Memory is a funny
thing. It usually retains the
impressions of times gone by, but rarely ever is the perfection required for
most to get an accurate representation of one’s own life. So what if we took the memories and turned
them into a museum. That is the
inspiration for the setting of The Time
Museum, a museum where time travelers are collected from all points in
history and their experiences are put on display for the public to see. While it is very similar to the main premise
of The Space Museum, James Goss
crafts an excellent setting as his story is an excuse to mix together elements
from An Unearthly Child, Marco Polo,
and The Crusade into one story then The Daleks, The Web Planet, and The Sensorites. There is also much reference made to Lost Stories
and Companion Chronicles, Farewell, Great
Macedon and The Rocket Men, both
get extended periods of though dedicated to them and all through this abstract
setting of a museum dedicated to Ian Chesterton.
The plot itself is much
darker than it could be as Ian wakes up to find himself in the museum with
Pendolin, a guide helping him through the exhibition while whispering ghosts
come to eat his memories. The first
episode involves Ian and Pendolin trying to run away from these ghosts until
the darker elements of the story rear their head. Pendolin is the creature who created the
museum and used the guests who came to the museum as food. He feeds off their memories, stories give him
substance you see, but it kills them and people started noticing so they
stopped coming. Pendolin was unable to
control his hunger for memories and started to eat the exhibits which turned
them into ghosts and now Ian is the only one left. Ian’s memories are Pendolin’s finest
experience as he has had the most travel in his life, travel with a Time Lord,
changing history. The first episode is
already very tense as you have an old man trying to escape the museum himself
and you have these exhibits changing as Ian begins to misremember events so you
have Daleks fighting Zarbi, the Saracen Horde against the forces of Alexander
the Great. There are random cavepeople
fighting around and the first episode plays out very much like the greatest
hits of the first two seasons of the show all in an hour.
The second episode really
is what seals the deal making this story a great one as it ends in a climax
where Ian shows what the Doctor was like in An
Unearthly Child. He was about to
commit murder and it was Ian’s challenging of his morals that changed his
ways. This is enough to get under
Pendolin’s skin and defeat the creature, returning Ian back to his own time
having an adventure where the Doctor doesn’t appear at all. This is really William Russell’s time to
shine as Ian Chesterton. He doesn’t
really have to play the younger version of Ian that we would normally be seeing
as this story is only taking place in the “present”. Russell acts the part as an old man telling a
story. Ian obviously loved his wife
Barbara, had great respect for the Doctor, and looks back on that period of his
life with nostalgia for it. He also is
the sole reason the climax of the story works with Russell making himself out
as angry. Philip Pope is interesting as
Pendolin is a multi-faceted character.
One moment there’s a child-like glee while the next moment Pendolin is a
monster, ready to kill. He’s almost the
First Doctor for the story in a way and his fate at the end of the story is
quite interesting as it is something that really fits the character. Lisa Bowerman once again is on the top of her
game as a director for the duration of the story. She has the sound team really have the story
feel like it is in a deserted environment.
To summarize, The Time Museum is one of Goss’s best
efforts as a writer giving us the perfect story of a man who is near the end of
his life and is looking back. It could
almost be seen as a death of the character and really gets things going. Russell and Pope are excellent in the story
and the tone is something that really doesn’t go for anything less than
perfection. 100/100
No comments:
Post a Comment