‘Out of Time’ (Audio)

‘OUT OF TIME’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Daleks with the Tenth Doctor and the Fourth Doctor

In a time of uncertainty, this was a welcome treat for any ‘Doctor Who’ fan! 🙂

One of the blessings of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic was the opportunity for Big Finish to employ David Tennant in some more Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ where he played the Tenth Doctor. That’s not to say Big Finish weren’t able to get David Tennant back to play the Doctor again on audio.

It’s just in the time before the pandemic happened; David Tennant was very busy making films and TV productions across the globe, so his time and availability seemed to be scarce. Thankfully, David was able to do some more work for Big Finish whilst working from home during the 2020 pandemic.

I’ve noticed when David Tennant did ‘The Tenth Doctor Adventures’ with Billie Piper and Catherine Tate, they happened to be a rare treat depending on when David was available to work for Big Finish. At the time of this review, David’s done more Big Finish audios playing the Tenth Doctor here.

I’m currently looking forward to the rest of the ‘Out of Time’ trilogy, which includes stories like ‘The Gates of Hell’ with Peter Davison and ‘Wink’ with Colin Baker. I’m also looking forward to hearing the ‘Dalek Universe’ season of adventures as well as the ‘Classic Companions’ box set that features Nyssa in it.

A story where the Tenth Doctor meets Nyssa as well as meeting Leela and Ace along with K-9 is very appealing and exciting for me. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me share with you what I think of the first ‘Out of Time’ audio story with David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor and Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor.

I greatly enjoyed ‘Out of Time’! It’s an exciting audio adventure by Matt Fitton, featuring two iconic and well-loved incarnations of the Doctor, played by David Tennant and Tom Baker. It was such a thrill to hear David Tennant and Tom Baker interacting with each other whilst they were fighting the Daleks. 🙂

It’s a shame that David and Tom had to work from home and not meet each other physically whilst making this story. Yet from hearing this story; you forget that being the case. You’re quickly immersed into the world of this story and you believe that the two Doctors are meeting each other here.

That’s down to the incredible time and preparation made to make this story possible, as I’m sure is the case for many Big Finish audios that had to be made during lockdown. Director Nicholas Briggs and his team have done wonders to make this story possible and it feels like a polished piece of drama. 🙂

I’m sure Big Finish must have had lots of practice with making these audios under strange circumstances when they were working during the lockdown periods of 2020 and at this point in 2021. It’s also a great selling point to have ‘Out of Time’ featuring the Tenth and Fourth Doctors fighting against the evil Daleks. 🙂

In the story, the two Doctors visit the Cathedral of Contemplation, which exists outside of time and it spirals through history. They seek perspective at varying points in their lives, as they’re travelling alone without companions. Soon, these two Doctors must work together when the Daleks attack. 😮

It was intriguing to hear this story where the two Doctors are travelling alone and without any companions. Maybe due to the lockdown in 2020 and depending on time and resources, it wasn’t possible to get a companion for each of the two Doctors to appear in a single episode story like this.

With that said, it was fascinating to hear at which point the two Doctors were at in their travels respectively. Tom Baker’s Doctor recently said farewell to Sarah Jane Smith and visited Gallifrey whilst David Tennant’s Doctor recently received the summons by the Ood to face his ultimate end. 😐

David Tennant in ‘Out of Time’.

David Tennant is a thrill to hear in this audio adventure. I like how the story starts with David’s Doctor asking if anyone’s about before he’s met by the Abbess at the Cathedral of Contemplation. I also like how this story doesn’t waste time and has the two Doctors meeting each other immediately. 😀

For a while, David’s Doctor hides the fact that he’s a future version of himself when he’s interacting with Tom’s Doctor. But Tom’s Doctor gradually works it out and I like how the two Doctors bounce off each other. Tom’s Doctor also notices how lonely David’s Doctor is when he chooses to be companionless.

Tom Baker in ‘Out of Time’.

Tom Baker is equally excellent as the Fourth Doctor in this audio adventure. It’s quite a contrast to hear a well-loved classic Doctor with a booming voice interacting with a well-loved new series Doctor with a slightly ‘high-pitched’ voice. And Tom’s Doctor is supposed to be younger than David’s Doctor.

I enjoyed it when Tom’s Doctor cheekily asked for hints on what his future will be like and David’s Doctor at least tells him he’ll end up with a Time Lady and a robotic dog. 😀 It’s also amusing when Tom’s Doctor invites David’s Doctor to join him on his TARDIS travels. How bonkers would that be? 🙂

The story features special guest star Claire Rushbrook as the Abbess of the Cathedral of Contemplation. She also plays the character of Marna. Claire Rushbrook has been in ‘Doctor Who’ before, since she played Ida Scott in the two-part TV story ‘The Impossible Planet’/’The Satan Pit’ with David Tennant.

The Abbess character that Claire plays is trying to separate the Tenth Doctor from meeting the Fourth Doctor at the beginning of the story, which of course doesn’t work. The Abbess gets killed instantly by Daleks as they come to attack. Marna happens to be a pilot escaping from the Second Dalek War. 😐

Nicholas Briggs of course returns to voice the Daleks in this audio adventure as well as be the director on this one. The Daleks do sound pretty mundane, especially when they’re barking orders and they’re attacking and killing people at the Cathedral of Contemplation. But they’re lots of fun to listen to. 🙂

It’s interesting that the Daleks happen to be the classic ones, as featured in stories like ‘Planet of the Daleks’ and ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. They’re also led by a Dalek Supreme that looks distinctly like the blood-red Supreme Dalek in ‘The Stolen Earth’/’Journey’s End’. That Dalek can’t have escaped that story! 😀

The story also features Kathryn Drysdale as Jora, a 26th century soldier who is the daughter of Captain Zenna. Kathryn Drysdale played Bliss in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Love & Monsters’. Tom Baker’s Doctor and David Tennant’s Doctor connect with Jora when at the Cathedral of Contemplation.

Nicholas Asbury guest stars as Captain Zenna in the adventure. Nicholas Asbury played a Zygon-human character in ‘The Zygon Inversion’ apparently. Captain Zenna is pretty angry when he finds his daughter has deserted her post as a soldier. Nicholas Asbury also plays Kivall, the Abbess’ apprentice. 🙂

It was fun to hear ‘Out of Time’, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. I greatly enjoyed their battle against the Daleks and how they bounced off each other. It’s a meeting I’m sure that many fans dreamed of happening and it’s satisfying result by Big Finish.

The CD extras are as follows. At the end of ‘Out of Time’, there are behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew including David Tennant, Tom Baker, Claire Rushbrook, Nicholas Briggs, producer David Richardson, etc. It was fascinating to find out how ‘Out of Time’ got made, especially with the actors working from home.

If you subscribe to Big Finish for ‘Out of Time’ via the ‘Out of Time’ bundle, you’ll get bonus content which is extended extras for ‘Out of Time’.

‘Out of Time’ rating – 9/10

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The previous story For the Fourth Doctor was ‘The Deadly Assassin’ (TV) For the Tenth Doctor was ‘The Shattered Hourglass’ (ST/Audio)	The next story For the Fourth Doctor was ‘Night of the Vashta Nerada’ (Audio) For the Tenth Doctor is ‘Keeping Up With The Joneses’ (TT)
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