The Monthly Adventures #050 - “Zagreus" by Gary Russell and Alan Barnes

I’m not really sure how I got here. Woke up one day, decided to start listening to the whole of The Monthly Adventures, then it was a bit of a blur and well, here we are, the big 5-0. I don’t think there’s another audio that is even slightly similar to this one: a four hour long behemoth that absolutely defies explanation, built up over the course of about 25 stories, the culmination to multiple arcs that includes nearly every major actor featured up to that point. This is THE audio story, the apotheosis of Big Finish experimentation and wondrous delirium, a maddening descent of nursery rhymes and Lewis Caroll that concludes with Charley and the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors (but not really the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors) riding a jabberwocky across the Death Zone. This is the end of Big Finish’s first era, this is Zagreus.

The Doctor is gone, Zagreus is come. Possessed by a nursery rhyme and gifted the capability to destroy the universe, a maddened Doctor wanders the empty halls of his empty ship, hunting his former friend. But as memories become material, a far greater threat is unearthed. And it may just mean the end of everything.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Where does one even begin with Zagreus? Is there a point to begin at? It’s a mad, overambitious, wonderfully rash and utterly bonkers story that is essentially Doctor Who’s version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, jumping head first into the rabbit hole so to speak and ending up in one of the most wildly original stories ever conceived. In simple terms, Zagreus is a glorified anthology work, switching between different stories surrounding Zagreus and soon-to-be-series-arc the Divergence, from experiments in Cold War Britain to a warzone in space Disneyland at the end of the universe. Basically, it’s what if The Sirens of Time wasn’t an unfocused and underwhelming mess, even keeping the gimmick of a different Doctor for each story, though these Doctors are actually the TARDIS using previous incarnations to stand in for other people, like a priest or legally distinct Walt Disney (Zagreus is very confusing, if you couldn’t tell). Far from just reciting plot points, I don’t think I can express enough that Zagreus is full to bursting with fresh ideas, fresh concepts, fresh everything. Put it on and prepare to lose your mind as you’re hit with insane moment after insane moment. And whilst listening, take note of how the story never seems to drag. Lo and behold, against everything I know about script writing, this four hour long audio-only fever dream never once feels slow, never once feels like it’s not using up its time well. Ok, that’s an exaggeration, a lot of the early moments consist of the Doctor wandering around the TARDIS library talking to Jon Pertwee’s archived, robotic voice but it’s still shocking how the unique structure of Zagreus effectively keeps your attention. And if that doesn’t excite you, maybe the fact that Big Finish raised enough of a budget to employ every single talent they had for this audio will. As the TARDIS uses its data banks to fill in the faces of people it shows in flashback, it uses the old Doctors and their companions, meaning nearly every actor that has led a story makes an appearance. So, obviously, you get a ridiculously good soundscape of incredibly talented performers, with everybody from Maggie Stables to Sophie Aldred making an appearance, and even some companions not yet featured in the audios, like Anneke Wills or Elisabeth Sladen. Plus, we have Nicholas Courtney as the TARDIS interface, so basically stellar performances all round. And then there’s just the scope of the  thing: I don’t believe Big Finish have ever done something quite like this since, this is a big, bold and loud finale with all the mannerisms of one. Despite taking place in mostly the TARDIS matrix, you really get a sense of scale, and at how dire this whole situation is. It genuinely feels like the whole universe could just collapse in on itself at any point. Perhaps it's because of how much we get to explore Gallifrey; about half of Zagreus is set on the mythological world and the insights we get into its society and history. Especially how we find out how utterly backwards it all was under Rassilon. A lot of people complain when we see more of Gallifrey, that it’s better as a legend or it’s too bureaucratic but frankly, I love that direction. A corrupt cabal of kingmakers with a monopoly over time, a group that see themselves as gods but in reality are just another political system. I much prefer this because in the end, the Doctor himself isn't some mystical god like being, he’s a runaway from a system that rejected him. And seeing how Rassilon waged war on people out of heedless bigotry is a fascinating insight into the relationship between Gallifrey and the rest of the universe. I personally think it’s brilliant worldbuilding and one of the many reasons Zagreus works so well for me.

But I would be a fool to call this story perfect, because god knows it is messy. As I said before, the first part has a lot of aimless wandering, like a whole section of the Doctor discussing philosophy with a Cheshire cat, which is nearly entirely pointless and clearly just there to give McGann something to do. And especially by the end, it becomes very unfocused, switching between three different sets of characters as it keeps trying to pull off more and more clever and mad ideas that don’t really fit together. In fact, this whole climax is a let down. Four hours just for the Doctor to be quickly talked out of his madness so he can throw Rassilon into another universe, followed by ten minutes of awkward conversation. It’s a surprisingly lowkey ending, allowing for a moment of stillness to wrap up the internal character arcs but it doesn’t reach tonal synergy and is somewhat of an odd amendum. Mostly the saving grace of the final act is the inclusion of Romana and Leela, ready and waiting for Gallifrey to get started. And, as much as I hate to say it, the tone can sometimes be Zagreus’ own downfall. There is a slightly comedic edge to the insanity, and whilst a lot of the time it aids the bonkers aspects, sometimes it makes the script feel like Looney Tunes, or a really weird pantomime. It’s not constant, but there are some moments which could only be described as cringe-worthy.

But that is not enough to dissuade my love for Zagreus. First time I listened to it, I wasn’t all that keen. It was… a lot. It was so full of ideas that I just couldn’t keep up and realised by the end that I was somewhat lost. However, on a second listen, with prior knowledge of what was to come, I simply allowed myself to be taken away into the rabbit hole, descending into what is easily one of the Doctor Who’s most insane episodes, and also one of its best finales to boot. What a way to end the first chunk of The Monthly Adventures: a fine way to conclude one of Doctor Who’s most experimental moments, and a fine story at that. Sure, it may be a bit of a muddle, but I love Zagreus, and I think it’s simply brilliant.

9/10

Pros:

+ Wildly original and endlessly mad series of bizarro ideas

+ Ridiculously fast for a four-hour long audio drama

+ Has a cast boasting every single talent at Big Finish

+ Brilliant addition to Time Lord mythology

+ Has all the cadence and scope of a series finale

Cons:

- Very messy and by the end, quite unfocused

- Has a climax that does not justify the four hours

- The story and dialogue can be utterly asinine at points