Review of Casualties of Time by thedefinitearticle63
4 June 2024
This review contains spoilers
This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.
Previous Story: The Pursuit of History
I think this is one of the best finales in all of the 4DAs. It is the culmination of everything from Series 2 and 5. The return of the Black Guardian. David Troughton's performance is incredible and captures the immense power of the Black Guardian perfectly. I do like that Cuthbert gets a redemption in the end, making him into one of my favourite recurring characters on audio. Not that he wasn't already.
So many plot threads are tied up in this story and all really well. The parrot is also finally explained, while I think it was a bit of a deus ex machina, I can't complain because it's been appearing since all the way back in The Sands of Life.
Also after looking on Tardis Wiki this story also features the Salonu, who appeared in The Evil One. Little details like that really help the extended timeline feel more cohesive.
Next Story: The Doomsday Contract
4DA Series 5 Review: 10/10
An extremely timey-wimey series, easily the best series of the 4DAs. I don't think there's a single story in this series that I wouldn't relisten to. Maybe Gallery of Ghouls, but even then that was a very fun story.
There's a very strong feeling of the Black Guardian looming over the whole series. It's foreshadowed with Romana's concerns about the Doctor disabling the randomiser at times. I really enjoy how this series tied together things from Series 2 aswell. It makes me wonder if this was originally intended to be with Romana I instead.