The Time Monster Part 6
The Doctor and Jo must stop the Master from using the crystal of Kronos to gain ultimate power, while navigating the ancient civilization of Atlantis and its powerful deity, Kronos.
In this episode of Doctor Who, the Doctor and his companion Jo Grant find themselves in ancient Atlantis, where they become embroiled in a plot by the Master to gain ultimate power using the crystal of Kronos. The Master, with the help of Krasis and the High Priest, plans to summon Kronos, a powerful and destructive entity. The Doctor and Jo must navigate the treacherous world of Atlantis, including the Temple Catacombs, the lair of the Guardian, and the palace of King Dalios, to prevent the Master from achieving his goal. Along the way, they encounter various characters, including Lady Galleia, King Dalios, and the Minotaur. As the story unfolds, the Doctor and Jo face numerous challenges, including battling the Minotaur, escaping from the Master's henchmen, and dealing with the consequences of the Master's actions. Ultimately, the Doctor and Jo succeed in stopping the Master, but not before he activates the crystal, which leads to a confrontation with Kronos. The episode concludes with the Doctor and Jo returning to their own time, while the Master faces the consequences of his actions.
Events in This Episode
The narrative beats that drive the story
The episode opens with Jo Grant trapped in the labyrinthine Temple Catacombs of Atlantis, relentlessly pursued by the formidable Minotaur. Simultaneously, on Dalios's Terrace, a frantic Lakis informs King Dalios and Crito that Lord Hippias and the High Priest have entered the Guardian's lair, with Jo following. The Doctor, arriving at the Temple Undercroft, swiftly disarms Krasis and a guard, seizing a crucial key before entering the catacombs himself. He finds Jo cornered by the Minotaur; Hippias bravely intervenes, sacrificing himself by drawing the creature's attention and being thrown through a mirror. The Doctor then skillfully subdues the Minotaur, which, in its final charge, crashes through a mirrored wall, revealing a hidden Secret Vault. Inside, Jo mourns Hippias, but the Doctor's attention is fixed on the glowing, three-pronged Crystal of Kronos, the object of all the Master's machinations. Their brief triumph is cut short as Krasis reappears, capturing them and declaring the 'game' has just begun. Back on Dalios's Terrace, the Master reveals his successful palace revolution, having usurped King Dalios. He boasts of his imminent triumph, threatening the Doctor and Jo with a 'suitable reward'—an introduction to the mighty Kronos. As guards lead them away to the dungeon, Lady Galleia confronts the Master, questioning his tyrannical rule and asserting her own queenly authority. Imprisoned and manacled, the Doctor and Jo discuss the Master's terrifying plan to unleash Kronos, which would plunge all creation into chaos. The Doctor shares a profound, personal anecdote about finding beauty and meaning in life's darkest moments, a story of a simple daisy. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the ailing King Dalios, beaten by a guard. Dalios, in his dying moments, reveals Galleia's complicity and implores the Doctor, a 'true philosopher,' to save the world, dying in Jo's lap. This act establishes the immediate dangers, the Master's ruthless ambition and successful power grab, and the immense, cosmic stakes involved, leaving the protagonists in a seemingly hopeless situation, burdened by the dying king's plea.
Lakis rushes into King Dalios’ terrace in a panic, reporting that Lord Hippias, the High Priest, and Jo Grant have infiltrated the Guardian’s sacred lair where the Crystal of Kronos …
The Doctor and Dalios struggle to process the urgent news delivered by Lakis: Lord Hippias, the High Priest, and Jo have breached the Guardian’s lair to steal the crystal of …
The Minotaur corners Jo in the Temple Catacombs, sending her fleeing against a mirrored wall. Hippias intervenes with a flaming torch but is quickly overpowered by the beast, who hurls …
The Doctor races to Jo’s aid as the Minotaur corners her in the Temple Catacombs. Wrestling control with a dramatic display of bullfighting technique—the veronica move—he diverts the beast and …
The Minotaur corners Jo in the Temple Catacombs while she tries to hide behind a mirrored wall. Hippias bravely intervenes by distracting the creature with a flaming torch, but the …
The narrative shifts to the Atlantis Plaza on a new morning, where the Master, now assuming the role of King, presides over a summoned council. Lady Galleia, initially complicit, introduces the Master as 'his holiness, the most venerable, Lord Master,' but the Doctor's pointed questions about the missing council members and the fate of King Dalios sow seeds of doubt. When Jo confirms Dalios's death, Galleia's loyalty shatters. Confronting the Master, she accuses him of breaking his promise to spare Dalios and orders his arrest. However, the Master, with a chilling command to Krasis, activates the crystal-powered device, unleashing Kronos—a terrifying, white, creature-like entity—into the plaza. Chaos erupts as Kronos's arrival causes buildings to crumble and people to scream. Seizing the opportunity amidst the destruction, the Master grabs the large crystal, and Jo, in a desperate act, leaps onto his back, clinging to him as he escapes into his TARDIS. The Doctor, freed by Galleia, immediately follows in his own TARDIS. Inside the Master's TARDIS, he handcuffs Jo to the console, gloating about his perceived victory and the Doctor's presumed demise. However, the Doctor appears on the scanner, initiating a tense standoff. He proposes a 'time ram'—a suicidal maneuver where both TARDISes occupy the same space and time, resulting in mutual annihilation but freeing Kronos and saving the universe. The Master, confident in the Doctor's compassion, calls his bluff, refusing to yield. Jo, understanding the gravity of the situation and the Doctor's hesitation, bravely reaches for the dial and activates the time ram herself, plunging both TARDISes into a silent, rainbow-hued void, leaving the Master and herself unconscious. This act features the dramatic culmination of the Master's plan, the chaotic and destructive arrival of Kronos, and the desperate, self-sacrificing act of Jo that fundamentally alters the conflict's trajectory and setting.
The Master publicly declares himself King of Atlantis while revealing King Dalios remains imprisoned but alive. The Doctor presses for Dalios’ fate as Galleia enters, disrupting the Master’s claim to …
The Master triumphantly declares his kingship in front of the Doctor and Jo while revealing King Dalios is alive but imprisoned. He forces the Doctor and Jo into unwanted cooperation …
In the suffocating darkness of the Palace Dungeon, the Doctor and Jo sit shackled to the wall as the Master’s shadow looms over Atlantis. With time running out, the Doctor …
King Dalios is dragged into the dungeon by his own guards and immediately challenges them, insisting on an audience with Queen Galleia despite the obvious risk. His defiance underscores his …
Dalios is forcibly brought to the dungeon, his dignity shattered, only to demand an audience with Lady Galleia. Despite the guard's brutal defiance, his defiance forcefully asserts his lingering authority. …
The Master’s coronation in Atlantis Plaza crumbles under the Doctor’s relentless interrogation as he exposes Dalios’s murder. Lady Galleia’s fragile alliance shatters when confronted with the murder of her king, …
Jo’s confirmation of King Dalios’s death shatters the brittle alliance between Lady Galleia and the Master. Beneath the coronation’s hollow pageantry, Galleia discovers the sacred pact shielding his rule was …
The Master activates the crystal, summoning Kronos—a ravenous force of cosmic destruction—that descends upon Atlantis Plaza in a cataclysmic display of power. The ancient deity reduces the plaza to ruins …
As Kronos rises in cataclysmic ruin above Atlantis Plaza the Doctor realizes the Master cannot control the deity and pleads futilely for the moment to be stopped. The renegade Time …
Following the time ram, Jo awakens first in the ethereal, rainbow-colored nothingness, finding the Doctor unconscious. After reviving him, they both marvel at their strange surroundings, realizing they are not dead but exist on a 'threshold of being.' Suddenly, a benevolent, giant female face materializes, revealing herself as Kronos. She explains that the time ram, rather than destroying them, released her from the Master's imprisonment, saving them both. Grateful, Kronos offers them a wish. Jo, practical and longing for normalcy, wishes to go home, a sentiment echoed by the Doctor, who specifies returning in the TARDIS. Kronos agrees but declares the Master will remain for an eternity of torment, receiving the pain he inflicted. The Master, emerging from his computer, falls to his knees, desperately begging the Doctor for help. Displaying his profound compassion, the Doctor intercedes with Kronos, requesting the Master's life and freedom, proposing they deal with him in their own way. Kronos, though not fully understanding, grants the Doctor's unusual request. The Master, feigning gratitude, immediately betrays the Doctor's trust. He shoves Jo aside and makes a dash for his TARDIS, dematerializing before the Doctor or Kronos can stop him. Kronos, observing, simply states that she granted his freedom as requested, leaving the Doctor and Jo to lament his escape. Back in the Doctor's TARDIS, Jo questions his decision to save the Master, to which the Doctor reaffirms his inability to condemn anyone to eternal torment, even his arch-nemesis, despite the Master's responsibility for Atlantis's destruction. The TARDIS then materializes back in the Newton Institute Laboratory, where Hyde and Ruth are working on TOM-TIT, attempting to close the time gap. The Doctor's TARDIS appears precisely where the Master's had been, causing TOM-TIT to overload and emit smoke. The resulting temporal discharge resets time, returning everything to normal. The Brigadier bursts in, questioning the Master's whereabouts, Jo's attire, and the missing Sergeant Benton. Suddenly, Benton, no longer a baby but still undressed, appears, utterly bewildered by the events, marking a chaotic but ultimately resolved return to the status quo, with the Master's escape setting the stage for future conflicts.
After the Doctor initiates a time ram that locks both TARDISes together, the Master jockeys for position with threats and bluffs. Jo urges the Doctor to push the control past …
The Doctor locks the Master in a deadly gambit—linking the two TARDISes on a collision course to force destruction of the crystal. When the Master calls his bluff, Jo intervenes, …
The Doctor traps the Master by activating the time ram mechanism, forcing both TARDISes to share the same temporal space. As the Master’s TARDIS nears collapse, the Doctor offers him …
The Doctor and Jo find themselves violently ejected into a disorienting rainbow-hued void after the TARDIS’s time ram is sabotaged by the Master’s attempt to harness Kronos’s power. Stranded between …
Kronos tears free from the Master’s confinement as the Doctor and Jo are ejected into a disorienting void beyond time by the sabotaged time ram. The colossal entity inspects them …
In the shimmering liminal space where time fractures meet divine power, the Doctor and Jo stand before Kronos, the cosmic deity freed by their desperate gambit with the time ram. …
Jo and the Doctor believe themselves dead in an empty void before encountering Kronos, the cosmic entity they freed. The Doctor’s plea for the Master’s life spares him—only for the …
In the confined familiarity of the TARDIS, Jo wrestles with the Doctor over his choice to spare the Master from Kronos’s eternal torment despite his responsibility for Atlantis’s destruction. Her …
The Doctor and Jo conclude their harrowing mission in Atlantis, where the Master's schemes nearly unravelled reality. As tensions ebb, the Doctor grapples with Jo over sparing the Master from …
As the Doctor and Jo step from the TARDIS inside the Newton Institute Laboratory they discover TOM-TIT already online, measuring a dangerous temporal distortion where the Master’s TARDIS once stood. …
The Brigadier bursts into the chaos of the Newton Institute laboratory as the temporal chaos of TOM-TIT’s discharge subsides. Having witnessed the sudden reappearance of people and objects erased from …
The Newton Institute lab is restored to normal after TOM-TIT closes the time gap, the Doctor and Jo exit the Tardis, and Benton reenters having aged into adulthood. A disoriented …