Doctor Who: The Master Tin Set – Colony In Space / Time Monster
Amazon.co.uk Review
The six episode The Time Monster was the final story of the ninth season of Doctor Who, a strong run which also saw Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor facing The Day of the Daleks and The Sea Devils. The Master, Roger Delgado, is at the Newton Institute, experimenting with a fragment of crystal, which can summon Kronos, a time-eating entity from beyond space-time. The Doctor, Jo Grant (Katy Manning) and UNIT become involved in a sequence of strange temporal dislocations, eventually leading to ancient Atlantis itself. There Jo faces the Minotaur, played by Dave Prowse in a bull mask five years before he found fame as Darth Vader. The Time Monster is classic Doctor Who at its most surreal, the effects ranging from mediocre to functional, the Atlantis sets surprisingly lavish. The Doctor may escape from eternity by playing the scriptwriting equivalent of a get-out-of-jail-free card, but the sequence, in which his Tardis is inside the Master’s Tardis, while the Master’s Tardis is simultaneously inside the Doctor’s Tardis, is a mind-bending highlight.
Somewhat mistitled, the Colony in Space of this John Pertwee adventure is actually on the barren colony world Uxarieus. A group of settlers are struggling to make crops grow when an Interplanetary Mining Corporation team led by Morris Perry, effective as an official with the mind of a Nazi bureaucrat, arrive to claim the planet. Despite the sometimes-laughable production values and a few gaping holes in the plot Malcolm Hulke’s script contains enough intrigue and incident to keep the whole thing moving briskly for six episodes. Colony in Space was significant for being the Third Doctor’s first adventure away from earth, fitting into the eighth season after the Claws of Axos. Though less celebrated than The Demons, this is an entertaining adventure and a reminder of just how much of the radical politics of 1970’s British SF was reflected in Doctor Who. –Gary S Dalkin
Doctor Who: The Master Tin Set – Colony In Space / Time Monster
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Yes, the Master is a great villain, albeit over-used and often given the most ridiculous, contrived plotlines. Yes, this is supposedly a classic era of Doctor Who. And yes, Pertwee is always dependable and watchable. If becoming rather predictable and staid by the end of his era. Just one thing, though – six parts can be ever so tedious when your plot barely manages to fill two. Quite which is the worst story out of this sorry pair is hard to determine – most would plump for “The Time Monster” but that is at least wittier in places than the relatively po-faced and grim “Colony in Space”. Oh, and “The Time Monster” also has the unintentional hilarity of the minotaur to liven things up, too. Fans sometimes dignify the most slap-dash and run-of-the-mill rubbish as “classic” merely because it is old, or has a (in their eyes) better leading man or because it was what Doctor Who was like when they were 8. Don’t be taken in. These will entertain, but they are definitely not classics – and for a Master box set, it’s a shame to think that all the best Master stories were released some time ago. Best wait for those on DVD, really.
Rating: 1 / 5
With the release of this souvenir set of two Doctor Who adventures from the Pertwee era, all but 3 of his 24 adventures are now commercially available. Unfortunately, with the exception of Ambassadors of death (which is coming in May 2002), what was left on the shelf was left there for a reason! It’s a neat idea to showcase the talents of the original Master as played by Roger Delgado, but sadly all his best stories are already available. Colony in space, the first Pertwee story to take place off the Earth, is the better of these two, and certainly holds up relatively well. Delgado is pretty slick as The Master, and Pertwee was still putting some effort into the role of the Doctor. It’s a relatively good story, well acted by a supporting cast featuring Eastenders Tony Caunter and Coronation Street’s Helen Worth, but like most six parters, does suffer from being a bit padded. That’s nothing to the padding of the second tape The time monster. One of the worst examples of Doctor Who available. Cliche ridden, over long, badly acted and padded beyond belief. Episode 4 seems to exist for no other purpose than filling the story to the correct length, and does nothing to move the plot along. Also, the quality of this tape is somewhat dubious. Episode 3 is particularly weak, clearly being a poor NTSC master transfered into PAL. Episode 4 could be the same, but is better quality. Episode 2 has suffered in the transfer process, and the screen ripples almost constantly, whereas episode 6 has some serious sound problems. The tin itself is very nice, although the picture of Delgado is flat and not embossed as was the earlier Cybermen tin. Collectors will want to have this, but for general interest, I’d give it a miss.
Rating: 2 / 5
Unfortunately, living in the United States, I won’t get to buy a Master tin. But these are two of my favorite Jon Pertwee stories. The cliffhanger of episode 5 of the Colony in Space matches the cliffhanger of ep 5 in Mind of Evil in excitement. Colony in Space was one of the first Master stories that I saw (my favorite being Terror of the Autons). The Time Monster was incredibly brilliant with hunky Dave Prowse (also from Hammer’s later Frankenstein movies) chasing poor Katy Manning, as well as the Doctor’s TARDIS sequences.
Rating: 4 / 5
Thank you to the BBC for releasing the Master’s final stories in a lovely tin. Like the Daleks and the Cybermen boxes this is a two tape set but unlike those sets you get two classics of the series. Not many more releases now and then to get them all again on DVD, LOL.
Rating: 4 / 5
At last the BBC have released their next brilliant box set. The stories contained in this box set(The Time Monster and The Colony in Space)show the Master (Roger Delgado) at his best. These stories are two of the last stories to feature Roger Delgado before his unfortunate death. Many actors have taken on the role of his character but none have played the ‘Master’ as successfully as Delgado. The two stories contained in this box set show that the credit he was given was well deserved. There are many brilliant actors in these stories who play their roles well and who helped to make the series as successful as it was and still is. Once again I have to congratulate the BBC on releasing another superb addition to the Doctor Who collection.
Rating: 4 / 5