The 6th Doctor and Evelyn Smythe are sent to Planet Chronos to find and bring back several survey mission teams that have vanished into thin air, but the reason for their disappearance is more sinister than anyone expected…
The 6th Doctor and Evelyn Smythe are sent to Planet Chronos to find and bring back several survey mission teams that have vanished into thin air, but the reason for their disappearance is more sinister than anyone expected…
REAL TIME
This review covers the Big Finish CD release, not the animated webcast.
The success of Death Comes To Time prompted the creation of another webcast audio drama, this time produced by Big Finish and coming across as a much more traditional Doctor Who story, despite its technique and Doctor/companion pairing. Range producer and prolific novel author Gary Russell penned his first audio script for this release, which featured a narrative style new to Doctor Who: the plot would transpire in real time, taking place over the same sixty minutes of the production.
Unfortunately, the script sounds as though the concept of the real-time nature of events was devised before the details were hammered out — and furthermore, once things get underway, there is absolutely no attention drawn to the fact that this is the case. Events within the play happen with very inconsistent timing, seemingly only to drag the running time out to an hour — it’s been pointed out elsewhere that the Cyberconversions range from taking seconds to a half an hour without any attempt at explanation. Secondly, the occurrence of events in real time isn’t apparent without consideration: when the play is complete, rather than thinking “Wow, what an innovative use of time,” the listener might realize a few hours later “Wait a minute, I think that occurred in real time!” despite the presence of the title. The use of a countdown timer is an old cliche, but something like that would have been very effective here.
The ending is fascinating, however. With the vision of an alternate future in which the Cybermen are the dominant life form, Russell turns the listener’s expectations upside down: rather than averting the Cyber-victory, the Doctor inadvertently causes it. This does have the unfortunate effect of de-canonizing the story — since the Cybermen clearly aren’t the dominant race of the universe — unless of course a sequel is prepared, and this conclusion certainly seems to be begging for a sequel. This is also the first awful fate to befall Evelyn — but those will crop up later in the range.
It’s doubtful that Sylvester McCoy’s performance in Death Comes to Time could have ever been seriously challenged by another internet production, but Colin Baker turns in an excellent performance nonetheless. Selecting a sixth Doctor story for this webcast was a brilliant idea — many people who would never have picked up a Big Finish audio still consider Colin Baker to be a terrible Doctor, and this play does a great deal to change that opinion. Baker is commanding without being irritating, witty without being obnoxious, and sympathetic without being maudlin. When he says he’s willing to sacrifice those around him to protect the TARDIS, he’s utterly believable.
Evelyn might be a new companion, relatively speaking, but here she sounds like she’s been around forever. The opening scene on the CD release between the Doctor and Evelyn is a great deal of fun — it’s a shame it didn’t make it onto the web. As an older companion, Evelyn relates differently not just to the Doctor but to events around her, and her appeals to the Cybercontroller are much different than those one would expect from, for example, a Peri. Russell’s script shows a strong understanding of the regulars, something which is only made better by the talents of the actors involved.
Having just seen the new series episode Dalek, I’m struck by the amazing vocal talent of Nicholas Briggs, and his turn as the Cybercontroller is excellent. Apparently Stewart Lee and Richard Herring constitute some sort of comedy duo, and they acquit themselves well as Carey and Renchard. Jane Goddard is excellent as Nicola Savage as well. However, I still fail to understand the interest of Big Finish in casting Yee Jee Tso in anything. Yes, he was in the TV movie, but that doesn’t mean anything — it certainly shouldn’t earn him top billing on the CD cover. Perhaps if he was a talented actor, I’d understand it, but he’s as wooden as my bedposts — his performance as Goddard, arguably the most crucial role in the play, is absolutely diabolical and ruins almost every scene in which he features.
Gary Russell directs his own script and, though he keeps things together well, the play noticeably overruns. Fortunately this has no negative impact on the quality, but one is forced to wonder precisely why it was so impossible to cut the material down to sixty minutes. Sound design was reportedly a nightmare, but it’s impossible to tell from the production itself — Alistair Lock’s work is suitably chilling, with horrifying sound effects accompanying Cyberconversion and an effective, doom-laden score.
Real Time has come in for quite a bashing in some quarters, and this seems to be due to the common Doctor Who fan reaction of viciously condemning a production for daring to be merely average. Real Time has its flaws — the script is loose in places and Yee Jee Tso is in it — but it’s also quite gripping in places and asks some interesting questions. Whether it’s worth the purchase is another question, but it was certainly good enough to warrant an internet release.
Slightly better than average, but definitely worth hearing at least once.
6/10