Doctor Who - Her Final Flight

STORY PLACEMENT

THIS STORY TAKES

PLACE BETWEEN THE

BIG FINISH AUDIOS
"THE RATINGS WAR"

AND "PERI AND THE

PISCON PARADOX."

PRODUCTION CODE

7C/PRE-A

WRITTEN BY

JULIAN SHORTMAN

DIRECTED BY

GARY RUSSELL

RECOMMENDED

PURCHASE

BIG FINISH SPECIAL#III

(ISBN 1-84435-113-0)

RELEASED IN DECEMBER

2004.

BLURB

WHEN THE DOCTOR

lands on Refiloe, he's

not impressed. In fact,

he doesn't intend to

stay for more than

just a few minutes.

But someone has

decided that the

TARDIS has made her

final flight. Someone

whose future depends

on the Doctor's

death...

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Her Final Flight

DECEMBER 2004

(2 EPISODES)

A fan submission and a Big Finish subscriber freebie, “Her Final Flight” is - somewhat surprisingly - an interesting tale which deals with the Doctor’s regret about having abandoned Peri on Thoros Beta in “The Trial of a Time Lord.”

A single disc release with just a small cast, “Her Final Flight” is presented as a two-part

story with each episode just under forty minutes each. As the title suggests, the plot revolves around a mysterious adversary hell bent on destroying both the Doctor and his TARDIS. In order to do this, the villain places the Doctor in a virtual reality with whom the Doctor

believes to be Peri - twenty years older than when he was forced to abandon her - in a plot

to try and make him self-destruct his TARDIS.

Despite Peri not really being in this story (the ‘shock’ of which is spoiled by the obvious voice modulation right at the start of the story), Shortman certainly makes better use of her than Phil Pascoe did in “…ish” or even Justin Richards did in “Whispers of Terror.” Whereas those writers had to write the sixth Doctor / Peri relationship more or less as it was on screen, in “Her Final Flight” both Peri and the Doctor are older and more seasoned. They are more agreeable; in short they are nicer to each other!

It is fascinating to see the Doctor’s guilt unfold as Peri tells him of the difficult life she has led since they parted ways, and although we find out what becomes of the real Peri elsewhere,

it is the Doctor’s emotional reaction to what he believes to be real that is important. Colin Baker plays the Doctor as being in the same sort of emotional state as he was in “The Wormery” - slightly fed-up and lonely, yet mellower.

All things considered, “Her Final Flight” is an entertaining and emotional character story which continues the sixth Doctor’s evolution from bombastic, colourful jester to a more seasoned, likeable Doctor. It would have been nice to learn the identity of the mysterious villain whose “…future depends on the Doctor’s death…” but maybe that will be the next freebie - "Her Final Flight II"!

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This play’s blurb suggests that it takes place between the television stories The Trial of a Time Lord and

Time and the Rani, and its production code suggests a placement shortly prior to The Marian Conspiracy.

We concur with such a placement as the dialogue establishes that considerable time has passed for the Doctor since he left Peri to her fate on Thoros Beta.

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