Time Regained or Endgame in a Blue Box

This is probably the last post about my holidays in Sandhead and Lamlash. When I was travelling by train and ferry , I listened to the mammoth twentieth anniversary Doctor Who audio play from Big Finish, The Legacy of Time. It really does resemble the recent MCU movie which concluded a decade worth of comic book flicks, bringing together all the surviving audio Doctors and many of their companions.

Given the glut of product since the late 90s, it's easy to forget that BF kept Who alive, essentially, with new stories until the tv revival in 2005. Also, the number of sheer casting coups over these two decades has been phenomenal. Yes, the quality of that output can vary tremendously, from bland fanfic to award-winning and very moving drama, provoking genuine emotion. And, yes, the evocation of past DW eras can be slavish and over-scrupulous. And, oh, yes, they have writers who can't differentiate between "sitting" and "sat".

But it's bad form to critique a birthday party. I will rate the individual episodes which make up the whole in terms of the enjoyment I got from them. ( I'm also recording where, on holiday, I listened to them.)

Spoilers on!

Lanark to Lanark Loch
Lies in Ruins: Time -travelling archaeologists Bernice Summerfield and River Song meet at last  ( after a feint in Gary Russell's Big Bang Generation ) and help the Eighth Doctor to repel scavengers from the apparent ruins of Gallifrey. The Doctor's annoyingly perky new companion Ria has a tragic secret.    5/5

Port Logan

Ayr to Stranraer train
The Split Infinitive: The Counter-Measures team work in two time zones with the Seventh Doctor and Ace to thwart the Rocket Men who have muscled in on the London criminal underworld.  3/5

Glenwhan Gardens

Stranraer to Ayr train
The Sacrifice of Jo Grant : Tim Treloar gives his Third Doctor again and is reunited with Jo Jones. UNIT deals with time breaches in two eras. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart has a final reunion with the Brigadier/ 5/5

Holy Isle 

Ardrossan to Brodick ferry
Relative Time:  The Fifth Doctor meets Jenny on a space cruise where the kleptomaniac Nine has also turned up. Peter Davison and Georgia Tennant are father and daughter in REAL LIFE HEE HEE. 3/5

Goat Fell 

Brodick to Ardrossan to Glasgow ferry and train
The Avenues of Possibility: the author Henry Fielding and his blind brother John substitute for Jago and Litefoot in a story where Sixie and Charley travel to a dystopian parallel British Empire. DI Menzies guest stars in a parody of BBC1's Goodnight Sweetheart. 2/5



Glasgow to Elgin train
Collision Course : Romana II and Leela investigate the fate of the first Tardis on its maiden voyage, in two story strands with Tom's Fourth Doctor. Benny and all the Doctors join in to battle the Sirens of Time. Cameos from David Tennant, David Bradley as the First Doctor and Frazer Hines as the Second 4/5

 I would have liked to have heard from Constance Clarke, Hex and at least one of the Masters. I was amazed the Daleks didn't turn up but I wasn't bothered by the absence of Helen and Liv. While this set is in Whovian vernacular, a "romp", the first and third stories genuinely touched me through the truthfulness of their performances. I've complained before about audios where all the Doctors appear for the final walk-down but if it hadn't happened here, we would've asked why not. This isn't really a jumping-on point; it's a reunion and a reminder of how much enjoyment I have had from listening to Big Finish.
In fact, I've still to listen to the latest Third Doctor set and I'm waiting on the Lucie Miller and third War Master boxes so I'll post on them in the next few weeks.

In terms of comics, I've got a Ditko DC omnibus and the collected Machine Man on my reading pile, with The Green Lantern, Batman by Bendis and Hickman's House of X/Powers of X lined up too.

One more week of the holidays left!

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