With the imminent arrival of the Fourth series of Gallifrey, I have decided to listen to the first three series that I bought at a sale but for some reason I have never listened to (apart from this one years ago). Gallifrey has been an intriguing place ever since we learnt about it and over the years the Timelords have been portrayed as a rather snobbish yet powerful race. Nothing has really come close in my opinion to seeing what makes the Timelords tick and what happens to them on a daily basis. Now (or in 2004), Big Finish have addressed the balance with Lalla Ward as President Romana, Louise Jameson as Leela and John Leeson as K-9.The series is set sometime after The Invasion of Time where Leela chose to stay on Gallifrey for spurious reasons. Romana is now President after leaving in Warriors Gate where she was in E-Space. Leela’s love interest in Invasion of Time has gone missing presumed dead and there is an interesting moment where Romana says she can’t rely on the Doctor to help out.
The opening story sees Leela travel to investigate claims that a terrorist group called ‘Free Time’ have acquired a terrible and powerful weapon called a Timonic Fusion Device. The story sees President Romana send Leela to seek it. The thing I like about this opening story is that its how the Timelords are trying to form an alliance. It’s always nice to see how Gallifrey works when the Doctor doesn’t arrive. With the Doctor not around to swoop in and save the day there is a possibility of things going belly up.
Lalla Ward is very impressive as the President. Of the two Romana’s I always found Ward’s version to be the strongest. As the President she is believable as she has that air of authority about her. She isn’t afraid to get down and dirty but delegate the least enjoyable jobs to other people when it was needed. Louise Jameson also puts in a great performance as Leela. Having decided to stay on Gallifrey it was nice to see what the character would be up to and it turns out, not a lot. That said the events of this story changes that but I think that Louise has done a good job in making Leela sound more or less exactly the same as she did in 1978. A mention should also go to John Leeson as K9, I may not like K9 but I kept an open mind and found the character to be quite enjoyable. Of the other characters it was good to have Lynda Bellingham back as Inquisitor Darkel, despite her brief appearance it was enjoyable. Miles Richardson was on good form as Cardinal Braxiatel.
It’s not a perfect story. I still don’t know why or how Romana went from being in E-Space to being President of the Timelords. I don’t know whether I missed something but nothing was mentioned in this story. For anyone who is just getting into this and has seen Warriors Gate they will be baffled so it would have been nice to have an explanation. Also there is a few minutes during the middle of the story where it does slightly lose its way. I don’t really get whats going on however it is a brief moment before making sense again. Weapon of Choice as a story is a good story. Alan Barnes has written a story the sets the regular characters up and the ongoing story arc as well as telling a good single stand alone story in the process. A Good start.
The opening story sees Leela travel to investigate claims that a terrorist group called ‘Free Time’ have acquired a terrible and powerful weapon called a Timonic Fusion Device. The story sees President Romana send Leela to seek it. The thing I like about this opening story is that its how the Timelords are trying to form an alliance. It’s always nice to see how Gallifrey works when the Doctor doesn’t arrive. With the Doctor not around to swoop in and save the day there is a possibility of things going belly up.
Lalla Ward is very impressive as the President. Of the two Romana’s I always found Ward’s version to be the strongest. As the President she is believable as she has that air of authority about her. She isn’t afraid to get down and dirty but delegate the least enjoyable jobs to other people when it was needed. Louise Jameson also puts in a great performance as Leela. Having decided to stay on Gallifrey it was nice to see what the character would be up to and it turns out, not a lot. That said the events of this story changes that but I think that Louise has done a good job in making Leela sound more or less exactly the same as she did in 1978. A mention should also go to John Leeson as K9, I may not like K9 but I kept an open mind and found the character to be quite enjoyable. Of the other characters it was good to have Lynda Bellingham back as Inquisitor Darkel, despite her brief appearance it was enjoyable. Miles Richardson was on good form as Cardinal Braxiatel.
It’s not a perfect story. I still don’t know why or how Romana went from being in E-Space to being President of the Timelords. I don’t know whether I missed something but nothing was mentioned in this story. For anyone who is just getting into this and has seen Warriors Gate they will be baffled so it would have been nice to have an explanation. Also there is a few minutes during the middle of the story where it does slightly lose its way. I don’t really get whats going on however it is a brief moment before making sense again. Weapon of Choice as a story is a good story. Alan Barnes has written a story the sets the regular characters up and the ongoing story arc as well as telling a good single stand alone story in the process. A Good start.
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