He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not

Time Lord Victorious #1

Released: 16 April 2021

Listened: 1/10/22

The primary purpose of this TLV story is to introduce Brian, the Ood Assassin. (That is, he’s an Ood, not that he kills Ood.) Brian’s origin isn’t explained here; he’s just on a contract to retrieve a princess and kill the commoner she’s married and run off with. Silas Carson plays Brian, as he’s voiced all the Ood on the TV series and Big Finish up to this point, so Brian sounds as authentic as you can get, even though his dialog is rather un-Ood-like. The Doctor stumbles across all three of them while trying to visit a beautiful oceanic planet that’s now inexplicably a desert wasteland. Equally inexplicable is what appears to be an Old Western town apparently occupied only by a barkeep, a sheriff, and a doctor. Writer Carrie Thompson hasn’t done much Doctor Who writing yet, but she has a distinctive voice for making absurdities sound plausible, and for creating secondary characters who have interesting backstories and motivations that go beyond just the story they’re in. The western characters all sound authentically American, although slightly stereotyped with Old West twang. The only weak part is the ending, where the story doesn’t really resolve or even “just end.” Instead, the Doctor and Brian are just taken out of the story, to get on with their next respective parts.