Presidential Babe: This being a Gary Russell led drama it
comes as no surprise to me that Romana’s cover name in this reality is ‘Astra.’
I suppose an argument could be made for the exploration of Romana’s character
in her returning home to Heartshaven but since this is an alternative world
with an alternative Romana it has more than a ring of fabrication about it.
Romana sees what she could have been, a lonely woman who settled for isolation
and the curse of a lover who betrayed her and a son who hates her. She has to
fight off the attentions of Antonyn, telling him to concentrate on the mother
that he already has rather than focusing on an imaginary one that doesn’t
exist. She’s never thought of having a family of her own before now but seeing
what might have become of her had she never left Gallifrey has afforded her the
opportunity to see how that could have panned out.
Noble Savage: Whoever came up with the idea of Leela being
blinded was a genius. It’s a great device on two fronts; being an audio it
helps that other characters have to describe what is going on around her (and
thus the audience get a picture painted too) but it also works on a character
level because she has always been a primarily instinctual and now she gets to
prove how honed her senses are. I loved
that at no point did Leela ever consider her blindness a weakness. She objects
to being called a savage and to having her personal space invaded without
invitation. Leela has no desire to become President of Gallifrey and only
agrees under duress (it’s the only way she can secure protection for her friends).
Romana Unbound: Bringing back Mary Tamm for another crack at
the whip was not only obvious, but essential. After her devastating passing
last year any material with her in is welcome. The last time she
appeared in the series the effort was so spectacularly fudged (turning Romana I
into some obscene mythical villainess) I was chomping at the bit to see what
else Mary Tamm could bring to the series. Rather than making her evil, the
opposite approach is attempted and we are introduced to a Romana that never
left Gallifrey (Romana Unbound if you like) and on those terms it is
fascinating to see what might have become of her had she not headed off into
the universe to search for the Key to Time. She proves to be quite a character;
relaxed enough to enjoy flirting with Braxiatel but shrewd enough to figure out
that Romana is an alternative version of herself and not let on. It’s a shame
we couldn’t have spent more time with her. She is willing to welcome her son
home even after he has treated her appallingly in public but when he draws a
gun on her that is the last straw and she makes unflattering comparisons to his
father.
Born Again Brax: ‘I’ve dabbled in works of art, paintings
mostly. I had a modest little Collection at one point…’ Thus establishing that
this is set long after the Bernice Summerfield series. Does Braxiatel really
have a massive crush on Romana? The fantasy he plays out in his head sees him
behaving like an overly melodramatic Mr Darcy asking for her hand in marriage.
I’ve spent so long thinking of Brax as a villainous character (and a damn good
one too) in the Bernice Summerfield series that I had forgotten that the
emphasis was completely different amongst his own people. He’s erudite,
intelligent and charming to be around. Its in his scenes with Romana I that you
see the charms that seduced Bernice in her early days. He’s not self centred
and always out for himself, staying behind to comfort Romana as she is
regenerating establishes that.
Sparkling Dialogue: ‘One regeneration or two?’ – offering
them out like sugar lumps!
‘Worlds don’t fail, people fail.’
‘Don’t you think I’d recognise myself?’
Standout Performance: Its worth listening to this just to
hear John Leeson (aka K.9) saying ‘Mohammed.’ ‘Leela will you please deal
with his delusions of grandeur?’
Great Ideas: I’m not sure what the point of the little
deception at the beginning was all about (its far too twee to ever be
believable) but it does catch the audience up on the previous developments on
Gallifrey with surprising swiftness. Russell doesn’t have to just pick and
chose television continuity – he uses Big Finish continuity as well! The Axis
was established in The Axis of Insanity and (admittedly) was a great concept
and one worth returning to (although whether it was worth it for four hours
worth of storytelling the jury is still out on). Imagine a tree with many
branches and every branch is an alternative to established reality, sometimes a
major alternative and sometimes a minor one. Almost always as a result of time
experiments that have gone wrong and pose a serious threat to the normal course
of history. All of those dangerous branches are held together, carrying on but
controlled by the trunk of the tree ensuring that they never again interfere
with the primary timeline. The tree is the Axis. One of the great strengths of
the alternative universe concept is that you can have great fun taking
established continuity and fucking around with it a bit. This series of
Gallifrey revels in taking all the elements and shoving them into a snowglobe
and shaking it up at the beginning of each story and allowing it to settle into
a new pattern. Reborn touts the fantastic idea of regenerations being
sold as a pick me up for Gallifreyans. Its so obscenely disrespectful to one of
the central tenants of the show you have to admire the front. Something as
profound as the a Time Lord losing their life being bottled and sold as little
more than a hit of drugs! Also anyone can buy a TARDIS and they have proven so
popular they can barely keep up with the demand! Sold by Gallifrey Inc! The
alternative Gallifrey approach is also a chance to bring back a cast of old
characters that have been written out in the past (Narvin’s appearance here
made me smile). Leela as President and Romana I and Braxiatel flirting are both
really fun ideas and whilst neither was inevitable, they both make perfect
sense. K.9 becoming Castellan is also a great hoot. He gets to be smug and
sarcastic in a way that only John Leeson can portray.
Audio Landscape: Babbling brooks, birdsong, footsteps, doors
opening, consoles bleeping, a strong wind blowing across the landscape, TARDIS
materialising.
Musical Cues: This might just be my favourite theme tune for
any Big Finish series and its certainly the best mix of the Gallifrey theme
yet.
Isn’t it Odd: Needless to say this wasn’t want fans of the
series were expecting. There was such a long break between series three and
four (the length of several bibles) that I didn’t come to this series with any
anticipatory thoughts in the slightest. Gary Russell has been around the block
enough times to know that the alternative universe idea is old hat so to
approach the revival of this series in this way was certainly a bold (some
might say insane) move. Its been done to death on television (Inferno, Rise of
the Cybermen), in print (the post-Time Zero arc of the EDAs, the alternative
cycle in the Virgin New Adventures) and it even on audio (the abysmal Divergent
Universe arc). On the whole alternative universe stories have been shunned by
the masses and I can kind of understand why. Whilst its fun to see our usual
characters wearing eye patches and doing silly voices there are often
completely irrelevant departures from the norm and can grate when they aren’t
contained to a single story (the arcs mention above for the books and audios
were probably both ranges at their least popular). Gallifrey has always worked
as a concept based drama so this could be made to work so long as the writers
aren’t too indulgent that they tip over into parody and they let their
imaginations stretch and do something fun with continuity. Subtlety and Gary
Russell aren’t the most comfortable of stable mates but I remain stolidly
optimistic. I find it very odd that Gary Hopkins should try and get us involved
with these characters on such a serious level since they aren’t joining the
series full time and we wont give a fig about them next week. Why should we
give a damn that a Romana from an alternative universe was lied to be an Andred
from an alternative universe? Their timeline is going to be defunct in half an
hour so it is very hard to care. That is a massive problem with alternative
universe stories; the characters we meet are surplus to requirements because
they cannot exist within ‘our’ world. The best versions of these stories are
the ones where the characters from our timeline learn something about
themselves by seeing their world in a different light. Reborn, unfortunately,
leaves the character drama entirely at the doppelgangers doorstep which leaves
the story feeling far more throwaway than it should at the top of the box set.
An hour would be more than long enough to set up the basics of the box set and
tell this individual story in but this comes in at just under 75 minutes. More
judicious editing is required. Criticisms of this series have come in the form
of technobabble and how the dialogue can at times sound unnaturalistic and
needlessly complex. When Romana starts talking about the nuclearlinguasymbiotica
you have to wonder if they have a point. Bizarrely this story doesn’t come to
any kind of climax, it is literally like we have popped into this Gallifrey to
see what its like and popped off to another one when the time is up. Without
having an serious effect on the place you have to wonder why we bothered
stopping. Nothing our characters do or say couldn’t have been achieved without
their presence. Romana might be regenerating into a new President but we are
never going to see how that pans out.
Standout Scene: The very idea of a TARDIS factory in full
production is delightful. I wish we could see it but just know that in one of
the many universes out there there are TARDISes being mass produced like toys
at Christmas makes me smile.
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