Honestly like look alright the main story is incredibly okay and competent and one of those “yes. I have been entertained for these moments in time but will probably never think of this piece of fiction ever again in my life” thingsies. It’s not a bad story, it just doesn’t do a lot for me. Cool lore for Ood guy and we get nice characterization, but I really am close to zoning out at any moment.

But then there’s the last 20 or so minutes where the story suddenly becomes this amazing, dramatic, really fun, kind of introspective piece about the Tenth Doctor  and the Time Lord Victorious and you’re like: YES! This is what the story has been building up to, (even though the story really didn’t build up to it) this is what the writer has wanted to present to us all this time, what this story is for, it just starts to click… and then you realize that nothing clicked. The whole hour of stuff that happened before really does not matter that much. At max it builds a connection to the new place and characters. Like it’s been this really standard ‘Doctor Who romp’ the entire time and then it just decides to drop this fantastic sequence where it actually feels like a relevant cool TLV thing out of nowhere.

Badaboom, Brian kills an important guy and brings about the destruction of the clever people planet and not David Tennant finally gets confronted with his thematic mirror images and it’s so awesome and it makes all what came before seem like mushy filly that just starts to blend together into a vague memory of Oods getting drunk not drunk and heist movie plan like assassination attempts. Like all what previously was written was because it had to fit into the seventy three minute runtime and only this ending part really even felt TLV-y or relevant. Idk man.

And the epilogue the coda is so so good. I really love the calmer, melancholic Eleventh Doctor from Dudman. It was so hype when he came up, i’m so glad i forgot Eleven was even in it. Then Dudman gets to be his Doctor and it’s so lovely and sweet and it fits so perfectly for Eleven. Especially Eleven’s tendencies to see Ten as a different person and distancing himself from that past work extra well here. Look i swear if they had incorporated more Eleven into the TLV event it would’ve succeeded that totally would’ve solved everything.

I didn’t even care that much about that guy that the coda was about. I barely registered what her personality was supposed to be during the story, but the way the Doctor is shown as this mysterious but infinitely kind stranger, then a conversation between two people who know each other as well as they do not (which is very), and I can just see the sad nod and smile in my head before the mysterious stranger leaves and the noise of that fading magical blue box starts to growl. It’s so so lovely. Perfection. If the coda was a separate story i would rate it five stars.

But it’s not so in the end kinda mid tbh

📝6/10 = SLIGHTLY ENJOYABLE!

Time Lording through time and space, one victory at a time!

VICTORY XIX

The BBC Audio Originals range joined the Time Lord Victorious event with a Brian the Ood-centric story. Having escaped the battle with Eight and Nine, Ten and Brian explore the planet of Magnox, a Mecca for knowledge. Here, the Doctor seeks to find out whether or not his recent actions have been the right thing to do.

This slow story spends a lot of time fleshing out Magnox and its people and providing more characterisation for Brian. It takes a very long time until the story finally picks up, once the Kotturuh catch up with the Doctor.

Jacob Dudman makes this well worth a listen. He does a great job as Ten, and the other character voices are fun as well, not least his voice for Brian.

They mention Islos from the Daleks! web series! And I like that little coda at the end, with Eleven on Islos.

This did not need to be as long as it is. Cut ten minutes and make the coda part of the story proper and we'd have been in business. Instead, the exposition is painfully slow.