Annihilation

Gallifrey #4.3

Released: March 2011

Listened: 4/24/21

Another episode, another alternate Gallifrey. This time, it’s an alternate far in Gallifrey’s past, not long after the time of Rassilon, when wars are still going on between the early Time Lords (called True Lords at this point) and a nation of vampires. For what seems to be no reason at all, the leader of the True Lords is called Borusa, and played by Katy Manning. To be fair, she does a pretty good job of sounding like a serious warlord, and not like Jo Grant at all, which is definitely playing against type for her. Geoffrey Beevers plays the Lord Prydon, head of the vampires, and apparently has nothing to do with the Master, but it sure sounds like him. Everyone behaves pretty recklessly in this one, from Romana being unafraid to confront the vampires (because she’s apparently immune, and has faced them before in “State of Decay”), to Leela subjecting herself to a strange biological procedure that rejuvenates her, restores her sight, and amplifies her other senses, but possibly at the expense of her humanity. She seems to have come out the better for it, which is good, because the blindness subplot got old a while ago. It’s certainly a dark episode, with death and destruction all around, and Romana blaming herself for it. Probably the best of the stories so far from a plot perspective, even though it’s grim.