I stated previously that there is only one Hartnell Doctor Who story that I really don't like. 'The Space Museum' is it. Before I lay into however, I'll consider its good points. 

Episode One is suitably intriguing thanks to the gimmick of the TARDIS "jumping a time track". From the start it creates an air of mystery, with the TARDIS crew's clothes changing, the broken glass leaping back into Vicki's hand, and the lack of footprints. The discovery by the Doctor and his friends of their future selves preserved as exhibits is memorably creepy, and the surreal cliffhanger as they "arrive" for real is well executed. As usual, the regulars are excellent, with great banter between Ian and the Doctor in episode one, the Doctor's amusing interrogation by Lobos in episode two, and for the first time a decent role for Vicki as, separated from the Doctor for the first time since she joined the TARDIS, she leads a revolution by the Xerons. Oh, and I love the scene in which the Doctor hides in the Dalek casing. The fact that they are constantly trying to avoid their grim future fate makes Ian and Barbara in particular more anxious than they usually are, especially in contrast to the optimistic Vicki, and Russell plays Ian at his most resourceful, as he out-fights Moroks and saves the Doctor from the Museum. The Moroks themselves, while basically being Star Trek-like humanoids with silly hair, are an interesting idea, in that they represent an empire in decline – Lobos is clearly bored out of his mind, whereas his soldiers are utterly unenthusiastic about their work, and thus incompetent. This makes a change from a powerful enemy force in the midst of conquest, such as the Daleks or the forces of the Animus. Lobos isn't actually bored throughout – watch him when he is demonstrating the mind scanner, or applying himself to the task of reversing the Doctor's frozen condition. He becomes far more animated as he clearly takes delight in the application of science, almost like an immoral version of the Doctor. There's also a surprisingly realistic fight scene in which a Morok is knocked down hard and fast without the usual lengthy exchange of fisticuffs. Unfortunately, these good points do not outweigh the bad ones.

Whilst the gimmick of episode one makes for an interesting opening episode, the explanation is pure technobabble and doesn't stand up to scrutiny – I'm fairly sure that the way in which time catches up with the Doctor and his companions means that part of their past remains missing. Furthermore, the line about time being a dimension but having dimensions of its own is pure gibberish, which is unusual in a series that during this era still slips in the occasional science and history lessons. Then there is the supporting cast – the Moroks are all badly acted, constantly giving the impression (supported by the novelisation) that their lines are supposed to be a lot wittier than they actually are, but are badly delivered. Richards Shaw as Lobos is the sole Morok actor who gives a faint hint that he can actually act, but unfortunately he seems to have decided not to. His deputy is particularly bad, although with lines like "have an arms fallen into Xeron hands" he's probably fighting an uphill battle. The Xerons are even worse – despite the frantic acting of Jeremy "Boba Fett" Bulloch as Tor, the Xerons succeed in taking the crown of most boring aliens to appear in Doctor Who from the Didonians. Showing that they are aliens by moving their eyebrows upwards probably seemed like a good money-saving idea at the time. As characters, they are immensely boring. Other lowlights include the zaphra gas, which is supposedly extremely harmful, but from the effects of which Barbara and Darko recover instantaneously on getting outside, despite having just been coughing themselves raw moments before. Then we have the universe's worst security system, which can be easily reprogrammed to allow entry to the armoury. Which of course is full of "ray guns", a phrase that sounds incredibly bad regardless of whoever says it. Even "phasers" would be better. The sets too are uninspired with the Museum interiors looking especially drab and being filled with "exhibits" that look suspiciously like any old leftovers from the BBC prop department. And the museum itself must be a TARDIS, since it is clearly bigger on the inside. The incidental music, recycled to great effect in 'Tomb of the Cybermen', seems melodramatic and over-the-top here, with sinister booming riffs accompanying tame fight sequences and footage of the regulars sneaking around the museum. It's almost impossible for a four-part Doctor Who story to feel padded, and yet 'The Space Museum' manages it. 

So overall, whilst 'The Space Museum' has a few good points, it is disappointing overall. It picks up at the end with the appearance of a Dalek, strangely foreshadowed earlier on by Ian wondering if they will ever meet the Daleks again. The cliffhanger ending, in which the Daleks reveal that they have a time machine, is suitably gripping and promises an epic and deadly struggle between the Doctor and his most dangerous foes. Ironic really…

After the first groundbreaking Dalek story and its even better sequel, “The Chase” is widely regarded as something of an embarrassment by fans. Aptly named, this six-parter is literally a chase across time and space, an execution squad of Daleks hot on the heels of the four time travellers. A much more light-hearted affair than its predecessors, “The Chase” does still have many moments of dramatic tension, and in a way this is where the story falls down. “The Chase” is neither an out and out comedy nor a serious drama; the story just can’t make its mind up, and almost inevitably it flops. That said, I certainly do not dislike “The Chase.” Somehow, someway, this six-part adventure has its charm…

There are a lot of fantastic elements in the story, some of which are groundbreaking considering when it was produced. The retro-look ‘Space-Time Visualiser’ is one such example; a lovely little device that allows the Doctor and his companions to view any event in history. The Beatles even make an appearance on it where they play “Ticket To Ride” when Vicki tunes in to Top of the Pops! Terry Nation uses this device both to fulfil part of the programme’s education remit by showing certain historic events (the Gettysburg Address and the Court of Queen Elizabeth I, for example) and to set up his plot by having the time traveler's watch the Daleks’ hatching their dastardly plot. 

Interestingly, “The Chase” marks a significant development in the evolution of the Daleks. By this story, these Daleks no longer need the ‘satellite dishes’ attached to them when outside their city, and even more importantly they demonstrate that they have mastered time corridor technology, which the Doctor would later describe as “very crude and nasty.” This is the first time in the entire series that anyone other than the Doctor demonstrates time travel capability, and it is an idea that is revisited not only in the next story, “The Time Meddler,” but also throughout the history of the show, eventually culminating in the fabled ‘Time War’ just prior to the start of the new series.

The story itself gets bogged down on Aridius for what feels like an eternity before the proper ‘Chase’ begins. The Daleks then pursue our heroes to the top of the Empire State Building in the mid-1960’s, where Peter Purves makes his first Doctor Who appearance – not as Steven Taylor but as Morton Dill, a quite comical slack-jawed yokel. The TARDIS then lands on the Mary Celeste, whose crew leap into the sea at the sight of the Daleks! Next, the TARDIS lands in what seems to a haunted house full of the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster. Nation really takes the opportunity to gently mock the series here, having the Doctor dramatically postulate that they have landed in a place outside time, somewhere inside the collective human unconsciousness where spectres and monsters and vampires live… In truth, they’ve just materialised in a robotic amusement park! These are the parts of “The Chase” that I found quite endearing; the parts of the story that are a no-excuses comedic romp across space and time, scored with what sounds like music from a Carry On film!

However, it isn’t long before “The Chase” starts to get a little bit heavier, and still played against the backdrop of a ludicrously jolly soundtrack it just doesn’t work well at all. Vicki is temporarily separated from the TARDIS crew when the TARDIS dematerialises, the Doctor having mistakenly thought that she was on board. Worse, the Daleks create the first (in the entire series) Dalek Duplicate. What could have been a fascinating plot development is ruined by sloppy production. I’m not having a dig at the general production standards of the time, which as everybody knows were notoriously dubious, yet still remarkable considering the time and the budget that they had available. Instead, I’m criticising the idea behind how the production team realised the two Doctors. For example, sometimes William Hartnell plays both the Doctor and the duplicate Doctor. At other times, Edmund Warwick instead plays the duplicate which quickly gets extremely confusing. In my book, Edmund Warwick should have either always played the duplicate (in which case the audience would know he was the duplicate) or they should have come up with a way to allow Bill Hartnell to play both parts. And why on earth was that episode called “The Death of Doctor Who”? The Doctor doesn’t die! It’s a complete no-brainer, unless the term ‘Doctor Who’ is being used as a reference to the ‘fictional’ duplicate much in the same way Steve Lyons uses the term in his novels to refer to the ‘fictional’ Doctor. Somehow I doubt it, though.

The final episode of “The Chase” is a tremendous improvement. The eponymous “Planet of Decision” is Mechanus, a wonderfully realised planet that was originally intended to be turned into a human colony world but was actually abandoned. The Mechanoids (custom-built robots who were sent there to prepare the world for the human settlers that never came) now rule the planet. Here the Doctor and his companions meet Steven Taylor (Peter Purves pulling a double-header) the survivor of a spaceship crash who has been a prisoner of the Mechanoids for years. As the Daleks and the Mechanoids destroy one another (kind of ironic considering the events of the much later Big Finish audio drama, “The Juggernauts”) the time travellers escape, Steven stowing away above the TARDIS whilst Ian and Barbara uses the Daleks’ abandoned time machine to return to their home time and place.

The departure of the last of the Doctor’s original companions is superbly handled by Nation. The Doctor is furious with them, ranting and raving, obviously not wanting them to leave his company. I particularly liked how the departure was handled almost as an afterthought; throughout the story there is no clue that they may be leaving (and if you think about it, why would there be?) and this makes it extremely effective as suddenly they seize their one chance to get home and leave their life of adventure behind. In the blink of an eye, they’re gone forever.

A cheesy montage featuring a jubilant Ian and Barbara in London rounds off one of the strangest, and ironically one of the most important, of the early Doctor Who serials. “The Chase” remains to this day an enjoyable story to watch, however it is one that could have been so, so much better were it not for its indecisive tone and a cardboard TARDIS!

“The Time Meddler” feels like a very different show to the television series that began its second season in the autumn of 1964. Susan’s departure in “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” shook things up a little bit, but with her replacement character, Vicki, more or less a carbon copy of Susan things didn’t feel all that different. Ian and Barbara’s departure really takes some getting used to though; they truly were the backbone of the show for nearly two years (in the days when two years of TV literally meant two years of TV!) Arguably, in the early days of Doctor Who it was William Russell’s Ian – not William Hartnell’s Doctor – that was the true ‘hero’ of the show.

Cast at the last minute following his brief and amusing appearance in “The Chase” as Morton Dill, an Alabama yokel, Peter Purves made his debut as new companion Steven Taylor in the last episode of that serial, “The Planet of Decision.” However, it isn’t until the opening moments of this serial that we discover that he has stowed away on board the TARDIS, teddy-bear and all! The opening ten minutes or so of “The Watcher” reworks much of “An Unearthly Child”, though with its tongue planted firmly in its cheek this time. The Doctor’s “sheer poetry” speech to Steven about the TARDIS is fantastic; it’s just a shame that Steven is so annoyingly pig-headed about his belief that time travel is impossible! In “An Unearthly Child,” Ian and Barbara’s incredulity at the TARDIS was handled brilliantly by the writer and made for some top-notch drama. However, with this story having a more light-hearted take on things, it does tend to grate a hell of a lot more.

I’m not the biggest fan in the world of Steven, either; he’s certainly no Ian! To be fair, he does get much more palatable over his tenure and Peter Purves always gives his all to the role, but in this story he’s an absolute nightmare. His running “Doc…” / “Doc… tor” joke is cringe worthy; that daft teddy bear; his arrogance…”The Time Meddler” certainly isn’t the best debut a companion ever had.

However, Dennis Spooner’s story itself is a gem, and more importantly it introduces my favourite ‘black and white’ Doctor Who villain – Peter Butterworth’s Meddling Monk (or ‘Mortimus’, if you will.) A member of the Doctor’s own (as yet nameless) race, the Monk also wants to “improve things” for humanity. However, he is prepared to cross the one line that the Doctor never will – altering history. The Monk is planning to ensure Harold’s victory at Hastings with atomic bazookas! Whether his actions really are for the greater good or not is open to debate, but whatever his motivations the Monk is an absolute joy to watch on screen. He has a checklist, written on a whiteboard in marker, where his plan is broken down step-by-step! Genius! They don’t make villains like that any more! The Monk is eventually overcome when the Doctor sabotages his “Mark Four” TARDIS (a superior model to the Doctor’s), stealing the dimensional control and shrinking the interior dimensions so that the Monk can’t get in, marooning him on Earth! The look on the Monk’s face is brilliant!

One of the better second season stories, “The Time Meddler” is a William Hartnell story that certainly shouldn’t be missed. The chemistry between Hartnell and Butterworth is electrifying, and even in spite of Hartnell’s absence from the second episode, the story sustains itself well over the four episodes. The end title sequence is also worth looking out for, instead of the credits rolling across a blank screen as normal we see the faces of the new TARDIS crew in space, and for the first time there is no “Next Episode” caption, despite filming for “Galaxy 4” being well underway by this point. As I said earlier, this serial really feels like the beginning to a very different Doctor Who; a Doctor Who with a very inconsistent third year ahead of it.

”The Highlanders” is a whimsical little story, weak on historical accuracy, strong on entertainment. The last of the Doctor Who historicals until “Black Orchid,” it is also quite a strange story in that the English are the baddies – it certainly takes some getting used to! However, the thing that Gerry Davis and Elwyn Jones’ four-parter will forever be remembered for is the introduction of Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines); not only the definitive second Doctor companion, but one of the all-time greats!

A fast-moving plot sees the TARDIS crew separated, Ben being taken prisoner with Jamie and the Scottish rebels, Polly on the run with Kirsty (a young Scottish woman) and the new Doctor still employing his early penchant for curious disguises. In “The Highlanders,” we see him add the suspicious German Doctor Von Wer, a moustached English redcoat, and an old washerwoman to his repertoire!

Much of this serial is quite light-hearted in nature, but nevertheless it does have its grittier moments. Polly and Kirsty are forced to blackmail an English redcoat, and Ben and Jamie are sold into slavery by a corrupt solicitor. The episode three cliffhanger is particularly disturbing as Ben tears up Solicitor Gray’s ‘contract’ and is ducked into the sea. If Mary Whitehouse was gonna complain about the drowning sequence in “The Deadly Assassin,” I don’t know how this one got past her!

Aside from Jamie’s introduction (who incidentally, isn’t his usual self in this story), for me the best thing about this story is Polly. Along with her sidekick Ben, she has to be one of the most underrated Doctor Who companions. Anneke Wills gives one of her best performances in “The Highlanders”, Polly coming across as very strong and resourceful, be it dressing up as an orange seller, blackmailing soldiers or even using her feminine wiles to get her out of sticky situations! 

Sadly, “The Highlanders” only exists today as four audio episodes with linking narration by Frazer Hines and as a collection of telesnaps from John Cura. I managed to compile a little reconstruction of my own by combing the two surviving elements on my PC, and I think I’ve managed to get a good feel for the story. Its loss isn’t in the same league as some of the other missing Troughton stories, but even so it’s a charming little story, well worthy of its place in the Doctor Who canon.

I have to confess here that there’s little I like more in Doctor Who than a nice, intriguing ‘pseudo-historical’. (Does that expression ever get used outside of Doctor Who writing, I wonder?). It stands to reason really – the two worlds the show almost exclusively explores are those of science fiction and historical adventure, so it makes sense that any story that combines these two strongest elements of the programme should benefit from the result.

Perhaps the greatest strength of the story is its simple premise, as set-up beautifully by writer Dennis Spooner in the opening episode. It seems as if the TARDIS has landed in a fairly ordinary Saxon England, but there is something not quite right going on, something very strange happening that the audience and the TARDIS crew cannot quite put their fingers on. I admire the way – as with so many of the series’ most successful episode ones – that we are given little hints as to what is happening, such as the knowledgeable Monk and the wristwatch, before we are really given any of the answers or an adequate explanation. It’s a tantalising mystery.

It’s also a nice change that the Doctor actually manages to find some natives who neither want to kill nor imprison him on sight for once. Edith is a very pleasant character who seems to want nothing more than distribute food and drink to all and sundry as if she is on some kind of permanent harvest festival kick, but it’s a very pleasant change to have historical characters who are warm, friendly and likeable rather than simply being portrayed as ignorant savages or mistrustful miseries.

Sadly of course this historical setting is somewhat spoiled when, halfway through episode two, the most ridiculous group of Vikings in the history of the moving image wander into the story. Perhaps it’s the names – isn’t Sven Swedish, for a start? Were there Swedish Vikings? But I suspect it’s actually the ludicrous hat their leader wears that really robbed them of any credibility for me – all in all when they first land they look as if they’ve wandered in from a Monty Python sketch. Spam, anybody?

If nothing else, the appearance of silly Viking hats does at least give the Doctor the opportunity to utter the priceless “A space helmet for a cow?” line in the first episode. William Hartnell is on absolutely sparkling form throughout The Time Meddler, whether getting merry on mead with Edith, trading puns and insults with the Monk or getting irritable with his companions. It’s an infectious performance, not quite the grumpy old man of his very earliest appearances, but still having a very serious edge to his light-heartedness that makes sure we never underestimate him as a character.

Perhaps it’s having Peter Butterworth to play against that inspired Hartnell to hit such a rich vein of acting form in this story, as there is no doubt that as the Monk Butterworth makes one of the strongest guest appearances in the whole of the show’s history. A comic performance, of course, but one with a nasty edge to it – he thinks nothing of sending the two Vikings in the last episode the wrong way so that they fall into the hands of the pursuing Saxons, and seems to regard the idea of single-handedly massacring hundreds if not thousands of Vikings in their invasion fleet in a similarly pragmatic manner.

For all its comedy, the Monk’s intentions are one reminder that the story has a darker side to it in places. There is the very strong implication that Edith was raped by the Vikings when she is attacked by their raiding party, something that was apparently made even more explicit by footage censored from this episode by foreign broadcasters and still missing from the existing returned prints. The entrapment of the Monk at the end of the story, left stranded in eleventh century England, is quite a bleak conclusion – despite everything that he has planned to do and everything he may have already done in his time meddling career, you cannot help but feel a little sorry for someone used to so many advantages and such a superior level of life and technology to be left alone in such an age. This would be all the more powerful if we did not know in retrospect that the Monk went on to escape, but taking the story in isolation it is certainly a memorable finale to proceedings.

And what of the Monk himself? Again in retrospect some of his impact can be lost, because it’s hard to imagine a time when the watching audience, or at least the fans, didn’t know that there were many others of the Doctor’s people in the universe with similar TARDISes. He becomes intriguing right from the first time we see him, when his reaction to the Doctor, Steven and Vicki’s talk of time travel is not quite what we would expect from someone of the period, and as the mystery around him slowly unravels it builds towards the stunning revelation at the end of episode three. Sadly even I cannot imagine what this must have been like for the audience watching in 1965, and it’s also become something of a clichй to say it, but still… “The Monk’s got a TARDIS!”

Now that’s a cliffhanger!

The other noteworthy factor about The Time Meddler is that it marks Peter Purves’ first full story as Steven, and Steven’s first trip through time and space with the Doctor. He is also impressive – in fact I think I’ll just say the whole cast are good, bar the Vikings – and instantly strikes up a rapport with his co-stars Hartnell and O’Brien. Very much a go-getting, derring-do kind of hero figure but with guile and intelligence as well, he’s not overly macho and has an endearing curiosity about everything around him, at least after his initial scepticism about the TARDIS and its properties wears off in any case.

Steven’s entry into the TARDIS forms a significant prologue to the story proper, which begins with a charming little scene of the Doctor and Vicki missing the recently homebound Ian and Barbara. Hartnell pulls off a melancholic kind of Doctor, that he didn’t often get a chance to portray, very well in this little piece, but he’s soon back to his energetic self once he has a new companion to dazzle and impress. 

In a way Steven’s introduction to the TARDIS makes the first episode of this story similar to a condensed version of An Unearthly Child, as he disbelieves the dimensions and time travel capabilities of the ship and so forth. Except of course this time the audience sees the situation from the other way around – rather than being in Ian and Barbara’s shoes coming from the outside in, we’re already with the Doctor and Vicki, part of the secret ourselves, welcoming the newcomer into our midst. There’s even more of a reflection of the series’ very first story when we get to see the Saxons for the first time, including an argument about who should be ‘Headsman’ between two rather dishevelled men with beards.

Douglas Camfield’s direction of the story is to be admired for its competence at both the technical and artistic aspects of telling the story – it never feels too badly as if we’re confined to a small studio in London, and the clever use of stock footage even manages to make the idea of the beach and approaching Vikings seem quite convincing. Although in the latter case he is of course probably helped by the telerecording process making all the footage appear more equal in quality.

In summary then, The Time Meddler is an utterly charming and absorbing story, in which a hugely enjoyable script coupled with good direction and endearing performances combine to create one of the very best of the First Doctor’s adventures.

It is a pity about those Vikings, though…

'The Time Meddler' is extremely underrated. It is well-written, well-acted and well-directed, but more than this, it ends season two in style, with what must at the time have been something of a shock revelation for the viewer... 

Firstly, 'The Time Meddler' looks great, thanks to the superb direction of Douglas Camfield and excellent sets and costumes – the use of stock location footage blends in with the studio footage remarkably well, and adds an air of realism to the story. The monastery in particular looks very good, as do the woods around the Saxon village. The costumes too look fairly authentic. Secondly, the plot, whilst meandering along at a fairly sedate pace, never feels padded or slow, in part thanks to the witty script. As in Dennis Spooner's previous scripts, the humour is mixed with grim and gritty realism, in this case the rape of Edith by the Vikings and the Vikings' subsequent death at the hands of the Saxons, but unlike in 'The Reign of Terror', these brutal aspects are kept to a minimum, which is perhaps wise as they do not sit well with the light-hearted tone of the rest of the story. The Saxons and Vikings do not get much to do, but fill their roles adequately enough, especially the afore-mentioned Edith who comes across as very likeable. The actors playing the Vikings through themselves into their sparse roles too, and manage to compensate for looking like Swedish porn stars with cheesy names (Sven and Ulf!). 

The main guest character however, is of course the Monk. Peter Butterworth is perfect in the role, and makes the character immediately memorable. But then of course, as the first member of the Doctor's own people to appear in the series apart from Susan, he would stick in the mind anyway. He's a great character, taking obvious glee in his interference, but refreshingly never seeming really evil. Even when he admits that his plan involves blowing up the Viking fleet, he seems troubled by the fact, which makes a change from the black-and-white villainy of the Daleks in the previous story. Indeed, it is interesting that he claims to have the best motivations for his time meddling, telling the Doctor, Steven and Vicki that he wants to improve things. The Monk is a delight from the start, and steals the show in episode two, whether he's making preparations for the arrival of the Vikings, or dealing with Steven and Vicki with an expression of wide-eyed (and totally fake) innocence as they try to find the Doctor. But it is the scenes between Hartnell and the Butterworth that really make 'The Time Meddler' great, as they engage in a battle of wits in episodes three and four. As in 'The Romans', Spooner aims for comedy, but the comedy this time is less slapstick based than in that earlier story. Here, the humour arises from the Monk, whether it is his rather endearing journal entries as read by Vicki, or his interaction with the Doctor. The Doctor alternates between indignation, smugness and glee as he confronts and ultimately strands the Monk, and it is a further reminder of the unusual nature of this story and its villain, that he actually bothers to leave a note for the Monk at the end. Perhaps he genuinely believes that the Monk has the potential to recognise the folly of his actions, or perhaps he just can't resist gloating…

Steven and Vicki get a fair amount of screen-time, even though in plot-terms they do little more than run around looking for the Doctor and reveal to the audience things that the Doctor already knows. Steven's character gets to shine here in his first full story; he's more cynical than Ian, refusing to believe that the TARDIS is a time machine even when he is forced to admit that it is bigger inside than out, and can travel through space. He also seems more hotheaded, attacking the Saxons unprovoked in search of answers, despite Vicki's attempts to stop him. I like the way in which he gradually comes to respect the Doctor, initially gently mocking the old man about the TARDIS exterior and his inability to steer his craft, but slowly changing his assessment of the old man as the story progresses. Since much of this time is spent with Vicki, it is clear that it is her faith in the Doctor which rubs off on Steven and by the time they leave 1066, he seems keen to be traveling in the TARDIS – the fact that none of the current TARDIS crew want to return home makes quite a difference to the feel of the show. Vicki continues to show her independent streak, happily bossing Steven around as they explore separately from the Doctor. Steven seems happy to humour her in this, immediately creating a friendly atmosphere between the two. With the Doctor telling them at the end that they are both very welcome passengers, this ends the season on a high, as the new crew goes off into the unknown together, with their faces superimposed on a starry backdrop for added effect as the end credits roll. 

It is not this new status quo aboard the TARDIS however, which so changes the emphasis of the series at the end of season two. It is of course, the cliffhanger to episode three, as Vicki announces in stunned disbelief "It's a TARDIS! The Monk's got a TARDIS!" When originally broadcast, this must have been something of a shock as for the first time we see that the Doctor's ship is not unique. Neither for that matter is he, since at least one other member of his race is out there in time and space. More importantly however, we learn that the Monk is "a time meddler", and that he has already changed history on at least two previous occasions. This is a huge development, since in the past the Doctor has claimed that this cannot be done, most notably during 'The Aztecs'. We now learn that in fact it can be done, but that the Doctor considers it to be hugely irresponsible (interestingly, no dangers of altering history are actually discussed at this point) and will not allow it. This adds a new dimension to the idea of future historical stories. These revelations make 'The Time Meddler' stand out in Doctor Who's history, and the high production standards give the story added bonus. It is a fine end to the season. 

Overall, season two maintains the high quality established by season one, whilst starting to stretch the format of the series through a miniscules story ('Planet of Giants'), the series' first alien invasion of Earth complete with hugely impressive location filming ('The Dalek Invasion of Earth'), a comedy ('The Romans'), a flawed but ambitious attempt to create a really alien world ('The Web Planet'), and surrealism ('The Space Museum' episode one), amongst others. As with season one, we're lucky that so much has survived, with only two episodes from 'The Crusade' missing from this season. Unfortunately, the next season has fared far less well, forcing to me to turn to my trusty CD player.