Big Finish Main Range
I had to re-listen to this audio in order to rate it. But I wasn’t exactly thrilled to do the re-listen so there was something to it that I didn’t initially like. Perhaps it was the ending, which circles faster and faster to a rather odd conclusion with a black TARDIS appearing. We start off with Ace and Hex landing in the white TARDIS in a mysterious location, with the Doctor missing. So they head out into the English countryside, right into the effects of WW3. So we get to hear them go through the motions of dealing with nuclear fallout and it’s very real. Very nicely written that, with a great cliffhanger to end the first part.
But then we get to “The Magnificent Bickersons”, as a friend calls them. Yeah. They’re fun to listen to for about a minute and it gets old fast. Of course the elder gods get involved and there’s a time loop and imprisonment and the 7th Doctor and secrets and Moloch! There are some very nice moments but overall, other than getting an idea of how WWIII would feel, I just didn’t love the story. It’s good but not fabulous, though it leads nicely into Black and White.
Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Philip Olivier, Ian Hogg
Writer: Jonathan Morris
Director: Ken Bentley
Release: July 2012