Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

“THE END: LOOPS, SACRIFICE, AND A FRANTIC RACE AGAINST TIME”

Geronimo! wraps up with The End, an intense, time-twisting story that grips the listener from the very first second and never lets go. Featuring one of Big Finish’s more ambitious time-loop narratives, it expertly balances high-stakes tension, emotional drama, and classic base-under-siege thrills. It’s the perfect way to close out this first chapter of Eleven and Valarie’s adventures, leaving us with a cliffhanger that promises even bigger things to come.

DEATH IN THE TIME LOOP

The story wastes no time throwing us straight into chaos. The Doctor lies wounded on an operating table, dying in front of Valarie, who can do nothing but watch. Then, suddenly, we jump to another version of events—this time, it’s Valarie who is dying, while the Doctor is the one trying to save her.

From here, the narrative slowly reveals itself: Eleven and Valarie are trapped in a time loop aboard a besieged space station, with only one of them able to survive in each iteration. The only way to break the loop is for one of them to accept death. It’s a mind-bending premise, but the script manages to maintain a steady grip on the listener, ensuring that the twists and turns remain engaging rather than confusing.

As the loops repeat, we slowly begin to understand what’s happening, where they are, and why time is unravelling around them. The clever structure demands the listener’s full attention, but it never feels like an overly complex puzzle for the sake of it. Instead, it allows us to see how both the Doctor and Valarie tackle the same situation in different ways, highlighting their growing partnership and distinct approaches to problem-solving.

A BASE UNDER SIEGE—WITH A TERRIFYING THREAT

Amid the chaos of the time loops, we also get a classic Doctor Who setup: a base under attack by an unseen enemy. The crew of the station, initially distrustful of the Doctor and Valarie, soon become key players in the desperate fight for survival. The supporting cast is well-integrated into the story, providing more than just background noise as they each contribute to the struggle against the unfolding catastrophe.

And then there’s the monster itself—an unseen horror lurking in the shadows, creeping ever closer. The tension escalates as we hear the eerie sounds of the attacker long before we fully understand what it is. When the reveal finally comes, it’s a chilling one: the station is under siege by dimension-hopping insectoid creatures, time spiders, whose rapid reproduction threatens to tear apart reality itself.

The design and execution of the time spiders are fantastic. The sound effects are especially effective, making them feel truly alien and unsettling. The insect-like noises add a layer of body horror, making the threat feel not just dangerous but deeply unnerving.

ELEVEN AND VALARIE—FACING THE IMPOSSIBLE

Beyond the high-stakes tension and intricate storytelling, The End is also an excellent character study for both the Doctor and Valarie.

The story forces them to confront their mortality in a way that few adventures do. In each loop, one of them is dying, and the other must find a way to accept—or fight against—it. It’s a brutal dilemma that challenges their morals and their will to survive.

Eleven’s usual energy and quick-thinking brilliance are still present, but we see a more desperate and raw side of him here. Trapped in a cycle where he keeps losing his friend, his Time War trauma comes to the surface in subtle but powerful ways. Meanwhile, Valarie, despite being new to this life, refuses to simply accept her fate. She pushes back, determined to find another way, proving once again why she’s such a compelling companion.

Their relationship is strengthened immensely through this ordeal. They don’t just work together—they fight for each other, refusing to accept any reality where one must die for the other to live. It’s the kind of emotionally charged storytelling that Big Finish excels at, and it elevates The End beyond just a clever time-travel puzzle.

AN INTRICATE, MULTI-LAYERED NARRATIVE

One of the most impressive aspects of The End is how it plays with its structure.

Not only is the story stuck in a time loop, but the loops themselves run in tandem, intersecting and overlapping in unexpected ways. The listener is constantly jumping between perspectives, piecing together the truth as each new iteration provides another clue.

This kind of experimental storytelling can sometimes feel like a gimmick, but here, it works beautifully. The looping nature of the plot isn’t just a cool trick—it’s essential to the story’s tension, themes, and ultimate resolution. It also makes The End a story that benefits from multiple listens, as each re-listen allows for a deeper appreciation of its intricacies.

A CLIFFHANGER TO SHAKE THE TARDIS

Just when it seems like the dust is settling, The End delivers one final gut-punch:

The unknown force that has been manipulating the TARDIS throughout this box set is still at work. As the Doctor and Valarie escape, the cloister bell begins tolling—a classic sign of impending doom. Then, the TARDIS starts to explode around them, and everything spirals into chaos.

It’s an exhilarating and dramatic way to close out the set, leaving listeners desperate for the next chapter. Who—or what—is pulling the Doctor’s ship through time and space? And what fresh dangers await Eleven and Valarie in the next volume?

📝VERDICT: 8/10

The End is a bold and gripping finale, delivering a perfect balance of tension, emotion, and intricate time-wimey storytelling. The time-loop structure is cleverly executed, the monsters are genuinely unsettling, and the emotional stakes are sky-high.

Jacob Dudman and Safiyya Ingar give some of their best performances yet, selling every moment of fear, determination, and heartache. The supporting cast is strong, the sound design is top-notch, and the overall experience is one of relentless suspense.

Ending on a thrilling cliffhanger, this story cements Geronimo! as a must-listen for fans of time-twisting Doctor Who adventures.

A really strong ending to the first set. A great concept, well explored, with great character moments, and villains that work so well, even on audio. This feels like a Moffat era episode dropped onto the boxset, perfectly fitting with Smith's Doctor. Just brilliant.

I'll have been dead by now yesterday

Prerequisites: Series 7A, and the previous Geronimo! audios for context.

Geronimo! ends off with a rather great story, even if it is a bit overrated. The End features a pretty unique structure, having two concurrent timelines of the same events, with either 11 or Valarie being the one dying. It's remarkably easy to follow, and the tension is suitably brought up. The side characters are fine, although the Time Spiders are a bit boring to be honest. They just seem too similar to other "ancient creatures the Time Lords thought were dead" we've seen. The climax is actually very well handled, featuring a phenomenal scene as 11 accepts his own death for a moment. Other than that, yeah this is a good one.

Another just ingenious plot set-up. Captivating. Jason Dudman's 11 is surprisingly good in these sets, and Valarie continues to be amazing.

A+.

For the third time in a row, there's a twist here that just works really well for me.

I absolutely love a format screw, and this is one of those done really well, cutting between what you first think are two parallel timelines is a really interesting premise, and being able to see the differences between them is great, different character interactions, dramatic irony, etc, it all just works together really neatly.

And then when it's eventually revealed that it's not parallel timelines, but in fact two parts of a time loop, the pieces all start coming together, and you can see what's going on and how the monsters will be defeated and the loop closed.

All in all, just a really fun listen!

The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles #3.3 - "The End" by Rochana Patel

The Inheritance was a promising start, The House of Masks was a thoroughly OK affair that managed to keep my attention, and now, at the end of the first part of Series 7V, we get "The End", ironically the third episode in a series. But despite the confusing title, The End managed to absolutely blow me out of the water with one of the most inventive, experimental and fascinating plots I've seen in Doctor Who to date, but still continue the trend of feeling faithful to the show.

Plot:
Valarie rushes the Doctor into the medbay of a livestock transit ship, seconds away from his death. He's been bitten by something unknown in the hold, and Valarie has minutes to find it, find the antivenom and save his life. Meanwhile, in some other time, The Doctor rushed Valarie into the medbay of a livestock transit ship, seconds away from her death. She's been bitten by something unknown in the hold, and the Doctor has minutes to find it, find the antivenom and save her life.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

The House of Masks left me on shaky grounds but The End won me back so much. A great time loop episode that does something original by, instead of obviously being a time loop, having two of the different loops play out simultaneously and having the audience work out what's going on as it progresses. The structure is really cool and feels much more like an experimental big finish script than the last two, which felt like they were taken directly from the show, but it still keeps the tone of the era by being as wonderfully convoluted as one of Moffat's better scripts. In addition to the story, the antagonists, the (pretty generically named) Time Spiders are decently creepy and the sounds of them scuttling through the ship's thick piping is great sound design. The concept of an interdimensional pest that the Time Lords wiped out is really cool and for the most part, Patel manages to make them feel like this unstoppable force of nature. The Doctor and Valarie jump from being in pretty forced emotional moments in The House of Masks right back into some great character writing, as they have to, both at different times, sacrifice themselves for the other. Valarie's been in three audios and already she and the Doctor are getting scenes usually saved for veteran companions, and it's great.

One big negative I'd give to this already pretty perfect story is I wish the Doctor was out of action in the timeline where he gets poisoned, like how Valarie was absent for the timeline in which she gets poisoned. Instead, he's equally present in both time lines and I feel that the story would have more drive if Valarie was on her own in one. It is essential for a reveal later in the story, but a workaround would've been welcome. And, whilst I praise the Doctor and Valarie's character writing, the ship's (surprisingly small) crew don't get much development but they serve the plot well enough and aren't exactly a damper on the story.

The End was an exciting, moving and clever conclusion to the first part of Series 7V, a run I am already enamoured with. Despite some minor criticisms, it was a really intelligent base under siege story fuelled by some fantastic ideas and great character writing.

10/10

Pros:
+ Really experimental, enthralling story structure that is complex but not confusing
+ The Time Spiders were a simple but very effective antagonist with some great sound design backing them
+ The melancholy conversations between the Doctor and Valarie are really well written and a step up from The House of Masks
+ The reveal that we're not seeing two different timelines but two different parts of a time loop is great twist

Cons:
- The timeloop where the Doctor's poisoned should've been more focused on Valarie being isolated rather than still having the Doctor run things
- The ship's crew aren't the deepest of characters and they're motivations don't go far past progressing the story

Series 7V | Ranked:
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3. The House of Masks by Georgia Cook - 6/10
2. The Inheritance by Alfie Shaw - 8/10
1. The End by Rochana Patel - 10/10

Overall - 8.0/10

The End: 8.5/10 - This story was pretty good but I think my enjoyment was limited due to the constant other timeloop stories within wider media and Doctor Who itself. The side characters were kind of one note and only provided people for the Doctor and Valerie to befriend. This presentation of a timeloop was more interesting than most other timeloop stories as it showed two different run throughs at the same time. This provided a really interesting back and forth and seeing both The Doctor and Valerie experience similar things was pretty cool. The ending with Valerie on the brink of death was very emotional and it truly felt like Valerie was living her last seconds. 

An excellent, imaginative, fast-paced finale of the first box set. The plot imaginative and well paced, with twists that really kept me on the edge of my seat. The overall concept is well done, and doesn't turn into white noise that plots like this can. The voice acting is excellent, with actors that really know their characters. Jacob Dudman and Safiyya Ingar still have great chemistry, to the point that it's a shame we can't see this play out in live action. Valarie Lockwood is quickly becoming my favourite Eleventh Doctor companion. The sound design is still top-notch. The music on this release really was exceptional, to the point I wish there was a soundtrack released. This finale really put a great cap on this excellent box set.