Verdict
Terror Firma was an excellent audio adventure! It continued my listening of the Main Range of Big Finish's releases and it finally gave us the meeting between the Eighth Doctor and Davros that, at least from my point of view, has been eagerly anticipated. Now, I know I'm still over eleven years behind in terms of releases but I'm really enjoying the latest batch of stories after a mixed period of adventures set in the Divergent Universe I'm now looking forward to more Eighth Doctor stories. The audios with him just always seem that little bit different because we only saw him on screen in The Movie and there aren't any real boundaries surrounding his incarnation. With all the others that came before, we know how their regeneration starts and ends but with the eighth incarnation it's just a little bit different and I like that. Paul McGann gave a terrific performance and I found it interesting that unlike many televised Davros stories, we didn't have to wait for the Doctor to encounter the creator of the Daleks. Most of the dialogue that they had in the story was with one another and I think it's an extended conversation and battle of words that wouldn't be seen again until The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar. For Davros, this story was pretty much a sequel to the events of Remembrance of the Daleks in which Skaro was destroyed. That was everything that Davros held dear so as revenge he would destroy everything that meant something to the Doctor. The obvious candidate? Earth of course. The claim that Davros had mutated over eight billion human beings into Daleks was staggering and almost incomprehensible and the effect that had on the Doctor was clearly recognisable. There was certainly continuity from Revelation of the Daleks but I liked how he made it clear that there were no longer any rival factions. No imperial or renegades, just simply Dalek. The virus that would end all life was obviously powerful and I liked how that allowed a bargain to be struck between the Doctor and the Daleks later on in the story. I wasn't a huge fan of getting a little scene before the opening titles of each part as I don't think it served any real purpose but I guess there wasn't much wrong with it. Although Charley and C'rizz spent most of the story apart, I thought their relationship was great at the start with the immediate follow on from The Next Life. The references to Genesis of the Daleks, Davros and The Time of the Daleks were excellent and I also enjoyed the mentions of Storm Warning and The Creed of the Kromon. The revelation that the Eighth Doctor had two previous companions prior to Charley was unexpected but that just highlighted the devious nature of Davros and the fact that he'd been tracking his Time Lord nemesis this whole time was deeply disturbing. Samson and Gemma seemed like good characters but for us listeners, I doubt we'll ever be able to appreciate them as companions. C'rizz almost becoming Emperor of the Daleks was pretty eventful but I was more intrigued by Davros seemingly becoming a Dalek. He was having a split personality order but the Doctor wasn't showing any remorse. It was claimed that Davros was dead but we've heard that many times before, however the Daleks did now have their Emperor and kept their side of the bargain with the Doctor. The ending with C'rizz being able to talk to those he has killed was most interesting and I'm now sceptical over whether he has an alterior motive for travelling in the TARDIS. He's from another universe, where they don't forget the dead.
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