How Time Flies

## Behind the scenes

**How Time Flies** is the first episode of the fifth series of *Doctor Who FanFilm* and the twenty-fourth episode overall.

It follows the events after *The Fall of the Doctor*, debuting Dominic G. Martin's first regular appearance as the Purple Doctor, making it the first episode to not feature Luke Newman as the Little Red Doctor.

As a means to reboot series 5, the episode has been taken done and is now rendered uncanon in compliance to an entirely re-edited version of the episode.

## Cast

### Original

* Dominic G Martin as The Doctor
* Megan Shirley as Megan Williams
* Ben Walden as Tommy Benton
* Dale Smith as The Brigadier
* Molly Reed as PC Lauren Miller
* Sarah Poyser as Nessa Williams
* Micheal Seager as Ned
* Steph Barker as Therapist
* James Sutton as Ashely Jones

### Reboot

* Dominic G Martin as The Doctor
* Megan Shirley as Megan Williams & Time Flies (voice)
* Ben Walden as Tommy Benton
* Dale Smith as The Brigadier
* Molly Reed as PC Lauren Miller
* Jack Reeves as Ashley Jones
* Michael Seager as Ned
* Sarah Poyser as Nessa Williams
* Steph Barker as The Therapist

## Crew

* Director - Luke Newman
* Editor - Luke Newman
* Visual Effects - Ben Walden
* Visual Effects - Luke Newman
* Visual Effects - Daniel J Patton
* Music composed by - Luke Newman
* Music composed by - Ben Walden
* Music composed by - Dominic G Martin
* Prop builder - James Sutton
* Prop builder - Luke Newman
* Camera operator - Luke Newman
* Photographer - Dokka Chapman
* Mic operator - James Sutton
* Written by - Luke Newman
* Written by - Dominic G Martin
* Special thanks to our Patreons - Chloe Hickson
* Special thanks to our Patreons - Connor Chadwick
* Special thanks to our Patreons - David Jude Thomas
* Special thanks to our Patreons - Frank1001
* Special thanks to our Patreons - Kevin Adamson
* Special thanks to our Patreons - Mary L Barker

## Synopsis

### Original

The Doctor has regenerated. The TARDIS has crashed. Megan's friendship with the man she once knew has shattered, and there is something evil lurking amongst the earth.

## Plot

### Original

This article is subjected for a rewrite.

Coming to consult a therapist as told, Megan Williams is tormented by the events of the Little Red Doctor's regeneration. When Megan introduces herself, the therapist notices that she appears defensive. Forty-five minutes before the session concludes, Megan is asked about her relationship with the Doctor. Megan says he was her best friend, admitting she initially thought he was more. She explained that the Doctor was her "soulmate", considering that he fulfilled her void from her parent's absence. Megan then recounts the "long" story of when the Doctor changed as the therapist eases her to take her time.

6 months earlier, Tommy Benton and Ned are playing an arcade game at Star City, preparing to beat the high score only to fail. Wanting a refund, Tommy considers confronting the owner only deciding not to. Ned answers his favorite woman's call, leaving Tommy. Tommy is phoned by someone from the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, shocked that the caller is Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart. When the Brigadier called him "Thomas Benton", Tommy urges the Brigadier to be instead referred by his preferred name. Reaching him upon official business, the Brigadier announces he has an offer of the utmost importance, requesting if he can go to UNIT HQ so they can meet. Trying not to go, Tommy lies by claiming to be busy at a girl's house, but the Brigadier has been monitoring him playing arcade games with Ned, detecting his lie. Unable to decline, Tommy agrees to go. The Brigadier prefers they meet today, confirming Tommy's skills as an engineer regarding Torchwood. The Brigadier tempts Tommy with the offer on to do something extraordinary rather than embarrass himself to girls. Optimistic, Tommy then asks if he gets to meet the Doctor.

6 months later, the TARDIS crashes to Earth. Megan is hanging onto the TARDIS, struggling to stay present on the ship, gripping a suitcase with the Purple Doctor clutching onto the other end. The Doctor apologizes before letting go of the suitcase as it falls down with Megan. At UNIT HQ, Tommy briefs the Brigadier of a satellite detecting something falling in the skies with life signs. The Brigadier guesses that it can just be a skydiver, but Tommy shows him a visual of a moving TARDIS behind the object. Realizing the Doctor is the object from the visual, the Brigadier orders a reluctant Tommy to power up an extraction beam in spite of it being unready and untested. Witnessing Megan's descent into Earth, the Brigadier realizes the object is actually her. Tommy adjusts the extraction beam's coordinates that were texted to the Brigadier to have the machine retrieve Megan, allowing her to levitate, breaking her fall.

Brought in, Megan wakes up at UNIT HQ to the Brigadier, recounting how she fell after he regenerated, finding his new incarnation to be difficult to deal with. With the Doctor nor the TARDIS' whereabouts being unknown, the Brigadier notes that they need to maintain a lookout for the ship. Tommy chimes in, introduced by the Brigadier as the "UNIT tech guy". The Brigadier leaves to attend some duties. Tommy explains how he captured Megan via the extraction beam, enticing Megan's curiosity of who sent Brigadier's text. Tommy is phoned by Ned who urgently alerts him to view outside from a window. Megan joins Tommy outside to see the TARDIS, which crashes onto the ground. The Brigadier orders Tommy to go to the crash site as he complies, bringing a reluctant Megan along.

The Doctor survived the crash, left unconscious at the site, producing regeneration energy. When Megan and Tommy tend to the Doctor, the Doctor awakens to check if she is alright only to explode in distress. Abiding by his strict orders, Tommy brings out the karma, a device the Doctor insists on not using yet. Tommy dismisses the Doctor, believing the device can help as his orders were instructed from the Doctor himself. The Doctor assures them he needs a minute and releases his excess regeneration energy, extracted by Tommy to the karma. As a result, the Doctor is knocked out. Megan berates Tommy for ignoring the Doctor's advice, while Tommy defends himself by reminding him that the karma's usage was in the Doctor's best interests by easing out his post-regeneration trauma. Remorseful to Tommy, Megan apologizes for her attitude, explaining that everything she previously endured fueled her agitation. Feeling betrayed, Megan wonders why the Doctor let her go from the TARDIS. Tommy deduces that the Doctor knew no one could have saved Megan and needed space to regenerate in order to heal, guessing Megan misses the Little Red Doctor which would have enabled her to blame him for his actions as a sign of anger. However, Tommy notes that they respect him from his previous life as the Doctor's friends regardless of his face.

### Reboot

***This section of the article is a stub, meaning it's incomplete. You can help by expanding it.***

This article is subjected for a rewrite.

Tormented by the events of the Little Red Doctor's regeneration, Megan Williams is attending her first session with a counselor, remarking that she just been through a "tough time." Although the session has forty-five minutes left, the counselor asks Megan to specify and assures that they don't need to cover everything, saying "time is not an obstacle." The phrase "time is not an obstacle" reminds Megan of the Doctor, who was Megan's best friend, though she had felt their relationship was more as she loved him. Megan rectified that it was not romantic. Megan says that she would do anything for him until his change, which deteriorated their intimacy. Going by a long story, Megan recounts everything the conversation regards.

Tommy Benton and Ned both follow mission 101 only to lose to a high score in a fixed arcade game. Tommy wants a refund and sees the owner but decides not to engage. Ned gets a call from his favorite woman and leaves. Tommy gets phoned by the Brigadier of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, who requests to meet at UNIT HQ now for an offer. Tommy lies that he is in a girl's house, but the Brigadier caught him as he has been obtaining information on him. With Tommy unable to refuse, the Brigadier preferably asks to meet today, noting Tommy's skills as an engineer from his credentials. The Brigadier tempts Tommy with the offer as an extraordinary experience. Tommy accepts, and optimistically asks that if he gets to meet the Doctor.

## Production

***This section of the article is a stub, meaning it's incomplete. You can help by expanding it.***

### Reboot

After the episode was first released, it was subsequently taken down due to the initiation to reboot series 5. Compared to the original and now uncanon version of the episode, a re-edited version's VFX was upgraded to 4K, includes a new soundtrack and title sequence, and has additional runtime. Some scenes were refilmed and altered with Dominic G. Martin and Megan Shirley returning for reshoots. The trailer for the re-edited episode confirmed the release date to be April 30, 2022.[*citation needed*]

## See also

* Category:Everything (How Time Flies), wiki category dedicated to the uncanonical continuity of the episode

## External links

* Original upload on Wayback Machine
* Trailer on Wayback Machine