After journeying into the Eighth Doctor’s past, it’s time for a return to the Time War with Doctor Who: Time War – Uncharted 1: Reflections. When last we left the Eighth Doctor, Cass, and his great-grandson, Alex, they had just saved a planet – and possibly the universe – from the wrath of the Time War. Now, they find themselves separated, yanked apart from one another. But the threads of destiny weave around the Doctor and his friends, drawing them ever nearer and ever deeper into the horrors and mysteries of the Time War. Doctor Who: Reflections offers a far stranger look at the Time War than ever before. This is a box set filled with subterfuge and mind-bending timeline alterations. Less bombastic in scope and more character-driven, it offers an exploration of the traumas one might experience in a Time War. It’s thrilling, heartbreaking, and quintessentially Doctor Who.
“Nowhere, Never” by Katharine Armitage
The Doctor (Paul McGann), Alex (Sonny McGann), and Cass (Emma Campbell-Jones) are lost in time, separated from one another. Trapped in a mysterious hospital ward, the Doctor and Alex struggle to regain their memories and escape the clutches of the Matron (Helen Goldwyn). But every time the air raids hit, their lives reset. Meanwhile, Cass finds herself trapped in the life of a suburban housewife, an unseen child and husband haunting her every move. With the help of her neighbor (Hattie Morahan), Cass tries to make sense of the pieces of her life. But every time the air raids hit, her life resets. Can the TARDIS trio unravel the strands of this mind-bending mystery? Or are they destined to lose everything about themselves to the sands of time? Katharine Armitage’s “Nowhere, Never” kicks off this quartet of adventures with a real mindbender of a mystery in the best way possible.
The joy of stories set during the Time War comes from how experimental they can be, and that’s exactly what Armitage’s script leans into here. While the Doctor, Alex, and Cass’s memory loss initially feels like any number of similar stories where the Eighth Doctor loses his memory, Armitage uses that trope in a genuinely innovative way. It’s a story of the fragility of memory versus the strength of emotion; a story about a group of friends braving the odds to reunite with one another. Domestic bliss mixed with domestic horror. The less said about the story’s specifics, the better. But needless to say, Armitage lays out the beginnings of a compelling mystery that spans the course of the box set – even if the story itself doesn’t quite come to a satisfying conclusion. (8.5/10)
“The Road Untravelled” by Tim Foley
When the Doctor, Alex, and Cass find themselves trapped on a ship traversing the Void, it’s a race against time to get the ship in working order before the reflections that haunt the void can overtake them. But something is amiss about this time ship. For starters, the Captain (Conrad Westmaas) believes Cass to be a member of his crew, and something strange and mysterious lurks in the ship’s lower levels. A force that might just hold the answers to Cass and Alex’s shifting memories. Tim Foley’s “The Road Untravelled” is a mind-bender of a character study. It’s a story of temptation in the most biblical of ways – a quest for answers at any cost. But are Alex and Cass ready for the answers they find?
If “Nowhere, Never” focuses more on Cass, then “The Road Untravelled” focuses squarely on Alex. More than ever before, Alex finds himself questioning his great-grandfather’s eccentricities. Just what secrets might the Doctor be keeping from his great-grandson? And, more importantly, why? It’s a real showcase for Sonny McGann, as he gets to run the gamut of emotions. But a special shoutout has to go to Conrad Westmaas, too. Like Hattie Morahan, Westmaas reunites with Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor – but not as C’rizz, the character he’s most known for playing. Here, Westmaas’ Captain is the serpent whispering in Alex’s ear; temptation personified. And it’s Sonny McGann and Westmaas’ chemistry that carries the bulk of the story’s weight.
Though Foley’s script begins to unravel some of the series’ bigger mysteries, “The Road Untravelled” feels more like the appetizer before the feast. A promise of answers buried beneath a character-driven mindbender of a base-under-siege mystery. (8/10)
“Cass-cade” by James Moran
As Cass falls through the Void, splintered across time itself, she encounters echoes of the Doctor and Alex. Though she remembers each and every time she meets them, they have no recollection of her at all. And yet, there seems to be a pattern to these random meetings – a mystery to solve. But can Cass solve it without the Doctor and Alex’s help? Or are they all destined to perish in fiery death? Trapped on a doomed space station, Cass must find out who’s behind a series of deadly events and why before it’s too late. James Moran’s “Cass-cade” delivers a very timey-wimey twist on an Agatha Christie mystery of sorts. It’s an eery-yet-compulsive whodunnit in the most timey-wimey of ways.
But at its heart, “Cass-cade” isn’t really a whodunnit. No, it’s a story of fierce perseverance. The mystery isn’t really the point; instead. “Cass-cade” focuses on Cass’s desperate quest to reunite with the Doctor and Alex and restore all of their memories. Though the overarching mystery of the series steps to the side a bit here, “Cass-cade” spends a lot of time exploring Cass’s ongoing trauma from her misadventures in the Time War. Meeting the Doctor and Alex over and over again, and constantly seeing them forget her every time they walk away, has taken its toll on her. She’s reaching the end of her rope, and Campbell-Jones plays that desperation beautifully. If her own friends can’t remember her, is there any reason for Cass to even keep trying? That’s the question at the heart of “Cass-cade”, and it’s one that Moran explores to its fullest extent.
James Moran’s “Cass-cade” delivers a very Doctor Who twist on an Agatha Christie-style mystery. Simultaneously self-contained and deeply reliant on the previous two stories, it plunges the TARDIS team even deeper into the Time War’s mysteries – with deadly results. (8.5/10)
“Borrow or Rob” by Tim Foley
All roads lead here, the end of the line. With their ship under attack, and Cass missing in action, the Doctor, Alex, and the Captain team up to try and escape their attackers. But Alex has begun to doubt his great-grandfather, temptation having fully set in. Answers await the Time Lord and his friends. And a danger far deadlier than they ever expected lies just around the corner. Tim Foley’s “Borrow or Rob” acts both as a barnstormer of a finale to this quartet of stories and a new beginning for the Eighth Doctor’s Time War series at large. For there is far more going on than even the Doctor realizes and everything he knows is about the change.
The less said about the specifics of “Borrow or Rob”, the better. But needless to say, this is the culmination of Alex’s arc over the course of the entire box set. And naturally, Foley’s script offers as many answers as it raises new questions. It’s a true season finale in the best sense – a character-driven journey into the depths of trauma combined with an action-packed climactic battle. There’s heartbreak, betrayal, adventure, and horror all wrapped around an absolutely mind-bending story. It’s the Time War as it’s never been seen before. For behind all the Time Lords and Daleks, there’s an all-encompassing horror that breaks the mind. And it’s that horror that forms the basis of not only “Borrow or Rob” but the entirety of this box set.
Tim Foley’s “Borrow or Rob” doesn’t so much bring the story of the Doctor, Alex, and Cass to an end but, rather, offers them a shocking, twisted new beginning. Horrific, emotional, and utterly heartbreaking, it’s a near-perfect finale to a most unusual box set. (9/10)
Final Thoughts
Doctor Who: Reflections sends the Eighth Doctor and his friends down a shocking, nightmarish path. More than ever before, Reflections examines the sheer strangeness and horror of the Time War. It’s an exploration of trauma and a deep dive into some of the more mind-bending, unknowable aspects of the Time War. Reflections toes the line between being both an epic war tale and an intimate, character-driven drama in the most satisfying of ways. Led by stellar performances from Sonny McGann and Emma Campbell-Jones, Doctor Who: Reflections tells a new kind of Eighth Doctor story. It’s the beginning of a new series of adventures set in the Time War. And what a promising beginning it is.
Doctor Who: Time War – Uncharted 1: Reflections is available now from Big Finish Productions.
”Doctor Who: Reflections” sends the Eighth Doctor down a strange, horrific path as the Time War’s influence spreads across the Whonivers. It’s a quartet of adventures that explore the trauma of war and the specific, unknowable terrors of a time war. Led by explosive performances from Sonny McGann and Emma Campbell-Jones, “Reflections” is an Eighth Doctor box set like no other.
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GVN Rating 8.5
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