Pretty Lies

"A man who's lost his conscience. His friends. His name..."

Writer: Guy Adams
Format: Audio
Released: 23rd February 2017
Series: Casualties of War 01

Featuring: War Doctor

Synopsis

Trapped and desperate, light years from their armies at the heart of the Time War, the War Doctor and Cardinal Ollistra discover that where they go, destruction follows.

A war reporter named Schandel may provide the key to their escape, but it is often said that the first casualty of war is the truth. When the choice between grim reality and a hero's story means life or death, will the Doctor allow Schandel to print the legend?

Verdict

Pretty Lies was an excellent audio adventure and a great story to kick off my listening of the Casualties of War boxset. Sadly, this is the last boxset to feature John Hurt as the War Doctor following his passing but it has been truly amazing to get twelve stories featuring this hidden and unprecedented incarnation of the Doctor. Big props to Big Finish for that and I do hope that John Hurt goes out with a bang in this boxset. It has certainly begun in style with a really great story that had a terrific theme of reporting. The Doctor and Ollistra were thrown straight into the action on Beltox which I liked and I really enjoyed seeing the pair's annoyance at having no other choice but to get along. This story particularly highlighted just how different of a man the Doctor was in the Time War. He knew that with the Daleks on their way to strike Fergil, it would be impossible for him to save everybody and he just seemed to accept that. That is rather unusual as he would normally do everything he could to save every last life but that was not the case on this occasion. The Doctor's main plan of action was to make sure that the impending massacre was a small one rather than preventing the massacre at all and that really brought home how deadly the Time War was. The plans of the Doctor even involved people dying, something he just had to get on with. I loved how infuriated he was throughout the adventure by Schandel who was a terrific little character. The idea of a war reporter was great and even in times of war, in a war as horrific and deadly as the Time War, people still wanted a good story out of it. Based upon one line that the Doctor gave, it was edited to make the Doctor sound like he was giving a rallying call against the Daleks which was actually far from the truth. I liked the Doctor's comment about it not being possible that the Time War has a winner, due to the scale of death, and his goal was simply to make sure that the Daleks lose it. Schandel revealing little details about the impending arrival of the Daleks was good and I loved how much he admired the Doctor as a war hero. That would only anger the Time Lord who despite his heavy involvement in the War up to this point really wanted no part in it. The realisation from the Doctor and Ollistra that Fergil was only under threat because of their presence was a moment that really struck me and again, it sold how horrific the Time War truly was. The presence of two Time Lords meant that an entire planet was at risk. Nobody was safe during the Time War and innocents would die by the millions. The Daleks were rather interesting in this story and I liked how they simply seemed to disregard events when one of their envoys was destroyed. They'd just dispatch another and get on with things. The Doctor reporting a falsehood about threatening the Daleks was a brilliant way to lure them into his trap but in order to destroy the Daleks, the price on Beltox would actually be quite a big one. Half of Fergil was wiped out but the Doctor was still seen as a hero to Schandel due to the amount of lives he had saved. The conclusion of this audio though really highlighted how evil the Daleks are as once they got their hands on the finished report, they went and obliterated the planet just to prove a point and to get revenge on the Doctor. Schandel's death was a poignant moment but I am now looking forward to the next story in the boxset to see where things go from here. Overall though, an excellent story!

Rating: 9/10