‘DEAD TIME’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Forgotten with the Eighth Doctor and Sam

This story called ‘Dead Time’ is by Andrew Miller. It features the Eighth Doctor and Sam. Andrew Miller doesn’t exist, as it’s a pseudonym used by Stephen Cole when he wrote ‘Dead Time’. Stephen must have found it a challenge to come up with pseudonyms for stories he wrote in these anthologies.

As well as being included in ‘More Short Trips’, ‘Dead Time’ is a story featured in the ‘Earth and Beyond’ audio collection and is read by Paul McGann. I believe ‘Dead Time’ was released first as an audio story in ‘Earth and Beyond’ in 1998 before it was later published in ‘More Short Trips’ in 1999.

This is clearly evident when reading and hearing the story at the same time. Most of the story is unabridged when read by Paul McGann in the audio version, but there are clearly words and phrases said differently in the audiobook version compared to the prose version, which can be disconcerting.

There’s also a section where Paul McGann is talking to himself, as there are two Eighth Doctors talking to each other inside the Doctor’s mind. This was enjoyable to check out when hearing the story, though I would have preferred it if Paul had given us an unabridged reading of ‘Dead Time’. 😐

It was also nice to read another short story featuring the Eighth Doctor with Samantha ‘Sam’ Jones as his companion after reading ‘The People’s Temple’ in the first BBC ‘Short Trips’ anthology. It’s also fascinating to uncover a certain group of Time Lords called the Forgotten that attack the Doctor.

I also found it fascinating how the Doctor and Sam ended up inside an ancient TARDIS that belonged to the Forgotten, who attempt to disrupt the Doctor’s timeline. Eventually, the Doctor has the Forgotten trapped in a portion of his brain that would be destroyed the next time he regenerated. 😐

‘Dead Time’ rating – 7/10