Warlock's Cross

Main Range #244

Released: 13 November 2018

Listened: 3/15/21

This is the third part of the UNIT trilogy that began with “The Helliax Rift” and continued into “Hour of the Cybermen.” This is the last of the Main Range “five-six-seven” trilogies, and Big Finish was once again trying to mix up the formula. So this is a sequel to the events of the other two, but not a direct continuation of the story. This takes place in 1994, and the 90s have been “relatively quiet,” according to Klein. It’s about 10 years since “The Helliax Rift,” and two years after “Hour of the Cybermen,” but still a few years before “Battlefield,” because Colonel McKenna doesn’t recognize Bambera’s name. In fact, McKenna thinks that UNIT has had a poor series of commanding officers since Lt. Colonel Price, some of whom we saw in “Dominion.” It concerns a series of events that took place at Warlock’s Cross, a story told only in flashback, where an alien ship crashed and killed the scientists experimenting there, and UNIT was called in to clean up. The ship’s crew also died, but the ship itself could reach out and psychically influence people, including Daniel Hopkins, who was at the time hurting from the death of his family, but hadn’t met the Cybermen yet. It’s a fairly slow burner, with much of the middle episodes devoted to exploring the ship while it whispers in people’s minds, ratcheting up the paranoia. There’s no redemption here for Daniel; he’s already had the worst happen to him, and he’s got nothing to live for anymore, which is pretty bleak. As for Klein, she does spend some time thinking about her identity, whether she can let go of her alternate persona, but the story isn’t really about her (even though it’s written by Steve Lyons, who created her back in “Colditz”). Poor Will Arrowsmith doesn’t even get a mention; I hope he’s OK. The Doctor plays enigmatic again, even though he really ought to know better by now, but at least he’s expressing regret for things not done. He’s not after old gods or great evils this time; he’s just trying to help out. But given his reception at UNIT all through this era, it’s easy to imagine why he left them alone for a while. And so we’ll bid goodbye to Klein, an interesting invention if not the easiest companion to like, unless she turns up again in the future.