The Time Monster Part 4
The Doctor and Jo Grant must stop the Master from unleashing the powerful entity Kronos, while also navigating the complexities of time travel and the consequences of the Master's actions.
The episode begins with the Doctor, Jo Grant, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophic event involving the TARDIS and the Master's time machine. The Master, with the help of his assistant Krasis, attempts to resurrect the ancient being Kronos from Atlantis. The Doctor and Jo must prevent this, as Kronos' power could lead to the destruction of the universe. Meanwhile, Benton, Ruth, and Stuart are trapped in a time loop at the Newton Institute, trying to find a way to escape and stop the Master. As the Doctor and Jo get closer to stopping the Master, they face numerous challenges, including navigating through time and dealing with the Master's cunning plans. The episode culminates in a confrontation between the Doctor and the Master, resulting in the Doctor being captured by Kronos and the Master's plan being foiled.
Events in This Episode
The narrative beats that drive the story
The episode opens in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic event, with UNIT forces assessing the damage to the Doctor's TARDIS and the surrounding area. The Master, having caused the destruction, gloats about his power and prepares to advance his plan to resurrect Kronos. Simultaneously, Benton, Ruth, and Stuart are trapped at the Newton Institute, grappling with the Master's time-distorting device and debating how to proceed. The Doctor, upon arriving at the scene, quickly ascertains the Master's movements and devises a daring plan to pursue him by physically maneuvering his TARDIS to follow the Master's through the time vortex, despite the extreme dangers this poses, including a potential 'time ram.' Jo Grant, steadfast in her loyalty and duty, insists on accompanying him, setting the stage for their perilous journey. The act concludes as the Doctor's TARDIS successfully materializes, only for them to discover a perplexing paradox: their TARDIS is now inside the Master's, which is simultaneously inside theirs, leaving them trapped in an impossible spatial and temporal loop. This paradoxical entrapment serves as the immediate consequence of the Doctor's bold pursuit and establishes the central challenge for the main characters.
The Doctor arrives with Jo and the Brigadier to find a bloodied Yates being tended to. With the TARDIS overturned and soldiers struggling to right it, the Doctor swiftly reorients …
The Doctor arrives at the copse to find Yates injured but resolute, planning to abandon the TARDIS until the Brigadier intervenes. With the time vessel tipped sideways and soldiers straining …
The Doctor and Jo stand inside the TARDIS as it undergoes disturbing temporal mutations, the ship’s familiar elements replaced by alien configurations. The Doctor deflects Jo’s unease with casual dismissal …
The Doctor prepares Jo for a perilous time chase by outlining the dire consequences of miscalculating their TARDIS encounter with the Master. He uses technical precision to reveal how even …
Trapped within the nested TARDISes, the Doctor and Jo are forced to wait as the Master's vessel embarks on its journey to Atlantis. Concurrently, at the Newton Institute, Benton, Ruth, and Stuart attempt to intervene directly. They confront the Master, but their efforts are thwarted when Stuart's attempt to disarm him allows the Master to escape into his TARDIS and dematerialize, leaving the Institute team frustrated and the Master's time-distortion device (TOM-TIT) still active. The Master then taunts the Doctor via scanner, revealing a 'time lock' on the Doctor's TARDIS and attempting to silence him by reversing his words. This escalating psychological warfare underscores the Master's cunning and the Doctor's increasing desperation. Back at the Institute, Ruth's attempts to deactivate TOM-TIT lead to further temporal anomalies, including the mysterious appearance of a baby boy, highlighting the growing and unpredictable consequences of the Master's actions. Realizing he cannot communicate or escape conventionally, the Doctor makes a critical, self-sacrificing decision: to leave the safety of his TARDIS and confront the Master directly, despite the almost certain risk of death, ensuring Jo's safety by ordering her to remain locked inside.
Ruth, Benton, and Stuart pursue the Master into the Newton Institute laboratory just as he prepares to flee in the TARDIS. The Doctor’s allies find themselves outgunned before the Master …
The Master prepares to flee with Kronos’ release imminent, activating the TOM-TIT device to delay their pursuers. Ruth, Benton, and Stuart arrive armed but hesitant, only to find the Master …
Ruth
The TARDIS lurches violently as the Doctor and Jo pursue the Master, its temporal systems fighting against the distortions caused by their off-target voyage. Jo’s discomfort becomes evident when she …
The TARDIS continues to shudder as the Doctor attempts to stabilize the ship while chasing the Master toward Atlantis. Jo’s pain from a previous injury becomes a minor distraction as …
Benton
Ruth Ingram takes decisive action to disable the malfunctioning TOM-TIT device, believing it will free them from temporal imprisonment. The moment the transmitter falls silent, Benton and Hyde immediately report …
The Doctor, having made the ultimate sacrifice, steps out of his TARDIS and into the Master's, directly confronting his nemesis and the High Priest Krasis. With no other recourse, the Doctor attempts one final, urgent plea, warning the Master of the catastrophic universal destruction that unleashing Kronos will bring. He labels the Master as 'mad' and 'paranoid,' highlighting the immense folly of his ambition. Unmoved by the Doctor's warnings, the Master remains chillingly resolute, dismissing the Doctor's concerns and embracing the 'all or nothing' gamble of his plan to control Kronos. With a triumphant declaration, the Master activates the crystal, initiating the summoning of the ancient entity. A terrifying white figure, Kronos, manifests, and without hesitation, it immediately envelops the Doctor, fulfilling the Master's intention to offer a Time Lord as a 'rare and delicate feast.' The act culminates in a dramatic and harrowing cliffhanger: the Doctor is consumed by Kronos, seemingly annihilated, and Jo Grant, witnessing the horrifying event unfold on the scanner from the safety of their TARDIS, collapses in despair. This leaves the Master seemingly victorious, his plan to unleash the powerful time entity successful, and the universe teetering on the brink of annihilation, with the Doctor's fate uncertain and the primary heroic figure incapacitated.
Ruth experiments with TOM-TIT’s circuits in a desperate attempt to reverse the Master’s damage to time, admitting her lack of a plan while Benton and Hyde skeptically observe. As interstitial …
Benton’s cybernetic interface cannot withstand the escalating temporal strain from TOM-TIT’s unchecked interstitial surge. As Hyde calls out the rising readings beyond safe parameters, Rutherford feverishly attempts to stabilize the …
Ruth and Hyde manipulate the TOM-TIT device to stabilize a rupture in time after Benton collapses from temporal overload. Their empirical adjustments fail to reset the soldiers, who remain frozen …
The Doctor frantically attempts to communicate with the Master via the TARDIS scanner, warning him that their reckless plan to summon Kronos will not only fail but result in catastrophic …
The Master completes the final cosmic alignment, the temporal surge of Kronos beginning to materialize in the TARDIS scanner. The Doctor's attempts to communicate through the interface turn desperate as …
The Doctor realizes the Master has intercepted the TARDIS telepathic circuits to invert his commands, forcing a reckless direct confrontation. Despite Jo’s desperate objections and warnings of suicide, he resolves …
The Doctor prepares to confront the Master alone despite the mortal danger, ordering Jo to lock herself inside the TARDIS for her own safety. Jo resists his command, refusing to …
Trapped within the claustrophobic confines of the Master’s TARDIS, the Doctor makes a last-ditch effort to reason with his oldest foe, depicting the unleashing of Kronos as an act that …
The Master ignites the ritual crystal despite Jo Grants futile warning, channels Kronos into the TARDIS and delivers the entity directly to the Doctor. The Doctor’s urgent invocation of cosmic …
The Master completes his centuries-old obsession by summoning Kronos, the ancient temporal entity, through the crystal amplifier. As the white figure erupts from dimensional rift, the Doctor warns of universal …