Neverland

"Your life has been rich, your stories many, history is filled to bursting. You have lived more life than ever dreamed possible, but now your time is up."

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Audio

Released: June 2002

Series: Main Range 33

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley, Romana II

Synopsis 

The Web of Time is stretched to breaking. History is leaking like a sieve. In the Citadel of Gallifrey, the Time Lords fear the end of everything that is, everything that was... everything that will be.

The Doctor holds the Time Lords' only hope - but exactly what lengths will the Celestial Intervention Agency go to in their efforts to retrieve something important from within his TARDIS? What has caused the Imperiatrix Romanadvoratrelundar to declare war on the rest of creation? And can an old nursery rhyme about a monster called Zagreus really be coming true?

The answers can only be found outside the bounds of the universe itself, in a place that history forgot. In the wastegrounds of eternity. In the Neverland. 

Verdict 

Neverland was a very good audio story to conclude this little mini-series of adventures to feature the Eighth Doctor and Charley! It concluded the story arc that started with Invaders from Mars (I'd argue it actually started with Storm Warning) and tied some loose ends up of the five episodes that preceded it. I thought the length of the best part of 2 and a half hours was probably a bit excessive and with just the one cliffhanger, 72 minutes at a time for an audio story as in depth and complicated as this one was maybe a bit too much for the casual listener. However, I made do and thankfully there were a lot of great elements. There was an abundance of past story references with Seasons of Fear, The War Games and The Daleks' Master Plan all getting a nice mention! The continuity from The Time of the Daleks with the Daleks being trapped in the vortex was brilliant and I loved how the Doctor saw Romana give the order for their extermination, and was horrified by it, in the Matrix projection. The theory of anti-time coming true was an intriguing concept and I liked how the Doctor thought it ridiculous. Paul McGann gave another magnificent performance as the largely forgotten Eighth Doctor. I say that in the general sense but he's far from forgotten in my eyes! Whether it's in comic strips with Izzy or in the audios here with Charley, I really am loving this incarnation because there's so many ways you can go with him. There seems to be an enormous gap between The Movie and The Night of the Doctor and that just leaves so much available. The return of Romana wasn't quite as triumphant as I was hoping. Although there were signs of chemistry between her and the Doctor, it was obviously nothing close to what she shared with the Fourth Doctor but I thought she and the Sixth Doctor in The Apocalypse Element had a much better relationship. I must admit though that I'm liking the fact she is Lady President. The Doctor again showing a disliking to Vansell was good and his plan was just utterly insane! But that was somewhat down to the effects of anti-time. The Zagreus rhyme was played upon wonderfully throughout the adventure though I was surprised by the story, at a length of nearly 150 minutes, left things unresolved! And now there's a 17 story wait until the Eighth Doctor returns to the Main Range. I must admit though it'll be nice to hear some of the other Doctors now! The fact that Rassilon appeared was a massive deal in my opinion! I thought Russell T Davies was pretty bold to bring him back in The End of Time but I found it even more audacious here. Rassilon was still alive and kicking, or at least we think. I thought the ambiguity around that was very clever. The reference to The Five Doctors and the Doctor going into the Tomb of Rassilon was good. Taris was a pretty good character and I loved how she was annoying just about everyone in the end! The standout scene of the story though was when Charley was almost begging the Doctor to shoot her. Her life didn't matter. It was supposed to be over anyway. Of course she'd sacrifice herself to save history. The Doctor just couldn't bring himself to do it however, and with the cliffhanger he seemed to pay the cost. The Doctor prevented the Neverpeople from returning to Gallifrey, but at what cost?

Rating: 8/10