Review of Neverland (#33)
Big Finish Release Date: July 2002
Doctor/Companion: Eight, Charley, and Romana II
Stars: Paul McGann, India Fisher, and Lalla Ward
Preceding Story: The Time of the Daleks (Eight, Charley)
Succeeding Story: Spare Parts (Five, Nyssa)
It's been diverting to broaden my Big Finish horizons and listen to some adventures with the Sixth and Seventh Doctors, but I found I was missing the Eighth. Thus I've returned to the last of his adventures recommended to me from the first fifty releases in the Main Range.
Charley has visited a couple more interesting points in space and time with the Doctor since last I joined them. We do not, however, start with the two of them—instead, we are on Gallifrey with Lord President Romanadvoratrelundar—known to the Doctor (and us) simply as Romana. Someone is reading out historical facts revolving around Charley's anomalous survival of the R101 crash and her subsequent travels, but the recitation soon becomes garbled. The paradox appears finally to be too much for the Web of Time to bear.
When we do return to the Doctor and Charley, though, it's clear things aren't stable in the TARDIS, either. The Doctor tries to tuck Charley safely away in some backwater corner of the universe (to his credit, it is at least one helluva party), but she refuses to be fobbed off so easily. They end up on Gallifrey together, where they discover the universe is being threatened by an incursion of anti-time—all because of Charley.
By the end of Part 1 (and as the story is split into only two parts, that's well over an hour), we've learned there is an entire different universe (or dimension, call it what you will) where anti-time is natural and our time is the anomaly. In fact, our heroes discover creatures of anti-time there: Never People.
One thread that appears again and again in Neverland is one we've encountered briefly before and promises to crop up again (just check out the title of the next BF Main Range audio in which the Eighth Doctor appears if you need proof): a character from Gallifreyan legend called Zagreus. I've been told that that subsequent story isn't terribly good, but I can't imagine not following this plot arc to its end. I'm afraid you'll be subjected to a review at some point in the future anyway.
As for Neverland, I won't spoil any more surprises, but there are all the usual variety of plot twists and revelations. It will come as a shock to no one that I loved McGann's Doctor here, nor that I thought the entire cast was top notch. I love the deep friendship between Charley and the Doctor, and how events unfold in part because of their true affection for one another. The plot felt believable, and twists were revealed such that I had always but not quite figured them out myself, which is just about the right balance for my preferences.
I will admit, though, that the cliffhanger would've driven me Librarian-poo had I been listening in sequence at the time. All I can say is that I'm glad I don't have to wait 16 months so find out how it all shakes out.
