Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Jonathan Carley, Ajjaz Awad, Paul McGann, Adèle Anderson, Nicholas Briggs, Tiegan Byrne, Beth Chamers, Louise Faulkner, Davi Monteith, Becky Wright.
Every beginning must lead to an end; a story after all, unlike a legend, must have the courage to understand that what lays ahead after the initial introductions must be resolute to revealing the finish, the culmination in what the hero or the villain has been leading to before they take the next step on in the universes’ great adventure.
Time is our friend, but often the devourer of our dreams, it consoles and heals, it also, given long enough, turns our actions to that without hope, as a scar upon the age in which we leave our tale unfinished, because hope must return at some point, a reader of myths will know that the tale is only over when redemption is recognised and accepted.
Enemy Mine, the latest seismic offering by Big Finish highlighting the formative years of who would become known as The War Doctor aptly showcases the belief that once hope seems irrevocably lost, it can often only be found by revisiting the past, of understanding that we once were all capable of being a hero, an inspiration to even just one person.
The three conjoined audio scripts, following on directly from each other in a growing tsunami of drama and fear, are ones that expose the passion of different incarnations of The Doctor to their fundamental level, that to heal one must listen to a doctor, that to strive for peace one must first accept the fight within oneself, and by doing so know that the beginning of the end has been reached.
The three tales that mark the possible end of The War Doctor Begins saga of Enemy Mine, The Hybrids Choice by Ajjaz Awad- Ibrahim, Fear Nothing by Mark Wright, and the ultimate encore that is Matt Fitton’s Exit Strategy are so intricately weaved that it brings out the finest moments in one time companion and ally Case, and sets the scene as to how far gone The War Doctor was before his own redemption when meeting his future selves on Gallifrey.
The fitting nature of Paul McGann’s inclusion in the third story by Matt Fitton also book end the series with a stirring reminder of what the mad man in the blue box gave up as he crash landed trying to save one last person as the war raged around him, the memory of a decision taken under the duress of imminent death that leads to an unrecognisable force; one still steeped on the side of the angels, but willing to deal with the devil on their own terms if needs be.
It is the very nature of dichotomy that the listener is able to witness just how easily humanity can be moulded when placed with a choice between two levels of destruction, how they will invariably opt for the path of least resistance and possible power instead of placing their trust in the hard option. For Case it is a moment of reveal as her human soul is corrupted by what she sees as her second skin, a new lease of life enhanced by the hate of that which let her down. This choice is the basis of nature v nurture, and it is only down to a doctor that she begins to see the world as it truly is; not one in which she can win by sacrifice, but by acceptance.
With Ajjaz Awad offering huge insight into her final performance within the role as Case, and David Monteith’s performance as The Nurse, and the twin dynamic of Paul McGann and Jonathan Carley as The War Doctor, so the tale concludes, and yet as legends must, continue onwards.
A seismic episode in Doctor Who audio history, Big Finish’s terrific hurrah to the character is a crescendo of purpose.
Ian D. Hall