Weapon of Choice

 

"They think their age gives them precedence."

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Audio

Released: March 2004

Series: Gallifrey 1.01

Featuring: Romana II, Leela, K9

Synopsis

The Time Lords of Gallifrey were the first to map the Web of Time. Now, under the reforming gaze of President Romanadvoratelundar, the oldest civilisation is ready to shed its monopoly, sharing its secrets with a coalition of the Temporal Powers the Monan Host, the Nekkistani an the Warpsmiths of Phaidon among them.

But the coalition is a fragile one, and despised in some quarters. When a team of Time Technology Assessors makes a horrific discovery on the barren moon of Kikrit, it seems their enemies are arming themselves to strike at the alliance. Has a terrorist group really acquired a temporal weapon so terrible the Time Lords forgot about its existence?

In search of the truth, Romana sends the woman called Leela and the robot dog K9 to the enclave of Gryben, a reception centre for temporal refugees. But the truth is war's first casualty and the fallout could destroy them all. 

Verdict

Weapon of Choice was a brilliant start to the Gallifrey spinoff series from Big Finish! This is a series I have been waiting a long time to start as I am always a fan of visiting the Time Lord home planet so getting an entire series here is really good and I look forward to hearing it develop and flesh out as the series goes on. This was a strong start with a methodical pace and the story at its heart was really well done. I like the dynamic of Romana being President and that's obviously something we've been introduced to in the Monthly Adventures with the likes of The Apocalypse Element and Neverland. Throwing in Leela to a Gallifreyan setting is wonderful and I love that we get to explore things for her some time after her departure from the Doctor in The Invasion of Time. The introduction of her into the story and how she was true to her tribal roots was magnificent and really showed why we love the noble savage character. I was expecting a little more of a relationship between Romana and Leela given their travels with the Fourth Doctor and each having their own version of K9, but there is still plenty of time for that to occur and develop. I think the ending was a good indicator of that with Romana appointing Leela as her presidential bodyguard. The latter's reaction to that was terrific and I really enjoyed how grateful she was despite all of her Time Lord badmouthing during the audio. I thought the introduction of what will surely become regular characters from Gallifrey's CIA was good and I really enjoyed Narvin and Romana together as they didn't exactly see eye to eye. Torvaid was also an enjoyable character and I thought the whole Time Lord dynamic was just really good and interesting. I am very much looking forward to hearing it develop further as I make my way through the series. The concept of the Time Lords sharing Temporal Powers with a coalition was unexpected and I expect it will play more prominence as the series goes on. The return of the Monan Host was a particularly enjoyable inclusion! I thought Mephistopheles as the leader of Free Time made a really strong villain and Arkadian being a representative of them on Gallifrey by accident almost was fun. His greeting Romana as something quite far from Madam President was tremendous. The concept of Gryben and it being a checkpoint on the road that was the Time Vortex was a fascinating one and whilst I like the idea of Time Lords regulating who could access the Vortex, surely it wasn't a manageable one? Gryben itself was good though and the motive behind Free Time was excellent. I really liked taking the basic principle of those with power limiting those without it and putting it into a Gallifreyan adventure. It worked really well. I was a huge fan of the conclusion with Romana almost inciting a war but then pulling the swerve at the end and preventing the missile strike and calling the bluff that risked her life in a big way. Of course, her intelligence prevailed and she was proven right which was magnificent. I was shocked that Mephistopheles shot herself dead though! K9, both of him, was great as usual and I liked the logical humour that was provided from his presence. I look forward to more of them together as that will be fun! As a whole, this was a really strong start to the series that saw some familiar characters in unfamiliar surroundings and roles whilst also introducing new ones in a very good way. Overall, a great start!

Rating: 9/10