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TARDIS Guide

Review of Fractures by dema1020

7 March 2025

This review contains spoilers!

It is not easy for any sort of story like this to depict a civilization as advanced as the Time Lords engage in a civil war, so it is very, very impressive to me that Fractures really pulls it off.

Given a limited budget and resources, Big Finish does a very good job at conveying the scale and size of this conflict while still keeping it personable and focused on our main characters.  It's pretty fun having Darkel teaming up with Pandora against Romana, her allies, and Leela.  Narvin is great here.  I love how they developed this character over time, as it really cements the significance of his loyalty to Romana.  Mary Tamm's performance as Pandora is also incredible here.  It's such a creative use of Tamm as a performer, while adding a whole interesting emotional dynamic to the conflict between her and Romana.  This is war is very much Romana's story, so I like how thoroughly the ongoing plot ties that in to her character, her past, and her own current mind set through these web of characters and this powerful villain with a pretty well plotted out sense of motivation and purpose.  Even K9 being "corrupted" was great and made the character stand out when he all to often feels like a side thing.  John Leeson's voice work is so great in his ability to bring K9 to life.

I also like the scheming going on here in general and the tense negotiations around the injured folk just trying to stay alive.  Leela's blindness feels very fitting given the whole business in the show with her eyes changing colour, and they use that well to show a more vulnerable side to her character, forcing her not to rely on her greatest strengths here.  This is a war story, through and through, and Fractures does a very good job at telling that story.


dema1020

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