Gallifrey Fights…
Having infiltrated the Axis, the Daleks have secured access to a myriad alternative realities and, with them, countless Gallifreys… every one with secrets to be plundered.
As her new world falls to the might of the Dalek invasion force, Romana finds herself struggling to keep her friends alive as the Capitol collapses around her.
Against all odds, there may be a way out – back to the Axis and, potentially, back home. But desperate times call for desperate measures and, ultimately, sacrifices…
GALLIFREY: EXTERMINATION
After two interminable box sets in which our beloved regular characters wander pointlessly around various alternate universes, Gallifrey VI finally brings them home. The first story in the set, Scott Handcock’s “Extermination,” features the Daleks laying waste to the alternate Gallifrey of the fifth box set, and as you’d expect, it’s… wait a minute, it’s actually good? Yes, and almost entirely because of the Daleks, who give the series the kick of energy it has desperately needed for years. It’s true that the Dalek plan is their usual “conquer all possible universes,” this time through the Axis, but their mere presence is enough to cast a fearful pall over the proceedings. With a rampaging, deadly menace around every corner, things finally feel dangerous – and it helps that Handcock gathers a number of characters from Gallifrey V and immediately kills them off. This was also Big Finish’s first toe in the water of new series-related material, as these Daleks are meant to be the same as seen on TV, and that’s immediately apparent from how terrified the characters are of them. No “Bye bye, Davros!” silliness here. All the tension between the characters from the past two sets is chucked out the window, and for good reason – this is much more interesting than any of that. There’s also a great scene where Romana interrogates a captive Dalek and the changes in her personality are readily apparent. There are some flaws – the sound design of the Dalek blasts doesn’t really match the (OTT) screams from the cast, and there’s very little here we haven’t seen before – but to finally have a Gallifrey story with this kind of energy is incredibly refreshing.
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8/10