The Inquiry

 

"Now is a difficult concept."

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Audio

Released: April 2004

Series: Gallifrey 1.03

Featuring: Romana II, Leela, K9

Synopsis

President Romana has been called to account for her actions. But the only evidence that she has responded to a real and present danger has disappeared. To clear her good name she is dependent on the testimony of the very people who want to see her publicly humiliated and her power removed.

While Leela tries to discover truths of her own, Romana is forced into an uneasy truce with her rivals at the CIA. But at least she can be sure the inquiry will be handled in a fair and proper manner. Or can she? When the investigation itself triggers danger and time is quite literally running out for all of Gallifrey's power and knowledge, just who can Romana trust?

Verdict

The Inquiry was another excellent story from the first series of Gallifrey! I am really enjoying this spinoff series and whilst the series has been an incredibly consistent one with all three adventures receiving the same rating, I think if I went on a percentage basis this one would slightly edge the others as the best of the bunch so far. I loved the premise and I thought throwing in the returning Inquisitor was magnificent. She didn't have a huge role to play in the story but with her having featured in The Trial of a Time Lord, it just provides that extra dimension and is great continuity from the Doctor Who televised series. I initially thought the inquiry that this audio gets its title from would be regarding recent events on Gryben or what went down in Square One. Instead, we had a reversion kind of format which was very good and I really liked the concept of a Timonic Fusion Device that had supposedly gone off and it was so deadly that Romana was being questioned regarding her actions. Although she has the role of President of the High Council, with the CIA and their somewhat iffy relationship her authority never seems to be absolute. There was a good occasion towards the end where she gave Braxiatel a firm order that was nice to see for the first time really. I enjoyed her relationship with Leela again here and I thought the savage had her best outing in the series so far. The mystery that looms surrounding the disappearance of Andred was excellent here and it was nice to get some firm development. I look forward to hearing more regarding this as the series goes on and it is something I expect to last into the second series. Leela, with the help of K9, seeking records regarding her apparently 'late' husband was terrific and I loved how quickly she picked up on Narvin's slip of the tongue. I was surprised that Torvaid admitted so openly to killing Andred in self defence after Narvin revealed all of his surprise contact with the Chancellery Guard. The exploration of the rivalry between that body and the CIA was interesting and I would certainly love to get more of that as this spinoff expands. I will admit that I was a little confused at times regarding the time factor of the Timonic device and throwing that into being on Gallifrey and the very nature of the Time Lords was excellent! It was weird though because I kind of enjoyed being confused. The concept of now being a difficult one was a line I thoroughly enjoyed from Narvin as highlighted by it taking my opening quote, and the whole inquiry then coming to an end because there was no possible way of actually measuring the impact of the device and if it had actually exploded. The Matrix being used was fantastic to hear and I like how it exists outside of time so the whole rewriting of history to prevent the explosion and being stolen after it had already gone off was spectacular. I just love when things get timey-wimey as I think the concept of time itself is an interesting one and what better than a Gallifrey spinoff to explore it? Romana's having travelled the universe coming into play was also fantastic and I liked how to some on Gallifrey, Braxiatel's collection of rare art that would be destroyed or lost was deemed horrific and terrible interference worthy of a heinous crime, but for Romana she simply wrote it off and told the CIA to worry about more important things. That was a really nice touch. As a whole, this was a fantastic story from start to finish and it was good for the five lead characters to all have an equal footing and be almost fighting against each other with different motives and agendas. Overall, a fantastic story and I like the way it has set up the finale with Romana determined to find out which temporal power sought to change Gallifreyan history and upset the Time Lords. Another great listen!

Rating: 9/10