Appropriation

"You are clever, but you have no pride."

Writer: Paul Sutton

Format: Audio

Released: July 2006

Series: Gallifrey 3.03

Featuring: Romana II, Leela, K9

Synopsis

'Didn't take the Temporal Powers long to realise that Pandora's war was over, and come here to start a new one.'

In the wake of Civil War, Gallifrey stands more vulnerable than at any time in its controversial history. The other temporal powers orbit the ancient Time Lord society, poised and ready to take control.

And then, as a terrifying legacy, the residual traces of the Pandora virus bring down the transduction barriers...

While Romana is exhausted and powerless in then medical station, Lord Matthias fights desperately to negotiate a peace. But Gallifreyans are dying.

Can Leela find K9? Is retribution about to be visited upon the oldest race in the universe for until millennia of manipulation and interference? And what is behind Valyes' decision to recall the High Council?

Verdict

Appropriation was a decent continuation of the third series of Gallifrey! After the way Warfare ended, this did have the feeling of being something of an aftermath and something quite epic clearly had happened with Pandora being eliminated, the Matrix erased and the dogma virus released in its technological form. That's quite a lot to process for the second episode of a five-story series so it was no surprise that this started off in quite a calm matter. As if all of the aforementioned wasn't enough, Romana was now deposed as High President of Gallifrey which was an interesting development as I wonder where that will leave things for the rest of the series and spinoff in general. The political scheming was on an incredible level in this adventure with Darkel out to take the presidency for herself with Romana indisposed following the exhaustive impact of the Pandora dealings. It's really terrific to hear Narvin and how he has changed his feelings regarding Romana as his President because that's not quite how things started with this spinoff range. Matthias had a strong episode in his role on Gallifrey and I have to say that there was a great deal of politics in the story that probably did overwhelm things to be honest. His efforts to try and take the presidency for himself was humorous, but there was just a little too much for my liking in regards of legality and the continued claims of who was the rightful President. I like the idea of disputed claims and the general political nature of Gallifrey itself is always enjoyable, but there probably was a bit too much for my liking as it got to the point of overkill. There was a lot to follow in terms of the legal path and whether there was a High Council or not and if they had the right to remove Romana, only to then provide a vote of no confidence which meant they acknowledged her presidency up to that point. There was a lot of back and forth, but that particular aspect did make me laugh. Romana's efforts to hold onto her position were excellent and her quoting of the constitution regarding the current incarnation and her plan to induce regeneration was tremendous. I didn't see that coming but I admired her efforts to remain President by any means necessary. Leela and K9 had a somewhat quiet episode and once again I felt there was nothing regarding the former's blindness which didn't seem right. The issue of the transduction barriers failing and the temporal powers pouncing on being able to get back to Gallifrey was very good and I expect that to be a major talking point of the final two episodes. The virus being the cause of this failure was very good and I do like that it is out there in technological form as that can provide a lot of potential for where things move forward. The Phaidon, Sunari and Nekkistan all stepping foot back on Gallifrey was decent and I liked the continuity that provided with earlier Gallifrey series. War following a Civil War is a fun prospect and I do hope that is what we get in the next episode. However, attentions were firmly focused on the politics and the looming election and whether that was actually lawful. One thing I have to mention is how great the unexpected cameo from Colin Baker briefly reprising his role as Maxil was. I didn't see that coming and I'm so glad I didn't check the credits before listening as that caught me off guard in the best way possible. I also liked the reference to The Invasion of Time with the lead walls installation being referred to by K9 as 100% effective. Overall, a decent tale that probably just had a bit too much conflicting and changing legality issues. Hopefully things are cleared up next time out!

Rating: 7/10