Echoes of Eternity: Damned If You Don't

"We knew you were destined to save the Time Shades."

Writer: Gary Russell

Format: Audio

Released: November 2024

Series: Short Trips: Gallifrey 1.04

Featuring: Narvin

Synopsis

As the Time War rages, Narvin is at the heart of the action – but he has lost so much, he may not have the will to carry on. Until his past returns to haunt him...

Verdict

Damned If You Don't was a great little audio to conclude the Echoes Through Eternity collection of Gallifreyan Short Trips! As I expected, this had strong continuity with the boxset opener of Damned If You Do and that was always going to be the case with how the names of the story were twinned. That's quite a fun idea and Gallifrey is certainly the kind of series to do that in given the timey-wimey nature of things. As also expected, this story took us into the depths of the Time War and it was fun to focus on Narvin's role in actually bringing about this interstellar conflict. He was clearly still reeling from that and didn't exactly want to draw attention to it which was understandable, but then the challenges came in intriguing forms. The continuity with the series' opening episode was really good and I enjoyed the mentions of Kransa. That was good and for Narvin some time will have passed since the time period near the start of where the Gallifrey series starts up to the point of the Time War. The constant moments of deja vu were fun and that just has an added dimension when it comes to Time Lords experiencing it because of their unique relationship with time. Narvin's relationship with Leela was also something touched upon rather wonderfully and having him refer to her as his beloved is just so sweet. I do wonder if there will be any kind of fitting end for their story. Will we get to a point in the Gallifrey series that depicts the final moments as seen in The Day of the Doctor with the Moment being utilised? Will Narvin and Leela be clutched together? It does feel right that they will be together. We basically got a heart wrenching preview of that with Narvin getting a glimpse of the future and the bearded War Doctor as he wonders where Leela was as the Time War ends. Would she be off world and survive? I enjoyed the reflections on the events of War Room with Romana being mentioned and Narvin feeling saddened by the fact she was gone. His thoughts on Rassilon as the Resurrected were excellent and I love the stature the founding Time Lord has. His presence even without being physically there is so impactful. He carries such weight. Narvin's story focusing back onto the Time Shades was really nicely done and I liked how they had basically manipulated him. A little more background on them would have been welcomed, but this is a Short Trip after all so there can't be too much hanging around and dawdling over details! I appreciated it. I thought it was good for them to enlist Narvin to ave them and given their nature with the dimension of time, they foresaw that they would be killed off by the Daleks. Given the wartime setting now, that was no surprise with how ruthless the natives of Skaro are. Instead of trying to defend themselves from the future they saw ahead of them, they had enlisted Narvin and manipulated events to ensure that it was his destiny to save them. You have to admit that's pretty impressive! I thought it was fun and it really did bring the entire series full circle. It rounded out nicely and as a whole this has been a really enjoyable boxset of Short Trips. I love the idea of a different series getting the treatment. So what next? Class, Vienna and Jago & Litefoot would be stellar additions. But for now, getting more Gallifryan adventures was a delight and a second series focused on other characters would be marvellous. Overall, a great conclusion to a really strong boxset! 

Rating: 8/10