Ok, go on then, I’ll have another 6th Doctor and Evelyn episode with Daleks. Next time we’re doing something different, maybe a 5th Doctor story. I think I picked the right story to do this week, to counterbalance the review of the show on Thursday with “The Doctor’s Wife.” None of this angry resentful 11 because of the War Doctor business, let’s jump into a time when the Doctor and the Time Lords would have their yearly arguments.

The Apocalypse Element is the perfect one for a bit of fan service: Daleks, the Time Lords, a planet disappearing, a bit of Dalek enslavement, and Romanadvoratrelundar, or Fred for short. Once again, I’m going to say it off the bat. I’m sticking with a few that I really enjoyed when I first got into Big Finish, and I’m doing that because if you’re here for my opinion on it, there is a chance you already agree with me. There is also a good chance you don’t but oh well, I can’t do anything about that.

It is one of the few times the 6th isn’t as cantankerous with the companions or guests, swapping that for some melodramatics, especially towards the end. That said, I don’t think Evelyn is all that present in general. Sure, she’s used as part of the plot to keep the Daleks from controlling Gallifrey, but other than the eye thing, she suddenly becomes a very New-Who companion without much warning. Personally, I prefer Maggie Stables commanding a scene, telling anyone underestimating her what-for and giving sly comedic jabs. There are a few comedic bits, but she’s more or less lost in the shuffle of the whole thing.

Between Vrint, Raldeth, the Lord President, Vansell, Vorna, Trinket, Ensac, Romana (2), and a few others, there is just a lot going on. Even if you moderately know Doctor Who and the relationships at play, I don’t think there would be much arguing that it is easy to get a little lost at times. Especially with a story so… big and ambitious. I mean, the Daleks on Gallifrey is a bit of a big deal, but with the imminent threat of them destroying all the galaxies, it becomes very grand. That is where Baker’s touch of a very theatrical performance with the cliffhanger for part 4 comes in, playing to the back of a room of one listener.

I said it for Nicholas Courtney and I’ll say it again for Lalla Ward, she didn’t miss a step. The very moment she utters a word in the Dalek slave camp, she’s taken Romanadvoratrelundar by the hand and dragged her kicking and screaming into a very very dark place. Of the companions, I’d argue Romana does take the lead role over, say, Evelyn. Which is odd, as this is after her departure from the T.A.R.D.I.S and after she’d become Lord President herself before her 20-years of captivity. As I’ll say later this week, it is a bit of fan service. However, as a fan and as someone looking for reasons to dislike that, I’m only felt wanting Evelyn helming the story.

There are only a few times I can say that both the way the episode entrenches you into the room with the story is great, and calling characters by their name is quite unnatural and unnerving. That said, the writing from Stephen Cole is filled with ambition, but sometimes lands with a thud as that ambition falters from time to time. The ending is a little too close to the 1996 film, as the Eye of Harmony is used for the grand magic button to both kill and save all at the same time. It wasn’t fun then, and isn’t fun now.

“Well, this battle is over, at last” as the Doctor says is a perfect summation of the story. It is one of many more that will come, for good and bad. It might not be the best story in Doctor Who, it might not be the best of Baker’s tenure, and it might not be the best of the Time Lords in Big Finish, but it is an adventure. It might be a little too grand for one story, but when the Daleks are around the rule of thumb is to go extreme. I might not love it the same way I do The Genocide Machine for the Daleks. I might not think of it as the perfect 6th and Evelyn story either, but I don’t hate it.

Call that the fan service keeping me interested if you must, but to have a darker side to Romana and to have her alongside two Doctor’s after her own, it is a little refreshing. Overall this one is a little too busy for its own good, I’d say. It never really anchors itself down to a calm point. Instead, it brings fleeting moments of stillness punctured by sumptuous Time Lord pomposity and angry Daleks shouting to get something they will never have. The ending never felt like the crescendo, but instead feeling like a quick tie of the bow on a Christmas present that is wrapped in today’s newspaper. Hastened to resolve, but never ultimately ending.

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Big Finish Dr Who "The Apocalypse Element"

£2.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• A darker side to Romana.
• An interesting look at the Time Lords in crisis.

Cons

• Evelyn's step into the background.
• The hastened ending to quickly wrap up another Dalek battle.
• A lot of ambition crashing to the ground.