Emancipation

"Death or rescue? And she chose death."

Writer: Lisa McMullin

Format: Audio

Released: 8 March 2019

Series: Eighth of March 1.01

Featuring: River Song, Leela

Synopsis

When River Song crashes a Galactic Heritage convention, posing as the wrong Time Lord, Leela is sent by Gallifrey to investigate.

But before the canapés are cold and the champagne becomes warm, they find themselves embroiled in a royal kidnapping.

Verdict

Emancipation was a fantastically fun way to start The Eighth of March boxset! This really was a terrific adventure to get us going on this celebratory release and it's certainly one that I have been looking to purchase for two years now, and thankfully it was on sale for the last International Women's Day and I just couldn't resist. This opening story is probably the one I was most excited for because the prospect of River Song and Leela meeting was so enticing. They're both such strong characters and pitting them off against each other here was just wonderful. It was such an enjoyable listen. I love the idea of River impersonating Romana as a Gallifreyan delegate at the convention that formed the basis of much of the audio, and Leela arriving to investigate this was a magnificent start. It was delightful. I liked that the story used the Diary of River Song theme music and that's a series I'm very keen to get back into in due course, but there's just so much on my plate at the moment! I thought Princess Myrahla was a very good character and her centrality to the plot worked really well. Her blessing being close and the plan of the Hanovari to kidnap her (or so we thought) was a good introduction to these assassins. I thought the Royal Magnifat as the lead monarch made for a brilliant villain, even if she was just following her people's traditions. The relationship between River and Leela growing throughout the audio was superb and I liked how the former knew of the latter from the Doctor. Her mind reading device was excellent and its use throughout the story was mightily impressive. Once it was mentioned I didn't expect it to be so prominent but it just worked ever so well. River's plan of saving the princess and ensuring she got a reward was exactly what I'd expect of her and she almost seemed intent on taking over the kidnapping! Leela's reaction to River's ability to pilot her TARDIS was great stuff and I also loved how shocked she was by River clicking her fingers to gain entry. The shift in the story when it became clear that the Hanovari were there to rescue the princess rather than kidnap her was fantastic and learning of her planned sacrifice to the Great Creator was intriguing. I liked the history behind that with with the old king offering himself to this Great Creator in return for peace, but it wanted a bigger sacrifice in the form of his daughter so now every first born of the monarchs would be sacrificed for the peace. It was pretty brutal! River likening her own childhood experience to what Myrahla was enduring was very good and a great use of her character and I thought the revelation that there was actually more than one princess – twins! – was a good way to get around the whole losing her in the Vortex situation. Some more elaboration on that would be my only qualm with the episode. I loved how the thought scanner was used to show that Myrahla wanted saving but couldn't speak the truth and having to live that must have ben torment. I liked how the twins along with River and Leela were able to stand up to the Royal Magnifat and ended up being returned home in the TARDIS in a nice little feel-good ending. The pair returning to the convention and seeing no royal presence was very good and the Hanovari paradox after they were scattered amongst the time winds was very good indeed. They were looking for a princess they had already saved which was a line I really enjoyed. River taking matters into her own hands by ensuring that it was the Royal Magnifat that ended up getting sacrificed was a dark moment but it was good to see her enact her own form of justice without the Doctor around. River and Leela realising that events sparked a civil war so they went to the village on the day before it fell to save the princess once and for all. Overall, a fantastic audio adventure!

Rating: 9/10