Today, Big Finish announces Doctor Who: The Legacy of Time, quite possibly one of the biggest Doctor Who crossovers ever!
In July 1999, Big Finish released their first ever Doctor Who audio story, The Sirens of Time. It would make sense that for next year, they’d want to celebrate twenty years of audio stories. But I never thought they’d try anything as big as this.
Because in July 2019, Big Finish will be releasing their most ambitious audio yet. The Legacy of Time will be a six-hour long story that features characters from across the whole of Classic and New Who. It will feature several Doctors, a huge cast of companions, and one epic story.
"Time is collapsing.Incidents of temporal chaos and devastation are appearing throughout the many lives of the Doctor and his friends – fallout from one terrible disaster.The Doctor must save history itself – and he will need all the help he can get.Lies in Ruins by James GossThe Split Infinitive by John DorneyThe Sacrifice of Jo Grant by Guy AdamsEpisode four by Matt Fitton (to be confirmed)The Avenues of Possibility by Jonny MorrisCollision Course by Guy AdamsThe truth is revealed, and it will take more than one Doctor to save the day!"
That certainly sounds like quite the exciting description. I’m definitely curious to find out how each of these episodes will tie together.
Two archaeologists will meet in The Legacy of Time: Professor River Song (Alex Kingston) and Professor Bernice Summerfield (Lisa Bowerman).
(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
Who will return?
One pairing that instantly leaps out is Professor River Song (Alex Kingston) meeting fellow archaeologist, Bernice Summerfield (Lisa Bowerman).
For those of you unaware of the second character, Bernice Summerfield used to be a companion of the Seventh Doctor in the novels. She then became successful enough to have her own spin-off series, first in books, then on audio with Big Finish in 1998.
To this day, more audio stories of her adventures are still being released, with her next two box sets released next month.
Benny meeting River is something that I’ve been wishing for for years, ever since they announced that River Song would appear in Big Finish’s adventures in 2015. So already, this box set has an amazing selling point.
But there’s even more exciting stories told with this release. Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) will be meeting the Third Doctor (now voiced by Tim Treloar) and Jo Grant (Katy Manning). This is actually something that’s been rumored about for a while, so it’s great to get confirmation on this. UNIT fans like myself are bound to enjoy that.
The Counter-Measures team will be reunited with the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred), and we’ll be hearing more from the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker), Charley Pollard (India Fisher) and DI Patricia Menzies (Anna Hope). This particular team were brilliant in both The Condemned and The Raincloud Man. So I’m really excited to hear more from them.
Could The Legacy of Time be the biggest crossover in Doctor Who history? (Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions. Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
What can we expect?
Aside from what I’ve covered so far, little else is known storywise. We do know that we can expect a visit to Gallifrey, and that the Time War will feature at some point in The Legacy of Time. But we currently don’t know how or why, or even if it’s a significant part of the story.
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What we do know is that many people are understandably excited with this release, including Nicholas Briggs.
"The Legacy of Time will probably go down in Big Finish history as our biggest, most exciting production, ever! Celebrating 20 years of Doctor Who at Big Finish, it expertly pulls together all the strands from our many and varied Doctor Who ranges.This is down to the brilliance of script editor Matt Fitton and producer David Richardson. They epitomize the creative strength, organisational expertise and leadership of the company. Quite simply, this is going to blow people’s minds! It’s got everything!"
Sounds like there’s a lot to look forward to. And it looks like there’s a lot, too. Producer David Richardson is equally keen to stress the epic nature of this box set.
"The Legacy of Time is quite possibly the biggest Doctor Who story we have ever told at Big Finish. It’s been so hugely satisfying to make – I hope everyone finds it just as satisfying to listen to!"
With such a strong promise of both an epic story as well as an epic cast of characters, July 2019 can’t arrive soon enough!
Doctor Who: The Legacy of Time will be available on CD and download, and can be pre-ordered directly from bigfinish.com.
Are you excited about The Legacy of Time? Which returning character are you excited about the most? What are your theories on how these characters will meet? Let us know in the comments below.