Susan's War
Oct. 2nd, 2023 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethBig Finish Audio Adventures again today and yesterday, Susan's War.
Time War, but when the Time Lords call up Susan she goes where she's sent, because Daleks took too much already.
But then the adventures amply demonstrate why the Doctor is wary of getting involved.
I liked the first one where Ian and Susan go on an adventure together again, much older 'now', with Barbara theoretically getting home after the battle TARDIS leaves again. But it was interesting tricksy in the middle. The Daleks trick the Sensorites into being afraid to work with the Time Lords, by playing up their fears of enslavement amongst other things. But we know from other Time War stories that those aren't made up fears. Time Lords are using people, because they maintain the stakes are just that high. So Susan in the middle of this adventure is ambassador to telepaths, decent and honorable and able to show them the stakes. But she doesnt know the half of what her own people are doing. And then later adventures start to show her.
Ian is only there for the first adventure, the Doctor for the last, and the two in the middle are Susan and a Time Lord. The one where they're looking for a Dalek spy on a world that knows it's about to be invaded but there's no more chances to get out, that was good. Lots of little stories from ordinary lives that they're only sifting through for clues, but it gives you a snapshot of what the war costs the peoples that theoretically arent even fighting it. And it had good twists.
The third part was about Gallifreyan research. And how Time Lords treat their own. Lots of layers and twists, with Susan being called to sign off on weapons research that uses living beings to hunt Daleks, and then everything going wrong because, as it turns out, that's roughly how a Gallifreyan conscript felt treated by the Time Lords. Thrown into war as canon fodder with only one life to give, after his brother was taken for testing, but returned from the Untempered Schism with his mind damaged. A pendant Susan recognises as a children's toy has become the symbol and weapon of Gallifrey's shock troops. Infantry, against Daleks. You get so much about Gallifrey in this one. It's involving stuff.
Dystopian as heck, but involving.
The one I just finished listening to set in 1963 was not my favourite. I do like how the Doctor goes all Grandfather around Susan, like reverting to old patterns, but it do make him more annoying to listen to. Earth being Time Locked because it's central to so many Doctor related shenanigans is good stuff, but being able to sneak past a Time Lock by being the older or younger self of someone who just then went in seems to me to be a major loophole because when else would you even want to go? I mean it limits it to time travellers who already went then once, but that's... exactly the people who would and could do that. Which makes Time Locks as porous as the story wants them to be, again.
It's good interesting character stuff though, especially the Doctor and Susan directly arguing their preferred approaches to the Time War. And the Doctor trying to get Susan to travel with him again but she's got so much needs doing.
It is mentioned again in the box set that Alex is 93% human. With some rounding up you can get to that from the Doctor being half human and all the other generations having humans in them too. Which they've never actually said, but. Interesting line of possibility.
I liked these stories but they are not cheerful fun times, even with the cool reunions. Lots of heavy thinking.
Well done though.
Time War, but when the Time Lords call up Susan she goes where she's sent, because Daleks took too much already.
But then the adventures amply demonstrate why the Doctor is wary of getting involved.
I liked the first one where Ian and Susan go on an adventure together again, much older 'now', with Barbara theoretically getting home after the battle TARDIS leaves again. But it was interesting tricksy in the middle. The Daleks trick the Sensorites into being afraid to work with the Time Lords, by playing up their fears of enslavement amongst other things. But we know from other Time War stories that those aren't made up fears. Time Lords are using people, because they maintain the stakes are just that high. So Susan in the middle of this adventure is ambassador to telepaths, decent and honorable and able to show them the stakes. But she doesnt know the half of what her own people are doing. And then later adventures start to show her.
Ian is only there for the first adventure, the Doctor for the last, and the two in the middle are Susan and a Time Lord. The one where they're looking for a Dalek spy on a world that knows it's about to be invaded but there's no more chances to get out, that was good. Lots of little stories from ordinary lives that they're only sifting through for clues, but it gives you a snapshot of what the war costs the peoples that theoretically arent even fighting it. And it had good twists.
The third part was about Gallifreyan research. And how Time Lords treat their own. Lots of layers and twists, with Susan being called to sign off on weapons research that uses living beings to hunt Daleks, and then everything going wrong because, as it turns out, that's roughly how a Gallifreyan conscript felt treated by the Time Lords. Thrown into war as canon fodder with only one life to give, after his brother was taken for testing, but returned from the Untempered Schism with his mind damaged. A pendant Susan recognises as a children's toy has become the symbol and weapon of Gallifrey's shock troops. Infantry, against Daleks. You get so much about Gallifrey in this one. It's involving stuff.
Dystopian as heck, but involving.
The one I just finished listening to set in 1963 was not my favourite. I do like how the Doctor goes all Grandfather around Susan, like reverting to old patterns, but it do make him more annoying to listen to. Earth being Time Locked because it's central to so many Doctor related shenanigans is good stuff, but being able to sneak past a Time Lock by being the older or younger self of someone who just then went in seems to me to be a major loophole because when else would you even want to go? I mean it limits it to time travellers who already went then once, but that's... exactly the people who would and could do that. Which makes Time Locks as porous as the story wants them to be, again.
It's good interesting character stuff though, especially the Doctor and Susan directly arguing their preferred approaches to the Time War. And the Doctor trying to get Susan to travel with him again but she's got so much needs doing.
It is mentioned again in the box set that Alex is 93% human. With some rounding up you can get to that from the Doctor being half human and all the other generations having humans in them too. Which they've never actually said, but. Interesting line of possibility.
I liked these stories but they are not cheerful fun times, even with the cool reunions. Lots of heavy thinking.
Well done though.