Big Finish Unbound #1, May 2003
This series deals with alternate realities and what would’ve happened to the Doctor if he didn’t leave with Susan when he could in the TARDIS. When we’re introduced to the William Hartnell version of the Doctor who didn’t leave Gallifrey, he is in the Alps with Hannibal. We discover that he is living through his imagination and he is a famous writer. And Uncle Quences is the ghost watching over him, with the help of Badger, the Doctor’s manservant. So what is really going on when Susan shows up?
She breaks into the Doctor’s fantasy world and brings a little current reality on Gallifrey into his life. She talks to him about what could’ve been, if they had only left in that old TARDIS. So we get a glimpse of what the Doctor’s life could’ve been if he didn’t go off, interfering as he does during his travels. I like the reality generator and the role that Hannibal and his elephant, Surus, play in the outcome of the adventure. And the realities diverge again at the end. Who is to say what Susan and the Doctor actually say at the end of this audio? We will find out in A Storm of Angels, which is intensely amazing.
The acting and general details of this adventure are very good. I thought that the true identity of Ordinal General Quences isn’t very interesting and he’s just kind of blah as a bad guy. But the internal struggles of the Doctor and Susan really make the adventure. I definitely liked this better at a second listen (in Feb. 2008) as opposed to when it was released. Very good stuff!
Geoffrey Bayldon, Carole Ann Ford, Derren Nesbitt, and Toby Longworth
writer: Marc Platt
director: Nicholas Briggs