Once and Future: The Union

"I'm hearing all the old tunes."

Writer: Matt Fitton

Format: Audio

Released: October 2023

Series: Once and Future 07

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Fourth Doctor, War Doctor, River, Susan

Synopsis

The Doctor responds to a distress call from his granddaughter, Susan, taking him to the Diamond Array: a huge multidimensional space station. Once there, his instability increases, as the Fourth and Eighth Doctors discover the Array's terrible purpose. 

Meanwhile, River Song has made a deadly alliance to try to save her husband. And the truth about the Doctor's degeneration will finally be revealed.

Verdict

The Union was a tremendous way to conclude the Once and Future sixtieth anniversary celebration from Big Finish! This has been a unique saga to serve as the anniversary specials from Big Finish but after a shaky start and some comical fan backlash, this was a phenomenal way to end. Does everything make sense? Probably not. But I think some fans are looking too much into it. This is a celebration and this does a more than decent job of bringing together so many characters and incarnations of the Doctor. I quite liked how the representation of the Doctor here felt a little more equal for each incarnation as we heard from nearly all of them! The Eighth and Fourth Doctor get the cover artwork, but there is also an extended stay for the War Doctor, unexpected cameos from the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors, as well as a really touching moment for the First Doctor. I thought that was so well done and having Susan present in the companion role was brilliant. Here we are celebrating a diamond anniversary and the companion is the same one we started with in An Unearthly Child way back in 1963. There really is something quite magical about that. Alluding to the speech the First Doctor gave at the end of The Dalek Invasion of Earth was really poignant and when the Doctor announced he wasn’t mistaken in his beliefs it really did bring a tear to my eye. It was really emotional stuff and I loved it. Susan has come along way and I thought it was lovely that the Tenth Doctor in particular got to see her. His reaction was beautiful and I bet Tennant revelled in that. Jacob Dudman being on hand to provide the voices of the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors was fantastic and I’m glad they got a chance to feature. The Eighth Doctor stabilising the degeneration was good and I liked that Susan was also something he could use as an anchor because of his familial connection. River Song also noted how she was the one the Doctor wanted to impress most and had done so first. All other companions subsequently were treated in similar fashion. That was a nice touch. Susan recognising River from An Unearthly Woman was a nice touch and strong continuity. They got on really well. The truth coming out about the degeneration weapon and how it was actually the War Doctor who was hit with it was a nice twist after all the insinuations that it was the Eighth Doctor! The idea of all of the Doctors suppressing the one who didn’t take the name was fantastic and I also loved the in humour regarding the numbering system going awry when this happened. Susan commenting how things got complicated in the future was marvellous humour. The Union being revealed as an amalgamation of the Two, Eleven, Nine, Twelve etc Time Lord was very well done and I think it certainly helped to have had Two’s Company earlier in the series. It was logical and explained the motive with the Union wanting other Time Lords to have some sort of experience of what they had gone through across their multiple lifetimes. The way things were put right and the in jokes to diamonds and the anniversary was really well done, and as a whole this was just a stellar and fun celebration! There was a lot to love. It’s a shame we didn’t have all of the original actors to play each incarnation, but they were all represented admirably. Overall, a superb episode!

Rating: 10/10