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In the wake of civil war, Gallifrey stands more vulnerable
than at any time in its controversial history. The other temporal
powers orbit the planet, poised to take control. Then, as
a terrifying legacy, the residual traces of the Pandora virus
bring down the transduction barriers. While Romana lies exhausted
in the medical station, Lord Matthias fights desperately to
negotiate a peace. Is retribution about to be visited upon
the oldest civilisation in the universe for untold millennia
of manipulation and interference...?
I
hadn't fully grasped that the Matrix, the Time Lords' awesome
computer network, had been totally destroyed at the end of
the previous episode, Warfare.
Fortunately, several instances of dialogue in Paul Sutton's
script spell this fact out to us. Elsewhere, moments composed
entirely of sound effects depicting battles between Gallifreyans
and members of the other time powers effectively convey a
sense of the chaos that the conflict and Gallifrey's current
political vacuum have created.
With
President Romana's (Lalla Ward) reforms falling apart at the
seams, these are indeed dark days for the Time Lords. Perhaps
the folks at Big Finish are gearing up the mythology towards
an even greater catastrophe: the Time
War described in recent series of Doctor Who.
Sutton
also alludes to events further back in the series' past. The
possibility is raised of Romana regenerating into a third
incarnation, subtly recalling events in the Eighth Doctor
novels The Shadows of Avalon and The Ancestor Cell.
On a more obvious and fun level, Colin Baker briefly reprises
his role as the over-zealous Commander Maxil from the Peter
Davison serial Arc of Infinity.
Taking
place immediately after the civil war arc of recent instalments,
and kicking off the process by which the various characters
attempt to pick up the pieces, Appropriation
inevitably feels a little less exciting than what has gone
before (rather like Season 5 of Babylon 5 trying to
follow the Shadow War). It's still worth appropriating, though.
Richard
McGinlay
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