There are, very unfortunately, just a couple or so problems with Pursuit from Big Finish, and yet none of them are involving the uniformly excellent cast of these four stories, nor the commendable sense of ambition and good work being devoted to this (unmarked) entry into the ‘Time-War’ strand of which Big Finish frustratingly refuse to brand and clearly mark as such.
The publisher continually opts to just randomly release the ‘Time War’ as random unmarked releases, spattered across their schedules, with not the slightest attempt in connecting or presenting some roadmap these particular releases are heading in. All there is is ‘product’, put out to fill the schedules. It seems that Big Finish has no clear vision for this Time War strand, and so, very visibly, it fails consistently to harness the very obvious potential of putting it all under one bold imprint within their schedules, and having the War Master, the War Doctor, Susan’s War, Time War boxsets, Gallifrey War-Room, and this particular Paul and Sonny McGann-led series, all under the same umbrella, and all headed in a semi-linked and particular destination… The fans would have responded to this long-form storytelling, and I feel would invest in strong narratives as seen here in the McGann series. Because for all of its poor marketing and mystifying branding, this is a series that is actually very engaging. More engaging and professionally done than I had imagined, and it is a strand of the Eighth Doctor Adventures that takes me back to the days of BBC Books’ Eighth Doctor series, and the height of Big Finish’s own audio range. It has that same confidence about it, that same narrative strength of writers who are invested in the project, and actors who are extremely well cast and managed.
There is a legitimate argument to be had on whether this range should really exist. It is not a good thing when the Eighth Doctor exists at Big Finish in such a fractured and confused state where he has one line invested deeply in the Time War, and another set earlier in his life when he travels with Charley Pollard, Liv Chenka, and Audacity. It’s a poor state of affairs when the character, and his onlookers on the Big Finish website, are left so confused and put off by this lack of any clear direction or marketing for this incarnation.
And yet this Time War series is good. The quality is most definitely there to sustain a range, or at least a mini-series, where the Doctor is entering the war, with grandson Alex, and we find out with him just what the cost will be that leads to his ‘death’, and the ruthlessness of the War Doctor. If Big Finish put any effort into the branding and the marketing of this series, and indeed the Time War as a whole, it would be a strong imprint. The talent involved is more than capable of developing it and producing some real quality. And quality is what sells, not quantity…
Spoil of War
Written by Mark Wright
Alex and Cass arrive at a sinister stately home to find they are expected… Guests are assembling for an exclusive auction, but what unique item are they bidding on? And who will profit?
The Doctor and Hieronyma Friend are on Alex and Cass’s trail – the Doctor will find them, whatever the cost.
I have to confess, this isn’t ideal. I am listening out of order. This is being written some months after release, just after I finished listening to this boxset. I bought the previous releases in this strand — Cass, and Reflections — and have yet to listen to them. Pursuit here was on the top of the pile when I decided in a hurry that I wanted to listen to something while in the car, and so this was a near random choice… but as it turned out, a very enjoyable one!
So I am going into this almost cold: I don’t know what came before, don’t really know the characters… and that is an issue here as this release turned out to be a direct continuation from events in the previous release (and no ‘Story So Far’ preface to fill the consumer in). This isn’t a range you can just hand to anybody — it isn’t all that friendly to the average random audio listener, so that’s one black mark against it.
And yet as the debut story opens, the opaqueness of the opening events, and the chaos, are offset by the immediately impressive Alex and Cass (respectively played by Sonny McGann and Emma Campbell-Jones). Alex is running from the Doctor; I am not sure why. Cass is with him in what may be the Doctor’s now-stolen TARDIS, and what might otherwise be an off-putting and forced situation to open with is instead immediately made absorbing as both of these actors are so very professional and invested in both the material and the situation. There’s a quality in the best of Big Finish output, in that when you have actual good quality actors who do invest in what they are given, and take it seriously as a dramatic production, you are immediately drawn in yourself.
Struggling to control the TARDIS, Alex finds the ship has landed in an undefined manor, where they are greeted and dined by some very odd, yet grand, overseers. An auction is due soon, and when the arriving bidders are introduced, Alex is as astonished as the listener is to find that these are Sontarans, and not just any old Sontarans — these are Time Lord Sontarans!
Writer, Mark Wright really is an unsung talent at Big Finish — it was he who helped format and debut the excellent Michael Troughton range that reintroduced the Second Doctor. And he brings the same polish and storytelling to this range now, as ideas are sprinkled into this script that take me back to the Eighth Doctor BBC Books, and the longform narrative style that made them so engaging to follow. It seems Alex and Cass have dropped into some alternate timeline, perhaps another universe even, where Sontarans became the Time Lords of Gallifrey, and are now battling for their own survival. With a Time War where time and reality itself are constantly being rewritten, we see characters die, then ‘undie’, and Mark Wright’s story positions Alex and Cass into this in a strong way that makes the whole situation feel very dangerous to be in, and with forces that are beyond either’s ability to control.
These Time Lord Sontarans are fascinating concepts, and Wright doesn’t downplay any of the traditional Sontaran aggression or focus on victory, resulting in one of the strongest uses of this warrior race I have seen in modern Doctor Who. This respect for Sontarans and the audience only reinforces the strength and quality of the story, and the strength of the release as a whole.
The Doctor dies. It’s confusing. Lots of explosions and sound effects as the war descends don’t help the listener as this Time War release almost inevitably means events move into such a scale that it becomes cinematic, so dialogue is replaced by explosions, special effects, and music. Lots of people are dying maybe, lots of things clearly being destroyed, but because this is audio-only, the writer and editors hit the wall on what the medium’s inherent limitations are – which means much is left completely to the listeners’ imaginations, and all there is at the end of it is the two lead cast limping away to safety — and a few lines of dialogue from them that will have to suffice.
But despite these problems in the production, what stands out is the strength and high quality of all the cast involved. In particular, Sonny McGann carries us along, and when you think of Alex as a character, there isn’t that much there now, but McGann picks up on what there is — with his inner-conflicts and ongoing struggle towards independence — and develops it into putting across a very rounded character. Proving to me at least that here is a very, very good character actor… I have to praise and congratulate him. Based on this one story alone, he has made me a fan!
The Tale of Alex
Written by Katharine Armitage
The hero Alex is known throughout the cosmos as the saviour of planets and righter of wrongs. So, when he lands on the starving world of Igg, the locals feel all their prayers have been answered.
But Alex’s greatest enemy is hot on his tail, and the villainous Doctor has plans of his own.
This second story is a well-judged departure. Part experimental, playing with the particular strengths offered by the audio medium to have someone narrate in the third person. It is an approach used to similar effect and success in Big Finish’s very underappreciated Jenny: The Doctor’s Daughter strand, and one of the welcome effects is that it gives a sense of variety to this boxset of stories. Meaning the listener is kept engaged through each story, and not feeling any sense of repetition of over-familiarity in the journey.
What is right and wrong? Does Alex himself know? Does he really understand why it is he feels the way he does about the pursuing Doctor…? Is he aware he is bordering on paranoia, and that he may be feeling the effects of the shifts in reality that the distant Time War is causing? These are all questions that hang over this instalment.
Still trapped in another universe, another reality, the Doctor is seemingly closing in on his great-grandson, arriving on a struggling farming world that he has visited before, when it was a far healthier place than it is now. What catastrophe has so blighted it? In a shifting reality, writer Katharine Armitage uses the thematic power of ‘storytelling’, channelled though a lively medieval Bard character (played well by Sam Stafford) to explore what ‘truth’ and ‘lies’ might be.
“The Doctor weaved a web of words, To hide his blackened heart,” sings the storytelling Bard. The Doctor is the villain here, Alex is the hero. But it’s all point-of-view, of course, and as The Tale of Alex unfolds, we judge the Doctor’s strengths are his maturity and experience, while Alex’s weaknesses are coming down to his lack of real maturity, and a life yet to be fully experienced… He hasn’t fully grown up yet, but is not yet willing to accept these fundamental limitations he has.
It’s a well written and layered story, actually as much a character-piece as it is a plot. One of the unspoken truths to become apparent is that there isn’t all that much difference between the Doctor and Alex: it’s more a case of Alex just being a very young version of the Doctor himself; his chief limitation and problem being his frustration and paranoia over ‘the Doctor’ actually existing at all. The legend blocks his ability to actually embrace his great-grandfather, and what could be a much-loved and needed mentor in his life.
See-Saw
Written by James Moran
Cass and Alex pick up a distress signal that takes them to 1920s London. But the city is deserted, as if abandoned mere seconds ago.
The Doctor and Friend arrive at the same time, in the same place – but neither pair can see or hear one another… Why can they hear unfinished nursery rhymes? And what happens if they complete them?
It’s an intentional choice in pairing Alex and Cass, fleeing in their own TARDIS, the whole arrangement being used to contrast these two with the pairing of the experienced Doctor, and his companion Hieronyma Friend. James Moran’s opening nods at this dynamic as Cass banters with Alex on the well-established modus operandi of the Doctor’s, and how his adventures typically unfold… Meta-commentary over with, though, Alex’s desire(?) to be like the Doctor, but better than him, is one of the topics under study for this story. And a fine story it is too.
Arriving in what seems to be 1920s London, the two find a city that is devoid of life, but with meals still cooking, taps still running, and the impression of an event having just occurred, something they’ve only just missed. It’s a compelling concept, and the mystery is accentuated as Earth has been ‘time locked’, to protect it from the Time War according to Alex, and then confirmed by the Doctor when he too arrives. Meaning they surely cannot be on Earth. Or can they? The time lock is an intriguing detail, and then, in this abandoned London, the sounds start…
The sound design is a key component to this story and its requirements, as James Moran pitches what is essentially a Sapphire & Steel story. It’s nursery rhymes, little girls with no face, a desolate emptiness to the setting and atmosphere… But underlying it all is really the comparisons and well-considered differences between Alex and the Doctor. Half Time Lord himself, Alex wants to become like the Doctor, but is simultaneously rebelling against him. It’s that self-destructive struggle he has that is working to hold him back from accepting his potential and being at peace with himself — finally. It’s an internal struggle that is all well presented and well acted. The plot is actually a vehicle for character-work in the end, but as with the previous story, this one makes use of the distinctive strengths of the audio medium, this time to deliver a reasonably effective pseudo-ghost story that ends with a science-fiction edge being added.
“I think you and he are much more alike than you want to admit. In a good way.” So says Cass as she finishes the story. And it’s a mark of the quality of the storytelling and scripting across these four stories that this comment feels organic, and all part of a carefully plotted arc for both Alex and the Doctor.
Producer and script editor Matt Fitton takes credit here: when on form, his is a very talented hand that brings any release up above the Big Finish average. The shame is that the publisher simply don’t seem to know what to do with this range, and it is a growing problem in that their product is increasingly lacking in marketing, and its ranges now show that they are increasingly without a proper and distinctive identity; homogeneity and dull uniformity has arrived, after 25 years built on a bedrock of vibrancy and a devotion to excellence.
The First Forest
Written by Tim Foley
A long time ago, before the Time Lords ever left their shores, they imagined what lay beyond them.
When the Doctor crash-lands in a weird woodland, surrounded by friends and enemies, he will discover he has travelled further than his people could possibly imagine.
Tim Foley is one of the most prolific writers working for Big Finish today. And considering that this Paul McGann release is being pitched and released at a very awkward counter-point to the other Eighth Doctor range featuring the equally awkward partnering of Charley Pollard and Audacity Montague, Foley cannot be accused of just phoning this one in. The First Forest is an extremely intelligent and well-balanced tale about what makes reality matter. How you can forge your path through a war that is so abstract, and yet is warping time and space around you that makes your surroundings alienating to be in.
The Time War as seen played out in this series is a background element — all-pervasive, yes, but it is being used to contrast the ongoing struggle between Alex and the Doctor.
As Alex and Cass crash on an unknown world, in the midst of a forest, the Doctor and Hieronyma are arriving just behind – but “behind”, as we will learn, is a very subjective term in this strange place. Where fables come to life, and as seen in previous stories, Tim Foley examines how myths and stories can dictate how you perceive the world around you.
A central player here is the woodcutter living in the cabin, named Abidus. Abidus is aged, peculiar, wise, and not what he appears to be; however, while we see the return of the Time Lord Sontarans, and further background on who Hieronyma is, and her actual mission in linking with the Doctor, it is the way in which Foley slowly bridges the relationship between Alex and the Doctor that stands out from these various threads.
It’s again the fact of the Doctor’s greater experience, and therefore wisdom, that slowly and believably forces Alex to begin to examine the antagonism he has towards him — part rebellion and part ego, but also perhaps due to his own trauma in suffering through the war. By the story’s end, there is a truce of sorts between the two, and the intriguing question over what wisdom the Doctor can impart to his great-grandson that will help him decide his own future path.
This is a fine story. Indeed, the way it approaches the subject of myths and magic, with a well-balanced cast of characters who have their feet on the ground, is in sharp contrast with the way the recent television series took a frothy and chop-suey approach to the material. Foley’s is a very satisfying wrap-up to this set of stories, with themes returned to and strong character-work very much the focus.
It’s almost a case of “hidden gold”. Behind a vacuum of any coherent marketing strategy for selling it, hidden away behind a dull and very lazy cover and design package, this is a release that sadly has an uphill struggle in order to ever get itself noticed. And so it is left down to listeners like me to step forward and recommend it, and especially congratulate all of those involved in its production – with particular praise given to Sonny McGann for creating an instantly engaging, likable, and three-dimensional character in Alex.
There is a lot of good work put into these four stories, all of which are very strong narratives, all with very solid committed actors, all of which I would be eager to listen to again. And despite its sad black sheep nature in the schedules, this is one release that shows off just how strong Big Finish can be when the talent is assigned and aligned… I enjoyed it thoroughly!
Time War Uncharted 2: Pursuit is available now from Big Finish.
