Zagreus

"Welcome to your insanity!"

Writers: Alan Barnes & Gary Russell

Format: Audio

Released: November 2003

Series: Main Range 50

Featuring: Eighth Doctor, Charley, Romana II, Leela, K9

Synopsis 

Zagreus sits inside your head. 

Zagreus lives among the dead...

Zagreus sees you in your bed

And eats you when you're sleeping.

Verdict 

Zagreus was... well, umm... I'm not really sure. It was probably the most outrageous and just absolutely barmy story I've ever done across any format and that's saying something. There have been some weird ones but this tops it all in my opinion and for a large part of the story it's what let it down. I mean, it's wonderful that it's the 40th anniversary story and everything and it really is quite an incredible assembled cast, but I'm absolutely categorically against them playing other roles than the ones they're famous for, hence my featuring being a lot smaller than the audio cover might suggest. I must say it was lovely to hear Nicholas Courtney back in audio story after his successful last appearance in Minuet in Hell, a story that was nicely referenced. I did enjoy the first moment he spoke and the fact he was portraying a personified manifestation of the TARDIS was something I was not expecting! It wasn't quite what we got in The Doctor's Wife, far from it actually, but I loved the idea of the TARDIS being jealous of the companion, in this case Charley. I absolutely Charley as companion and I thought India Fisher gave another accomplished performance. I love the new companions we get in Big Finish and Charley has to be the best. Alongside the Eighth Doctor, it's wonderful getting an unseen era of Classic Doctor Who unfolding on audio. Despite the pretty poor script, I thought Paul McGann was outstanding in this story and a large reason of why this story gets what is a ridiculously generous rating. I guess it's because today is Doctor Who's 52nd birthday so I couldn't be too harsh! I can't believe it's now been two years that I've been blogging and I've been on one hell of a ride! I started during my AS Levels following the 50th anniversary and now I'm living alone at university still collecting my reviews! It's going to be great to look back on all of my thoughts of the nearly 600 entries I have posted as part of the blog. It's been a blast and here's to many more years of blogging! Speaking of stories, this audio really did have an abundance of past story references which I very much enjoyed but even a continuity fan like myself thought there was perhaps some overkill here. We had a large reminder of what happened in Neverland which I just didn't get. Why build up to a story for over a year and then give us this? It was not worth the wait. I did really love the references to The Dalek Invasion of Earth, Oblivion and Storm Warning though I must say. Three excellent stories right there and I love how comic strips get a mention! We also had some fantastic name-dropping of alien enemies the Doctor has previously encountered with the Drashigs, Yeti, Quarks and Nestenes all getting a mention! But the references didn't stop there. There were comedic references to Logopolis, The Caves of Androzani, Time and the Rani and The Movie too! I also really liked the gaff mention of the end of Revelation of the Daleks. Do you think that's where it stopped? Think again! There was then a mention of Morbius and finally references to The Stones of Venice, The Five Doctors and The War Games. A continuity bubble simply burst! There was loads of it. The arrival of Leela onto audio was something that I did not expect but after The Invasion of Time it would make sense for her to be around on Gallifrey. Joining up with Romana II who is now the Lord President, that's a really nice pairing to go into the Gallifrey spinoff series that I've been meaning to explore. John Leeson returning as K9 was also magnificent! The story was just too long overall, 3 parts consisting of 1 hour 20 minutes each is beyond overkill. A 4 hour story as confusing as this? I do wonder how it got the green light. It was just mad and all over the place. Thankfully the guest cast was incredible and they tried their best and the conitinuity overdrive swung things somewhat. I'm intrigued to see where this leaves the Eighth Doctor and Charley going ahead though. He thinks she's left but apparently the TARDIS has a back door? As long as she remains with him I'm happy. But where? A completely different universe opens up all kinds of scenario and I can't wait to see it explored. For now though, considering the assembled cast this was a big disappointment for the 40th anniversary. At least I'm now only 12 years behind...

Rating: 7/10