Ascension

"The Lady President is a prisoner of the Daleks!"

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Audio

Released: October 2013

Series: Gallifrey 6.03

Featuring: Romana II, Leela, , K9, Narvin

Synopsis

Gallifrey rises...

Romana's sacrifice sees Gallifrey restored to its former glory, but at a terrible cost.

As the Time Lords begin to reclaim their stronghold, Leela and Narvin find themselves trapped in a decaying reality... and only K9 can help them.

As old friends fight to reunite, new threats lie in wait...

Because Braxiatel was right: war is coming.

Verdict

Ascension was a brilliant adventure to conclude the sixth series of Gallifrey! This episode really did feel like it had something of a conclusion to the entire range about it and whilst I know that this is not the end, it really did tie up a lot of what has happened over these six series. It has been a humongous adventure and story arc but at long last we have Romana, Leela and Narvin firmly back home on Gallifrey and now the threat of the dogma virus has also been destroyed. There really was a lot that happened here and I thought it was amusing that we initially saw Romana once again being ushered in as Lord President of Gallifrey against her will. I'm glad she wasn't bothered about taking that position again and the series was in danger of repeating itself, but thankfully that direction wasn't fully taken. The return of Matthias was intriguing and it was a stark reminder of just how much has happened on the true Gallifrey since Romana's departure. The way to deal with the dogma virus being forced quarantine obviously wouldn't go down too well but that was what Matthias had enacted, but now Romana was back and everyone was quick to try and usher her in! They saw it as a sign and that was just good. The return of K9 to the series was most welcomed and he ended up being really useful for the overall resolution. Leela's reaction to being reunited with her old robot dog was lovely and I thought she had a strong showing in this finale. I really liked the political nature of Gallifrey and how it was presented here, especially with the vulnerability of no President being sworn in. Vulnerability was taken to a new level though when the method of treating the dogma virus once and for all was initiated in the form of restoring Gallifrey from a data backup. That idea felt a bit like it was cheating, but when it turned out to be a Dalek plot right from the very start and it was they who released the dogma virus I thought it was excellent. I really loved that idea and it did well in selling the conflict between the Daleks and the Time Lords as we head towards the Time War. It all added up well. Having the Time Lords all in comas as they awaited the data reset was the perfect time for the Daleks to emerge and try and takeover a helpless and defenceless Gallifrey. At long last, they would have the planet as part of their empire. They were ruthless towards Slyne who was their agent and didn't do too well at hiding it, and that was the Daleks at their best, offering promises and worlds they never intended on giving. Trey was much different in this episode as she realised that she was just a construct, but the message to the real Romana came in handy thanks to some K9 interpretation when he knew all about the future Romana and how she was a Matrix construct. The use of a Romana avatar to trap all of the Daleks was excellent and I loved the moments where Narvin seemed to initiate the instructions given to the Doctor in Genesis of the Daleks. That brought a lot of things full circle and really highlighted the issues between Daleks and Time Lords. I also thought it was intriguing that Narvin wanted Romana on Gallifrey and didn't think things would advance well without her. Unlike previous series, I'm not sure where the series direction will move from here and that's absolutely fine as we got a lot of answers and loose ends tied up after a very long but brilliant story arc. Overall, a fitting finale!

Rating: 9/10