In a time of war, every means of victory must be explored. In the Time War, the unthinkable must be thought, and neither side can afford to be squeamish about their methods.
When the destruction of an obscene weapon leads to the Time Lord once known as the Doctor uncovering a secret Gallifreyan initiative, he cannot believe what is being considered.
Should victory be sought at any cost? Or are there worse possibilities than losing to the Daleks..?
After the massive success of the first war Doctor box set, the immediate release of the second box set, only a few months after the first, is not really a surprise. After all, there is still a huge amount of the war Doctor's timeline left to explore, and since John Hurt is keen to do more, I was really excited for the next set of stories. And Legion Of The Lost certainly starts with a great deal of energy, launching into a raid on a Dalek world that has gone badly wrong. After the first ten minutes or so, however, the story does slow down quite a lot, but more to explore one part of the Time War which was touched upon very briefly in The End Of Time: that of Gallifreyan soldiers being resurrected over and over again. And in the hands of veteran scribe John Dorney, we get an intelligent script that seemed much more polished in comparison to the work in the first box set, despite that being a very polished production overall.
As I will continue to say throughout this series, John Hurt gives an amazing performance as the blank-slated war Doctor. With the first box set having set up his character splendidly, we can now push the war Doctor into different directions, seeing how he reacts to different situations, and whether he will maintain his detached stance that he displayed throughout the first box set. In this story, he actually functions much like most other Doctors would: were it not for the Time War references and the very end, most of this story could feature Jon Pertwee's, Tom Baker's or even Colin Baker's Doctor. His moral indignation at the work of the Technomancers is something which could be seen throughout his incarnations. Normally, I'd say this was shoddy writing, or poor script editing. After all, when a Doctor is seen as interchangeable, it usually means that the story itself is generic, or the writer doesn't understand the Doctor he's writing for. But here, Dorney uses these elements of the story (subtly, this isn't the new series, where it's just shoved in your face) to highlight that, in many ways, John Hurt's Doctor isn't a radical departure from the Doctor's that have gone before. He still has morals, and isn't, as many fan theories have postulated, a cold-blooded killer. However, he knows that sometimes the difficult decisions have to be made, and that's where comparisons with other Doctor's end. He may have agonised in The Heart Of The Battle about whether to destroy the capsule containing the Keskan slave workers, but in Legion Of The Lost, there is no indecision about killing Collis or destroying the Technomancers. The last sentence does make him sound like a cold-blooded killer, but the way Dorney presents it in the story, and the way Hurt plays it leaves you in no doubt as to the Doctor's motives. He just knows that difficult decisions have to be made: he's detached from it, in a way that no other Doctor is.
As I mentioned, the story is much slower than one you'd expect to be set in the heart of the Time War. Sure, we had The Innocent from the last box set, but that was necessary I feel to establish the character of the war Doctor. This is more of a conscious choice, but it's one I feel works perfectly. The first and last ten minutes have plenty of action going on in them, so Dorney packs the middle full of interesting ideas. Sure, some of them aren't that original (such as the use for the alien race that had been plucked from time: I could see that twist coming a mile off), but what they do is reinforce the brutality of the Time War, and how the Time Lords are so desperate for an advantage against the Daleks that they will do anything. The Daleks barely feature in this story, only really appearing in one scene, but their menace and unstoppable nature is felt throughout. And it's nice to see that the Daleks aren't the only 'antagonist' force in the Time War. By all accounts, most stories just show the Daleks and some of the Time Lords to be evil, and everyone else is just innocent bystanders. Of course, we had the Taalyens from the last series, but they felt a deliberately 'evil' race, i.e. they were always evil from the start. The Technomancers feel a lot different; they're evil, but it feels like it was born out of the situation they found themselves in, rather than being evil for the sake of it. I loved the idea that they're 'science' actually is magic, which was something rather different from the norm. After all, in a war like this, you expect hard science, not pure magic. But the idea of technology that appears magical, and through divine intervention is rather clever. It rather neat putting the Time Lords into the debt of the Technomaners, and it's a shame there's no way for them to return when we reach the story's end, since they were really interesting with regards to having the Time Lords in their power, and it would have been quite nice to have seen that carried on across the box set.
Because of the more languid pace, the story had to feature interesting characters. And boy, did it deliver! With Cardinal Ollistra taking a back seat (although the amazing Jaqueline Pearce still steals the final scene), it's nice to get a set of other characters who fulfil the same role, albeit with the difference of coming from different angles. Collis, for example, sees the merit in such a scheme, because she has died, and realises that even the dead are needed to fight the Time War. It's such a unique perspective, and especially considering that the TV series merely mentioned this idea, it's nice to see it explored, particularly through a character that has been through the experience. And Zoe Tapper is exceptional, especially considering the calibre of the rest of the cast. I certainly hope Big Finish could get her back, maybe as a companion. But, of course, the main talking point about this story will be the inclusion of David Warner as Shadovar, the leader of the Technomancers. And while the role isn't quite as large as some of his other BF parts (e.g. Cuthbert from the 4DA's or the alternate third Doctor from the Unbounds), the fact that he gets to butt heads with John Hurt is an irresistible ideas, and the role is certainly sufficient for him to take on. Shadovar is such an interesting character, because he mostly starts out as one of these 'believe in the horned one or die' type characters, but as the episode progresses, his role shifts to something much more subtle and intricate. By the end of the story, therefore, we feel this character's power and strength. He's no ordinary bad guy, but one of supreme power. And, of course, with an actor like David Warner, he will be able to make things extremely difficult for our leading man. I did think that they're finale confrontation was a little rushed, however, and coupled with the rather explosive soundscape, I think some of the tension felt like it was lost. I would also like to highlight Co-ordinator Jarad, played by Jamie Newall, who was a complex and deeply interesting character, with some rather less than obvious motivations. I loved the way he turned from sympathetic to rather less than so in a single moment, and highlighted him as one of the standout performers of the whole story.
As I said earlier, there were a few moments when the sound design occasionally eclipsed the dialogue, however, on the whole, Howard Carter's music and sound design was superb. The score was so intricate, it makes me sad that, unlike in the first box set, we don't have a music suite at the end to enjoy. The creation of the soundscapes in the story was great, phenomenally good. The Technomancer's world sounded like a place where mystical things would happen, which, considering that we don't know what that sounds, or even looks like, is a great achievement. This is aided by the superb direction from Nicholas Briggs, who gets the best performances for the situation. There is not one line that I felt could have done with a retake, not one. That is rare, because while Big Finish directors are usually meticulous and excellent, there is always one line that I would have done differently. However, here, nothing. Not one. Everyone was line perfect, which was excellent. I also think that not making the story's directly connected has done wonders for this box set. Sure, the first one was great, because it was one long story, but I think that has they tried this approach this time around, I don't think it would have worked quite as well. I am interested to see if the 'horned gods' pop up again, since I feel that they are building up to something rather huge: maybe they are the 'could have been king and his army of meanwhiles and never-weres', mentioned in End Of Time? Who knows. But I think they still have a part to play, and I would like to know where the Technomancers got they're science from. John Dorney has certainly set a lot of plates in motion with this script.
Overall, Legion Of The Lost is a triumphant start to the second war Doctor box set. The writing is solidly strong throughout the episode, the direction is excellent, the acting is on top form, and the sound design and music is phenomenal. I do have a couple of quibbles with the story, but overall, Legion Of The Lost is an even better first episode than The Innocent (and that was quite a decent first episode, although it doesn't eclipse the first episodes of Dark Eyes, UNIT Dominion, The Last Adventure or Dark Eyes 4), and certainly sets Infernal Devices off to a great start. The War Doctor's first box set may have been a tremendous success for Big Finish, but they are not resting on their laurels with their second box set. The antae has well and truly been upped.
Rating - 8/10
When the destruction of an obscene weapon leads to the Time Lord once known as the Doctor uncovering a secret Gallifreyan initiative, he cannot believe what is being considered.
Should victory be sought at any cost? Or are there worse possibilities than losing to the Daleks..?
After the massive success of the first war Doctor box set, the immediate release of the second box set, only a few months after the first, is not really a surprise. After all, there is still a huge amount of the war Doctor's timeline left to explore, and since John Hurt is keen to do more, I was really excited for the next set of stories. And Legion Of The Lost certainly starts with a great deal of energy, launching into a raid on a Dalek world that has gone badly wrong. After the first ten minutes or so, however, the story does slow down quite a lot, but more to explore one part of the Time War which was touched upon very briefly in The End Of Time: that of Gallifreyan soldiers being resurrected over and over again. And in the hands of veteran scribe John Dorney, we get an intelligent script that seemed much more polished in comparison to the work in the first box set, despite that being a very polished production overall.As I will continue to say throughout this series, John Hurt gives an amazing performance as the blank-slated war Doctor. With the first box set having set up his character splendidly, we can now push the war Doctor into different directions, seeing how he reacts to different situations, and whether he will maintain his detached stance that he displayed throughout the first box set. In this story, he actually functions much like most other Doctors would: were it not for the Time War references and the very end, most of this story could feature Jon Pertwee's, Tom Baker's or even Colin Baker's Doctor. His moral indignation at the work of the Technomancers is something which could be seen throughout his incarnations. Normally, I'd say this was shoddy writing, or poor script editing. After all, when a Doctor is seen as interchangeable, it usually means that the story itself is generic, or the writer doesn't understand the Doctor he's writing for. But here, Dorney uses these elements of the story (subtly, this isn't the new series, where it's just shoved in your face) to highlight that, in many ways, John Hurt's Doctor isn't a radical departure from the Doctor's that have gone before. He still has morals, and isn't, as many fan theories have postulated, a cold-blooded killer. However, he knows that sometimes the difficult decisions have to be made, and that's where comparisons with other Doctor's end. He may have agonised in The Heart Of The Battle about whether to destroy the capsule containing the Keskan slave workers, but in Legion Of The Lost, there is no indecision about killing Collis or destroying the Technomancers. The last sentence does make him sound like a cold-blooded killer, but the way Dorney presents it in the story, and the way Hurt plays it leaves you in no doubt as to the Doctor's motives. He just knows that difficult decisions have to be made: he's detached from it, in a way that no other Doctor is.
As I mentioned, the story is much slower than one you'd expect to be set in the heart of the Time War. Sure, we had The Innocent from the last box set, but that was necessary I feel to establish the character of the war Doctor. This is more of a conscious choice, but it's one I feel works perfectly. The first and last ten minutes have plenty of action going on in them, so Dorney packs the middle full of interesting ideas. Sure, some of them aren't that original (such as the use for the alien race that had been plucked from time: I could see that twist coming a mile off), but what they do is reinforce the brutality of the Time War, and how the Time Lords are so desperate for an advantage against the Daleks that they will do anything. The Daleks barely feature in this story, only really appearing in one scene, but their menace and unstoppable nature is felt throughout. And it's nice to see that the Daleks aren't the only 'antagonist' force in the Time War. By all accounts, most stories just show the Daleks and some of the Time Lords to be evil, and everyone else is just innocent bystanders. Of course, we had the Taalyens from the last series, but they felt a deliberately 'evil' race, i.e. they were always evil from the start. The Technomancers feel a lot different; they're evil, but it feels like it was born out of the situation they found themselves in, rather than being evil for the sake of it. I loved the idea that they're 'science' actually is magic, which was something rather different from the norm. After all, in a war like this, you expect hard science, not pure magic. But the idea of technology that appears magical, and through divine intervention is rather clever. It rather neat putting the Time Lords into the debt of the Technomaners, and it's a shame there's no way for them to return when we reach the story's end, since they were really interesting with regards to having the Time Lords in their power, and it would have been quite nice to have seen that carried on across the box set. Because of the more languid pace, the story had to feature interesting characters. And boy, did it deliver! With Cardinal Ollistra taking a back seat (although the amazing Jaqueline Pearce still steals the final scene), it's nice to get a set of other characters who fulfil the same role, albeit with the difference of coming from different angles. Collis, for example, sees the merit in such a scheme, because she has died, and realises that even the dead are needed to fight the Time War. It's such a unique perspective, and especially considering that the TV series merely mentioned this idea, it's nice to see it explored, particularly through a character that has been through the experience. And Zoe Tapper is exceptional, especially considering the calibre of the rest of the cast. I certainly hope Big Finish could get her back, maybe as a companion. But, of course, the main talking point about this story will be the inclusion of David Warner as Shadovar, the leader of the Technomancers. And while the role isn't quite as large as some of his other BF parts (e.g. Cuthbert from the 4DA's or the alternate third Doctor from the Unbounds), the fact that he gets to butt heads with John Hurt is an irresistible ideas, and the role is certainly sufficient for him to take on. Shadovar is such an interesting character, because he mostly starts out as one of these 'believe in the horned one or die' type characters, but as the episode progresses, his role shifts to something much more subtle and intricate. By the end of the story, therefore, we feel this character's power and strength. He's no ordinary bad guy, but one of supreme power. And, of course, with an actor like David Warner, he will be able to make things extremely difficult for our leading man. I did think that they're finale confrontation was a little rushed, however, and coupled with the rather explosive soundscape, I think some of the tension felt like it was lost. I would also like to highlight Co-ordinator Jarad, played by Jamie Newall, who was a complex and deeply interesting character, with some rather less than obvious motivations. I loved the way he turned from sympathetic to rather less than so in a single moment, and highlighted him as one of the standout performers of the whole story.
Overall, Legion Of The Lost is a triumphant start to the second war Doctor box set. The writing is solidly strong throughout the episode, the direction is excellent, the acting is on top form, and the sound design and music is phenomenal. I do have a couple of quibbles with the story, but overall, Legion Of The Lost is an even better first episode than The Innocent (and that was quite a decent first episode, although it doesn't eclipse the first episodes of Dark Eyes, UNIT Dominion, The Last Adventure or Dark Eyes 4), and certainly sets Infernal Devices off to a great start. The War Doctor's first box set may have been a tremendous success for Big Finish, but they are not resting on their laurels with their second box set. The antae has well and truly been upped. Rating - 8/10
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