Big Finish Main Range
A strange audio as it jumps right into the action! Though this could be because it comes directly on the heels of Return of the Krotons so the Doctor and Charley are going directly from one adventure to another. It’s a crazy life for them! But things are definitely heating up for Charley as she needs to tell the Doctor where she came from yet at the same time, she isn’t sure she can. What will be the consequences when she does? Will the Doctor kick her out and leave her on the street? Why doesn’t he remember her as the 8th Doctor? I really loved the character of Lish, who has … I don’t want to give that away! It’s a fun twist in the story, I’ll admit.
The alien war is very oddly set up and carried out throughout. This story wends its way through multiple twists and turns with the motivations of characters going from murky to explainable to just plain odd in turns! D.I. Menzies treats the Doctor and Charley like old friends that she saw last week, despite kicking them out of the city, and like she expected to see them again. And for some reason she’s willing to give them assistance with their separate investigations, which are ultimately tied in with hers, of course, despite the fact that she doesn’t trust them. Her motivations are lost beneath her deadpan delivery and deadpan quips for me. I like her character a lot but this plot seems to just twist and turn a bit too frequently to make it excellent.
Charley really seems to not know or understand the difference between the 6th and 8th Doctors much at all. She hatches hairbrained schemes to deal with the web of time and yet is at the center of some major issues herself once again. “If the timeline were a cat, it would be hissing at you!” That’s a major hint that she needs to treat carefully. And she may just break the 6th Doctor when she tells him her secret. How could he react except in anger? He’s not known for a sunny and stable disposition. Just ask Evelyn, Perri, and Mel! So this story has some very cool technology and crazy, twisting logic to wind it to its end. But it’s all winding towards a not very happy ending, that’s for sure! Where we go from here is up to you, Charley.
Colin Baker and India Fisher
Writer/Director: Nicholas Briggs
Release: December 2008