The Neverwhen is a depressing, dreary story that was honestly hard to sit through.
ANALYSIS
Matt Fitton, a prolific Big Finish writer who seems to have dabbled in everything. But crikey, I hope those stories are more enjoyable.
PLOT
Following Cardinal Ollistra's tampering with the TARDIS, it arrives in the Neverwhen - a planet where the Time Lords experimented with a time flux weapon that causes history to become completely malleable. Can the Doctor save the poor souls trapped there? No, of course not.
ANALYSIS
I'm not even entirely sure what it was about this story, because apart from a few glaring plot holes in the concept of the Neverwhen, it's solid. But for some reason, I just felt miserable throughout it. The guest cast are all soldiers(whom the story sort of abandons halfway through), Ollistra is practically an antagonist and the rest are Daleks. That leaves the War Doctor to be utterly alone in a situation that he cannot change. So there's scarcely anyone to relate to and the one person you do is completely helpless.
Whilst the ending does at least give Ollistra a comeuppance, it doesn't make you feel any better about the hellish events recently and in fact, it promises even more pain and suffering next time!
CHARACTERS
John Hurt is admirable as usual as the War Doctor. He almost comes across as the Daniel Craig version of Jon Pertwee's incarnation, with all the moralising and fighting that he does. Irritatingly, he spends most of the story getting talked down to by Ollistra.
And speaking of the devil... I feel like this story defines her more than any other so far. As the Doctor describes her in the end, she's delusionally believing that she'd doing the right thing whilst in fact, doing the worst. This makes her likable sometimes as she is technically on the same side as the Doctor, but in reality, she's as far away from him as possible.
NOTES
*Shouldn't the time-flux merely decay the weapons(and the opposite?). Why does it provide the Time Lords and Daleks with different kinds?
*And if it is changing their physiology, how on Earth are their memories intact?
*Daylin tells the Doctor that her group are over the ride, if they're still alive. But instead of checking for them, he seems to just immediately take her back to the Dalek base, completely ignoring the potentially wounded men and women. Um... okay.
*Having the Kaled leader finish their plan of attack by declaring "seek, locate and destroy" was a nice touch. Even if they were Time Lords, it would've been a clever reflection of how far they've come, so I didn't suspect anything.
*Another line from the Kaled leader that I misinterpreted was his question for the Doctor: "What's that collar you're wearing?" I thought he was referring to colour and trying to remember if the Doctor was supposed to be in prison clothes or something.
*Can't the Doctor just call himself John Smith so people would leave him alone with the name thing?
*Apparently, when the Daleks evolve and devolve, one of the forms they take is "the spider-forms of the Fifth Skaro Devastation". I'm certain that's a reference to some comic book...
*The Doctor's group of Time Lords being revealed to be Kaleds(evolving into Daleks) was a brilliant twist.
*Skaro is time-locked? Since when?
*The ending is a bit of a deus ex machina... not only is the Doctor able to create a peaceful society with a combination of the Anima Device and the Neverwhen whatever-fancy-thing-it's-called, but he also manages to prevent the Neverwhen from ever being created by destroying it at its very beginning... simply by "altering its parameters". Somehow.
*I love that the Doctor yells at Ollistra for psycho-analysing him. Feels like all of my rants towards Clara are finally justified.
*So, did the Doctor get rid of the Anima Device THIS time? Still a pretty dangerous thing and he certainly had time to check Ollistra's pockets...
CONTINUITY ADVISOR
1) The TARDIS's arrival to the Neverwhen is caused by Ollistra's tampering in the previous story.
2) The name of the Neverwhen and its time flux effect seems to have been influenced by references from The End Of Time, which I'm very keen on, because that was our main viewpoint into the Time War until this series.
3) Ollistra mentions that the Time Lords have been working on something similar (to Kallix's time flux-induced resurrection) with less success, a reference to the Technomancer project from Legion Of The Lost. Makes sense, since she spearheaded both.
4) Ollistra reminds the Doctor that he told her she would find him at "the heart of the battle", which occurred in, what do you know, The Heart Of The Battle. It's a pretty thematically relevant callback.
5) Daylin exclaims that the Doctor's TARDIS is "alive with power". I don't think this is actually a continuity reference since it's made very clear that this is due to unusual conditions, but it reminds me of Ian thinking the TARDIS was battery-powered due to it seeming "alive" to the touch in An Unearthly Child. If it's a callback, it's a nice and subtle one.
6) Ollistra reveals that the rogue Daleks on the Theta-12 asteroid saw inside the Neverwhen and speculates that it might have influenced K006's actions, both of which occurred in A Thing Of Guile. Frankly, I find this to be pretty irrelevant.
7) The Doctor is still wearing the special collar that Ollistra forced on him in the previous story and once again, it's a hindrance. Okay, basic continuity, but I personally really hate it here, because I hate seeing the Doctor electrocuted every time he does something Ollistra doesn't like.
8) The fast return circuit of Ollistra's TARDIS is set for Kronos. The fast return switch was a major plot point in The Edge Of Destruction, a particular favourite of mine so I approve, though it's not necessary to the story at all.
9) Ollistra planned to use the Neverwhen in conjunction with the Annihilator, a plan that the Doctor unknowingly foiled in Legion Of The Lost. That's a clever callback.
10) The Doctor reversed the polarity to escape! Classic.
11) Kallix mentions that the Sisterhood of Karn isn't here to help them regenerate. Not sure why we had to bring them up.
BEST QUOTE
"If any single thing can be considered Gallifrey's deadliest weapon and greatest
omen, it's him." - Ollistra's descrption of the War Doctor.
CONCLUSION
Good concepts cannot save this from being a murky, tiresome experience. Especially if those concepts are somewhat poorly thought out as well.
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