“Doctor Who – Once and Future: Past Lives” Review – A Promising Start, But Ultimately A Bit Disappointing

Big Finish Production’s big, eight-part celebration of Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary begins here, with Robert Valentine’s Doctor Who: Once and Future: Past Lives. In a Time War-era hospital, the Doctor begins to regenerate, having previously been shot by some kind of degeneration weapon. But something goes catastrophically awry. Instead of changing into someone new, his body cycles through past faces, eventually settling on his Fourth face (Tom Baker). But what happened to him? Who fired that weapon, and why? The Doctor’s quest for answers brings him straight to his old nemesis, the Meddling Monk (Rufus Hound). But what is the Monk up to that’s so darn important, and why does he need the Doctor’s old companion, Sarah Jane Smith (Sadie Miller)? And how does it connect to 2010s-era UNIT, who are fighting off a group of strange Alligator People and mysterious cloaked UFOs?

As the premise for an eight-part celebration, it’s a pretty solid one. A lovely blend of Doctor Who’s past, present, and future. But as an episode in its own right, it’s a bit of a mess. A fun mess, to be sure. But a mess nonetheless.

Both Promising and Disappointing

The story’s framing device – who shot the Doctor with a degeneration weapon and why – is quite intriguing. But it immediately feels far too thin to serve as the basis for an eight-hour story. As executed here, it’s basically the framework for a quest narrative – think something along the lines of “The Key to Time”. The Doctor is gonna keep traveling around, following one clue after another until he finds the answers he seeks. And each part of that journey is gonna result in some kind of stand-alone adventure, filled with various characters and monsters from the history of Doctor Who. To be fair, it’s a great setup for the kind of nostalgic love fest an anniversary celebration needs to be. But it means that each individual installment needs to both further the overarching story and deliver a satisfying stand-alone narrative at the same time.

And that’s where Robert Valentine’s “Past Lives” stumbles. The parts of the story that deal with the overarching narrative are pretty solid. Perfectly suspenseful and action-packed, loaded with just the right amount of nostalgia. But when things shift away from that overarching narrative, “Past Lives” gets a bit messier. The early scenes between the Doctor and the Monk are a lot of fun, with Tom Baker and Rufus Hound clearly having an absolutely delightful time together. But once the action shifts to 2010s-era UNIT, all of that momentum and excitement comes to a grinding halt. It’s as if Valentine didn’t really know what to do with Sarah Jane, Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), and Osgood (Ingrid Oliver). All three of them are kind of just there, with Sarah Jane frequently fading into the background as her arc all but copies what happens in “School Reunion”.

An Underdeveloped Narrative

The narrative itself feels just as underdeveloped as the characters do. The Monk needs some piece of alien technology that’s in UNIT’s possession. And he needs it because he’s being threatened by a bunch of aliens who are simultaneously trying to invade the Earth. Or something along those lines. It’s all very generic UNIT romp. Very comfortably nostalgic without really saying or doing anything. And there’s certainly fun to be had in that. A lot of the individual scenes are quite enjoyable. Baker, Redgrave, and Oliver share a great rapport – it’s just a shame the story doesn’t do more with them.

And honestly, that’s a great way of describing the story as a whole. It’s very comfortable, but ultimately forgettable. It’s difficult to track what, exactly, was going on here. Why anything that happened was happening, what the villains wanted, and how they planned to get it. It almost feels like Doctor Who on autopilot. And while there’s technically nothing wrong with that, having the first installment of your eight-part celebration of Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary feel so generic might not be the best way to kick off an event.

Final Thoughts

On the whole, Doctor Who: Once and Future: Past Lives offers both a promising start to Big Finish’s ongoing celebration of Doctor Who‘s 60th Anniversary and a mixed bag of a stand-alone narrative. It’s steeped in nostalgia and filled with excellent performances. But ultimately, its script disappoints with a story that never fully comes together in a cohesive, satisfying way. It’s unfair to judge the entire event based on a single story as things could certainly change between this first installment and the final one. But hopefully, things improve as the series progresses – as there’s a lot of potential here for something genuinely spectacular. As it is, Doctor Who: Once and Future: Past Lives is enjoyable enough for what it is, but it feels a bit forgettable.

Doctor Who: Once and Future: Past Lives is available now from Big Finish Productions in standard and special edition formats.