Gallifrey Reborn written by Gary Hopkins and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: Gallifrey survives... Lady Romanadvoratrelundar has returned to her homeworld, seeking a cure for the Free Time virus that rages across the planet. Leela of the Sevateem and her companion K-9 are revered as heroes. Narvin is a traitor. And Braxiatel knows more than he's letting on. Amidst all the confusion, the High Council of Time Lords is poised to take the planet into an all-consuming war against the cosmos. They're selling their secrets to the highest bidder, equipping the universe with temporal technology it should never have been allowed. And Romana's son will lead them into battle...

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.

Result: Sometimes a departure from the norm is refreshing (for me Bernice Summerfield: Epoch worked in that respect) and all series four of Gallifrey had to do was prove that this was the case. I’ve gone into the strengths and weaknesses of the alternative universe concept above (erring on the side of the weaknesses unfortunately). The idea of the ‘Two Romanas’ is so delicious it deserved another airing and its handled with far more sensitivity than the last attempt. Continuity junkies will be delighted because they will be showered in fanwank (Draconians, the Galyari, the Killorans and the Monan Host are all referenced in the same scene) but those who prefer original ideas are going to be left feeling short-changed (the alternative idea is such old hat it might be in fashion again). This must be Gary Russell’s dream come true, a chance to not only cherry pick all manner of Doctor Who mythology but to deconstruct it as well and reshape it into something very different. His twisted vision for series four is controversial but for once continuity is being used not for its own sake but to offer a skewed vision of a Gallifrey that never came to be. I have often complained about his reliance on past elements rather than championing original storytelling but let’s give him this season long diversion to get it all out of his system. There are some grand ideas in Reborn (regenerations as party poppers, TARDISes mass marketed) and the premise of box set has great potential if it leads Gallifrey somewhere important but this initial story does come across as feeling inconsequential. Which probably isn’t the right tone for a comeback. Next week we aren’t going to give two hoots about the Gallifrey we have visited this week and going from a serialised narrative to cotton candy standalones is quite a big ask: 6/10

UNIT Dominion Part Four written by Nick Briggs & Jason Arnopp and directed by Nick Briggs

The Real McCoy: It sounded like McCoy had been disposed of in the pre-credits sequence so we could get on with having fun with the Master and Klein (a more delicious combination I cannot imagine). Unfortunately this was just getting my hopes up for nothing but I appreciate the effort nonetheless. When the Master starts talking technobabble and conquest the Doctor ponders the fate of being bored to death by him. There is great chemistry between the two characters now the pretence has been dropped and they can get back to their universal game of cat and mouse (although who is the cat and who is the mouse I have yet to fathom). We realise with some astonishment that every life that has been lost on the Earth thanks to the dimensional incursions has been the Doctor’s fault. Raine tries to stand up for him but even she can see that this has been one of his more serious boo-boos. He seems a lot more comfortable now he knows who his opponent is, purring with silky menace as he taunts the Master. He even adopts his catchphrase (‘hellllooo you!’) when he is about to foil all of his intricate schemes. When people talk about McCoy having a good couple of years on audio this is exactly the sort of material they are referring to.

Art Thief: Poor Raine is stuck having to face the music whilst the Doctors have scarpered and makes an excellent point about them having kept their word and saved the Earth. Its in these scenes where she left to her own devices and has to think for herself that the character finally gains some independence and responsibility. Wonderfully she makes another slip (calling Klein ‘Fraulein’) and has to admit a falsehood that she was just being racist in a scene that is loaded with subtext. Whilst she quickly comes to terms with the fact that the ‘future’ Doctor isn’t her Doctor at all, Raine is more astonished that the Master informs Klein of all of her wrongdoings in the past and how her life has been manipulated into something different. Her quiet bewilderment that he could be so cruel made her feel very human and its by far her standout scene in the set.

The Other Doctor: Now the cat is out of the bag about the Master’s identity, Alex McQueen can enjoy himself even more and he kicks off the concluding installment by causing havoc and murder on Gallifrey in the way that only the Doctor’s nemesis can. Has anybody made the ‘Master Race’ joke before because if not that was trick missed in his multiple appearances! He always likes to involve the Doctor in his machinations simply because it feels better that way. The Tolians think of the Master as their saviour and the bringer of power – finally we are getting some tasty pay off from elements introduced right at the beginning of this story. There is a touch of the John Simm Master to McQueen’s approach, a sense of immaturity and frivolous abandon that gives him a really unpredictable edge. He certainly hasn’t lost his sadistic edge either, wanting to enjoy every moment of the Doctor’s pain as he forces him to watch his friends and his enemies die at the same time. UNIT feels as though they have been determining the amount of control the Master (or the Doctor as they know him) has but he reveals in a pretty dramatic way that he has been stringing them along the whole time. Its almost as if he has been on a leash for so long now that he is revelling in his opportunity to tell Klein, Raine and the rest what he really thinks of them and what fate has in store for them. The only reason he would ever hug the Doctor is to pick his pocket. He’s one of those villains who is perfectly willing to dispose of his army should they show the slightest sign of rebellion. Klein thinks that there is a little part of the Master that envies the Doctor and enjoyed being able to act as UNIT’s unofficial scientific advisor just as the Doctor did back in the day.

Nazi Scientist: Compared to her dominance in the first three installments Klein is practically forgotten for the first half of part four. In true Russell T Davies style when the drama is packed away there is always an emotional cost and Klein’s discovery of her past is dealt with beautifully. The usually cool and collective character has had the wind completely taken out of her and doesn’t quite know how to react to such shocking news of her past. I was a little baffled at how quickly she comes to accept the truth and how she waves the Doctor off at the end so perhaps she believes she has been changed for the better too. If that is the trade off for more Klein/UNIT adventures then I am more than happy to make the bargain.

Its Always the Innocents That Suffer: The writers even manage to do something with the sexual tension that has been pointed out between Pete and Raine throughout the last two installments. Methinks Pete doth object too much to a point where he clearly does have feelings for Raine but he is completely ashamed of them because of his family situation back home. Because the writers haven’t been afraid to let go of characters in unpredictable circumstances (Lafayette), the story is wrapping up and the fact that he has had victim written all over his face thanks to the repeated reminders of his family I had a real gnawing sense of paranoia that Pete’s days were numbered. And strangely enough that affected me more than I thought it would so I guess I have come to enjoy the character over the four hour story.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘There I was thinking that you had some insane scheme of conquest when all the time you just wanted to inspect me shoes!’ – Briggs/Arnopp inject a little season 24 merriment into the 7^th Doctor that has been sorely missed from his character on audio for some time.

‘He thought that you’d revert to type so he kept popping back from time to time to make sure you weren’t invading Poland or committing genocide on the quiet…’

‘The Laws of Time…who needs them?’

Standout Performance: McCoy totally pulls the rug up from under everybody’s feet and provides the finale with its best moments. Bravo that man for being generous enough to allow the rest of the cast to have their chance to shine and waiting until last to have his turn.

Great Ideas: For totally control of the energy that flows through the dimensions you require the mind of a Time Lord so the Master setting up the Doctor’s involvement in this story suddenly makes very good sense. The real Tolians are a hundred times the size of any human being; vast, battle armoured and invincible insectoids. Just the sort of army the Master would use to spread fear and gain control of the other dimensions. The world Dominion will be the seat of the Master’s power and the dimensions (not worlds, dimensions…he likes to think big) that defy him will have the power sucked out of them. And those who resist will be crushed by his Tolian army. The Master forgot to mention to the Tolians that their rise to supremacy will force them to die out in a tenth of the time they would have otherwise spanned.

Audio Landscape: What a great example of a sound effect conjuring up an entire series. As soon as the alarms started sounding I was whisked away from UNIT Dominion and straight into the world of Gallifrey. Buzzer, footsteps, alarm, earthquake, gunfire, screams, Tolian voices, tissue compression eliminator.

H

Musical Cues: Check out the music as Klein and Pete figure out the Master’s schemes between them. It’s a theme that has played out several times throughout the story and has really encapsulated the tone of the piece for me. I found myself humming it earlier when I was trying to figure something out!

Standout Scene: UNIT Dominion saves the moment we have all been waiting for – the Doctor and Klein’s reunion with the truth out in the open – right until the last minute so we are gripped to the last. It reminded me of the Sixie/Charley arc and their final, devastating scene (the only truly honest scene between them in six stories). I loved the conceit that Klein was going to sacrifice herself to save the Doctor because it would have been desperately unsatisfying to lose her and we have already seen the writers play that game with the Tolians. That it just turns out to be a graze really made me chuckle.

Result: Desperately exciting as the shit hits the fan and all the elements that have gone in to constructing this story cohere into a blisteringly good finale. The reveal that the future Doctor is the Master has leant the story a dramatic focus that it has been lacking until this point and its dimension destruction and one-upmanship all the way to the finale. Sylvester McCoy is suddenly giving Alex McQueen a run for his money, he’s obviously been waiting to make his move throughout the story and now he gets the chance to take on his most formidable foe with absolute relish. McQueen is still fantastic though and can now stress some menace which coupled with his already sarcastic and immature approach makes for a sinister and unpredictable interpretation of the character. Briggs & Arnopp have been extremely clever in their approach to UNIT Dominion, allowing for a slow build up before allowing the story to explode into life in the last two installments and saving both epic (the Doctor and the Master bestriding dimensions) and the intimate (Klein’s discovery of her old life) revelations for the conclusion. It means there is barely a moment to breathe in this final part as we swing from one exciting twist to another, one dramatic confrontation to the next, one gem of a scene to another. My one disappointment is the wrap up of the central storyline which comes down to a favourite device of Briggs – self sacrifice. Its not a bad get out clause I suppose (there have certainly been worse) but after four hours of storytelling I was expecting something a little more able. Pleasingly it leaves the best characters open for a return visit and practically goes out of its way to inform us that that will occur at some point in the near future. It’s a testament to the success of this box set that I am salivating at the thought of it: 9/10

Overall: Dramatic and involving, if a little overlong. UNIT Dominion came good in the end and provided some great surprises and top notch entertainment. After being a little wary, this has won me over completely: 8/10

UNIT Dominion Part Three written by Nicholas Briggs & Jason Arnopp and directed by Nicholas Briggs

The Real McCoy: ‘She’s fuming about it. In fact I’m surprised she hasn’t physically attacked you already!’ Finally the 7^th Doctor gets some action and its long past time. Its almost like exposure to the superior half of the narrative immediately ups McCoy’s game and suddenly he is giving the sort of quietly menacing performance that he has received plaudits for in the past couple of years on audio. He’s a sly little devil, well aware that the other Doctor has dropped enough clues as to the falsehood of his claims to be a future incarnation but doesn’t let on to any of his friends to give the game away. Upon hearing the name Klein, the Doctor instantly panics. Things are about to get really interesting. She doesn’t trust him even more than the other Doctor which makes for an interesting parallel especially when we discover who his later ego really is. He vetoes Raine or the other Doctor from telling Klein about her alternative life (suddenly I’m writing ‘other’, ‘future’ or ‘alternative’ in every other sentence because of the question of their identity) because it will shatter the illusion and she might go back to the way she was. I’m not sure what right he has to take her real life away from her (although technically if she claimed her real life she shouldn’t exist anymore because her timeline is now defunct) but it is true that he managed to utilise all her strengths and cut away her more extreme personality traits. I’m still on the fence that he should be happy indulging in such an operation on her identity though. Scenes of the 7^th Doctor working with the military and the noise of telephones ringing and paper spitting from typewriters conjures up Remembrance of the Daleks in an instant and I can only imagine that this was deliberate. It sure made me smile.

Art Thief: Despite Beth Chalmers undoubtable…well charms, Raine is still the least interesting thing about this set. Now she gets a larger share of the action she has the opportunity to prove that there is more to her than the two traits that have been flashing above her head with a neon sign since she signed up with the Doctor: ‘posh’ and ‘thief.’ Unfortunately she fails. What is clear is that teaming her up with Alex McQueen provokes far more interest than her interaction with McCoy simply because its fresh and sparky (he likes her because she cuts to the chase). Raine tries flirting with Pete but he’s quick to inform her that he is married and with a baby on the way.

The Other Doctor: I’m not going to beat around the bush. Alex McQueen has proven to be a far more effective Doctor than McCoy in this set and whilst the reveal of his true identity is gloriously climactic (you’ll literally be tapping your feet waiting for somebody to say the name) I was disappointed that this meant we wouldn’t get to see more of this most intriguing of possible future incarnations. After my initial reservations McQueen has completely seduced me and I can only prey that Big Finish can entice him back at some point. Playing either the Doctor or the Master, he is a 100% win for Big Finish.

Nazi Scientist: When did Klein become our identification figure? That is some development when you think that the whole purpose of the Klein trilogy was to expose the clash of ideologies between the Nazi scientist and the Doctor. Finally we have somebody condemning the 7^th Doctor’s manipulative approach to time travel who is worthy of the role. Klein is more than a match for the Doctor (as proven in her own trilogy of adventures) in the intelligence stakes and builds an impressive argument against that he cannot fault. He tries to explain that he was never there to stalk her but to help her but how anybody can justify initiating the complete divergence of somebody’s life as ‘helping’ is an interesting case for study. Just try and make excuses. Tracey Childs continues to impress and I’m sure it cannot be long before Big Finish takes the hint and gives her her own series. I especially like how she is savvy to the faults in the plotting of this box set too, exasperated because all they seem to be doing is lurching from one crisis to another! Isn’t she just wonderful? She met the Brigadier briefly but it was enough for him to make an impression her as he always does. When faced with two Doctors and a Node that could possibly save the day or possibly aid them in their escape Klein has more than enough gumption to take them both on. I think people would pay good money to have this women command them in this sort of manner but with an entirely different emphasis. In the middle of the latest catastrophe Klein does admit that ‘our’ Doctor might be their only chance. She’s angry with him but she’s practical too and wont punish the human race to satisfy her need for answers. 

Its Always the Innocents That Suffer: Are Pete’s family going to play a part in this story or do they just keep turning up to remind us of the human cost involved in working for UNIT. I’m finding the cuts to irrelevant characters like this more than a little jarring now especially since Pete seems to be a little sidelined in this part of the story. Raine suggests that Pete is quite sensitive underneath all of his burly soldier persona…but to be honest all we’ve seen is the sensitive side. I have yet to see even a smidgeon of butchness.

Standout Performance: I hate to keep highlighting the same actors to the detriment of the rest of the cast but once again this belongs solely to Alex McQueen (who slips from mercurial Doctor to cunning as a fox Master in the blink of an eye) and Tracey Childs (who continues to mine new depths and startles as Klein).

Great Ideas: The Doctor is meeting his future self for the second time, whereas for his alter ego they have never clapped eyes on each other before. Germany, Tokyo, Vegas…finally UNIT adventures are being told on the international scale that is denied even to the limited budget of the New Series. We often heard about events taking place elsewhere in the world but now we have a cast large enough to dispatch agents to the four corners of the Earth and place this story on a truly global footing. The writers really concentrate on the feeling of everybody working across the globe to defeat this latest menace effectively giving this set the epic scale that it is aiming for. I have seen many a Big Finish adventure strive to be epic (Dark Eyes is one example) by striding so many locations to blind the audience into thinking that there is a cohesive narrative tying it all together. But this time they’ve really struck gold, setting up a planet wide operation with memorable characters at each post. I really like the assertion that the aliens that are escaping their various dimensions aren’t simply hostile but scared because that makes them far more dangerous. I’m surprised that Cardiff let them go ahead with the idea of evil cubes appearing around the world but since they did and I liked the idea in The Power of Three I also really like its (very different) application here. Because we have already seen this concept realised on screen you don’t have to work to hard to imagine how ambitious the effects would be. Having all the Cubes come together to form a gigantic Cube is especially novel and would an intimidating sight on screen. The Nexus are a gestalt entity, often having internal dispute but sharing the same goals and they are quite fond of interdimensional travel. Isn’t wonderful that a race that has initially been portrayed as a threat (the Sky Heads) are now allies and essential in a crisis?

Audio Landscape: Wind whipping as they ride the Sky Heads, activating the Node, rain falling, alarms sounding, combat scenes between the Cubes and the UNIT soldiers, the screeching Nexus, typing, telephones ringing, explosions,

Musical Cues: The music really comes into its own in the third quarter of the story, Martin Johnson has the chance to capitalise on the dramatic momentum of the story and drag us along with it.

Isn’t it Odd: The only real downside to the third installment of UNIT Dominion is that the threat that takes place is pretty much another take on the ones from the first and second parts. UNIT’s reactions are starting to become a little predictable which is a shame because seeing them dealing with the various crisis’ were the highlights of the first half of the box set. Also the silly voices for the aliens are all starting to feel a bit similar. I understand that they are trying to make them all sound distinctive by modulating them in various ways but I would like at least one voice providing purely by an actor with no treatment. Having Pete (‘I have a baby on the way’) and Raine (‘never chatted to a posh girl, have you?’) in the same scene together only serves to highlight how little substance there is to both characters as they re-iterate their only character beats.

Standout Scene: It would have to be the surprise that is left until the climax. Not because it is entirely unexpected (there have been several whopping clues) but because it is packaged so beautifully and dropped just as the plot is really gathering momentum. For the first time since this set began I was desperate to listen to the next installment and this is a great point to have that feeling, on the home stretch.

Result: Suddenly UNIT Dominion switches to a more intimate footing and we are dealing with matters of identity (the future Doctor and Klein) and as a result the story gains a sudden, sharp focus. What this series gets so right that some of the other more recent box sets failed to grasp was that you have to save some impressive revelations for the latter half of the story (this is something that let Epoch, Gallifrey IV and Dark Eyes down) and it has saved a real humdinger for last scene of this installment that will leave you eager to start the next. Paradoxically this is also the most epic part of the story as well telling an exciting alien attack on an impressively diverse geographical scale. Finally Sylvester McCoy gets a decent sized role in the story and he certainly ups his game when performing against the incomparable Tracey Childs and Alex McQueen who both get their most exciting material yet. I questioned whether this box set would work at the beginning with its shopping list of elements and weight of clichés but Briggs & Arnopp have managed to juggle up the former and subvert the latter and create an invigorating atmosphere all of their own. If this is the best section of the story it at least proves that there was some real mileage in the idea: 8/10

A little love for the contributors of Doctor Who Week Three!

It’s my third week of ‘picks of the day’ and today belongs to the fabulous Frazer Hines! (you can follow him @WhoFrazer)

Tomb of the Cybermen, The Enemy of World & Fury From the Deep! Wonderful Jamie stories!

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/season-five.html

The Mind Robber, The Invasion and The War Games – three of the most exquisite Doctor Who stories! Its season six! 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/season-six.html

Sixie and Jamie travelling together, what a fantastic idea! Wreck of the Titan! 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/wreck-of-titan-written-and-directed-by.html

Jamie comes to terms with the fact that he isn’t…that would be telling! The wonderfully bonkers Legend of the Cybermen! 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/legend-of-cybermen-written-by-mike.html

An astonishing historical for Jamie and Frazer delivers a magnificent performance – The Glorious Revolution 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/glorious-revolution-written-by-jonathan.html

A creepy ghost story with Hines afforded the chance to explore the depths of Jamie – Night’s Black Agents 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/nights-black-agents-written-by-marty.html

Today’s ‘picks of the day’ belong to…the multi talented Mark Gatiss! (you can follow him @MarkGatiss)

A gorgeous love letter to the Pertwee era, Last of the Gadrene glows with nostalgia! 

http://docohosreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/last-of-gadrene-by-mark-gatiss.html

Just about the perfect Doctor Who novel, thrilling, emotional and very scary – Nightshade 

http://docohosreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/nightshade-by-mark-gatiss.html

Colourful, exciting and education, The Roundheads is one of the knockout Troughton PDAs 

http://docohosreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-roundheads-by-mark-gatiss.html

An intelligent and evocative War of the Worlds pastiche with plenty of wit on display – Invaders of Mars 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/invaders-from-mars-written-and-directed.html

A cosy slice of teatime horror, perfectly suited to the ninth Doctor & Rose – The Unquiet Dead 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/series-one.html

Hugely underrated and great fun, Victory of the Daleks deserves re-evaluation 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/series-five.html

Mark provides a memorably scary turn as the sinister Professor Lazarus – The Lazarus Experiment 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/series-three.html

How has it taken me this long to reach my ‘picks of the day’ for Rob Shearman? (you can follow him @ShearmanRobert)

Quite simply one of the most sublime Doctor Who stories ever – The Chimes of Midnight 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/chimes-of-midnight-written-by-rob.html

An absolute classic of wit, intelligent and outlandish ideas – The Holy Terror 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/holy-terror-written-by-rob-shearman-and.html

Terrifying, innovative, hilarious, sick and thought provoking – Jubilee 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/jubilee-written-by-robert-shearman-and.html

Bold and subversive, Rob creates an Unbound touch of genius - Deadline 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/deadline-written-by-robert-shearman-and.html

The only story to feature Evelyn Smythe and Motzart washing up together! – My Own Private Wolfgang 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/100-written-by-jacqueline-rayner-robert.html

A love letter to the comics and to film noir – The Maltese Penguin 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/maltese-penguin-written-by-rob-shearman.html

You may have noticed I chose every story…but I would have been cruel to have left any of these gems out! 

Today’s ‘picks of the day’ belong to the ultra glamorous Anneke Wills! (you can follow her @AnnekeWills)

A strong character drama with a stark, emotional turn from Anneke – Resistance 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/resistance-written-by-steve-lyons-and.html

A sunny delight where Wills and Hines tap into the innocence of the era with real aplomb – The Selachian Gambit 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/selachian-gambit-written-by-steve-lyons.html

Polly continues to be an absorbing narrator of the companion chronicles – The Forbidden Time 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/forbidden-time-written-by-david-lock.html

The Smugglers, Power of the Daleks & The Macra Terror – fantastic stories all! 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/season-four.html

 Today’s picks of the day belong the master of variety…Steve Lyons! @bigfinish

An attention-grabbing introduction for Lucie Miller with the Daleks at their scheming best – Blood of the Daleks 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/blood-of-daleks-written-by-steve-lyons.html

Clever, lyrical and haunting – Time Works 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/time-works-written-by-steve-lyons-and.html

A dramatic, time twisting end to the Klein trilogy – Architects of History 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/architects-of-history-written-by-steve.html

The fifth Doctor, Peri, Erimem and Dracula! Blood pumping stuff – Son of the Dragon 

http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/son-of-dragon-written-by-steve-lyons.html

The eruption of Vesuvius dealt with by a Scotsman and a redhead – The Fires of Vulcan 

 http://docohobigfinish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/fires-of-vulcan-written-by-steve-lyons.html

A hilarious, touching and thoughtful coming of age story – The Crooked World

http://docohosreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/crooked-world-by-steve-lyons.html

The deconstruction of literature in the Land of Fiction – Conundrum

http://docohosreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/conundrum-by-steve-lyons.html

Attention grabbing and controversial – Head Games

http://docohosreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/head-games-by-steve-lyons.html

A dark, gripping morality tale for Troughton – The Final Sanction

http://docohosreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/final-sanction-by-steve-lyons.html

UNIT Dominion: Part Two written by Nicholas Briggs & Jason Arnopp and directed by Nicholas Briggs

What’s it about: The universe stands on the brink of a dimensional crisis – and the Doctor and Raine are pulled into the very epicentre of it. Meanwhile, on Earth, UNIT scientific advisor Dr Elizabeth Klein and an incarnation of the Doctor she's never encountered before are tested to the limit by a series of bizarre, alien invasions. At the heart of it all is a terrible secret, almost as old as the Time Lords themselves. Reality is beginning to unravel and two Doctors, Klein, Raine and all of UNIT must use all their strength and guile to prevent the whole of creation being torn apart.

The Real McCoy: You have to question why McCoy’s Doctor is sidelined quite as much as he is in the first half of this story. He barely gets any ‘screen time’ in the first two parts and I can only attribute that to three possible reasons. One, he is busy filming The Hobbit and needed the time off which necessitated the creation of the ‘future’ Doctor to take the pressure off his character. Two, that Briggs & Arnopp wanted to write a UNIT series but given the failiure of the last attempt thought they needed the presence of a Doctor Who stalwart to entice the fan audience into buying the story. Or three that they wanted to give Alex McQueen to settle as the Doctor before a recognisable incarnation takes a larger part of the action. He feels so on the periphery of the action at the halfway point of this story I am starting to question if he was actually needed at all.

Art Thief: I wish they would stop giving Raine an insignificant role in the action because she starting to get the reputation as the Doctor Who companion that doesn’t do anything. Putting a mental spin on her lock breaking skills is a pretty desperate way to try and keep her involved and relevant. There’s still half the story to go so let’s hope she gets to have some greater involvement in the concluding half.

The Other Doctor: In season seven the Doctor was grounded on Earth because of his people but this time it is UNIT themselves that are ensuring his loyalty by holding his TARDIS and forcing him to work for them. Which elicits a great response from him as you can imagine. Only the Doctor can see that the Sky Head is reacting in fear rather than malevolence and he comes to help Klein understand that too, teaching her a new way of looking alien threats. He immediately clashes with Major Wyland-Jones who expects answers but no lip from the Doctor and he indulges in a little melodrama to prove the point that the Earth needs him but he doesn’t need them. McQueen has approached this role with such skill; initially smug, then utterly invaluable before turning his hand to quietly menacing. If this was a future Doctor I would only be too pleased to explore his timeline further. His trying to communicate with the Sky Heads might seem a little dippy but its no more ridiculous than his scenes with Erato in Creature from the Pit. The Doctor doesn’t care how bizarre the situation is, he just wants to help.

Nazi Scientist: I never thought there would come a time when Klein was the most sensitive character in production but highlighted against the ambiguous morality of the future Doctor she is positively beatific. She tries to comfort Pete whilst he tries to come to terms with the death of a fellow soldier and scolds the Doctor on his complete lack of compassion on the matter. The Doctor can charm his way past the rest of UNIT with his reputation and skills but Klein can sense that there is something he is holding back and she wants answers. Kudos for remembering Johan and his effect on Klein in her previous life. Introducing him was a beautiful touch of continuity for those who enjoyed the Klein trilogy and its another unnerving reminder of the life that the Doctor stole from her. His death affects her and she doesn’t quite know why. Little does she know that he is being stolen away from her again. They say its easy to find humour in adversity and Klein sets out to prove that when she is trapped in a web about to filled by lava by a giant spider. She has never really made the time to come back to Germany but now that is where she is going to end her days.

Its Always the Innocents That Suffer: We cut back to Pete’s family halfway through the story to remind us that they exist and that there will be a tragic cost if he doesn’t come back alive. Its manipulative but it works because I am used to seeing this domestic angle in Doctor Who now and its refreshing for a minor character to be lavished with this much background. Peter surviving the encounter with the Sky Heads is pitched as a real moment of triumph, Klein (and even the Doctor) pleased to be wrong about his suspected death.

Standout Performance: The relationship between the future Doctor and Klein continues to fascinate. Tension, respect, courtesy and mistrust…and the chemistry between Childs and McQueen is unmistakable.

Great Ideas: What can I say about the Sky Heads? They are one of the strangest threats the Doctor has ever encountered and that is going up against some pretty fierce competition (including clockwork soldiers, cleaning robots and living statues). I couldn’t decide whether to be unsettled or amused by this giant head of a baby hanging in the sky (because there are elements of both inherent in the idea) so I eventually settled on being a little bit baffled! I did like how even a giant head in the sky couldn’t handle some of the reporters terrible jokes and expressed its exasperation in the form of terrifying bursts of noise. Doctor Who is no stranger to giant spiders but they make for a far more terrifying threat just because they are easier to visualise and tap into a phobia that is shared by many. I like that they cannot be reasoned with on any level which makes them much scarier than a monster that can communicate (the Sky Heads can speak in a childish, broken English). And the thought of webbing spun from molten lava is novel. On television this would be a visual treat and given the production standards my imagination can do an awful lot too. I rather like the idea of a media savvy UNIT Commander who is more concerned with his own image than that of national security. Its precisely the sort of character we are going to dislike and so to kill him off in such an ignoble fashion (he’s kind of sneezed off into oblivion by a giant head) is quite discomforting. One second we’re booing him for his incompetence and the next minute we are mourning him – I like that Briggs & Arnopp are happy to play mind games like this with a minor character. Replacing him with somebody more efficient and less easy to control ups the stakes for everybody – Major Wyland-Jones is mean, moody and expects everything to go his way. The mention of Tersurus is another massive clue to the identity of the ‘other’ Doctor and any Doctor Who fan worth their salt will have it sown up long before the climax to part three. However, the speculation is all part of the fun. I have to mention how well Big Finish have marketed this box set with plenty of promotional pictures and advertisements to get people whipped up in a frenzy before the story was released. Its a superb strategy that has paid off in spades. 

Audio Landscape: Its not often that I complain about the actual production of a Big Finish audio but there was a persistent horrible tinny quality to the intercom sequences throughout this hour that started to give me a headache. I’m all for aural realism  but not to the point where I’m straining to listen to the thing! Helicopter hovering over London, the Sky Head raspberries, megaphone whine, the Sky Head effectively blowing a hurricane, a volley of gunfire causing the Sky Head to explode, the Doctor and Klein climbing from water, the echoing void that the Doctor and Raine are trapped in continues to impress, revving a car engine, lava hitting the windscreen, spun up in creaking lava webbing, bubbling lava,

Isn’t it Odd: Whilst I was writing up my notes for this story I scribbled in the margins OH F**K OFF ACE! So that tells you everything that I thought of her continuing incomprehensible cameos.

Standout Scene: I did get a certain thrill when the Doctor turned up striding a Sky Head to rescue Klein and the others. He’s really growing on me.

Result: UNIT Dominion is starting to feel like a contemporary version of The Five Doctors; a bunch of characters (recurring) and monsters (original) thrown together and watching the chaos that ensues. Like the Terrance Dicks love letter to Who there are plenty of set pieces but no real narrative to speak of. Its all great fun for the most part with so much going on to distract you that the general aimlessness of the piece barely begins to register. All the best material takes place on Earth and involves the glorious Tracey Childs and Alex McQueen and their interaction alone makes this box set worth buying. The pace is relentless and the production design ensures that events are crystal clear despite so much going on and I particularly liked how this installment of the saga went from the ambitious (an entire army versus the Sky Heads) to the intimate (a few UNIT operatives struggling to stay alive). The biggest disappointment is the 7^th Doctor and Raine’s complete disassociation with the main story and how we keep cutting back to their, frankly dull, escapades on the other side of the dimensional divide. It feels as if two completely separate stories are taking place and by placing them side by side one highlights how poor the other is. On a production level this is grand stuff but its hardly the most intellectually stimulating exercise. Its such a bizarre fusion of the very good (anything with Klein passes muster in my eyes) and the frustrating (repeated versions of the same danger – infractions from escaping aliens from other dimensions) that at this point I don’t quite know how to judge it. Enjoyable, but with several caveats: 7/10

UNIT Dominion Part One

What’s it about: The universe stands on the brink of a dimensional crisis – and the Doctor and Raine are pulled into the very epicentre of it. Meanwhile, on Earth, UNIT scientific advisor Dr Elizabeth Klein and an incarnation of the Doctor she's never encountered before are tested to the limit by a series of bizarre, alien invasions. At the heart of it all is a terrible secret, almost as old as the Time Lords themselves. Reality is beginning to unravel and two Doctors, Klein, Raine and all of UNIT must use all their strength and guile to prevent the whole of creation being torn apart.

Part One written by Nicholas Briggs & Jason Arnopp and directed by Nicholas Briggs

The Real McCoy: What I found hilarious was that a Doctor from the future should pop back and give McCoy’s Doctor some advice and he has the front to suggest that it might not be wise for him to do so! Are you having a laugh with me? This is the sort of thing that the 7^th Doctor gets up to all the time! He even goes on to suggest that if he indulged in this type of temporal tinkering then he wouldn’t be the Doctor as we know him…a complaint I have often made about this particular incarnation. I can only assume that McCoy’s Doctor has had his irony chip switched off for this one. Its one of the more amiable meetings between the Doctors, despite the fact that you can tell that the 7^th Doctor entirely mistrusts his namesake (and probably with very good reason). He finds it irritating when anyone other than he cross his time stream and interferes. As you could probably imagine, McCoy is the weakest link in the cast (he veers between genius and diabolical with alarming frequency as usual) and his delivery of the line ‘if I ever say LATER kindly shoot me between the eyes’ made me want the ground to swallow me up. You never forget the death of a friend, especially if its your own fault. There are parts of the TARDIS that are hidden even from the Doctor. The way he is so spectacularly fooled by the Tolians makes this usually cunning little fox look like a bit of an idiot.

Art Thief: Because she had so little opportunity to impress in the 7^th Doctor Lost Stories range (mind you, didn’t everybody?), Raine gets another opportunity to prove herself in UNIT Dominion. My biggest compliant was that despite the fact that Raine was the new companion in that range the emphasis was constantly on Ace who is so old hat these days she’s a battered old trilby that nobody loves and very few wants to wear. I think they included the Ace cameo just to get those who had similar feelings in a tizzy. What I found strange about her treatment here was how she kept stressing how utterly irrelevant her opinion was almost as if to explain why she is so forgettable before we have already had the chance to make a judgement ourselves. Its either stressed that she is a newbie and therefore experiencing everything through naïve eyes or that the Doctor has completely forgotten about her in the future in which case she barely made an impact on his life. The first thing that Raine mentions is ‘gorgeously decadent luxury biscuits’ to highlight one of the two things that are important about her character (that she’s posh, the other being the title of this section).

The Other Doctor: One of the most exciting things about this box set is the thought of having a new Doctor to explore. Its something Big Finish wanted to market because their trailer went all out to highlight the point and why not? It’s a very exhilarating idea. Alex McQueen might step out of the TARDIS with his ‘smug mode activated’ (as Kryten would say) but he soon settles down as things get serious. I was worried I wouldn’t take to him after those initial few scenes but he’s no more sarcastic than we’ve seen Pertwee or Baker be in the past and he certainly proves to be a formidable presence by the end of the first disc. He steps from the TARDIS brash, bold and just a little bit camp. He displays formidable powers of hypnosis which might be a clue to his identity to those in the know.

Nazi Scientist: Tracey Childs returning to Big Finish was always going to be something to celebrate and she is every bit as magnificent as you would imagine. Klein hasn’t lost her touch, even after the character has been neutered by the Doctor she is still cold, crisp and bitingly intelligent. By taking Klein who made an instant impression in the Main Range and placing her in the heart of this story you have a dramatic framing device that draws the listener straight into the action. There is so much drama inherent in the Doctor manipulating her life and leaving her to work with UNIT in our reality that it astonishes me that nobody has capitalised on that before now. Has the Doctor been spying on her all these years, making sure that she doesn’t revert back to her old ways? Klein put in a request for an assistant many years ago which was summarily denied. I was laughing my head off when Klein suggested that the noisy trumpeting that the TARDIS makes doesn’t exactly match its already dubious disguise! Klein is clever enough to pick out precisely why this Doctor has come to visit (the Node) and refuses to allow him to make a mess and be forced to pick up all the pieces when he buggers off again.

Its Always the Innocents That Suffer: Pete Wilson is such an obvious identification character. A new boy to UNIT, a man with a kid on the way and an innocent amongst the towering intellects on display – if a character as green as this doesn’t scream of victim I don’t know who does. What salvages the character completely is the performance by Bradley Gardner who takes all of these weaknesses and turns them into strengths, highlighting the characters naiveté but in doing so making his accomplishments throughout the box set all the more impressive. The accent is refreshing, there aren’t enough Geordies in Doctor Who on audio and like Molly O’Brien in Dark Eyes there seems to be a real effort on Nick Briggs’ part to bring a larger national presence to his stories. Wilson gets up close and personal with his first alien menace in this story, losing friends and proving his mettle in the field.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘You’ve missed some top notch ding dongs I can tell you!’

‘Its hardly blackmail to suggest a tit for tat arrangement’ ‘Except in this case you’re refusing to give me the tat I require unless I give you some…umm, bad analogy.’

‘Then…Raine will fall!’

Standout Performance: I’d say the one to listen out for at this stage is Alex McQueen who has the most to prove as a potential new audio Doctor from the future. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere he is a little full on in his first handful of scenes (almost as if he deliberately wants to alienate people) but soon settles down towards the end of the disc to a quietly menacing persona with the odd burst of arrogance.

Great Ideas: Referencing the UNIT vaults could be a pointer towards the Black Archive from the Sarah Jane Adventures or the vault that featured in the Companion Chronicle Tales from the Vault. Either way, it gave me a little fan boy glow. I never trusted the Tolians from the outset – there is something about aliens that try and package themselves as victims that really illicits suspicion. Things are never quite what they want you to believe. Telling the same story from either side of the dimensional divide has a lot of potential, showing cause and effect and vice versa. The Doctor finds the idea that the Time Lords might not be around in the future absolutely ridiculous. The Dimensioneers are a mythical race of awesomely powerful travellers, pioneers who dared to bestrode the dimensions, to seek the ultimate balance of the powers of eternity. They are otherwise known as the Time Lords. Dragging us back into the Doctor/Raine storyline with a shocking bump, Raine is dropped from an obscene height at the Doctor’s request. A chain reaction of interdimensional corridors, a stampede of lifeforms forced to abandon their dying dimensions (at least there is a good reason for all these alien threats on Earth all of a sudden), seeking refuge and energy from other realms. Its what the Time Lords feared years ago and why they forbade interdimensional travel. That’s a terrific concept to fuel the set, reaching for an epic feel and achieving it in spades. The Sky Head appearance at the climax is just bizarre…like the Face of Boe filling the skies over London. Let’s see how things develop.

Audio Landscape: Some of the transitioning between the dimensions is especially memorable and the sudden cut to a deafening whine when the bullets scream during the conclusion is very memorable too. There’s the feeling that Martin Johnson is approaching this material in an entirely fresh way to try and make as involving an experience as possible. Big Ben, trains zooming past, splatters of rain, the TARDIS buffered by time winds, clinking tea cups, alarm, bad static, the alternative Doctor’s new TARDIS materialising, a biting wind, walking on gravel, heartbeat, background chatter, the metallic screeching of the Mind Leeches, releasing a volley of bullets, Raine’s shocking scream as she falls to her death, the echoing landscape of the dimensional divide, the hideous scream of the Sky Head.

Musical Cues: I love the mad choral sting when the Doctor and Raine are dragged through the Dimensional Divide, it adds a touch of the epic to proceedings.

Isn’t it Odd: This is a real case of ‘we can’t win’ but the very idea of Ace winding up on Gallifrey really bugs me. Not because that is what they decided to do but because Big Finish didn’t have the courage of their convictions and not go down this route because certain vocal fans made their feelings perfectly clear that they were appalled that the Lost Stories dared to deviate from what they considered to be her natural end. Big Finish may deny that this was ever the case but that is the only reason I can imagine the ending of Thin Ice showing a complete rejection of the idea that Ace winds up on Gallifrey and then for her to be there at the beginning of this box set. Pandering to the fans like this is never a good idea and by doing so you threaten to fall into the same tap that JNT did all those years ago. After the stack of opening developments (the other Doctor, the return of Klein and Raine, the dimensional divide) I drifted off during the unengaging second half. The Mind Leeches are a good idea but they aren’t explored in a particularly winning approach here and there is plenty of untapped potential wasted in their short appearance. We spend so much time away from the 7^th Doctor and Raine during the middle sections of this story that they feel irrelevant to the events that are taking place.

Standout Scene: There’s a gorgeous moment towards the end of the disc where Klein takes the Node from the Doctor that reminded me of similar events between the Doctor and the Brigadier in Spearhead from Space. In fact there is a terrific season seven vibe to a lot of their relationship. A smug, but essential Doctor, an assistant called Liz who works with him out of necessity and a military leader who doesn’t always make the right call.

Result: A quiet introduction that gathers some impressive credentials and has lots of clever detail and intriguing character interaction. Briggs understands that these discs need to be an hour long so as not to outstay their welcome and to leave the audience wanting more (whereas his fellow producer Gary Russell has no conception of economical storytelling and let every tale in the Gallifrey IV box set grow to monstrous proportions). It’s a bit unfocused in places and deals with one threat too many rather than spotlighting one, really memorable menace. What the constant bombardment of danger does highlight is how busy UNIT are these days but it does that to the detriment of this being treated as an individual story (to be fair to Briggs & Arnopp they never pretend that this is anything but one epic tale chopped up into four discs). Where UNIT Dominion scores (and scores big) is in assembling so many memorable characters that offer a great deal of interest to fans of the audio adventures (especially with Klein and Raine returning) but will also provide much curiosity in anybody coming to the company afresh. Tracey Childs and Alex McQueen make the biggest impact and their relationship looks set to evolve into something quite special and the only weak link in a very impressive cast is Sylvester McCoy who veers alarmingly between brilliant and appalling. There is a real sense of an epic being set up at this point and it certainly makes far more of an impact than the UNIT miniseries that was attempted before. There’s a great deal of promise to this set up, let’s hope the box set goes on to deliver: 7/10

Judgement Day written by Scott Handcock and directed by Gary Russell

What’s it about: Atlantis has fallen. The Epoch are in command. And terrible decisions lie in wait for Bernice Summerfield. Bernice and her comrades will be put to the ultimate test – facing Neanderthals on prehistoric Earth; alien creatures on the streets of Victorian London; and the Epoch in the far, far future – but which world will they choose to make their home? Their journeys have been long and arduous. But soon, they will all end. Because Bernice Summerfield dies today… and, when she does, reality will fall apart around her.

Archeological Adventuress: Like some twisted version of the dream Tegan suffers in Kinda, Bernice has to decide which of the three realities that she is hopping between is real. She better get it right because by all accounts (or at least given past form) the Epoch have the ability to snuff the other two out with all the effort of blowing out a candle. Bernice knowing about the White Rabbit is a nice dovetailing of Doctor Who and this series, the Doctor passing down the knowledge of its existence to her after his adventures with Ace and Hex. She has learnt a great deal about time travel in her time with the Doctor and since, she knows that it is something you shouldn’t take for granted and you have to tread (in case there are any butterflies around that you might step on) very carefully. Benny talks passionately about the dinosaurs and finds it a sheer joy to be surrounded by them when all she normally gets to explore are dug up dusty old bones and now she can actually touch them. If she was really trapped in the 1800s she would be of to the Diogenes Club quick as a flash. Bernice describes herself as one tiny, insignificant person but let’s face it, that’s modesty for you because she’s never been that. There’s only one pod and Bernice gives that up for Ruth who is so much younger and hasn’t lived a fraction of the life that she has.

Priestess: ‘I’ll perish on a world that never should have been with memories of a life that never was…’ Ruth very quickly reminds Benny that she isn’t stupid when she answers her questions in a particularly condescending way. There’s definitely hope for her yet. Given Benny’s logic of interfering in the past she concludes that they should technically be standing still and saying absolutely nothing…although that would make for rather a dull audio. Ruth has latent memories buried in her subconscious and vicinity to the Epoch is freeing them. It takes Ruth to tell Benny that if she is so certain that theirs is the primary reality then she should switch the other two off without a moments hesitation, thus exposing her doubts. It seems that Bernice and Ruth are destined to split and live their lives apart which seems a shame since a lot of effort has gone into ensuring that their relationship clicked.

Standout Performance: ‘Belching flames, thank you. Nobody breathes flames. Do you have any idea how difficult that would be?’ Jack’s character is completely re-interpreted in the final story into something that suits David Ames’ performance. He was turning up in the first three adventures as a sinister reminder of what Bernice has lost but Ames’ fey, almost camp turn of phrase meant that these potentially striking scenes felt oddly discordant. He is revealed to be Springheel Jack, an eccentric, nimble, resourceful fellow with more knowledge of the situation than is healthy. He’s an electrifying presence now the pretence is dropped away and another intriguing ally for Bernice. Unbelievable that this is the same actor tucked away in the thankless role of Nathan in Planet of the Dead. Clearly he had much more to give as an actor than was exploited on screen. Jack wants to be creepy and live up to his reputation but hilariously can’t help mincing it up and looking the fool. He’s great fun to be around.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘Destroy the human race now and there’s nobody around to say ‘I told you so…’

‘We can still outrun them! Evolution’s on our side remember!’

‘What’s six inches between friends?’ – oo-er!

‘Barrier down. Year Zero officially scuppered!’

‘You’re the best might have been friend I could have never maybe hoped to have!’

Great Ideas: You’ve got what is by far the best cover in the box set with the surprisingly sinister and yet utterly camp looking Epoch robots staring out at you whilst Lisa Bowerman, Ayesha Antoine and David Ames all look equally radiant. If we’re not going to enjoy Ade Salmon’s gorgeous artwork anymore (and I am still a little bitter about that, although I understand the reasons for the rebrand entirely) then can we have more cover of this nature please (because some of the others have looked a little…photoshopped). Swapping between realities so readily makes for an intriguing opening gambit because there is absolutely no way of knowing which is the real Bernice Summerfield and Ruth or whether they both are. Or neither. You’re pretty much at sea. This is the adventure where Bernice gets up close and personal with dinosaurs and for that allow it is worth shouting home about. It all becomes very ipseitic when they start to wonder if it doesn’t matter which Bernice and Ruth lives or dies and consider which environment might be best to live in. Handcock makes the brilliant point that everything on Atlantis at the beginning of this box set was how the audience would imagine it being rather than how it actually was. It was such a picture postcard view of the mythical city I’m glad somebody pointed out that it was deliberate. Murder on the Omega Express? Jack got a little too close to Zordin when the Epoch where re-mapping the planet and has been trapped here ever since. This solar system represents a threat to the past, present and future of the Epoch and that is why all of the planets have been mapped a re-mapped. That’s why history and exploration could not be allowed. That is the scheme. Control the system and control their fate. One Epoch watches over each of the different worlds until it winks out of existence. There’s a forcefield around the planet that has been cutting off this system ever since Year Zero…the whole point of the meme in The Sky’s No Limit song is that it encourages people to think beyond that forcefield and out into the universe. Benny and Ruth need to lock themselves outside of time as the alternatives coalesce into one timeline, just as the Epoch did. Strangely enough the real triumph of this story is returning Benny to where she was when the story began – to the timeline where her son is waiting for her to find him.

Audio Landscape: Metal clanging, creatures purring in the night, carriage rattling along a path, Big Ben, footsteps, dinosaurs bellowing and screaming, running on a gantry, an Epoch winking out of existence, bio mechanical data glove.

Isn’t it Odd: The fabric of reality is shifting, the planet is closing in around Benny and the Ruth’s…this would make for a bittersweet, shocking conclusion to the Epoch story had this exact scenario not already played out at the end of Private Enemy No 1. Almost to highlight the fact the same music kicks in.

Standout Scene: It might be naughty of me to say but the scene where a caveman picks up his mobile phone and got an ear bashing from ‘her indoors’ because he had been out hunting too long had me in stitches. Even if he does sound scarily like Papa Lazarou from The League of Gentlemen! Some of their dialogue is overdone but the broad performances make for some pleasing comedy after the abstract horror of the last story. The appearance of Brax at the climax and the way he leaves a trail of breadcrumbs to the planet Legion is a real moment of triumph. Things are looking promising for the future.

Result: Massively entertaining, if a complete departure from what I was expecting. It’s the only Bernice Summerfield story where you will experience gay cavemen using GPS and mobiles, dinosaurs grazing in the background and verbal swordplay between our heroine and Springheel Jack. Answers do come but in the form of more questions (why is Benny the threat the Epoch are threatened by?) and the method of releasing them is to undo a conceptual puzzle concerning the identity of our heroes. Given the allergic reaction to the Epoch box set upon its release I wasn’t expecting a lot (you should never listen to reviews but it’s a curse) but I was quite surprised at the manifold of treats that were on offer. A massive planet wide mystery, big, bold concepts, a new family to help Benny acclimatise, an innovative menace with devastating powers and some fantastic imagery and set pieces. It might not always be the tightest of story arcs (Temple of Questions was largely irrelevant) but taken as a whole there is so much good material thrown in I found the overall story to be rather engaging. What I especially liked was how Bernice was dumped unceremoniously on this planet, friendless and depressed and over the course of the four stories we have seen the character be rebuilt from the ground up and reminded of everything about her that makes her special (her passion for life, her intelligence, her love of a good mystery and most of all her love for her son). The only disappointment in Judgement Day is that the ultimate showdown and solution consists of little more than Benny throwing a lever and bringing down a forcefield. Its hardly the climactic conclusion that has been promised after four hours worth of adventures. What does come out of this conclusion though is how well developed and established Ruth has been and her sacrifice to save Benny’s life gave me goosebumps all over. In plotting terms this isn’t a particularly clever ending (and its far from conclusive but I have a feeling that some of the hanging questions will be answered in the future) but switching the focus onto character and it is fantastic. I would suggest people give this entire story another listen without the caveat of this being a ‘bold new beginning’ for Bernice (because ultimately the purpose of the set is for her to re-discover her old life) and focus instead on the strength of epic storytelling, character and direction. Its not quite the best Benny has been but its very good all the same and much, much better than its reputation would suggest: 8/10