The Shattered Hourglass

"Time was theirs to command."

Writer: Robert Napton

Format: Audio

Released: December 2020

Series: Short Trips 10.12

Featuring: Tenth Doctor

Synopsis

The Time Agency has been meddling with time ever since its inception. Of all the days in history, today is a day that will define the agency forever.

Today is the day of their greatest achievement. Today is the day they removed an entire galaxy from the timeline.

Today is the day the Doctor's shutting them down.

Verdict

The Shattered Hourglass was an excellent Short Trips audio! I really liked this one and when it came to deciding which adventure to blog today, a quick glance at the synopsis for this one had me hooked instantly. I'm a sucker for a story purely about time travel so the prospect of the Doctor shutting down the Time Agency was incredibly appealing. Couple that with the incarnation being the Tenth Doctor and the timeline being after The Waters of Mars and we really did have a fantastic mix on our hands. The Tenth Doctor at this stage of his life is not quite in line with what came in his three televised series and that's really exciting. He's ruthless and is almost to the point where he feels like he is the law with no other Time Lords around. So when the Time Agency had successfully removed an entire galaxy from existence and time locked it, he wasn't having any of that. Hearing how a lone intriguer had broken in was fun and I really like that the Doctor has a reputation and rather chunky folder at the Time Agency. Why wouldn't he? Has anyone else interfered with time more than him? I think not. It was fun for the Doctor to saunter in and use the sonic screwdriver to gain entry and he just oozed a presence of authority. The writing for the Tenth Doctor specifically was excellent and I thought Neve McIntosh did a terrific job with the narration. She was really impressive. I thought it was good audio continuity to have Vortisaurs mentioned when it came to the vortex and the Doctor's stunned and angered outburst upon learning that the Time Agency had time locked L-10 on a 96% probability was superb. His form of questioning when it came to the Agency not actually knowing anything was fantastic, it was all guesswork. The Hourglass was a good weapon and I liked that the Agency had tried to develop a Time Lord weapon. Except this was based on a weapon with a conscience and the Hourglass knew that the request to time lock the Doctor was wrong. So instead, it gave the Doctor an upgrade and aided the recovery of L-10 from being time locked. Helen Barnes was a brilliant character as the Time Agency head and her reaction when she was informed there was a 99% possibility of the Doctor winning was magnificent. That must have been gut wrenching after all of the work she had put in! I thought the moment at the end where the Doctor was testing and then named the L-10 galaxy as Alison (I'm not sure if that's binding!) was lovely and just a nice touch to finish on! Overall, a brilliant story with a superb theme running through it and the perfect incarnation of the Doctor to tackle the problem. I'm all for having the Doctor and the Time Agency interact more! A magnificent listen.

Rating: 9/10