This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Time in Office

I was very concerned about writing this review, mainly because I had a headache just trying to figure out how all this was supposed to play out. After some help from someone in the Doctor Who Discord server who kindly explained it though I'm ready to take on this review. I'll start this by saying I think this is one of timey-wimiest stories I've ever had the fortune to listen to. An absolutely stunning way to celebrate the Fifth Doctor's fortieth without stepping on the toes of Caves of Androzani or Circular Time.

I find it funny that Jon Culshaw plays 3 seperate roles in this, there are good chunks of this story that are just him talking to himself and it's marvellous. Speaking of Culshaw, his Brig is spot-on as always. This is the first time I've encountered his Tremas Master and while he gets the mannerisms down, his regular voice bleeds through quite a bit and especially putting him next to his other impressions makes it a lot more noticeable. Peter Davison and Janet Fielding both give stellar performances here. Davison, like Culshaw, talks to himself a fair bit here and man some of these scenes were incredible.

The fact that so much of this story hinges on Adric makes his performance so great. Janet Fielding is also really good and Tegan is showing signs of wanting to leave, a nice touch considering the placement. Mark Strickson is not forgotten in this story and his dynamic with the Brigadier was excellent. This is also a great celebration of the Master and I love how the Autons/Nestene Consciousness were used here. Overall, this is a top-5 audio story for me and I only wish there was a way to rate it higher. It's confusing, but once explained it's absolutely genius.

Next Story: Resurrection of the Daleks