The Pursuit of History

"This is an investment for your future."

Writer: Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: July 2016

Series: Fourth Doctor Adventures 5.07

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Romana II, K9 

Synopsis 

On a brisk winter's morning in 1850s Yorkshire, Cuthbert, head of the intergalactic business town as 'The Conglomerate' prepares to hijack a very special train.

In the far future, his assistant, Mr Dorrick is awoken by howling alarms. There is a problem with the Quantum Gateway.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor, Romana and K9 detect strange distortions in the Vortex, an energy stream coming from a strange creature called a Laan. 

The threads of a plan centuries in the making are coming together. But who is behind this plan? And can anyone possibly escape when history is against them?

Verdict 

The Pursuit of History was a very good audio to kick off the two-part finale of the fifth series of Fourth Doctor Adventures! Like many of the Big Finish spin-off ranges, I’ve jumped around and not exactly listened in chronological order which in my experience has been absolutely fine and quite fun! However, this story certainly required prior listening and it just so happened that I only recently blogged all but the opener of this range’s second series. The follow on from The Sands of Life/War Against the Laan with the Laan being used horrifically to power the time machine was good and I liked how The Dalek Contract/The Final Phase conclusion was utilised in a strong way with the use of the quantum gateway. I think it’s great that we’re expanding on that ambiguous ending where Cuthbert’s survival was unknown, but here we get it confirmed and I’m delighted by it! His Conglomerate is spanning time and it was fun to have him utilising the manual labour of Yorkshire in the 1850s to power his tritonium maturation over a two century spell. His appeal to the poor workers of the Victorian era wasn’t met fondly when they found out the metal was useless and not valuable in its current form. Romana and K9 searching in the TARDIS for the bird was amusing, especially with the Doctor insisting it was imaginary! So the bird repeating that was a very fun line. I thought the way Romana’s regeneration since her last encounter with Cuthbert was used was done very well and the interaction with Dorrick in particular was a highlight. He’s an amusing character and despite not featuring too much he’s a shining light when he does simply from his obeying of instruction from Cuthbert. The main villain himself is in fine form again here and David Warner really does have the voice for an enemy. He’s a superb counterpart to the Doctor and I really enjoyed his reaction to hearing the Time Lord’s voice. His annoyance towards K9 and describing him as irritable was brilliant too because that’s exactly what the robot dog was. It was a rather apt description! Tapping into Romana’s relationship with the Laan was very good but I wasn’t expecting her to literally be swooped from the TARDIS! Having her exposed in time vortex was deadly and the threat faced there was really strong. The Laan’s compassion and apology was nice though and showed they were in desperate need of help as they were being exploited by Cuthbert. His desire to expand his Conglomerate across time and even cutting a business deal on 2059 thanks to the value of tritonium over time. I thought the way he was in control of the meeting with the Oceanic State was very good and it was so clear he had the upper hand. I liked how Romana worked out the paradox and the link with the Oortag and Laan, with the importance and honouring of a contract to Oortag being particularly barmy considering the consequences for his race. I thought the cliffhanger finish of the Black Guardian was really good and sets us up nicely for the finale as they jump up and down the historic timeline of the Conglomerate and Cuthbert, but it still feels like an unfinished story with the finale surely to just feel like parts three and four. Regardless, this was still a strong story! Overall, a really good listen. 

Rating: 8/10