REVIEW ALSO POSTED IN THE PURSUIT OF HISTORY

The proper finale to the Williams era - And boy, am I glad to be out of there! This is an interesting story - but it's far too complicated to be split up into two different episodes just to rack up the money, one of the main issues I have with this range - and the fact that this is taking place on audio, too. I'm honestly left so confused - There were some parts where I understood what was going on, but then they just introduce new plot threads and The Black Guardian shows up and changes the entire story - but he only appears in Part 4. You'd think a story about The Black Guardian finally catching up to the Doctor and Romana would be a story in itself, but instead we've got Cuthbert changing history with quantum gateways and making AIs of the Doctor and Romana, and Romana making friends with random aliens. It's a mess of ideas and I'm not a fan at all - This is the biggest failure of the Fourth Doctor Adventures range. When it's simpler and calmer, it's boring, and when they go all out, it's too complicated to keep a track of, and it's stories like this that just don't make me interested in reviewing properly. It's a good story, but buried under too much.

Was that good … prehaps

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

Previous Story: The Pursuit of History

I think this is one of the best finales in all of the 4DAs. It is the culmination of everything from Series 2 and 5. The return of the Black Guardian. David Troughton's performance is incredible and captures the immense power of the Black Guardian perfectly. I do like that Cuthbert gets a redemption in the end, making him into one of my favourite recurring characters on audio. Not that he wasn't already.

So many plot threads are tied up in this story and all really well. The parrot is also finally explained, while I think it was a bit of a deus ex machina, I can't complain because it's been appearing since all the way back in The Sands of Life.

Also after looking on Tardis Wiki this story also features the Salonu, who appeared in The Evil One. Little details like that really help the extended timeline feel more cohesive.

Next Story: The Doomsday Contract

4DA Series 5 Review: 10/10

An extremely timey-wimey series, easily the best series of the 4DAs. I don't think there's a single story in this series that I wouldn't relisten to. Maybe Gallery of Ghouls, but even then that was a very fun story.

There's a very strong feeling of the Black Guardian looming over the whole series. It's foreshadowed with Romana's concerns about the Doctor disabling the randomiser at times. I really enjoy how this series tied together things from Series 2 aswell. It makes me wonder if this was originally intended to be with Romana I instead.