It’s time to listen to and discuss The Boy That Time Forgot
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Part two of the Brewster trilogy—questionably so, given that he doesn’t appear until the end—sees the Doctor and Nyssa attempt to recover the TARDIS using my Doctor Who bête noire, and end up in an alternate timeline where a certain someone learned whether he was right. He’s a king, so we can safely say he was.
I’m decidedly mixed about this story. Almost everything about the Scorpion King is cool as hell, most of all his BTC-built kingdom, his final scene, with Brewster, is lovely, and the timey wimey-ness of his creation works really well. On the other hand, epic adventures have never been my thing,[1] and though the beginning continues nicely from “The Haunting of Thomas Brewster”, as I said above, it doesn’t otherwise feel like the middle of a trilogy. Also, the Scorpion King comes onto Nyssa… Let’s keep that in the realm of fanfic, shall we?
As an aside, this is the rare story with a super good review. Sorry to shade y’all, but nobody has affected me like XxDachshundxX on The Time Scales:
This is the most punk Doctor Who has ever gone; the Kathy Acker, Ginny Lemon, Kae Tempest, Bif Naked of its canon. And for that, I appreciate it.
The Boy That Time Forgot is like the latest film in the Scream franchise – a parody of a parody of itself, metatextually critiquing paratextual components of its key audience and response. Does anyone really believe that Big Finish released this believing people wouldn’t be shocked by it? Did they really think that if taken seriously, this wouldn’t be critically panned? I do not believe this is intended to be taken as absolute truth. It’s even acknowledged within the story that it’s only a parallel/pocket universe, both somewhat appeasing traditionalist fans waving their tattered copies of Doctor Who and the Zarbi whilst poking fun at Doctor Who’s usual ridiculous laws of continuity and canon. I mean, normal Doctor Who doesn’t have it that the dinosaurs never evolved and instead a super race of scorpions ruled Earth instead?
But if it is absolute truth, so what? You can’t have your cake AND eat it by classing Adric as the worst companion and then complaining that this story ruins him. Sure, his death is poignant – for about five seconds before he’s forgotten at Heathrow and the Doctor battles Xenophon or whatever. Is it really this big moment for the Fifth Doctor if it is never even mentioned again, at least within the television series? So, who cares if Big Finish exhume Adric’s rotting corpse, prop it up on wires and get Andrew Sachs to voice it?
And exhume it with so much rawness and shock value that it feels like a punch in the face. Adric’s no longer the stiff caricature ‘acted’ by Matthew Waterhouse – now he’s a fully formed character with vast depths of complexity and such moral ambiguity that it almost feels grating. This pervy 500-year-old man with his misguided ideals and strange beliefs. Andrew Sachs’ performance is BRILLIANT, both capturing the original essence of the character whilst inserting layers and layers of hurt and resentment yet power and sadism. I don’t particularly hold a lot of Big Finish actors to a high level, considering they cast the same five people over and over again, but Sachs’ performance as Adric is absolutely magical and one so overlooked.
Many complain that the actual plot of the story is either ridiculous or cliched – and THAT’S THE POINT!! It is entirely a parody of the whole ‘boy’s adventure story’ in a wild jungle and giant monsters and an ancient temple – a trope that Doctor Who falls into many times, even when it’s trying to be serious. The Boy That Time Forgot is mocking that, bastardising it, pointing out how silly it is to return to the same over-flogged horse. And the anger that people display over the Transfer Block Computation is also disproportionate – we’re in a universe where a POLICE BOX CAN TRAVEL IN TIME AND SPACE – is this not taking the mick out of the deux ex machinas Doctor Who throws at us ALL THE TIME and expects us to accept? No, this is criticising every single Doctor Who story that has ever displayed any hint of cliché or un-inspiration, something I will 110% get behind.
For god’s sake, even the characters are fabulated self-aware tropes! ‘Rupert Von Thal’? ‘Teegarna’? ‘Kranlee?’ Are we even meant to pretend this is serious? Played by a spectacular cast of actors, these characters mirror every single cannon fodder trope that appears, such as every minor character that has zero personality and exists either as a finger to point the plot in a certain way or to be killed by the evil staplers of Espresso Martini 55. The Scorpions were clearly the standouts, being portrayed as not merely a bestial race of savages (Doctor Who’s always had a colonial agenda, if you ask me) but rather a functional, complex, sympathetic species desiring survival and freedom.
If I have a criticism of The Boy That Time Forgot, it certainly is that the coda goes on for far too long. I believe that it should have ended right after the pocket universe collapsed – perhaps a final scene where the Doctor and Nyssa philosophically reflect, but that should have been it. That we have a further finale sequence after that severely disrupts the flow of the narrative, which, previously, had been perfectly paced. It does continue the Brewster arc (which, after my experience of The Three Companions more than three years ago, I have no interest in), but I don’t think it even should be part of this trilogy. This is a story about a companion surviving when all the laws of the universe (and canon) decree they should have died, not a continuation of some other minor character’s tedious arc.
Put down your pitchforks. If you dislike this twist, then it’s probably because you’ve fallen right into Paul Magrs’ game and allowed yourself to be manipulated. At the end of the day, that’s what this is – a test of whether you allow yourself to play the story or the story to play you. Paul Magrs is a genius for this, taking everything that is wrong with Doctor Who, including a toxic fanbase, and manipulating it and turning it into a metatextual artwork. And you, the audience, and your reactions, are as much a part of The Boy That Time Forgot as the story itself.
See…very punk.
one day, I’ll finish you, The Lord of the Rings… ↩︎
It’s an interesting experiment to be sure but man is this story boring.
Bottom of the barrel, one gimmick crap with a stupidly good cast.
Full review here, if you enjoy, please leave a like:
Rare Magrs miss tbh… I don’t think I dislike this story as much as many others do, but it definitely made me cringe. A lot. I just don’t think any of that really needed to happen 
Really not a fan of this one. I’m sure I saw someone on the forum praise it, which encouraged me to check it out.
I adore Paul Magrs and I’m pretty sure I’ve enjoyed everything he’s written — this and the Stones of Venice being the exception.
I thought the actor they got for Adric did a pretty good job, as I could definitely see it.
I’m pretty sure it’s just me and @deltaandthebannermen as the two defenders of this story. Granted I haven’t listened to it in a while, but I just found it fun, with a very touching ending.
Also – I could listen to Andrew Sachs’ voice all day. His tones are just golden. I’ve been listening to some of the BBC Sherlock Holmes stories with him as Watson and he’s so good in them too!
I remember hating this episode, the only thing I remember semi enjoying was partially the whole expedition sequence I thought it was kinda interesting.
But when I look at TG I only gave it half a star. I remember it being horrible I hated Adric more than usual in this but I don’t recall hating the whole story that much. I have no desire to relisten BUT I feel like I need to because I don’t recall it being that bad.
But overall didn’t enjoy I understand where Adric is coming from but dude is insane. However I have to give him credit using BTC in the last seconds to build a world for him is pretty bad ass
I thought it was fun. A very nothing story overall though.
I don’t like Adric. The audios did a lot to rehabilitate his character for me, show how he would ideally fit next to Fifth, Nyssa and Tegan, and it’s because of those that I was able to come around on TV stories like Earthshock. But man… when he gets into his obnoxious bag, like in Four To Doomsday, he still is insufferable.
All of that contributes to why I actually like The Boy That Time Forgot. I like its depiction of an Adric that had to grow up without the TARDIS team’s influence, and honestly, it feels pretty authentic. Andrew Sachs’ performance really helps with that, nailing Adric’s bratty mannerisms while still giving it some gravitas to let the proper drama go down easy.
Unnecessary? Yeah, sure. But as a more serious spin on something like Earthshock: Part 5, I like it. It’s the kind of weird-ahh story idea that only Paul Magrs would a) come up with, and b) pull off this well.
Found the post I made after finishing it for the first time back in 2024 and it still stands. Most of the story had me cringing through it, especially the weird obsession Adric had with Nyssa and the scorpions were hard to listen to at times, but part 4 had me crying in the car on the drive home. Goddamn.
Oh now this is just awful
Not a fan of this one at all. I just found the whole thing bizarre.
I once had the opportunity to ask Matthew Waterhouse whether he’d ever heard it, he had not.
