Doctor Who: Death Comes to Time

The question isn't 'Who is the Doctor?' but 'Where is the Doctor?' in this lackluster effort

By Arnold T. Blumberg     July 14, 2001

The first indication that something is very wrong can be found in the publicity that the BBC put out concerning this unique online event. When announcing the premiere of the first-ever internet-based dramatic presentation from the BBC, it was noted that this DOCTOR WHO production was the first new adventure for the Doctor since the 1996 TV movie.

Does no one recall the BBC granting a license to a certain company by the name of Big Finish Productions, which since 1998 has released over twenty beautifully produced DOCTOR WHO audio dramas on CD? Evidently, even if the BBC chooses to ignore one of their most popular properties by treating it as a bastard child, they still reserve the right to ignore any efforts made on its behalf unless they themselves are directly involved. So an entire series of original DOCTOR WHO, distinguished by its superb production quality, sterling performances and solid storytelling, is wiped from history as the BBC proudly touts its own new WHO. So what are we to make of this supposed return?

For one thing, this new online presentation is anything but. DEATH COMES TO TIME is just one thirty minute (or so) episode of a proposed six episode radio series that the BBC rejected. Instead of broadcasting the existing single pilot episode in the old-fashioned way, it has been edited into even tinier segments and released as the BBC's first online drama, accompanied (if you have a sufficient connection) by some excellent Lee Sullivan artwork.

As you can see from this lengthy preamble, it's very difficult to review a show like this without being unduly influenced by the circumstances surrounding its creation, but even if we put all that aside, DEATH COMES TO TIME is disappointing at best. Granted, it is only a fraction of what was meant to be a complete story, but an informed listener can certainly judge the quality of the production as presented and infer the direction in which the story was heading.

DEATH COMES TO TIME finds the Seventh Doctor, again played by Sylvester McCoy, traveling rather inexplicably with a new companion named Antimony (played lethargically by Kevin Eldon) while Ace (Sophie Aldred) receives lessons in the nature of the universe from an enigmatic gentleman named Casmus. We are dropped into the middle of a story that has a cosmic scope, with several admittedly intriguing and lyrically written asides incongruously cut together with bargain basement STAR WARS space battle sequences. There's a painfully melodramatic villain prone to unfunny quips, a planet in siege, a people crying out for a hero, and a Time Lord with an Ace up his sleeve. For anyone even remotely familiar with DOCTOR WHO, it's a set-up we've seen several times too often.

Yet, DEATH COMES TO TIME manages to be as irritatingly alien as a DOCTOR WHO drama even as it plays into all the old clichés. Written as more of an alternative version of WHO, the episode clearly has a skewed idea of the show's premise and its central character. Though McCoy sounds like his Seventh Doctor, he doesn't act much like him. His behavior and his relationship with other Time Lords suggests that he's operating as an agent of sorts, a cosmic troubleshooter with an agenda far different than anything we've seen (or heard) before. The Doctor has been a Time Lord errand boy on more than one occasion, but not like this. From the lame Lucasfilm 'homages' to the shallow sound editing and general flatness of the piece, there's something substantially wrong about it all. This is the one time when the title of the series actually demands an answer who is this fellow calling himself the Doctor?

Having immersed myself in Big Finish's line of audio dramas, I've come to the conclusion that they not only understand the heart of the series but are capable of producing a professional quality series with all the thrills and chills of the original TV show. The BBC, on the other hand, have done nothing but malign their own creation and then torment fans with the barest hints of a revival while posting innumerable online polls whose results are all too predictable. Naturally we all want DOCTOR WHO back, but frankly, I think the wait may have ended when the Big Finish series began.

Unless the BBC changes their tune and gives us something more than underproduced second-hand radio that ignores what makes WHO work in favor of a thinly veiled, thinly scripted STAR WARS pastiche, the future lies elsewhere. If the BBC is asking me to choose between 'official' broadcast BBC DOCTOR WHO and 'licensed' CD-based Big Finish DOCTOR WHO, then forgive me, but I think it's time to pop another disc in the player. The Doctor is waiting.

DOCTOR WHO: DEATH COMES TO TIME

Format: Online Audio Drama, approximately 30 minutes

Initial Airdate: July 13

Cast: Sylvester McCoy (The Doctor), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Kevin Eldon (Antimony), General Tannis (John Sessions), Casmus (Leonard Fenton), Minister of Chance (Stephen Fry)

Writer: Colin Meek

Director: Dan Freedman

Network: BBC Online

Grade: C-