Audio The premise set up in Stranded 1, the Doctor as landlord, probably could have sustained an entire series and however much I've enjoyed some of the individual stories in the subsequent boxed sets, I can't say I wouldn't have preferred a 2020 equivalent of Season 7 or the Countdown comics, with the Eighth Doctor investigating various shenanigans in the vicinity. There must have been a way of doing this without him gaining foreknowledge, especially since a twist on the series story arc (I've been listening ahead) would be tailor made for it and probably could have been made to work without the time travel shenanigans which ultimately make Stranded feel very similar to earlier series.
Patience
Structured similarly to The Long Way Round (from Stranded 2) as a series of two handers, this purposefully brings together characters who haven't otherwise spent time alone together, revealing previously neglected dynamics. So we have Liv and Andy, Helen and Tania supporting each other, as they wait for the Doctor to convince his Judoon pursuer to change his ways. The big draw here is the huge piece of spin-off continuity which Eighth recounts to the talking Rhino, of the Doctor's sometimes wife, the titular Patience who first appeared in the classic DWM comic The Tides of Time, before surfacing again in Lance Parkin's novel Cold Fusion (recently adapted by Big Finish and The Infinity Doctors. That's a big swing and works wonderfully.
Twisted Folklore
Another of Doctor Who's periodic metafictional discussions on the subject of its own narrative, Lizzie Hopley's script underscores one of the strengths of Big Finish - that it assumes the listener actually has a working knowledge of the franchise, its characters and how its structured and trusts us with the intelligence to play catch up when an episode effectively begins a situation in the middle. Like a less batshit The Natural History of Fear, we find the TARDIS crew embedded in a society, sometimes in roles which seem out of character and listen diligently as the various strands focus. A timely story of how autocratic regimes attempt to control the narrative in order to remain in power.
Snow
The gang visit the alternative 2035 in an attempt to see if they can gauge when things went wrong. The TARDIS Datacore says that in 2035 "the First Doctor, John and Gillian defeated the Caterpillar Men who had captured Earth scientists to help them conquer the planet" (as seen in the TV Comic Annual 1966) and I can't say I wouldn't have preferred something tonally closer to that. James Kettle's Snow is beautifully written and acted, has some poignant revelations, but still eighth months after Mum's death this is still a bit raw (I sobbed over some of the things she liked in M&S earlier), some of the elements too close to home. At least there's a brilliant retcon that Sergeant Andy might once have worked crowd control for Amy Pond in her modelling days.
What Just Happened?
How many listeners like me thought there was something wrong with their download when they heard Hattie Morahan reading the production credits at the start of the episode? Telling any story in reverse order on audio is a hugely bold idea but unfortunately I'm not sure it quite works because it's not attached to the story being told. Most of the revelations have either been in other episodes or at the start of this and so much of the duration is spent listening to exposition which is already redundant. A McGann voiceover interjecting with the time changes also has a Brechtian distancing effect. The cast were apparently given a version of the script in which the action appears in chronological order and I can't say I wouldn't have preferred to listen to this more straightforward version.
Placement: After Stranded 2.
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