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TARDIS Guide

Overview

Released

August 1999

Cover Art by

Nik Spender

Directed by

Gary Russell

Runtime

106 minutes

Time Travel

Past

Tropes (Potential Spoilers!)

Nazis, Pure Historical, War, World War II

Story Arc (Potential Spoilers!)

The Time Ring

Inventory (Potential Spoilers!)

Time Ring

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Guernsey, Earth

Synopsis

THE TIME RING TRILOGY: PART 3

"Tomorrow belongs to us, not you. If you were really from the future, Miss Summerfield, you would be a Nazi."

The Nazis occupy British soil and British citizens are being deported to European concentration camps. Those who do not co-operate with the Germans are shot.

This isn't a parallel universe: this is Guernsey, 1941, and it's where Bernice is stranded. With no sign of Jason, she has to endure the full horror of the situation, alone and afraid.

And something, somewhere has gone wrong. The Nazis are building a secret weapon, one that will have a decisive effect on the outcome of the war - and it's up to Benny to put history back on course...

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7 reviews

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

“JUST WAR: TIME TRAVEL, TORTURE, AND THE TRAGEDY OF JASON KANE”

The Time Ring Trilogy draws to a close with Just War, and it does so in the most harrowing and emotionally charged way imaginable. Adapted by Jacqueline Rayner from Lance Parkin’s Virgin New Adventures novel, this tale plunges us into an alternate 1941 in which the Nazis have successfully occupied Britain. It’s a premise that instantly establishes a world thick with dread and discomfort, and the audio wastes no time immersing the listener in its bleak setting. There are no monsters, no explosions, and no technobabble resolutions—this is pure character drama amidst one of the darkest periods in human history.

Jason Kane takes the place of the original novel’s Seventh Doctor, Chris, and Roz, becoming Benny’s only real anchor across a two-part story where the pair are separated once more, forced to survive under false identities in a world that wants them dead. Both are working from within the Nazi war machine—Benny as the fake daughter of a Cornish matriarch, Jason disguised as a Nazi officer—all in a desperate effort to track and sabotage the development of an experimental stealth weapon that could rewrite history itself.

BERNICE IN HELL: A TOUR-DE-FORCE PERFORMANCE

Lisa Bowerman is astonishing here, giving us perhaps her most vulnerable performance as Bernice to date. This isn’t the wisecracking, quip-hurling archaeologist we know and love. Trapped in a Nazi-controlled Britain, Benny is terrified—truly terrified—in a way no Dalek or alien warlord ever made her. She’s already killed to protect herself and clings desperately to the maternal kindness of Ma Doras, a woman who knows Benny’s identity is fake but plays along anyway out of quiet, determined decency.

Maggie Stables makes her Big Finish debut as Ma Doras, and she is a revelation. She brings the same warm, steadying presence she’d later embody as Evelyn Smythe, grounding Benny emotionally and offering her a lifeline amid the horror. The moments between Ma and Benny are among the most honest and affecting of the entire trilogy.

Benny's journey through this story is one of torment and tenacity—she is arrested, imprisoned, interrogated, and tortured, all while trying not to give away her identity or lose her mind. And Bowerman walks us through this emotional gauntlet with grace, rage, and heartbreak. It’s a stunning performance that anchors the entire audio.

VILLAINS IN THE SHADOWS

Mark Gatiss voices the ice-cold Standardtenführer Wolff, and he’s bone-chilling—polite, calm, utterly remorseless. It’s a performance built on restraint, and that makes him all the more terrifying. Michael Wade's Oberst Steinmann, meanwhile, oozes menace in quieter ways. His refusal to acknowledge the possibility of a future without the Nazi regime, simply because he can't imagine a world where they don't win, is perhaps the story’s most disturbing idea. It’s chillingly plausible.

The interrogation scenes—particularly the ones where the Nazis try to break Benny psychologically—are superbly crafted. The idea that they believe she cannot be a time traveller from a future without Nazis because no other worldview is imaginable to them is a deeply unsettling conceit. And Benny, forced to pretend she is someone else while being punished for being herself, makes for a bleak but compelling arc.

JASON’S REDEMPTION

While Benny goes through physical and psychological hell, Jason Kane’s story unfolds at a slower pace. But Stephen Fewell brings a quiet tragedy to the role that blossoms beautifully in the story’s final stretch. His reunion with Benny is cathartic, and the moment he murders Wolff in cold blood—not out of revenge, but to protect Benny—is gut-wrenching and deeply human. There’s no glory in it, just raw desperation and love he can’t express any other way. Benny doesn’t know how to respond. And that ambiguity is perfect.

It’s perhaps Fewell’s best work in the role—subtle, broken, and ultimately noble.

A QUIETLY POWERFUL CONCLUSION

While Just War starts slowly and contains little traditional action, it is layered with tension and suffused with an oppressive atmosphere that never lets up. Its themes—about fascism, identity, survival, and the fragility of history—are handled with mature restraint. There are no bombastic twists or alien invasions. The sci-fi elements (the stealth bomber, the time ring) are almost incidental, with the true heart of the story lying in how these characters survive the worst of human evil.

As a finale to the Time Ring Trilogy, it lacks the grandeur or sweeping scope of Walking to Babylon, but it offers something deeper: emotional catharsis. It’s grim and unrelenting, but powerful in its honesty. Rayner proves here that she’s just as comfortable crafting raw, character-driven drama as she is penning joyful comedy.

📝VERDICT: 9/10

Just War is a stark, emotionally mature piece of storytelling that proves Big Finish can do far more than space opera. Lisa Bowerman gives her most raw and human performance yet as Benny, and the supporting cast is uniformly excellent. It’s not a thrill-a-minute adventure but a haunting exploration of identity, trauma, and the dangers of ideology. If you’ve followed the Time Ring Trilogy thus far, this is a must-listen—and it might just be the best of the three.


MrColdStream

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This review contains spoilers!

Considerada por muitos a primeira obra prima da história da BIG FINISH, Just War encerra a trilogia do Time Ring na mais alta qualidade possível apresentada na linha da Professor Bernice Summerfield. É difícil descrever em poucas palavras o quão primorosa é a história de Lance Parkin, aponto até mesmo de enquadra-la no meu hall de melhores áudios que já ouvi, se juntando ao inalcançável “A Death In The Family”, “Scherzo”, ”Jubilee” entre outros áudios memoráveis. Devo logo avisar ao leitores sensíveis que Just War talvez seja o áudio mais pesado que a BIG FINISH já produziu – A ideia de Lance Parkin é chocar o ouvinte mostrando o quão asquerosos, desumanos e cruéis os nazistas eram, te mostrando um nível da crueldade violenta absurda de forma muito extrema, reforçando mais uma vez o porquê os nazistas devem serem varridos da existência – Dando continuidade aos eventos finais de “Birthright”, Benny e Jason são arremessados pelo Time Ring para o ano de 1941 onde a Segunda Guerra Mundial continua a todo vapor. Novamente os personagens principais estão separados, ambos em situações muito delicadas - Jason se tornou um espião da Royal Air Force vivendo secretamente, sabemos que ele já está nisso há cinco anos, além de ajudar a sabotar os planos dos nazistas ele espera encontrar sinais de sua ex-mulher. Bernice vive discretamente em casinha em Guernsey se passando por “Celia Dora”, a filha já falecida de uma simpática idosa chamada “Ma Dora” (interpretada pela saudosa Maggie Stables). Essa senhora deu moradia e está ajudando Benny a manter sua identidade, dizendo (quando questionada) que a arqueóloga é sua filha. Para manter o disfarce, Benny decide trabalhar como faxineira em um hotel de soldados nazistas se deparando todos os dias com coisas absurdas. Sua colega e amiga Marie começa a suspeitar de sua identidade, mas é ela quem desperta o interesse de Benny para investigar coisas estranhas que estão acontecendo na pista de pouso próximo a sua casa.  Benny também conhece um jovem soldado chamado Gerhard que logo fica atraído pela personagem - Certo dia, durante o toque de recolher, Benny manipula o jovem soldado a dar um passeio com ela, fingindo que isso era um date sério, mas na verdade só queria investigar a pista de pouso, então os dois se deparam com uma aeronave caindo nas proximidades, mas são interrompidos por um outro soldado chamado Franz Hutter impedindo-os de investigarem o local. Benny volta para casa e planeja examinar os destroços no dia seguinte para descobrir se é algo alienígena . É aqui nesse ponto, quando a arqueóloga decide investigar sozinha que as coisas começam a piorar para ela, avistada por soldados nazistas ao tentar fugir Benny não consegue se encontra encurralada, quando vira para o soldado e vê que é o Gerhard. Aqui temos o primeiro momento pesado desse áudio, pois Benny manipula o jovem novamente, toma sua arma e se encontra em um dilema: Devo deixa-lo ir e a notícia se espalha ou devo mata-lo para manter meu segredo? [⚠ SPOILERS] Benny decide mata-lo a sangue frio para manter sua sobrevivência e a da senhora Ma, como consequência nos próximos dias os soldados nazistas vão à procura do(a) traidor(a) e acabam executando em público seis civis punindo sua colega Marie, sendo executada em público. Dias depois alguém entrega um bilhete para Benny alegando ser de um grupo de resistência, oferecendo passagem para a Grã-Bretanha, ao chegar no local combinado ela se depara com sua colega Marie confirmando que era uma espiãs disfarçada, até que um oficial nazista chamado Wolff pegam as duas no pulo, ele acaba matando Marie quebrando o pescoço dela e Benny é presa. ❕ ATENÇÃO: É aqui que as coisas começam a ficar assustadoramente pesadas, já avisando as pessoas sensíveis.  Pois Bernice passa por inúmeros interrogatórios sendo torturada violentamente, talvez a cena mais medonha e pesada dentre muitas é quando ameaçam a raspar a cabeça da arqueóloga, ouvimos gritos e esperneios perturbadores e traumatizantes vindo da personagem o que no fim é polpada de raspar a cabeça. Uma outra é quando a asquerosa enfermeira Rose Kitzel vai quebrando aos poucos uma das mãos de Benny. Conforme os interrogatórios vão acontecendo, vamos acompanhando o sofrimento da personagem, ficando cada vez mais debilitada e desnutrida. A notícia da morte de Gerhard nas mãos de uma mulher se espalha e chega em Jason, suspeitando o envolvimento de Benny e se infiltra em Guernsey, mas acaba sendo capturado e levado até o oficial nazista “Oberst Oskar Steinmann”. Depois de uma breve conversa com Jason, Steinmann começa ligar os pontos fazendo assim uma visita a cela de Benny, a quem Wolff tem torturado sem fazer nenhuma pergunta real, o oficial faz com que Rose Kitzel transferi-la para uma cela com cama e fornecendo uma refeição leve e adverte Wolff por suas ações. Ele assume o interrogatório, ao perceber sua conexão com Jason, Steimann pede para Rose Kitzel dar um relaxante/droga para que a Benny solte a língua e começa a revelar a verdade, ela diz ser uma arqueóloga do futuro e fala que no futuro não existe espaço para o fascismo e o nazismo que desaparecerá em breve, serão todos varridos como vermes. Depois de mais algumas coisas Benny e Jason finalmente se reencontram e descobrem através do oficial Steimann que os nazistas estão projetando um avião muito afrente de seu tempo que os ajudará a vencer a guerra. Just War é possivelmente o maior soco no estômago que você receberá em uma aventura de áudio drama da BIG FINISH, e que provavelmente fará você se sentir mal no final - Não pelo motivo de ser mal escrito ou de mal gosto, mas sim porque realmente mostra sem nenhuma censura os horrores da Segunda Guerra Mundial, Lance Parkin não ameniza as atrocidades vis que foram cometidas em nome do Terceiro Reich, não só transmitindo a crueldade mas também todo o sentimento angustiante de apavoro e de muito medo dos que viveram essa guerra. Devo elogiar toda a produção de Just War, ao começar pelo trabalho de áudio que realmente mantem o tempo todo o ouvinte imerso ao cenário amedrontador e brutal – As performances do cast é coisa de outro mundo, Lisa Bowerman tem o que talvez seja sua melhor performance na BIG FINISH, destacar a primorosa e assustadora performance de Michael Wide interpretando o oficial Steiman, sem dizer que o elenco ainda conta com Mark Gatiss e Maggie Stables conhecida pela sua personagem companion do 6° Doutor, Evelyn Smythe. Em resumo, essa foi mais uma das poucas experiências fenomenais que tive com os áudios, a última parecida foi com “A Death In The Family”. Sem dúvidas Just War é uma senhora OBRA PRIMA memorável um dos melhores lançamentos da história da BIG FINISH.

Considered by many to be the first masterpiece in the history of BIG FINISH, Just War concludes the Time Ring trilogy in the highest quality possible presented in the Professor Bernice Summerfield line. It's hard to describe in a few words just how exquisite Lance Parkin's story is, to the point of including it in my hall of best audios I've ever heard, joining the unreachable "A Death In The Family", "Scherzo", "Jubilee" among other memorable audios. I must warn sensitive readers that Just War may be the heaviest audio BIG FINISH has ever produced – Lance Parkin's idea is to shock the listener by showing how disgusting, inhuman and cruel the Nazis were, showing you a level of absurd violent cruelty in a very extreme way, reinforcing once again why the Nazis must be wiped from existence – Continuing the final events of "Birthright", Benny and Jason are thrown by the Time Ring to the year 1941 where World War II continues at full steam. Again the main characters are separated, both in very delicate situations - Jason has become a spy for the Royal Air Force living secretly, we know he has been at this for five years, in addition to helping to sabotage the plans of the Nazis he hopes to find signs of his ex-wife. Bernice lives discreetly in a little house in Guernsey posing as "Celia Dora", the already deceased daughter of a kind old lady called "Ma Dora" (played by the late Maggie Stables). This lady has given housing and is helping Benny maintain her identity, stating (when questioned) that the archaeologist is her daughter. To maintain the disguise, Benny decides to work as a cleaner in a hotel of Nazi soldiers encountering all sorts of absurd things every day. Her colleague and friend Marie begins to suspect her identity, but it is she who arouses Benny's interest in investigating strange things that are happening on the nearby runway. Benny also meets a young soldier named Gerhard who soon becomes attracted to the character - One day, during curfew, Benny manipulates the young soldier to go for a walk with her, pretending that it was a serious date, but really just wanted to investigate the runway, then the two come across an aircraft crashing nearby, but are interrupted by another soldier named Franz Hutter preventing them from investigating the site. Benny returns home and plans to examine the wreckage the next day to discover if it is something alien. It is at this point, when the archaeologist decides to investigate alone that things start to worsen for her, spotted by Nazi soldiers trying to flee Benny finds herself cornered, when she turns to the soldier and sees that it is Gerhard. Here we have the first heavy moment of this audio, as Benny manipulates the young man again, takes his gun and finds herself in a dilemma: Should I let him go and the news spreads or should I kill him to keep my secret? [⚠ SPOILERS] Benny decides to kill him coldly to maintain her survival and that of Mrs. Ma, as a consequence in the following days the Nazi soldiers go in search of the traitor(s) and end up publicly executing six civilians punishing her colleague Marie, being executed in public. Days later someone delivers a note to Benny claiming to be from a resistance group, offering passage to Britain, upon arriving at the agreed place she finds her colleague Marie confirming that she was a disguised spy, until a Nazi officer named Wolff catches the two red-handed, he ends up killing Marie by breaking her neck and Benny is arrested. ❕ ATTENTION: It is here that things start to become frighteningly heavy, already warning sensitive people. For Bernice undergoes numerous interrogations being tortured violently, perhaps the most daunting and heavy scene among many is when they threaten to shave the archaeologist's head, we hear disturbing and traumatizing screams and thrashing coming from the character which in the end is saved from having her head shaved. Another is when the disgusting nurse Rose Kitzel slowly breaks one of Benny's hands. As the interrogations go on, we follow the suffering of the character, becoming increasingly debilitated and malnourished. The news of Gerhard's death at the hands of a woman spreads and reaches Jason, suspecting Benny's involvement and he infiltrates Guernsey, but ends up being captured and taken to the Nazi officer "Oberst Oskar Steinmann". After a brief conversation with Jason, Steinmann begins to connect the dots thus making a visit to Benny's cell, whom Wolff has tortured without asking any real questions, the officer makes Rose Kitzel transfer her to a cell with a bed and providing a light meal and warns Wolff for his actions. He takes over the interrogation, upon realizing her connection with Jason, Steimann asks for Rose Kitzel to give a relaxant/drug so that Benny lets slip the truth, she says she is an archaeologist from the future and speaks that in the future there is no room for fascism and Nazism that will soon disappear, will all be wiped out like worms. After a few more things Benny and Jason finally meet again and discover through the officer Steimann that the Nazis are designing a plane far ahead of their time that will help them win the war. Just War is possibly the biggest gut punch you will receive in an audio drama adventure from BIG FINISH, and that will probably make you feel bad at the end - Not because it is poorly written or in bad taste, but because it really shows without any censorship the horrors of World War II, Lance Parkin does not soften the vile atrocities that were committed in the name of the Third Reich, not only transmitting the cruelty but also all the anguishing feeling of terror and very much fear of those who lived through that war. I must praise the entire production of Just War, starting with the audio work that really keeps the listener immersed in the frightening and brutal scenario all the time – The performances of the cast is out of this world, Lisa Bowerman has what might be her best performance in BIG FINISH, highlighting the exquisite and terrifying performance of Michael Wide playing officer Steiman, not to mention that the cast still includes Mark Gatiss and Maggie Stables known for her character companion of the 6th Doctor, Evelyn Smythe. In summary, this was one of the few phenomenal experiences I had with the audios, the last similar one was with "A Death In The Family". Without a doubt Just War is an outstanding MASTERPIECE memorable one of the best releases in the history of BIG FINISH.

(Translation generated by AI, so mistakes are possible).


KnuppMello

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This review contains spoilers!

21.10.2022

The strongest in the trilogy. Highlights are the graphic torture scenes, with Bernice's mind literally breaking. Very evocative and truly horrifying.
A big problem is how easily resolved the conflicts are after it is set up that they won't be easy to resolve. This wave-off approach felt confusing more than anything.
It's listenable, with some great scenes it's a textbook 3/5.


kiraoho

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This review contains spoilers!

This review comes with a large helping of nostalgia and I don’t know how I feel about that. Big Finish still, weirdly, seems like a ‘new thing’. It just feels current. But then, you look at the month and year they first released an audio – the audio adaptation of the Bernice Summerfield novel Oh No It Isn’t and realise it was September 1998. That’s the month and year I started my teaching career. I’ve been teaching for 24 years. That means Big Finish has been a going concern for 24 years. That’s only two year shy of Doctor Who’s original run. Big Finish isn’t a new thing at all. Therefore, even though it feels really weird, I think I’m allowed to see those early audios in a nostalgic light.

I was young, single and had cash to spend. I lapped up those early Big Finish releases with Benny and can still remember the excitement of the first Doctor Who release, The Sirens of Time. It was an exciting time to be a fan even though the prospect of a new TV series was so much pie in the sky.

In that first series of Bernice Summerfield was what was grandly-titled the Time Ring Trilogy. After only two other releases, BF decided to adapt three unrelated New Adventure novels – a Bernice Summerfield solo release (from after Virgin lost the licence to Doctor Who in the wake of the Paul McGann TV Movie), Walking to Babylon; the Doctor-lite Birthright; and the Doctor, Benny, Chris and Roz-lead Just War. All three were majorly rewritten to tie them together into a, fairly loose, trilogy. Characters such as the Doctor, Ace, Chris and Roz disappeared to be replaced, mainly, by Benny’s erstwhile husband Jason Kane.

I’ve already reviewed the first two releases in this trilogy I’ve finally arrived at the final part, Just War.

I remember the first time I listened to this audio. One sequence of scenes have stuck with me and those are of Bernice’s torture at the hands of Mark Gatiss’s sadistic Nazi officer, Standartenfuhrer Joachim Wolff. It is harrowing and perfectly played by Lisa Bowerman and Gatiss. I also remember enjoying the performance of the actress playing Bernice’s foster mother in this time and place, Ma Doras – an unknown actress going by the name of Maggie Stables.

Just War is absolutely superb and easily the best of the Time Ring Trilogy, and also one of the best of the entire Bernice Summerfield audio range. (It was also one of the very best New Adventures too and, considering it was Lance Parkin’s first novel, that’s no mean feat). Ironically, it’s link to the Time Ring Trilogy are tenuous at best and as a conclusion to that arc it may lack something, but as an audio adventure in its own right, it is difficult to beat.

The memorable torture scenes really are only the tip of the iceberg. Every scene featuring Lisa Bowerman is gold. From her awkward relationship with the young Nazi, Gerhard, which Bernice guiltily uses to her own advantage to the point where that relationship leads to Bernice having to make a terrible decision. The terrifying scene where six innocent residents are executed because of a crime Bernice has committed. The perfectly reasonable and yet chilling conversations Bernice and Jason have with Oberst Steinmann (played perfectly by Michael Wade) about the future of the Third Reich. The brief glimmers of comedy of Jason working in British Intelligence and the tangible sense of relief when they are finally reunited. Bernice posing – complete with ‘country’ accent – as Celia Doras, the long-lost daughter of Ma Doras (the owner of the local guest house where Nazi soldiers are billetted). The gentle heartbreak of Maggie Stables Ma Doras as she loses her daughter for a second time. This, of course, was long before Maggie Stables was taken to fandom’s heart as Old Sixie’s greatest audio companion, Evelyn Smythe – but the seeds of Evelyn are audible in Stables’ performance.

Mark Gatiss gives a great nasty Nazi and would go on to play a German naval officer in the 1915-set segment of The Sirens of Time. He had also played a Nazi officer in the BBV production, Island of Lost Souls (which he also wrote), which I will be reviewing in the near future (it has an indeterminant ‘Second World War’ setting so I am leaving it until a little later in the marathon). It would seem that around this time in the late 90s, Mark Gatiss was the go to guy for audio Nazis.

Alongside Stables and Gatiss is another familiar face from this period of Doctor Who. Michael Wade plays Oskar Steinmann, the reasonable face of facism. Wade had featured in the lead role of the Auton trilogy, a series of videos released by BBV in the 90s which saw the return of the Nestene and the Autons. He, like Gatiss, would return for The Sirens of Time playing the Lord President of Gallifrey; a role he would play again in The Apocalypse Element.

Steinmann’s dialogues with both Benny and Jason are chilling in their normality and reason. He does not believe Benny can be from the future because he cannot fathom a future where the Nazis do not win, so convinced is he of their superiority and righteousness. His whole-hearted belief in his values and vision is scarily convincing until you remember the less appealing aspects of Nazi idealism.

If Just War has a fault it lies within the final scenes which go a little silly with Jason and Benny flying a German super stealth jet across the English Channel. But this is a tiny niggle at the end of a truly memorable and moving audio. A cast and production team that are near-faultless provide an audio which clearly shows why the BBC granted Big Finish the licence to produce Doctor Who on audio and why Big Finish are still going 24 years later.

If you have never listened to Just War, beg, borrow or steal yourself a copy.


deltaandthebannermen

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This review contains spoilers!

Wow, this episode is dark in all the best ways. It's the kind of episode that makes you physically wince every so often because of the brutality - but I never felt that this was overdone. Sometimes, stories that are violent and dark like this can be overwrought to the point of melodrama, but the torture and horror that Benny goes through on Guernsey are chilling.

I'm not usually a huge fan of the WWII setting, but it could not be more effective here. Jason is out in Nazi Germany, accidentally giving away British secrets, while Benny is on Guernsey, waiting for him while posing as a dead girl after being taken in by said girl's mother. And it is here that Benny cannot help but get herself into trouble.

One of the best parts about Benny is the way she is a messy character. I've probably said this before, but I really admire the way she is allowed to be horny and rash and angry and righteous and still be our beloved protagonist. So many things that Benny does are things that often get female characters labelled as 'unlikeable', but I cannot do anything but adore our Benny. On Guernsey, she is horrified by people 'sitting back and taking' whatever the Nazis are given, but the story shows us that she's wrong - the example that sticks most in my head is Marie Simmonds, who Benny is dismissive and rude about, and yet she was part of a resistance force all alone.

This is a story that sticks with you for a long time. It's not simple and it's not easy, but it is very good.


sircarolyn

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