Story 17: "The Time Meddler" Trivia Quiz

Answer: "I.D.B.I." - (I don't believe it)

While Steven Taylor has experience with spacecraft, he doesn't believe anything that Vicki and the Doctor tell him about the TARDIS. Not about it being bigger on the inside, not about it being able to camouflage itself, nor about it being a time machine.

The first thing that is proven to him is that it is, indeed, smaller on the outside. From there, though, he only questions why it looks as it does, when Vicki explains that it has the ability to blend into its surroundings (a technical hitch that the Doctor will one day fix).

William Hartnell played the Doctor, and his companions were Maureen O'Brien (Vicki) and Peter Purves (Steven Taylor).

Answer: A wristwatch

Steven doubts that they are in Earth's past, despite Vicki's discovery of a Viking helmet nearby. His skepticism is seemingly justified when he discovers a wristwatch in the woods - a truly anachronistic item, if it's supposed to be the 11th century.

The monk, meanwhile, returns to his monastery to prepare for the potential arrival of the travelers.

The mysterious monk was portrayed by Peter Butterworth.

Answer: A gramophone

The Doctor makes his way to the monastery, but finds the entrance bolted shut. A moment after trying the door, it swings open on its own (the viewer sees the monk undo the bolt from the other side). The Doctor enters and in short order discovers the source of the singing - a gramophone hidden in a small room behind a curtain. He laughs and lifts the needle from the recording, and suddenly finds himself trapped as bars come down from the ceiling and lock him in the room.

The monk appears, giving his own self-satisfied laugh.

Answer: A radio

While making breakfast for the imprisoned Doctor, he pops the toast, finishes cooking the eggs on the electric frying pan, then takes everything to the Doctor on a tray, including tea. From the other side of the cell door, we hear the Doctor retort angrily and he throws a liquid (tea, water or other) through the barred 'window' into the monk's face.

Later, outside the monastery, he sets himself up to be seen by the villagers, studying some scrolls. After accepting some food from the women, he then uses his binoculars to watch to make sure they have gone.

Interestingly, the Doctor doesn't actually appear in this episode, as he was on vacation. On both occasions that you hear his voice, it was pre-recorded.

Answer: No

Steven and Vicki are sure that the monk is lying about having seen the Doctor, so while the monk is supposedly asking the other monks about having seen the Doctor, Steven devises a plan to get the monk to make a mistake.

So, Steven prompts the monk to describe the Doctor, even when they had not made mention of any of the Doctor's features or outfit. Unbeknownst to the two travelers, however, the monk was playing a reverse trick on them, having eavesdropped on their conversation. He let them think he had tripped up, when in reality he was drawing them into his trap.

Luckily for Vicki and Steven, just as they infiltrate the monastery and find the same gramophone, a couple of villagers come seeking medical aid after a Viking attack, distracting him from his trap.

Answer: One

There were only three Vikings in the scouting party in their area, although one of them was a very large brute of a man. Five men from the village tracked them down and ambushed them, but only managed to take down the giant, while losing three of their own. Two of the Vikings escaped, while one of the remaining two villagers was also injured.

It was these two men that arrived at the monastery just at the right moment to provide the distraction that saved Vicki and Steven from being caught in the monk's trap.

Answer: An atomic cannon

With this discovery, Vicki and Steven decide to return to the monastery, as the monk is obviously up to something untoward. They make their way back and regain entrance through the secret tunnel.

At the same time, the Doctor learns through his conversation with the Saxon woman that the monk is somehow connected to the Vikings, so he also decides to return to the monastery and turn the tables on the meddling monk.

The Doctor gets the drop on the monk, but before he can do anything about it, they are accosted by the two surviving Vikings. The monk uses the incident to get away, and he returns to the village to trick them into setting fire beacons on the clifftop, ostensibly to guide a ship with provisions into land. He returns to deal with the Doctor, but once again, the Doctor gains the upper hand, capturing him with one of the Vikings' sword in hand.

Answer: A TARDIS

With all of the anachronisms, it ends up being the perfect explanation for how these things could be. The monk is a Time Lord! (although the term is not used to refer to the Doctor's species until the sixth season story "The War Games")

The discovery of the TARDIS is the cliffhanger ending of the third episode, and at the beginning of the last episode ("Checkmate"), Vicki and Steven find all sorts of relics from history - evidence of the monk's previous meddlings in the timeline.

Answer: To meet King Harold

The monk actually has a progress chart on the wall where he ticks off the items on the list that he has accomplished. We see him check off item number three on the list:

1. Arrival in Northumbria
2. Position atomic cannon
3. Sight Vikings
4. Light beacon fires
5. Destroy Viking fleet
6. Norman landing
7. Battle of Hastings
8. Meet King Harold

By annihilating the Viking fleet with the atomic cannon, King Harold won't have to expend his men and resources to beat back King Harald Hardrada's invasion from the north. According to the monk's reasoning, this would allow King Harold to defeat William at the Battle of Hastings.

Answer: False

The Doctor is able to prevent further tampering of the timeline by the monk through a diabolical plan. He removes the dimensional control from the monk's TARDIS, eliminating its ability to be bigger on the inside. Thus, when the monk returns to his TARDIS after escaping the wrath of the Saxon villagers, he finds himself unable to enter his literally sarcophagus-sized ship.

The Doctor also leaves the monk a note, saying that he may one day return to free the Monk... when he has learned his lesson.