Doctor Who, season 2 continued …

A continuation of the previous episode, with the Doctor reaching the village before Vicki & Steven.  The monk tends to one of the villagers (the monk’s “accidental” anachronisms – like mentioning penicillin, and then blood transfusions – doesn’t really do the character justice).

The sets, particularly of the inside of the monastery, are great, and some of the “outside” sets give the story a filmic, almost epic feel.

The Doctor returns to the monastery and gains entrance with a fantastic bluff, while Steven and Vicki try to find the TARDIS at which point they discover the Monk’s atomic cannon, and they decide to return to the monastery and challenge the monk.  Hartnell and Butterworth playing off each other is good stuff (“And remember, no more monkery!”).

Two of the Vikings reach the monastery, and one of them locks the Doctor (posing as a monk) in the cell again to be their hostage, while the monk takes out the other Viking.  The Doctor cunningly uses his previous escape route as a lure to take out the Viking guarding his door.

The villagers turn out to be not so gullible when the monk asks them to set up beacon fires, while Steven and Vicki get into the monastery via the Doctor’s escape route.  They search the monastery and stumble across the Monk’s…. TARDIS!

“It’s a TARDIS.  The monk’s got a TARDIS..!”

Next time … Checkmate