Warfare

"I'm her past. She cannot escape that."

Writer: Stewart Sheargold

Format: Audio

Released: June 2006

Series: Gallifrey 3.02

Featuring: Romana II, Romana I, Leela, K9

Synopsis

'You shouldn't even exist. You're an anomaly. And we Time Lords stamp them out.'

The dark days have come again. It's the end for Gallifrey. The most learned civilisation in the universe has come to war. The Capitol is in ruins; pitched battles are an everyday occurrence, futures are being changed. The first Imperiatrix, back from the dead, has stolen power and nothing will stop her ambition.

Except, perhaps for a small band of opposition who believe that it is time to stop running and fight back. But war demands sacrifice, and to rid Gallifrey of Pandora, Romana's sacrifice will be great indeed. That is, if she can remember which Romana she actually is. For there is some warfare that is more pervasive than others...

Verdict

Warfare was another very good Gallifrey audio adventure to continue the third series! I was quite surprised by how this one ended considering it was the second of a five-story series as Pandora seems to have been dealt with which I was expecting to build towards as the series rolled on. Instead, we got what kind of felt like a finale by the end of the episode here which was a lot of unexpected fun. I thought it worked well to have Darkel as the prime villainess in this one as even though Pandora was around and prominently featured, there was something mysterious about the Inquisitor which I thoroughly enjoyed. She is conniving and out for herself and the distain she displays towards Romana's presidency is excellent. Her discussions with Narvin were intriguing and I really like the development of the CIA operative over the course of the Gallifrey spinoff thus far. He's obviously got quite the history with Romana and his change of heart and acceptance of her being the President of the Time Lords was terrific here. Leela had a pretty strong episode here but I do think there could have been more mentioning or at least use of her blindness. It's such a big thing to happen and whilst I know there is still time, it's a fresh development so I think more alluding to it should have happened. That's not a big issue though! I really liked Matthias and Hallen were able to shine as characters in this audio. The former was very good with his links to Darkel and his explanation as to how he obtained the source of the Free Time dogma virus release later in the story was very good. You could hear how uncomfortable he was with the conversation which was great stuff. I really liked Hallen as well in this adventure and his devotion to Romana and desire to rid Gallifrey of Pandora was fantastic. He was enjoyable in the role of Commander. The way the story incorporated the warfare on Gallifrey with the battle for power amongst Romana and Pandora was good and I thought the action at the start was nicely done. There was a decent pace for the most part, even if things were perhaps slightly long, but they more than picked up once the dogma virus was inadvertently released by Hallen infecting himself. I enjoyed that and the continuity that comes with it from earlier series of the spinoff is excellent. At the moment, it really does all feel like a big story rather than separate series. Hallen having to choose between fire and ice to avoid dying was brilliant and the way Narvin announced the predicament was superb. The moment that both incarnations of Romana came together was very good, but I do feel like it should have been saved for a more impactful moment. The continuity with Fractures and the Aesino coming to take Romana I was magnificent and I also liked how there was almost battles for personality supremacy within each incarnation and Pandora. Romana I's continued use of referring to herself as Romana the First as if she was a monarch was delightful. The way K9 revealed that he was always on the side of Romana II as his Mistress was humorous and I adored the reaction of Romana when he revealed that he had to use a true version of the virus when it came to infecting her. Romana and K9 willing to destroy themselves to rid Gallifrey of Pandora once and for all was admirable and a powerful moment. I really was surprised to find that the virus was erasing the Matrix and the element of the memories of all of the Time Lords being destroyed and Romana hearing it was incredible. That's quite the burden for her to carry now as the source of knowledge on Gallifrey. A powerful finale to a very good episode!

Rating: 8/10