Living Legend

"They're... duller than a turtle marathon."

Writer: Scott Gray

Format: Audio

Released: November 2003

Series: DWM Exclusive 05

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley

Synopsis 

The world faces imminent destruction when Italy wins the World Cup! Can the fabled Time Lady Charleyostiantayshius save humanity from the dreaded Threllip Empire, or will her idiot assistant, the Doctor, ruin everything?

Verdict 

Living Legend was a very good audio adventure and it certainly was a lot of fun! For the Main Range audios, this was like a breath of fresh air after the painfully long Zagreus. Even though I have a ridiculously generous rating for that one, I wasn't much of a fan at all and in my opinion it certainly was not worth the wait from Neverland and it most definitely should not have been the direction to go with for the fortieth anniversary and Big Finish's 50th Main Range release. They could have done so much better with that cast! Thankfully, Charley found her way back on board the TARDIS unbeknownst to the Doctor but for me this story is most definitely set before the aftermath of that. There's just too much that went on for it to be ignored! I mean, the Doctor was banished from the universe itself and although Charley went with him, this just can't be the immediate aftermath. I'm not sure what the next full audio to feature the pairing is (I try to know as little as possible prior to listening to get the biggest benefit - as was the case with me not knowing that Clara would die in Face the Raven), but it is one I'm eagerly anticipating. This though was a very nice break away before we get set for a whole new set of adventures with the unseen but absolutely brilliant pairing that is the Eighth Doctor and Charley. I just love them together and although both Paul McGann and India Fisher are tremendous, I think a lot of it is down to the fact that it's entirely brand new. A Doctor we only saw on screen once for an hour in The Movie (and an incredible eight minutes more recently in The Night of the Doctor) with a companion we've never seen. Add to the unknown the fact that they are magnificent and you have in my opinion the best pairing on audio. I know we already got a new audio exclusive companion with Evelyn in The Marian Conspiracy, but it just feels much more special with Charley and I'm not sure why. She's definitely the closest the Classic series (yes, I absolutely consider the Eighth Doctor's audio run as part of the Classic era) has come to the modern companion, and that's even with Sarah Jane making her return in School Reunion. The story itself here was very good as well as being a right old laugh which was hugely positive. The setting of Italy in 1982 after they had just beaten Germany in the World Cup final was an instant tick in the right direction for me being the listener. The Doctor tricking Vengorr into thinking he had caught World Cup fever was just wonderful. Absolutely genius. Scott Gray, I loved that. The Doctor and Charley playing Time Lords was fantastic and I loved how the former pointed out that the latter made a better Time Lord than him! Judging by the story's events, he was not wrong. India Fisher was just magnificent throughout, I really don't think she's had a bad story and I'm really looking forward to when she somehow travels with the Sixth Doctor. I think that will be an outstanding dynamic! I know I'm going to have to wait a while, but I can't wait to get to her own audio spinoff series as well. I think I'll really enjoy that. The concept of the Threllips was interesting and I just adored the Doctor's description of them, as you can see with my opening quote. They instantaneously sounded boring! That meant I was quite surprised to find they had previous dealings with the Time Lords. What would that have all been about? I'm really not sure but for the Doctor and Charley they didn't really have much of a problem, did they? Defeating the story's enemies simply by displaying their acting skills and dressing in Gallifreyan fancy dress. I'm sure the Doctor was thrilled about that - but at least it got the job done! Overall, an abundance of fun but at the same time we actually got a good story which sometimes doesn't always happen with these types of short audio. I was pleasantly pleased. 

Rating: 8/10