The Seeds of War

I have a vague remembrance of the Eminence from the 8DAs and it took me an embarrassingly long time to put together that that Eminence and this one are the same monster. That said, I can't remember very much of what the Eminence even did in the 8DAs, so in that way, it was good that this story predates the 8DAs, so it explained the concept of the Infinite Warriors and gaseous intelligence completely. Which is great if you're forgetful, like me.

This episode takes us to a tower, which has to be destroyed to get rid of the last of the Eminence, which humanity had been at war with. The plan the Eminence constructs when the Doctor shows up, is to possess him and use him to infect the seed banks of Earth, so all of humanity could be infected and turn into Infinite Warriors. Because, in a 4DA released after this, it turns out the Fourth Doctor was already possessed before, meaning Six had a trace of Eminience in him still.

Big Finish. We love making sense...

Anyway, I did enjoy this episode - it wasn't anything particularly hard, high concept, or complicated, but it was a fun listen and I liked the way the seed banks were pivotal to the plot. I also enjoyed the constant updates from the newscaster, who would go on to be named in the 8DAs as Casey Carraway. It never fails to amuse (and frustrate, and delight) me that no matter how much you think you know about Big Finish, there's always some story somewhere that you knew nothing about that connects to the rest of the BF universe and recontextualises everything in a throwaway line or unnamed minor character. We love stories, indeed.