Big Finish Doctor Who Audios: Neverland - Alan Barnes
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This story begins with the Matrix of the Time Lords recalling key events in history, with Charley's apparent death on the R101 being one of these events. The monologue is only relevant to the story insofar as the Matrix cannot remember certain things because the Web of Time is coming unravelled, but it's a rather effective way of starting this tale.
Here the CIA (Celestial Intervention Agency) are depicted as an underhand and treacherous lot with their own agenda, and Vansell seems to be their perfect leader. There's clearly no love lost between him and the Doctor, but that doesn't necessarily make him a bad guy as there are a number of moments where his actions seem quite ambiguous. We learn that there's a lot of blood on the hands of the CIA and this causes half the problems in the story as criminals who were "dispersed" - ie. removed from history - come back to life in the anti-time universe as bitter "never people" who still have all their memories in tact.
Vansell comes across as a loyalist - although less to Romana than to Rassilon and his legacy. In the alternate universe he mounts a bloodless coup to take over the Presidency from Romana, supposedly temporarily, while he restores Rassilon to power, and makes a fantastic speech about how Gallifrey should use its power for good, something the Doctor has quite often argued.
In The Time of the Daleks the Daleks and their Emperor were left stuck in a time loop, and we learnt that the Time Lords had the power to destroy them. What is to be done with them is an important question that hangs over the first part of this story; at one point the Matrix shows the Doctor a distorted future in which Romana orders them destroyed, altohugh in reality she wouldn't do that. Any more than the Doctor would. Vansell, on the other hand, would, and he's quite prepared to bring a casket of Ant-Time to Gallifrey, despite the fact that doing so would destroy his planet.
Lady Romana is given a major role in the story which creates an interesting dilemma for her pertaining to the Doctor. Her early scenes with Co-ordinator Vansell and the Doctor are very tense - although we know it's Romana, and that she's the Doctor's loyal friend, she also has her duty to Gallifrey and as listeners we are put in the same position as the Doctor - knowing deep down that it's Romana and she'll do what's right to save the universe, but also hoping that she won't as it could like mean the death of Charley!
There's a lot of tension and suspense in this story that left me wondering how things would work out (since I knew that Charley would survive beyond this story) - and I thought it was handled well.
I have to say, I love Audio!Romana II - I like her better than TV!Romana II - she's older, wiser and stronger. She still cares very much for the Doctor, but she cares about Gallifrey as well - and her character is more interesting and more rounded in the audios than she was in the TV show.
This story begins with the Matrix of the Time Lords recalling key events in history, with Charley's apparent death on the R101 being one of these events. The monologue is only relevant to the story insofar as the Matrix cannot remember certain things because the Web of Time is coming unravelled, but it's a rather effective way of starting this tale.
Here the CIA (Celestial Intervention Agency) are depicted as an underhand and treacherous lot with their own agenda, and Vansell seems to be their perfect leader. There's clearly no love lost between him and the Doctor, but that doesn't necessarily make him a bad guy as there are a number of moments where his actions seem quite ambiguous. We learn that there's a lot of blood on the hands of the CIA and this causes half the problems in the story as criminals who were "dispersed" - ie. removed from history - come back to life in the anti-time universe as bitter "never people" who still have all their memories in tact.
Vansell comes across as a loyalist - although less to Romana than to Rassilon and his legacy. In the alternate universe he mounts a bloodless coup to take over the Presidency from Romana, supposedly temporarily, while he restores Rassilon to power, and makes a fantastic speech about how Gallifrey should use its power for good, something the Doctor has quite often argued.
In The Time of the Daleks the Daleks and their Emperor were left stuck in a time loop, and we learnt that the Time Lords had the power to destroy them. What is to be done with them is an important question that hangs over the first part of this story; at one point the Matrix shows the Doctor a distorted future in which Romana orders them destroyed, altohugh in reality she wouldn't do that. Any more than the Doctor would. Vansell, on the other hand, would, and he's quite prepared to bring a casket of Ant-Time to Gallifrey, despite the fact that doing so would destroy his planet.
Lady Romana is given a major role in the story which creates an interesting dilemma for her pertaining to the Doctor. Her early scenes with Co-ordinator Vansell and the Doctor are very tense - although we know it's Romana, and that she's the Doctor's loyal friend, she also has her duty to Gallifrey and as listeners we are put in the same position as the Doctor - knowing deep down that it's Romana and she'll do what's right to save the universe, but also hoping that she won't as it could like mean the death of Charley!
There's a lot of tension and suspense in this story that left me wondering how things would work out (since I knew that Charley would survive beyond this story) - and I thought it was handled well.
I have to say, I love Audio!Romana II - I like her better than TV!Romana II - she's older, wiser and stronger. She still cares very much for the Doctor, but she cares about Gallifrey as well - and her character is more interesting and more rounded in the audios than she was in the TV show.