Doctor Who Review: The Eighth Doctor and Charley – Season 4 (Audio)
By James Aggas
McGann’s final season as the current Doctor is more consistent than his previous one. But does that necessarily make it better?
The Eighth Doctor’s fourth and final season as the current incarnation is an interesting one. You see the arc that began in season three – of the Doctor and Charley trapped in a universe without time – gently pushed towards a resolution.
It was clear to see why. With both a New Series and a new Doctor only months away, Big Finish had to make things ready for potential new listeners. Fans joining the Eighth Doctor after discovering the New Series would potentially have been confused by the fact that this Doctor wasn’t in our universe. So everything in this arc had to be completely wrapped up by the time the TV series came back. How satisfying were those resolutions, though?
One thing that was interesting to note about this season is that it’s definitely more consistent than the previous one. Perhaps it’s because of the push towards a resolution, but there are definitely stronger arc elements between each story. Even in The Last, which had something of a reset button by the end, there were crucial plot developments for the rest of the season.
Does it make it better than the third season, though? We don’t get anything as bad as The Creed of the Kromon. But we also don’t get anything quite as brilliant as Scherzo or The Natural History of Fear, either. In terms of storytelling, the overall quality of the season is fairly standard.
That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy some stories more than others. Caedroia in particular was definitely a high point. It was refreshing to have such a light-hearted release in a run of particularly dark or bleak stories. I also liked how it handled Eight’s character development.
The Exploration and Development of the Eighth Doctor
That’s something I think this season handled a little better overall compared to the last. Scherzo was brilliant characterization, don’t get me wrong. But we didn’t get another good look at how life in a universe without time was affecting him until The Twilight Kingdom. In that story, the Eighth Doctor was subdued. Distant. Depressed. Honestly, it wasn’t my favourite depiction of my favourite Doctor.
In this season, he’s explored in more interesting ways. Faith Stealer explored his levels of faith and doubt in equal measure. The Last showed how much he held onto life, not just for himself, but for his companions, too. Even in Caedroia, we’re given a great glimpse of how much pain the Doctor is truly in. And that’s what makes the Eighth Doctor work so well. Whether he’s joyous or full of rage, you need to show him as full of passion as much as possible.
Death and Rebirth
Beyond the plot and character developments, I appreciated how there were thematic arcs, too. The whole season explored themes of death and rebirth. This was especially clear in The Next Life, but stories such as The Last also touched upon it. It’s very fitting that, as Doctor Who was about to return to television, the audios were exploring these themes during the last season of Eight as the current Doctor. Or at least, so it seemed at the time.
How best to view the Divergent Universe arc as a whole? A risky and (slightly) long-term experiment describes it best. An arc focused on trying to tell Doctor Who stories without many key elements that had been part of the series for decades. There were highs and there were lows. I still think it’s a shame that this direction was taken, especially when the previous arc and themes of Eight’s first two seasons had been handled so well. I’ve mentioned before how Eight and Charley’s second season is one of my all-time favourites.
The Divergent Universe arc is far from my favourite era of the Eighth Doctor. Still, I wouldn’t say it was bad, at least not overall. Looking back on it, I can definitely appreciate the amount of risks everyone involved took with those two seasons. Some choices in terms of storytelling I can’t really agree with. But it’s still been enjoyable re-discovering this period of the Eighth Doctor.
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