Gallifrey Time War Volume Two

 

Gallifrey Time War Volume Two

Whilst Gallifrey Time War One was specifically about isolating Romana and the beginning of the Time War, Gallifrey Time War Two is built around the return of Rassilon and Gallifrey's slow descent into fascism over the set. While Volume One had the brilliant anthology aspect to it - (admittedly, doubtless expensive, so I can see why they dropped it) Time War Two mostly focuses on the impact of a singular planet, the planet Ysalus (pronounced Issalus) on the whole of the Time War. This gives the set at once an enormous and wonderfully small scope. It's all about a single battle in a way, the same McGuffin, but things proceed to snowball and as such we get what at once feels like an enormous swath of time and a singular battle with a distilled focus. If this is merely one front of the War, it adds to the shock horror that this is merely one planet out of thousands the war is focusing on. The War, while still explored, continues to feel expansive, enormous, inconceivable. While I'm cautious about where the series goes next, Gallifrey Time War Two is still a very strong installment. 

Havoc by David Llewellyn 

Havoc opens the set in literally the best way possible. It's seriously, almost improbably good. It's a story that's set up almost entirely by Rassilon's return, the political implications thereof, and someone travelling back in time from the edge of the war to try and stop this. It's a tight, capable thriller. One of the best things about the Gallifrey series is how it relishes in the dramatic. Doctor Who as a series doesn't always care for big nasty fights and disagreements and the tension found from when two characters disagree. Gallifrey relishes in this drama, this realism. To use a comparison to the new big thing around the block, the Time War series in particular reminds me of Andor. It's a vast scale world where people don't really get along or for the most part like each other. The comparison really came to me when the majority of Time War Two is Romana fighting against what is ostensibly fascism coming into power. I was concerned about how the loss of Leela, Ace and Braxiatel would impact this set, but oddly the loss of these three quite iconic characters in the end doesn't truly seem to matter. Mantus, Eris, Livia and the other recurring characters in Gallifrey are actually explored nearly as much and treated as important players alongside the recognizable figures of Romana and Rassilon. People forget that Narvin was once just a slimy little Time Lord recurring character, but he's enormously important as a figure in Doctor Who now, and he's defied death many times over. It makes sense to give these characters their due and see if they'll strike gold just like they did with him. The truth is, I've spent a lot of Havoc not talking about Havoc, and really that's because the mystery inherent in it's concept is just so strong. While it's the most standalone episode of the set, it also feels perhaps the most momentous. There's so much good character work and jaw dropping twists and turns here that the final moments leave you feeling really genuinely shaken. It's this close to being genuinely perfect. The momentum this series has is utterly unparalleled. 9/10

Partisans by Una McCormack

This is almost a Part One of Two, considering the next episode continues the plot of Ysalus, but Partisans also somehow manages to be an interesting story in it's own right, almost like an episode of the week that happens to go horribly wrong later on. It's a very strong script from Una McCormack, arguably one of her best. In it, Narvin and Eris, a character established in Havoc, are sent on a mission together to the planet Ysalus, which is currently part of a very bloody civil war. When the War Council finds out about this, they send their own agents with conflicting ends. It's a really nice little yarn, the contrast of Narvin and Eris' characters is quite entertaining, and I didn't expect to latch onto Eris quite quickly. He's a really appealing character, and McCormack writes him with this youthful energy that just slowly gets spit on over the course of his appearances in this set. I'm always a fan of a quality character arc. It's interesting to see Narvin treated as an elder and more fragile Time Lord. The Livia and Romana thread back on Gallifrey is perhaps even more riveting, which is surprising given it's relative non-eventfulness. Lalla Ward is a stunning performer, and her chemistry with Pippa Bennett-Warner as Livia is quite well done - as I said, the most fun part of Gallifrey can be how much these people don't really like eachother. Back when I started Time War, I had wondered why they had recast the wonderful Celia Imrie as Livia in the interrim, but Bennett-Warner has ultimately proven herself just as stunning a performer. Partisans isn't the best episode of all time, and it isn't going to blow your mind, but it never makes an incorrect choice. It's doing exactly what it should be doing. By the nature of the serial's design, not every tale CAN be a knockout drama where shit gets real. You have to have episodes like this that are almost transition like, and the fact that this one is still so strong is downright wondrous. 7/10

Collateral by Lisa McMullin 

A direct sequel to the previous episode, Collateral concerns itself less with the tiny worldbuilding and plotlines considering the interference with history and more about the direct threatening of a planet you already kind of care about. This is a smart move, especially considering Doctor Who doesn't really have many recurring planets of importance, and this Time War really needs to have stakes. By getting us to care about this planet and the people on it, Collateral has serious stakes to it, even if we don't think Romana or Narvin are going to die or something. There's some fascinating high-concept out of order stuff, which while has sort of been explored elsewhere to death (River Song, anyone?) It's really smartly inserted to get the plot moving with a familiar element before pulling the rug out under our feet. One of the best choices of Gallifrey: Time War was to cast the terrifying Terrence Hardiman as Rassilon, who you may know from the really cool historical mystery show, Cadfael, which also starred Derek Jacobi. I think that's one of the best ways I can establish how good Hardiman is. He's a really talented man and I think may be the best performer as Rassilon. He's actually shit your pants scary, which I've never really seen in the character before, although he's always been played by excellent actors. There's just this immense terror you feel in his presence, It's almost funny, because everyone else in the series sort of showed up and thought that they were going to do a little Doctor Who spinoff, and Terrence Hardiman showed up and decided to perform fucking Shakespeare. It results in everyone else having to up their game a bit to compete, with Lalla Ward doing an excellent job in her attempts to rail against Rassilon's genocidal policies. All of That being said, Collateral still yet has the requisite cleverness we come to expect from a Lisa McMullin script, which is surprising considering this was only her second time up to the bat delivering a Doctor Who story. She molds herself to Gallifrey's unique style quite well. This is still really strong stuff. I sound like a broken record. 7/10 

Assassins by Matt Fitton 

Assassins is the story that I have the least to say about, because I've covered pretty much everything that makes it a strong episode in the previous reviews. That's the one issue with a monumentous serial like Time War Two. It's nowhere near as episodic as Volumes One or Three. While the four stories divide up the set nicely, the quality things about them can indeed blend together, so I hesitate to repeat myself. Assassins' best work is managing to actually make me believe in drama between our two main characters, Romana and Narvin, which would be a really difficult task in a range other than this one. Very few main character duos in spinoffs of any kind really disagree with each other, and it's either an adversarial cheeky little ribbing like with Tegan/Donna or it happens like, only a few times, like with The Brigadier and Leela's love for violence. It's difficult to make your main characters convincingly have opposing notions. You feel the inevitability that of course they're going to end up fine and best friends by the end of the hour, but Gallifrey is a range that is a lot better than that. Sean Carlsen delivers his best performance yet as Narvin in this one, his grappling with what he's actually all about is really very convincing and quite compelling. Assassins is just as strong as you would expect from the previous episodes, with Rassilon, Livia and Romana all delivering powerhouse performances as per usual. I love how the Romana in the Gallifrey series is wiser with age and a lot more willing to be the Doctor, to do shady things at times for the greater good. She has machinations, and yet it doesn't ever feel like she loses that which makes her Romana in the process like the Seventh Doctor sometimes could at his worst written. There isn't much else to say - I'm slightly burnt out. Gallifrey Time War Two isn't the best set of all time, far from it, but it's very difficult to point out anything it does wrong, because it really doesn't do much wrong at all. It's a very consistent set, and while it's not my one true love like Volume One was, it's still an accomplishment worth savoring. Before now, I'd never really seen a good four hour Big Finish story. While Havoc is almost it's own thing, it's necessary, and Assassins builds off of the previous two stories in basically a direct continuation. I'd say it's actually a four hour piece. And I've never seen something GOOD done over four hours before - either on audio or on television. That's worth applauding. Pretty much every other story even approaching that length suffers immensely. Any other series would have buckled under such enormity, but Gallifrey rises to the challenge. UNIT wishes it was this. 8/10