Gallifrey review: Forever sets the scene for the next series
By James Aggas
The last episode of series four finds Romana and her friends on a Gallifrey without time travel. Will they be able to find a way to save their own home?
Forever brings the fourth series of Gallifrey to a close. Kind of. It leaves things on a huge cliffhanger, which I’ll get to in a bit. But it also ensures that, with series five, the team won’t be hopping from one parallel to the next this time.
Like Reborn, this version of Gallifrey isn’t too different from their own. Oh, there are still some major differences, of course. Slavery is apparently popular on the planet, and Time Lords openly assassinating each other to gain power is rather common. But after the worlds they’ve seen in Disassembled and Annihilation, this version is somewhat refreshing by comparison.
The biggest difference with this particular Gallifrey is that the Time Lords never discovered time travel. As a result, they’re called Regenerators, instead. They came close to discovering it however, and this is a key plot point for the episode.
Romana’s keen to help them so they can all get home. But is this more savage version of her race ready for time travel? And even if they are, is there an even greater danger waiting for them?
We’ve seen several Gallifreys across the whole of the fourth series. But what sort of world do the travelers find themselves on in the last episode?
(Image credit: Gallifrey/Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
From one series to another
Just as Reborn was key in setting up the new format for the fourth series, Forever is, in some ways, key to resolving it. Well, perhaps that’s not quite true. “Setting up the fifth series” would be more accurate.
By the time the episode finishes, a lot has changed for the regulars. They’ve lost one more member, and another has given up on their friends completely. It’s quite a hook that this box set leaves on. So naturally, fans had to wait another two years for series five!
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Personally, I think Forever does a good job of presenting us with a version of Gallifrey that’s more subtly different, but still interesting, and worth exploring more about. It leaves enough things open to draw listeners in to the next series, but feels like a satisfyingly low-key resolution to this box set.
I must admit, I originally wasn’t as keen on series four on my first listen. It was a huge change for the series, moving away from the serialized storytelling and politics that I enjoyed so much about the spin-off, especially series two and three.
Those two particular series are still my favorites, but I’ve learned that there’s still a lot to enjoy about series four. Especially when seeing it in the context of the original story arc. A very different and bold series of Gallifrey, but still a satisfying one.
Next. How Frontier in Space (almost) has one of the best cliffhangers ever. dark
Have you listened to the fourth series of Gallifrey? What did you make of the series overall, especially compared to the previous three series? Did you have a particular favorite episode from the box set? Let us know in the comments below.