The BF Time Warp 030: Seasons of Fear

[SiHart]

On New Year's Eve, 1930, the Doctor lets Charley keep her appointment at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. But his unease at what he's done to time by saving her life soon turns into fear. Sebastian Grayle: immortal, obsessed, ruthless, has come to the city to meet the Time Lord. To the Doctor, he's a complete stranger, but to Grayle, the Doctor is an old enemy.
An enemy that, many years ago, he finally succeeded in killing. And this is his only chance to gloat.

The Doctor and Charley desperately search human history for the secret of Grayle's power and immortality. Their quest takes in four different time periods, the Hellfire Club, the court of Edward the Confessor and the time vortex itself. And when the monsters arrive, the stakes are raised from the life of one Time Lord to the existence of all humanity.

What are your thoughts on this time hopping adventure?

[stuartdg]

My problem is that it switches location so frequently,it's hard to immerse yourself in any supporting characters,the story itself is great however,not least due to the return of the Nimon

[SiHart]

This is my favourite Big Finish story of all. The one I'd take to my theoretical desert island.

I love the way it switches time zones throughout and unlike Stu, I think the cast changes help keep it fresh and the characters are well drawn enough to stand up to this. Grayle is a fabulous villain, and I love the way that he subtly changes as time goes on and meets the Doctor again and again.

The reveal of the Nimon is absolutely wonderful and they work very, very well on audio. It was something I didn't see coming despite the copious clues. I laughed and laughed when i heard them roar onto the scene at the end of pt 3.

And it has the best music they've ever done. Really atmospheric and different.

Just superb.

[Anthony Williams]

The thing that I found about this one was that it was just so much FUN!

I agree with virtually everything Si Hart has said about it. The way that Cornell and Simcox made you think that the big reveal was going to be the Daleks... and then it turned out to be the Nimon instead was just fantastic!

It may not be as well written as it's immediate predecessor, but it was infinitely more fun.

[Rob McCow]

A kind of precursor to the 'four linked stories on one release' that they've been doing more recently. This one has a fab villain, a complicated plot to unravel, an epic chase through time and space - and a Dalek turning up entirely at random. Highly enjoyable!

[Anthony Williams]

Like The Chimes of Midnight, I recently gave this another spin, for the first time in several years. I remember listening to this for the first time ten years ago. Impressionable young Ant, only 14 years old, and loving every minute. And that feeling just hasn't changed.

I still think that this story is a lot of fun! Right from the first moment in which we realise that Grayle and the Doctor are meeting each other out of sequence (hmmm sounds awfully similar, doesn't it, Steven Moffat?) and are at very different times in their lives. The Doctor's life is on the line, and we follow him and Charley on an epic quest to stop everything from going horribly wrong! Every time zone that the Doctor goes to is portrayed wonderfully, whether it's a Roman camp or Edwardian Singapore. I loved the Hartnell "hop-about" stories like The Keys of Marinus and The Chase, and the way that this story does that is just so reminiscent of that.

Then there's the false reveal of the Dalek. Just when you think that they're going to be the big bad of the story, it turns out to be... the Nimon! What a curveball! The relationship between Grayle and the Doctor is just wonderful throughout, starting from the moment where the Doctor gives the impression that he was expecting someone more impressive, like The Master or The Rani! I love how the Doctor seems to absolutely relish defeating Grayle at every turn - there seems to be more to it than just doing it for the sake of established history. The Doctor couldn't be more of a contrast to Grayle - while the Doctor grows with every single regeneration, Grayle's immortality is destroying his personality and morality, as we see when the two Grayles meet at the end. The Eighth Doctor doesn't have a great villain of his time at this point (and I know that they're building towards Rassilon), and I really think that they missed a trick by not keeping Grayle, all twisted and bitter, around at the end to face off against the Doctor another day.

Paul McGann was absolutely superb here. As Cornell points out in the linear notes, McGann narrates the story just superbly. The Eighth Doctor gets a script that really plays to McGann's strengths, and the breathless romantic Doctor is done really proud with this play. Everything he does is just wonderful. I wish more could be like this. He shows a really fully spectrum of emotions across this play, from his embarrassment at asking Charley whether or not she kissed Alex, through to his absolute anger and desire to kill Grayle at one point.

The return of the Nimon was a brave move. Let's face it... they were never the most popular monster on tv. Bringing them back was a brave move on the part of Cornell and Symcox. It could have all gone horribly, horribly wrong. And yet, they what we hear is the rehabilitation of an otherwise-derided monster. Kudos to them!

Really, this story is brilliant. A lot of fun, with all the cast on top form. I love it! 5/5 from the Williams corner!

[Junkyard]

One of the better BF audios. 4/5. Paul McGann is in great form and Sebastian Grayle is a superb villain. The presence of the Dalek really threw me at first but it links to a later story. There is a clue regarding the Nimon in the first episode but if your attention isn't fully on the dialogue you'll probably miss it. This one is well worth the money.

[Simon R]

I can't recall anything at all about this. I'd forgotten it even existed until this thread.

[Nyder]

Just finished this one tonight. Another fantastic roary monster! I liked the character of Lucy in this one too. It reminded me a bit of Into The Labyrinth as they have to skip through various timelines. Only this hasn't got Ron Moody as a Viking shouting "NO BELOR....NO!!!". Which is a great pity


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[Stuart Wallis]

You've just reminded me that I borrowed this from the library a couple of years ago. I've heard worse BFs. The Nimons were a pleasant surprise, and grayle managed to develop as a character very well indeed. 4/5