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TARDIS Guide

Overview

Released

Friday, January 5, 2024

Written by

Colin Brake

Runtime

404 minutes

Time Travel

Present

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Yorkshire

Synopsis

The Twelfth Doctor embarks on a desperate search for the three scattered parts of the Triskelia - the only means to contain a dangerous multi-dimensional breach in reality: the Chaos Cascade. But two warring races, the aggressive Myzen and the peace-loving Tollatee are also searching for this powerful device, as is a mysterious tech-enhanced part-human mercenary.

Meanwhile, the Doctor's former housemate Tania Bell travels to Yorkshire to investigate reports of alien activity and is delighted to run into a previously unknown incarnation of the Time Lord: one that is female, dresses in purple and carries a parasol!

Can the Doctor, Missy and Tania find a way to work together as a team? Or, once unleashed, will the Chaos Cascade wreak havoc across all space and time?

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2 reviews

This review contains spoilers!

For what was at the time the final Audio Novel, The Chaos Cascade makes for a strong conclusion and much like Emancipation of the Daleks is one of a few brilliant Twelfth Doctor releases from Big Finish. I heard a lot of great things about this before going in, though I have noticed how the score has significantly downgraded going from one of the Twelfth Doctor's highest rated stories to one of his moderately high rated stories. In a very different approach to the previous Audio Novels, this one has three narrators, Dan Starkey, Beth Chalmers and Rebecca Root, the latter narrating in character as her Big Finish character Tania Bell. Having three narrators taking it in turns does help make the pacing smoother, much as I love the Audio Novels, they're not the most ideal for listening in one go, especially when you only have one voice to listen to for six hours. Having three narrators does make it an easier listen. I will say that, and I've nothing against Rebecca Root , I quite like Tania, but her narration is so flat, I really don't think I could've got through this story if it was just narrated by her for six hours! Dan Starkey and Beth Chalmers do seem to carry the heavy load of the three. There's another major issue this story creates, the crux of the story revolves around Missy and her character arc for Series 10 where she's trying to convince the Doctor she's turned a new leaf. The Chaos Cascade does a great job with Missy and her character arc, but maybe a bit too good a job. Throughout the story she demonstrates not only her ability to help the Doctor save the universe but that she can operate unsupervised, she feigns betraying the Doctor a couple of times and on both occasions she makes it instantly obvious to the Doctor it's all an act, we even get her willing to sacrifice herself to save the Doctor and the universe towards the end. It gets to a point where I sat there thinking "So what is the point now of World Enough and Time?". The Series 10 finale was all about the Doctor putting Missy to the test to see if she can be trusted, but in this story that's already been proven and then some! I kept waiting right up until the credits rolled for some sort of twist where she either gives in to temptation, makes a mistake or causes some kind of understanding that breaks the Doctor's trust in her, didn't have to be major, just enough to justify World Enough and Time, because in the context of this story it seems like you don't need it anymore.

But with those issues out of the way, this was still a great Audio Novel, this feels like the only series where Big Finish does anything interesting with the Twelfth Doctor. I'm quite please the series is continuing though I wish they'd push for different Doctors each release as so far they've just been doing Doctors who've already had their own Audio Novels


DanDunn

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Wow what an amazing audio novel to go out on I was engaged I was hooked Beth chalmers missy and Dan starkeys 12 is somthing I want more of
I will say though best way to describe this story is its like a 12th doctor chronicle set


Rock_Angel

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Doctor: Don't be so defeatist. You've got two of the finest minds ever to graduate the Academy of the Time Lords of Gallifrey. There's not a puzzle in the universe we can't solve given a little time.

Missy: Two of the finest minds? Did you ever actually graduate, Doctor? I never can remember.