The Endless Night

"The walls between universes have got thinner."

Writer: Jonathan Morris
Format: Audio
Released: September 2019
Series: Rose Tyler: The Dimension Cannon 01

Featuring: Rose, Pete

Synopsis

As his parallel universe darkens, Pete Tyler has found a chance of survival. Punch a hole through dimensions and someone can jump through – and maybe find a way to the Doctor's universe.

On her very first trip, Rose visits an Earth that's about to get colder. As a long night begins, Rose meets different versions of her parents. And one man who could help her search. His name is Clive...

Verdict

The Endless Night kicked off The Dimension Canon spin-off series for Rose Tyler in sublime fashion! This was a superb way to start the series and it definitely lived up to the potential. When I heard the idea and concept for a Rose Tyler series set in Pete's World, I always imagined it would be with the Meta-Crisis Doctor following on from the events in Journey's End. However, we had a really intriguing placement with it being post-Doomsday and pre-Turn Left. I thought that was fantastic and it showed how desperate Rose was to get back to her universe and be reunited with the Doctor. I liked how much Pete was helping as part of Torchwood and the structure of the episode in having certain flashbacks to how the dimension canon was formed and had testing. I was surprised to find that Pete was giving a conference of sorts regarding its creation when it was so unstable, but this was a parallel universe so things aren't quite what we perceive as normal. His relationship with Rose was interesting because they weren't actually father and daughter and judging by their conversation when Rose switched universes, they weren't acting as if they were despite Pete's relationship with Jackie. Whilst being different, there was a lot of familiarity when Rose went to another universe as she recalled the events of Rose, Aliens of London and The Christmas Invasion to try and establish if any similar events had occurred to what did in her universe. She wanted to know how far removed this universe was from her own which I thought was a wonderful concept in of itself. Rose taking it upon herself to visit this new universe's versions of Pete and Jackie was great and whilst she wasn't perfect at putting on a guise, she got some answers that she wanted. Her seeking out Clive Finch was just magnificent and I bet Russell T Davies never imagined in his wildest dreams that this character would be making what now looks set to be an extended comeback! The beauty of Big Finish. I thought it was wonderful how Rose was caught out after her separate interrogations of Pete and Jackie and their ancient relationship. The moment that Pete ended up at Jackie's thinking Rose was his 20-year-old daughter after their relationship two decades previously was just marvellous. I haven't laughed at an audio scene like that in a very long while. It seems the disguise of Rose Smith didn't quite work! It was a good effort though. Some of the heartfelt conversation between Pete and Jackie was lovely to listen to and it must have been so difficult for Rose to know she had the option to leave after the Sun had just gone out. What we heard in The Stolen Earth was coming into fruition as the walls between universes were breaking down and the stars were going out. Things were very bleak on this Earth as the end was nigh and accepted. Rose revealing to everyone that she was from a parallel universe was very good and I liked how Pete did what any desperate person would do and attempt to steal Rose's dimension canon device. Jackie showed her mothering instinct despite not actually being a mother in this universe was commendable and quite amazing really. She was willing to give her life for the daughter she never had, but Rose didn't want to go back alone. She took Clive with her much to Pete's dismay due to the potential dimensional issues, but all ended up okay as Rose took it upon herself to try some tests with the dimension canon. This one had a lot of family drama which worked well and I loved the concept as a whole. Overall, a very strong start to the series!

Rating: 10/10