| Doctor Who - The Time Meddler (Episode 17) | 
 enlarge | Actors: William Hartnell, Maureen O'brien, Peter Purves
Studio: BBC Warner
Category: DVD
List Price: $24.98
Buy New: $15.29
You Save: $9.69 (39%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 10339
Format: Black & White, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 100
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARDE29559D
UPC: 794051291325
EAN: 0794051291325
ASIN: B0017XOFFU
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: August 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 08/05/2008
Amazon.com
One of the most popular adventures from the William Hartnell era of Doctor Who, The Time Meddler pits the Time Lord against Carry On star Peter Butterworth in an entertaining, well-written adventure. Set in England back in 1066, on the eve of the Battle of Hastings, The Time Meddler sees the Doctor drawn to a monastery where a single monk resides. So how come the singing of the monks can be heard from far away? And what's the reasoning behind the modern utensils he discovers? All paths lead to the aforementioned Butterworth, whose character's backstory adds a nice twist to the story. The Time Meddler throws in the backstory of Jamie discovering the world of time travel for the first time, but it's the sparring between Hartnell and Butterworth that provides the sparks. And while it's not a perfect adventure, The Time Meddler is very entertaining, and a nice slice of classic Doctor Who. Poignantly, the late Verity Lambert joins an intelligent, interesting commentary track in the highlight of the disc's extras. The Time Meddler was the last Doctor Who story she produced, and her contribution to the supplementary features package is both interesting and a fitting tribute to her work. --Simon Brew
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 A must for Hartnell fans November 10, 2008
My wife got me this for my birthday, and I couldn't be happier! Prior to this, I had only been exposed to Doctors 4 through 10. After this, I was able to get story arcs from Troughton, Pertwee, and T. Baker. I have to say that Hartnell and Troughton are DEFINITELY my 2 favorite Doctors. If for no other reason than Hartnell explaining the layout of the T.A.R.D.I.S., you simply HAVE to watch this.
 Timeless October 1, 2008
For fans of Doctor Who, this is an excellent view into the Timelords world. This is the first time a fellow timelord shows up and his TARDIS really works. It starts out slow, but once the action starts, it's great.
Dr. Who Time Meddler September 27, 2008
Doctor Who - The Time Meddler (Episode 17)
It was a vintage Dr. Who. Well acted. The sets are a little hokey, but the story is good. This must have been one the early stories, as the series started as a teaching (History) tool.
Doctor Who - The Time Meddler September 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The BBC has done a fine job restoring this William Hartnell adventure. The video is very crisp and the extras, including audio commentary with original series producer Verity Lambert, are very interesting and informative. This is the first story without any of the original companions; i.e., Susan, Barbara or Ian. The Doctor and Vicki are very surprised to find Steven onboard the TARDIS and have to convince him that the ship actually travels in time - in this instance, to 11th century England. There they encounter the Meddling Monk, a time traveler like the Doctor, but, unlike the Doctor, he enjoys meddling with time and messing with history. Of course, The Doctor puts a stop to that in the end! The sets and costumes are quite interesting, and the other characters in the story - the villagers and the Vikings - are pretty well developed. Well, actually the Vikings are a pretty bumbling bunch, but their costumes are cool! This DVD would make a good addition to anyone's Dr. Who collection.
The start of the pseudo-historicals September 5, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Part of the idea behind "Doctor Who" was that it was going to be used to teach children a little something about history. Well, that pretty much came to an end once the Doctor visited Skaro for the first time, but the show still tried to do historical stories.
The pure historicals are ones like Doctor Who - The Aztecs, where the TARDIS crew winds up somewhere in the past, runs into trouble and has to get out. This is all done without them having to deal with any kind of monsters or sci-fi peril.
But after a while, the powers that be decided the show needed to have a sci-fi angle to every story, so gradually the pure historicals faded away, leaving behind a beast called the pseudo-historical. These are stories that take place in a historical setting, but feature sci-fi elements to them. Aliens meddling in Earth's past, power-mad time-travelers meddling in Earth's past, robot's meddling in Earth's past or, surprisingly enough, other Time Lords meddling in Earth's past.
The first of these, appropriately enough, is "The Time Meddler", where another Time Lord (though they weren't called that yet), called the Monk, goes back in time to change the outcome of the Battle of Hastings. He's not exactly evil, more of just a problem. Naturally the Doctor has to put a stop to this nonsense.
The story is quite good as is the acting, and the Doctor comes off as something more heroic than the usual anti-hero role the First Doctor had. I loved what he wound up doing to the Monk at the end of the story.
As for the rest of the episode... well, the sets and costumes are good, as one expects for a historical story. Much less cheese than when they tried to do sci-fi (then again their budget was something like 2000 pounds for an entire season, so yeah).
The extras are nice, including commentary that features Verity Lambert in her last role on the last episode she produced (it was also her last commentary). There's also a nice obit for her, and a few other nice extras, including a feature on the First Doctor's adventures in the "Doctor Who" comic strips.
Overall this is a nice purchase. It's always good to see some of the earliest episodes and the extras are nice icing on the cake.
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