The War Valeyard

The Time War #3.4

Released: 13 August 2019

Listened: 1/28/22

This story is the showpiece of this box, featuring Michael Jayston as the Valeyard, and written by John Dorney, so it’s plenty timey-wimey. It turns out that in the last story, when you combine a dodgy transmat with an equally dodgy genetic manipulator, you get two Doctors, one of which is the Valeyard. (Which conveniently dodges the question of whether he was destroyed in “The Brink of Death.”) The Doctor had no knowledge of this, and simply went about his adventures with Bliss for awhile. The Time Lords, however, jumped at the idea of a Doctor with a less rigid sense of morality. (Foreshadowing!) Although they used the Valeyard as an agent for quite some time, they eventually sent him on a mission to find another ubiquitous Dalek doomsday weapon, and he never came back. But the Doctor is now experiencing memory flashes from the Valeyard, and goes to rescue him. It’s not clear how long the Valeyard was by himself, but he seems to have gotten confused about his identity, and now believes himself to be the Doctor. And, well, Michael Jayston as the Doctor is kind of awesome. With his stentorian voice, and dialog that sounds a lot more natural than what he used at the Trial, he sounds very Doctor-ish. He even comes close to making some jokes. The problem is that not a lot of what happens on this planet makes sense, and seems to be heavily influenced by the memories of the people there, so it’s kind of hard to follow what’s real and what’s not, what’s memory, what’s hallucination, and what’s a time loop. You’re pretty much obligated to listen very carefully, or get lost. But the big thing is seeing the Doctor confronted by what the Time War could potentially turn him into. It’s highly likely that the idea of needing to be a warrior takes root here, and Dorney does that subtly and effectively. I’ve never been all that impressed with the Valeyard as a character, but this version, struggling with his own identity, is quite good.