Collision Course

The Legacy of Time #6

Released: 17 July 2019

Listened: 2/4/22

"The Legacy of Time" was created as the Big Finish 20th Anniversary Story, with six parts, featuring the Third through Eighth Doctors, but not in that order. This story was intended to be the Fourth Doctor’s story, but in reality it’s more of a Gallifrey story, because Leela and Romana are working together, after their time with the Doctor, but unfortunately there’s not much more placement info than that. All throughout this set, the Sirens of Time have been working in the background, and now we find out what they’re actually doing: Interfering with the first Gallifreyan time flight. If that’s undone, it will create the largest paradox of all, which the Sirens feed on. Through flashbacks, we learn that the Doctor took both Leela and Romana here at separate times, entirely unintentionally, because this is one of those events even the Doctor knows not to mess with. Except Leela and Romana now have to mess with it, in order to set it right, and to work the prototype TARDIS, they need six pilots, which is how they rope in the Third through Eighth Doctors. Once that happens, there’s really no more time for plot subtlety, just giving everybody some lines here and there. Which means there’s a bit of intra-Doctor bickering, but not as much as you’d expect. Romana sounds even more exasperated than usual, which is saying something, but trying to contend with six Doctors is pretty extreme. There’s also a cameo appearance by the First (David Bradley), Second (Fraser Hines) and Tenth (David Tennant) Doctors, basically trying to butt in and turning out not to be needed. As stories go, it’s really not much of one; “The Light at the End” made much better use of multiple Doctors. As fanservice, it’s through the roof, and perhaps best appreciated that way.