This was a download exclusive offered to readers of Doctor Who Magazine Issue 411 for a limited time.
The Mists of Time features the Third Doctor and his companion, Jo Grant. When Jo finds herself on a distant planet in the far future, she’s greeted by an archeologist, Calder, who is marooned on the deserted world. With no memory of how she arrived, Calder reminds her that they’ve met before — and she starts to recall a tale of ghosts and murders and a terrible Time Lord secret…
THE COMPANION CHRONICLES: THE MISTS OF TIME
For a number of years, Big Finish offered free full-cast audio stories to the readers of Doctor Who Magazine. The last of these, “Cuddlesome,” came in 2008, and in 2009 Big Finish changed course, offering new Companion Chronicles in lieu of full-cast plays. The first of these, Jonathan Morris’ “The Mists of Time,” was released to DWM readers as a three-episode production, but was edited into one feature-length episode for its 2011 rerelease in the Specials box set. As an introduction to the range, it works well; as a piece of drama in its own right, it’s solid, if unmemorable.
It’s obvious from the start that this is designed as an introduction to the range – we get the usual framing sequence for the narrative, with Katy Manning’s Jo Grant and human scientist Newton Calder (Andrew Whipp) establishing the story. When the narrative begins, however, Calder encourages Jo to (paraphrased) “tell it like it’s a story and we’re characters in it!” Morris does justify this line at the conclusion, but it’s obvious why it’s there, and it seriously jars. Still, it’s better to have a framing sequence than none at all, and Morris’ script provides an elegant, if utterly predictable, twist at the conclusion. There’s also a brief moment where Calder delivers the narration, relating events that occurred while Jo slept – this is a great device, but it’s only been used one or two times before in the range to this point.
For better or worse, “The Mists of Time” is very much a Pertwee-in-space story, combining humans under threat with the Doctor haughtily reminding everyone that of course there’s a scientific explanation for all this. There’s some Time Lord mythologizing, but of course the interesting part (the aftermath of a temporal attack) is largely ignored in favor of a cliché (a machine that threatens the universe and a madman controlling it). Pertwee is already the most difficult Doctor to make interesting, and Morris isn’t making too much effort in that direction. I understand that a sample story can’t be too off the wall, but the smart, creative stories drive this range – without them, it’d be little more than a number of uninspiring audiobooks.
Manning is great, though. Her Pertwee impression doesn’t sound much like him, but she’s surprisingly accurate on his vocal inflections. The rest of her voices are quite distinctive: much more than just a funny accent. Whipp supports well, though he doesn’t participate as much as other supporting actors have in the past. As for the production, it’s unobtrusive – Lisa Bowerman directs, and David Darlington provides the sound design. Overall, I don’t have a great deal to say about “The Mists of Time.” There’s certainly nothing wrong with it, and it’s a competent introduction to the range, but there’s also nothing about it that’ll stick in the mind. Not bad as part of a set, but don’t get the Specials box if this is the only one you want to hear.
Not bad.
6/10