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The Key 2 Time – The Judgement of Isskar is like that one friend who promises an actual quest but then mostly shows you a bunch of hissing bug people and makes you watch them argue about monarchy while emphasising that the universe is on the brink of cosmic annihilation, and yes, the title character finally shows up just in time to be confused about literally everything.
Listen. I get the concept. Post Key to Time, the Key is literally rotting like a fruit past its sell by date because someone stitched it together with duct tape and questionable decisions. The Fifth Doctor gets yanked out of time by a literal baby old entity named by him, because of course he names the companion, Amy, who’s this tracer thing made by super old cosmic beings to recover the segments before the universe expires like leftover lasagna.
First stop on the Segment Express is Mars, cue peaceful Martians who have zero clue they will eventually become Ice Warriors. Not warlike yet, just artisan pacifists with a gift economy and canal vibes so chill they’d make Snoopy in a hammock look uptight. You dip your toes into Martian society only for the segment to start earthquakes like it’s auditioning for Planetary Disasters The Musical. Of course the Doctor and Amy find it, and of course this causes history to go boom and sets the stage for Isskar, who spends literal centuries chasing them because he thinks they ruined his species’ vibe.
Then, because of course, we warp to the future and meet the Valdigians. Giant bug monarch weirdos who sound like performers who got lost on their way to a pantomime audition. Script says make them alien. Actors must have heard ham it up, make weird squeaks, channel your inner overcaffeinated cricket. I wasn’t prepared for my ears to be assaulted by eight legs of theatrical hiss and random political squabbles over something that feels like the sonic blaster equivalent of committee meeting bingo.
So here’s the theme if you squint real hard and ignore the bug chorus. Legacy and consequence. What happens when a cosmic mistake rewrites history, and how beings who weren’t even sentient become mirrors of those around them. Amy learns. Zara learns some things too, but also becomes annoyingly petulant because character growth apparently requires jealousy and time rings.
Ciara Janson’s Amy does the heavy lifting here. Blank slate to person, learning what it means to have agency beyond being a cosmic GPS. She’s the only part of this story that feels like it actually wants to be heard rather than just narrated at you with laser blasts and persistent hissing.
But let’s be honest. This is Doctor Who by numbers with extra critters and dramatic grandstanding, and sometimes the universe’s fate feels about as pressing as the Doctor’s insistence on a proper cuppa. There are witty exchanges, solid performances, and a framework that could have supported something sharper. Instead it settles for functional. Competent. Pedestrian.
Final Thoughts:
While there’s charisma and a few good bones here, most of it feels like a speedrun of plot beats we’ve all heard before.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Time Key fragments buried under insect chitin