Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Ken Bones, Nicholas Briggs, Beth Chalmers, Esmonde Cole, Terry Molloy, Yasmin Mwanza, Stephen Noonan, Tim Treloar, Michael Troughton.
The Time War is a moment in science fiction history that sends waves of anticipation and excitement down the spine of those to whom understand the sheer significance it afforded the fanatics and dedicated buffs of the long running British series Doctor Who.
At the time it arguably allowed the creative team behind the rejuvenated Doctor Who team to give the new series a start where the word Gallifrey wasn’t a hindrance, where the older fan could just nod sagely as the memory of the mysterious home planet of the Time Lords, and not have it become an encumbrance, a strain on the storytelling that was to come. If the Time Lords were dead, then what you had was an even greater sense of purpose on the screen…a person to who grief weighed heavy, but still found the Time to help where and when they could.
Then the explanation and the reveal that marked the brilliance of the series, when all was understood to be over, bring them all back, give The Time War its victory in a hollow crown, and it will be forever talked of with illumination, fortitude and widespread positivity.
It was always going to be thus that The Time War made its way into the tales surrounding the 60th anniversary of the show, whether on screen or arguably with greater deference and appeal through Big Finish’s team of writers, especially in their own contribution, the fourth in the series Once And Future: A Genius For War.
Syvester McCoy takes the lead in the intriguing tale that places itself at the centre of the decisions and issues of the war, the ideology and matters of race, purity, the examination of just how far you would go to achieve victory, and then add one vital ingredient, one key player to whom all of the Dalek/Timelord conflict depends upon throughout history, that of Davros.
What gives Once And Future: A Genius For War its scintillating edge is that which gives the creator of the fearsome creatures of Skaro his top billing in the pantheon of adversities, self-advancement, of an ego that cannot be contained and an evil that understands how to play both sides in any encounter; and Davros, played by the timeless Terry Molloy, is the truth we see reflected in the mirror as we search for a definition of genius for war, the embodiment of Machiavellian and every warmonger armed with political intelligence and scientific aptitude to have ever walked the Earth.
It is in Terry Malloy’s sincerity to the role he has inhabited since the days of Tom Baker, that this instalment of Once And Future is one that insist that reach back as a listener to one of the great series of the Doctor Who expanded universe, that of I, Davros.
To place trust in the enemy of your enemy is to be at the mercy of a battle to come, and one who knows your weakness because you have opened up to them and revealed your secrets. That is the truth when you encounter a Genius For War.
Ian D. Hall