The Anachronauts

The story still keeps up the horrific vibe of master plan and keeps it throughout the story you really feel that the team is now fully formed too Sara is an icon with Steven genuinely what could have been the best duo

Very good story. Especially strong in the character department.

 

The Doctor, Steven and Sara are hit by a rogue timeship while on the run. It turns out they’ve clashed with the vessel of the first human time travellers. But when stranded on an island, can they trust their fellow ship wreckers?

 

This story is very split in two pieces. It’s basically 2 stories in 1. The first piece is the stranded story, where both parties try to figure each other out, while also trying to find the Tardis and escape the island.

 

This part is okay on its own. What shines here are the conversations between the Doctor, Sara and Steven. In a stroke of genius, we’re setting up for a romance between those last 2. With Steven being clearly interested, while Sara is a bit more withholding, since she would be allowing herself to be weak. Meanwhile the Doctor is on the sideline, but still very aware of the situation. As shown when he recommends Sara to go and sit with Steven in a moment of peace. It’s an incredible scene and it sets the dynamic perfectly.

 

What’s less interesting, is the need for a villain in the story. There’s this very unnecessary time ghost on the island and the human time travel crew are really not that interesting. These are all just distractions from the actual interesting stuff. I would’ve preferred some unique environmental hazards instead.

 

The second story/part is very different. After finding the Tardis, the human crew tries to take control. This causes mayhem in the Tardis. Steven gets knocked out, but wakes up with Sara dragging him off. They’re being shot at. It turns out the tardis has landed in Berlin, 1966. And they’ve just crossed the wall.

 

This is where the earlier character work pays off. We are aware of the current relationships between these two. So now we can test it and put some pressure on. Since the two of them stand out, they quickly get picked up by soldiers and interrogated. With the Tardis and Doctor at the other side of the wall, the situation seems dire. This is where Steven shows his secret bargaining chip. One that should never be used. He tries to buy his freedom with knowledge from the future.

 

It's a beautifully presented moment. The situation feels dire. About as dire as “Flames of Cadiz” from 2 season ago. This is Doctor Who at its darkest. So Steven does the worst thing he can do to escape it. To keep himself and Sara safe. They pay the price for this when they’re dragged and interrogated, but this also allows for them to grow closer. Until we reach the crucial moment.

 

Steven finds out what’s really going on. This isn’t Berlin. And he isn’t with Sara. It was all going too easy. Sara would never give up her guard so quickly. He is actually in a dream. The human time travellers captured the party and put them in a sort of dream prison. But now Steven has escaped. It’s bittersweet and very tough, since this also means the death of Dream Sara, which is obviously a shame, because their dynamic was amazing. But Steven knows it just isn’t like that (yet).

 

Afterwards, the human time travellers are quickly dealt with. As they’re put on the same island as the beginning of the story. And so we bring the story to a close.

 

And that’s “The Anachronauts”. It does a lot of things right, but some small things could be better. While doing a 2 for 1 in your stories is totally fine, the transitions between the 2 feel rough. Like the fight in the tardis. It feels like it’s written as a connection piece, rather than standing on its own.

 

Other than that there’s stuff like, the aforementioned monster in the first story. For the second story it can also be argued that the dream stuff comes out of nowhere. There’s no revelation moment. Steven has just figured it out and we are along for the ride. The lead-in for that could be a bit stronger. Other than that, we have the human crew which don’t stand out in any remarkable way. They’re just there.

 

But the good in this story definitely outweighs the bad. The connections between the cast are truly something new for the First Doctor and they connect to the existing narrative beautifully. But, much as I love what’s done on that front, there’s just too many little things to call this story perfect. So, instead, this story is just very, very good.

I've got a bone to pick with the writers because how dare they put steven through that much. first off they essentially kill him, then we get only his mind prison which gives us a f**k ton of steven/sara content only for that sara not to be real and it's all fake. THEN YOU MAKE HIM SAY "and she doesn't love me" like what the actual f**k. also back on the steven/sara part because man they were popping off with it in this one starting off strong with "we almost might have, but there was never time." like ok just casually say that?! the switching back and forth with steven and sara's respected pov's was a nice touch.

Bear with me, because this is an audio I have far too many thoughts about.

I think I should get out of the way the fact that I didn't enjoy this audio much the first time I listened to it...but that was because I hadn't been paying attention, or listening to it while multitasking, and I think this is a story that really demands the listeners full attention.

I was a huge fan of the POV switches in this between Steven and Sara. Whilst it could have became quickly repetitive, I didn't find this to be the case, instead, I really enjoyed hearing those inner thoughts and feelings when things played out, and how they differed between them both. It should be noted here too just how impressive that, between Jean and Peter, it felt as though you were listening to a full-cast audio with how they diversified their performances for the supporting characters.

Whilst the first parts of this story worked really well in keeping the listener hooked, and more importantly, curious as to the ultimate resolution, the real reason for my five stars comes from the latter half - when Steven and Sara arrive in Berlin, during the time of the Berlin Wall. This had such an excellent build up of tension through it, and listening to it for the second, third, or fourth times (if you're like me), you can clearly see where the threads are beginning to unravel in the lead up to that reveal.

When discussing that reveal, and why it makes 'The Anachronauts' so brilliant, it's impossible to avoid this idea inserted in by Big Finish in these adventures filling the gap in 'The Dalek's Masterplan' of the romantic tension between Steven and Sara (which is arguably most explicit here). I absolutely adore this writing decision, and I think it is a positive for both characters. Steven's interactions with romance are brought from simple comments on attractiveness (Galaxy 4 comes to mind) to a far more fully developed concept, in which he is conscious of his feelings for Sara, but is unable to believe that they are reciprocated. No matter how you choose to interpret Sara's feelings on the matter, the topic being brought up in respect of her leads to some excellent introspective character development (especially the moment where she talks about needing Steven to not feel like a monster in light of Bret's death).

The reveal that Steven's mind has created this prison of Berlin brings every loose end together. Every moment where Sara seemed out of character, or something didn't quite add up is explained by the tragic scene in which he confronts this created 'Sara', leading to that awful gut-twisting conclusion ('and...she doesn't love me'.) There is no joke to be made of Steven's feelings here, as other pieces of media featuring him have relied on. This is pure heartwrenching tragedy.