The last time I listened to the Sirens of Time was about 3 years ago when it came up as a free promo. I first bought it on tape when it came out. Not something I’ve listened to a lot though, maybe once or twice at the time.

The original release had three episodes, each episode featuring one of the The Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors. With them arriving somewhere meeting someone and having an adventure, with the Timelords, and time distortions as the arc. In episode four they met up worked out what was going on.

As for this new redux, well it mixes things up a little. We start mainly with the Fifth Doctor on a ship during the world war, with some interludes from the Seventh Doctor, and the Sixth not appearing til the end of part one. Other than the fact there is something wrong with time, we’re still pretty much in the dark.

Sometimes, whether its a TV or audio, and I find I’m not taking it in, I’ve decided to start again. If I’m still having trouble I place the blame on the narrative. I got to part four of this and restarted.

It tries be another Five Doctors, the music is very reminiscent of that era. But whereas the Five Doctors took the Doctor sand Companions and placed them in the same place. This is three different stories with another over arching plotline on top. With the Fifth on a German submarine during the war, the Sixth pretending to be a delegate on some space station. The seventh? Well I never really understood what his story was about, whenever it got back to his story it didn’t seem to quite pick up from where he left off.

The fact is that it wasn’t always immediately apparent which storyline you were listening to, which one of the Doctors’ or the Timelords, that the current scene was a part of. It was a bit clearer on second listening, so whether I paid attention more, or just was more familiar with it, I can’t say.

There is a lot of exposition in the last part, and maybe if it had been written now perhaps they would have not made it so heavy. Its nice to have the three eighties Doctors together though.

At the end it goes back to the Sevenths story which felt odd, I think the original started with his story so going back it it made sense, but this started with the Fifth, so less so.

Personally, if I listen to the Sirens of Time again, I’ll stick to the original.