The Artist at the End of Time

I'm just getting around to these Once and Future specials, but so far they really seem like something else.  Just a real trip for fans.  Sure, I understand the critique that Big Finish is a little guilty of just bashing together existing characters for stories like this.  I can't say it bothers me much, though.  Whatever Doylist philosophy one might feel about the matter, at the end of the day this is an audio with Peter Davison and Georgia Tennant playing father and daughter in-universe for Doctor Who - you can't tell me that isn't something.  I couldn't help but be one over by this story through that dynamic alone.

Then you have all these little bonuses.  It's delightful having Colin Baker as a future incarnation of the Curator.  The implications are fascinating as is the story at hand.  The whole idea that every world the Curator creates something on being destroyed was intriguing enough, and then it wound up being this pretty sophisticated story criticizing capitalism, the value of art, and even the nature of the universe.  The far future near the end of the universe is a neat time period we only ever occasionally touch on in Doctor Who, and it's great when we explore that idea a bit like we do here.  This was pretty great overall.  It wasn't the most moving or deep thing in the world, but it had a decent amount of depth for an anniversary special like this.  I would definitely recommend it.

This one goes at a bit of a slow pace. The Fifth Doctor and Jenny have a fun dynamic, and it makes me wish for a box set of those two travelling together. However, the Curator takes too long to enter the story, and the stakes are quite low here. For much of the story, there's no antagonist and it's about dying worlds. It's also a shame that it doesn't really do anything to further the degeneration plot.

I would be lying if I said that those 4 stars are for a great story and not for the fun of having these characters interact. Not that the story itself is bad. It’s just ok. Most of it is just things happening (rob a bank, check out a gallery), until those things come together to continue the story. Though I find especially towards the end that there are some great moments, which help elevating it to a 4. So it’s not just lookit these guys being silly together.

But it is most of it.

It's a great story, talking about some important questions, for example the fact that the Curator finds out that he was responsible for the cataclysms in this story.
Fifth Doctor and Jenny here have a great chemistry together, although at some point jokes about "Haha she is his irl daughter" get annoying - and good that they stop exactly when needed to proceed with interesting dialogues.
Colin Baker's Curator is amazing, now being the tired Artist, who tries to hold the art at the end of the universe. If the Doctor ever decides to retire at the end of his life, that's how it should be done.
It's a great story on it's own, but it is almost irrelevant to the overall tory arc. The Doctor immediately forgets everything that happened once he departs and then proceeds to the next story.
But I will lie if I say that I didn't love it. It is irrelevant, yet very enjoyable, heartwarming and just a good listen in general. If you want to listen to only one story from this anthology, pick this one, you won't regret. This one can be forgiven. Unlike the next one...