20.07.2022

Fuck that trope. The one where the villains have a perfectly reasonable motivation to act, but also turns out they're f**ked up evil and eat babies, so f**k em. Zagreus lives among the dead. Fucking hell.

An alternative f**ked up world of Neverland is a great but underexplored idea. Rassilon is meh, fine there. I find their inconsistent characterization throughout the years troublesome. Here he's just a wise mentor, whatever.

It's got some cool moments of Doctor and Charlie sticking for each other and they deliberately avoid the obvious route to take, which I respect. Nevertheless, I found this piece to be more troubling than captivating. 2/5

One day Romana will get a decent Big Finish story.

Very good sci-fi romp with lots of timelords

The Monthly Adventures #033 - “Neverland" by Alan Barnes

Something I feel Big Finish really needed more of were finales, big episodes with big moments that let the actors really show their worth. The classic era, however groundbreaking, charming and fun it may be, didn’t put a wealth of thought into its arcs and big, massive plot lines were uncommon. But now, we have a more serialised effort, and the first half of our big, two part finale is Neverland, a bizarre riff on Peter Pan that pulls no punches in being a surreal nightmare of a story that blends Time Lord mythology and ghosts. Time is falling apart and Charley is at the centre of it all, let’s begin.

Following a series of unexplainable temporal paradoxes, the Time Lords apprehend the Doctor and Charley, as a mysterious force called anti-time floods into our reality from another universe. Pulled into this parallel realm of anti-time, the Doctor comes face to face with a Gallifreyan legend.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

One of my favourite things about Big Finish is their ability to create stories that undeniably are Doctor Who, complete with the charms, eccentricities and novelties of the classic run whilst still being incredibly innovative and often quite weird. It’s a balance the novels tried and mostly failed at that is nailed here, especially with some of the earlier and more experimental stories in The Monthly Adventures. It’s incredible to me that Big Finish’s first attempt at a serialised plot that would be the obvious choice for latecomers was such a mental ride that eventually ended up with Zagreus of all stories. Neverland is a very surreal audio story that I personally find thrilling. It boasts this eerie and genuinely quite scary tone that nails the feeling of being lost, of being in a place that very much does not welcome you, with harsh sound design allow for this nightmarish setting of an inside-out TARDIS floating in a universe of “anti-time” to become alive as you listen to it. Also terrifying the listener are the Neverpeople, our antagonists who are strange, spectral Time Lords who were executed by the Celestial Intervention Agency by being erased from time, sending them to the Antiverse (look, it’s hard to explain pretty much all of Neverland). Through ghostly performances and this cunning, callous presence, they become really genuinely terrifying foes that add a lot to the already laden atmosphere. Our cast this time around, though mostly consisting of somewhat underdeveloped Timelord agents, do include a couple of great cast members. Lalla Ward has returned to play Romana and as always she excels in the role; her straight-laced, wisened demeanour plays off beautifully with the Doctor and I should really listen to Gallifrey one of these days, shouldn’t I? Plus, we have India Fisher delivering one of her best performances as Charley, who very much takes centre stage for the story as it’s the climax of her arc. Her argument with the Doctor at the beginning alone makes this one of her greatest outings. And the ending, by god, the ending. Possibly the greatest cliffhanger in all of Doctor Who: the Doctor is gone and Zagreus is here. The perfect conclusion to the Zagreus references, an incredibly well written, directed and acted scene and a perfect stinger that will do nothing but keep you wanting more.

But, it still takes 150 minutes to get there, so what are we doing for all that time? Honestly, not much. Mostly, we’re just basking in the atmosphere, as the characters are slowly corrupted by anti-time and the Neverpeople slowly drive the Doctor and Charley to the brink of insanity, trying to get the Doctor to murder Charley at one point. However, it’s not a plot that sustains itself. Being so long, you really don’t have enough material to go around and eventually it runs out of steam, a lot of the story is waiting around for the next thing to occur with exposition filling in the gaps. Also, our secondary antagonist, CIA coordinator Vansell, who has appeared in a couple stories already, is a painfully underused character. For a while, he becomes this self-important and ego-driven monster who tries to usurp the throne from Romana, getting driven insane by a mass of sentient anti-time posing as the corpse of Rassilon (Neverland is really weird, didn’t I mention?). However, it’s revealed that in actuality, this was all a result of the anti-time corrupting him, making him a whole lot more boring and the fact the he illegally wiped people from history, including friends of Romana’s, is kind of swept under the rug for a very unnecessary self-sacrifice that truly doesn’t land. This decision baffles me as he was a genuinely pretty good antagonist for a while, only for the story to completely write it over. On top of all of this, we’re set in a universe made of “anti-time”, but we never really get to see what that is. We only ever see this antiverse from afar and are never able to explore the effects of it, which is a real shame since it’s such an interesting and conceptually rich idea. Despite how alive our setting is, its main component still feels vacant.

Neverland is a bombastic and worthy series finale that feels like the perfect, bizarre conclusion to one of the most original and interesting runs of Doctor Who ever, riffing Peter Pan and timelord mythology in one fell swoop. Despite dragging its feet a little towards the middle, it is a bonkers, scary ride that expertly sets up Zagreus whilst still being its own, genius little story.

8/10

Pros:

+ Surreal and twisting plot that never feels derivative

+ Strange and well-realised setting

+ The concept and execution of the never-people is incredibly creepy

+ Brilliant performance from Lalla Ward as Romana

+ Charley gets a ton of material here

+ All time great cliff-hanger

Cons:

- Vansell was a wasted character

- Didn’t explore anti-time enough

- A little too long

MR 033: Neverland

The Doctor is the boy who never grew up. It's such an obvious comparison, I'm surprised the classic show never made it. The Doctor literally ran away from Gallifrey, avoiding any and all responsibility, just to explore the universe. He just happens to have the technology to be able to BE Peter Pan. Unlike everyone else.

Somehow Charley being saved from the R101 has caused a rift in time. Not sure how, but ok. She has become a portal from the universe of time, the universe we know, to a universe of nothing, of anti-time. Again, sure. Most of what happens in this story you just have to accept.

Charley being saved being this huge cataclysmic thing plays into Doctor Who's usual "changing history is bad in and of itself" narrative, which I don't like. I always prefer it when changing history stories tell us WHY changing history is bad. What about this particular event being changed would result in a worse timeline. This story makes it pretty explicitly clear, too, that Charley's death doesn't actually change anything in the timeline. She wouldn't have gone on to do anything significant and nothing really would be different. But somehow she's patient zero to allowing anti-time into the universe. What about all the other people the Doctor has saved throughout... literally all of Doctor Who. "Just this once Rose everybody lives?" All of those people are now breaches in time. It's just bizarre.

Like I said, you just kind of have to accept it. Which is fine. It makes for an interesting story even if the premise itself is faulty. The Time Lords try to lay a trap for the Doctor to get at Charley, but the Doctor wants to run away and he does. But Charley wants to take responsibility for being alive when she "isn't supposed to be" and hits the fast return, going into the Time Lords' trap.
The Time Lords mean to use Charley as the portal into the universe of anti-time to explore it, but there is an ulterior motive. There is a story about Rassilon accidentally creating anti-time and then going into the universe of anti-time to try to destroy it.

So when they get into this universe, they find Rassilon's TARDIS and his casket, contrary to his casket being in the dark tower in The Five Doctors. But CIA coordinator Vansell thinks it's really him. It turns out it's all a trick.

You see, there are these ghosts in this universe of anti-time. They're ghosts of time lords who have been "dispersed." The Time Lords thought this punishment would be to wipe someone out of all of time so that they never existed. It did that, but they ended up in the universe of anti-time instead. This is a pretty wild thing for the Time Lords to have done. And the interesting thing is that they don't ever realize that they've done it. Because once someone is dispersed so they never existed, naturally nobody remembers the dispersal even happened. That's pretty f**ked and a really good idea for the Time Lords, showing them to be a lot more sinister than shown on classic who.

The leader of the ghosts who has taken Charley's form is an even more clever idea. It's a former coordinator of the CIA who ordered hundreds of these dispersals, but had no idea. When they uncovered the truth, they used the dispersal machine on themselves, overcome with guilt, only to be with their victims in the anti-time universe.

Now the ghosts mean to use Rassilon's fake casket to disperse anti-time into the universe and thus escape, but the anti-time will destroy all of time and all of history, everywhere. So the Doctor and President Romana work to try to stop them.
The Doctor gets a visit from Rassilon, somehow, but sure. This visit from Rassilon to both the Doctor and Romana is particularly odd when we learn, in this story, that he was the one who created the dispersal punishment in the first place and thus caused this. Seems odd to revere him then, but sure.

The Doctor materializes his TARDIS around the time station with the anit-time bomb on it and manages to get it to explode entirely in his TARDIS, thus saving the universe from it. But in the process, the anti-time is trapped entirely within himself even as the paradox of Charley is also somehow resolved. Unfortunately, the Doctor becomes the very embodiment of anti-time. The mythological figure who is a being of pure anti-time. "I am ZAGREUS!!!!!!!" A cliffhanger that we'll have to wait to resolve until story number 50.

Does the plot make sense? No not at all. Are the vibes nice? Yeah for sure, when you can comprehend what's happening. When people say things like "Warrior's Gate feels like a BF script before BF," this is the script they're referring to. Well, this and Zagreus itself when we get to that. Incomprehensible gibberish.

That said, it's more comprehensible than Time of the Daleks, so I'll give it that. And, more importantly, there a lot of really interesting ideas here. Time Lord lore and emotional pay offs. Not only do you have the moment with Charley hitting the fast return, you also have the moment with Charley begging the Doctor to kill her so that the anti-time ghosts can't escape their universe. Good stuff.

On the whole, it's a bit of a mixed bag in that sense. Incompressible but with some good ideas and pathos. We shall look forward to when we basically get the very same vibes in the four hour epic at number 50: Zagreus!!!!!!!

Hello!!! I posted my review of this story https://forum.tardis.guide/t/neverland-down-the-rabbit-hole/816 here, before the website had reviews, but now there is actually a place to review stories, I'm putting the review in it's proper place. This is basically the same as what I wrote before, just with some minor edits for clarity/formality. (4.5/5 stars)

I listened to the story in March 2024, so it's been a few months, but it certainly was a memorable one! It was so long, so took me a while, but it was worth it! I loved the story overall but I’m going to be a bit critcal of stuff so if you really love the story and hate to see it criticised (I know I’m like that with my favourites), maybe skip ahead. Also, be warned - spoilers from here on out!

So, first off, obsessed. The arc has finally come to a close, only… the story’s just begun??? Hello Zagreus!Eight??? Like, I knew it happened At Some Point because I’ve seen fanart (never not thinking about https://heimeldat.tumblr.com/post/710911657643294720/i-had-so-much-fun-animating-eight-yesterday-i), but I didn’t know that was this story, so it wasn't wholly spoiled, and can I just say wow. Amazing ending. I know it’s a bit weird, starting with the ending, but seriously, it terrified me. I was scared to go to sleep. It shook me deeply, and has truly left me awestruck. Mcgann is so talented ngl, such range on that man.

Going backwards now - I almost wish that this was the end of Who, because it was such a perfect ending story! My English teacher was telling us about how, at the start of The Duchess of Malfi, her future husband praises the Duchess as if he is giving a eulogy. The way people were talking about Eight near the end (mainly Rassy and Romana) reminded me of this - it was as if he was already dead. The way they sort of tied back into and summed up all the key themes: Hope, kindness, all those things that make Who, well, Who. Only to have it turned on it’s head and the rug pulled out from under itself by Eight’s survival, as Zagreus represents the antithesis to those themes. Zagreus is the end of time, so quashes all hope, and is anything but kind.
(Meme: G1: Dude, why are you crying? G2: The themes got to me. G1: Alright)

The other thing I absolutely loved was the music. It was perfect in every way. I think the story would have been unrecognisable and would not have had that effect without the strong music throughout. I’m tone deaf, so I’m really not a music person and cannot tell what a piece of music is supposed to do or make you feel or anything like that, but it still felt very powerful, I suppose would be the word? Really forceful and dramatic.

And, of course, as a Deca fan I can’t not mention Vansell! I knew he died in this one but it still hit me hard. “I do this… gladly” sniffs don’t talk to me for a week akjsdfhasjdkf I miss my awful evil horrible little traitor already. Can’t help but wonder if all the Oublietting was the anti-time’s influence, to help grow their numbers, or if it was just Vansell being a little sh!t (censoring because I’m scared of the censorship bot, although I say the word with love). Although the story heavily implied it to be the former, it is honestly pretty fitting with his character for it to be the latter, and I hope that it was at least partially that, too. Like, maybe the Anti-Time couldn’t have had such a hold if he hadn’t already been willing/inclined to act like that? Something about innate potential being exploited and brought to the surface by forces beyond your comprehension.

Now, characterisation. Here’s where I get a bit salty - I feel like Charley was a bit of a damsel in distress. She definitely seemed more sort of whimpery and ‘crying out for help’ than in her other stories so far (I haven't done any 8DAs yet, only Main Range). That being said, she was whimsical and full of joy, clearly enjoying annoying Levith and Kurst when she ran off to the forest (either just out of an abundance of curiosity or to p!ss off her captors), which was very fun. And there were definitely times where her damsel-y reaction made sense. I just wish we’d seen more of her being brave throughout the story, as I feel like that is an important aspect of her character that was sorely missed until right at the end. Her acceptance of death was really interesting (really long but like, as I said earlier, the audio Feels like a last hurrah, like a goodbye, so it makes total sense for it to be long. As I was listening, I was aware that it was way longer than it would be if this was Just Some Random Story Of The Week, but because it feels so much more climactic than that, it’s allowed a little drama. As a treat).

Liked the characterisation of Eight - felt consistent with earlier audios. Vansell as well was every bit the snivelling traitor I know and love him as, until right at the end… Part of me wonders if he was putting on a brave/loyal face so he’d be well remembered. Seems like the sort of manipulation he’d pull. I love him so much, he's my scrunkly little sh!thead (:

Romana. Her banter with the Doctor was fun and very in-character, and I think she should have been cold some of the time, but I feel like in emphasising the way the Job had made her cold/insensitive, they overdid it a little. She felt a little, well, flat, I suppose. Kind of like Charley - she wasn’t one dimensional, but I feel like they’d forgotten at least one key dimension of her character, so she had about one less than she should have.

I thought the stuff with Rorvan and Taris was interesting, and Sentris’ character intruiged me, as does Zagreus’. Oh, and, one final characterisation point - Rassilon. On one hand, Rassilon isn’t like that smh. He’s calculating and imperialistic and on his own side, not this caring/watching omnibenevolent figure. One could chalk it up to ‘oh, well, this is the Matrix Rassilon, with all his best qualities/ the way people idealise him as’, but I think that should have been made clear in the text and discussed/played on a bit, not something the listeners have to figure out to make characterisation work. Then again, I suppose by that time we hadn’t had much of a view of his imperialistic tendencies, and he hadn’t been through the War, so it’s not a fault with the writing I’m finding here - more a retrospective “with what we know now, it would have made more sense if his character was more X”.

However, this leads me into my first real critcism: What the hell was Rassy doing in that story. He was just kind of… there??? It really made no sense. He just popped in and had the Doctor explain his adventures to him, then popped off again? I know he appeared earlier throughout the story, and later, too - he was well threaded in - but he very much felt superfluous. I liked his parts of the Zagreus myth, but very much felt that he shouldn’t have been in the audio. Aside from maybe as the hologram early on, to help with the misleading as to what was in the casket (which was a really fun slight of hand).

My other real issue with the story is that problems kept cropping up, only to be immediately solved. Things like “oh no, I can’t open this door! Nevermind, it’s fine, I have the sonic”. Generally, there was a lot of that back and forth that made the story feel a bit slow and clunky, and I think should have just been removed, as it would have tidied it all up better, in my opinion.

I think that’s pretty much it - great themes, great music, great Vansell, great ending, some qualms with the characterisation of the gals, and Rassilon and the constant ‘immediate solves’ felt unnecessary. Overall, I’m giving it a 4.5, because it was a brilliant and gripping story that has wormed it’s way into my heart, despite a few minor flaws. The gravity- sorry, mavity. Wait no, sorry, gevity- of the story overrides my qualms.