Doctor Who: Why The Legacy of Time is an incredible achievement
By James Aggas
One year after its release, we look back on Big Finish’s twentieth-anniversary box set Doctor Who: The Legacy of Time, and why it’s such an amazing celebration.
Exactly one year ago today, on Jul 17 2019, the very special Doctor Who event story The Legacy of Time was released. Fans had been waiting for this box set for almost just as long, as it had originally been announced back in Aug 2018.
The main reason why this box set was so special was because, while Big Finish began back in 1998, it wasn’t until Jul 1999 that they released their first Doctor Who audio, The Sirens of Time. To celebrate twenty years of Doctor Who on audio, they decided to release a box set of six connected stories. Featuring many Doctors, companions, and major characters, The Legacy of Time promised to be a huge Doctor Who crossover like no other.
Expectations for this box set were high, but there was no guarantee that it would live up to them. Back in 2014, Big Finish decided to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of Doctor Who on audio with The Worlds of Doctor Who. The box set featured four stories, each featuring a particular set of major or recurring characters from Doctor Who‘s many audio spin-offs, before bringing the Doctor himself in at the end.
It was a cool idea, but sadly, it wasn’t quite as exciting as it could have been – the main villain of the set was rather basic, and the stories felt a little throwaway. So what made The Legacy of Time such a strong release?
Event stories
In some ways, The Legacy of Time featured a similar idea. Characters from UNIT, Counter-Measures, and many other spin-offs featured in this release. However, while the stories of The Worlds of Doctor Who felt a little pedestrian, Big Finish made sure to have a bigger hook for each of the stories of Legacy – and it wasn’t just the Doctor meeting these characters.
For example, the box set kicked off with River Song meeting Bernice Summerfield – two of the most popular female characters of the Doctor Who universe. Not only that, but they were reunited with the Eighth Doctor right in the middle of the Time War. So opening episode Lies in Ruins made sure to establish how huge this box set was.
The rest of the box set had similar exciting ideas. We had the Fifth Doctor meet Jenny; the Seventh Doctor and Ace work with the Counter-Measures team across two eras, and the Third Doctor meeting UNIT of the 21st century.
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Strong emotion
This last example, as depicted in the episode The Sacrifice of Jo Grant, highlighted something else that was special about this box set – emotional content. It’s not enough to just tell the fans stories that are nostalgic or have exciting combinations of Doctors and companions. But it’s also important to give them emotional weight, too.
The Sacrifice of Jo Grant is a perfect example of that. Whether it’s older Jo seeing “her” Doctor for the first time in decades, the Third Doctor realizing how special “his” Jo really is, or Kate Stewart facing the chance to speak to her father again, the story is full of strong emotional moments. It’s why it just might be the highlight of the set.
Not that the rest of The Legacy of Time is weak by comparison. Far from it, in fact. Every episode is greatly enjoyable and stands out in its own way. Ending with a massive Doctor team-up in Collision Course, the whole of The Legacy of Time is an incredibly epic and satisfying release, and possibly one of the most essential releases from Big Finish.
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Have you listened to The Legacy of Time? Did it live up to your expectations? What’s your favorite episode? Let us know in the comments below.