An Autist Reviews: Time Apart - What Lurks Down Under (Doctor Who - The Monthly Adventures 266.3)

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

On a silent ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the youngest convict ever sent to Australia runs from zombies suffering what those on the ship call 'the raving.’ Luckily for her, the zombies enter a trance and stop moving and, even better, a mysterious man by the name of The Doctor has also poked his head out of a large blue crate. Something horrible has happened on this ship, something that the Doctor, Mary, and a fumbling, useless doctor named Richard are going to have to put a stop to before it’s too late for all of humanity.

Before I start, allow me to say rest in peace to Tommy Donbavand who wrote this cracker of a story. Sadly this was his first and last script for Doctor Who, but it sure is a brilliant one! Mary and Richard are such lovable characters, even if Richard is a fumbling buffoon with no clue what is going on and a rather rude disposition. The story can really be broken into 4 parts with ease: the mystery, the monster, the solution, and the storm. There is so much more to it, but these are the main bulk of the story and each feels very independently strong, and it makes for an interesting experience. The storm part of the story isn’t necessary really, but it’s a wonderful show of what mercy can do, so that is hardly a complaint, and aside from that I have nothing else that could really be considered a complaint aside from one odd line about Richard from the Doctor which is phrased in such a way to make Richard seem like an imposter, but he isn’t, and the fact that the Doctor is aware of what is happening pretty quickly on, even though we get very little indication of it until after the confrontation with the Shoal, our 'baddies.’ The ending of this story is also amazing, filled with emotion and it really is one of the best parts of this entire anthology as the Doctor refuses to take Mary as a companion or to even stick around the explain things. This is a hilarious story if you ask me, and also quite the scary and intense one in the first half, with the second being far more emotional, and Mary without a doubt would be the perfect companion for the Fifth Doctor, even calling out his cynicism while joking with him and keeping up with him surprisingly well, which is likely a purposeful choice to make you more disappointed when the Doctor leaves her behind. Also, this review is going to be pretty poorly put together, I’m slightly all over the place at the moment but I want to get my thought down before I lose track of them too much. Overall this is a brilliant story and it shows how amazing Tommy was as a writer!

The acting is literally perfect. Like, I have no complaints. None. That is the extent of what I can say, how do you describe perfection???

As in the previous story, the music in this one is flawless. It’s creepy when it needs to be, and melodic when it needs to be to, it highlights the action, the mystery, and the hardships and pain of the characters, it’s just perfect. The voice effects on the Shoal and when the listener is listening while inside of a bucket, which is an odd and sudden choice certainly, but not necessarily a bad one, are utterly perfect. The action effects are also brilliant, but sadly I disliked the way the effects were done during the Shoal’s attack as it felt very impressionistic instead of realistic, at least for most of the attack, some of it was quite brilliantly done too; aside from the action effects were basically perfect. The background effects were also really amazing except for, instead of just the shoal attack, but it and the storm as well. As stated before, the shoal attack was far too impressionistic for my taste, but given how brilliant the ship’s creaking and cracking and the bubbling of the sea and the lapping of the waves sound, it’s easy to overlook that. During the storm near the end, I also have a problem, and that is that everything is frankly way too loud, like, louder than the monster, which is not really a good thing, now is it? As for the transitions, they were generally brilliant, but some were very disorientating. As I mentioned previously, at one point the audience is on deck and the next second it’s inside of a bucket with a fish, which doesn’t make much noise, owing further to the low rating of the action effects. Another iffy transition is when the monster attacks and you go from being on deck to below deck in one very disorientating second. The complaints aren’t major, but there aren’t many transitions so those drag the rating down a good bit.

This story is a rollercoaster filled with emotion and terror and humor, and I would gladly listen to it again and again! No new details emerge upon a second listen, but why must that keep one from enjoying the story anyway and having a laugh alongside Mary and the Doctor, especially if it’s at Richard’s expense. Not as scary as the previous story, certainly, but far more fun, and that makes it easily as good if you ask me.

All in all, I love this story! It's the perfect mixture of eerie and funny and sad and inspiring, even if each very much takes over a segment of this highly segmented story. The acting is flawless, the music is just as good, and the effects are mostly brilliant aside from some overly loud or quiet moments and an extremely impressionistic attack from the Shoal. There might be some unnecessary moments, the story might be highly segmented, and there might not be much reason to listen a second time, but this story is so very fun to listen to and that should be enough. Yet another cracker of a story and an amazing story to act as Tommy Donbavand’s first and last, a fitting send-off, truly. Also, the Doctor had better in the near future pick up Mary before she settles down fully so she can act as a proper companion before she becomes one of the most famous Australians to ever live!

Total - 9

Original Guesstimate - 9

Plot - 8
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Story - 8
Pacing - 7
Dialogue - 9
Narration - NR
Exposition - 10
Enjoyment - 10
Twist/s - 6
Resolution/s - 8
Ending - 9

Acting - 10
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MC/s - 10
SC/s - 10
BG/s - 10
Narrator/s - NR

Effects - 9
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Music - 10
Voices - 10
Actions - 8
Background - 8
Transitions - 8

Replay - 8
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Re-Enjoyment - 10
New Details - 5

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