Which frame the Ravenous as somewhat like the Par-Wraithes from DS9, in that they've been coaxed out of an anomaly by a nearby space station. Pretty notable for how it foreshadows the beings the Time Lords become during TW2 in how they're willing to interfere with causality like the renegades they've previously attempted to arrest any time they've come in contact with Gallifrey. Some might criticise the initial cliffhanger resolution, but for veterans of Terra Firma and to be frank Doctor Who in general, the last minute unlikely intervention when the situation looks hopeless shouldn't be that surprising. Also enjoying how, now that cross gender regenerations have now been properly established, it's being utilised everywhere. Readers of the EDAs will be comforatable with the Time Lords changing species altogether.
Well, phooey. When it was indicated that Companion Piece was a chance to go back and tie up a long standing piece of continuity, I'd pretty much convinced myself that it would be the long awaited reunion of Eighth and Charley, the latter finally discovering the former is still buzzing around the universe, both of them realising that they'd both been a bit foolish at the close of The Girl Who Never Was, published back in, dear god, 2007. Instead its something which has been knocking around even longer than that, River Song's equivalent of the Laika moment in Alien Bodies. All of which said, this is bloody fun romp, largely because Nine is a funnier, more entertaining iteration of that character, with some storming if pretty dark one liners, especially about one of the Doctor's absent friends. Superb.
In the making-off documentary on the accompanying about L.E.G.E.N.D., Matt Fitton very carefully says that the Brother's Grimm isn't something either the audios or television series has tackled before which leaves a space for those of us listening a story about a planet which is modelling itself around these fairy tales and being somewhat reminded of Grimm Reality, the BBC Eighth Doctor novel in which the Doctor and his friends find themselves on a planet which is modelling itself around these fairy tales. The key innovation is drawing the actual Brothers Grimm ala the Goosebumps film which also introduced a version of the author into the hijinks. Admittedly, it's such a great concept it's surprising a version hasn't turned up on television, although I suppose The Shakespeare Code is pretty similar too if you squint.
Ok fine, the scenes between the Nine and the Eleven are fun even if there's no doubt they may have benefited from being recorded on the same day (actor availability leading to a split). The corporeal Nine and the version that exists in the Eleven's memory ganging up together spins, but I think I would have liked more of the earlier incarnations talking to one another across time in different bodies, although that would also have required them to be clearer defined and as the Datacore entry on the Collective demonstrates, it's all a bit of a mishmash apart from those who've had their own narrative agency in a story. Perhaps there'll be a moment soon, like IM Foreman in Interference, when all of the incarnations will meet in reality and we'll discover what they're really like and why they regenerated.
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