An Autist Reviews: Deeptime Frontier (The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Ravenous 3.1)

*All Reviews Are Spoiler-Free Aside From Any Spoiler Sections*

After being rescued from a desolate planetoid about to be destroyed by a secret Time Lord research station, Deeptime Frontier, the Doctor and his friends quickly find themselves in almost as much danger as they were previously. The Doctor’s old friend, Rasmus, is using this station to look into dark chronons within a massive rift in the fabric of spacetime. He is using a famous human scientist by the name of Visteron to do this, as well as another mysterious Time Lord and a less mysterious, but freshly regenerated Time Lord named Brallix, who appears to have been frightened to death by the corpse of a Ravenous. But is the corpse all it seems, is Brallix? Is everyone just panicking for no reason, or has Deeptime Frontier released the Ravenous from their bubble universe prison?

“You never know what you might find in the dark. We are returning. Gaining substance...”

God, this story is just plain terrifying. It’s amazing, through and through. Sure, it’s a classic base under siege style story, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Every inch of this story builds tension amazingly, slowly putting you on edge, showing you cracks in people’s logic, showing you little hints that all is not as it seems, and eventually, dropping the cold, terrifying, grotesque truth on you. The dialogue is probably what makes this story so damn good, as it really is perfect in every way, even when what is being said is unnatural exposition, the dialogue itself is fantastic and in character. This story is also very good at matching multiple kinds of horror together along with a pleasant sort of through-line. This story really is the start of the Ravenous story, like, this really is where it begins. We’re introduced to exactly what they are, exactly how terrifying they are, and we see basically how the story is going to continue throughout this boxset and the next. Now, the story does have a lot of people just sort of going along with things and being a little oblivious here and there, but with Horror stories, certain things are expected and almost tropes of their own, rather than writing errors, at this point; A story suddenly being told for very little reason and with a poor transition into it, is one of those tropes, and the story of Time Skiff Alpha 9 is very much so an example of this trope. The story itself is incredibly terrifying and enjoyable, but damn if it isn’t poorly introduced. There are only two other instances of bad exposition, but I forget exactly what they were, but the fact that there are only 3 examples of poor exposition is pretty dang incredible. The ending of this story is rather well done and would have earned a 10, if not for the fact that what has happened to Liv and Helen is only revealed in the next story, not in this one, so it feels really weird that Liv and Helen just up and disappear at the end. Still, the plot of this story is fantastic and, even if the pacing falls off a little at the end, has certainly earned its rating.

Ah yes, the acting. Perhaps the most important part of any audio drama! Here the acting is absolutely superb. If it weren’t for the occasional drop in acting quality of the original Brallix, Visteron, and the female Ravenous, the acting score for this story would be an easy 10/10. Of course, the Doctor and his friends were perfect, what else would be expected, really? And Rasmus is just fantastic as well, though his acting isn’t good enough to improve the side character’s acting score. When the side characters or Ravenous deliver a line poorly, however rare it may be, it completely tanks a scene and makes it borderline funny. Truthfully, if they had one or two more bad lines, their scores would be even lower, and as sad as it would be, it would be completely and utterly justified.

The only bad thing about the music in this story is how little there is, and how the music that there is isn’t exactly the most fitting during one or two scenes rather early on. That’s it. As for the background effects, the only mistake made is when there is a very quiet alarm noise going on in the background whilst the Doctor is shouting to be heard over it… which obviously doesn’t make sense. But that’s it. Every other effect, however small, is included and is perfect beyond comment. I honestly always get a little annoyed at really great stories, because there’s so little to comment on. After all, how many different ways can you say “It’s great”?

The replay value is special because it actually contains a 7 within its sub ratings. That’s because you won’t get much out of listening to this story again, however much you might want to. Sure, one or two things really are far greater after listening to the rest of Ravenous, and sure one or two things will make more sense even if you just listen to this story again immediately after finishing it the first time, but there’s not much, really. It doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy the story any less a second time.

All in all, I didn’t remember this story being so amazing, but it really is just fantastic through and through. It has so many terrifying moments, so much genuine emotion, and so many great throughlines! How anyone could hate this story is just beyond me. It sets up the Ravenous so well, too! Sure, it has THREE problems with its writing. But two problems in 1 hour is pretty damn good. The acting and effects are both also phenomenal, with only the occasional bit of poor line delivery keeping the acting rating from being a solid 10/10! Plus, who wouldn’t want to get their pants scared off again and again by a story as well crafted in every respect as this one? I am so proud to give this story a 10/10, despite all of its flaws. If you ask me, it deserves it.

“This hunt only just begins.”

Total - 10 (I pushed it up a single point because honestly, it really is a perfect story in every regard, it just sometimes has an issue or two that are annoying for a short bit of time and then just disappear and never occur again, which sadly dragged the rating lower than it should be. So, I’ve fixed that XD)

Plot - 9

---

Story - 9

Pacing - 9

Dialogue - 10

Narration - NR

Exposition - 9

Enjoyment - 10

Twist/s - NR

Resolution/s - NR

Ending/s - 9

Acting - 9

---

MC/s - 10

SC/s - 9

BG/s - 9

Narrator/s - NR

Effects - 10

---

Music - 9

Voices - 10

Actions - 10

Background - 9

Transitions - 10

Replay - 9

---

Re-Enjoyment - 10

New Details - 7

-=- If you want to see more of my reviews, some of my craziness, my thoughts on stories I've experienced but not reviewed, and the important libtard things I share around because I'm a filthy liberal snowflake, check out my Instagram page @deadmainmanmax -=-