'll get this out of the way: it's clear that the folk putting these DVD releases together knew that they were faced with three, well, let's say 'less popular' stories, and found a very tenuous link for a boxset to get them out of the way - the fact that they were all inspired by Greek myths (Atlantis, Jason and the Argonauts, Theseus and the Minotaur). And while it's true that these wouldn't be my first choices to show casual fans of the new revamped Who, I think there's still much here for hardcore fans to enjoy. This is true of the extras - there may not be a huge amount, but what there is does give you a sense of what was going on behind the scenes.

Firstly, The Time Monster. I don't see why this always gets a bad press from fans. Yes it's a 6 parter and so there is some padding, but it's brimming full of fun ideas about time (which had been sorely missing from three years of UNIT stories by this point). There's plenty of different things to see throughout - Atlantis itself doesn't even appear until Episode 5 - and the idea of Kronos is a tantalising one. Admittedly the effect of a man in white with wings on wires doesn't always work, but at times it's quite striking. Plus at least it's a visually interesting story and quite experimental in places.

As is Underworld, at least in production. Sadly, story-wise it is a bit dull. A mysterious first episode sets the scene for adventure and even expands on Time Lord history, but it does degenerate into a bit of a runaround quite quickly which is a shame. However, production-wise this was quite revolutionary - 1970s inflation meant massive budget cuts vthe only way the cave scenes could be filmed was against a blue screen with CSO, which had not been done before to such a huge extent on any programme before. And surprisingly, it holds up well for the most part. Add to this the best spaceship modelwork in classic-Who, a nice spaceship set, cool weapons and decently thrilling lasergun battles, and it's not all bad. This is a DVD release that really benefits from the extras, making you marvel that it was made at all, and admiring it's pioneer spirit.

And so to The Horns of Nimon, a story once held up to ridicule as the worst of Who, but which has been reassessed in recent years. Where once it was declaimed as 'pantomime', now it is recognised as a lighthearted romp, and there's much fun here, once you get past the Nimon's silly arm gestures. Romana gets loads to do here, and while there are very silly moments, Lalla Ward and Tom Baker play the galactic menace in deadly earnest. This was the end of an era - last story produced by Graham Williams, last with the old theme tune arrangement - when Who returned for a new series it would be the glossy, serious The Leisure Hive, under the helm of John Nathan-Turner.

So, as with all of the old stories, there is something to admire and enjoy in all of these stories. Recommended for fans, but that's no bad thing.

The Time Monster, a classic UNIT earth-bound Jon Pertwee serial starring the Master - ruined. The first four or so episodes of this classic adventure is pure and utter classic Pertwee, the last 2 episodes however are dull and uninteresting. I never thought that I would say this but they should have stayed on earth and tried to defeat Kronos from Cambridge University. The story starts with the Master taking on his latest guise as Professor Thascalos, an expert in the TOMTIT {Transmission of Matter Through Interstitial Time} project. He brainwashes Dr Percival, the head at Cambridge and sets about spending most of his time there reading and smoking Cigars, the usual Master antics. That is until of course, the Doctor and UNIT arrive to take a gander at what work is being done at the university. The Master panics and activates the time mechanism and thusly opens the flood gates ta a cracking story filled with both thrills and disappointment.

Now, when I first saw this story, via UKTV Gold's re-broadcasting of classic Doctor Who in the 90's I loved it. However, the only part of the story that appealed to me then as now is the first 4 episodes of this 6 part tale, basically the earth bound part. Then, I found myself disliking the last episodes that were set in Atlantis, we had been their before in Patrick Troughton's The Underwater Menace there was no need to visit the sunken city again. I just feel that the sets and costumes, as well as the acting, let's the whole show down somewhat. So, even with the latest DVD release from 2-entertain, I still can't find myself warming to it.

There are however, some great pros about the Time Monster which make it a very compelling and thrilling little piece. Firstly, Jon Pertwee puts in a much more dimensional performance as the Third Doctor displaying some of the emotion that would be more prevalent in his later years. Jo also has some lovely moments, such as her scenes with the Master in the TARDIS being a great highlight. And then we come to the main man himself, Roger Delgado's Master, who is at his absolute zenith here and is positively electrifying throughout the story. The Master, making his penultimate appearance in the series as Delgado, portrays much of his trademark season 8 traits. Hypnosis, persuasion, charm, evilness and overall power. I think every story he appears in benefits the serial for the better.

The BBC DVD release of this half-classic Jon Pertwee serial is not the greatest, there is no making of feature and very little in the way of bonus material. Furthermore, the NTSC tapes that were returned from America in the 80's look highly dubious to me, displaying a lot of picture imperfections and overall muddiness. I thank the Doctor Who Restoration Team for their tireless efforts anyhow. Still, this is the best quality you are going to be able to view the story, so go ahead and order this Master class serial now. 8/10. For The Master.

Many thanks for reading my review of The Time Monster, it's greatly appreciated,

P.S. I shall review the Tom Baker serials "Underworld" and "The Horns of Nimon" when I get around to viewing them.

M.B.