Luna Romana

Companion Chronicles #8.7

Released: 17 January 2014

Listened: 6/5/22

This story is also a Companion Chronicle, but it’s a bit more complicated. It’s part of the 50th Anniversary celebration, so it continues from “The Beginning” and “The Dying Light” in continuing the story of Quadrigger Stoyn. The story is constructed in four parts, featuring both Romana I and II. Unfortunately, Mary Tamm had passed away by this point, so the first Romana’s story is told in flashback by Romana III, played by Juliet Landau. Her voice is a bit of an acquired taste, and doesn’t really mesh that well with Romana I’s imperious personality, but at least she’s written properly. The Doctor and Romana stop off in ancient Rome, where they believe the last segment of the Key To Time will be found. Except the Doctor would rather see the latest comedy by Plautus instead, a play called Luna Romana. Romana eventually gets fed up with the Doctor (as she often did), and goes to finish the job on her own, except she ends up in peril at the cliffhanger. That cliffhanger waits until part 3, because of timey-wimey shenanigans, because part 3 continues from part 2, even though part 2 takes place later. Yeah. It’s a little odd that we get another insert with a segment of the Key to Time that’s not what it appears to be, but there’s an interesting bit implying that the Doctor is stalling on finding the last segment because he’s not sure what the outcome will be. The coda with Romana III is a bit elegiac of Romana I, which is appropriate after Mary Tamm’s passing, but most Time Lords aren’t often nostalgic about their earlier personas (“Time Crash” notwithstanding). Then again, Romana was always pretty well in touch with herself.