He Jests at Scars was an outstanding audio adventure! I thought this was a magnificent listen and definitely my favourite of the Unbound series so far. The what if concept here was excellent and playing with life after The Trial of a Time Lord in a scenario where the Valeyard was actually victorious was fantastic. What’s more, I loved that we got an insight into the travels and adventures of the Valeyard in his TARDIS and how this came alongside a companion in the form of Ellie. She was quite amusing in also not being too bothered by all of the destruction being wrought by the Valeyard, but it was clear there was a significant position of power in the TARDIS and it certainly didn’t belong to her. She was chastised for calling the Valeyard as the Doctor which was fun and I thought Michael Jayston played the role so well. It was a great take on the Doctor and despite it being released far before the incarnation was created, there were definitely vibes of the War Doctor there for me. Except this version of the Doctor went so far as to embracing evil and acting upon it, something he supposedly was surprising for all of his previous lives. That comment in itself was quite something, but the Valeyard now going so far as to try and undo a lot of what the Doctor had achieved in the past was terrific. That really was a brilliant concept for a story which worked ever so well. Starting with the events of Logopolis was a fun place to begin as I really enjoy that adventure and the Valeyard interfering with the time ram and shooting both the Fourth Doctor and the Master into oblivion was great! But then of course, issues with time ensued as the Valeyard had inadvertently committed self suicide. The chaos that stemmed from that was brilliant and we learned that the First Doctor and Dodo walked the streets of Logopolis. The Valeyard wanting to go as far as killing Dodo to try and put history back on the right track was quite something and it just showed how this really was the amalgamation of everything evil about the Doctor. Mel’s involvement to try and put things right after the Matrix began to decay was terrific and I really enjoyed hearing a darker side to her character, something we definitely didn’t get on screen. She killed the last Tharil which was a surprise but she’d come so far on her mission that she didn’t even care. That spoke volumes! Finding out that if she never met the Doctor in Brighton, as the Valeyard ensured through some simple interference by Ellie, that Mel would die of a brain tumour at the age of 48 was heartbreaking and I found it surprising that this wasn’t confirmed as not happening should time be restored, although it was stated that the reason was from radiation from communication devices on Earth. The uselessness of the President on Gallifrey was so much fun and that really allowed Vansell to shine as he observed events. He wasn’t overly keen on saving the Doctor from the Fantasy Factory, and he just saw it as an overdue mission completed when the Valeyard had gone back in time on Skaro and given the Thals an equation to wipe out the Daleks before they even began. There was then such an exciting finish with the Valeyard reflecting on all his interference and the possibilities and timelines created from interference in the lives of every incarnation of the Doctor. The mentions of the likes of Moroks and Nimon were good as well and I loved how there was just so much going on. The ending with the Valeyard and Mel stuck in the TARDIS after it had exerted all of its power to keep up the projections was excellent, and the irony of the Doctor and companion together for eternity was sublime. Overall, a superb audio!
Rating: 10/10
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