Real Time

Bonus Release

Released: 12 December 2002

Listened: 6/29/20

This story isn’t available for download from Big Finish, only on CD. However, it was created as an animation for the BBC’s web site (although designed so that you could follow it without visuals). That page still exists, but it no longer functions, so it’s best to watch one of the YouTube recordings of it. It’s a Cyberman story, although a somewhat different version of the Cybermen, from the future, although that’s a little hard to tell, because they behave mostly like they always do. There’s also a bit of timey-wimey paradox involved, but that mostly gets swept aside by the end. Yee Jee Tso (Chang Lee from the TV movie) has a major role, which means that for once, a Big Finish American accent sounds natural and unforced. Because this is an early Big Finish, it’s somewhat talky and the pacing is a little slower than standard. However, it’s also quite dark, with a cyber-conversion scene that goes on rather longer than it needs to. Finally, the audio version, but not the webcast, has an extra scene in which the Doctor and Evelyn discuss the Doctor’s blue outfit, with a reference to blue being the color for mourning from "Revelation of the Daleks.” The blue coat was obviously added to save the animators’ sanity, but it sticks around for several audio adventures after this point, and has been “canonized” to the point of appearing on action figures. On the whole, it’s not a great story, but memorable for what it tried to do.