War Stories

"I want Daleks everywhere."

Writer: Patrick Ross

Format: Audio

Released: December 2024

Series: Short Trips 13.X

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill

Synopsis

The Intergalactic Fringe Festival spans a whole planet. Its programme offers millions of shows, so the Doctor and Bill can choose anything from anti-gravity acrobats to the quantum cabaret. 

But the Doctor is alarmed when he attends a play about the Time War. It's not just that it tells his personal history – its performance could unravel the universe. 

Verdict

War Stories was a very decent audio adventure! This serves as the 2024 winner of the Paul Spragg Memorial Opportunity which is an initiative I just love. Not just because the story is released as a freebie every year which is always welcomed but I think it's great that there's a chance for an everyday fan like myself to get an official part of Doctor Who canon! It seems the easiest opportunity in and whilst I have loved exploring the details of entry every year since it has arisen, I am no scriptwriter! I loved the concept this time around though of having a theme for the story entires and this time around that was to focus on the Time War. I thought that was very exciting and the adventure at hand really works well. It's fun to think of a Twelfth Doctor story centred around the Time War because of how far removed he is from events, especially those of The Day of the Doctor where Gallifrey was actually revealed as being saved! The Time War in reality had a very different ending and this is the perfect incarnation of the Doctor to explore that with. I thought Alan Cox as the narrator was a fine choice and whilst initially I thought his cadence was more suited to that of John Hurt's War Doctor than Peter Capaldi's Twelfth, that soon actually had its benefits! The prospect of a one man show focused on the Time War was so exciting and the Doctor knowing who that one man at the centre of the performance would be was terrific. Who else would it be? The Doctor's reaction to the impossibility of the details in the play was excellent and I think that's part of why my rating for the story dropped considerably towards the last five to ten minutes. For something so monumental and events so hidden and shrouded in secrecy, the truth was actually a little bit of a let down. I don't really know what I was expecting in a Short Trip of this kind in terms of wider continuity and mythology, but it felt like we had built up considerably. The ending itself was fine as a whole but just felt a bit weak after the Time War focus and the details in the play. The descriptions were so vivid! Bill recalling the events of The Pilot as a means for her knowledge on the Daleks was fun and the playwright in question here Symbolise was a fascinating character. She didn't even seem that surprised to find that the Doctor had shown up to his own one man play. The humour that came from different incarnations helping the Doctor despite a one man show was delightful and it's a shame we didn't hear more reenactment. I really liked the concept of a paradox play and the power of the words and performance themselves actually starting to rewrite time was fun to play around with, but there perhaps just wasn't enough time to fully delve into it. But that's the nature of the format! The open air transformer was good though and I liked the idea of the brain power literally making fiction come to life. Bill feeling strong about her mother was also good characterisation and it was lovely to get her in a Big Finish story as that feels incredibly rare! The mask as the cause of the brain power was an apt explanation but one I couldn't fully invest in after such a strong build up. The ending does just come across as a little lacklustre which is a shame because I really liked the story for the most part. The planet Fringe is definitely a setting rife with potential though and I would absolutely love a return. There is just so much on offer there and it would be foolish not to return. Overall, a really fascinating adventure that perhaps just tails off slightly at the end.

Rating: 7/10