The arrival of one battered Type Forty TARDIS inside this nightmare offers hope to the combatants trapped within.
But when he discovers the truth, the horrors of the Neverwhen will shock even the War Doctor…
After a rather lacklustre second instalment, Infernal Devices gets right back on track with probably one of Big Finish's most gonzo instalments in quite some time. The Neverwhen is quite simply mad, mostly because it takes the basic premise of a 'Time War' and milks it for all it's got. This is no offence to any of the previous five episodes, but this is the very first indication in these War Doctor stories that this is a temporal war, and that it's battlefields stretch across time. I'm sure that many people have theorised about how a battlefield of shifting timelines would work, but I suspect that no one would have even dared put that down on paper, let alone as a story. So, I give Matt Fitton great applause that he is even able to write it down, never mind that it's so enjoyable. I think this is one of the most enjoyable instalments of the whole series, with a killer twist at the core that virtually demoralises the War Doctor completely. It leads to one of the best examples of the characterisation of the War Doctor we've had so far in this series, and it even give Jaqueline Pearce the chance to get her teeth into some more meaty material than anything else that she's been given so far.
When the Time War was first mentioned on screen, it was seen as an indefinable concept that no one was quite sure about what it would be like. All the references we were given in the first few series of the revived show didn't really point in any direction. It wasn't until David Tennant's final story that we got an insight into how the Time War might have been fought. However, even that was only veiled references to concepts that seemed very temporal in nature. It was enough, however, to spark fans' imaginations, and this is where Matt Fitton has come back to with this story. While the previous stories in the series have focused more on the 'conflict' side of the story, The Neverwhen really does add in the 'temporal' bit, highlighting how, despite the rather more mundane portrayals we've had before, the war can still be shown to be twisting time enough to warrant the Doctor's use of the Moment in The Day Of The Doctor. While Nicholas Briggs has gone on record before as saying that it would be impossible to accurately portray a Time War in all it's temporal complexity, I have thought that it would be possible, if handled with great care. And Fitton certainly handles it well here, mostly because his story isn't full of unreal, scientific nonsense that most fan fic deals with. Fitton sets up some clever concepts, but doesn't bog the story down with how they work. After all, this is a Time War that is going on without our knowledge, so what if one of the writers decided to write it like were not meant to understand? That isn't quite what Fitton does: he does mention the science behind the eponymous Neverwhen, but assumes (correctly) that we, as Who fans, will accept these concepts and buy into them. The idea of a planet where time is not a fixed thing paints, more than any other version in the War, an image of a living hell. By taking the central concept (soldiers dying and being resurrected to die again) first explored in Legion Of The Lost, and magnifying it to such a degree, we get to see how the effects of perpetual resurrection can cause people to become completely detached from everything but their reason for fighting. The main focus of this story isn't the effects of the weapon on 'the timelines' or other such concepts beyond the realm of mortal understanding, but rather the effects of the weapon on the people forced to live through the horror of this world's cracked and broken understanding of time. It's such a powerful and potent idea, and probably why the story is so good: because it looks at these huge concepts, but without losing that human touch.
The characters in this are a diverse and interesting bunch, who really keep the story on the ground, despite the fact that it's dealing with things on the universal scale. The soldiers that the Doctor initially meets seem, at first, to be much like Time Lords, and the references to spider-like tanks attacking them (you'll get that if you know about Engines Of War) is a nice way to get the audience to assume that they are Time Lords. I won't spoil the twist (although I did see it coming before Fitton wanted me to, I suspect), but it's one that, very quickly, changes your whole perspective on a set of characters which, up till this point, you thought you knew. It will be interesting to go back, and look at this story again, to see where Fitton has dropped the subtle hints about the twist. After that, it makes it clear that no one is what they seem, and just highlights how the Time War twists the innocent and turns it into something far from it. Even the Time Lords left behind when the Neverwhen device was detonated are not what they seem: trapped on this world for so long, and powerless to escape, even when a chance is staring them in the face, they show they're true colours in what must be one of the most chilling scenes Big Finish have put out recently under the Doctor Who banner. I loved the gradual change, as you hear the scene descend from peaceful tranquillity into shouting and chaos. I also think this is a very good story for both Cardinal Ollistra and the Doctor himself. This story really pushes John Hurt's Doctor to the limit, as he makes his way through this temporal maelstrom, with no sign of hope. He's completely at sea, which considering that, despite the questions he asks Rejoice in The Heart Of The Battle, this is a Doctor who is mostly very sure of himself and his place in the war. However, here he's completely unsure what to do, which puts him in a very different position to any of the five other stories he's appeared in. His resignation at the end is also a very interesting facet that hasn't been explored in the War Doctor before. Just when he thinks he's made a difference, and managed to bring a little bit of peace to the Time War, all that is torn away from him, which is something that I really, really liked. And, despite her huge part in the previous story, Cardinal Ollistra still has a big role to play in this story, and I actually feel like Fitton has given her some actual development to play around with. We see, perhaps more so than any other story, the lengths that she is willing to go to to win the Time War. It's wonderful stuff, and makes up for the prick tease we were given regarding development of her character in A Thing Of Guile. 
The production of this story is as exemplary as every Big Finish production is. However, I really do think that the cast in this story, and indeed the box set (excluding David Warner and Zoe Tapper) are the best assembled in the whole set. Jaye Griffiths (of series 9 fame), Tracey Wiles (UNIT Extinction, Masters Of Earth), Barnaby Kay (Dark Eyes 4) and especially Tim Bentinck, who's been in Big Finish audios as diverse as Destination: Nerva, The Devil's Armada, Wirrn Isle and The English Way Of Death, give amazing performances. Considering the difficulty of the subject matter for someone who isn't as versed in the sci-fi lingo as other people are, it's wonderful to hear so many powerful performances. Tim, especially, gives an amazing performance as Kallix, a performance that is so full of authority you completely believe it. I thought the cast were amazing in this story, really really good. Of course, series regulars Jaqueline Pearce, John Hurt and Nicholas Briggs all give fantastic performances, but I should really stop saying that by know, because it's pretty easy to guess that they are fantastic. Nicholas Briggs' direction is also excellent too, really right on the nose about his actors, and they all give fantastic performances as a result. Howard Carter's music and sound design continue to be excellent, in this one perhaps more so as Carter has to try and conjure things in our mind's eye that no one has ever seen before. It excellent, although I must quibble at a lack of a music suite, like Only The Monstrous. I would also like to praise the work of cover designer Tom Webster, since I don't often give enough credit to the cover artists. Their work is often incredible, and here is no exception. Again, I think that this is possibly due to the crazy nature of the story, and how wacko it is. To come up with anything resembling a coherent cover is a masterpiece, but his work across the whole box set has been fantastic.I do, however, have a couple of quibbles with the story. The first one is that the second half of the story isn't as strong as the first, which is such a shame considering how well the first half turned out. Maybe because the story got more bogged down in the technical than in the first half, I'm not sure. It's not a huge issue, just a pity. My other complaint would be the ending itself. I thought Fitton tried to wrap too much up too quickly, which was a nuisance, as the ending came out rather illogical and hurried. I think they would have been better ending this box set on a cliffhanger, one that could lead into the next series. I just think it would have been more enjoyable, and allowed the resolution and it's techno bafflegab more time to breath.
Overall, however, The Neverwhen has been my favourite story in the whole box set, and one of the strongest Big Finish stories this year. The concepts are great, the characters are engaging, the acting is amazing and the production is sumptuous. Despite a poor middle instalment, I think Infernal Devices has been an excellent second outing for the War Doctor. Despite not reaching the same consistency as Only The Monstrous (even if The Neverwhen is my favourite War Doctor story so far), Infernal Devices is good enough to leave me eager for more of this most different of Doctors. And The Neverwhen is a perfect appetiser for more.
Rating - 8/10Would I Recommend:
Overall, if you enjoyed the first War Doctor box set, I think you should definitely pick this set up. Sure, the middle part isn't that great, but the first and final episodes are some of Big Finish's best recent material. Even if you didn't like the first set, I still think you should pick this up, as the stories are very different to the first set. If you want to start with the War Doctor here, however, I'd say no. Only, however, because the first box set is overall, more cohesive as a set, rather than having a plodding middle part.
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