Star-Crossed: Face of the Apocalypse

"I am driven by love."

Writer: Lizzie Hopley

Format: Audio

Released: May 2024

Series: Ninth Doctor Adventures 12.02

Featuring: Ninth Doctor, River

Synopsis

After locking onto an unusual algorithm, the TARDIS lands in a hi-security Intergalactic Bank where the computerised system only recognises one face – River Song. The Doctor discovers River dismantling the main computer and immediately suspects her of something dodgy...

But a case of stolen identity becomes far more serious as River's face starts to appear throughout history and the Bank vaults start filling up with Temporal Prisoners. Is River the victim of a sting or a bored computer nerd? One thing's for certain, the 'glitch' is no longer a glitch and is on its way to destroying all of spacetime, starting with Prisoner Number One.

Verdict

Face of the Apocalypse was another entertaining episode to continue my way through the Star-Crossed twelfth volume of Ninth Doctor Adventures! I think it's good that for this story the Doctor is fully aware of River and we don't have to worry about any kind of memory loss thing at the conclusion (presumably that will come in the next episode) so this is just a solid adventure with an incarnation of the Doctor and his wife that couldn't be any more different. The Doctor's reaction when he sees the only recognisable face as River was wonderful. I really liked that there was continuity with Swipe Right in having the computer glitch come from the Matchmaker system and I do wonder if there will be any kind of overlapping arc resolved in the finale other than erasing the Doctor's memory. I thought the Intergalactic Bank setting here worked very well and River's shock at being the face and claiming it was doing false advertising was very amusing. Her face was everywhere and that computer glitch meant there was drastic effects across time. Nearly every face either was River or highly based on it. She was the fashion with her curly hair all the range. River's reaction to arriving at the Louvre and seeing that she was now the Mona Lisa was wonderful. Of course it was a much better painting! The Doctor knew something was clearly wrong. His joy at seeing the Spore and the significance it had across all of civilisation was intriguing. It's good, especially in this incarnation, to hear the Doctor in a joyous mood and encounter someone he admired. The story of the Cronny, if that's how it is spelt, being the Chronicle that sparked an entire religion and pacifist nation was fantastic. The reaction of Keetree to the Doctor and River bringing the Spore home was amusing as she wasn't exactly thrilled! She was having a good ol' time without him and was actually getting on better without him. What good was he anyway? He didn't pay attention and didn't do much in showing his love for her. However, the way that changed as he revealed his drawings to her and how she was in every one was quite lovely. She felt a little guilty and his love for her shone. That was a lovely moment. The Doctor needing to provide some inspiration to get the happy couple back to inspire the future he knew was good as that felt a little out of his comfort zone. I wasn't entirely sure about the Doctor using Abel against itself by showing that the TARDIS wasn't exactly a computer, although I entirely disagreed with the concept of the time machine not working when someone it didn't like or approve of tried to use it. What about the Master in Utopia? I feel like there are a number of examples where that wouldn't be the case. It was still fun though for the smugness of the Doctor to shine through. He knew he'd won in the end. The shock of River seeing the TARDIS dematerialise and therefore the Doctor leave was good, but she knew he'd come back. It was an eventful end though with not everything falling perfectly into place! As a whole, this was another strong episode and a fun outing for the Ninth Doctor and River. It's a shame there's only one more to go! A great listen. Talk about couple power! 

Rating: 8/10