The Innocent

"I've seen too much of this war already..."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: December 2015

Series: Only the Monstrous 01

Featuring: War Doctor, Rejoice

Synopsis 

As the Daleks mass their time fleet for a final assault on Gallifrey, something ancient is waiting for them at Omega One. And a sacrifice must be made.

Arch manipulator and Time Lord strategist, Cardinal Ollistra receives shock news of the Doctor's death.

Meanwhile, on the planet Keska, a parochial war has returned to plague a peaceful civilisation after decades of tranquility. But how can such a war have any connection with the great Time War which, at any one moment in the whole of eternity, could threaten to tear the universe apart?

If only the Doctor were still alive...

Verdict 

The Innocent was a very good and solid start to what is pretty much a brand new era of Doctor Who! The War Doctor has returned to performed Doctor Who following his solitary appearance in The Day of the Doctor as the 'missing' incarnation that embodied our favourite Time Lord in the cancellation years. Big Finish really do work wonders and I'm just so glad that we're going to be getting at least twelve adventures with John Hurt's incarnation of the Doctor. He's going to feel a lot more like the Doctor by the end of the fourth anthology of adventures late next year and I can't wait to see how he does in developing his character. As was the case in this story, there's not a lot of room for roaming with this Doctor as he is just engulfed in the Time War but I think the fact it was this incarnation for nearly the whole war illustrates just how long and drawn out the Time War really was. The War Doctor appeared really young immediately after the Eighth Doctor regenerated in The Night of the Doctor but even by this point in the war, the Doctor has revoked his own name and appears quite aged and exhausted from the strain of war. I must admit for the first War Doctor audio adventure, I was expecting Gallifrey to be the prime setting but instead the audio primarily took place on Keska. I was somewhat surprised the Doctor had never heard of the planet as by this time he's heard of just about everywhere! Rejoice was a magnificent character and although I'm not entirely sure about her credibility as being a companion just yet, she looks like she's going to be fantastic! She differed from Cinder in Engines of War, a story that this had great continuity from, as the Doctor didn't seem to formally accept her as companion but he knew the signs were there as she was absolutely wonderful and I really enjoyed that the Doctor grew rather fond of her as the adventure went on. The way the Doctor was looked upon on Gallifrey was a really intriguing part of the story and I must say I didn't expect his life to be celebrated in the way it was after it was announced the Doctor had died. That was of course not the case but to go from that to Ollistra and others calling the Doctor's acquisition of companions just "another stray" was quite the contrast I thought. The depiction of the war itself was excellent in this story and I adored the reference to The Daleks' Master Plan and the return of the time destructor! It was such a debating weapon in that story and if it was ever going to be used again then the Time War was the perfect place. It had devastating effects and saw Dalek plans held back by millennia. That in itself just showed how long this war had been raging. A question I've always wanted a definitive answer to is how the Time War started and whilst it was touched upon here with a reference to Genesis of the Daleks, I would like it set in stone at some point. It's such a significant event that I think some light should be shredded on how it all began. The plot of the story itself was solid and I did like the inclusion of another war with the Taalyens attacking Keska. The Doctor would soon help out the locals though and despite his claims that he was a monster, perhaps suggesting a darker past in the war prior to this point, he was still the Doctor. We could see that and I think whilst he's retracted his name, he is still the same great man. Cardinal Ollistra seems an intriguing character and I really am looking forward to learning more about her. She certainly isn't afraid to take a risk as we saw at the end with her using power from the Eye of Harmony, seriously depleting the temporal defences of Gallifrey, to bring the Doctor back home. He wasn't all that happy about it and genuinely did seem upset that he and Rejoice would be saying a fast goodbye as the Time Lords returned her home. I liked how the ending seems to lead right into the next instalment of the anthology and I just can't wait! John Hurt was brilliant and we're getting War Doctor adventures, what's not to love? We're off to a good start.

Rating: 8/10