✅8.2

😃Great!

👌🏼Essential!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

A NEW BEGINNING!

I love the opening scene, which brings back Paul McGann with force in an exciting action scene. McGann leads this adventure with great energy and confidence, proving that he would have been a great action-hero Doctor on TV. His youthful devotion to the role is contagious, particularly in how he handles the alien invaders.

The characters and their dialogue, as well as the simple sound design, build an evocative setting onboard the royal airship in the 1930s. I truly felt like I was on the ship with the characters, following their treacherous journey through the storm.

The sound design is also used effectively to create a tense, mysterious, and exciting atmosphere.

India Fisher's Charlotte Pollard is introduced early on and used well throughout the adventure. Her adventurous energy and quick wit make her an instant favourite. She also instantly hits it off with McGann.

Barnaby Edwards offers a memorable performance as Rathbone, and Hylton Collins is great as Chief Steward Weeks. Gareth Thomas is a very believable upper-class Lord, and Helen Goldwyn provides an early example of a larger-than-life alien voice for Big Finish.

It is clear very early on that they have a set plan for the Eighth Doctor, and they are already beginning to build a larger story arc in this story, giving most of what appears here a true purpose, with the rewards coming later.

It's interesting how Big Finish set up Charley as more than a simple companion—an anomaly who shouldn't exist. This was a few years before that would be commonplace in the revived series!

Part 4 is action-packed and effectively fills up the tension and stakes. I love the Vortisaur riding and the climactic moment of the crash—all very cinematic.

This one has some of the early clunky Big Finish writing, where the characters say out loud what they are doing and seeing. This is especially bad when the Doctor walks around talking to himself.

The latter half gets surprisingly high-concept sci-fi and can be a bit difficult to follow at times. Part 3 is significantly longer than the other episodes and can feel a bit overstretched.