This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Lady of Mercia

I take back what I said about The Emerald Tiger, THIS is the best story in the 'Older Nyssa' arc. I think the Fifth Doctor is at his best when put in impossible situations and what could be a better example of that than this. It's not something I want to spoil because few situations in Doctor Who have felt as hopeless as this. I love the way it ties all the hints we've been getting of Nyssa's family together, although there is one plot thread opened up at the end that I imagine they'll use for the final trilogy.

I'm a sucker for timey-wimey stuff in Doctor Who, I find paradoxes incredibly fascinating and this story has it all. Couple that with deeply emotional themes and fantastic performances from Sarah Sutton and Peter Davison and you get a story that could contend for one of the best Fifth Doctor stories of all time. I'm hesitant to say it IS the best (though that says more about the quality of the Fifth Doctor) but it's certainly close. The funny thing is I personally thought this story started off quite weak so when someone told me that they thought it was the best 5 story released by Big Finish while I was halfway through I could hardly believe them.

It was definitely with the introduction of the sentient Type 50 TARDIS that hooked me and turned this story from generic to outstanding. TARDISes are shown to have so much power in the Doctor Who universe so that have one as the villain for a story makes for some incredible stakes. I also really like the touch that it was vengeful against the Doctor because he ran off with another TARDIS and that it only seeked him out because he was such an exceptional TARDIS pilot.

Naturally because Nyssa and the Doctor are the focuses of this story Tegan and Turlough get sidelined a little. But it speaks volumes about this story that even they manage to be entertaining and make an impact for me despite being way out of the spotlight. I also found Nyssa's son, Adric, to be a really interesting character. I think the whole cast of characters is great and I really have to commend Big Finish for turning Nyssa from the very two-dimensional character she was on TV to such an iconic companion.

Next Story: Mistfall