The Pursuit of History

Fourth Doctor Adventures #5.7

Released: 13 July 2016

Listened: 6/30/22

It’s the end of the season, which means it’s time for a dramatic two-parter, and in this case, the return of Cuthbert, his quantum gateway, and his time-sensitive space manatees. Who once again kidnap Romana to save them, so she and the Doctor are separated early on. She’s ever-so-slightly less exasperated than usual as she figures out the technological end of what’s killing the Laan, and is mostly in control of her situation. The Doctor is much less in control, as he ends up following Cuthbert up and down the timeline, discovering that he’s gone as far back as 1853 to plant the seeds of his business empire. Unfortunately, following a quantum tunnel is tough on the TARDIS, so there’s a lot of crashing sound effects. Because this is a two-part story, not a lot more happens in the first half.