Warzone/Conversion

 Warzone by Chris Chapman

Immediately gripping from the first scene, Warzone is a triumph unlike any other. It's a story that evolves perfectly as it goes on, one of those rare Doctor Who tales that there isn't a single issue with the pacing of. There can be too often a irritating lack of balance when it comes to Big Finish audios. Parts can either have too little happen or too much, but Warzone balances out it's plot beat by beat, and it has some really interesting things to say. The trouble is, It's an audio that's brilliant because of it's surprises and what it does, so I won't go in too much depth, but I feel it singlehandedly makes the Marc arc work retroactively - the whole point of the series is that Marc is a rebound companion, roughly a replacement for Adric. His lack of much of a point in the prior two stories makes a lot more sense from a metatextual point now. This whole audio is fucking brilliant, and it's so deep and it's got a brilliant take on humanity itself, and our need to "better ourselves," that would work brilliantly on it's own, but THEN it puts the Cybermen in it! Absolutely brilliant commentary on all sides, perfect Doctor Who, I have no criticism: 10/10 

Conversion by Guy Adams

This is the best Fifth Doctor performance I've ever heard. Davison is just - immaculate. Holy cow. This release is shockingly good, up until now the 1 hour Main Range stories have been slightly rubbish but this proves that the format has as much possibility to it as say, other 1 hour stories in Big Finish. The entire thing is so rich, such deep character work that once again I have nothing further to say. I utterly adore this. The sound design is especially good - I loved the visualization of the hive mind of the Cybermen, and a story actually about the conversion angle of the Cybermen - the best part of the Cybermen and why I love them so much. The sheer emotional impact - Nyssa's B-Plot is a little less interesting, but it's still great, and Tegan and Davison just kill this. Such a good end to this main range trilogy. Pretty sure nothing's gonna top these two. 10/10 

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