Of Chaos Time The

 

"Why don't you tell me about the chronon bomb?."

Writer: Mark Ravenhill

Format: Audio

Released: July 2014

Series: Monthly Adventures 188b

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

Cast adrift in his own chronology, the Doctor must advert the consequences of a catastrophic experiment in using time as a weapon of war. 

Verdict

Of Chaos Time The was a great little story to continue my way through the Breaking Bubbles anthology of Monthly Adventures! This was a fun concept and I was excited before listening just from the name itself. I'm a huge fan of stories that delve deep into playing around with time and this was perfect for that. Time jumps, chronon bombs and paradoxes. This audio really did tick all of the boxes! At just twenty-six minutes long, the pace was absolutely frantic which certainly did add to the excitement of the story, but I do wish we had a little more time for the Doctor to experience each time jump. It was good though as there was no room for messing around and we got detail after detail to try and fill in what had happened or would happen regarding the chronon bomb. As the listener, it was a nice change of pace to have the Doctor learning with us about what was happening as that's not often the case. He's usually a couple of steps ahead of even his companion, so to have him work out in the form of what was basically subtle narration to the listener was terrific. I was a big fan of that approach and I thought it worked very well. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Trobe throughout the adventure as living in a time loop that was as rapid as what we were hearing must have been excruciating. Going from a baby to teenager to elderly aged in the space of barely a few minutes was fascinating but obviously a tough experience. The relief he had at the end when the time loop was broken and he could finally get an ending was completely understandable. Death came as a huge release. I thought the Doctor seeing things out of order was good and knowing that the chronon bomb was the cause was good because he could then question the professors on it when he should have no knowledge about it. His foresight was excellent. Peri felt a little less important in the story which is fine in a short one like this because the Doctor's relationship with time in being a Time Lord was a big part of the adventure. He was the one that had been displaced because of the chronon exposure so it made sense that he was the full focus. Hopefully one of the remaining two stories in this release can give Peri a centric role to make up for it. She was on hand for grief though when Maylon was quite brutally shot and killed. That came a little suddenly but it showed firmly that Standing meant absolute business. She clearly didn't offer empty threats and that instantly made her a strong villain. She didn't take too kindly to the Doctor and Peri which was fun and she really didn't take any notice of the former's warnings considering he'd seen what would happen to her. It wasn't a nice fate, but she was too egotistical to believe that the Doctor could be right and it cost her. I quite liked the idea of the chronon leak that caused the time sickness and displacement within the Doctor also being the cure! It was fun for the Doctor to experience the same event twice as a means of cancelling it out and whilst it seems a little mad for the same event to be cause and the cure, it actually does make a kind of sense! In a timey-wimey story like this that can sometimes be difficult so I appreciated the logic involved. It was also quirky and fun! Warma being trapped in the time loop that actually saves the Doctor was a fitting way to wrap things up. Overall, pretty frantic but a really enjoyable listen!

Rating: 8/10