That was fun.

The story does feel more standalone from the story arc, but I ended up having a good time anyway.

I wish they addressed what happened to the Master, but eh...

The interactions between characters were great - War and Fugitive being manipulated into fighting each other and Benny not having a clue who is who is so fun.
For some it might seem that there is a lot going on, but in my opinion it doesn't feel overloaded.

*The Union* is still my favourite out of the bunch, but this one wasn't as bad as it could've been. I had a good time.

definitely a more fun, and less intense ending to the once and future range. despite me thinking initially the range of characters in this would be too much, a lot of it was just cameos so it didn't feel crowded. the interactions between benny, fugitive and war were great and a real treat! it did feel like a set-up in some ways to the fugitive series, and i for one cannot WAIT for that to come out!

📝8/10 → VERY ENJOYABLE!

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

THE FINAL ACT, or A GLORIOUS DEBUT!

The Final Act is truly that—it sees the Fugitive Doctor sent out on a mission to take down the Doctor after his various meddlings throughout time and space in the previous parts. This sends the Doctor, in his War form, to find allies who will fight for him. Benny gets involved by bumping into Fugitive, looking for the Doctor. There’s certainly an aura of Big Finish Dartboard here again, but at least this is a pretty fun mix of characters.

Vienna and Queen Elizabeth are the only characters whose inclusion isn’t really justified.

The audio taps into the different nature of both War and Fugitive while placing Benny, who is very experienced with most incarnations of the Time Lord, in between them. We explore Fugitive and how she differs from the usual Doctor, together with Benny, and the story also draws comparisons between Fugitive and War. Sadly, there's not a lot of time devoted to actually pitting these two extreme reincarnations against each other before the story requires them to cooperate against a common enemy (which includes some of that tropical banter we get whenever multiple incarnations of the Doctor meet).

The Doctors go head to head on the planet Coda—giving the name of the release a bit more weight. Most of the first half sees the two Doctors preparing for the battle to come, so there’s certainly a feel of a series finale here. Some of the scenes presented here, of the armies gathering and fighting and of the sky dragon attacking, are pretty vivid, thanks to Tim Foley’s writing and the sound design.

I cannot quite express the sheer joy and excitement of hearing Jo Martin in Big Finish's story at last. It's similar to the glee I felt upon finally hearing Chris Eccleston return as the Ninth Doctor. Jonathon Carley is also flawless as the War Doctor, and I love how he perfectly sells the idea of this incarnation, borrowing Queen Elizabeth's army to fight against another incarnation of himself. And Lisa Bowerman is as sassy as ever as Benny; the best scenes in the audio are the ones where these three leads are interacting.

Imogen Stubbs is such a perfect Queen Elizabeth.

The Voord are an odd, and not entirely justified, addition to the story, but having them join the Fugitive’s side in the fight is certainly interesting.

I love that they even bring in a proper dragon!

The tail end of the story explains the entire Once & Future story arc—it’s quick and simple and not explored to its fullest, which makes me suspect there’s more to come. And then they hit the big reset button at the end again, which makes this entire series moot.

Around the time of the first Out of Time multi-Doctor story I saw a fan coin the term “popcorn Who” which I think neatly fits the description of this audio. It’s a lot of fun, and more story led and substantial than some Big Finish throw-a-bunch-of-characters-together efforts.

Oddly its Bernice Summerfield who steals the show through the sheer force of Lisa Bowerman’s charismatic performance, and how she bounces off of the two Doctors, who have been pitted against each other.

The only thing I could have totally done without is the on the nose descriptions the Doctor’s give of each other: “capable of dark decisions”, “the one who has lost their memories”, “the one who has had a great lost”. I think given the audience’s familiarity with these characters they could have gone a bit further with building out their characters and how they interact with each other, which was pretty paint by numbers.

She's here!!

I haven't listened to the rest of Once and Future but had to check this out for Jo Martin. And while a few lines delivered by here land a little flat to me, I think that's just because she's new to doing BF audio dramas. Overall she does a great job, and I love how they weren't toothless with making her a bit more ruthless than other Doctors!

Jonathan Carley is, of course, amazing; and so hard to even differentiate from Jon Hurt at this point. Fab performances all round.

Really loved Benny here, and the running joke with her name.

Sadly I think the cameo fest, a few flat line deliveries, and how weirdly expository and on the nose this story could be at times all hold this back. Good story to introduce a new era though! Just not great imo.