The Enigma Dimension

The War Doctor #4.3

Released: 23 February 2017

Listened: 9/4/22

Having retrieved Leela, the Doctor and Ollistra return to Gallifrey to find…a thing. One of those impossible things hanging in space such that you can’t follow its dimensions. An Enigma, you might say. And the Daleks are holding its “people?” hostage so that it will wipe out the Time Lords. However, when your ultimate weapon has a mind of its own, you never quite know what it’s going to do (foreshadowing!). It isn’t a slam-bang ending, because as Nick Briggs himself points out, we know how the war ends, and we can’t mess with that, so this has to be an ending without being the ending, so why not make it quieter? Leela is used to good effect here as an outsider who’s not part of the war, although it does go a bit too far in the “noble savage” direction. Toward the end, though, it’s quite chilling as Ollistra tries to turn the situation to her advantage, and the Doctor realizes that maybe the only way to end the time war is to wipe out both sides. He’s terribly bleak and grim, and you can see “Day of the Doctor” happening not long after this. I used to think this series didn’t really have a proper ending, but I’m revising that opinion now. John Hurt got some time to be the Doctor, maybe not as up-beat as other Doctors, but he did have his moments of happiness and victory. And in the end, they put him where he needed to be. I’m not really sure how much further they could have taken it. Sadly, this marks the end for both John Hurt and Jacqueline Pearce in this project. Two actors whose passing is a loss to the entire acting community.