a really interesting exploration of the girl in the fireplace that lets the original story stand on its own while still bringing in an entirely new and heartbreaking take on it. excellent and absolutely chilling

While the story is good plot-wise, I found that it seriously mischaracterized Moira as a loving and caring mum who can keep a boyfriend. It's clear in The Pilot that she has gone through a fair number of boyfriends (at least somewhat implied to be ill-advised, too) and I just don't believe that she would be better in a universe that was worse. I also thought that it was missing the spark of genius in Bill’s character. She’s definitely smarter in the series than this audio makes her, which can maybe be excused in the case of Alternate and Future Bill, but not for Our Bill. Bill is one of the smartest New Who companions and is always asking very, very smart questions, and I just felt like this audio had her not quite there. In my opinion, the alternate history was a little overly heavy-handed, too. The first and second parts were a bit difficult to get through because of those three things. All that said, the story wraps up VERY neatly even by DW standards — very clever and thoughtful plotting on the time travel stuff that brings my review back up to a 2.5. Plus, the addition of sound effects and having Nick Briggs voice the daleks was a very nice touch.