Spring
This is the story that
opens the first anthology of Big Finish’s catalogue, and while it is still an
extremely good story it’s the weakest of the release. The plot representing the green spring, sees
the Doctor and Nyssa sent on a mission to a planet where the children of
criminals are punished for their wrongdoings of their families while those who
actually committed a crime go scot free from punishment. It’s a really good idea with a Time Lord
played by the wonderful Hugh Fraser, already on the planet there to rule the
planet, but peacefully. The biggest
weakness is that the story really doesn’t have a good enough conclusion, the
Doctor and Nyssa show up, the Time Lord forces himself to regenerate accusing
them of a crime, they leave, he in a new avian body repeals the original law of
punishing families and the story is over.
Hugh Fraser is great however in his role as Zero as he always is and the
writing does work well for being a short story even if it almost feels like
it’s going to be like The Ark and the
next part is going to return to the planet, but it doesn’t. 70/100
Summer
The stifling heat of
summer is what this story is meant to represent and honestly it does that. It is the comic relief story of the release
with many jabs taken at Doctor Who and its penchant for running through corridors. The Doctor and Nyssa are captured in the
castle belonging to Sir Isaac Newton who is a crotchety old man that is trying
to get his ideas across to a public who won’t listen to him. The portrayal by David Warner is a comedic
great alongside other characters who have to put up with the constant
complaining of their master. Again this
story keeps it brief, but gets some extra points mainly down to the fact that
the Doctor recites “I am the Doctor” while Nyssa lets slip to Newton exactly
what is going to happen in the future to Newton. 80/100
Autumn
From a story poking fun
at Doctor Who to a story that is the evolution of Doctor Who. It’s a story that would fit in nicely with
the Virgin line of Doctor Who novels. As
a short story it has as much story as a full two hour story translated
extremely well into a small thirty minute short story. The plot is that in the golden autumn while
writing a novel Nyssa falls in love and we get to see the rise and fall of that
relationship. Like the Virgin novels, it
is not afraid to shy away from the adult topics of love which is all there and
it becomes quite a good story for the things going on. Sarah Sutton really shines as Nyssa as she
has never felt feelings of love or attachments especially since her father was
taken over by the Master which of course affected her completely. It ends with some great soliloquies from the
Doctor and Nyssa in reflection which was great to listen to. It’s a really good story and for this
purchasing the audio is worth it.
95/100.
Winter
And now on to a story
that just kills you in the feels even more than Autumn did. It is the only
story not taking place in succession as it takes place during the final scene
of The Caves of Androzani. The Master has set a trap for the Doctor with
an older Nyssa and her husband’s consciousness being dragged into the mind of
the Doctor which is now inhabited with his family. Yes the Doctor is given a family and it is up
to Nyssa to try and save his life. This
is a story that is extremely informative on the end of Logopolis explaining just exactly the Watcher’s place in what the
Doctor’s mind is and the ending is honestly heartbreaking and I don’t want to
give any more away except that it feels different this time. 100/100
To summarize, Circular Time is an anthology release
that has continually increasing quality and must be judged as the average of
it’s part leaving us with a final score of 86/100.
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