Day 79: The Meddling Monk

The eponymous monk in this episode represents one of the most important and pivotal moments in Doctor Who. To explain, the show effectively plays a game with us. It sets us down in a historical setting, with Viking invaders and the like, and as such, the viewer settles down for a historical adventure, with no science fiction stuff happening. And then, we discover a record player in the monastery, and we realise that things are not as they seem. Things have now completely changed, because now we have to accept the fact that there could be other forces besides those that we already know about that may affect history and historical adventures. The Meddling Monk represents that, he is an anomaly in what is known, we know that record players weren't around in 1066, let alone toasters or watches. It's refreshing to come across this mystery, as it brings new life into the format, and shows us that sometimes we can be surprised by what is presented to us, that Doctor Who isn't just a show that has historical adventures or alien adventures, sometimes we can now have both. This represents one of the most important and pivotal moments in Doctor Who, as it shows that we can sometimes have both historical and alien in the same story.