Zagreus is the 40th release for Big Finish. It was also released in the same month that Doctor Who celebrated its 40th Anniversary. The Zagreus storyline has been building up for over a year and this was where it would all end. It’s an epic story that sees all four Doctors that have been doing the Big Finish plays since 1999 in one play. This isn’t a multi-doctor story that most would be expecting. Apart from McGann’s Doctor, none of the other actors to play the Doctor play their part. The problem that this story has is that there are way too many people in it. Normally a lot of characters would be played by three or four actors. In this story there are 26 actors playing 28 characters. Even at just under 4 hours long its difficult to understand why they decided to fill it with about 15 actors more than there needed to be.
The first episode is called Wonderland, a curious title. The story starts off quite interestingly by doing a very long recap. In all the years of TV there was never a recap at seven minutes and forty-six second. All the highlights from the previous story Neverland. Seeing as it was over a year before this story was released I can see why it was best to put it in but if you listen to these in quick succession it might be a bit pointless. Anyway that said the idea of a recap is quite different. When the action starts up again, there is an explosion in the TARDIS and when Charley wakes up she finds herself in Harley street with her mother Lady Louisa Pollard. Charley is being taken to see Dr Zagreus but meets a person that she recognises as the Brigadier. She knows something is not right as her mother has turned into a rabbit. This clearly isn’t a normal Doctor Who story. The Doctor is having problems of his own as he is trying to fight Zagreus and hears the voice of his third incarnation. This is a brilliant thing and one reason why I would happily listen to this story. The voice is that of Jon Pertwee but the recordings were used from a fan made movie. To be able to do that and make it fit into this story is quite a feat that is pulled of brilliantly.
When the story returns to Charley we meet more people from her life. Obviously there is her mother but we meet her teacher Miss Lime who is brilliantly played by Elisabeth Sladen. The first of the other Doctors is Peter Davison as Reverend Townsend. Nicola Bryant also puts a nice gentle performance but as the first part came to a close I was starting to wonder whether I was going to go off this one.
The second story is called Heartland. Unfortunately this is where the story starts to fall apart. The story moves to the wilderness of Outer Gallifrey but I was starting to get frustrated with this story very quickly. It was great to hear Colin Baker as Tepesh. Sylvester McCoy (Walton Winkle) was an average character but Maggie Stables’ character was slightly better as The Great Mother. The story does pick up a bit when Romana, Leela and K9 come back into things. Once we get t the cliffhanger I found myself starting to like it. I was regaining some of my lost confidence.
The third and final part is Wasteland and this is the best of the three parts. This is where essentially two years worth of storyline gets concluded. It is pointed out that Tapesh (Baker), Townsend (Davison) and Winkie (McCoy) have traits of the Doctor. This was sort of what I would expect and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed. We also learn that the voice that was talking to the Doctor and Romana in Neverland was as I expected Rassilon. He wants Romana to relinquish the presidency. Don Warrington is absolutely brilliant as Rassilon. His voice is commanding and is one of those that could read the phonebook and it would be worth sitting through.
The ending of the story was just as dramatic. There is a brilliant scene where the Doctor/Zagreus asks Charley to kill him. Knowing that this is the only way that Zagreus could be defeated. Shocking thing was that Charley actually did it. Actually it made some weird kind of sense because she loves him and if it would save the universe then she will do it. Then as the Doctor is dyeing he comes into contact with his previous four incarnations to chant as one and start chanting “I am Zagreus!” Then the Doctor is given a potion by the TARDIS which helps him control the anti-time infection. The Doctor then leaves for the Divergent universe to try and keep the infection at bay.
After an emotional goodbye between the Doctor and Charley we have Charley being a bit sneaky and stowaway on board the TARDIS. Despite the scene where they said goodbye you knew there was no way that they were going to separate. It just helped build up the tension. The final scene sees the Doctor travelling into the heart of the TARDIS library and hears voices of his past selves congratulating him on his success. I thought this was a brilliant way of ending it. But then we are reminded that he is not alone and that the Doctor wont be in the Divergent universe alone.
There are many things to like and dislike about this. The quality of the story changes wildly throughout these three stories. The pacing never got a steady feel to it which was frustrating. The ending was acted out brilliantly and was a fitting ending to nearly 4 hours of drama. The relationship between the Doctor and Charley is going in a new direction which is going to make the next series of adventure interesting. Despite the fact that I thought there were about 15 too many actors in this their involvement was clever. They could have done a thing where they play their characters but then that would have stretched the credibility too far and totally ruined the story.
At the end of the day I think that the 50th release is a bit of a score-draw. There are bits that work and I found to be fine stuff but then there are things that just didn’t work and the duration is one of those. Knock two hours or even an hour and a half and it would have been better. I think that there could have been a better way to celebrate the 50th Release/40th Anniversary. That said, this is what we have and I think everyone should listen to it because its one of those that people will talk about for years to come and it may be the only time that 26 people who appeared over 26 years on the best TV show ever. Its also possibly the only time that Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann will be on the same release again.
The first episode is called Wonderland, a curious title. The story starts off quite interestingly by doing a very long recap. In all the years of TV there was never a recap at seven minutes and forty-six second. All the highlights from the previous story Neverland. Seeing as it was over a year before this story was released I can see why it was best to put it in but if you listen to these in quick succession it might be a bit pointless. Anyway that said the idea of a recap is quite different. When the action starts up again, there is an explosion in the TARDIS and when Charley wakes up she finds herself in Harley street with her mother Lady Louisa Pollard. Charley is being taken to see Dr Zagreus but meets a person that she recognises as the Brigadier. She knows something is not right as her mother has turned into a rabbit. This clearly isn’t a normal Doctor Who story. The Doctor is having problems of his own as he is trying to fight Zagreus and hears the voice of his third incarnation. This is a brilliant thing and one reason why I would happily listen to this story. The voice is that of Jon Pertwee but the recordings were used from a fan made movie. To be able to do that and make it fit into this story is quite a feat that is pulled of brilliantly.
When the story returns to Charley we meet more people from her life. Obviously there is her mother but we meet her teacher Miss Lime who is brilliantly played by Elisabeth Sladen. The first of the other Doctors is Peter Davison as Reverend Townsend. Nicola Bryant also puts a nice gentle performance but as the first part came to a close I was starting to wonder whether I was going to go off this one.
The second story is called Heartland. Unfortunately this is where the story starts to fall apart. The story moves to the wilderness of Outer Gallifrey but I was starting to get frustrated with this story very quickly. It was great to hear Colin Baker as Tepesh. Sylvester McCoy (Walton Winkle) was an average character but Maggie Stables’ character was slightly better as The Great Mother. The story does pick up a bit when Romana, Leela and K9 come back into things. Once we get t the cliffhanger I found myself starting to like it. I was regaining some of my lost confidence.
The third and final part is Wasteland and this is the best of the three parts. This is where essentially two years worth of storyline gets concluded. It is pointed out that Tapesh (Baker), Townsend (Davison) and Winkie (McCoy) have traits of the Doctor. This was sort of what I would expect and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed. We also learn that the voice that was talking to the Doctor and Romana in Neverland was as I expected Rassilon. He wants Romana to relinquish the presidency. Don Warrington is absolutely brilliant as Rassilon. His voice is commanding and is one of those that could read the phonebook and it would be worth sitting through.
The ending of the story was just as dramatic. There is a brilliant scene where the Doctor/Zagreus asks Charley to kill him. Knowing that this is the only way that Zagreus could be defeated. Shocking thing was that Charley actually did it. Actually it made some weird kind of sense because she loves him and if it would save the universe then she will do it. Then as the Doctor is dyeing he comes into contact with his previous four incarnations to chant as one and start chanting “I am Zagreus!” Then the Doctor is given a potion by the TARDIS which helps him control the anti-time infection. The Doctor then leaves for the Divergent universe to try and keep the infection at bay.
After an emotional goodbye between the Doctor and Charley we have Charley being a bit sneaky and stowaway on board the TARDIS. Despite the scene where they said goodbye you knew there was no way that they were going to separate. It just helped build up the tension. The final scene sees the Doctor travelling into the heart of the TARDIS library and hears voices of his past selves congratulating him on his success. I thought this was a brilliant way of ending it. But then we are reminded that he is not alone and that the Doctor wont be in the Divergent universe alone.
There are many things to like and dislike about this. The quality of the story changes wildly throughout these three stories. The pacing never got a steady feel to it which was frustrating. The ending was acted out brilliantly and was a fitting ending to nearly 4 hours of drama. The relationship between the Doctor and Charley is going in a new direction which is going to make the next series of adventure interesting. Despite the fact that I thought there were about 15 too many actors in this their involvement was clever. They could have done a thing where they play their characters but then that would have stretched the credibility too far and totally ruined the story.
At the end of the day I think that the 50th release is a bit of a score-draw. There are bits that work and I found to be fine stuff but then there are things that just didn’t work and the duration is one of those. Knock two hours or even an hour and a half and it would have been better. I think that there could have been a better way to celebrate the 50th Release/40th Anniversary. That said, this is what we have and I think everyone should listen to it because its one of those that people will talk about for years to come and it may be the only time that 26 people who appeared over 26 years on the best TV show ever. Its also possibly the only time that Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann will be on the same release again.
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