Intervention Earth

"You think you can defeat the will of Omega?"

Writers: Scott Handcock & David Llewellyn 

Format: Audio

Released: February 2015

Series: Gallifrey 07

Featuring: Ace, Romana III, Narvin

Synopsis

Times change...

Romana is approaching her final term of office, and hopes to leave her world in a state of peace and harmony. Narvin is concerned about the implementation of a controversial Precog programme, one that seeks to predict the Time Lords' future. Ace is an operative for the Celestial Intervention Agency, having learned the art of interference from one of the best...

And somewhere, across the stars, an ancient force is stirring: one of the Time Lords' greatest heroes is returning to our universe. But he may also prove to be their greatest threat.

When the history of Earth is threatened, and an ancient conspiracy reaches the heart of Time Lord government, can even Romana's closest allies truly be trusted?

Time will tell... but by then, it may already be too late.

Verdict

Intervention Earth was a fantastic feature-length story to serve as the seventh series of Gallifrey! I have really loved this spinoff series and after six series of an intertwining story arc, this was a welcomed break. In fact, much of the main cast actually changed which was refreshing and different but there were still some nice references to the series gone by with a poignant moment for Romana with mention of her past friendship with the savage, meaning Leela of course, and the use of Axis technology which was so crucial to the last few series of Gallifrey. Narvin was prominent as well which was fun and I enjoyed having him interact with this new incarnation of Romana. Their relationship was very different to that of the second incarnation and he was not shy on challenging this new President whilst in her final term. That was great to hear. The dynamic of having Ace on Gallifrey was really well done and I thought it was fun that she wasn't even sure how she had ended up there. Another scheme of the Seventh Doctor's perhaps? Romana mentioning sharing a bond with her because of their travels with the Doctor was nice as well, but the two didn't really get to interact a great deal. I thought the focus on the return of Omega was magnificent and the historic Time Lord has always been one of my favourite villains. He returned emphatically here and didn't take long to subject his loyal follower of Tauras to the wastelands. The regeneration of Rexx into Tauras was a fantastic moment and certainly one I didn't see coming. The paradoxical nature of that was terrific as well. The Precog programme showing all futures as being without the Time Lords was intriguing and perhaps hinting at the Time War which felt like it was imminent at the end of Series 6, but Narvin's position on the entire Precog existence was excellent. It was an abomination against all Laws of Time. Romana insisting on her position of non-interference was strong and traditional but didn't seem to be helping the current predicament too much! I thought part three was fun in placing Narvin on prehistoric Earth and engaging some of the locals in conversation about the fun of mating and showing them his staser weapon. He was deemed a wizard of the Time Lords which was a fun moniker! The venture into the universe of antimatter was really good and I loved the continuity with The Three Doctors with Omega's will being all that kept it going. The link of his TARDIS was good and I liked the ambiguity of the ending with him being out there somewhere, perhaps leading into Arc of Infinity. He would always have his followers. The Adherents of Ohm were really good to include and Endrogan being revealed as one was worked marvellously. I enjoyed her relationship with Lukas a lot but Narvin showed no mercy in killing her to protect the man enlisted to keep tabs on him for the President. It was so good to hear Stephen Thorne back reprising the role of Omega and it was intriguing for the character to be a little humanised with a lot of his performance sounding humanised. The use of Romana jettisoning rooms to escape back into the normal universe was excellent too and some strong excitement! Overall, a fantastic audio adventure! 

Rating: 9/10