Vanguard

The Seventh Doctor: The New Adventures #1.2

Released: 15 November 2018

Listened: 8/20/22

This story isn’t quite as high-concept as the last, but it’s still pretty complex. The planet Vanguard was inhabited by two warring races, both of whom committed near-genocide, leaving just a handful of youngsters, some autonomous battle-bots, and a deadly virus. The Doctor, Roz, and Chris all get separated nearly immediately, so of course they each get different pieces of the puzzle, and it’s not really clear who’s lying until very late in the story. Which means there’s a good bit more exposition in this story than running down corridors. Steve Jordan was the writer on this, his only Big Finish contribution, and he does have the Doctor’s voice down right (and maybe Roz and Chris’s; I wouldn’t know). Unfortunately, having factions named “Dauntless” and “Intrepid” on the planet Vanguard can make it tricky to keep track of who’s on which side. But maybe that’s kind of the point.