Ahead of Time (Short Trips Volume 13: Tales from the Vortex)

Audio  At the centre of the story is a killer idea. What if there were a substance the destruction of which sends a person one year into the past, and the way to fix any changes made is to find exactly the same ounce of the metal and destroy it again in the past? What if that happens over and over and over again? As Paul Booth's story proposes, it would probably end up in the breakdown of a society. But what if someone does all of that on purpose? Foreshadowing the destruction witnessed by the Eighth Doctor during the Time War, and echoing the fate of Bliss's planet in Volume 12, Ahead of Time is propulsively told, with some excellent material for Charley—clearly enjoyed by India Fisher—especially one scene which is as good as anything in the mainline audios. It's especially moving when it speaks to memory and trying to recapture what's been lost.

Placement: Though I was somewhat distracted by how much knowledge Charley has about the Time Lords and trying to square that in the timeline, going back and looking at Neverland, she's already pretty knowledgeable of their existence right at the start. The Doctor's already made her very aware of who they are, or she's been reading the TARDIS Databank during some idle moments.  So between Minuet in Hell and Invaders From Mars?

Salvage (Short Trips Volume 12)

Audio  Bliss!  Wiped from existence in the Time War boxsets, an ignominious fate brought about due to Rakhee Thakrar's work schedule prevented her from appearing in the boxset which would ultimately be called Cass, it's an absolute pleasure to hear from her again, albeit in a Short Trip set between previous stories.  Unlike some Short Trips too, this feels like a vital part of her story and goes to the heart of who Bliss is and her origins, another of the Eighth Doctor orphans in time, either due to paradox or as in this case because her entire timeline was destroyed behind her.  Where does all of that lost matter go?  The people?  The places?  The things?  Salvage goes some way to at least explaining what happens to some of it, although it's a story best experienced without much foreknowledge so you won't hear any more of the story from me.  Max Curtis's text captures the era and characters perfectly and it's read extremely well by Adèle Anderson, who digs deep into the heartache of what unfolds.

Placement: Salvage explores the psychological weight of timelines that have been rewritten and people that have been "lost" to the war. This serves as a perfect thematic prologue to Volume 3, which opens with State of Bliss—an episode specifically dedicated to exploring the multiple, shifting timelines of Bliss's existence created by the conflict.

It's a Wonderful War (Christmas: It's a Wonderful War and Other Stories)

Audio  Happy Christmas. Again. One of the results of your blogger catching up on Eighth Doctor stories in a bunch is the number based on special occasions, particularly Christmas. The effect has been much like bingeing through the revival television series with a festive special every two to thirteen episodes (depending on increased production costs at the time and if there was a gap year). This was clearly an extra-special challenge: set a Christmas story during the Time War. Taking inspiration from Frank Capra's magnum opus, Jonathan S Powell's script sees mining foreman Galen Smith dreaming of leaving the planet and making for the stars. But like George Bailey, events continually keep him from leaving, and he even has a guardian angel—but probably not the one you're expecting.

Stunning, and I use the word carefully. The Time War at Big Finish has become a multi-stranded affair with dozens of characters and ongoing storylines, almost its own franchise, so entering a one-off story set within it isn't without some trepidation. Unlike some stories, however, it keeps the focus on an ordinary man in extraordinary times. He serves as our viewpoint character as elements of the wider mythology are delivered to us. I do tend to enjoy war stories that show the effects such conflicts have on the victims rather than generals and politicians vying for power. Although the Eighth Doctor's intervention is rather more complicated than Clarence's in the original text, it still keeps George's—sorry, Galen's—sacrifices in focus. There's also a brilliant twist that causes you to rethink everything you've heard and makes you want to listen again.

Placement:  Feels early.  Perhaps set before the Eighth Doctor's own Time War stories?

Part Three (Dark Gallifrey: Master!)

Audio   Baffled.   In the olden days and actually still in recent days, this would have been released as boxed set so I would have listened to the first two instalments before discovering what the Doctor's involvement is, as was the case with something like Hooklight.  But without an infinite budget, I decided to just buy the episode with Paul McGann on the cover and although this has a "previously on", it's more of a refresher for listeners who're already wearing the t-shirt.  I got the gist though and this has the Bruce Master at his dastardliest, which is the notion of the Dark Gallifrey series, to show some of the greatest villains at their most playful (similar to the Omega/Davros/Master series in 2003).  The Eighth Doctor first appears speaking backward via radio link before revealing the plot to the protagonists of the story then having a sword fight with the Master.  It's quite a cameo.  Few machinas have deus-exed with quite this aplomb.

Placement:  He's in his leathers so perhaps just before Time Lord Victorious just after discovering The Truth About Peladon?

The Force of Death (BBC Audio Exclusive).

Audio  The last of the four BBC Audio Eighth Doctor stories written by Andrew Lane (so far) does not provide the showdown between the Time Lord and the journalist the finale of the last adventure promised, which probably for the best because I don't know what that would look like.  Instead the Doctor is genuinely pleased to see MacFarlane as the two of them investigate the prototypical elements of an alien encounter: mutilated cattle, zombies and a giant mythic sea creature.  But the enemy isn't Zygons or Homo Aqua, it's something even more dangerous.  Dan Starkey's version of the Eighth Doctor has become more Beatles with every reading and now its reached full McCartney, which is honestly perfectly fine, the scouseness of McGann's own interpretations has oscillated subtly over the years anyway.  For the rest of it he's called upon to offer a Fouracresathon of Irish accents which just goes to show how talented he is.

Placement:  What's the perspective the Doctor suggests has caused him to forgive or at least understand what MacFarlane did in the previous story and the suggestion he's going to have to choose a side?  I think that put this squarely in the close to Night of the Doctor territory, just after The Silent Priest.

The Teeth of Ice (BBC Audio Exclusive).

Audio  The third in the annual Andrew Lane-scripted Eighth Doctor stories for BBC Audio sees the regular viewpoint character, the indomitable reporter James MacFarlane, visiting a remote base at the South Pole to interview an explorer, the intimidatingly named Pentius Rochdale. Predictably, all hell breaks loose, with bodies starting to pile up and wild animals as the potential aggressors. So far, so John Carpenter's The Thing. Fortunately for the denizens of this base, the chief of medicine is the Eighth Doctor, and he's typically suspicious of the gap between what seems to be happening and the reality. Produced again by Big Finish veterans Gardner, Darlington, and Ainsworth, the Eighth Doctor—as you'd expect to hear in those rival audios—is present and correct, and well realised by Dan Starkey in his voiceover. At the length of a CD, it gallops along like the team of huskies in a BBC Four slow TV special (which is paradoxically very fast) right through to a pretty dark ending with echoes of Storm Warning and a wedge driven between the Doctor and MacFarlane. The fourth and (so far) final instalment in the series, The Force of Death, feels very ominous indeed.

Placement: The cover has the same photo of Paul McGann as the second, in a smaller circle, but it still feels like there's been a gap between the two. So, let's place this just after the Titan Comics, when his sense of humour is still intact.

Sunset (Planet Krynoid: Nightfall)

Audio  If you'll excuse the blasphemy, Jesus, this is grim. Nick Briggs pops in at the start of each episode to repeat the content warning from the website, "This release contains adult material and may not be suitable for younger listeners"—which you would think wouldn't be required for something on audio where you can't actually see anything, but parts of this are absolutely horrible and would obviously give children nightmares. If the Hinchcliffe era worried Whitehouse, this would have put her in Cromer—sorry, a coma. At one point, I had to stop the tape and walk away for a bit. Congratulations, folks; this is horror Who at its most heinous.

The first episode, Jonathan Morris's Sunlight follows a similar path to parts of the Alien franchise, which it might well do given that they're both about eggs of sorts. One of the Krynoid seed pods is found during the maintenance of the satellites that keep the lamps on at the otherwise dark and cold colony planet of Sunlight. The local representative of this story's equivalent of Weyland-Yutani wants to keep the thing intact in case there's anything they can take advantage of, even though the Governor of the colony says (rightly!) it should be destroyed immediately, with Reece Shearsmith giving this otherwise cowardly individual his most officious voice acting.

Structured like a disaster film, we're introduced to citizens who are affected at all levels. Which means that when the Eighth Doctor arrives in the second instalment, Sunset by Jonathan S Powell, via unconventional means, it's into an already established group of characters. Although he absolutely fulfils the obligations that might usually be expected of him during a colony-under-siege story—explaining who the monsters are, suggesting how the people in charge have fucked things up, and outlining what could potentially be done to save the day—the various families at the heart of the story remain central. Although for most of them, things still don't end well.

During VHS clipshow The Tom Baker Years, the actor behind the teeth and curls infamously misnames The Seeds of Doom as Invasion of the Krynoids or The Krynoid Invasion, which always conjured in my mind seed pods bombarding a planet, with the sentient vegetable biomass overwhelming the population. That is exactly what the final episode, the fittingly titled Darkness by Chris Chapman, gives us, with scenes straight out of John Wyndham. It's during one particular scene here that I needed to take a break. There are Threads levels of hopelessness on display—or rather, on speaker—and although it does end on the potential for hope, a sequel boxset is incoming. Like I said, Jeeeesus.

Placement:  The Eighth Doctor was apparently travelling with Liv when his end of the story kicked off. Given that he's wearing his leathers on the cover, and assuming that Helen isn't chilling somewhere, this intriguingly puts it between Dark Eyes and Doom Coalition. They both appear in the next Planet of the Krynoids boxset, so I'll also see what we learn there and move it if necessary.

Tuesday (Short Trips Rarities)

Audio  Probably, most people listening to this story would just be happy to hear Harry and the Eighth Doctor interacting. But obviously, this human was wondering if any of it would contradict Wolfsbane.  Fortunately, since this is set after Dr Sullivan travelled in the TARDIS and seemingly before the Earth arc in the novels (when this Jac Rayner story is set) when the Eighth Doctor has amnesia anyway, it works perfectly fine. This is aided somewhat by Harry initially forgetting who the Time Lord is, thanks to an alien visit that changes his and everyone else's memories in the south of England, causing them to forget that even Christmas exists. The Harry we meet is a much harsher figure—the person he might have been without the Doctor's influence. But as you might expect, all is right in the end. Beautifully read by Stephen Critchlow, this also has a lovely piano score which made me feel a bit Christmassy in the middle of May.

Placement:  See above.

Death Will Not Part Us (Short Trips Volume 11)

Audio  It is just the sort of experimental story Short Trips were invented for, and on this occasion, one which would have difficulty working as a full-cast audio or even having the same impact on the page. On a planet caught in the middle of the Time War, a victim, Viola Wintersmith, comes into possession of an experimental gun that utilises the user's own time stream as ammunition to alter the timeline elsewhere. On each occasion of its firing, the user finds themselves reliving a key point in their existence, but it changes because of the other moments which are lost in the gunshot residue. It's a time loop story, but—and this is the twist—when the rifle is discharged, the whole story begins again, with the Time War theme music and the narrator, Adele Anderson, introducing the title, author Alfie Shaw, and her own name over and over again. For much of the duration, the Doctor's participation is minimal, although he is ultimately, eventually, the reason why everybody lives. Absolutely scrumptious.

Placement:  Could be any time in the Time War period, but I'll tuck it in the period when he's travelling alone after the boxsets.

Five Hundred Ways to Leave Your Lover (Classic Doctors, New Monsters: Faithful Friends)

Audio  Time to admit something to you, faithful reader: I haven't rewatched most of television Doctor Who since about halfway through Series Eight. I've caught smatterings here and there—the odd Whittaker, a smidge of Gatwa. But most of it has sat on the shelf, sometimes unwrapped since purchase. Much of this has to do with time; the content pipe grows ever larger, and there's a century or so of cinema to catch up with. Some of it is also to do with not enjoying parts of it. There's also the fact that I am so behind with Eighth Doctor material that the 50% of my brain which deals with ridiculous guilt looks at something like the blind Doctor trilogy and wonders if I shouldn't be listening to a five-year-old Short Trip instead, only to end up doing neither.

Five Hundred Ways to Leave Your Lover

Which means going into this story, I had little to no memory of who the Monks were or of their motives. Fortunately, Tim Foley's script fills in enough details: they invade planets by changing the population's perceptions so they believe the Monks have always been there. This attempt is based around utilising a holosuite to gain a foothold on the planet through a computer programmer who, for various reasons, is convinced that he's dating the Doctor. He is trying to break up with him, but the simulated paradises are forever intervening. It's a romance, which, as the director Barnaby Edwards says in the extras, isn't something Big Finish does too often, with the Eighth Doctor being the only one of the old guard who is mostly likely to work in this kind of story.

It's immensely entertaining. We get to hear the Eighth Doctor properly having fun for the first time in a while, which isn't something he's had much of lately across the ranges, and Paul McGann is clearly enjoying the chance to show that side of him. However, rather like a Companion Chronicle or one of those first-person, hour-long audiobooks that BBC Books produced in the 00s (usually written by James Goss), it puts Charlie Condou's Chris front and centre. The action occurs around him, and he mostly reacts until he has to take control of his own destiny (egged on by the Time Lord). The tiny cast also includes Rise of the Cybermen's Andrew Hayden-Smith as the other love interest, alongside the original voice of the Monks, Tim Bentinck.

Placement:  Ah well, spoiler, but as we discover at the very end, this isn't the Eighth Doctor. It's a digital echo of the Eighth Doctor injected into the system by the original to fight the Monks and help Chris—an alternative Eighth Doctor in a similar way to the microscopic versions of the Fourth Doctor and Leela in The Invisible Enemy. On the cover, he's wearing his leathers, so this could have happened at any time in that period, even when he was travelling with friends. But for clarity, I'll put this at the end of the era with some of this era's solo stories.

Empty Vessels.

Audio  Back in the world of stand-alone Eighth Doctor adventures. Like the previous couple of boxsets from this era released back in 2022, there isn't an underlying arc playing through these releases other than the ongoing expectation that at some point, Liv is going to leave the TARDIS to go be with Tania in post-pandemic London (it's wild that COVID-19 has become part of the events of the Whoniverse to the point that it has its own incredibly detailed  TARDIS Wiki entry). This doesn't make them feel less essential: it's refreshing to have the Doctor, Liv, and Helen just along for the ride without being on some mission for the Time Lords or having some existential threat to the universe to cope with.

Eos Falling

In the first story, we meet Jankar, who is characterised as an emergency service for hire—a soldier of fortune, if you will. She listens out for distress signals from populations in need, then rocks up and offers to help the poor unfortunates for a price. She is looked upon with disdain by the TARDIS Team—who, as the next story illustrates, essentially do the same thing pro bono—with Liv describing her as an ambulance chaser, and her portrayal is not sympathetic for the most part. She even threatens to abandon the job because the destruction of the world means she's unlikely to be paid. However, she is also an expression of similar services in the UK and around the world where private ownership of vital services has led to similar outcomes.

Lure of the Zygons

Non-binary actor Maddison Bulleyment plays the similarly non-binary character Wren, and also the Zygon who attempts to copy them, Vorgol. They are a great example of a character who is so fascinating they almost overpower the rest of the story. Roy Gill has clearly enjoyed writing them, as they very much become the fourth companion, gifted agency in a way that isn't often the case in these audios. There are scenes in which Wren and Vorgol must find common ground, which is achieved by their shared experience of having multiple identities. For Zygons, this includes both shapeshifting into other species and, as described in some stories, the way they are born feminine and then become masculine later in life.

Hooklight.

Audio  The audio equivalent of one of those missing adventures or past Doctor novels that head off into directions the TV series couldn't possibly have gone, Tim Foley's Hooklight has the Fifth Doctor and his companions wrapped up in a 12-part story which gives each of them a character progression which will almost certainly be forgotten by the end of the story. So, we have Adric overcoming his nervousness around everyone, Tegan shacking up with a male love interest on some backwater planet for three years, and Nyssa being given the Mara treatment from the titular beastie. Even the Fifth Doctor is emotionally frayed around the edges in a way which he simply wasn't given latitude for on television, even after the teen mathematician died. All four of the regular actors are well up to the challenge, and it's a genuine shame that the practicalities of gap-filling mean that we don't get to see more of these slightly wearier versions of the characters going forward. But arguably the MVP of the whole story is Celia Imrie, who gives one of the best performances from a guest actor Big Finish has ever seen.

The Eighth Doctor's participation is complex and not completely explained by the closing moments. Taking the mantle of the "Oracle", he seems to spend decades, even centuries, on the planet at stake, Morning, nudging events and people in a way which would make his Scottish-accented prrrredecessor prrrrroud. The eye patch might suggest that he's some sinister refugee from an alternate reality, but the injury occurred during a nasty encounter, and, even though he says the Fifth Doctor wouldn't approve of who he's become, this is the real Eighth Doctor. Knowing us completists will have PayPaled our fifty quid for this, they do at least also toss in references to Charley, C'rizz, and Audacity, with a hint that her storyline won't end well either, this Eighth Doctor having already experienced their adventures together. Speaking of which, are we to get future stories featuring him and Davlin Crux (an obvious parody of Captain Jack in the mould of Becky Lee Kowalchik?).

Placement:  Given the references to who the Time Lords are at this point by Eighth, this feels like Hooklight from his perspective happens during the Time War era, and late on when he's in the thick of things.

Branches.

Audio  Yes, I've actually heard a brand new release.  The cover is a bit of a tease, suggesting that this version of Cassie in the Uncharted universe is also some kind of version of the Doctor, what with the velvet jacket, waistcoat, and cravat. Even the sword isn't a dead giveaway, what with the fighting hand in some incarnations. But this Cass or Cassie is a very different creature to both the Time Lord and their friend, much more independent and singular in mission, and certainly wouldn't have taken any of Alex's crap in the last cluster of stories. Alternative versions of companions and friends appear to be another theme which has emerged since the start of the revival, and now it's happened twice in this narrative thread, something the four stories are quick to lampshade.

The Only Girl in the World

Hello there, Doctor. Literally. This is a rare example of the Time Lord breaking the fourth wall and acting as the storyteller, but not—as is sometimes the case—with a later explanation that they're being interrogated or having a fireside chat. He's talking to us. Which is lucky, because writer John Dorney is deploying a similar narrative structure to (500) Days of Summer and 21 Grams, without the benefit of captions that the visual medium provides. There's also the audio equivalent of those occasions when the appearance of a particular race is treated as a complete surprise despite their name being in the title of the adventure. One of the first characters to appear is played by Nicholas Briggs and is called Karl.

False Dawn

Welcome back, Daphne Ashbrook. The Grace actress has been buzzing around Big Finish for a few years, mostly as Capt. Ruth Matheson of UNIT, but beginning as Perfection in The Next Life, the story which ended the Divergent Universe saga. Now here she is in a similarly weird set of stories. She's the latest actor to lend a voice to Hieronyma Friend, who I now realise is taking on the appearance of some of the Eighth Doctor's deep-cut companions, which is why Lizzie Hopley was in for Niky Wardley last time—they were swapping Gemma of all people for Tamsin (also of all people). Anyway, it's a way for Grace to make an appearance without any rights issues (even if the way the character is written doesn't reflect the outer shell).

The Council of Susan

Suddenly Susan. The title might suggest that, like The Council of Wells in the Arrowverse, Carole Ann Ford would be playing dozens of different versions of the Doctor's granddaughter from across the multiverse. Instead, and perhaps more understandably, we find a group of women all calling themselves Susan as a sort of title adopted when joining an order which worships the original. Of course, Jane Asher who plays Mother Susan also appeared in Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman? (the Radio 4 series catching up with fictional characters) as an alternative Susan Foreman, which can't be a coincidence, surely? Similarly, at what point in the scriptwriting did it occur to someone that the twist was very similar to a TV story, necessitating the insertion of a reference to that same TV story?

All Over

A couple of years ago, Reddit user MetalPoo complained, on the occasion of these further Time War stories being announced, that when the original Time War boxset was announced, it seemed it was going to be "Four stories that would lead up to The Night of the Doctor," and "if Big Finish love stories so much they should really know how important endings are," with another user, The Omnivirgin, suggesting that "big finish should start doing some definitive endings" because there's nothing to stop them filling in the gaps later. Neither realises that The Night of the Doctor is the definitive ending, and that these stories are filling in the gaps, albeit much closer to that terminal moment. I might complain about the cost, but on the strength of these four stories, long may they continue.