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Destiny of the Doctor #11
Doctor Who: The Time Machine
23 November 2013. In an Oxford laboratory, graduate Alice Watson helps Professor Chivers assemble the final pieces of an impossible machine. A time machine.
The scientist and his assistant believe they are making history, little suspecting that the project’s completion will threaten the existence of the entire universe. But someone has sensed the danger, and when the mysterious Doctor arrives, Alice is taken on a desperate race from libraries and dreaming spires all the way to the nightmare world of Earth’s future.
The monstrous Creevix are coming. They seek control of time itself and are certain that the Doctor is already too late to stop them. But can the key to saving the future lie in the Time Lord's past lives?
The scientist and his assistant believe they are making history, little suspecting that the project’s completion will threaten the existence of the entire universe. But someone has sensed the danger, and when the mysterious Doctor arrives, Alice is taken on a desperate race from libraries and dreaming spires all the way to the nightmare world of Earth’s future.
The monstrous Creevix are coming. They seek control of time itself and are certain that the Doctor is already too late to stop them. But can the key to saving the future lie in the Time Lord's past lives?
Audio CD
First published November 7, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
November 24, 2020
This is an audiobook based on the television series. It is also part of a series of books. Each book was a standalone but also had a connecting thread. This is it. The finale of this series where we see all the bits of the connecting thread paying off. In this one, The Eleventh Doctor visits an inventor in modern times that has developed a time machine. The problem is that The Doctor is the only one who can see all the invisible beings that are in this lab.
I was really looking forward to this one as we get the culmination of all the events of the past ten audiobooks. Unfortunately I don't think they stuck the landing. I believe the problem was they tried to have this Doctor also have a self contained story and I felt like the culmination of the past books was rushed. They have built up the suspense with all these items that were to be used in the future and we were basically told that they were part of the solution but we never was able to see how it was part of the solution. As for the self contained story I liked it and easily fits in with this universe. The highlight of this offering was the narration which was done by Jenna Coleman. She is an actress who played a companion (not in this book) of The Eleventh Doctor. She nailed the portrayal of The Eleventh Doctor and every other character. I would be interested to find out if she has narrated any other novels.
Maybe I was expecting too much from this book. I really liked the idea of this series. It reminds me of the current crop of Marvel movies. You have the solo hero movies but they are also part of something bigger.
I was really looking forward to this one as we get the culmination of all the events of the past ten audiobooks. Unfortunately I don't think they stuck the landing. I believe the problem was they tried to have this Doctor also have a self contained story and I felt like the culmination of the past books was rushed. They have built up the suspense with all these items that were to be used in the future and we were basically told that they were part of the solution but we never was able to see how it was part of the solution. As for the self contained story I liked it and easily fits in with this universe. The highlight of this offering was the narration which was done by Jenna Coleman. She is an actress who played a companion (not in this book) of The Eleventh Doctor. She nailed the portrayal of The Eleventh Doctor and every other character. I would be interested to find out if she has narrated any other novels.
Maybe I was expecting too much from this book. I really liked the idea of this series. It reminds me of the current crop of Marvel movies. You have the solo hero movies but they are also part of something bigger.
March 4, 2025
2024 52 Book Challenge - November Mini Challenge - 3) Set In 2000 - 2010
I wish that this audio didn't try to be its own self contained story because it was the culmination of all the other books, and I really wanted to know how all of the books tied in together, and I think the books lacks for not being that final overarching explanation.
Also, I really didn't like Jenna Coleman's narration, and I fell asleep the first time I listened to this audio, so I had to listen to it twice.
I wish that this audio didn't try to be its own self contained story because it was the culmination of all the other books, and I really wanted to know how all of the books tied in together, and I think the books lacks for not being that final overarching explanation.
Also, I really didn't like Jenna Coleman's narration, and I fell asleep the first time I listened to this audio, so I had to listen to it twice.
June 17, 2014
So I went to Lille, France, by bus and reading a book in a driving vehicle besides a train makes me nauseous. So hurrah for the Iphone and audio books.
Anyhow this one is about the Matt Smith Doctor and read by Jenna Coleman, the as I write this current companion & easily best looking one in the new series. She also has importantly a very nice voice to listen to.
The time machine brings the Doctor to Oxford on the search for a Time lord property and finds a professor who is about to invent a time machine in 2013. Well the man has a wee bit of assistance of his future self and an alien race bent on invading our universe. So far in this Doctor Who story we are dealing with the usual affairs, except for the fact that the aliens consider themselves masters of time and hence trump a mere time-lord assisted by an Oxford student. But how well do they really think they know the Doctor, his future and what does the Doctor know?
Another case of time paradoxes and a crazy person in a blue box. A well and enjoyable written and performed audio tale produced by non other than the folks at Big Finish.
Well worth listening to, as so often I might add.
Anyhow this one is about the Matt Smith Doctor and read by Jenna Coleman, the as I write this current companion & easily best looking one in the new series. She also has importantly a very nice voice to listen to.
The time machine brings the Doctor to Oxford on the search for a Time lord property and finds a professor who is about to invent a time machine in 2013. Well the man has a wee bit of assistance of his future self and an alien race bent on invading our universe. So far in this Doctor Who story we are dealing with the usual affairs, except for the fact that the aliens consider themselves masters of time and hence trump a mere time-lord assisted by an Oxford student. But how well do they really think they know the Doctor, his future and what does the Doctor know?
Another case of time paradoxes and a crazy person in a blue box. A well and enjoyable written and performed audio tale produced by non other than the folks at Big Finish.
Well worth listening to, as so often I might add.
June 10, 2024
Narrated by Jenna Coleman
In Oxford laboratory, Alice Watson (one time companion) ends up helping Professor Chiverss to assemble a time machine in 2013. The professor had help from his future self and an alien race. When it goes wrong, the solution involves bits from previous stories.
It was an ok story. I didn't like Jenna's narration as much as it was hard to define who was talking at times. I was still surprised Jenna wasn't reading a story involving Clara. As in 2013 she was the current companion.
In Oxford laboratory, Alice Watson (one time companion) ends up helping Professor Chiverss to assemble a time machine in 2013. The professor had help from his future self and an alien race. When it goes wrong, the solution involves bits from previous stories.
It was an ok story. I didn't like Jenna's narration as much as it was hard to define who was talking at times. I was still surprised Jenna wasn't reading a story involving Clara. As in 2013 she was the current companion.
March 22, 2018
Thanks Spotify! <3 And can we all take a moment to appreciate Jenna Coleman's narration? If only this was a story about The Doctor and Clara 3
September 20, 2020
This was the final in the series. Found it quite enjoyable. And a satisfying conclusion.
Felt like a 11th Doctor story for sure.
Kept me quite entertained while I was sewing.
Felt like a 11th Doctor story for sure.
Kept me quite entertained while I was sewing.
March 24, 2021
This story just barely squeaks through with a 2.75 stars and this is supposed to be the culmination of the 11 part series ... Yikes.
On the whole, the entire series needed a good rethinking before production (which was probably a bit rushed at the time with the anniversary coming up fast). I would have liked more exposition on the Doctor's part as it isn't really all that clear how saving people and items from other timelines actually worked to keep 2013 intact.
I will say that Jenna Coleman would make an excellent children's book narrator, but I was glad Clara was not part of the story. She would have just eaten up what little "companion" time there is.
The ridiculousness at the end with the scientist, Watson, and the Time Agent could have been left out and nothing would have been missed.
A disappointing 3.06 Stars for the 11-part series. I'm not disappointed I missed it when it came out at the time.
On the whole, the entire series needed a good rethinking before production (which was probably a bit rushed at the time with the anniversary coming up fast). I would have liked more exposition on the Doctor's part as it isn't really all that clear how saving people and items from other timelines actually worked to keep 2013 intact.
I will say that Jenna Coleman would make an excellent children's book narrator, but I was glad Clara was not part of the story. She would have just eaten up what little "companion" time there is.
The ridiculousness at the end with the scientist, Watson, and the Time Agent could have been left out and nothing would have been missed.
A disappointing 3.06 Stars for the 11-part series. I'm not disappointed I missed it when it came out at the time.
October 10, 2017
Jenna Coleman has the best voice for audio books and dramas!
December 30, 2020
Fun and well written!
January 29, 2018
All right! Finally got to the last story in this 11 part series, and it was pretty great! Everything got tied up nicely. There were a few things that didn't quite jibe, but they were mostly from this episode.
I would say that it was weird that the reader was the woman who played Clara, one of the 11th's companions, but Clara didn't make an appearance in this at all. That's extra weird, because the theme for the previous installments was that they heavily featured the companions. Even the 3rd Doctor story had the Brigadier (who counts as a companion) and Yates (not a fan!). Instead, there is a side character, Alice, but when you stop to think about it, she doesn't really have much of a role in the story beyond 'witness'.
*********************************************
Spoilers
The 11th Doctor shows up at a university while following up on some time anomalies that he's picked up on, barging in first on Alice, a... student? TA? Post Doc? Well, she's some kind of trainee scientist at least, and, because she thinks the Doctor is some kind of official due to his psychic paper, she shows him around the lab. The Doctor takes note of everything he sees.
It turns out she works for a Professor who is single-mindedly building a time machine from instructions that he believes he's sent himself from the future, without pausing to note the paradox there. The Prof shows up, and is extremely put out by the Doctor, especially when the Doctor asks him pointed questions about how the machine works, which of course the Prof can't really answer. The Doctor even points out that in the workings is a Time Lord psychic message cube! All the while the Doctor's actions indicate that he's looking at things that the others can't see.
Eventually, the Doctor points out that this is not only a paradox, but an alien paradox! Indeed, they've been surrounded by invisible alien insect monsters from another universe the whole time, and Alice and the Prof couldn't see them because they were caught in the paradox's time loop. The Doctor can see them though, and soon he somehow breaks Alice out of it so she can see them too.
The aliens - the Creevix? - confirm that they're time locusts, and that they break into new universes so that they can eat the entire universe's future, then move on. They see themselves as grand manipulators who've seen all events from all angles. Because they don't see the Doctor as a threat, they only halfheartedly chase him and Alice when they leave (taking the Time Lord cube with them), leaving the Prof to gradually notice and be freaked out by the Creevix.
The Doctor and Alice run to the TARDIS (where he plugs the time cube in for a bit?) and pop forward a few years, arriving back at the university, which is empty of people... the Creevix have eaten all their futures, and are getting started on the rest of the universe! The aliens decide that the Doctor's time is up, and swarm the TARDIS so they can't escape. However, due to the Prof's time loop, the campus is veritably littered with copies of the time capsule he was building! The Doctor picks one, and he and Alice get in.
Once in the time capsule, the Doctor explains that there was an original time capsule, and this was at least a time-copy of it! They get in and have a look around. Eventually, they get into the glove compartment and find some personal info of the time pilot, Guy (who, around this point or so, we get a quick first person point of view from, as he gets into the machine from the far future, reminisces about his family a bit, and notes that he's a time agent about to go back to our present to stop a time anomaly). The Doctor decides that they'll reset it to go back to the exact time-space coordinates (which already sounds like a bad idea), which they do, and they overwrite Guy's history! Guy is dead, and they've somehow also written him right out of existence!
Indeed, when the Doctor and Alice get out of the time capsule this time, the world is a blasted hellscape, and presumably so is the rest of the universe, because the Creevix have eaten it! They taunt the Doctor with their success, how they herded him to this spot, and they gloat that by manipulating the Doctor into erasing Guy, they've actually tricked the Doctor into creating their own paradoxical time loop! Now that they feel like they've 'broken' the Doctor, they want the him to finish the job, and take the Time Lord cube back to the past, when the Prof started making his machine.
However, the Doctor was not broken, and began putting his own messages into the time cube. Again, the Creevix let him, taunting him that they already knew everything that happened within their paradoxical timeline. Alice helped as well, by keeping up a distracting banter with the aliens! When the Doctor was done, though, nothing happened, and he acted as if defeated... but gave some extra whispered instructions to Alice when the aliens decided that she'd be just as good a delivery person for the time cube. Instruction that she followed!
When Alice went back to her past to the Prof, somehow the time was also not just at the beginning, but possibly also back in the present when the time capsule was almost ready to turn on (since the Prof remembered the Doctor). Alice's instructions were to whisper the lyrics to a song to the Prof, thus triggering... Latent memories of a wife and family that he'd never had before! Somehow that was necessary to keep him from turning on the time capsule he built so he wouldn't destroy the universe! (Or possibly to start building it in the first place... paradox?)
Also somehow, the Doctor appeared again! (It's unclear, but he might have gone back with Alice.) When the Prof decided not to turn on (or build) the time machine like the Creevix wanted, he broke their paradox! A paradox which was further broken when the Doctor pulled some time chopsticks out of the time machine and used them to float a special heavy rock out of a drawer, which he used to smash the time capsule. A vortex opened up, and the Creevix started to get sucked through, back to wherever they came from! Plus, the TARDIS swung around nearby, by itself! To keep the Creevix from retaliating now that they saw him as a threat, it was time for the big reveal to keep them distracted until the final blow came!
When the Doctor was communing with the time cube earlier, he was using it to deliver psychic messages all throughout time, and to itself!
1st Doctor: In the lab, the 11th saw that an old photo of the Prof had a specific tie, showing that he went to the Coal Hill School, the school that his Granddaughter Susan went to. The 11th's message manipulated events so that the Prof interacted with the 1st Doctor, and Susan, and therefore had the 1st's other companion Ian Chesterton as a science teacher, which somehow also meant that Ian got the Prof into music, and because of that, met his wife and had a family, making him more easily manipulated by the 11th Doctor later, and evidently allowing him to not want to allow the universe to be destroyed by inaction!
2nd Doctor: He saved someone's time research, allowing the later formation of the human time agency!
3rd Doctor: They save a rock (one of the recumbent -shudder - stones) with special powers of being like, super heavy - Sometimes! Somehow! - and it's stashed away in a particular university, in a particular drawer (where it somehow doesn't break through the drawer) to be used to smash the time capsule in the future!
4th Doctor: The futuristic computer AI got rewritten by the 4th's mind, and it was deposited in a special museum where it was allowed to broadcast advertising signals that went through time and space, attracting the Creevix!
5th Doctor: Retrieved an alien artifact, and returned it to it's true alien owners on behalf of the humans, engendering goodwill that meant that eventually this alien race gave humanity a bunch of technology, giving them the means to create the time agency!
6th Doctor: Besides saving Humanity from being taken over from a Bison alien, they got a hold of an Omniparadox, which was evidently just stashed away on the Tardis all this time!
7th Doctor: Saved some dude!
8th Doctor: Saved the world, and smoothed out the timelines of the 1930s.
9th Doctor: Saved the New New Vegas planet from becoming a hive of Scum and Villainy!
10th Doctor: Saved some Lady!
Which brings us to the 11th Doctor, who reveals that he:
A: Created the Time Agency (2nd and 5th Doctors)
B: Massaged the timelines and saved the world specifically in it's current state: (6th and 8th Doctors)
C: Recreated Guy by saving his father (7th Doctor) and mother (10th Doctor) and giving them new leases on life, and then made it so that their wedding on New New Vegas went off without a hitch (9th Doctor).
D: Created an even bigger, badder paradox that the Creevix's paradox was actually nested within (4th Doctor, 11th Doctor just now with his time messages), powered it with the Omniparadox (6th Doctor), and installed an exit feature by making the Professors home life happier (1st Doctor).
And finally E: Saved a dangerously smashy rock that he could move around with some time chopsticks that the 11th knew would be present (3rd Doctor).
Whew! With all that said, the head Creevix was coming for them for revenge, but they had stalled long enough that the reconstituted Guy showed up with his original time capsule, and instead of dying like he did originally, he just landed on top of all the junk in the lab, crushing it, and squishing the crawling head Creevix, which faded away to nothing!
The day was saved! The Doctor got to talk down to an astonished Guy a bit, and since the agent's sensors no longer detected any anomalies, he went back to his present (for some reason taking Alice with him on a tour).
The end!
***********************************************
So, it was pretty fun!
Cool things:
-The connected nature of the previous books.
-Alice never read any fictional books/movies/etc. so the Doctor makes a bunch of pop cultural references that go completely unappreciated, like mentioning Narnia, or saying 'We're going back to the future! Eh?'
-Alice, while stalling at the end, tells the head Creevix, "You'll never appreciate the universe the way we do!" or something to that effect, and the Creevix replies something like, "Oh, true, but it ~was~ delicious!"
Oddities:
-Alice didn't do much here, and it was continually weird that she was a new character, and there was no sign of Clara, since Clara's actress was reading the story! I'd rather it have been read by Amy's actress, in that case.
-The story made it seem like something was going on between Guy and Alice, and we never find out what the deal was with that. Alice recognized Guy and visa versa... The heck? I don't think either of them were preexisting characters from the show. At the end, they went on a time trip together, but nothing came of that either.
-Why the heck would Guy, a seasoned time agent, bring Alice back to the future? He's breaking all the rules and regulations, which he cares about! It's not like they set up a love connection or anything!
-We have no idea how, without any previous knowledge, the Doctor pulled all of those missions out of his butt. I guess he could have used the cube to consult with the TARDIS, but the TARDIS doesn't have that ability either. It's left up to the listener to wonder if it was indeed a function of the TARDIS, or if he suddenly remembered everything, or if he was following the history of the time cube, or what.
-This is posed as a fight between the Doctor and the Creevix, but really, it turns out that the Creevix wouldn't have shown up if the things the Doctor put into motion with the time cube at the end hadn't happened. So really, this is all the Doctor's fault!
-The Doctor defeats the Creevix, lets the leader get killed, but only sends the rest away. They're just going to keep finding new universes to kill, and might find their way back to this one someday, now that they know where it is! They had millennia to gain knowledge in this universe, so they must know about the other related universes, like the one the 10th Doctor went to, where Rose lives now. Basically, the universes would be better off if a more ruthless doctor, like the 10th or the 7th, had taken care of things. The 10th would have killed them all, leaving one to be killed in some ironic fasion, or possibly taken out by a human, which would have been a great role for Alice to take on (like with the Racknoss). The 7th would have tricked them into thinking they had won, then revealed that they had secretly pulled a switcharoo, and they had really just eaten their own universe to death!
-It was pretty funny that the Doctor used the old recumbent stone thing to smash the time capsule when he probably could have just used his sonic screwdriver on it.
-This story does pull heavily from New Who story lines: The Creevix are basically hopped up Weeping Angels, in that they eat the who universe's time potential instead of just individuals. Meanwhile, Guy being written out of history is a lot like the Crack in Time plot.
Still, five stars! I think my favorite of the bunch was the 6th Doctor story though, followed closely by the 10th's story!
I would say that it was weird that the reader was the woman who played Clara, one of the 11th's companions, but Clara didn't make an appearance in this at all. That's extra weird, because the theme for the previous installments was that they heavily featured the companions. Even the 3rd Doctor story had the Brigadier (who counts as a companion) and Yates (not a fan!). Instead, there is a side character, Alice, but when you stop to think about it, she doesn't really have much of a role in the story beyond 'witness'.
*********************************************
Spoilers
The 11th Doctor shows up at a university while following up on some time anomalies that he's picked up on, barging in first on Alice, a... student? TA? Post Doc? Well, she's some kind of trainee scientist at least, and, because she thinks the Doctor is some kind of official due to his psychic paper, she shows him around the lab. The Doctor takes note of everything he sees.
It turns out she works for a Professor who is single-mindedly building a time machine from instructions that he believes he's sent himself from the future, without pausing to note the paradox there. The Prof shows up, and is extremely put out by the Doctor, especially when the Doctor asks him pointed questions about how the machine works, which of course the Prof can't really answer. The Doctor even points out that in the workings is a Time Lord psychic message cube! All the while the Doctor's actions indicate that he's looking at things that the others can't see.
Eventually, the Doctor points out that this is not only a paradox, but an alien paradox! Indeed, they've been surrounded by invisible alien insect monsters from another universe the whole time, and Alice and the Prof couldn't see them because they were caught in the paradox's time loop. The Doctor can see them though, and soon he somehow breaks Alice out of it so she can see them too.
The aliens - the Creevix? - confirm that they're time locusts, and that they break into new universes so that they can eat the entire universe's future, then move on. They see themselves as grand manipulators who've seen all events from all angles. Because they don't see the Doctor as a threat, they only halfheartedly chase him and Alice when they leave (taking the Time Lord cube with them), leaving the Prof to gradually notice and be freaked out by the Creevix.
The Doctor and Alice run to the TARDIS (where he plugs the time cube in for a bit?) and pop forward a few years, arriving back at the university, which is empty of people... the Creevix have eaten all their futures, and are getting started on the rest of the universe! The aliens decide that the Doctor's time is up, and swarm the TARDIS so they can't escape. However, due to the Prof's time loop, the campus is veritably littered with copies of the time capsule he was building! The Doctor picks one, and he and Alice get in.
Once in the time capsule, the Doctor explains that there was an original time capsule, and this was at least a time-copy of it! They get in and have a look around. Eventually, they get into the glove compartment and find some personal info of the time pilot, Guy (who, around this point or so, we get a quick first person point of view from, as he gets into the machine from the far future, reminisces about his family a bit, and notes that he's a time agent about to go back to our present to stop a time anomaly). The Doctor decides that they'll reset it to go back to the exact time-space coordinates (which already sounds like a bad idea), which they do, and they overwrite Guy's history! Guy is dead, and they've somehow also written him right out of existence!
Indeed, when the Doctor and Alice get out of the time capsule this time, the world is a blasted hellscape, and presumably so is the rest of the universe, because the Creevix have eaten it! They taunt the Doctor with their success, how they herded him to this spot, and they gloat that by manipulating the Doctor into erasing Guy, they've actually tricked the Doctor into creating their own paradoxical time loop! Now that they feel like they've 'broken' the Doctor, they want the him to finish the job, and take the Time Lord cube back to the past, when the Prof started making his machine.
However, the Doctor was not broken, and began putting his own messages into the time cube. Again, the Creevix let him, taunting him that they already knew everything that happened within their paradoxical timeline. Alice helped as well, by keeping up a distracting banter with the aliens! When the Doctor was done, though, nothing happened, and he acted as if defeated... but gave some extra whispered instructions to Alice when the aliens decided that she'd be just as good a delivery person for the time cube. Instruction that she followed!
When Alice went back to her past to the Prof, somehow the time was also not just at the beginning, but possibly also back in the present when the time capsule was almost ready to turn on (since the Prof remembered the Doctor). Alice's instructions were to whisper the lyrics to a song to the Prof, thus triggering... Latent memories of a wife and family that he'd never had before! Somehow that was necessary to keep him from turning on the time capsule he built so he wouldn't destroy the universe! (Or possibly to start building it in the first place... paradox?)
Also somehow, the Doctor appeared again! (It's unclear, but he might have gone back with Alice.) When the Prof decided not to turn on (or build) the time machine like the Creevix wanted, he broke their paradox! A paradox which was further broken when the Doctor pulled some time chopsticks out of the time machine and used them to float a special heavy rock out of a drawer, which he used to smash the time capsule. A vortex opened up, and the Creevix started to get sucked through, back to wherever they came from! Plus, the TARDIS swung around nearby, by itself! To keep the Creevix from retaliating now that they saw him as a threat, it was time for the big reveal to keep them distracted until the final blow came!
When the Doctor was communing with the time cube earlier, he was using it to deliver psychic messages all throughout time, and to itself!
1st Doctor: In the lab, the 11th saw that an old photo of the Prof had a specific tie, showing that he went to the Coal Hill School, the school that his Granddaughter Susan went to. The 11th's message manipulated events so that the Prof interacted with the 1st Doctor, and Susan, and therefore had the 1st's other companion Ian Chesterton as a science teacher, which somehow also meant that Ian got the Prof into music, and because of that, met his wife and had a family, making him more easily manipulated by the 11th Doctor later, and evidently allowing him to not want to allow the universe to be destroyed by inaction!
2nd Doctor: He saved someone's time research, allowing the later formation of the human time agency!
3rd Doctor: They save a rock (one of the recumbent -shudder - stones) with special powers of being like, super heavy - Sometimes! Somehow! - and it's stashed away in a particular university, in a particular drawer (where it somehow doesn't break through the drawer) to be used to smash the time capsule in the future!
4th Doctor: The futuristic computer AI got rewritten by the 4th's mind, and it was deposited in a special museum where it was allowed to broadcast advertising signals that went through time and space, attracting the Creevix!
5th Doctor: Retrieved an alien artifact, and returned it to it's true alien owners on behalf of the humans, engendering goodwill that meant that eventually this alien race gave humanity a bunch of technology, giving them the means to create the time agency!
6th Doctor: Besides saving Humanity from being taken over from a Bison alien, they got a hold of an Omniparadox, which was evidently just stashed away on the Tardis all this time!
7th Doctor: Saved some dude!
8th Doctor: Saved the world, and smoothed out the timelines of the 1930s.
9th Doctor: Saved the New New Vegas planet from becoming a hive of Scum and Villainy!
10th Doctor: Saved some Lady!
Which brings us to the 11th Doctor, who reveals that he:
A: Created the Time Agency (2nd and 5th Doctors)
B: Massaged the timelines and saved the world specifically in it's current state: (6th and 8th Doctors)
C: Recreated Guy by saving his father (7th Doctor) and mother (10th Doctor) and giving them new leases on life, and then made it so that their wedding on New New Vegas went off without a hitch (9th Doctor).
D: Created an even bigger, badder paradox that the Creevix's paradox was actually nested within (4th Doctor, 11th Doctor just now with his time messages), powered it with the Omniparadox (6th Doctor), and installed an exit feature by making the Professors home life happier (1st Doctor).
And finally E: Saved a dangerously smashy rock that he could move around with some time chopsticks that the 11th knew would be present (3rd Doctor).
Whew! With all that said, the head Creevix was coming for them for revenge, but they had stalled long enough that the reconstituted Guy showed up with his original time capsule, and instead of dying like he did originally, he just landed on top of all the junk in the lab, crushing it, and squishing the crawling head Creevix, which faded away to nothing!
The day was saved! The Doctor got to talk down to an astonished Guy a bit, and since the agent's sensors no longer detected any anomalies, he went back to his present (for some reason taking Alice with him on a tour).
The end!
***********************************************
So, it was pretty fun!
Cool things:
-The connected nature of the previous books.
-Alice never read any fictional books/movies/etc. so the Doctor makes a bunch of pop cultural references that go completely unappreciated, like mentioning Narnia, or saying 'We're going back to the future! Eh?'
-Alice, while stalling at the end, tells the head Creevix, "You'll never appreciate the universe the way we do!" or something to that effect, and the Creevix replies something like, "Oh, true, but it ~was~ delicious!"
Oddities:
-Alice didn't do much here, and it was continually weird that she was a new character, and there was no sign of Clara, since Clara's actress was reading the story! I'd rather it have been read by Amy's actress, in that case.
-The story made it seem like something was going on between Guy and Alice, and we never find out what the deal was with that. Alice recognized Guy and visa versa... The heck? I don't think either of them were preexisting characters from the show. At the end, they went on a time trip together, but nothing came of that either.
-Why the heck would Guy, a seasoned time agent, bring Alice back to the future? He's breaking all the rules and regulations, which he cares about! It's not like they set up a love connection or anything!
-We have no idea how, without any previous knowledge, the Doctor pulled all of those missions out of his butt. I guess he could have used the cube to consult with the TARDIS, but the TARDIS doesn't have that ability either. It's left up to the listener to wonder if it was indeed a function of the TARDIS, or if he suddenly remembered everything, or if he was following the history of the time cube, or what.
-This is posed as a fight between the Doctor and the Creevix, but really, it turns out that the Creevix wouldn't have shown up if the things the Doctor put into motion with the time cube at the end hadn't happened. So really, this is all the Doctor's fault!
-The Doctor defeats the Creevix, lets the leader get killed, but only sends the rest away. They're just going to keep finding new universes to kill, and might find their way back to this one someday, now that they know where it is! They had millennia to gain knowledge in this universe, so they must know about the other related universes, like the one the 10th Doctor went to, where Rose lives now. Basically, the universes would be better off if a more ruthless doctor, like the 10th or the 7th, had taken care of things. The 10th would have killed them all, leaving one to be killed in some ironic fasion, or possibly taken out by a human, which would have been a great role for Alice to take on (like with the Racknoss). The 7th would have tricked them into thinking they had won, then revealed that they had secretly pulled a switcharoo, and they had really just eaten their own universe to death!
-It was pretty funny that the Doctor used the old recumbent stone thing to smash the time capsule when he probably could have just used his sonic screwdriver on it.
-This story does pull heavily from New Who story lines: The Creevix are basically hopped up Weeping Angels, in that they eat the who universe's time potential instead of just individuals. Meanwhile, Guy being written out of history is a lot like the Crack in Time plot.
Still, five stars! I think my favorite of the bunch was the 6th Doctor story though, followed closely by the 10th's story!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 4, 2024
A Clever Timey Whimey 11th Doctor Story With A Cool Paradox And Intresting Villians. It's Also The Perfect Tribute To The 50th Aniversary.
Not what I at all expected. As it's not a full cast audio drama I had low expectations but it was actually really good. Jenna Coleman did a really good narrating and I felt like it managed to capture the magic of a 11th Doctor Story. At lot happened in the span of an hour but it was also very gripping and mysterious. I have not listened in order or to all of them only the 6th Doctor one but I definitely recommend checking out Destiny Of The Doctor. Its a really good 50th Aniversary tribute from Big Finish and ties all of the audios together very well.
I do have some critiques as whilst it did exceed my expectations, there were some things that generally disappointed me.
First the fact it's companionless kind of. This is no shade on Jenna Coleman but I felt pointless to have her narrating the audio without Clara being in it, it also felt pointless and hollow. Alice was great but without a visual of her appearance and a hallow personality it felt like she was taking a role that could have belonged to Clara or a Clara echo. I'm not sure if they had the rights to use Clara or Amy but it still felt odd and notable as apart from 9s most companion actors narrating the stories are actually the companions in the story. Alice just didn't do it for me and I really wish we'd had a familiar character take her place.
Secondly I felt like the story was lacking any visuals or inversion. It might be due to not being a full cast audio drama but The Time Machine felt more like an Audiobook and therefore lost all the immersion A Big Finish story typically had. I still love Audiobooks but it felt very off putting how simple and plain it felt. It felt like literally just having someone read a script with a few other people contributing. With the different format I would have found it better if they had added more descriptions so I was able to better picture the surroundings and what was happening. But this criticism is probably me nitpicking or needing to get use to this kind of audio format.
Finally the pacing. This could have done with at least 30 more minutes as it felt very Moffat esc in the fact that there was too many plot threads jammed into one story. I didn't feel as attached to the time agent due to him being introduced way too late into the story. A small scene or anything would have really helped set up his story better. I also feel like more scenes in the lab would have better explained the Paradoxs. I haven't read H.G Wells The Time Machine but it felt very confusing at points to follow the nature of the creatures and the professors time machine.
Other than that though this was a very entertaining story to listen to despite the different format I was gripped from start to finish. It really did exceed my expectations and I thought it wrapped up really well. Now onto my main positives.
First the portrayal of the 11th Doctor. Even without Matt Smith himself involved it felt like the character of the 11th Doctor was written accurately. Despite not playing him Jenna Coleman did a really good job of renacting his mannerisms as she narrated his parts. I also think the writing really nailed his personality and character choices. As I listened I could picture Matt Smith having to act it out. I was really impressed about how accurate his character choices are throughout the story. He was absolutely done with justice and respect. I also love how this story shows the more cunning side of this incarnation when it comes to confronting villians.
Second the villians The Creevix were very interesting villians that were creepy and instantly made you uncomfortable. Despite no visual references I found myself shuddering in pure fear every time their bits came up. It has the kind of hide behind the couch villian that I likes on Doctor Who. Nicholas Briggs did amazing job in bringing to life the voice of the sinister creatures. They were also in genuine creative concept of a villian, creepy bugs that can eat universes, it's disturbing and heartbreaking to think about. The Creevix also had really good chemistry with The Doctor and their confrontations are really entertaining to listen too as it shows the full range of the 11th Doctor too.
Finally the sound design. Simon Hunt did a very good job of making all the sounds in The Time Machine feel easy and smooth to listen too. The Sound Design and editing is generally done very good. Especially the warped voice of the Creevix. Its really sinister and spooky. The audio was just a delight to listen to in the ear and it felt like the sound and score was the same standard you'd get from a full cast audio drama. The score also matched the emotion of each scene playing out. I also love how all the practical sound effects were added in to at least make it a little more immersive. This audio is definitely worth checking out for The Sound Design alone.
Overall a fantastic 50th Aniversary audio that it heartwarming whilst also being dark, brave and bold with its content. Might work as an individual listen but I'd recommend checking out all The Destiny Of The Doctor audios in order.
Not what I at all expected. As it's not a full cast audio drama I had low expectations but it was actually really good. Jenna Coleman did a really good narrating and I felt like it managed to capture the magic of a 11th Doctor Story. At lot happened in the span of an hour but it was also very gripping and mysterious. I have not listened in order or to all of them only the 6th Doctor one but I definitely recommend checking out Destiny Of The Doctor. Its a really good 50th Aniversary tribute from Big Finish and ties all of the audios together very well.
I do have some critiques as whilst it did exceed my expectations, there were some things that generally disappointed me.
First the fact it's companionless kind of. This is no shade on Jenna Coleman but I felt pointless to have her narrating the audio without Clara being in it, it also felt pointless and hollow. Alice was great but without a visual of her appearance and a hallow personality it felt like she was taking a role that could have belonged to Clara or a Clara echo. I'm not sure if they had the rights to use Clara or Amy but it still felt odd and notable as apart from 9s most companion actors narrating the stories are actually the companions in the story. Alice just didn't do it for me and I really wish we'd had a familiar character take her place.
Secondly I felt like the story was lacking any visuals or inversion. It might be due to not being a full cast audio drama but The Time Machine felt more like an Audiobook and therefore lost all the immersion A Big Finish story typically had. I still love Audiobooks but it felt very off putting how simple and plain it felt. It felt like literally just having someone read a script with a few other people contributing. With the different format I would have found it better if they had added more descriptions so I was able to better picture the surroundings and what was happening. But this criticism is probably me nitpicking or needing to get use to this kind of audio format.
Finally the pacing. This could have done with at least 30 more minutes as it felt very Moffat esc in the fact that there was too many plot threads jammed into one story. I didn't feel as attached to the time agent due to him being introduced way too late into the story. A small scene or anything would have really helped set up his story better. I also feel like more scenes in the lab would have better explained the Paradoxs. I haven't read H.G Wells The Time Machine but it felt very confusing at points to follow the nature of the creatures and the professors time machine.
Other than that though this was a very entertaining story to listen to despite the different format I was gripped from start to finish. It really did exceed my expectations and I thought it wrapped up really well. Now onto my main positives.
First the portrayal of the 11th Doctor. Even without Matt Smith himself involved it felt like the character of the 11th Doctor was written accurately. Despite not playing him Jenna Coleman did a really good job of renacting his mannerisms as she narrated his parts. I also think the writing really nailed his personality and character choices. As I listened I could picture Matt Smith having to act it out. I was really impressed about how accurate his character choices are throughout the story. He was absolutely done with justice and respect. I also love how this story shows the more cunning side of this incarnation when it comes to confronting villians.
Second the villians The Creevix were very interesting villians that were creepy and instantly made you uncomfortable. Despite no visual references I found myself shuddering in pure fear every time their bits came up. It has the kind of hide behind the couch villian that I likes on Doctor Who. Nicholas Briggs did amazing job in bringing to life the voice of the sinister creatures. They were also in genuine creative concept of a villian, creepy bugs that can eat universes, it's disturbing and heartbreaking to think about. The Creevix also had really good chemistry with The Doctor and their confrontations are really entertaining to listen too as it shows the full range of the 11th Doctor too.
Finally the sound design. Simon Hunt did a very good job of making all the sounds in The Time Machine feel easy and smooth to listen too. The Sound Design and editing is generally done very good. Especially the warped voice of the Creevix. Its really sinister and spooky. The audio was just a delight to listen to in the ear and it felt like the sound and score was the same standard you'd get from a full cast audio drama. The score also matched the emotion of each scene playing out. I also love how all the practical sound effects were added in to at least make it a little more immersive. This audio is definitely worth checking out for The Sound Design alone.
Overall a fantastic 50th Aniversary audio that it heartwarming whilst also being dark, brave and bold with its content. Might work as an individual listen but I'd recommend checking out all The Destiny Of The Doctor audios in order.
March 19, 2018
The final story in the series is read by Jenna Coleman, who played Clara, the current TV companion at the time it was released.
The Eleventh Doctor story is the one that ties all the others together, and, as such, is not standalone in the way that they are. Another oddity is that there is no companion in it - it's presumably set between Amy's "death" and Clara's arrival. As one might expect, given the nature of the plot arc that has wound its way through the first ten episodes, it is quite timey-wimey, something that is, to be fair, quite appropriate for Eleven, given the nature of some of his TV stories.
The story is mostly set in present day Oxford, with a young physicist taking on the companion role. It concerns the attempted construction of a time machine, which, as these things usually do, goes horribly wrong, and puts the universe in peril. The solution involves elements from all the previous stories, although I confess I didn't follow how absolutely all of it connected - Eleven is speaking at ten-to-the-dozen by that point, as he's often inclined to.
It also has to be said that Coleman isn't really effective at doing Smith's voice, which has been done better by some of the earlier narrators in the brief snippets where it has been required. But she's otherwise very good at the narration, and the script does bring out Eleven's personality. It's not a glorious pay-off to the series, due to the aforementioned issue with the explanation for how it fits together, but it does its job well enough, and is an enjoyable listen.
Not the best of the series, and not one that would work on its own, but it ought to be popular with fans of Eleven and the type of stories he often had during his run. A solid 4 stars.
The Eleventh Doctor story is the one that ties all the others together, and, as such, is not standalone in the way that they are. Another oddity is that there is no companion in it - it's presumably set between Amy's "death" and Clara's arrival. As one might expect, given the nature of the plot arc that has wound its way through the first ten episodes, it is quite timey-wimey, something that is, to be fair, quite appropriate for Eleven, given the nature of some of his TV stories.
The story is mostly set in present day Oxford, with a young physicist taking on the companion role. It concerns the attempted construction of a time machine, which, as these things usually do, goes horribly wrong, and puts the universe in peril. The solution involves elements from all the previous stories, although I confess I didn't follow how absolutely all of it connected - Eleven is speaking at ten-to-the-dozen by that point, as he's often inclined to.
It also has to be said that Coleman isn't really effective at doing Smith's voice, which has been done better by some of the earlier narrators in the brief snippets where it has been required. But she's otherwise very good at the narration, and the script does bring out Eleven's personality. It's not a glorious pay-off to the series, due to the aforementioned issue with the explanation for how it fits together, but it does its job well enough, and is an enjoyable listen.
Not the best of the series, and not one that would work on its own, but it ought to be popular with fans of Eleven and the type of stories he often had during his run. A solid 4 stars.
May 26, 2023
I started this audio book out of sheer nostalgia and because I was in the mood for some english audio without realizing it would be this short. I also never really liked Clara in Doctor Who, so this being narrated by Jenna Coleman was a bit irritating at first, but I quickly got used to it.
Apart from this, I loved everything about this book. The Eleventh Doctor was always my favourite Doctor and I didn’t watch/read/listen to anything Doctor Who related in some years, but this was like coming home. The Whoniverse is truly a fandom I always love coming back into. So many things about this threw the nostalgia right in my face (my favourite was the Doctor whispering „Run!“ at Alice, I got chills from that!) and it felt like a warm hug to me. For people not being into Doctor Who before, this would probably not be very exciting, but if you love Eleven and Doctor Who in general, this is some fun thing to listen to!
Apart from this, I loved everything about this book. The Eleventh Doctor was always my favourite Doctor and I didn’t watch/read/listen to anything Doctor Who related in some years, but this was like coming home. The Whoniverse is truly a fandom I always love coming back into. So many things about this threw the nostalgia right in my face (my favourite was the Doctor whispering „Run!“ at Alice, I got chills from that!) and it felt like a warm hug to me. For people not being into Doctor Who before, this would probably not be very exciting, but if you love Eleven and Doctor Who in general, this is some fun thing to listen to!
December 17, 2018
This is another Doctor Who audiobook that was only created for audiobook form.
It is narrated by Jenna Coleman, who plays Clara on the show. She has a great storytelling voice. It was funny to hear her do an impression of the Doctor, because it sounded so much like him but it was Clara’s voice.
The ending moved very quickly and it was hard to follow. It felt rushed because things were moving along at a good pace and suddenly it was finished. I would have liked it to be explained more because it was a little confusing.
I really enjoyed this story. I’m going to keep listening to the ones narrated by the actors because they do such a good job!
It is narrated by Jenna Coleman, who plays Clara on the show. She has a great storytelling voice. It was funny to hear her do an impression of the Doctor, because it sounded so much like him but it was Clara’s voice.
The ending moved very quickly and it was hard to follow. It felt rushed because things were moving along at a good pace and suddenly it was finished. I would have liked it to be explained more because it was a little confusing.
I really enjoyed this story. I’m going to keep listening to the ones narrated by the actors because they do such a good job!
May 10, 2020
The conclusion to a very solid series of adventures that weren't exactly original overall but plenty of fun and now we're onto the finale which ties all the threads from this series together and I will admit, it was very dissappointing to say the least...
Jenna Coleman was okay and Michael Cochrane was great as usual but I didn't really connect to any of the characters in this and I thought this story was way too complicated and rushed for it's own good. Nice ideas, but with a not so exciting threat and a story I should have enjoyed but didn't, really dissappointed me to be honest. Some people like this finale which is fair enough but overall for me, unsatisfying. 2/10
Jenna Coleman was okay and Michael Cochrane was great as usual but I didn't really connect to any of the characters in this and I thought this story was way too complicated and rushed for it's own good. Nice ideas, but with a not so exciting threat and a story I should have enjoyed but didn't, really dissappointed me to be honest. Some people like this finale which is fair enough but overall for me, unsatisfying. 2/10
October 11, 2022
Not too bad, not too great either in my honest opinion. Jenna Coleman narrating and voicing Alice and The Doctor was absolutely marvellous. She played Clara and some people do argue that Clara becomes ‘too much’ like The Doctor. I can understand that due to the similarities between Clara’s and Jenna’s diction.
The story itself definitely felt like an 11th Doctor story and Jenna truly brings out Matt’s portrayal of 11 greatly. Not my favourite though.
I felt it was (maybe) a little too long but fun nonetheless.
Then again, i’m not a massive audiobook fan.
The story itself definitely felt like an 11th Doctor story and Jenna truly brings out Matt’s portrayal of 11 greatly. Not my favourite though.
I felt it was (maybe) a little too long but fun nonetheless.
Then again, i’m not a massive audiobook fan.
June 5, 2022
A great, short, entertaining little adventure with the 11th doctor (narrated by Jenna Coleman). When a time machine pops up in a time when they’re not meant to be, this attracts the eye of the doctor and uncovers more than is bargained for…
It was a lovely little story and I’ve loved the series this is apart of. I’m always up for a new who adventure, especially wherever the 11th doctor is involved. 3.5 overall, nearly a 4!
It was a lovely little story and I’ve loved the series this is apart of. I’m always up for a new who adventure, especially wherever the 11th doctor is involved. 3.5 overall, nearly a 4!
August 4, 2021
Overall not bad! As an end to everything it does a great job of wrapping everything up, but the narration really should of been done by Matt Smith as the person who did it, wasn't good at defining her voice so it was hard to tell who was talking until it ended with, "said the doctor or said alice" but that's one bad link in the chain the rest was fine 🙂
December 30, 2021
This final Destiny of the Doctor story was quite good. It was narrated by Jenna Coleman (though her character, Clara Oswald, doesn't actually appear in the story). The plot device that ties this one back to the previous ten stories is a bit tenuous, but good enough, I suppose. Anyway, I had fun listening to all of these stories, and I'd recommend them to any Doctor Who fan.
March 30, 2024
I liked this one, although I probably would have liked it better if I had listened to every one of the previous stories, because all they're effects accumulate here. I found the aliens really interesting, the fact that they consume time, and they really seemed like an actual threat to the doctor, which is not something you see very often. Narrator was really good.
July 29, 2025
I really enjoyed this! Nice for a trip. Jenna Coleman (who plays Clara Oswald in the series) did a really good job expressing her own character (Alice) and the Doctor. Super creative story line. It gets a little confusing at the end though when the paradox unravels, but it helps a lot to read the other books in the book series.
February 22, 2018
Felt like a typical Doctor Who episode, which means it was fun and witty. I tend to lean towards longer stories and always feel that something is missing from a book/audio under 6 hours. The presenters did a fabulous job.
March 7, 2018
this was good enough,
I didn't really expect this to be the masterpiece that is doctor who the TV series and so I’m not disappointed or anything, I just though the story was ok, a little confusing at times, but I did like hearing Jenna Coleman telling the story, so overall it was ok.
I didn't really expect this to be the masterpiece that is doctor who the TV series and so I’m not disappointed or anything, I just though the story was ok, a little confusing at times, but I did like hearing Jenna Coleman telling the story, so overall it was ok.
April 22, 2018
Wasn’t sure how the Doctor knew what to tell his other selves to do - maybe he just remembered from when they did it? Seemed a waste to not have Clara in it. Otherwise a decent end to a fairly enjoyable series.
June 16, 2020
A fun little Doctor Who adventure. Read by Jenna Coleman.
The Doctor arrives in 2013 where a time machine is being built. But, how? A fun adventure that alludes to occurrences throughout the history of the doctor.
The Doctor arrives in 2013 where a time machine is being built. But, how? A fun adventure that alludes to occurrences throughout the history of the doctor.
December 17, 2020
Finally done with Destiny of the Doctor. Nothing special but entertaining, really, expanded media is for hardcore fans and I am one of those suckers. One question with this one, though. Why have Jenna Coleman read the audio when Clara doesn't appear in the audio?
November 12, 2022
“I do have a date waiting outside. Tall blue and wearing a police uniform. I owe her my lives. All of them. She’s my Time Machine.
1963 hm… a classic year”
Best story ending! I hope we get 12 and 13 stories
1963 hm… a classic year”
Best story ending! I hope we get 12 and 13 stories
August 13, 2025
A 1 hour audio book. The Doctor faces a multi dimensional, time, and space eating parasites. With the help of his past lives, he is able to think outside the box and drive the Space cockroaches out of our universe.
September 14, 2017
The story was a bit confusing, but that end, how it got me.
October 23, 2017
I loved this one!! Jenna Coleman's narration was excellent, though I'm disappointed that Clara wasn't actually in the story.
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