Big Finish Main Range
“The future of mankind is already written, Turlough. Causality moves like a river, inexorable, unstoppable. You can’t change it.”
“That’s what I told Lena but I don’t know if I believe it. If that’s true, if fate is cast in stone, then why do you bother to stop and get involved? Why not just pass on by like I said when we arrived?”
“Only the broad strokes have been laid down. It’s in the moments between the ticks of the clock where life truly thrives, where we can make a difference.”
Nice little ending dialog for this audio. It doesn’t just apply to this adventure, to be sure! Turlough and the Doctor get involved with some strange goings on in Moscow, Russia. They land, save a girl from some thugs while checking out the center of a time disturbance, and get involved. Of course! Because the stories with Turlough are about the morality and inevitability of time and helping people. Because Turlough is such an interesting character as he came from such a corrupt and self-centered place to being someone who helps others and even seems to enjoy it, despite his own self-preservation instincts. I wish I knew of the adventure that got Turlough onto the TARDIS and what his history was on his home planet.
The story of this audio is at heart, a simple one. Alien invasion through auras and time and space, taking over people’s bodies. And the twist, as interesting as it is, is fairly predictable. I like the dying of Ember in the future, how aptly named. This story seems to indicate that the Time Lords do survive the Time War but perhaps that’s just because this was written before the Time War was conceived of? Don’t know about that yet. The Russian accent is captured by the actors well but I don’t really get a sense of this location being any different from any other on Earth or just foreign to England, the usual setting. It’s cold and the people sound different and that’s about it. Not that Moscow has to be totally foreign and different but it is a different country, with a completely different history and culture. That just doesn’t come through enough for me or I would give this adventure four jelloids.
It’s very good but not intense and I never felt that the Doctor and Turlough wouldn’t escape the bad guys or set things right. Alexi and Lena would be reunited at some point and the villains defeated. I did think it funny how Turlough lost his accent when he was taken over. His voice sounded completely different—not even CLOSE to Turlough. I like that and yet I didn’t think that should happen for him and no one else. Or is that an effect of him not being human? We’ll just never know, will we? Overall a neat little adventure but just not scary enough.
Peter Davison and Mark Strickson
Writer: James Swallow
Director: G-Russell
Release: November 2005