Stolen Futures

The Eighth of March #2.1

Released:

Listened: 5/23/23

It’s kind of hard to know where to place this one, as it features Romana during her time with the Tharils, not long after “Warrior’s Gate.” I’m putting it in the Gallifrey section, because that’s where Romana is. She, Biroc, and some others are busy rescuing captured Tharils, but not all of her team want to let the humans go unpunished, and Romana’s just not getting that. It results in a lot of timey-wimey bouncing around, using the semi-mystical time travel that the Tharils use. That’s gotta be frustrating for Romana, since she’s not in control. In fact, she’s not in control of a lot in this story. I’ve mentioned elsewhere that Lalla Ward seems to have one emotion for Romana, and that’s “exasperated,” which can be very tiresome. In this story, with lives at stake and little power of her own, she’s reduced to shouting a lot, with mixed effect. The story is written by Lizbeth Myles and directed by Louise Jameson, which must have been kind of funny for Lalla Ward, at least. Unlike other Eight of March stories, this one seems like a common-or-garden Romana story, without anything marking it for International Women’s Day. Unfortunately, it’s kind of forgettable.