Omega

"Grains of truth are like grains of sand. Make anything out of them and the tide comes and washes them away."

Writer: Nev Fountain

Format: Audio

Released: August 2003

Series: Main Range 47

Featuring: Fifth Doctor

Synopsis 

A strange telepathic message prompts the Doctor to travel to the a Sector of Forgotten Souls, a place where, thousands of years ago, Omega's ship vanished whilst detonating a star. 

He's not the only one journeying towards it. Jolly Chronolidays prides itself on giving its tourists an experience of galactic history that is far better than mere time travel. 

Its motto is, "We don't go into history, we prefer to bring history to you". 

When Omega's ship suddenly materialises in front of their shuttle, and one of their employees goes insane and tries to destroy his hands...

...suddenly it's not just a motto anymore. 

And Omega - and his madness - is closer than they think. 

Verdict 

Omega was a very interesting and very good audio adventure! It seems to be the first of a trilogy of audio stories featuring a returning villain, each with a different Doctor I believe travelling alone. I'm not sure why we don't get a companion in this story (and I'm not sure how it can fit into story replacement for the Fifth Doctor) but my theory is that the writers wanted to fully capture the relationship between the Doctor and, in this case, Omega and present the villain as almost or above an equal to the Doctor. The fact that Omega was idolised by the Doctor should be enough of a convincing factor for that. It was great to hear Ian Collier reprise his role as the megalomaniac Time Lord. Omega is a very intriguing character and I'm very surprised we haven't had more stories exploring the depth of the character, but this story went some way to filling some of those gaps. The revelation about why the Hand of Omega, seen in Remembrance of the Daleks, was magnificent I must say. The mentions of Rassilon were in a much different mark to what was flashbacked of him in my recent reading of the first part to Gangland but it offered some insight into Gallifrey's history that's for sure. I loved the references to The Three Doctors and Arc of Infinity very much and I really liked how we got a fully explained answer to how Omega survived his apparent demise in the latter TV story mentioned. It's going to be mightily intriguing to see how Omega is presented in modern Doctor Who when he does battle against K9 on the big screen in a few years time in K9: Timequake. I will be going to the cinema for that that's for sure! The recollection on Omega's childhood was something I found very interesting - especially the fact that he was actually called Peylix! Omega was just a gag nickname that stuck. I certainly wasn't expecting that! Some of the guest cast were very good in this story with Ertikus a real standout. I loved the fact that he was also a Time Lord and his TARDIS being hidden was pretty cool. I really enjoyed the fact that he was in his last incarnation and it just showed how precarious a position the Eleventh Doctor was in for his entire tenure! Ertikus was murdered and that was that. Copout. No regeneration. Just dead. I found the Fifth Doctor travelling alone an interesting dynamic and although Peter Davison has been criticised quite a lot in the past regarding his audio performances, and rightly so, but here I thought he was very good. I'm still not sure why he's so much better on television but I really prefer him on screen. The story itself was excellent for the first three parts but I felt that after the part four cliffhanger things got very confusing. I found it difficult to believe that, in a loose sequel moment to Arc of Infinity, Omega was two beings - himself and the embodiment of the Doctor. The explanation tried a lot but it was still pretty confusing I felt. Daland was a good character and I liked the murder mystery surrounding Tarpov. The mention of Zagreus did not go unnoticed and we are still waiting to see what happened regarding that name and the Eighth Doctor following the conclusion of Neverland. It seems such a long time since that story and I don't even have to wait a month for each story! The climax was good and once again seemed to leave Omega stuck outside of the universe. He wanted his marriage with Sentia which seemed pretty sickening but what he got was much more. A bit confusing towards part four, but overall a really good and solid story! I must admit though I was hoping for a little more regarding such a significant return. 

Rating: 8/10