It all seemed so quaint in part one. I immediately connected with the Fifth Doctor when I first saw him, and I believe it's because he was the most approachable Doctor. It's impossible for me to imagine being most incarnations of the Doctor in my life, but I think it is possible to be the Fifth Doctor. He is always just doing the best he can, begging people to do the right thing, and making the hard choices when others can't to save who he can. While I don't think Davison has mastered his craft on audio quite to the degree of some other Doctors, he's had quite a number of excellent stories, none better than Pursuit of Nightjar which is an essential work for his Doctor. Then, that brings us to Hooklight.

A twelve-part story told across two boxsets, it's hard to review something properly halfway through. Overall I'd say it was a four-star story for me, but it earned the extra half star in terms of audaciousness and a jaw-dropping twist. Simple enough at first, the TARDIS has landed on a planet and is out of power, things get far far out of hand. Welcome to the northern islands on the planet Rift in the realm of Morning, the original home of civilization, the first galaxy. In a museum, there is a lamp, and suddenly, the lamp lights up. All chaos ensues as Hooklight has returned, an ancient and deadly substance that immediately draws the attention of the ghostly Nigh Guard. There's bucket-fulls of lore getting brought up (Dawnbrides - powerful valkyrie witches, the cloned rulers of Morning - the Halcyons), and we still have many episodes to go.

What I did not expect (and sometimes had to keep straight in my head) was that this was going to be a time-screwy story. The Doctor is pushed by a robot through a portal hundreds of years into the past, and Adric tries to save the TARDIS and ends up presumably in the future. The key to this whole story is Nyssa who is somehow infected with the Hooklight becoming its bearer/herald, and is in multiple places and multiple times at once. The Doctor is with Nyssa and the mage VanderSeer going to tip the second age to the third at the Dark Forge, Nyssa and Tegan are taking the light to the planet Hence to be destroyed, Adric is meeting the last of the Everens, the flamboyant pilot Devlan Crux who apparently was in a relationship with the Doctor in the past and thinks Adric is him regenerated.

There are great moments for the cast, especially near the end. Once the Doctor finds the TARDIS destroyed, Davison just about sobs, and it hits you like a sharp knife. Devlan shoots Adric to regenerate him as part of a complex scheme, and Adric comes clean saying he wanted to just pretend he was the Doctor. Tegan hasn't had a major one yet, but she's the one who discovers the Hooklight...is the TARDIS lamp?? Everything is out of control chaos, and out of nowhere...the voice of Paul McGann hit me like a ton of bricks. Hearing him interacting with Nyssa and Adric, revealed as the Oracle who has somehow masterminded this plan, it was a whopper I was very glad to be unspoiled for. Also: he's apparently wearing an eyepatch.

Tim Foley has built an impressively detailed and multi-layered world that might be a little too complicated. The story of course is only halfway through, so a lot feels unfinished. There is no doubt though: this is one of the most ambitious Big Finish releases ever setting up a story on a true cosmic scale. I can only hope we stick the landing.