Honestly I was shocked to learn that this was by Nick Briggs, like he is a very competent Writer, don’t get me wrong, but usually his Stories don’t do much for me or make me go “Oh that was interesting”, this one on the other hand.. Oh boi did I feel intrigued. Admittedly not all of it worked for me, the non-linear structure is fascinating and for the most Part well done, even if it got a bit confusing at times. The Highlight of this Release is easily the Sound Design, as well as Briggs Dialogue, which feels very special and gives this Audio a different sort of flavor to it. What does with its Themes is pretty amazing. And since others have already articulated it so well, I am not going to try (and fail) with that, so I highly recommend reading what others have said about the Themes in particular!

If anything, I think this Story is a match made in heaven for the TARDIS Team of Nyssa and 5, it just adds to the Story greatly.
Looking at the Reactions, I think this is easily one of those ‘you either love/really like it’ or ‘feel cold about it’, for me, I am in the former camp! What a delightful surprise, who knew Briggs had it in him to write a thought-provoking Tale, that is anything but a crowd-pleaser?

Now this is creative storytelling. I thought I would struggle to get on board, the brilliant use of structure and audience expectations creates a brilliant timey-esc story that fits together perfectly. I do need to re-listen.

Okay, I listened to this one pretty recently and I have some really strong (very positive!) feelings about it so, strap in, this is going to be a long, rambly ride... heavy spoilers, especially towards the end of this review. 5/5

The brutal arrest and interrogation of Nyssa hits hard in consideration of the terrible crimes committed by psychiatric institutions. The effects of conflict described in terms of ugliness and beauty is truly fascinating - with Briggs known as the voice of the Daleks, it's easy to forget that he can also be a fantastic writer. The idea of 'otherness' is heavily pushed here - anyone else who grew up on the sidelines, marginalised by your peers, feel really called out here?

I feel like this story managed a great balance of politics and morality - it's like, the effect of political decisions told through conflicted feelings, that just makes it hit much harder than if we saw the carnage from a wider, more outside perspective, and this really could have only been acheived with this innovative story structure. I found the structure really enjoyable, not at all confusing, and I think it allowed for a proper exploration of the Doctor and Nyssa's involvement in it all that would have been much more difficult/impossible if it wasn't told in this order.

In love with the way the story challenges the Doctor's role in the story - in all stories! The way he acts just as much of an all-knowing superior saviour as the Koteem do to the Veln, just because he has a cool ship (time travel) and a cool name and backstory (time lord, Gallifrey). This deals so well with the problem of the bystander... Usually, the Doctor arrives to save a race. But today, the races were already saving themselves, just not in a way that everyone could agree upon. As Nyssa said, they made no difference. They changed nothing. But I think, that's the point - they didn't have to. They can save themselves. They can make the choice, to live or to die, and that's their decision.
And in the end, isn't that all we want? That autonomy? Isn't that all that matters?

Pollution and oil & gas and global warming and capitalism's genocides and the saviour complex of the guilty party and the fact that in climate change we are not all in the same boat because some of us are in yachts.... damn this is a good story. "Ridiculed me in public, but took my money behind closed doors" HELLO!!! I just. I cannot say anything about this that isn't said in itself.

OMG IT WAS THEM. IT WAS THE TARDIS THAT CAUSED THE COLLISION. ALL THIS TIME THINKING THEY DID NOTHING AND IT WAS THEM. But of course, it could have been anything... It didn't have to be them, that's not the point, that's just the ironic icing on the cake. The point is that the Koteem did this to themselves, they used this oil and gas I mean dyestrial, they poisoned themselves, and then the captain took shortcuts that endangered the Veln's lives to save a few bucks, they did this to them, they did it... Never forget, it wasn't the Doctor that caused this all. It was greed. Capitalistic greed, plain and simple... Two whole species, destroyed... Because of capitalistic greed...

I cannot think of anything uglier.

This is a very enjoyable story. It took me a little while to realise it was being told out of sequence. On reflection it seemed to be primarily be about world building and exploring the history of two very different societies/ how they interact with each other. Very dark, very serious but skilfully written.

I don't think its one of my absolute favourites on first listen but I could imagine it becoming one on a second listen - there is so much to unpick. I think it is difficult to track the progression of the story, work out where it started and where it ended up as its told non-linearly, so there may have been a major revelation which eluded me.