Times change…
Romana is approaching her final term of office, and hopes to leave her world in a state of peace and harmony. Narvin is concerned about the implementation of a controversial Precog programme, one that seeks to predict the Time Lords’ future. Ace is an operative for the Celestial Intervention Agency, having learned the art of interference from one of the best…
And somewhere, across the stars, an ancient force is stirring: one of the Time Lords’ greatest heroes is returning to our universe. But he may also prove to be their greatest threat.
When the history of Earth is threatened, and an ancient conspiracy reaches the heart of Time Lord government, can even Romana’s closest allies truly be trusted?
Time will tell… but by then, it may already be too late.
GALLIFREY: INTERVENTION EARTH
After six series following the traditional Big Finish spinoff model – four to six one-hour releases comprising a series – Gallifrey returns for its seventh with a brand new format. Much like a typical Doctor Who release, “Intervention Earth” consists of four half-hour episodes comprising a single story. But it’s also part of a larger story and ends on a cliffhanger. So even though the new format gives the series some much-needed energy, it’s still somewhat unrewarding.
Without any particular explanation, “Intervention Earth” introduces Ace into the Gallifrey cast as a human agent of the Celestial Intervention Agency. This has been hinted as a possibility as far back as the Cartmel era, and “UNIT Dominion” briefly mentioned her presence on Gallifrey, but as far as I know this is the first time the concept has really been explored. Writers Scott Handcock and David Llewellyn introduce mystery into her presence on Gallifrey: she can’t remember when or why the Doctor brought her there and she feels like a different person. But she’s taken to the CIA like a fish to water, and she travels in her own TARDIS on some of the Agency’s most difficult missions. All of this is interesting background, but none of it is explored in any depth. There are a few brief moments of friction between the human agent and her Time Lord colleagues, but apart from that she encounters very little in the way of character-based conflict.
The story is hyper-focused on its plot, in other words. A secretive cult on Gallifrey is dedicated to the resurrection of Omega and attempting to engineer events to enable his return. To do this, they have infiltrated the highest levels of Time Lord society. And when Ace is sent to investigate disturbances associated with the Hand of Omega, she disappears. So it’s up to Romana (the Juliet Landau incarnation) and Narvin to find out what happened. We follow their investigations from Gallifrey to Earth, and yes, eventually past the singularity and into the universe of antimatter. There, Stephen Thorne returns as the voice of Omega, and he wants… exactly the same thing he always wants: an escape from the antimatter universe back into the “real” one, consequences be damned.
All of that is relatively interesting, but the story trips up because it doesn’t give any stakes to the characters. Ace spends almost the entire thing under possession, and Romana and Narvin only have a brief moment of mistrust between them. The brief scenes between Lukas (Scott Arthur) and Vale Endrogan (Laura Doddington) could be interesting, but it’s so obvious something is up that the “revelation” that she’s an Adherent of Ohm is utterly predictable. And while Omega is a fascinating character, he has the same motivation here as in “The Three Doctors” and “Arc of Infinity.” That he actually escapes without destroying the universe is new, but we learn nothing new about Omega or about those that confront him.
I did like the straightforward plot, though. Part of the problem I’ve had with the Gallifrey range in general is its insistence on following arcane political debates or getting lost in endless side stories. “Intervention Earth” dispenses with most of that and just gets on with the story, which I appreciated. Not sure about the decision to end the story on a cliffhanger, though – and as for the little surprise at the end, you’d better hope you recognize the voice or you’ll have no idea what just happened.
The production is generally good. Handcock directs with his usual kinetic results, and Neil Gardner’s sound design never leaves the listener confused. The score from Ioan Morris and Rhys Downing is surprising: it employs a number of up-tempo synth pieces, which help give the story its energy. Overall, “Intervention Earth” is a solid continuation of the Gallifrey range. It’s nothing groundbreaking or even stimulating but it’s an entertaining way to pass a couple of hours, and it sets up something that might be even more interesting. That sets it apart from most of its predecessors.
Recommended.
6/10
Gallifrey: Intervention Earth
Written by Scott Handcock & David Llewellyn
Intervention Earth is a fake political drama that’s more Star Wars than All the President’s Men.
The planet Gallifrey is ripe political drama. As established on televised stories from The Invasion of Time to Hell Bent, the Time Lords are 1% elitists who treat most of the planet like crap. It’s like Apartheid in Space.
This could have been a hard-hitting, insightful, and dangerous science fiction political drama. I imagined a Time Lord version of Wag the Dog, Three Days of the Condor, with hints of In the Loop. That potential is undermined by Big Finish space fantasy action cliches: lots of monologging, a loud theme song, and laser gun battles that sound like Galaxy Quest.
For a mostly female cast, the stories don’t treat women very well. Qualified women get berated by male subordinates. Ace is relegated to shutting up and getting kidnapped. Romana has to constantly remind her goons that she’s in charge.
Bottom line: Just like The Dark Eyed Coalition of Doom, Intervention Earth is a Big Finish Production of a Hollywood summer blockbuster. There’s no character growth, no drama.
3/10.