Doctor Who Review: The War Doctor: ‘Only the Monstrous’ (Audio)

Sir John Hurt returns as the War Doctor in ‘Only the Monstrous,’ coming in December 2015 from Big Finish Productions. (Credit: Big Finish)

John Hurt is the War Doctor, in an epic battle of the Time War in Big Finish’s heavily anticipated new series.

As you can probably tell from my recent articles on Big Finish & the Time War, a story like Doctor Who: The War Doctor: ‘Only the Monstrous’ was something I had been eagerly anticipating from Big Finish for a long time. Over ten years since Russell T. Davies introduced the concept of the Time War into the series, and more than two years since the War Doctor’s one and only full TV appearance in ‘The Day of the Doctor’, could ‘Only the Monstrous’, Big Finish’s first genuine attempt at a Time War story, live up to expectations?

In the story’s first episode, ‘The Innocent’, it begins almost as a low-key opener. Beginning at the end of another major battle for the Doctor, (which has a really great nod to one of my favourite sixties Dalek stories,) we see him slowly and gradually recover on the planet Keska, a world miraculously still untouched by the Time War.

He’s helped in his recovery by a young woman called Rejoice, which as you can probably guess, comes across as perfect companion material. And ordinarily, I’m sure the Doctor would be all too happy for a new companion. But this is the Time War, and things are clearly not so easy for the Doctor anymore.

After a first episode that surprisingly focuses on the Doctor taking a break from the War, the story unfolds across a total of three hours and presents a full-blown epic that shows the true horrors of the war, with the Doctor witnessing a thousand worlds enslaved by the Daleks, countless innocent lives suffering, and his own people using the most desperate plans to end the war, no matter what the cost. And it’s a situation that pushes the Doctor to make terrible choices to save the lives of many.

Nicholas Briggs clearly had an incredibly tough script to write, including a lot of elements in the story in order to make it work. First, he had to tell a story set entirely in the Time War, which meant that he had to tell a good war story with the scale of it taking across time and space.

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Second, and perhaps even more challenging, he needed to show us what happens when the Doctor stops trying to be the Doctor. An incarnation that would have to fight and make difficult choices, perhaps choices that no other incarnation could make, in order to win. The big question is: how far could you take the character in a darker direction without letting us forget he is the Doctor completely?

Altogether, Briggs was able to handle both the Time War and the War Doctor very, very well. He was able to tell a really strong war story that was more than just Daleks and Time Lords shooting at each other.

‘Only the Monstrous’ explores deep issues like the importance of peace; when something is worth fighting for and when to let it go; when difficult choices have to be made, sometimes in a matter of seconds, and the high cost of both innocent lives and your very soul when you have to do the right thing. This was the kind of war story I was eager for, and the fact that it does include Daleks, Time Lords and an incredible sense of scale is a bonus, really.

I think the biggest compliment that I can give to Brigg’s writing is that ‘Only the Monstrous’ is not just a Dark Eyes or Doom Coalition box set with the War Doctor. Not because I don’t think those stories are epic or brilliant, because I certainly do, but ‘Only the Monstrous’ isn’t a chase across the universe or an adventure story. It’s entirely a war story and, compared to most other Doctor Who stories, very much its own thing as a result. Personally, I think that’s quite an achievement and gets the War Doctor’s own series off to a cracking start.

Next: Page 2: The War Doctor

The War Doctor battles the Daleks in ‘Only the Monstrous: The Thousand Worlds’. (Credit: Big Finish)

As for the War Doctor’s characterisation, Briggs handles it just right. At the start of the story, it’s clear that he’s been fighting the War for a very long time already, and he’s still got a long way to go before finally saying, “No More”. He’s suffering from nightmares, dealing with a lot of pain and trauma, and may very well have a death wish. He starts out as initially rude, and he takes a long time to warm up to his new friend Rejoice, while dealing with a lot of rage and darkness within himself.

But the Doctor is not completely gone – he’s still a highly intelligent man who prefers to use his wit and his brilliance rather than a gun to resolve a situation. He’s still a good man deep down, the same good man we’ve always known, he just has to make many more difficult decisions than before, and as a result, he doesn’t respect himself as much as he used to.

Admittedly, a lot of this ground has been covered before in George Mann’s excellent novel ‘Engines of War’. Set immediately before ‘The Day of the Doctor’, it featured a story that included a lot of mythology old and new, while exploring both the Time War and the War Doctor like never before, so Briggs had a starting point beyond one TV story, at least. But Nicholas Briggs has done an amazing job in translating that to a brand new audio drama, and even better, to have it performed by a full cast that includes none other than Sir John Hurt himself.

Hurt’s performance was one of my favourite aspects of ‘The Day of the Doctor’, despite being brand new in the role at the time, and hearing him return to it more than two years later is an absolute joy.

He’s exactly as brilliant as you’d expect, capturing the darkness and the weariness of the Time Lord while still having more than a few moments that truly convince that he is still the Doctor. From start to finish, Hurt gets the balance absolutely right, and it’s fantastic to hear him embracing the role once again, only this time in a story that features no other Doctors, to truly allow him to shine.

I also have to point out how much I loved Jacqueline Pearce as Cardinal Ollistra. A Time Lady who keeps more than a few cards close to her chest, she plays a very morally grey character, someone who wants to win the War at any cost, and isn’t afraid of using innocent lives as pawns to do so.

It’s not surprising that a character this powerful and this dangerous would be played by the same woman who played Servalan in Blake’s 7, a classic and complex 70s sci-fi villain. I’m eager to hear more from the character, and I’m very glad to hear that she’ll be retuning in the next series of the War Doctor, at least.

Next: Big Finish and the Time War Part 3

I asked earlier whether the first War Doctor story could really live up to years’ worth of expectations placed upon it. I can safely say that it not only lived up to but in fact also exceeded them. A well written science-fiction war epic, featuring incredible performances and a great way of exploring a briefly seen Doctor like never before. ‘Only the Monstrous’ just might be one of the very best releases given to us by Big Finish all year, and with such strong releases like ‘Dark Eyes 4’ and ‘The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure’, I do not say that lightly. Highly recommend for any Whovian.