Luna Romana

Companion Chronicles #8.7

Released: 17 January 2014

Listened: 6/16/22

This is where the rest of the story from the last segment comes in, and as Romana herself says “where it gets complicated.” The TARDIS lands on the moon, which in the future was host to a Westworld-style theme park of historical recreations, including a Roman section (hence “Luna Romana”), all abandoned now. Except Stoyn is here again, an even more bonkers, raving version of Stoyn, which Terry Malloy excels at. Stoyn is trying to approximate Gallifreyan technology with only several thousand years of Earth tech as a starting point. So things get timey-wimey in short order, which allows part 2 of the story to come between parts 1 and 3, even though it seems to take place later. Romana is rather better at crossing her own timeline than the Doctor is, in that she manages to avoid meeting herself or planting any memories that shouldn’t be there. In fact, the Doctor is portrayed at his most annoying and supercilious in this story, and Romana is a willing accomplice. Admittedly, it’s the easiest way to get Stoyn riled so he’ll make a mistake, but it also has the effect of making Stoyn’s hatred of the Doctor almost sympathetic. In the end, that’s the problem I have with this whole trilogy: Although Stoyn does some terrible things in his madness, he should never have been there in the first place, and that’s the Doctor’s fault. Stoyn doesn’t handle his situation well, but he was never temperamentally suited to leaving Gallifrey, so it’s kind of hard to blame him for anything. I don’t know if that was the goal, but the Doctor doesn’t seem very self-reflective here.