Emancipation

"You can never trust a... Regenerator."

Writer: James Peaty

Format: Audio

Released: February 2013

Series: Gallifrey 5.01

Featuring: Romana II, Leela

Synopsis

Supreme Leader of Gallifrey – the Lady President Romana – is making a series of decisions that are costing her allegiances within the Inner Council.

Lord High Chancellor Narvin is trying to protect the truth behind their presence there.

Emissary Leela is trying to secure basic rights for her allies, the Outsiders, now freed from generations of bondage to their masters, the Regenerators of Gallifrey.

But their enemies plan to expose the truth and let society rise or fall by the consequences of their political ambitions...

Verdict

Emancipation was an excellent audio to kick off the fifth series of Gallifrey! This didn't really feel like an opening episode and more a continuation from the backend of the fourth series, which was absolutely fine, but the time jump of nine months really helped moved things along in my opinion. The news bulletin, something quite regular for the spinoff range now, was a good way to start and establish where everyone was at and serve as a good reminder of what had happened previously with the Outsiders being free and Leela leading that. She was to be an emissary here which was fun, as was Romana basically getting scolded during the Presidential questions. The focus being on the mine of Zeiton ore was good and the claim between the Guild and the Outsiders with it being their land was a fun divide. It put Romana in a tricky predicament and Allora was very much on Romana's case! She wanted to have the Chancellory Guard ordered to take the land by force and was not shy in challenging the authority of her President which was brilliant. I loved the idea of Leela leading a diplomatic mission of the Outsiders to Gallifrey over the mining rights, and Narvin having an interest in the ore was good too with it potentially being a source of power to get them back to their true version of Gallifrey. Or at least the Axis to potentially kickstart the process of getting home. Kavil was a fun character as the Science Minister and I liked that he and Allora suspected that Narvin and Romana weren't the real article after the mysterious duplicate and the former no longer being grumpy. The Regenerators having untainted DNA after no exposure to the Time Vortex was really intriguing and their purity could have the potential to cure the dogma virus which was a terrific prospect! I liked how Leela was hearing voices and actually got a warning before an assassination attempt was made on her life. Her referring to it as a demon was so brilliantly in line with her character. Slyne was another great character with him being in league with Allora whilst clearly having his own political motive. He had Lukas to ensure he got every possible scoop on Romana which I'm sure will come back later in the series. The tracking of the comms to get the identity of the assassinator was good and I loved how it linked back to both Allora and Narvin, with the latter stunned! He was arrested but it was obviously a frame job, which Allora admitted to in a taped confession. A sublime turn of events! Valyes being the one paired with Allora was a good twist as he was brought to kill Romana and frame it on Leela, but his use of a necklace encrypted to Romana's DNA backfired as this wasn't the same Romana. The President's decision being to split the mining profits equally between the Guild and the Outsiders was a fitting decision and the comments from Narvin to conclude and warn Slyne of his role with Allora were very good indeed. Overall, a fantastic story! 

Rating: 9/10