Weird Science
Director- Douglas Camfield
Cast- William Hartnell, Peter Purves
Country of Origin- U.K.
Distributor - BBC Worldwide
Number of discs – 1
Reviewed by - Tyler Miller
Date- 07/24/2019
The cult series Doctor Who is one of the great pieces of fantasy. Since 1963 the show has brought joy to people of all ages, even when it was started as a children’s program. Before the writers came up with the idea of the famous timelord and his ability to regenerate, The series was aimed at monster of the week mini serial adventures. “The Time Meddler” (1965) is the 17th story in the first run of the show consisting of 4 episodes.
In The Time Meddler, The TARDIS lands on a strange beach on Earth. The Doctor (William Hartnell) and his companions discover a Viking helmet. It turns out they are in the 11th century and something odd is happening. There seems to be a Monk (Peter Butterworth) with some time traveling abilities. But what does this Monk want with the Vikings and can it mean a major change to our history?
Doctor Who fans tend to fall into two camps, Classic Who (1963 to 1996) and New Who (2005 to at least the time of this review in 2019). For me, I fall into the former. There is something magical about the big concepts and creativity of the classic episodes. I have a deep appreciation for the pulpy feel. Since the show was set up in a movie serial format, each story is a cool little adventure, with at least a few elements to make them memorable. Just like movie serials we have the cliffhanger endings, fast pace, and witty writing.
William Hartnell had an impressive run from 1963 to 1966, but he has never been my favorite Doctor. Starting with the second Doctor as played by Patrick Throughton, The series found its footing. So the Hartnell years are a bit of a rough patch. In Time Meddler, Hartnell seems at ease with the script and pacing. He makes some of the sillier moments work and he manages to sell the menace of the monk’s motivates. The rest of the cast is a joy to watch. I enjoyed the two companions of Vicki and Steven (played by Maureen O’Brien and Peter Purves) and the sinister Peter Butterworth as the monk. The Time Meddler is a run adventure for curious Doctor Who fans who want to explore the show’s first few years.
BBC Video has done a nice job bringing the show to DVD. The jumps from 16mm film to Video are not as jarring thanks to the spooky Black and White photography. There is still some murky elements and print damage, but overall it's a handsome looking set of episodes. The English audio sounds good in it’s mono track. The sound effects and musical score are still clear.
Like most of these classic Who releases, Time Meddler is packed with extras. The coolest featurette is “Stripped for Action- The First Doctor”, which looks at the history of Doctor Who coming to Comic Books and how some stories were altered for a different age group. There is some stunning artwork and concept paintings. There is an audio commentary with producer Verity Lambert, Actor Peter Purves, Story Editor Donald Tosh, and designer Barry Newbery. The track is enjoyable and worth a listen for fans. There is a Verity Lambert Obituary, a Restoration featurette, photo gallery, and on the DVD-ROM radio times PDF.
