Classic Doctor Who: The 10 Timey-Wimiest Episodes
6. The Space Museum (1965)
One of the
earliest examples of time travel playing a functional role in the plot of Doctor Who is the story that we now know
as The Space Museum. The First Doctor and his companions arrive
at a museum filled with futuristic artifacts, including space ships, equipment,
and most notably…themselves,
preserved in glass.
The Doctor deduces that they have “skipped a time track,” arriving after their adventure has ended. They inhabit an strange shadow-dimension, where they can observe but not interact their surroundings.
Sadly, when time catches up with the travelers and they are returned to “normal time”, the the story quickly leaves this Twilight Zone-like tone behind, and goes on with a routine “slaves vs cruel oppressors” adventure.
Still, the early scenes of the story are eerie and memorable, and serve as an introduction to the potential the series has to play around with the idea of time travel.