Misc

Episode 559 – Adversary Archive: The Toymaker II- Play the Game

This time we feature another one of our Adversary Archives, again looking at materials featuring The Toymaker.

This time we review the poem The Toymaker from the book Now We Are Six Hundred, written by James Goss with illustrations by Russell T. Davies.

Then we review Big Finish Companion Chronicle 4.12 – Solitaire.

And finally, we look at the comic End Game printed in Doctor Who Magazine issues 244 to 247.

Plus, we talk about the recent announcement that The Underwater Menace is getting an animation treatment.

Enjoy!

 

Schedule Interlude 2

Arissa staggered back into the control room of the Masters TARDIS, dragging a massive shield and broadsword behind her, leaving a deep gouge on the floor. She heaved a sigh, dropped the armaments to clatter on the floor and closed the door. “So much for the Land of Fiction.”

She set the coordinates and dematerialized, and the time rotor began rising and falling, indicating flight. “Don’t worry, Masters, I’ll use the fast return switch to send the ship back to you once I’m done with it.”

She caught sight of her reflection in one of the mirrored surfaces lining the room and noticed the mud and blood that caked her face. “But first things first, time to hit the showers.”

She took two steps away from the console, then stepped back. “Well, THIS first things first.” She said, and hit the transmit button, sending the schedule spinning out into the cosmos.

The Time War: Prologue

Genesis of the Daleks, Shadow of the Daleks 1, Shadow of the Daleks 2

Ravenous 3.1 Deeptime Frontier, Ravenous 3.2 Companion Piece

The War Master 2 – The Master of Callous (4 Stories)

Galifrey: Time War 1.1 – Celestial Intervention, Galifrey: Time War 1.2 – Soldier Obscura, Time Lord Victorious

 

The Time War: Act One

The War Master 3 – Rage of the Time Lords, The Diary of River Song 5.4 – Concealed Weapon

UNIT: The New Series 6 – Cyber Reality (4 Stories)

The War Master 5 – Hearts of Darkness (4 Stories)

The War Master 4 – Anti-Genesis (4 Stories)

Scheduling Masters

Cpt 8

“The Land of Fiction?” Arissa repeated after a moment. Her tone was disbelieving, little more than a whisper, and she hated herself for it as it implied weakness, and weakness was something you couldn’t express if you wanted to survive the Master.

Showing weakness in a room full of them? Well, that was just inviting trouble.

To be fair as her eyes scanned the room, Arissa actually felt fairly confident that she could take them on. Not all at once of course, but one on one. Well, all but Missy, as that version was like a bag full of cats. You could smell the crazy on her. She was unpredictable enough to be the real threat and also seemed to be REALLY excited about the idea of doing great harm to our intrepid heroine.

“The Land of Fiction,” Missy repeated, her eyes boring into her as she smiled a toothless smile that somehow still implied fangs were involved.

Arissa stared back, determined not to break eye contact first. “I’ve been there once. It wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences.” She said, discreetly tightening the grip on the sword hilt.

“Well if you’re familiar with it there’s no point in explaining is there?” The purple-clad Master quipped.

“Indulge me.” Said Arissa, still staring down Missy.

The original Master (but again, who was to really know) stepped forward and gently laid a hand on Missy’s sword, lowering the blade. She glared at him, but allowed it to happen, giving Arissa a golden moment to blink when she whirled away and sheathed the sword inside her umbrella. “It seems, my dear, that several cosmic coincidences have taken place at once. It started with this ridiculous crusade of the Doctor’s and his journey into THE DARK TIMES.”

The Master in the black crushed velvet began to laugh ruefully. “Who would have ever thought the destruction of the universe could be laid at his feet and not our own?”

“Sickening, isn’t it?” Asked blondie.

The original Master continued, unabated, “The first event was not the paradoxes, but the very act of traveling back. It ripped the fabric of space-time asunder and weakened the dimensional barriers that keep reality together. The paradoxes created in THE DARK TIMES echoed forward throughout the continuum, creating tears of their own.”

“By the time of your own excursion into THE DARK TIMES, the universe was in pretty rough shape.” Came the low voice of the leather jacket, sunglass-wearing Master, who somehow had snuck up behind her. He moved to her other ear. “You didn’t help.”

The crispy, sunburnt Master picked up the thread. “By the time we became aware of the Doctor’s meddling, all of time had begun to unravel. Catastrophic, cataclysmic damage done to the time vortex.”

“Bleedthrough was inevitable.” The original Master said.

“And one of those points of bleed-through was from The Land of Fiction,” Arissa confirmed.

The original Master nodded. “Precisely. Threads of that pocket universe snaked out and infected our own, manipulating reality and blending it with fiction.”

Missy sipped at a cup of tea and continued. “At the same time, a small podcast from Kansas gets the bright idea to suddenly change their schedule listings into a fictional story, featuring a fictional character who is self-aware. Coincidence?”

“The author is being influenced by the Land of Fiction,” Arissa said, realization dawning.

“Got it in one.” Missy purred.

“Here’s where it gets interesting.” The purple-clad Master intoned. “Because of that influence, their schedule quickly became the template for the real world. History was re-written into a new… UNBOUND universe.”

“Didn’t care for that.” Blondie injected.

“As their schedule became more and more prominent in the real world, more and more of reality became tethered to it. This podcast was suddenly the most important thing in the cosmos.”

“Speaking of, Transmitting now.” The crispy Master interrupted.

497 – The First Doctor Adventures 1.1 “The Destination Wars” (Big Finish Audio), Doctor Who: Missy comic issues #2, #3.

498 – The Ninth Doctor Adventures Ravagers Box Set – 1. “Sphere of Freedom”, 2. “Cataclysm”, 3. “Food Fight” (Big Finish Audio)

499 – Lost in Time: The Space Pirates (Retcon & Novelization)

500 – Whosical the Musical – (Rocking revue of the Music inspired by Who)

501 – Lethbridge-Stewart The Laughing Gnome: Rise of the Dominator by Robert Mammone (Novel)

502 – The Eighth Doctor Adventures 4.3 “Nevermore”, 4.4 “The Book of Kells” (Big Finish Audio)

“And that’s when we began seeking you out, my dear. You continued to transmit the schedule for them, even as the walls of reality were breaking down. Your dedication simultaneously kept the cosmos from imploding and allowed the Land of Fiction to further infiltrate reality.”

“Things have inverted,” Arissa said. “The author is no longer in control; he only thinks he is.”

“Indeed. But as a construct of the author, you are the essential bridge to solving this problem.”

She looked around the room at the various faces of the Master looking expectantly (or in Missy’s case, predatorily) at her. “Whey do I get the feeling this is going to end badly?”

“Because it will, Poppet.” Missy’s toothless grin widened.

Podcast Delayed

Real world responsibilities have once again intruded upon our dream job, causing a hitch in the proceedings and forcing us to delay the podcast this week. Never fear, we will return next.

What this means for you is there is still time to get in on the give away of the Sarah Jane Smith: Roving Reporter book from our friends at Pencil Tip Publishing. Just send us your favorite Sarah Jane Smith moment hash tagged with #SJSBookGiveAway to register to get a free copy!

The BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures – Part 1

(EDA #1-6: The Eight Doctors through Alien Bodies)

 

Hi everyone,

I’m back with another article, today’s topic is the Eighth Doctor Adventures (abbreviated as “EDA” for here on out) from BBC Books that ran from 1997 to 2005 and consisted of a whopping 73 novels. Because these novels are old and I’m using my local library to read them, there may be gaps in the record. Because of the amount of time that it takes to get a hold of these, and the amount of time it takes to read them, this article will only have a handful of stories discussed. Also, I don’t want to even think of the length this would be if I tried to fit all 73 in one document. While most of these have yet to be reviewed on the show, there is the occasional review which I will note as I come to it.

As always, there will be spoilers. Because the newest of these novels is sixteen years old, I am firm in the belief that the statute of limitations on spoilers has lifted. However, that said, if you haven’t read these and are trying to avoid spoilers, you have been warned.

The Stories

The first book we have (not counting the novelization of the film which is sometimes stuck in this list) is The Eight Doctors by Who veteran Terrence Dicks. We pick up right after the TV Movie with the Doctor reading The Time Machine. Soon, however, he falls into a trap set by the Master in the Eye of Harmony that gives the Doctor amnesia, again, beginning a surprising motif that seems to reoccur off and on throughout the Eighth Doctor’s life.

Next, we’re introduced to our new companion, who barely features in the novel. Sam Jones is a sixteen-year-old nice girl running from the local drug dealers at her school. Ending up at Totter’s Lane, the arrival of the Doctor saves her life. The Doctor is arrested for drug possession and we get an amusing interrogation in the police station. The Doctor escapes the police and leaves in the TARDIS.

The Doctor then travels across his timelines to regain his memories from his previous selves. Meanwhile, on Gallifrey, this crossing of timelines is noticed and brought to the attention of President Flavia.

To regain his memories, the Doctor passes through old stories from the TV show. The first two mainly focus on Eight where we visit An Unearthly Child and convince the First Doctor not to kill Za with a rock and The War Games where the Second Doctor is convinced to call in the Time Lords. These are primarily told from the Eighth Doctor’s perspective and don’t really add to the original stories.

Then we get to the Third and Fourth Doctors and get the aftermaths of The Sea Devils and State of Decay respectively. Here, with The Sea Devils, we get the Master’s escape to hijack a car and return to Devil’s End for his TARDIS. The Eighth Doctor doesn’t even show up until the Third Doctor’s return to UNIT HQ. And with State of Decay, we focus on Romana getting captured by vampires with Eight showing up partway through the adventure. I suppose that it makes sense that stories that Terrence Dicks wrote or had a heavy hand in would be more fleshed out than others.

Moving to the Fifth Doctor, we have the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough returning to the Eye of Orion after The Five Doctors. It’s here that the machinations on Gallifrey catch up to the Doctor with a Time Lord enemy partnering with the Agency (presumably the CIA) to use the Time Scoop to lay a trap that will hopefully kill the Fifth Doctor, and therefore the Eighth Doctor. And it’s well-done. With the trap sorted, we move on to the Sixth Doctor.

The Sixth Doctor segment is really fun and takes place between Terror of the Vervoids and The Ultimate Foe. Six is being taken to execution when Eight arrives. They then travel from the CIA space station to Gallifrey and hold a trial of their own. Here, Eight and Six get fairly equal screen time before the timelines realign and Six returns to face the events of The Ultimate Foe, leaving Eight to get some decent screen time of his own.

Finally, we have the Seventh Doctor going to Metabelis III in the midst of a mid-life depression where Eight saves him from a spider. With all his memories intact, the Doctor returns to save Sam from the gangsters. He succeeds and she launches herself into the TARDIS as it dematerializes and essentially forces the Doctor to take her on “one trip”.

So that’s the first original Eighth Doctor Adventure after the TV Movie and its novelization. How is it? Personally, I enjoyed it. It’s a fun multi-doctor adventure. Unfortunately, it seems that most of fandom doesn’t appreciate it. Yes, it’s primarily fan service and we don’t really learn much about the new Doctor or companion with the majority of the novel focusing either on established past Doctors or Gallifreyan politics. Yes, the new companion barely feels like she’s there and through most of the book feels like an afterthought.

That said, I really enjoyed it. I think it was one of the first Doctor Who novels I read, and I remembered enjoying it. Re-reading it now, I can see some of the complaints about the thin characterization of the Eighth Doctor and the major fan service. However, I still found it fun especially when we get to the Third through Sixth Doctor segments with the Fifth Doctor segment just being really fun and the Sixth Doctor segment where Six and Eight put the “Trial” on trial and what basically amounts to a bloodless revolution on Gallifrey is also really fun.

It may be that I have all the Big Finish Eighth Doctor stories in the back of my head giving Eight more personality and am not going entirely off the TV Movie (that I don’t think had a home video release yet) as they were at the time of original release. But, I really enjoyed this. It helped that I could hear McGann’s voice well. It’s going to be hard going forward with Sam because I hear her speaking with Lucie Miller’s voice which I’m fairly certain isn’t at all accurate. Maybe Big Finish needs to do some novel adaptations of a few of these or some new stories with Eight and Sam. Anyway, I rate this at 8/10 because while really fun, it’s not without flaws. Also, Glenn reviewed this novel in TTV #86.

Next, we have Vampire Science, written by Kate Orman and Jonathan Blum, which sees the Doctor and Sam hunting vampires in San Francisco. We start in 1976 where the Doctor kills a Vampire and in the process meets Carolyn McConnell, a student who wants to cure cancer. Then we jump to 1997 where the bulk of the story takes place. The Doctor, Sam, Carolyn and Brigadier-General Adrienne Kramer of the US Branch of UNIT, work together to bring down a coven of Vampires that, as the novel progresses, are on the verge of civil war. The leader of the vampires, a 900-year-old vampire named Joanna Harris, is also working at finding a substitute food source. A lot is going on in this novel, but despite all that, it’s a really fun read. The authors nail the Eighth Doctor’s energy and voice. I could easily hear McGann in the dialogue. A great accomplishment considering all they had was the TV Movie.

Sam is a good character, and despite knowing the broad strokes of her character arc, I’m looking forward to taking the journey. A bit of time has passed between her forcing her way onto the TARDIS in the previous book and now. At some point in between novels, the Doctor left her at a Greenpeace rally and, at least according to the Tardis Wiki, went and had the adventures seen in the DWM and Radio Times comics as well as the novel “The Dying Days”. In Vampire Science, he mentions that he’s three years old, his age since regenerating. This story fleshes out Sam a lot more than The Eight Doctors did.

Carolyn is a stand-in for Grace from the TV Movie. If you look hard at Carolyn’s backstory, you can see it. Krammer makes her first official appearance here. She’d been in a fan film (referenced in the novel) starring Jonathan Blum (one of the authors) as the Seventh Doctor. She would go on to feature in a handful of Lethbridge Stewart novels, specifically Times Squared, Night of the Intelligence and Scary Monsters.

That said, this was a fun novel. Dark, but not to excess. The main villain is a pantomime villain, but very enjoyable. The Doctor is really great in this story. A great book if you like vampire stories. Despite that not being my cup of tea, I only read this because it’s Doctor Who, it was still an exciting read that was funny in places and well worth my time. There was even a Monty Python joke that might’ve been completely coincidental about “pointed sticks, shut up” that seemed to be a riff on the “Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit” sketch. I’d rate this at 8/10 because, despite the main monster not being my cup of tea, I had a lot of fun.

Third in line is The Bodysnatchers by Mark Morris. This novel sees the Doctor and Sam up against the third returning monster in a row: the Zygons. (This after the Time Lords, and the Master, in The Eight Doctors and then Vampires.) When the Doctor arrives in 1894 London to replace a damaged magazine, he and Sam stumble on a man scared out of his mind who is soon eaten by a monster. Teaming up with George Litefoot (and not Henry Gordon Jago), they discover a genocidal Zygon plot.

We get lots of interesting stuff here, and some okay stuff. The setting is well-realized and we get a lot of expansion on the Zygons. We get detailed descriptions of their organic technology including their ship. We’re told that not all Zygons are red, suckery warriors but most are white, non-suckery feminine scientists. But there’re are contradictions, primarily being the loss of Zygor, the Zygon homeworld. Here, we’re told it was destroyed by an enemy alien species called the Xaranti. This conflicts with later accounts of it being a casualty of the Time War, but I can easily make it work for me.

The other confusing bit for me is Litefoot. George gets involved while Henry is away on holiday. The novel makes it very obvious that, while Jago and Litefoot have remained friends, this is the first time since The Talons of Weng-Chiang that Litefoot has been involved in anything remotely alien in nature. So my thought was, how does fit in with the Jago and Litefoot series from Big Finish (which I have yet to delve into)? While the Tardis Wiki just gives a date of the 1890s for the series, aHistory gives a little different story. We have a firm date for this novel of 1894. aHistory places Talons in 1889 and says in the footnotes that the Big Finish series begins in 1892. aHistory then places the first five series of Big Finish between Talons and this. I’m accepting of aHistory’s reasoning and just accept that the timeline issues stem from this coming first. Anyway, that sidestep aside, this was a good novel. I didn’t quite have as much fun reading it as I did the previous one. But, that said, it captured the era well and the Doctor very well. The Zygon plot is enjoyable with an interesting twist on the Doctor’s part. I can very easily see McGann in the role here. I have to say that I’m enjoying Sam as a character and look forward to where they go with her arc, especially knowing bits and pieces of it. There’s also an epilogue with a later eighth Doctor returning Litefoot his gun that he left in the TARDIS during the finale that takes place later in the series.

So, while not quite as enjoyable as the previous novel, it’s still a good read. It just takes a bit longer to really get going. This is a good Doctor Who novel, maybe not great, but still really good. Though, as I work my way through these, I’m looking forward to original monsters and new villains. As with the previous two, I have managed to read this before. In the end, I think I’d rate this at 7/10.

The next book is Genocide by Paul Leonard. This review is going to be very short as this is a novel that, short of tracking down and purchasing for myself, I am unable to acquire a copy of. Because I’m getting all these through my Library and its Inter-Library Loan program, I accept that there will be ones that I can’t get a hold of. This book is 24 years old after all.

As best I can tell, this features Eight and Sam meeting Jo Grant and Benton and dealing with an alien species subverting the course of prehistory. The big draw (or repulsion) is that the fate of Jo is very different from what we see in The Sarah Jane Adventures. The Tardis Wiki article for the novel states the following:

“The depiction of Jo in this book is difficult to reconcile with her later appearance in the SJA television story Death of the Doctor. We can perhaps imagine that this book takes place in a “rough patch” of Jo’s marriage, but she is well and truly on her own here. The word “divorce” doesn’t appear in the book, but it’s clear she has total financial responsibility for her child and herself. Moreover, she’s only got one child in this story, Matthew, who just started high school. Death to the Doctor says she’s got seven kids. It’s hard to see how she could have six more kids after Matthew, with Cliff, starting at roughly the age of thirty-five. Additionally, the separation/divorce from Cliff has left her having to hold down two jobs in Hackney. How exactly she was supposed to be globetrotting given this bleak reality is unclear.”

So, I haven’t read this book, probably never will (mainly just because of availability). It’s a step forward for the EDAs in a way, in the fact that it features a new monster. And, at the time, the fate of Jo Grant was probably a bold move. That said, this is the fourth book in a row with elements from the past being major parts of the story. As I haven’t read this, I can’t rate it in any capacity so we’ll move on to the next book.

Fifth in line is War of the Daleks by John Peel. This is a book that is very controversial to the point where it was disowned by at least some parts of fandom. Apparently, John Peel (and according to him, Terry Nation) really disliked the resolution of Remembrance of the Daleks and the destruction of Skaro. To try and erase Remembrance from canon, Peel went and retconned the televised Dalek stories especially Destiny through Remembrance. Peel had already gotten flak for Timewyrm: Genesis, primarily the sexuality issues, but this was seemingly worse.

So, apart from the retcon issues, how is the book? In my opinion, really fun. I’m one who just kinda ignored the sexual bits in Timewyrm and enjoyed an interesting story. The same here. I fully understand why the fandom hates this book. Because it completely rewrites the televised Dalek stories to negate the destruction of Skaro in Remembrance of the Daleks, fans tended to reject this book. I understand this, as Remembrance is a great episode and I’m a bit dubious of John Peel’s claims that Terry Nation disliked that plot decision since Nation could’ve vetoed it before it went to screen.

However, that said, this was a great book that’s just fun to read. While I understand fandom’s criticisms of Peel’s Who books, I’ve found the three I’ve read enjoyable reads despite their flaws. This book (originally designed as a TV story then offered to Virgin before becoming an Eighth Doctor novel) is split into four parts split by three interludes. The interludes focus on three enemies of the Daleks: Humans and the SSS, the Draconians and the Mechanoids. The middle interlude, which features a space battle between the Daleks and Draconians, is really fun to read.

The plot sees the Doctor making TARDIS repairs, including removing the TARDIS lock. We have a group of Thals who have been fighting the Daleks, and the Quetzal, a junker ship that picks up debris from space battles for profit. The Quetzal discovers an escape pod that contains Davros in amongst the wreckage from several Dalek ships. Around the same time, the TARDIS is collected by the Quetzal.

The Quetzal is soon invaded by the Thals after they’re summoned to pick up Davros who they want to help the Thals defeat the Daleks. Not long after, the Daleks arrive and everyone is taken to Skaro for the Dalek Prime’s trial of the Dalek Race that is intended to end Davros and his insurrection once and for all. A civil war erupts between the forces loyal to Davros and the Dalek Prime while the Doctor, Sam and the Thals escape amid the chaos. There’s even a fight between the Doctor and a Dalek inside the TARDIS at the end that’s just awesome.

So, let’s tackle the elephant in the room, the massive retcon of televised Dalek history. In a nutshell, after learning of the Shoreditch Incident in the Dalek Invasion of Earth, the Dalek Prime works to ensure that Skaro isn’t destroyed by the Hand of Omega. This involves terraforming a planet into Skaro and tricking Davros, and by accident the Doctor, that this is the real Skaro. Therefore, Destiny of the Daleks and Resurrection of the Daleks are part of the Dalek Prime’s plot to trick Davros into destroying the wrong planet. Then it goes wrong when Davros creates his Renegade Daleks in Revelation leading into Remembrance. However, I actually don’t mind this. It fits with the Daleks’ deviousness and cunning, and allows for Skaro to exist in the TV Movie and then the Time War and Series 9. For me, it works. And the novel was just so much fun to read that I didn’t care. But, I understand why a lot of fans don’t like it.

In the end, despite the retcon issues, this was just a fun book to read. If they made another Eighth Doctor movie, this would make a great movie. It’s epic in scope and has a cinematic feel about it. Eight feels like Eight and Sam is an enjoyable companion (though I’m still hearing Lucie Miller’s voice coming out of her mouth). It’s a fun book that held my interest the whole time. My only real complaint about the Eight Doctor Adventures so far is the reliance on previously established characters and enemies (Time Lords/Master/Nostalgia, Vampires, Zygons, Jo Grant, Daleks). The next book, Alien Bodies, has a surprising returning villain but makes up for that in weird new ideas and plot threads that carry on deep into the series. In the end, I’d rate this at 9/10 because the retcons didn’t seem as bad as they’re made out to be and it was a really fun read.

Finally, in the hope of keeping this article short and manageable, we have Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles. This is the novel that launched several of the threads that would persist through at least the first half of the series. It’s also one of the first Doctor novels I read, and where I’ve dropped off the EDAs in the past. My dilemma here is how much do I spoil as this book in some ways relies on its surprises. But, as it is twenty-four years old, I think I’ll risk it.

So this book is what lays the threads that will persist loosely through the series. It introduces us to The War in Heaven between the Time Lords and the “Enemy” (who aren’t described but are very clearly stated to not be the Daleks). It also introduces us to the Faction Paradox, a time-traveling voodoo cult that uses corrupted Time Lord tech. Finally, we get the start of the “Dark Sam” arc.

All through this book is the importance of biodata, which is more than just DNA. According to Tardis Wiki, “Biodata… contained information on a person’s history and timeline, analogous to temporal DNA. …If an individual’s biodata could be manipulated, their entire time stream could be altered.” Biodata and its uses to the “War” seem to be the main thrust of the novel.

The main plot sees the Doctor and Sam discover an auction being held in late 21st Century Borneo in an impossible city run by a Mr. Qixotl. Qixotl is attempting to sell “The Relic” which we learn is the Doctor’s body. Invited to this auction are the Time Lords, Faction Paradox, the Enemy (through their agent Mr. Shift), the Celestis (the final form of the Gallifreyan CIA through their agent Mr. Trask), UNISYC (what UNIT eventually morphs into) and the Daleks (no, the Daleks don’t appear in this as their delegate has been intercepted by the Krotons). Anyway, that’s the crux of the novel. A bunch of powers that can barely tolerate each other all gathered to bid on the Doctor’s body.

There are also seven interludes, one for each of the major players (except the Doctor and Sam) that tell the story of the Doctor’s death and the relic in roughly reverse order. Some are more enjoyable than others, though I don’t recommend reading them in reverse order, especially on your reading of the novel, as the main story and the focus of the interludes often flow together very well.

This was a fun novel. It’s thick, with a lot of interesting ideas, a rich cast of guest characters and a decent story. Throwing together all the auction attendees and the shenanigans that ensue are fun to read. There’s a lot here, but it reads fast. The Doctor is written well here and this was just a great read. I’d rate this at 9/10 because while it’s an amazing book that’s a great read, there are a lot of loose ends and obscured history in regards to the War and the Relic. Some things I understand are revealed later, while others aren’t and only hinted at. Still, definitely worth the read.

The Main Cast

So how is the main cast so far? Let’s start with the Eighth Doctor. First of all, for just having the TV Movie to work, the authors seem to have done quite well. From my perspective, it feels like McGann’s Doctor: full of energy and a love for life. He makes things up as he goes along. The problem I’m personally having is whether the authors are actually doing a good job, or if my familiarity with the Eighth Doctor on Big Finish is making it seem like they’ve done a good job. If anything, the Doctor is at his most generic in The Eight Doctors, especially in the first two interactions with the past incarnations. That said, it feels like the authors have managed to do a good job.

Secondly, we have the companion, Sam Jones. I’m not sure how I feel about Sam. She’s an okay character, who’s barely in her introductory story. The next novel has a time jump

Sam Jones first introduced in Doctor Who: The Eight Doctors

and after that, she seems to do okay with Vampire Science and Alien Bodies being highlights for me in regards to Sam. I’m looking forward to further stories that expand the “Dark Sam” arc introduced in Alien Bodies. That said, Sam doesn’t really stand out much to me yet. She has potential, but she isn’t there yet with the series itself still trying to find itself.

Other Thoughts

So, I’ve read five of the first six EDAs. So far, I’ve been enjoying them. The Bodysnatchers was the worst in my eyes, and even then it wasn’t terrible. It had a slow start and took a while for me to get into it, but once I did, I enjoyed it. Despite the flaws of the others, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them, some more than expected. I will say that this is my second time reading these, though it’s been about five years (or longer) since I’ve read them.

The biggest flaw I see with these, and it’s more a nitpick than a flaw, is the use of returning elements from the past in each novel. The Eight Doctors had past Doctors, literally sticking us in the middle of six previous televised stories. Vampire Science, The Bodysnatchers and War of the Daleks each focused on a returning monster in the form of Vampires, Zygons and Daleks/Davros/Thals respectively. Genocide, while focusing on a new monster had Jo Grant, Benton and UNIT, and Alien Bodies had the Krotons, though they weren’t the main focus of the story and were used quite well. I’m looking forward to the next six novels, of which only one has returning elements (which I won’t spoil here), so there’s that to look forward to.

In the end, it’s a strong beginning. The Doctor seems to well-written, we have a decent companion (for the most part), and while I complain about using returning elements, I understand potentially why they chose to do that. I suspect it was to entice wary fans until they built a solid fanbase. I understand that any series of tie-in material/continuations will be hit and miss, especially in a 73-book series, but so far things are doing pretty darn well.

 

Victorious Mastering of the Schedule

Cpt 7

Lucky number seven. Double-O seven, Seven-eleven…

“Will you knock it off?” She asked, though she wasn’t entirely sure who she was talking to anymore. It might be a plea to the author, (if she ever pleaded for anything, which she didn’t), or perhaps she was talking to herself, ordering her brain to cease its whimsical connective association game. Or hell, it may even be that she was talking to him.

The rest had done her some good, and now she gingerly sat up in the bed, finding the restraining field had dissipated. There was a red light on the console next to her, silently blinking on and off. Surely an indicator to the console room that she was awake and mobile.

Which meant the next move was hers.

Well, technically the next move involved getting to the wardrobe, which indeed, opened only on a sparse closet containing her clothes and sword and not into the fabulous fantasy world of Narnia.

“Well, he did warn me.” She mumbled, getting dressed. Which lead to the next thought. If he was honest about the clothes and sword, was he being honest about everything else? She barked out a laugh, which same so quickly and forcefully it startled her. What was she even thinking?

The only thing the Master was honest about was his dishonesty. The Doctor’s oldest foe, (and hers too, if she were quite honest), he put the MY in enemy. Fiendish, clever, ruthless, and evil, but still charming in his own way. What with the whole Time Lord Victorious nonsense, this was no time for him to show up and wreak his usual brand of havoc.

And yet, he had returned the sword to her. He was either being extra dubious, or he didn’t see her as an immediate threat.

She’d have to cure him of that notion, toot sweet.

Dressed and armed, she made her way through his TARDIS. Whether through simple necessity or some trick of the trans-dimensional engineering, the sickbay bedroom was just down the corridor to the console room, so she didn’t wander far. She drew the sword, and with her left hand grasped the doorknob to the nerve center of the ship. She didn’t have a plan so much as an inkling of a course of action, but sometimes those were best. With a mighty bestial roar (what Whitman described as a barbaric yawp and Robin Williams tried to explain to a group of adolescents in that movie), she charged through the door, sword leading the way.

He stood at the controls on the far side of the center console, the lighted column in the middle rising and lowering with each great breath of the time machine indicating they were in flight.

And because that was the scene she expected in her mind’s eye, the sheer number of him in the room stopped her in her tracks and the yawp died in her throat. There was a Master in a fetching purple three-piece checking the time on a fob watch. Another Master wearing a leather coat and sunglasses leaned against the wall looking for all the world like he’d rather be somewhere else. A Master who looked like he’d been left too long in the sun—scratch that, ON the sun—hunched over the other side of the console consulting with still another Master in black crushed velvet.

There was some Mucho Master going on.

Another sword tip parried hers, and SHE stepped forward in her blue and orange Mary Poppins ensemble. Suddenly that nightmare about a classroom full of clowns was starting to look pretty good.

“Oh, you’re awake my pet” Missy said, managing to be all kinds of condescending. “Pity.” She turned to yet another Master, this one with short blonde hair. “I owe you a five spot.”

“Double or nothing she disarms you in under two minutes.” The Master leaning against the wall said.

Missy turned back to face her. “What do you say gosling? Shall we dance?”

The Master, (the original in her mind, though honestly who could know at this point where his timeline diverged and folded back on itself) stepped forward. “Now now, is that anyway to treat a guest? Arissa is here at my invitation. I do not want her to feel unwelcome.” He raised a gloved hand and lowered the points of their still crossed swords.

Arissa took a chance a lowered her guard. Either this would look cool and carefree, or Missy would try and run her through. “Alright, I’m here. I’m not fighting–” She stopped herself. “—yet. So what’s going on? You having a soirée? A little get-together? A meeting of the Master-minds?” She was proud of that one. She knew by pushing she was increasing the odds of Missy lunging point first, but she was on a roll. “Are there refreshments? Some chips and dip? OOOOhhh, a convention! Where’s the ‘I tried conquering the universe and all I got was this lousy t-shirt’ vendor?”

Missy smiled that quirky, half smirk of hers, and Arrisa steeled herself for the steel that would surely be plunging into her any minute. But instead, she turned her maniacal glare back to the Master—damn the descriptors when multiple versions of the same person are present—and said menacingly, “We don’t really need her, do we?”

The Master surprised her then. “In point of fact, we do. My dear Arissa, as impossible as it may be to believe, I rescued you from THE DARK TIMES—”

“Oy!” Shouted the blond Master.

“Forgive me. WE. We rescued you from THE DARK TIMES… because we need your help. Not only has the Doctor’s foolish Time Lord Victorious crusade endangered the cosmos on scale we could only hope to dream of, but your podcaster friends are in trouble as well.”

“The author? But he’s controlling all this.”

“If only that were the case. You keep sending out their schedule because it was what you were contracted to do, and you never renege on a contract. An admirable trait. But its so much more than that. Despite its insignificance to the world at large, the very act of sharing it is also a tether. A very tenuous tether keeping the real world from disintegrating entirely.”

“We know a thing or two about disintegrations.” Said the purple clad Master a little too eagerly.

“Speaking of” the crispy Master spoke from his perch at the controls, and his voice was as dry and raspy as his skin. “It’s time to transmit the new schedule.”

“Then by all means.” The Master said, moving back to the console and pressing a series of buttons, then flipping a toggle.

They all turned to the viewer, which irised open to display the following:

491 – Lethbridge-Stewart The Laughing Gnome: Havoc Files (5) by Various Artists

492 – 25th Anniversary of Doctor Who: The Movie, Big Finish Master!: #1 Faustian, #2 Prey #3 Vengeance

493 – Fury From the Deep (Animated) DVD review

494 – Sarah Jane Smith: Roving Reporter by Various Artists

495 – TLV: Echoes of Extinction (Big Finish Audio)

496 – TLV: The Edge of Time (Video Game), Time Fracture (Event), The Time Lord Victorious & Brian the Ood (Action Figure/Short Story?), Overall impressions (w/special guest Timothy Harvey of SciFi4MeTV’s TARDIS Sauce)

“What do you mean tether? Why is this podcast so important to the fate of everything? And what does the author have to do with this?”

Missy whirled on her, her eyes flashing. “Tell us poppet, what do you know about The Land of Fiction?”

Lost In Time: Voters Choice

We are gearing up for another “Lost in Time” review and we want you, the listeners, to choose. Below is a list of the last few stories we have to review. Take the poll and help us decide.

 

Lost In Time: Voters Choice - Which lost Doctor Who story should we review next?

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Masterpiece Scheduling

Cpt 6

Swimming in darkness, her mind cast about for something, ANYTHING to latch itself to. It settled on an old memory of happier days and simpler times when she wasn’t floating helplessly on a Dalek Saucer trapped in THE DARK TIMES without power, or heat, or air, or wifi… any of those conveniences the kids go all-in for nowadays. She wanted to stay in the memory, wrap herself up in it like a comfortable blanket and just sleep. A rest. A long, quiet, well-deserved rest.

Her eyes sprang open at the thought.

She was no longer floating helplessly on a Dalek Saucer without power, heat, or air. She was floating helplessly on an incredibly comfortable hover-mattress in a softly lit, warm room. Wifi was still in question, but she tabled the idea, for now, trying to determine exactly what had happened.

“Ah, you’re awake my dear.” Came a velvety smooth voice from a darkened corner. “Feeling better?”

She was actually, as the cobwebs began to clear and she realized she had blacked out from oxygen deprivation back on the saucer. “Where am I?” Her voice sounded small and far away.

“My TARDIS. I’ve rewired the Zero Room components into the sickbay here. I find the creature comforts of a bedroom particularly regenerative, and you, my dear, certainly seemed in need of a rest and recharge.”

“You rescued me?”

“From both the debris of the Dalek ship and THE DARK TIMES, yes. Though my methods were unconventional, they were ultimately successful.”

She closed her eyes, dreading the next question but knowing it had to be asked. “And what do you want?”

The voice chuckled in the darkness, sweet and sinister. “I should think a word of gratitude to start.”

Arissa made to bolt off the bed, thinking a surprise attack might just buy her time to escape. Hell, she might even get lucky enough to wrap her long fingers around the collarless jacket he wore closed about his neck. But all she succeeded in doing was rattling the bed frame. She had forgotten the part at the beginning about floating HELPLESSLY on an incredibly comfortable hover-mattress.

She was held in place, though whether by straps or stasis field she didn’t know.

He laughed again. “You will find you’re quite immobilized, my dear. Didn’t want you to hurt yourself. Or me, for that matter. Consider yourself my guest. When you’ve had a bit more rest, you’ll find your clothes and sword in the wardrobe, which I’m afraid does not lead to Narnia. We’ll chat some more, and then you can decide if you still want to attempt to kill me.”

“One more question?” She asked.

“Of course.”

“Did he send you?”

“He…?”

“The author.”

The third laugh seemed to lower the temperature in the room, for Arissa shivered. “My dear, the author is exactly the reason why I’m here. The very heart of the matter, you might say. And yet, he is completely unaware.”

She sank back, unable to process exactly why that riddle left her more exhausted than when she initially awoke.

He pressed a button a small remote nearly hidden in his palm.

486 – I Am The Master – Legends of the Renegade Time Lord

487 – Big Finish The War Doctor Series 1: #1 The Innocent, #2 The Thousand Worlds #3 The Heart of the Battle

488 – Titan Comics The Thirteenth Doctor Vol 2 (Issues #5-#8), Big Finish 8th Doctor Adventures #4.2 Situation Vacant

489 – Base Under Siege Discussion

490 – Doctor Who Annual 1974: The Short Stories Listen – The Stars & Out of the Green Mist, and the Comic The Time Thief

“You can relax, I’ve just transmitted the next bit of their ridiculous schedule. Now, get some rest. The trials to come are likely to be more strenuous than those prior.”

He padded softly out of the room, leaving Arissa to reflect that she may have been better off suffocating in the debris.

Companion Archive: Thomas Hector “Hex” Schofield

Hello there,

I’m back with a new article. This will be a look at a companion arc, in this case featuring Thomas Hector Schofield also known as Hex. Hex was Big Finish’s first original companion for the Seventh Doctor and traveled alongside the Doctor and Ace. While Hex is primarily an audio companion played by Philip Olivier, he’s also appeared in a handful of stories from the print Short Trips collections from Big Finish.

I will try to put the audios in chronological order for Hex, though there are three that were released after Hex’s final departure that are harder to place. The Short Trips will be very vague and included after the audios. As I either haven’t read any of them or maybe a couple very long ago (these collections are difficult to get a hold of), my comments will be very limited, possibly to just the most basic of information.

As with all my articles, there will be spoilers throughout. Most of these are six years old or older and thus I consider the statute of limitations on spoilers to have lifted. However, the three released after the arc ended, especially the most recent one from September 2020, are a bit more recent. Feel free to skip those entries if you’re worried about spoilers. However, from this point on, note that you have been warned.

Hex is a special character in that the Doctor has had precious experience with him in the form of his mother Cassie from “Project: Twilight” and “Project: Lazarus” which are (primarily) Sixth Doctor and Evelyn stories. He’s also the first nurse companion and, as far as I can tell, the second companion with a medical background after Harry Sullivan.

I’ll get more into Hex as a character later, but I’ll say here that I really like Hex as a companion. As the fourth original companion created by Big Finish (after Evelyn, Charley, and Erimem), he’s really well written and offers a sharp contrast to Ace. But more on that later, let’s get into the stories.

The Stories

We’re introduced to Hex in The Harvest. Here we meet Staff Nurse Schofield on his 23rd birthday. As opposed to some companions who only have a slight reaction to the adventure they’re thrown into, Hex comes across as a likable average bloke who has a hard time adapting to the fantastic and dangerous world he’s just entered. His first encounter with the TARDIS produces several “Oh my God”s.

The plot of the Harvest is excellent and very well acted. Essentially, the Doctor and McShane (see the Big Finish stories “Colditz” and “The Rapture” for the history behind this) are at St. Gart’s Hospital investigating the use of xenotech. The date is October 12, 2021, and the EU is using Cybertech to further its space program. Meanwhile, the Cybermen are involved in a scheme to become human again in order to regain advantages that humans have but that the Cybermen have lost. And into this is thrown Hex.

This is very worth listening to. Not only is it necessary for Hex’s arc as his introduction, it’s also just a really good story. Ace seems older, wiser. And the Doctor is more plotting and scheming than jokey or screaming, the latter something that often doesn’t work as well on audio as on TV. This story has a spy thriller/techno-thriller vibe to it and is just a joy to listen to. The biggest things that don’t seem plausible with this story anymore are the lack of Covid and the fact that Brexit never happened, things that couldn’t have been imagined when this was released in 2004. I’d rate this at 10/10. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #239 from July 2015.

The next story is Dreamtime, which is an odd one. It’s Hex’s first trip in the TARDIS bringing the crew to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the far future. He gets his first spaceship, first alien species and first trip off Earth, sort of. Then, he gets thrown in the deep end as the Doctor disappears and Hex and Ace end up splitting up.

Essentially, when the Earth was near destruction in the far future, a group of native Australians gathered around Uluru following a Guru named Baiame. The colony launches itself into space but is slowly taken over by the mysterious Dreamtime, a powerful, ancient force. The Doctor and crew land several years later followed shortly by a Galyari (see Big Finish story “The Sandman”) ship.

It’s not a terrible story. I feel at a disadvantage because I don’t know anything about the Australian Aboriginal folklore that seems to be a big part of this. It feels confusing but is one of those stories where there’s no real villain or enemy and where everybody lives. The cast do fine, and I continue liking Hex. I’d rate this 4/10. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #298 from September 2016.

The third story in the line is the wonderful LIVE 34. Another of Big Finish’s experimental stories, this one taking place over sixteen days on a distant Earth Colony and told entirely in the form of radio broadcasts. And, it works really well. Featuring the Doctor and crew overturning a dictator, it feels surprisingly relevant to the political climate of 2020.

While the Doctor shows up in all four parts, Ace doesn’t appear until Part 2 and Hex doesn’t appear until Part 3. There’s also no theme music denoting episodes. Instead, there’s a short bit of increased static and tiny fragments of recordings. The cast does exceptionally well in this, with McCoy giving another quiet performance until the end and even then, the shouting works well. We also get a bit of backstory on Hex when asked why he became a paramedic.

Part Four, which takes place on Election Day and where everything we’ve been shown thus far comes together, is brilliant and very well done. This is a story that you just have to listen to for yourself. Apart from possibly needing a basic understanding of Seven and Ace, and just knowing that Hex is the new companion, this story is a very good introduction for people new to Big Finish. It’s easy to get into, the format lends itself to the average person, and apart from knowing who the TARDIS crew is on a basic level, there’s no backstory that’s required to understand the plot (unlike later entries in this run like Project: Destiny for example). I’d rate this story at 10/10. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #313 from January 2017.

The next story in line, as best as I can tell based on various sources, is Shadow Planet / World Apart. This is an anomaly in the Hex arc in that it is Main Range release #226 and was published just under three years after the Hex arc ended in Main Range #191 (which will be covered later in this article). There are two other releases that were released after the arc ended that we’ll get to later. As for placement as mentioned in the CD Extras, it’s simply early in the run because there are still hints of a potential romance between Hex and Ace.

This is a release that I haven’t actually listened to before, so this is my first time experiencing these stories. That’s right, stories. This is one of a handful of Main Range releases that were made up of two two-part stories. This is the last of a loose trilogy (and I use the word “trilogy” in the loosest of terms) that featured this format. It will be used again in the Main Range again twice for a total of four more releases, one of which is another Seven/Ace/Hex release that we’ll be covered down the line.

Shadow Planet is an interesting and decent story. While the Doctor works on the TARDIS, Ace is bored. A look through the database for nearby planets comes up with Unity, a physic planet where the Unity Corporation helps you fight your shadow self and come out a better, happier person. What could go wrong?

It’s a standard story with good ideas, centering essentially on yin and yang, and corporate greed. We get a little bit of insight into Ace and Hex via their Shadows, but there’s not that much depth to this story. It’s still good though, and the end cliffhanger’s into the next story that makes up the next half of this release.

World Apart is another interesting story. After leaving the Shadow Planet, the TARDIS finds itself vying for space in the vortex as something massive appears in its path. The TARDIS manages to land on something which is revealed to be the rogue planet Nirvana which is known to phase in and out of the universe. This becomes a stark survivor story when Ace and Hex end up trapped on the frozen planet after the planet shifts out of the universe before they can reach the TARDIS.

This is a rather bleak story, especially the second part. It’s well-acted, but still not a favorite in my opinion. Of course, the Doctor saves them in the end, but Hex is still quite upset and hurt. We get more into the mindsets of Ace and Hex a bit here, but there aren’t any great revelations.

This is my first time listening to these, and I don’t think I’ll return to them anytime soon. As a whole, I’d rate this release at 6/10 with Shadow Planet receiving a 6.5/10 and World Apart receiving a 5/10. They’re not terrible stories, and they’re not confusing or hard to understand. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, as this was released after the initial run of Hex stories, they have yet to review this one.

Next in line is Night Thoughts. This is an interesting story historically because it was originally submitted as a three-part story for the canceled Season 27. As this was released before the creation of “The Lost Stories” range from Big Finish, it was converted into a four-part story and Hex was added.

It is said that the memory cheats, and going into this story this time around, I remembered not caring for it much. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a very good story that feels similar to Ghost Light in tone and atmosphere. The Doctor, Ace, and Hex arrive on a Scottish Island in the middle of a stormy night and end up taking shelter with a handful of eccentrics in a house.

From here we get very colorful characters, murder, mystery, and time experiments. It has a murder mystery feel tied with a slight horror vibe with a tinge of zombie to it. The Doctor is in top form, Hex does well while Ace feels a bit subdued. In amongst everything going on, we get a little background on Hex’s growing up, raised by his Dad and his Gran. We also get a little background on Ace and her Mum carrying on from the revelation in Curse of Fenric.

It takes a bit to figure out where this is going, but we get the pieces of the puzzle slowly dealt out and once it gets there it’s a very good story. Everything seems to be resolved and the Doctor and Co leave for the next adventure. And then we get a really creepy coda acted to perfection by the late Bernard Kay (who starred in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Crusade, the Faceless Ones and Colony in Space) as Major Dickens. This is a great story for the Halloween season. Creepy and atmospheric, I rate it at 8/10. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #324 from April 2017.

Next up is The Veiled Leopard, a story that all my timeline sources place the same. Initially released on CD as a bonus with DWM 367, this features Peri and Erimem, and Ace and Hex, each on a separate mission revolving around the theft of the Veiled Leopard diamond similar to the Pink Panther franchise. I think it’s available on the Big Finish Sound Cloud and I think I tried listening to it several years back. I remembering being very confused about what was going on.

So, I was going to skip this one this time around because I didn’t feel like trying to track it down. However, I then discovered that I’d picked it up during a sale from Big Finish. So, here goes. The Veiled Leopard is a flawless diamond with lots of little flecks in it giving it its name. It’s resurfaced in Monte Carlo in 1966. The first half of the story is Peri and Erimem tasked by the Fifth Doctor (after a meeting with the Seventh Doctor) to prevent the diamond’s theft at its unveiling.

The second half is Ace and Hex stealing the diamond, which is actually the last remnants of a dead alien race. It feels a little James Bond (think Casino Royale) and very much Pink Panther, though not a comedy. It has good fun, funny moments, but for the most part, is played straight. It’s fun, especially the Peri/Erimem side.

While Ace and Hex are on this mission, the Seventh Doctor is taking part in the audio “Thicker Than Water” (Main Range 73), a Sixth Doctor/Mel/Evelyn story where the Doctor reveals Hex’s parentage to Evelyn, a story thread that will become important down the line for Hex. I’d rate this at 8/10. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, they have yet to review this one.

The next story is The Settling which is a pure historical set during and after the Siege of Drogheda in September 1649 during Oliver Cromwell’s war in Ireland. It’s told through flashbacks as Ace helps Hex come to grips with the horrors of history and their part in events. I won’t say much about the plot except that the TARDIS crew gets separated and Hex ends up with Cromwell, and the Doctor helps deliver a baby.

It’s a very good story, well written and very well acted. This is an excellent story for character development, both for Ace and Hex, but especially Hex who takes what happened hard. There’s an aura of melancholy that radiates through the story and in some ways makes it even more enjoyable.

I understand why the pure historicals died out on TV, but if you can make them as good as this, then they deserve a comeback. Making me feel for Cromwell, and making me want to learn more, are definitely pluses to an already excellent story. While this isn’t a story I’d come back to often, I’d definitely rate this at 10/10. For any fan of Doctor Who and/or British history, it’s definitely worth a listen. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #320 from March 2017.

Up next is No Man’s Land which finds the Doctor and crew at a field hospital in No Man’s Land in 1917 during World War I. The Doctor learns that he’s here to solve a murder, a murder that hasn’t happened yet. This story is brutal in places, exploring themes of patriotism and cowardice. It features mental conditioning experiments and concepts like the “hate room” and the “daily hate” where recovering soldiers are whipped up into a frenzy and turned against the enemy. Here, being a coward is considered the worst of all sins.

It’s a good story. The characters are enjoyable, and you like and feel sorry for them, or hate them depending on the person. We get two guest stars that do really outstanding jobs, Michael Cochrane (from Black Orchid and Ghost Light) as Lieutenant-Colonel Brook, and Rob Dixon (Reggie from Project: Twilight) as Sergeant Wood. That said, the whole cast does an excellent job as always.

It seems like Big Finish likes to put Hex through the wringer. The creepy goings-on in Night Terrors, Ireland and Cromwell in The Settling, and here he gets locked alone in the hate room overnight. And, without going into early spoilers (we’ll get to them in time) what he goes through later is a bit brutal.

The investigation leads to a secret mission to an abandoned church in No Man’s Land, and to psychological experiments that, while clumsily administered, if the data got out could be catastrophic to history. The story culminates at the church where Brook ends up killed at the hands of his own subjects. Back at the hospital, the two soldiers who sided with the Doctor get happy endings and the Doctor reveals that Brook is a member of The Forge.

Without getting majorly into spoilers for stories that come later in this article, I want to talk briefly about the Forge in relation to Hex. The Forge seems to be intrinsically linked to Hex, at least for the first half of his arc.

We first met the shadowy organization, described here by the Doctor as “completely amoral”, in the Sixth Doctor/Evelyn story Project: Twilight where we’re introduced to Cassie Schofield, whose son “Little Tommy” grows up to become Hex. We then have Project: Lazarus which sees Cassie sacrifice herself to save the Doctor and Evelyn. We then, as far as Hex is concerned, get a glimpse of them here and then one more glimpse of them in the anthology Forty-five before they become front and center in Project: Destiny. But, as I said, we’ll get there.

Anyway, back to this story. Again, we have another really good outing with the team of the Doctor, Ace and Hex. We get some good character development for all three leads and get just a really good story. I’d rate this a 9/10, really good but not quite the raw emotion that I got from The Settling right before it. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #339 from July 2017.

After our visit to World War I, we have Nocturne. The Doctor takes Ace and Hex to Glasst City on the planet Nocturne in the middle of the planet’s “High Renaissance” that is said rival that of Florence. It’s supposed to be a surprise vacation, visiting old friends of the Doctor whom he’s visited on many occasions, at least once when traveling with Miss Jovanka.

The planet is at the crossroads in a long-standing war in the region. And though the war is a bad thing, it’s part of what allows this Renaissance to exist. The story ends up revolving around two twin brothers, one who went to war where he’s injured and one who stayed home. The one who went to war had discovered an alien form of music that turns out to be very destructive. Because of this, he deletes all references to it. The brother who stays has copied the other brother’s notes and plans to one-up his brother by taking the copied notes and letting the music be heard.

It’s a slower story that deals with art, siblings, grief. I didn’t remember it being that great from my last listen, but it’s actually not bad. In the “What trouble can we land Hex in” category this week, we have him in jail and accused of murder after the Episode 1 cliffhanger.

This is another Seven/Ace/Hex story that I didn’t remember liking. It was just kind of there. But it is a good story if a bit of a slow burn and a bittersweet ending. I’d rate this at 6/10. Also of note is that this is the first story in the Monthly Range to feature behind-the-scenes interviews. They’d been doing them for the Eighth Doctor Adventures range (with Lucie Miller) for a couple of releases before this if not other ranges around this time, but this is where they start in the Main Range. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #349 from September 2017.

Next, we have The Dark Husband which starts us right in the middle of things with Ace and Hex running back to the TARDIS from the “Snot Monster’s Garden”. We then go on a vacation to the Festival of the Twin Moons of Tuin, a week-long festival with beer tents and spas. It also happens to be in the middle of a war between two species from the planet’s twin moons, the long red-haired Ri and the bald Ir. And we learn, there’s to be a wedding.

This is one where I didn’t remember liking it. It was too humorous, and not in a way that feels natural. Still, I’m re-listening to all of these and may change my mind as I go, but so far, my memories are matching up. And what do you know, another one that’s surprisingly not too bad.

The fourth part is really good with themes of duality shining through as things come together. It’s getting there that’s just okay. I found at least some of the humor on the juvenile side and wasn’t overly thrilled with the wedding stuff. So while this came together well and was enjoyable on the whole, it’s not one I’ll listen to again very often.

The highlights of this are McCoy who does quite well and guest actor Danny Webb who plays three different roles and does very well indeed. I’d rate this at 6/10 because it stuck the landing very well and was fairly enjoyable. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #394 from August 2018.

After the mediocre Dark Husband, we have the other two releases that came out after the final end of Hex’s arc. As far as I can tell (all the timelines I looked at agreed on this), these two releases place here. I haven’t listened to either of them yet and until I listen to the CD Extras, this is as good a place as any, though there’s definitely a gap between Nocturne and The Dark Husband that they could fit in as well.

The first of these is Muse of Fire and features Seven, Ace and Hex meeting Iris Wildthyme and Panda. A disclaimer here, I haven’t actually listened to or read anything featuring Iris. I couldn’t get into The Wormery when I first tried it and just haven’t gotten around to anything else featuring her. (What? I do read things that aren’t Doctor Who. And, on top of that, there’s a lot of Doctor Who out there.)

It’s an interesting story that’s somewhat humorous at times. Set in Paris, 1922, something is wrong with time as famous artists who were flocking to Paris at this time have been leaving. In the midst of this are Iris, art critic Panda and the mysterious Dora Muse. The Doctor, Ace and Hex arrive for a holiday and we meet Kevin Archer, an aspiring American poet and his wife Isabelle.

Everybody gets something to do in the story and the mystery is wrapped up well. Katy Manning does well as Iris and I really enjoyed Panda. That said, I don’t plan on going out and trying Iris’s adventures without the Doctor any time soon. She’s okay and enjoyable, but I didn’t really find her that fun. There are lots of other stories that I’ll hunt down before I’d even consider hunting down Iris. That said, if she happens to show up in another Doctor Who story, I won’t refuse to give it a try.

As for where this places in Hex’s run, all the CD Extras say is that it’s early but that we’re past the romance that had sort of been building between Ace and Hex and that they’re now in a more sibling relationship, so I’m fine with sticking this after The Dark Husband. I think I’d rate this a 7/10, good but not outstanding. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, as this was released after the initial run of Hex stories, they have yet to review this one.

The final release that came out after the end of the arc is The Flying Dutchman / Displaced. Just released in September 2020, I’ll try not to be too spoilery. The first story is The Flying Dutchman and it’s a simple tale. The Doctor and crew arrive on what seems to be an abandoned cargo ship in or around 1742. It turns out that the ship isn’t abandoned, but has instead seen the ghostly Flying Dutchman. I won’t go any further into story, but it’s a nice little mystery. The regulars all get things to do and it wraps up well.

The second story is Displaced. What we have here is essentially a haunted house story. The Doctor, Ace and Hex are considering another vacation after an unseen adventure featuring flammable fireflies controlled by an alien slug. When Ace goes to look at the database, the TARDIS seemingly crashes in a recently abandoned house and locks them out. It turns out the house is a smart house controlled by the latest AI, Harri and they’re in the Fenns in 2020. There’s a little bit where Hex mentions his time as if it’s a few years out instead of the next year saying something about this area having been all developed or something like that. (Wow, we’re coming up to the point of Hex being a present-day companion instead of near-future, a bit weird when you think about it.)

This is a nice haunted house story and in some ways has the feel of an escape room (never been to one, but I understand the concept). We get more into the personalities of Ace and especially Hex, both of whom accuse the Doctor of this being another test, though he’s as much in the dark as they are. It ends well and was rather enjoyable. The only major downside is that the alien’s voice is very hard to understand, especially at the beginning.

An enjoyable release, nothing really groundbreaking or arc-changing, but still an enjoyable listen. As a whole, I’d rate this release at 8/10 with The Flying Dutchman receiving a 7/10 and Displaced receiving a 8.5/10. As far as timeline placement, there’s still a slight hint of romance between Ace and Hex, but the teasing is much closer to a sibling relationship. The CD Extras don’t really give any further details beyond the fact that it’s after The Harvest (like that helps me any). As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, as this was released after the initial run of Hex stories, they have yet to review this one.

After the sidestep into stories released after Hex’s departure, we return to the original run and begin the buildup towards what feels like the first big finale. First up is Forty-Five, an anthology of four single-part stories that have the number “45” as a motif running through them. The stories are “False Gods”, “Order of Simplicity”, “Casualties of War” and “The Word Lord”.

The first story is False Gods and sees Howard Carter unearthing the tomb of an Egyptian nobleman which will later be known as KV 45. One of the artifacts inside is a set of 45 Shabti statues, one of which holds special significance to the plot. This was a fun one and of special notice is Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Doctor Strange) as Howard Carter.

The second story, The Order of Simplicity, is set in a large house in 3380 where the titular order has released a virus that regresses those infected (including the Doctor) to an IQ of 45. It’s good, though I liked the previous story better. The virus can possibly be tied into the loose virus arc that is tied up (and given an origin) in the Sixth Doctor story Patient Zero.

The third story, Casualties of War, sees the Doctor, Ace and Hex chasing alien tech on VE Day, 1945. We discover that the thief has been stealing from The Forge, and also happens to live next door to Ace’s mum. Thus we get a continuation of Ace’s history from Curse of Fenric with Ace getting more closure, we also get a moment where the Doctor (under influence from the alien tech) almost reveals the fate of Cassie Schofield to Hex.

Finally, everything gets tied together in The Word Lord. This is the best story of the set by far and they’re all really good. The TARDIS arrives at a military base in Antarctica in 2045 at the height of the Second Cold War (see Warriors of the Deep) and are immediately accused of murdering one of the delegates here for a peace conference. Very soon, we are introduced to the true murder, Nobody No-One, a Word Lord from a dimension forty-five billion dimensions to the left of ours.

His ship, a CORDIS, hides itself as language and is only detectable by its emissions, in this case, the number “45” and its many variations (section 4.5, corridor 4 room 5, etc.). Nobody is a being with complete mastery over language just as the Doctor is a lord of time. Nobody gets his power from language, if someone were to say “Nobody can enter this base without clearance.”, then Nobody can do just that. This is a great story and Nobody is wonderfully fun villain. He definitely deserves a re-match with the Doctor, and the end of this story sets up the possibility.

Forty-five is a great anthology celebrating the 45th anniversary of Doctor Who. The stories are all really good and concise. And, they’re all fun. I’d rate this at a 9/10 with all but The Order of Simplicity getting a 10/10. Order gets a 9/10, but only because I just enjoyed the other three a little bit more. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #421 from March 2019.

So, we have moved into the trilogy era of the Main Range. At the start of January 2009, the Doctor Who Main Rage began releasing trilogies. Previously, each release had featured a different Doctor (usually) and apart from the Eighth Doctor seasons were very loosely connected. Therefore, just to take a random sample, you’d have Five/Nyssa followed by Six/Peri followed by Seven/Ace followed by Six/Evelyn followed by Five/Peri/Erimem.

So starting in 2009 we started getting trilogies with the odd anthology or stand-alone release thrown in. For example, the first three trilogies were a solo Fifth Doctor trilogy focusing on the Key to Time, a Seven/Ace/Hex trilogy, an Eighth Doctor anthology single release and a Six/Charley trilogy that concluded Charley’s travels with the Doctor.

Our focus now is that first Seven/Ace/Hex trilogy which starts with The Magic Mousetrap. We start with an amnesiac Doctor in a cable car traveling to a sanatorium on a Swiss mountain. It turns out that the sanatorium is the realm of the Celestial Toymaker in his first return to performed media. The first half is quite confusing as the Doctor is in the dark while Ace and Hex are the chess masters. But then, things begin to slot into place and everything is revealed for a superb ending.

While it took a bit to get into, the Magic Mousetrap is a very good story with the second half really standing out as an exciting thriller. Note the chess sets that appear as they will be a signpost of things to come. I’d rate this an 8.5/10 because the first half is rather confusing but the second half pulls it up. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #422 from March 2019. Also of note is that this audio also includes the first episode of The Three Companions “Polly’s Story” by Marc Platt at the end of Disc 2.

Next in line is Enemy of the Daleks and it’s Hex’s first encounter with the creatures. In the middle of the Dalek Wars, the Doctor, Ace and Hex arrive on the planet Bliss which the Doctor likens to the Galapagos Islands for biological diversity. Upon arrival, the Doctor tells Ace and Hex to stay in the TARDIS while he sorts things out. Ignoring his warnings, his companions follow him into danger.

Meanwhile, a space battle between the Daleks and a refugee convoy occurs in a nearby star system. A ship containing a Valkyrie squad (a squad made entirely of female soldiers) flees the battle and arrives on Bliss. Both the Valkyries and the TARDIS crew come across a research station on the planet. Soon, the Daleks arrive as well.

The Doctor knows what will happen here, a terrible atrocity. However, we discover over the course of the story that it’s a trap for the Daleks. A mad scientist has created a new species that, in their mature form, eat metal. These are to be used as a weapon against the Daleks.

This is the story that almost breaks Hex. The death and horrors he sees here make him feel helpless and wonder if this life isn’t for him. We also get almost a New Adventures soldier Ace here as the piece is very action-heavy. The Doctor suspects things but is quiet and reserved for the most part.

This is another really good story, very action-heavy with a lot of electric guitar in the soundtrack. The cast does well and Nick Briggs is excellent as the Daleks. I think I’d rate this at 8/10. As for Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story, see Episode #428 from May 2019. This release also includes the second episode of The Three Companions at the end of Disc 2. I’m not listening to these bonus stories for this review.

The final story of this trilogy is The Angel of Scutari and it carries on from the end of Enemy of the Daleks. An excellent engaging story that finds the Doctor, Ace and Hex in the midst of the Crimean War between Britain and Russia, known for the Charge of the Light Brigade. After the horror of the previous story, the Doctor brings Hex to Scutari where he can do some good with his medical training and regain some hope. Meanwhile, after reading a report, the Doctor and Ace go to Sevastopol, a few months prior.

What follows is a pure historical with appearances from famous historical figures like Florence Nightingale, Leo Tolstoy and Czar Nicholas I. The TARDIS is seemingly destroyed and the Doctor, Ace and Hex each get their stories placed against the backdrop of history.

There’s a bit of back and forth through time as Hex’s segments take place a couple of months after the Doctor and Ace’s. However, it seems to work here and make for a really enjoyable story. We learn that a school project on Nightingale coinciding with a career day is what caused Hex to choose the medical profession. The story ends with Hex getting shot in the shoulder and requesting to be taken home to St. Gart’s for treatment leading directly into the next story.

Angel of Scutari is a gripping historical set in the Crimean War. The cast does really well and all our leads get something to do. This story also introduces us to the White TARDIS. This is the state of the TARDIS for the next five Hex stories (and ties into most of the other Seventh Doctor Main Range stories released during this period). This is a great story that continues to show that the historicals are still worth making. I’d rate this at 10/10. There isn’t a Traveling the Vortex’s review of this story as Enemy of the Daleks is their most recently reviewed Seven/Ace/Hex story at this time. This release also includes the third episode of The Three Companions at the end of Disc 2.

The second Seven/Ace/Hex/trilogy starts off running with Project: Destiny. Here is where all the loose threads of Hex’s arc seem to coalesce. Despite being released a year-and-a-half after Angel of Scutari, we pick right with the Doctor and Ace bringing Hex to St. Gart’s to take care of him after he got shot in Scutari. However, we find ourselves in an abandoned London.

This is the final installment in the Forge/Project trilogy after Project: Twilight and Project: Lazarus. As such, it brings the Forge, which has been lingering in the back of the Hex arc after appearances in No Man’s Land and Forty-five: Casualties of War, front and center. It also brings the fate of Hex’s mother into the foreground in the worst possible way.

It has the feel of a zombie/contagion movie with lots of action as London is a quarantine zone because an insectoid hive-mind species has begun infecting the population and have overrun London. We meet Forge operative Lysandra Aristedes who will be returning later. Nimrod has been rebranded as Dr. William Abberton and is the head of Department C4, the Forge’s public face.

In the midst of all this is Hex who is caught between the Doctor and Nimrod. The confrontation that leads to the Episode 3 cliffhanger is highly emotional and really good. And then, there’s the return of Cassie Schofield in Part 4. After a roller coaster of a story, Hex quits and leaves the TARDIS. Then, as the Doctor and Ace prepare to leave, Lysandra mentions that there’s a sarcophagus with the Seal of Rassilon (confirming that we now have the TV Movie console room) buried in the Forge archives which leads into the next story.

I found this to be a really fun story that really puts Hex through the emotional ringer. Everyone gets stuff to do and the actors get lots of stuff to sink their teeth into. Nimrod again is a superb villain and works really well against McCoy’s Seventh Doctor. The only downside is that this isn’t a story to jump on with. Maybe on a second listen, but there’s definitely homework that is required. I would suggest that you at least need the two other “Project” stories that form a trilogy with this, and The Harvest, and at least Angel of Scutari if not Enemy of the Daleks too. Beyond that, there’s a coda to the story Thicker Than Water that is primarily a Six/Mel/Evelyn story that’s heavily referenced in the CD Extras for this. All said though, I’d rate this 10/10.

The next story, A Death in the Family, deals with the fallout from the revelations of the previous story. This review will be heavy in spoilers because I can’t talk about it without them. Without spoilers, this would be one paragraph telling you to go listen to this story. Anyway, let’s dive into this.

The Gallifreyan sarcophagus contains a future Seventh Doctor who has managed to defeat the Word Lord Nobody No-one. By recovering this Doctor, Nobody is freed and ends up killing the Doctor. The next two episodes focus first on Hex who has been taken to a planet in the distant past where Evelyn has ended up and then on Ace as she tries to fix things while falling in love. The final episode brings these threads together for a heart-wrenching finale.

So that’s the story. Now, let’s break this down a little. First, Nobody has regenerated into Ian Reddington (known as the Chief Clown from Greatest Show in the Galaxy) who is wonderful as the Word Lord. Manic, twisted, a joy to listen to. He feels a lot like Mark Hamill’s Joker here. Second, Hex gets a chance to heal thanks to learning the truth about his mother from someone who isn’t playing games with him caught in the middle. The Doctor wins thanks to some really clever writing that I won’t spoil here. But the cost of the victory is heart-breaking. Even knowing it was coming, I was tearing up. So the big SPOILER is, that Evelyn dies! She does so in a wonderfully heroic way that Maggie Stables delivers to perfection. Listening to Evelyn and Nobody going head to head is a wonderful scene. But, it’s still a final end to the character of Evelyn Smythe complete with a funeral, which is made even harder with the passing of Maggie Stables.

A Death in the Family is a wonderful, excellent story. Everybody shines in it and it works so well as a season or even series finale. If this had been the final end of the Hex Arc, I would’ve been perfectly happy. Yes, Hex leaves with the Doctor and Ace at the end, but this still could’ve been a great endpoint. I’d rate this at 10/10.

Now, we start the next Seven/Ace/Hex arc, the Elder Gods arc. It’s already been in the background a little bit I’m told. The White TARDIS continues in this arc culminating with Black and White. There are also stories in this Elder Gods arc that aren’t part of the Hex arc (such as House of Blue Fire) and as such won’t be reviewed here.

The other main thing going forward is that apart from two stories in the final trilogy of the Hex arc, all of these will be brand new experiences for me. I know some of the arc’s plot points, but haven’t actually listened to any of these. A Death in the Family was where I dropped away from the Hex arc because of life and the fact that other stories caught my interest. Yes, availability was a big part of it at the time, but once availability wasn’t a factor, I still never made it back to these.

With that out of the way, we have Lurkers at Sunlight’s Edge. Lurkers finds the Doctor, Ace and Hex still in the White TARDIS, landing in 1934 Alaska on an island that shouldn’t exist. The story revolves around releasing ancient monsters that pre-date history, the Karnas’koi.

In essence, this is a straightforward adventure in which Doctor Who does HP Lovecraft. I’ve never delved into Lovecraft. Yes, I’ve heard of Cthulu, but these stories have never piqued my interest. However, that said, the Cthulu Mythos has seemed to have been entangled with Doctor Who. If I understand things, at some point the “Great Old Ones” of Lovecraft has become equated with various Doctor Who monsters such as the Animus, the Great Intelligence and above all, Fenric. If Tardis Wiki is to be believed, this happened during the Virgin era.

As for this story itself, it’s really enjoyable. Not necessarily something I’d return to often, but still quite enjoyable. Going into this knowing in basic strokes the arc going forward might affect it, I don’t know. Anyway, I’d rate this at 8/10.

So we come to Protect and Survive, the first of the second-to-last Seven/Ace/Hex trilogy. This is the “Elder Gods” trilogy in that, after the preview in the previous story, the Elder Gods are front and center. It also continues the “White TARDIS” arc that’s been going on since Angel of Scutari. Finally, it’s also notable that the Doctor barely features in this story. He doesn’t make an appearance until Part 2. That’s because this was recorded at the same time as the Hobbit was being filmed.

So, the story. This was an interesting one. Ace and Hex are dropped off in a timeline where, instead of the Soviet Union collapsing in 1989, World War 3 breaks out with a nuclear strike. Seemingly abandoned by the Doctor and TARDIS, they meet an elderly couple Albert and Peggy Marsden and get caught up going through the motions of “Protect and Survive”, a pamphlet that in the real world was never distributed. It turns out that Albert and Peggy are Elder Gods (like Fenric) that are trapped in a pocket dimension after the Doctor stopped them from changing history and destroying the Earth. The pocket dimension is a two-week time loop of the start of nuclear war so that “Albert” and “Peggy” can learn to be human.

The first half is your standard nuclear war story, though things begin to fall into place that something else is going on here. The second half is where it gets a bit more weird and frantic and where the Elder Gods really come into play as the background of why this is happening is revealed. The ending has the TARDIS return for Ace and Hex, though this time it’s black. Inside isn’t the Doctor, but instead Lysandra (from Project: Destiny) and new companion Sally Morgan (introduced in House of Blue Fire).

It’s a good story, dark and bleak, but good. It’s not a favorite but was still a worthwhile listen. It’s confusing at first but acts as an interesting look at what could have been historically. The Black TARDIS has made appearances previously in Robophobia, The Doomsday Quatrain and the aforementioned House of Blue Fire. Because they don’t feature Hex, I don’t plan on reviewing them here (this is already long enough as it is). And, as best I can tell, the only one that ties into the Elder God arc is House of Blue Fire. Anyway, I’d rate this at 7/10.

Next up is Black and White, which sees the two sets of companions set off to find the Doctor who has apparently gone to meet Beowulf. We get a rough account of the Doctor’s crusade against to Elder Gods through flashbacks of his adventures with Lysandra and Sally. We also learn a bit about the Black and White TARDISes, and the previous Seventh Doctor trilogy (which were companionless and seemed to me to be toward the end of Seven’s life) were test runs of the newly minted Black TARDIS.

The main story continues on from the end of Protect and Survive where the Black TARDIS arrives to pick up Ace and Hex with Lysandra and Sally (played by Amy Pemberton: Gideon from DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) on board. From there, Sally and Hex end up in the White TARDIS while Ace and Lysandra end up in the Black TARDIS. Both follow the Doctor to meet Beowulf but end up sixteen years apart.

This was an enjoyable story. Garundel, a toad-like alien who serves as the inspiration for Grendel in the Beowulf legend, is really fun. The character interactions between the companions is good and the Beowulf stuff is fine. However, where this becomes important is setting up the next story with the Companions retrieving Weyland’s Shield. There’s even a clue to the true villain of the trilogy in the name Beowulf. I won’t spoil it here (though I definitely will in the next entry), but if you think through with a mind toward the Elder Gods and the Seventh Doctor, you should get it easy enough.

This story was fine. But, what with it acting as a bridge and buildup, and having all the flashbacks, it’s not as good as a stand-alone story as it is part of a trilogy. Be aware that there’s a post-credits scene between the credits and the CD Extras. I’d rate this at a 7/10.

The current trilogy concludes with Gods and Monsters. Having used Weyland’s Shield to find the Doctor, the four companions find themselves on a giant game board hovering in space. The game board is a battlefield littered with Saxons and Vikings, and soon an army of Haemovores is marching towards them.

I won’t go deep into plot details for the bulk of the story. Needless to say, the main villain is Fenric who has been playing this game since at least the Magic Mousetrap. It’s a good story, though a bit hard to follow at times. It’s littered with chess references, as expected with a story featuring Fenric. Fenric is battling another Elder God, Weyland, for control of the shield, and the Doctor and friends are just pawns in the game.

This is an enjoyable story with a lot going on. It requires that you have at least listened to the previous two stories and watched the Curse of Fenric, to understand this. It helps to have listened to all the previous Hex stories as well with Angel of Scutari and the Magic Mousetrap getting a mention.

However, the end of Episode 4 is worth the entire story. And here I will be presenting major spoilers. Hex is Weyland’s pawn, who as planned is to use the shield to destroy Fenric. Even the Forge figures into the game as Weyland’s creation. However, Hex turns the shield’s power against Weyland, at which point Fenric disappears. Because Weyland has been destroyed, Hex’s wound from Scutari, which Weyland had fixed, begins bleeding again and Hex is rushed into the TARDIS. We soon find that Hex is possessed by Fenric. However, Hex sacrifices himself to defeat the monster. This handful of scenes is worth picking up this story just for this alone.

Gods and Monsters is an enjoyable story. Good acting and, for the most part, good effects. Had this been the end of Hex’s story, I would’ve been fine with it. However, there are still four more stories and this one has a post-credits scene leading into the next one. I did rewatch Curse of Fenric in the midst of my listening to this. I would’ve rated this a 9/10 because there are some confusing bits and the chess references get a bit old. However, because of the ending, I rate this a 10/10.

Fifteen months after Hex’s death in Gods and Monsters, we get Afterlife, a solitary release sandwiched between trilogies in December 2013. This story deals with the fallout of Hex’s death. The first episode is entirely made up of the Doctor and Ace working through their grief mixed with a letter Hex wrote to his Nan probably just before Live 34 that features flashbacks to an unseen adventure. And it’s brutal. I was on the verge of tears at times with Sophie and Sylvester giving excellent performances. In the end of this first episode, Ace will only accept the Doctor’s apology if he mails the letter and then, once the letter has arrived, deliver news of Hex’s death like a good Commanding Officer should at the death of a soldier.

So while the Doctor does as Ace asks and delivers the bad news to Hilda Schofield, on New Year’s Eve of all days, Ace stays in the TARDIS. We get some lovely acted scenes between the Doctor and Hilda who go to a wake that the Doctor’s set up, where Sally Morgan happens to show up. Meanwhile, Ace gets involved in a gang war between Lily Finnegan, a fire-elemental and a “Mister Thomas”. At the end of Episode 2, after a confrontation between the two gang leaders, Ace comes face to face with Mister Hector Thomas, who is in fact Hex.

It turns out that Hex survived, sort of, and won a lot of money playing cards in the Afterlife. He then cashed it in for a year of life on earth, however, he didn’t get to keep his memories. Instead, it appears they were stored and sent with him. The climax, a battle with Lily Finnegan, is actually not bad. It appears that Hex’s memories are lost forever leaving Hector a clean slate. The Doctor and Ace take Hector with them in the TARDIS, setting up the next trilogy, while Sally stays in Liverpool with Hilda.

This isn’t a bad story. The first episode is outstanding and the interactions between the Doctor and Hilda are really good. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that into the gangster subplot with Mrs. Finnegan. Yes, this was needed for Ace and the Doctor, but the whole Hector Thomas trilogy feels like an add-on that overstayed its welcome. I’d rate this at 7/10 with Episode 1 bumping it up from a lower score.

And so we begin the final Hex trilogy. Revenge of the Swarm acts as both a Sequel and Prequel to the TV story “The Invisible Enemy”. When Hector touches the console while the Doctor and Ace are outside, he ends up contracting the Swarm, which has lain dormant in the TARDIS since the Fourth Doctor’s time. Under the influence of the virus, he sets the TARDIS in motion to coordinates that lead to Titan.

This is a surprisingly fun story. The biggest problem is that I never really cared that much for the Invisible Enemy. So, while this story clips along at a decent pace, my indifference towards its parent story keeps me from truly enjoying this one. We get to look a little bit deeper into Hector, who having lost the Hex part of himself, is more susceptible to the swarm’s influence.

The other problem I have, apart from the ties to Invisible Enemy, is that once things get going Hector doesn’t really seem very different from Hex. Whereas in Afterlife, he was a hardened gangster and his accent was slightly different, here he often sounds just like regular Hex.

All that aside, the scenes with the Doctor and Ace in a computer confronting the Nucleus of the Swarm are really fun, though the sound effects are a bit noisy. And, John Leeson does an excellent job hamming it up as the Nucleus. In all, this was enjoyable though kinda a rehash of the original story. I rate it at 6/10, though some of that is my indifference to the original and my not finding Hector that great a character.

The penultimate Hex story, Mask of Tragedy sees the Doctor, Ace and Hector arrive in Athens, 421 BC to see the theater. This is the final Hex story that’s new to me. Because Ancient Greece isn’t a huge draw for me (as opposed to say, Ancient Egypt), I was a bit ambivalent towards the lukewarm start. However, as the story progressed, I found myself enjoying it more.

Essentially, the plot revolves around the Doctor sponsoring plays by Aristophanes and his rivalry with Cleon, the ruler of Athens. Meanwhile, a strange plague is haunting the city and the Spartans are at the gates of the city. Now, this would all make for an enjoyable historical. However, in the midst of this is the fact that Athens is a very popular travel destination for time travelers and everyone knows it.

As such, one visitor is a giant, alien beetle. And here lies the bulk of the story as the beetle’s mask (which allows him to blend in) is on the fritz and ends up being used by Hector to try and fix things before falling into the hands of Cleon. Meanwhile, Ace is ostracized from the city and ends up joining the Spartans where she leads a female battalion into the city.

This isn’t a terrible story and gets better as it progresses. That said, it wasn’t spectacular and was stuck between trying to be a comedy and a serious drama. Hex seemed to go back and forth between sounding like the old Hex and being Hector. Otherwise, while I enjoyed the story, in the end, it only gets a rating of 6.5/10.

Finally, we have Signs and Wonders. After their adventure in Greece, Hector demands the Doctor take him home to Liverpool. However, the TARDIS arrives two years later at the End of Days. Hilda has passed and Sally is looking to rejoin the military, a reality TV star turned prophet named Rufus Stone is holding raves in the streets, and people are seeing their own deaths in their dreams.

This is a loud, noisy audio. The first half is a bit confusing as the pieces are laid. Rufus Stone is in reality an agent of the Aquillians, an alien race that looks like Eagles, who are using the psychic power of the crowds to summon interdimensional alien leeches called Hirudines. There’s a lot going on here so that it’s confusing at first. However, in amongst the action, we get the conclusion to the Hex/Hector arc and the conclusion of the Elder Gods arc.

So there’s an ancient Elder God named To’koth who, having grown tired of the fighting among the other, younger Elder Gods, moved to Liverpool and went to sleep beneath it. Now he’s dying and several parties want to absorb his powers. The Aquillians consider To’koth their god and thus his power to be theirs. Then there’s Ginny Greenteeth.

Introduced early in the story as Vicar Janet Green, Ginny is another Elder God. She wants Ko’koth’s power for herself. Seemingly killed off early on, she suddenly reappears and ends up in a battle with Hex/Hector. It turns out that Hex’s memories weren’t lost but instead stored in his St. Christopher medal that Sally had hung onto. Ginny is defeated and To’koth is taken back to his dimension to die, an act that creates a truce between the Doctor and the Elder Gods. Hex then stays on Earth with Sally where they settle down. We then get a nice coda set 15 years later where Ace and the Doctor say goodbye to Hex before reiterating the ending of Survival.

And so ends the Hex arc. While the first half of this final story was a loud, chaotic mess, the second is quite enjoyable. Hex gets a really good finale. I’ll go into more of my thoughts on Hex in a bit, but I was kinda mixed on this story. The first half is kinda meh for me but the second half was quite good. Therefore, I’ll give this a rating of 8/10.

So, while Hex’s arc is focused in the audio stories of the Monthly Adventures, Hex also features in six Short Trips from the print collections from Big Finish. These are spread out across five collections. The first is These Things Take Time by Samantha Baker from the collection Short Trips: Monsters. The next is found in the collection Short Trips: A Day in the Life and are Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast by Dan Abnett and The Heroine, the Hero and the Megalomaniac by Ian Mond. The second of this pair also features Eight and Charley who are actually the primary protagonists. I think I’ve read these two because their descriptions sound vaguely familiar.

 

After these, we have three more, each from a separate collection. First, we have Presence by Peter Anghelides from the collection Short Trips: The History of Christmas. Reading the plot on Tardis Wiki, this one seems rather sweet. Next is Natalie’s Diary by Joseph Lidster, a four-part story from Short Trips: Dalek Empire. Finally, we have The Report by Gary Russell from Short Trips: Snapshots. I know I haven’t read any of these. I include these for the sake of completion and am a little surprised that Hex hasn’t featured in any of the audio short trips from Big Finish.

The Main Cast

Right. So, we’ve made it through all the Hex stories and taken a look at each of them. Let’s take a look at the main cast members. First up, the Seventh Doctor. I love the Seventh Doctor. I don’t know why, maybe it’s just the strength of his stories or his scheming plotting nature. Maybe it’s just the Scottish accent and rolling “R”s. Or maybe it’s the spoons. I just don’t know.

While the New Adventures are said (I haven’t read that many of them, or very many that recently, so I can’t say from personal experience) to take the scheming, chess-master as far as it could go, the Big Finish stories seem to find a more balanced take on this incarnation. I’ve seen reviews (primarily from the blog Doc Oho) that state that the screaming Seven and Ace don’t work well, especially on audio. Part of me agrees, but then there are times, like the finale of LIVE 34, where it works so well.

Over the course of this arc, while we see the scheming chess-master, we also get instances where the Doctor’s just as much in the dark as his companions. We also get quiet, tender moments where we see the Doctor is still vulnerable despite his mysterious aura and secretive persona. I think it comes down to both the writing and the acting where you can have great acting bringing up a mediocre script and mediocre acting bringing down a great script.

When McCoy is good, he’s excellent. When he’s just okay, he’s just okay. I think that, unlike say Colin Baker or Paul McGann who can liven up even the most average script, McCoy doesn’t quite have that ability. But, that said, I still love McCoy’s Doctor and usually enjoy his stories. As far as seeing him in roles outside of Who, I’ve seen him in the Hobbit, that’s it. I enjoyed his small role, but otherwise can’t really comment much.

Next, we have Ace. So, Seven and Ace are one of my favorite TV TARDIS Teams. They work so well together and Ace actually feels like a person unlike say Mel who was supposed to be a computer programmer but becomes just a cardboard cutout that is primarily a fitness fanatic and a screamer. Ace meanwhile gets a fleshed-out backstory and an actual story arc.

On audio, we’ve had TV Ace, New Ace (a battle-hardened war veteran from the Virgin New Adventures) and something in between. And yet, there are times when Ace doesn’t seem to have changed much. I agree with reviews that I’ve read (primarily Doc Oho again) that older Sophie Aldred can’t match the younger screaming Ace anymore, and I think that’s true for the most part. There are occasions where it works, but there are more where it doesn’t quite work.

When we first meet Hex, Ace is going by McShane. This is because of the events of the previous two Ace stories (Colditz and the Rapture). The first affects Ace a lot with definite emotional abuse and seeing a man die in a gruesome way. The second finds Ace meeting her lost younger brother. (I’ve already reviewed these so I won’t go any deeper.)

Hex gives Ace someone to gang up on the Doctor with. While there are inklings of a romance between Ace and Hex early on, this relationship evolves into something more akin to siblings. Ace ends up becoming a mentor to Hex. When Hex dies, it affects Ace immensely giving us an excellent first episode of Afterlife.

After Hex’s final departure, Ace continues to travel with the Doctor and wonderfully paraphrases/reiterates the Doctor’s speech at the end of Survival. During the conclusion of Signs and Wonders, both Ace and the Doctor get visions of their deaths/futures. The Doctor of course gets Madame Butterfly in some sort of theater. Ace meanwhile gets three: her wearing a high collar, riding a motorbike in Paris in the 19th century and being surrounded by “three giant fleas”. These represent her departures in Big Finish (joining the Time Lords), the Virgin New Adventures (see the novel “Set Piece”) and the Doctor Who Magazine comics (see the story “Ground Zero”). Whether this is intended to be three different timelines or just as an easter egg to fans in the know, I don’t know. All that said, Ace still works well in these for the most part and is still one of my favorite companions.

And so we come to Thomas Hector “Hex” Schofield, a London nurse from Liverpool. Originally a near-future companion from 2021. Wow, I still can’t get over the fact that Hex’s native time is THIS year. Hex starts out as your average bloke thrown off into the deep end in his first adventure.

He joins the Doctor of his own volition and doesn’t look back. Then he’s pulled through the wringer as he goes on his travels. Cromwell, the hate room, Nimrod, the Word Lord, Fenric. He had a good run and his arc finales (Project: Destiny/A Death in the Family, Gods and Monsters, and Signs and Wonders) are outstanding. He’s just a very likable character.

I think the only place where his arc falls down is in the Hector trilogy and the Hex stories released post-Signs and Wonders. After such an amazing end in Gods and Monsters, did we really need more? Maybe. Probably not. Yes, I know I’ve referencing Doc Oho a lot here, but he often makes some good points. One is that Big Finish possibly kept the Hex arc going because they liked working with the actor Philip Olivier so much. I don’t know, it’s possible.

The majority of the Hector arc was lackluster to me. Afterlife wasn’t terrible and the first episode was worth the price. Revenge of the Swarm wasn’t terrible, it just happened to be a prequel/sequel to a story I’m not terribly fond of. Mask of Tragedy was just kinda there at first but ended well enough. And Signs and Wonders had an okay first half but then a really strong second half that wrapped up a lot. The biggest issue was that there wasn’t often a clear difference between Hex and Hector, which in turn made the choice to have a technically new character kinda moot. As for the three post-Signs and Wonders releases, they were enjoyable, just nothing super amazing.

So, that wraps up my thoughts on Hex as a character. He’s still a favorite of mine and one that works well and has a well-defined arc, even if (as stated in the CD Extras) some of it was made up as they went along. As for seeing Philip Olivier in anything outside of Doctor Who, I haven’t to my knowledge seen anything with him in it.

 

Final Thoughts

So, after four months and 26 releases, I’ve finished the Hex arc. While this seemingly took forever, it was worth it. There were more good stories than bad and even then, most of the lower-rated ones were middling or average as opposed to truly bad. I enjoyed the arc and while there were middling stories, the high points were really high.

There are plenty of stories in this arc that I’d go back and re-listen to. And Hex is an enjoyable character that is just fun to listen to. He melds well with the Doctor and Ace as a team. Out of curiosity, I went and averaged my ratings for the stories above and came out with an 8/10.

Are there returning villains or concepts from this arc that I’d like to see a return in some form? I don’t know. I’m kinda done with the Elder Gods at this point. Maybe seeing Fenric come back on TV, but I’d be fine if he doesn’t return. The Word Lord might be cool to see, but he’s another who had a complete arc and a final end.

Maybe a TV story with Cromwell could be interesting, but I don’t think the TV series could do it as well as The Settling. I wouldn’t mind seeing Iris Wildthyme and Panda show up on TV, but unless done really, really well, I don’t see that working. The only other thing I could see returning in some form is the Forge. I’d love to see a three-way confrontation between UNIT, Torchwood and the Forge on TV (or audio, books or comics, I’m not picky). That might be fun.

So that’s it for this Companion Archive. Hex was an enjoyable companion and this gave me an excuse to listen to all these, especially the ones I hadn’t gotten to yet. I look forward to hearing the Guys’ thoughts on the rest of these stories whenever they get around to them. I’ve got a few ideas for what I might do next for one of these, but I’m not going to tell you what they are right now. SPOILERS!!! Anyway, that’s it. If you want to discuss anything about these stories, be sure to check out the Traveling the Vortex Listener’s Forum on Facebook.

Scheduling Victorious: Chapter V – Scheduling Unbound

Chapter Five

Compared to the universe, she burns bright and hot like a young star, yet she is ageless and infinite. Her wisdom goes hand in hand with her neurotic mischievousness, the sly smirk on her lips never belaying the surprise she feels at learning something new. Her temperament as unpredictable as her hair, and her fury…

Her fury burns hotter than all those bright stars.

It’s the fury the Daleks feel—smoldering white hot rage—as they die in droves all around her, screaming their ineffective threats of extermination. Some are panicked, yelling about impaired vision. If your eyestalk was sliced off, your vision would be impaired too. She moves like poetry, like water droplets playfully cascading down a brook, as she darts across the control room of the scout ship from one drone to the next. Her weapon cuts just as deep as words, an ancient sword rumored to have come from these very DARK TIMES, forged by the great weapon smiths of Andromeda, its alloy folded more times than could be counted, fused in the vortex itself and imbued with any number of incantations and spells, covered with magic charms and runes from dozens of galaxies.

It’s also on fire, because, reasons.

The sword’s name is lost to time (and likely unpronounceable, given the Andromedan alphabet) but legends passed down through the eons roughly translate it to “sharp burning stick”. A gift to her from Absalom Daak—

“You can stop there.” She warns, driving the blade solidly through the dalekanium hull of another drone. “Bad enough you gotta go all “smoldering eyes” on me, but to mention HIM…” She withdraws the sword and whirls on the Dalek commander, “is hitting below the belt.”

The Dalek Commander’s gunstick quivers, just enough to signify the retargeting computer has locked on her, and without a second thought she thrusts out and upward, decapitating the dome off the engine of war. The gun falls limp.

“Ha.” She says.

She looks around and takes a deep breath, and for the first time since this whole Time Lord Victorious started, feels reassured. As if history was back on track

And that’s when the temporal distortion wave hits and knocks her on her ass.

The Dalek scout ship instantly tumbles end over end, sending drones careening into bulkheads and ceilings, sounding like a washing machine full of cast iron skillets. Sparks fly from Dalek casings and computer bays, their interfaces fried by the temporal wave. Arissa dodges artfully and avoids most of the debris thrown around the control deck, finally coming to stand on the communications board. She nearly swoons, her mind awash on the shores of history, as the tide runs out and takes half the sand making up the beach with it.

“I never swoon.” She says through grit teeth, looking up at the forward view screen, now orientated on the ceiling, trying to get a feel if the Pyramid ship survived the impact. More sparks fly from shorts and blown connections. One certainty is that the scout ship won’t much longer. She was a little overzealous with the Osiran weapon pods when overtaking the Daleks, and of course there was the whole sword play thing.

“What was that—“ She starts to ask, but is cut off by the blaring speaker below her left heel as it starts to recite an incoming transmission. “But there’s no one to transmit—”

 

“Attention. Attention. The following schedule” (the voice pronounced it “shed-u-all” and sounded oh-so familiar) “reflects the next month of transmissions from Traveling The Vortex, delving into the Unbound rage from Big Finish:

482 – Doctor Who Unbound #1 Auld Mortality, #2 Sympathy for the Devil 

483 – Doctor Who Unbound #3 Full Fathom Five, #4 He Jests at Scars

484 – Doctor Who Unbound #5 Deadline, #6 Exiles

485 – Doctor Who Unbound #7, A Storm of Angels, #8 Masters of War 

“Follow along, or don’t. It makes no difference to me.

And my dear Arissa, if YOU are receiving this message, you’ll know what to do.”

 

The voice transmission trails off into a series of chuckles that chill her to the bone despite the heat coming off Sharp Burning Stick. It couldn’t be HIM…

She runs along the wall to the science console and kneeling down does a quick sensor sweep…

…only to have her worst fears confirmed. (Well, second worst fear. The recurring dream about showing up to the first day of class naked and surrounded by evil clowns is her worst fear, obviously.) But this is just as bad.

History HAD been rewritten. Whatever the Doctor has been doing in THE DARK TIMES was now over with, and time has reset. Which means with one or two exceptions, the Osirans die out here in the next couple of centuries.

Which mean they do not exist in the 35th century. Which means they will never construct a golden Osiran Pyramid Ship. Which means it isn’t floating nearby, ready to get her home.

She is trapped in THE DARK TIMES, and the author is in terrible danger…

She tries to utter a dramatic “dun dun DUN!”, but finds her throat is too dry.

Scheduling Victorious: Chapter IV

Cpt 4

Sprong.

With a rippling of its mighty engines, the golden Osirian Pyramid ship rends the fabric of reality asunder and pops into existence in THE DARK TIMES.

Arissa stares at the viewscreen with a mixture of amusement and disbelief, both that the ship actually arrived in THE DARK TIMES, and that the author allowed it to happen without killing her.

And that he continues to type THE DARK TIMES in all capital letters.

And that the Osirian Pyramid ship, technological marvel of the 35th Century, actually makes a “Sprong” noise.

What can she say? She is easily amused.

She fiddles with the view screen to get a look at her surroundings, and despite the desperate circumstances, feels a weight of relief at no longer being in the year 2020. The jokes and internet memes had started early, but if humanity only knew the depths to which time travelers actively avoided the year, they might feel better about having survived it.

Assuming, of course, this was THAT timeline. There was after all, still a couple of weeks to go.

The sensor readings bounce back to her display, confirming the worst: Major temporal disruptions. Arissa always thought of time (incorrectly) as the surface of a lake. A temporal disruption was like dropping a rock in the middle of it, sending ripples and waves out in concentric rings that changed the surface reflection. These readings indicated someone had dropped a dump truck full of gravel over the water, seeding it with minor blips and ripples that were cascading back and forth into each other before being wiped out by the impact wave when the truck itself fell in.

Time was tearing itself apart as forward moving paradoxes begat backward traveling paradoxes.

She hadn’t seen anything like this since The Time War (which, she notes, only warrants capitalization of the first letters, not the whole title). The sensors also show her a myriad of wreckage outside. The Pyramid ship had materialized in the middle of a debris field. And quite the interesting on at that. She detects pieces of Dalek saucers, hull fragments of Arkanian star liners, the burned-out hulks of Draconian battlecruisers, and what appeared to be stonework from the monolithic Cathedral-Class Coffin ships of the Great Vampires. Very few of these races occupy the same plot of history as each other, and yet here they all are, mingling in yet another paradox mixer as the flotsam and jetsam tumble endlessly in space.

These wrecks did not belong here, not in this when. Had they been pulled to their destruction by the paradoxes? Or had they arrived intact and fought amongst themselves until only scrap remains? She backs away from the monitors and sensors intending to step out onto the terrace and see the devastation firsthand, to see if the distortions are visible to the naked eye. Pyramid ships are quite capable of holding an atmosphere over their ray-shielded observation decks—when her heel strikes something, sending her suddenly tumbling over backward.

At this point, there was any number of things Arissa was prepared to accept, but a gigantic stone tablet was not among them. Her fingers snaked out to caress the tablet, which is covered with a combination of hieroglyphics, runes, symbols, and pictograms, all deeply etched upon its surface.

“Is this High Galifreyan?” She asks, knowing the author will not reply, but unable to stop herself. She’s rusty but manages to decipher a few pieces of the tablet while the Rosetta circuits embedded behind her eyes and ears translate the rest.

TTV #477 – A Christmas Carol Revisited, Eleventh Doctor Chronicles “The Top of the Tree” (Big Finish Audio)

TTV #478 – TLV: The Last Message, Mission to the Known, (Eagle Moss / Hero Collector short stories), Mutually Assured Destruction (Big Finish Audio)

TTV #479 – Revolution of the Daleks

TTV #480 – TLV: Exit Strategy, Genetics of the Daleks (Big Finish Audio)

TTV #481 – TLV: Tales of the Dark Times Episodes 4 & 5 (Comic Maker), All Flesh is Grass (Novel)

“Really? There’s no one here who could possibly listen to your podcast. Why would you send me your schedule to post…” She trails off, suddenly understanding. “You really have no control over this, do you? I suspected as much, but this bloody well confirms it, doesn’t it?”

She rises, moving back to the controls. If things are this bad, she has less time than she thought. Scouring the debris for salvage would have to wait. Arissa transmits the schedule—because despite it being a worthless gesture that would not gain them listeners, she had been contracted to do the job, and therefore it was going to get done—and fiddling with the sensors, slaved them to the navigation controls and set a new course. As the Pyramid ship moves off, she heads to the wardrobe.

You can’t save the universe wearing a silk robe, no matter what the movies say.

Scheduling Victorious – Interlude

Interlude

It was the best of THE DARK TIMES; it was the worst of THE DARK TIMES.

Arissa slams the book shut and throws it across the room in disgust with no regard for the ancient binding or crumbling pages within. It thuds against the far wall before hitting the floor, leaving her instantly ashamed. One simply doesn’t throw books, no matter how inane the book may be.

“I know, I know.” She acknowledges, rising off the couch to retrieve the tome. “But come on, ‘the best of THE DARK TIMES’?” She quotes. “Times that were so dark, they are spoken about in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS? How could there possibly be any ‘best of’ times?”

She inspects the book, and satisfied that there was no permanent damage done, returns it to its place on the bookshelf.

“The problem with THE DARK TIMES is that not too many people made it out of them alive. It’s difficult to learn the history when so little history exists. So, we’re left with all these half-truths and myths and legends, and most of them involve the Doctor in some way, shape, or form, which automatically makes the truth of the stories suspect in my mind.”

She whirls suddenly, glaring skyward. “You used my name. I thought we agreed, no names?” The author starts to type something about “literary license”, but is cut off—“No, no, no! I’m doing you a favor. Don’t forget that. Stick to the terms of the deal.” She warns. Then sighs, rubbing a hand through her short hair. “Well, it’s out. Can’t take it back now, can we?”

She begins to pace the confines of the pyramid’s control room, walking around the black silk couch, between the pool table sized control panel and the gold felt covered pool table, in front of the giant viewscreen that dominated one wall of the room, and past bookshelves stuffed full of leatherbound first editions, signed copies of the dead sea scrolls and other documents from all over the universe. She bypasses the open doors that lead out onto the terrace that overlooks the ruined city. 2020 is out there and she inherently knew it would contribute nothing of value.

There’s only so much paradox a mind can take, after all.

Arissa thought she was almost at capacity herself. She found her memories changing from moment to moment, adding to her frustration. It was one thing to know something and be confused by contradictory evidence, and quite another to suddenly realize the thing you knew wasn’t what you knew at all, and the evidence wasn’t contradictory, because IT was correct all along, and you knew that. She shakes her head vigorously trying to dislodge the chaos. She even considers reconsulting Andrew Kearley’s “The Complete Adventures” for reference, but that website, (and all other subsequent Doctor Who websites for that matter), while normally rock-solid kept displaying File 404 error messages as if the internet itself was giving up.

Without consciously knowing that she’s doing it, Arissa moves back to the control panel and begins laying in a course. The Pyramid ship responds to her touch, sealing off exterior bulkheads and lifting gently off the towers it was resting on. The buildings crumble into their own pyramid-shaped piles of debris, but the sound dampers are already on, so inside she hears nothing but the distant throb of the engines from somewhere deep inside the ship.

“There’s really only one way out of this.” She reasons. “I don’t appreciate being forced into it, mind you, but if you’re being affected by these temporal shifts more than just having to change the upcoming podcast schedule every week—well then drastic measures it is.”

The Pyramid ship hangs over the ruins, tears a hole in the fabric of reality with the sound of a door stopper being sprung by a precocious kitten, and vanishes.

“Next stop, THE DARK TIMES,” Arissa says grimly.