OOO4 - The Time Monster 4

By Episode Four, one would hope that things will have ramped up enough in a six-part story as to make it exciting to watch, but The Time Monster demonstrates the reverse in that the middle two episodes are perhaps the least focused of the lot. After an interminable Episode Three, Episode Four sets new lows in banality.

The last half of the episode is the most superfluous part of this episode, which contains numerous scenes set in either The Doctor's or The Master's respective TARDISes, is supposedly very witty and clever in its outlining of the various intricacies of the TARDIS and time itself, but just ends up looking dull and stupid. And you can tell that director Paul Bernard still isn't 100% sure about how Doctor Who works, particularly in the way that the TARDIS dematerialization/materialization effects are shot. Bernard makes the error of having all the actors in camera shot stand still for several seconds, then face to the next shot with the TARDIS having materialized. It never works out, as not only does it look awkward to have the actors stop mid-step, but they never seem to stand still enough to achieve a convincing effect.

Someone really should have pulled aside Bernard, or at least sent him a memo, telling him this:

Re:TARDIS Materialization, Achievement of the Effect of

1) Roll back
2) Mix

What else can I say about an episode when designer Tim Gleeson's one-off TARDIS set, the ugliest TARDIS set in the history of the programme, is the best thing about this?