Big Finish - Special Release
I’ll admit, I have no idea what this title means. Maybe it’s clearer in the original book but I haven’t a clue with this one. And though the interviews have Patience being the Doctor’s wife, I don’t buy it. She lived quite a long time before the Doctor was around, from what they’ve said in the story, and he keeps saying that she has 13 kids but doesn’t really say himself. Maybe it is him? I really just didn’t get that impression. Plus he doesn’t really get all that broken up about her death. If she is, indeed, dead. That’s never clarified.
Anyway, I did enjoy this story a lot, having no idea how it would go. There are a lot of characters but it’s pretty easy to distinguish them as there are the two Doctor teams, the military folks, and the scientific peeps. And they all have different motivations and different ways of dealing with the chaos. There are a lot of locations, a few disasters along the way, but it all comes down to some fusion bombs (title in there?) and an ancient TARDIS.
The best part of this story is Chris Cwej trying all of the “subtle” seduction tricks on Nyssa and she’s just like whatever, I’ll try some oysters. Rubs his feet, drinks champagne with him, but it just never turns out like he expects and he gets embarrassed, ultimately. Quite the change from the standard Chris seductions, from what I’ve heard. And Tegan takes him to task for his fake Australian accent and story, though I’m not sure how he came up with Bruce Jovanka as the best name to use. 7th Doctor’s suggestion perhaps? And the scenes with the Doctors together are quite fun as well, with the 5th Doctor sniping at the 7th one and the finale! LOL.
The aliens from an alternate reality are a bit dim, I think, which is a bit disappointing. And though I like how everyone’s paired off, it gets a bit tiring with the story jumping between 3 or 4 different locations and groups at times. But it’s a fun romp, for the most part.
Peter Davison (The Fifth Doctor), Sylvester McCoy (The Seventh Doctor), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Yasmin Bannerman (Roz Forrester), Travis Oliver (Chris Cwej), Christine Kavanagh (Patience), Jeremy Hitchen (Medford/Quint/Quant/Ziyou Wanle/Ferutu), Sharon Maughan (Whitfield), Peter Caulfield (Adam/Falconstock/Sam/Concierge/Robot Voices)
Writer: Lance Parkin
Director: Jamie Anderson
Release: December 2016