Product Details

• Actors: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison
• Writers: Sydney Newman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: BBC Warner
• VHS Release Date: January 14, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000714FA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,990 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Groovy, hi-camp fun, November 20, 2002

By 

Shane Spangler (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Doctor Who - The Time Monster [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Well, it's not the best of the Pertwee era, but it's not the worst, and it's certainly good fun. And Roger Delgado is true to form as the best Master of all Time and Space. Pertwee and Katy Manning have great chemistry as always. Look out for Dave Prowse (aka Darth Vadar's body) - he's the one with the bull's head that charges Jon Pertwee and his cape. The TARDIS console room gets a face lift, complete with Tupperware bowls in the walls. The Chronivore (antagonist #2 - his whites are VERY white!) is laughable, as he swings through the studio on invisible wires... BUT - if you're watching Doctor Who to see great special effects, you're missing the point! Grab some friends, some snack food and some drinks, and treat yourself to some truly groovy, 1970s fantasy.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Who, January 27, 2003

By 

Alan D. Patten III "A. Daniel Patten, III" (Taylors (Greenville), SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - The Time Monster [VHS] (VHS Tape)

While VHS is a dying format, those of us who have devoted most of our lives to collecting Doctor Who videos can't resist buying them.
Since Dr. Who is no longer on TV in many places these days, it's been a long time since I have seen many of them, and "The Time Monster" did not disapoint.
Unlike most 6-part Dr. Who adventures that start of strong through the first 3 episodes but end up dragging the story out; "The Time Monster" maintains a steady pace throught.
There's some neat slow motion camera work throughout the story, and very few "wobbly sets" and other special effects gaffs that are not usually appreciated by the non-whovian.
Best viewed on a rainy day with a nice hot cup of Earl Grey.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars So that's what happened to Atlantis!, January 25, 2003

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Doctor Who - The Time Monster [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Doctor has a nightmare, more a premonition, of the Master being in control using a trident-shaped crystal, and it turns out he is right. His nemesis, using the alias Professor Thascales, has invented a time-device called TOMTIT (Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time) at Wooton, just out of Cambridge. It basically dematerializes an object, sends it through "the crack between now and now" and rematerializes it at its destination. And yes, it does use a trident-shaped crystal. He has Dr. Ruth Ingram and her brother Stuart as his assistants.

The Brigadier is sent as a UNIT observer, but during a trial run, Stuart is aged to an octagenarian. The Master then calls for Kronos, who is a chronovore, dangerous creatures living in the time vortex that cab "swallow a life as quickly as a boa constrictor can swallow a rabbit. Fur and all!"

The Doctor and Jo arrive at Wooton because they detect the Master's TARDIS and comes upon an aged Stuart, who mentions the name Kronos. From then, it's the Doctor and Jo against the Master and Krasis, the high priest of Atlantis who unwittingly helps the Master in controlling the dangerous chronovore.

One interesting goof is the word "chronovore." "Chrono" is Greek, while "vore" is Latin. Surely "chronophage" should have been more appropriate, or "temporavore"? Another is the V-1 rocket that the Master brings through time against Yates' convoy. A farmer remembers a V-1 striking in the exact area in 1944. Unless there was more than one V-1 attack in that area, it's impossible for the farmer remembering it if it had been taken out of time. And Aidan Murphy (Hippias) has a shrill and irritating voice.

Other items: the Doctor and the Master's TARDIS materializing within each other is later duplicated in Logopolis. And the rounded wall designs in the Doctor's TARDIS is a neat improvement from the usual. In fact I wish it'd stayed that way. Jo is at her most loyal and bubbliest, and not only has a chance to wear her usual mini and long boots but a nice Atlantean dress (and surely a wig). And one must suspend some sort of disbelief over the time flow analogue constructed by the Doctor, created out of a wine bottle, two forks, two corks, keychains, and some piece of equipment. At least the Doctor's having fun.

George Cormack (Dalios) would later appear in Jon Pertwee's final story Planet Of The Spiders as the old mountaintop hermit referred to in Episode 6. Dave Prowse (the Guardian) is best known as the body of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy. The big guest star here only appears in the last two episodes, and that's Hammer horror queen Ingrid Pitt (Galleia), whose deep sultry voice is used to great effect.

The Time Monster has the reputation of being one of the stinkers of the Jon Pertwee era, but that is hardly the case. It is an engaging 6-parter, one of the best UNIT stories, and features one of the Master's boldest schemes.