Circular Time

"Time makes you like you are."

Writers: Paul Cornell & Mike Maddox
Format: Audio
Released: January 2007
Series: Main Range 91

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa

Synopsis

Summer to winter, the seasons turn.

In the springtime of a distant future, the Doctor and Nyssa become embroiled in Time Lord politics on an alien world. During the stifling heat of a summer past they suffer the vengeful wrath of Isaac Newton. In the recent past, Nyssa spends a romantic golden autumn in an English village while the Doctor plays cricket. And finally, many years after their travels together have ended, the two friends meet again in the strangest of circumstances.

Four seasons. Four stories.

Now close the door behind you, you're letting the cold in...

Verdict

Circular Time was a bit of a weird one it must be said. It had glimpses of quality but as a whole it just didn't quite work in my opinion. It was just trying too hard to be something different with the four different stories and I really couldn't understand why, with four completely separate stories, they were all part of one adventure. It didn't make too much sense to me and they basically seemed like four full-cast short trips. It was just plain weird and I didn't think it was too appealing of a concept. The first story had potential but was cut short and finished almost abruptly. The Doctor doing the bidding of the Time Lords once again was good and I did enjoy that Nyssa began questioning the Doctor once she learned that he was exiled during the events of The War Games. The references to Logopolis, The Invasion of Time and Time-Flight were also excellent and the relationship between the Doctor and Nyssa was pretty good. The second adventure started off well with the TARDIS pairing being accused of forgery and having to face the wrath of Isaac Newton. The way he deduced that the pair were time travellers wasn't great though and even for a man of his intelligence, I couldn't believe how easily he came to deduce and accept that the Doctor and Nyssa may be time travellers. The third adventure was better than the previous two as we saw Nyssa get involved romantically for the first time which was good and I did love the idea of an English village being called Traken. She couldn't believe it but Andy was a little taken aback by her spacial description - something I thought was actually quite beautiful. The fourth story was the one that saved this audio from disaster in my opinion as we had a very intriguing tale told. The Doctor and Nyssa were reunited following the latter's departure in Terminus, which was referenced, and it was taking place in the dreams of the former. The fact that this segment of the story took place during the final moments of The Caves of Androzani was brilliant. The idea of the Doctor having a family was something very interesting to explore and the children being named Tegan and Adric was quite humorous. The Doctor mentioning Peri and how he had saved her was lovely and I really liked how he eventually remembered who Nyssa was. She helped him, along with Kamelion, realise that he was needed and that he couldn't die just yet. It was a good end to a very weird anthology of stories. The season theme was average and I think things would have worked much better if the four tales were linked. Overall, a brave effort and with glimpses of quality, it just didn't work too well for my liking.

Rating: 6/10