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A rogue TARDIS that should not exist; a mutilated, comatose
Time Lord who cannot be identified; a new Castellan desperate
to make his mark... Evils from the past, events of the present
and echoes of the future conspire to attack the very heart
of Gallifreyan civilisation. With both Narvin and Darkel waiting
for the President to make a mistake, Romana must take decisions
that will change her world forever...
The
Gallifrey series has been described by its makers as
an extra-terrestrial, trans-temporal version of Spooks
(that's MI-5
if you're reading this in America). One similarity that is
undeniable in this instalment is represented by the squabbling
over jurisdiction that takes place between Castellan Wynter
(Ian Hallard), who is in charge of internal security, and
Co-ordinator Narvin (Sean Carlsen), who oversees off-world
security matters as head of the Celestial Intervention Agency.
This is analogous to the friction that exists between MI-5
and MI-6 in Spooks.
The
issue of demarcation is central to this chapter. While Wynter
and Narvin bicker over who is in charge of the security arrangements
surrounding the enigmatic mutilated Time Lord from the future,
Inquisitor Darkel (Lynda Bellingham) stirs up trouble by arguing
that with no one fulfilling the role of Chancellor - a title
that Braxiatel (Miles Richardson) craves - no one really knows
who is responsible for anything these days.
Despite
its recurring themes of demarcation and ambition, this chapter
is very much the middle bit of the second series rather than
a self-contained story in its own right. Various things happen
that drive the series arc forward, such as Leela (Louise Jameson)
and her K9 unit (John Leeson) examining the "broken man",
and the return of Andred (Andy Coleman), but there's a certain
lack of dramatic unity to the events in Justin Richards' script.
Which
isn't to say that these events are not dramatic. There are
some particularly gruesome sound effects for one thing, and
the revelation of the identity of the "broken man" is riveting
stuff, despite the fact that I worked it out before any of
the supposedly super-intelligent Time Lords did.
All
in all, it's worthwhile opening up Pandora's CD box.
Richard
McGinlay
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