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Synopsis

The Face of Kronos

UNIT are called into monitor the initial trials of a device called TOMTIT - the Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time - at the Newton Institute at Wootton. Created by the enigmatic Professor Thascales, TOMTIT's demonstration causes unexpected time anomalies. The Doctor soon discovers that TOMTIT is not all that it seems...

At the heart of TOMTIT is an ancient crystal, which the Master hopes to use to gain control over Kronos - a Chronovore which feeds on time itself. But the stone he holds is only part of the sacred crystal of Kronos - the main crystal is hidden...

The Doctor and the Master journey back in time to the lost city of Atlantis, where the battle for the control of Kronos intensifies... Can The Doctor prevent the Time Monster from being unleashed...?

Source: BBC VHS Video

General Information

Season:

Nine

Production Code:

OOO

Story Number:

Episode Numbers:

324 - 329

Number of Episodes:

Percentage of Episodes Held:

100%

Production Dates:

March - May 1972

Broadcast Started:

20 May 1972

Broadcast Finished:

24 June 1972

Colour Status:

Colour and B&W

Studio:

Ealing Television Film Studios and BBC Television Centre (TC3 and TC4)

Location:

Swallowfield Park (Swallowfield, Berkshire), Mortimer Lane (Mortimer, Berkshire), Stratfield Saye Park (Stratfield Saye, Hampshire), School Lane (Heckfield Heath, Hampshire) and Old Church Farm (Hartley Witney, Hampshire).

Writer:

Robert Sloman

Director:

Paul Bernard

Producer:

Barry Letts

Script Editor:

Terrance Dicks

Editor:

Martyn Day

Production Assistant:

Marion McDougall

Assistant Floor Manager:

Rosemary Hester

Designer:

Tim Gleeson

Costume Designer:

Barbara Lane

Make-Up Designer:

Joan Barrett

Cameraman:

Peter Hamilton

Lighting:

Derek Hobday

Visual Effects:

Michealjohn Harris and Peter Pegrum

Incidental Music:

Dudley Simpson

Special Sounds (SFX Editor):

Dick Mills

Studio Sounds:

Tony Millier

Title Sequence:

Bernard Lodge and Ben Palmer

Title Music:

Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Delia Derbyshire

Number of Doctors:

The Doctor:

Jon Pertwee (The Third Doctor)

Number of Companions:

The Companions:

Nicholas Courtney (The Brigadier), John Levene (Sergeant Benton), Katy Manning (Jo Grant) and Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates)

Guest Cast:

Roger Delgado (The Master), Ingrid Pitt (Galleia), Dave Prowse (Minotaur)

Additional Cast:

Wanda Moore (Dr. Ruth Ingram), Ian Collier (Stuart Hyde), John Wyse (Dr. Percival), Neville Barber (Dr. Cook), Barry Ashton (Proctor), Donald Eccles (Krasis), Aidan Murphy (Hippias), Keith Dalton (Neophite), Simon Legree (Unit Sergeant), Marc Boyle (Kronos), George Cormack (Dalios), Gregory Powell (Knight), Dave Carter (Roundhead Officer), George Lee (Farmworker), Derek Murcott (Crito), Susan Penhaligon (Lakis), Michael Walker (Miseus), Melville Jones (Guard), Terry Walsh (Window Cleaner), Ingrid Bower (Face of Kronos)

Setting:

Earth (1970s) and Atlantis

Villains:

Chronovores and The Master

The Episodes

No.	Episodes	Broadcast (UK)	Duration	Viewers (Millions)	In Archive
324	Episode 1	20 May 1972	25'04"	7.6	PAL colour conversion and 16mm B&W telerecording
325	Episode 2	27 May 1972	25'05"	7.4	PAL colour conversion and 16mm B&W telerecording
326	Episode 3	03 June 1972	23'59"	8.1	PAL colour conversion and 16mm B&W telerecording
327	Episode 4	10 June 1972	23'55"	7.6	PAL colour conversion and 16mm B&W telerecording
328	Episode 5	17 June 1972	24'29"	6.0	PAL colour conversion and 16mm B&W telerecording
329	Episode 6	24 June 1972	24'55"	7.6	PAL colour conversion and 16mm B&W telerecording

Total Duration

2 Hours 27 Minutes

Audience Appreciation

Average Viewers (Millions)

7.4

Doctor Who Magazine Poll (1998)	55.28% (Position = 144 out of 159)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2009)	52.55% (Position = 187 out of 200)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014)	55.76% (Position = 222 out of 241)
Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2023)	Position = 24 out of 24

Archives

All six episodes exist in colour as PAL conversions of NTSC 2" colour videotape. Also held are the original 16mm Black and White film telerecordings.

Notes

This story features a guest appearance by popular horror film star Ingrid Pitt who stars as Queen Galleia. David Prowse also guest stars as the Minotaur, he would later play (but not voice) the masked Darth Vader in the first three Star Wars movies.

This is the second story Paul Bernard directed during Season Nine, having earlier worked on "Day of the Daleks". This was also the first time since the Dalek story that the three UNIT regulars appear together.

This story features one of several storylines involving the fate of Atlantis (the others being the 1967 Second Doctor story "The Underwater Menace" and the previous season’s finale, "The Dæmons"). The first depicts the late twentieth century destruction of the long-sunken city while the second is one of several nonspecific claims made by Azal during a rant, and here no more than the collapse of a single temple is shown.

This story introduced the Chronovores, aliens that live in the time eddies who have lasting impact on the later novels The BBC The Past Doctors Stories novel "The Quantum Archangel", by Craig Hinton, is a sequel to this story.

The Chronovores are also featured in the Virgin Books' The New Adventures novel "No Future" by Paul Cornell. Also Paul Cornell's 2005 television story, "Father's Day", features creatures that resemble the Chronovores (they are though referred to as Reapers in this Ninth Doctor story).

The Doctor, in his second incarnation, and his companions were previously menaced by a Minotaur in the Land of Fiction, in the 1968 story "The Mind Robber".

The Doctor has a precognitive dream. When he was a little boy, lived in a house half way up a mountain, behind which sat a monk, or hermit, under a tree. The Doctor tells Jo Grant of a Time Lord ‘guru’ who influenced him as a boy. Co-incidentally, after he tells Jo this, the next person to appear is King Dallios, played by George Cormack, who will play that very guru, in the guise of K'Anpo, in "Planet of the Spiders" two years later (curiously, even some of the lines given to Dalios here are later virtually echoed by K'Anpo).

TOMTIT - stands for: 'Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time'

At one point The Doctor gets ejected into the time vortex and speaks to Jo through the TARDIS telepathic circuits so revealing that Time Lords can survive in the time vortex and that the TARDIS has an inbuilt rescue mechanism for when this happens. It is also revealed that TARDISes can communicate telepathically, and exist outside time. The Doctor has another excursion into the time vortex in the untelevised Fourth Doctor story "Shada" and again in the Big Finish Productions Eighth Doctor audio story "Seasons of Fear".

It is revealed that travelling in time between places depends on the mood of the ship, which The Doctor states is alive (as it seems is Bessie). There is also a scene where The Master uses his TARDIS to Time Ram The Doctor's.

For the first and only time throughout this season the main interior of the TARDIS appears. The debut of the new TARDIS interior set, designed by Tim Gleeson, was used for both The Doctor's and the Master's time machines. Producer Barry Letts was unhappy with the redesign, and the set was then damaged shortly after recording this story and so it would only be seen in "The Time Monster".

Look out for the scene where The Doctor makes a Time flow analogue from a Moroccan burgundy bottle, spoons, forks, corks, keyrings, tea leaves and a mug.

To date this is the only story that ends with one of the regular characters naked – allbeit Sergeant Benton returning to full size after having regressed to a baby by TOMTIT.

Jon Pertwee was credited as 'Dr. Who' for this story.

Even though it was unknown at the time the recording of episode six would be the last time that Nicholas Courtney and John Levene would work alongside Roger Delgado – who would be tragically killed in an automobile accident in June 1973.

Interestingly it was discovered in 1987 that episode 6 had been made into a low band PAL B/W 625 line broadcast standard videotape recording, for training purposes by the BBC.

First and Last

The Firsts:

The first and only time during Season Nine that the main interior of the TARDIS appears.

The first (and only) appearance of a new TARDIS interior set designed by Tim Gleeson.

The first Doctor Who story to be written by Robert Sloman.

The Lasts (Subject to Future Stories):

The last story of Season Nine.

The last time that Nicholas Courtney and John Levene would work alongside Roger Delgado.

Story Images

Show Text

The Doctor and Jo

The Master as Professor Thascalos

Doctor Ruth Ingram and Stuart Hyde

The Master Summons Kronos

The Doctor

Queen Galleia and The Master

Queen Galleia

Baby Benton

The Master in his TARDIS

The Doctor and Jo in the TARDIS

The Face of Kronos

Quote of the Story

'One moment you're talking about the entire universe blowing up and the next you're going on about tea.'

The Brigadier

Release Information

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Code Number	Cover Art	Remarks
VHS	Colony in Space and The Time Monster	November 2001	BBCV 7177	Photo-montage	Part of a Limited Edition Box Set (BBCV 7175)
DVD	The Time Monster	March 2010	BBCDVD 2581	Photo-montage	Part of "Myths and Legends" box set along with "Underworld" and "The Horns of Nimon"
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 9 (Limited Edition)	March 2023	BBCBD 0566	Lee Binding	Blu-Ray Limited Edition boxed set containing 5 specially restored stories
Blu-Ray	Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 9 (Standard Edition)	February 2025	BBCBD 0621	Lee Binding	Blu-Ray Standard Edition boxed set containing 5 specially restored stories

In Print

Format	Title	Release Date (UK)	Publisher	Author	Cover Art	Remarks
Novel	The Time Monster	February 1986	Target No. 102	Terrance Dicks	Andrew Skilleter	ISBN: 0-426-20221-X
Novel	Doctor Who Classics: The Dæmons & The Time Monster	March 1989	Star Books	Terrance Dicks	Andrew Skilleter	Double story release. ISBN: 0-352-32382-5
CD	The Time Monster	March 2023	Target No. 102	Terrance Dicks	Andrew Skilleter	Audio version of the Target Novel read by Jon Culshaw.

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time)	Issue 64
Doctor Who Monthly - Archive	Issue 52 (Released: May 1981)
Doctor Who Magazine - Archive	Issue 268 (Released: August 1998)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 331 (Released: June 2003)
Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team	Issue 333 (Released: August 2003)
Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction	Issue 484 (Released: April 2015)
Doctor Who DVD Files	Volume 137 (Released: April 2014)

Photo Gallery

The Doctor and Companions

The Third Doctor

The Brigadier

Sergeant Benton

Jo Grant

Captain Mike Yates

On Release

VHS Video Cover

VIDEO

DVD Cover

VIDEO

The Collection Season 9 Limited Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

The Collection Season 9 Standard Edition Blu-Ray Cover

VIDEO

In Print

Target Book Cover

NOVEL

Doctor Who Classics Cover

NOVEL

Target Audio CD Cover

Magazines

Doctor Who CMS Magazine (An Adventure in Space and Time): Issue 64

Doctor Who Monthly - Archive: Issue 52

Doctor Who Magazine - Archive: Issue 268

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 331

Doctor Who Magazine - Time Team: Issue 333

Doctor Who Magazine - The Fact of Fiction: Issue 484

Doctor Who DVD Files: Volume 137

Who's Who

Who Me

Episodes of the
Third Doctor

Season 9

References

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