One Life

The Time War #1.4

Released: 26 October 2017

Listened: 1/18/22

It’s time to wind up this boxed set, and yet, this story is in many ways small and personal. Plot-wise, it’s just the Doctor, Bliss, Ollistra, and the refugees trying to run from a Dalek fleet, first in the TARDIS and then on a planet. But the deeper part is that it’s about an amazingly powerful Time Lord weapon, where it’s been hidden, and what using it will mean for everyone involved. In between, we get glimpses of Quarren and Rupa’s life together, with both happy and tragic moments, because they’re the ones who’ll be paying the price. John Dorney pulls another one of his tear-jerker stories, and even if this one isn’t on the level of “Absent Friends,” it’s still affecting because David Ganly and Nimmy March sell the relationship well. It’s possible that this story justifies the attitude the Doctor displayed in the last one, but in fact it’s more complicated than that. It’s a good story, but one that suffers a bit from other stories going to the same well afterwards.