The Monthly Adventures #033 - “Neverland" by Alan Barnes

Something I feel Big Finish really needed more of were finales, big episodes with big moments that let the actors really show their worth. The classic era, however groundbreaking, charming and fun it may be, didn’t put a wealth of thought into its arcs and big, massive plot lines were uncommon. But now, we have a more serialised effort, and the first half of our big, two part finale is Neverland, a bizarre riff on Peter Pan that pulls no punches in being a surreal nightmare of a story that blends Time Lord mythology and ghosts. Time is falling apart and Charley is at the centre of it all, let’s begin.

Following a series of unexplainable temporal paradoxes, the Time Lords apprehend the Doctor and Charley, as a mysterious force called anti-time floods into our reality from another universe. Pulled into this parallel realm of anti-time, the Doctor comes face to face with a Gallifreyan legend.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

One of my favourite things about Big Finish is their ability to create stories that undeniably are Doctor Who, complete with the charms, eccentricities and novelties of the classic run whilst still being incredibly innovative and often quite weird. It’s a balance the novels tried and mostly failed at that is nailed here, especially with some of the earlier and more experimental stories in The Monthly Adventures. It’s incredible to me that Big Finish’s first attempt at a serialised plot that would be the obvious choice for latecomers was such a mental ride that eventually ended up with Zagreus of all stories. Neverland is a very surreal audio story that I personally find thrilling. It boasts this eerie and genuinely quite scary tone that nails the feeling of being lost, of being in a place that very much does not welcome you, with harsh sound design allow for this nightmarish setting of an inside-out TARDIS floating in a universe of “anti-time” to become alive as you listen to it. Also terrifying the listener are the Neverpeople, our antagonists who are strange, spectral Time Lords who were executed by the Celestial Intervention Agency by being erased from time, sending them to the Antiverse (look, it’s hard to explain pretty much all of Neverland). Through ghostly performances and this cunning, callous presence, they become really genuinely terrifying foes that add a lot to the already laden atmosphere. Our cast this time around, though mostly consisting of somewhat underdeveloped Timelord agents, do include a couple of great cast members. Lalla Ward has returned to play Romana and as always she excels in the role; her straight-laced, wisened demeanour plays off beautifully with the Doctor and I should really listen to Gallifrey one of these days, shouldn’t I? Plus, we have India Fisher delivering one of her best performances as Charley, who very much takes centre stage for the story as it’s the climax of her arc. Her argument with the Doctor at the beginning alone makes this one of her greatest outings. And the ending, by god, the ending. Possibly the greatest cliffhanger in all of Doctor Who: the Doctor is gone and Zagreus is here. The perfect conclusion to the Zagreus references, an incredibly well written, directed and acted scene and a perfect stinger that will do nothing but keep you wanting more.

But, it still takes 150 minutes to get there, so what are we doing for all that time? Honestly, not much. Mostly, we’re just basking in the atmosphere, as the characters are slowly corrupted by anti-time and the Neverpeople slowly drive the Doctor and Charley to the brink of insanity, trying to get the Doctor to murder Charley at one point. However, it’s not a plot that sustains itself. Being so long, you really don’t have enough material to go around and eventually it runs out of steam, a lot of the story is waiting around for the next thing to occur with exposition filling in the gaps. Also, our secondary antagonist, CIA coordinator Vansell, who has appeared in a couple stories already, is a painfully underused character. For a while, he becomes this self-important and ego-driven monster who tries to usurp the throne from Romana, getting driven insane by a mass of sentient anti-time posing as the corpse of Rassilon (Neverland is really weird, didn’t I mention?). However, it’s revealed that in actuality, this was all a result of the anti-time corrupting him, making him a whole lot more boring and the fact the he illegally wiped people from history, including friends of Romana’s, is kind of swept under the rug for a very unnecessary self-sacrifice that truly doesn’t land. This decision baffles me as he was a genuinely pretty good antagonist for a while, only for the story to completely write it over. On top of all of this, we’re set in a universe made of “anti-time”, but we never really get to see what that is. We only ever see this antiverse from afar and are never able to explore the effects of it, which is a real shame since it’s such an interesting and conceptually rich idea. Despite how alive our setting is, its main component still feels vacant.

Neverland is a bombastic and worthy series finale that feels like the perfect, bizarre conclusion to one of the most original and interesting runs of Doctor Who ever, riffing Peter Pan and timelord mythology in one fell swoop. Despite dragging its feet a little towards the middle, it is a bonkers, scary ride that expertly sets up Zagreus whilst still being its own, genius little story.

8/10

Pros:

+ Surreal and twisting plot that never feels derivative

+ Strange and well-realised setting

+ The concept and execution of the never-people is incredibly creepy

+ Brilliant performance from Lalla Ward as Romana

+ Charley gets a ton of material here

+ All time great cliff-hanger

Cons:

- Vansell was a wasted character

- Didn’t explore anti-time enough

- A little too long