I used to buy/listen to quite a few "Doctor Who" audios from Big Finish, mostly in my car during my daily commute to/from work, but the pandemic put the kibosh on that. My interest was primarily in the the Eighth Doctor, "my" Doctor. One way to save money was to "bundle" purchases together, which were often solicited months or even years before they were to be released. I thought my bundle orders were long since completed, but I received one completely unexpectedly over the weekend. Honestly, I don't even recall specifically which series this is a part of.
"The Doctor and his great-grandson Alex have been reunited amid the Time War. Splintered timelines drawn them ever closer to another fellow traveller. does Cass's destiny lie in the TARDIS? As the Time War rages, the Doctor enters uncharted territory--where the only 'friends' they meet might not be what they seem..."
- Nowhere Never
- The Road Untravelled
- Cass-Cade
- Borrow or Rob
Replies
I just went to file "Reflections" on the shelf and I noticed a few things. First, it is the sixth set of the new Eighth Doctor Adventures; second, I do have sets 1-5; third, Cass' first appearance was not in the Time War 5 set, but the Eighth Doctor Adventures 5 set and I do have it. (The Eighth Doctor Adventures series sort of seques into the Eighth Doctor: Time War series.) I knew she sounded familiar! And I was just about to order it. But I still haven't listened to sets 3-4 (which are not set during the Time War.) I don't know if I should listen to sets 3-4 or just go straight into 5. I used to be on top of this stuff! I knew if I ever strayed I'd have a devil of a time getting back in.
I've decided to go directly into Set 5. Because I've already started discussing "Cass" above, I just changed the title from "Reflections" to "Cass." I apologize to anyone who may have been reading this thread up until this point; it's been a real mess. I'll try to do better going forward. Regarding the "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, bullsh*tty-wullsh*tty" answer as to how the Doctor and Cass could have met for the "first" time in "Night of the Doctor" without knowing they travelled together before, we may just have to wait a while for that answer after all. I'm thinking of Charlotte Pollard and her adventures with the Sixth Doctor.
Charlie Pollard was the first regular companion of the Eigtht Doctor on audio, and a quite popular one. She even spun off into her own solo "Edwarian Adventuress" series. Eventually she had a bit of a falling out with the Eighth Doctor and her travels with him came to an end. At the sound of a TARDIS materializing, she thought it was the Eighth Doctor coming back for her, but it was actually the Sixth, which began a series of adventures with him. But how could she have travelled extensively with the Sixth Doctor and the Eighth not remember it? That question was eventually answered, but not until the very end of their time together.
I also know that Big Finish doesn't like to "tie things together" regarding the Doctor's timeline. Early on, when the Sixth Doctor was travelling with Evelyn Smythe, for example, they skipped ahead to do a sequel to a story they had just done, which showed Evelyn happily married and no longer travelling with the Doctor a year in the future. This story came back to bite them in the arse as Maggie Stables continued to play the role for years, and all of her stories beyond that point had to be shoe-horned into a 12-month period. Anyway...
The Doctor and his great-grandson Alex are back travelling the universe together… but when that universe is in the grips of a Time War, the unexpected lurks round every corner...
MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE:
The Doctor and Alex arrive on a tropical beach where something’s amiss.
Meanwhile, elsewhere… a desperate pilot runs for his life.
Meanwhile, elsewhere… it’s Cass Fermazzi’s first day on an errand-class starship.
Meanwhile, elsewhere… it’s the beginning of the end of everything.
This is the the story of when and how the Doctor and Cass actually met for the first time. It also introduces Jaye Griffiths as Hieronyma Friend, not a villain per se, but certainly an amoral rogue.I'm not going to try to describe the plot because it is decidedly non-linear and difficult to follow, but it is Cass, not the Doctor, who figures out how to save the day. Doing so impresses him so much, he invites her to travel with him and his great-grandson Alex.
Behind the scenes: Up until this point, the Eighth Doctor's companion during thte Time War had been Bliss, played by Rakhee Thakrar. But she is a very in demand actress, and one day Big Finish received a call from her agent informing them that she would no longer be able to play Bliss beyond The Eighth Doctor: Time War Set Four. They had long-reaching plans for Bliss, but they also had been planning to bring back Sonny McGann (Paul's son) as Alex as well as introduce Emma Campbell-Jones as Cass. It would be the Doctor and his great-grandson travelling time and space, much as it was the Doctor and his granddaughter early on. So what they did was to skip the stories in which Bliss left and Alex returned with the intention of filling those gaps later on. So Alex did die and now he is back, but we don't know how or why at this point.
VESPERTINE:
It’s Cass’s first trip in the TARDIS, and the Doctor is determined to make it one to remember. But when they arrive at a research base that shouldn’t exist, built above a missing explorer’s ship that should never have been found, it seems their visit’s going to be memorable for all the wrong reasons. Because deep beneath the ice, there’s more than just a long-lost ship waiting for them…
The Doctor, Cass and Alex join a team excavating the wreck of a famous missing ship, the Vespertine. Problem is, they are in the past, and the ship has never been found in the present. What's more, the Doctor seems to know his way around the ship, although he has never been on it. While exploring, they discover that the command deck has been time-locked and the Vespertine's famous explorer/captain is still alive. The Captain knows the Doctor, but the Doctor doesn't know the Captain. Did their time together happen further down the Doctor's timeline in his own future? Possibly, but the Doctor has reason to believe otherwise. There is a device onboard which allows the Captain to essentially relive his own memories, which is how he kept himself entertained during the 100 years or so (relatively speaking) that the ship has been time-locked. However, other people can use the device to relive the Captain's memories as well. However, they can only observe, and cannot do anything or go anywhere that the Captain didn't.
Alex and Cass take a trip into the Captain's memories. While there, they experience the Captain's memory of meeting the Doctor and Bliss for the first time. After they disconnect from the machine, Alex tells the Doctor about seeing him and Bliss in the Captain's memories, but the Doctor not only still doesn't remember the Captain, he doesn't remember Bliss. the Doctor suggests that Bliss must be some future companion, but Alex knows he has already travelled with her. the question becomes what happened and why doesn't he remember? There are a few more twists and turns, but I think they are already setting up the explanation of how/why the Doctor and Cass don't remember each other when they met for the "first" time in "Night of the Doctor."
Regarding that, I find myself eagerly awaiting the eventual explanation. In addition to the "timey-wimey" they pulled with Charlie Pollard (as I mentioned above), I am reminded, too, of how Big Finish handled River Song. As you know, the Doctor met River for the first time in "Silence of the Library/Forest of the Dead." I don't need to explain the nature of the River/Doctor relationship here, but Alex Kingston went on to play River Song at Big Finish (eight sets by the time I stopped buying them; probably more by now). Her "thing" at Big finish was that she would eventually meet all of the Doctors previous regenerations, in more-or-less reverse order. At first, they had to bend backwards through hoops (to mix a few metaphors) to explain why the 10th Doctor didn't remember her when they met for the supposedly "first" time. Eventually, they came up with an explanation which allowed them to go foreward (or backwards as the case may be) without having to explain it every time.
As far as Cass is concerned, I really like her. She is not shy about taking the lead in situations which she has more expertise than the Doctor. On the CD extra, Emma Campbell-Jones and Paul McGann reminisce about their time filming "Night of the Doctor." (As far as they are concerned, there is no question that the Big Finish audios are canon. Speaking of which, I received "Once and future" in the mail today, only nine days after I ordered it. I have two more episodes of "Cass" to listen to first, but I plan to make Wednesday my weekly "Doctor Who day" during my trip to/from my LCS for the foreseeable future. (I have a lot of unlistened to Doctor Who CDs; I can see further than ten weeks into the future.)
See ya next Wednesday!
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