Doctor Who: The Final Phase

The Fourth Doctor Adventures #2.7

by Nicholas Briggs

'The raw power of the very fabric of reality itself. And you dare to think you can conquer it?'

Cuthbert's plan for the Proxima System is reaching its final phase.

The Doctor and Romana have been separated. The Doctor is aiding the Proximan fight-back. Romana and K9 are prisoners of the Daleks.

And as the countdown to the opening of the Quantum Gateway begins, the Daleks reveal their true intentions.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook, Time Travel, Media Tie In, Fiction

1 pages, Audio CD

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Nicholas Briggs is a British actor and writer, predominantly associated with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs. Some of Briggs' earliest Doctor Who-related work was as host of The Myth Makers, a series of made-for-video documentaries produced in the 1980s and 1990s by Reeltime Pictures in which Briggs interviews many of the actors and writers involved in the series. When Reeltime expanded into producing original dramas, Briggs wrote some stories and acted in others, beginning with War Time, the first unofficial Doctor Who spin-off, and Myth Runner, a parody of Blade Runner showcasing bloopers from the Myth Makers series built around a loose storyline featuring Briggs as a down on his luck private detective in the near future.

He wrote and appeared in several made-for-video dramas by BBV, including the third of the Stranger stories, In Memory Alone opposite former Doctor Who stars Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant. He also wrote and appeared in a non-Stranger BBV production called The Airzone Solution (1993) and directed a documentary film, Stranger than Fiction (1994).

Briggs has directed many of the Big Finish Productions audio plays, and has provided Dalek, Cybermen, and other alien voices in several of those as well. He has also written and directed the Dalek Empire and Cyberman audio plays for Big Finish. In 2006, Briggs took over from Gary Russell as executive producer of the Big Finish Doctor Who audio range.

Briggs co-wrote a Doctor Who book called The Dalek Survival Guide.

Since Doctor Who returned to television in 2005, Briggs has provided the voices for several monsters, most notably the Daleks and the Cybermen. Briggs also voiced the Nestene Consciousness in the 2005 episode "Rose", and recorded a voice for the Jagrafess in the 2005 episode "The Long Game"; however, this was not used in the final episode because it was too similar to the voice of the Nestene Consciousness. He also provided the voices for the Judoon in both the 2007 and 2008 series. On 9 July 2009, Briggs made his first appearance in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood in the serial Children of Earth, playing Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary Rick Yates.

Reviews

[Shawn Deal]

Another wonderful Doctor Who episode. This is the last episode of the second season of Big Finish’s fourth doctor series. Sadly this is the last appearance of the wonderful actress Mary Tamm, who passed away from cancer before the start of season three. This episode had everything you wanted as a doctor who fan. I am so happy that Tom Baker has come back to embrace Doctor Who is these series.

[April Mccaffrey]

So tonight I finished listening to both the Dalek Contract and the Final Phase with both Fourth Doctor, Romana 1 and K9. Both brilliant sets and Romana was awesome in this! I love Mary Tamn ice maiden sass and how she handled herself in this against the Daleks was brilliant.

I also loved David Warner as Cuthbert. David Warner has such great talents as an actor and is such a gentlemen in real life. It's always a pleasure to hear him on audio in various roles.

I loved how Cuthbert kept mispronouncing Romana's name in this one, made me chuckle quite a bit!

[Rick]

Cuthbert (played by the incomparable David Warner) has made a deal with the Daleks, and once he finally realizes just how stupid such an alliance is it might be too late for the Doctor, Romana and K-9 (as voiced by Tom Baker, Mary Tamm and John Leeson) to save the universe from potential extermination. This adventures picks up right where Doctor Who: The Dalek Contract ends. Massively fun and entertaining, very reminiscent of the original series.

[John Parungao]

Continuing on from the end of the Dalek Contract the action really picks up and this becomes a more traditional Dalek story as the Daleks start rampaging throughout the story and it's up to the Doctor and Romana to come up with a way to stop the Dalek advance. It takes both of them and because of that , Mary Tamm as Romana gets a chance to shine and give a performance that shows Romana is as clever and capable as the Doctor. This is my favorite type of Tardis team, both the Doctor and the companion contribute to solving the problem as equals and partners.

[Vincent Darlage]

I thought this, as the second part to a larger story (and technically the fourth part of an even larger story overall), was quite satisfying. I do wish the CD's listed that it was the second part. There is nothing on the cover that I could find that indicates the order they go in - I had to look that up online.

[Shaun Collins]

...and that great Dalek story comes to its inevitable conclusion, but with a twist, that means David Warner's character may not be done yet! (which leaves me excited, since I love David Warner so much.) For a complete review, visit www.travelingthevortex.com.

[Ronald]

A good cast, but only part of the story. We join the action mid adventure, I now have to find out what title kicks off events and which concludes the trilogy.
It was great to hear Tom's Doctor and Romana again, and David Warner is as always a joy to encounter.

[Jamie Revell]

Although not advertised as such, this is the second half of a two-part story. As such, I have reviewed both parts together at the entry for The Dalek Contract.

[Sidney McKidney]

Uhhh, the whole Cuthbert's-secret-plan thing was really obvious and it took the Time Lords an embarrassingly long time to figure it out, but otherwise it was fairly decent.

[Julie Ditton]

This episode provided a satisfactory ending to the second series.

[Josh]

The final story in this series leaves room for Cuthbert (David Warner) to return. Overall it's a decent story with Daleks as antagonising threat with the BUS (base under siege) format.

[Steven Shinder]

Pretty much how you’d expect.

[Andy]

Enjoyable story. Love Romana 1 and wish we had gotten more time with her.

[Michael]

Why must every run of Big Finish stories end with the Daleks?

When the range first brought the Doctor's greatest nemesis back in audio form all those years ago, I was excited, intrigued and couldn't wait to hear them. Now I find myself rolling my eyes and thinking, "The Daleks again?!?"

Perhaps the classic series knew what it was doing when it operated under the less is more theory of Dalek stories. Having a bit of space in between stories featuring the Daleks (or even the perception that there is some space between them) helps make the Dalek stories seem a little more special.

I get that Nicholas Briggs loves the Daleks and I get that he's really good at doing their voices. I just find myself wishing that every Big Finish arc I listened to didn't all end up with the Daleks somehow behind the plot.

And so it is that we end the latest round of Tom Baker audio dramas with a whimper and not a bang. I can see what the stories are trying to do by trying together a lot of threads from the course of the seven installments that make up the Tom Baker/Mary Tamm season together. But honestly, looking back over the stories the ones I enjoyed the most were the stand-alone titles and not the ones that attempted to give the season an overall theme or arc. Baker quickly settles back into his role as the Doctor with a flourish and Mary Tamm does a fine job as the first Romana. This comes as little surprise me to me since I've listened to the two bounce off each other on the DVD commentaries for season 16 and they've still got chemistry in spades).

"The Final Phase" tries hard to wrap things up but I can't help but feel like it would have been better served if this story and the preceding "The Dalek Contract" had been done as either an extended run two-part story or possibly three episodes. The events that take place here feel padded at four episodes and like there's a lot of verbal running up and down corridors taking place to fill time. Or maybe it's just that I don't necessarily find the a verbal sparring match with the Daleks all that interesting. (Terry Nation was on to something when he realizes that long exchanges of dialogue by Daleks can become inherently uninteresting after a certain point. Hence why he have Davros and the superlative "Genesis of the Daleks.")

Tying in threads from the earlier two-disc release, this two part story doesn't have anything revelatory or new to say. The Daleks are going to betray Cuthbert and their alliance? Check and saw that coming. The Daleks want to lure the Doctor into a trap and will hold various people prisoner to do so? Check and again, saw it coming. In the end, this wrap up to the season feels more like "been there, done that" that in really bringing any closure or wrapping up the season.

It's a shame that this is the final time Tamm will reprise her role as the original Romana. As I said before, Tamm is great. It's just the material that lets her down.

[Mel]

I must admit it was quite sad listening to this knowing that this would be the last time I heard something new from Mary Tamm. I just didn't want it to end. As such I think I enjoyed this the most of any of the audios that they did for this series. It had some truly brilliant one liners and put downs. Mary was just brilliant. I also loved David Warner who did a very funny job as his villain who unintentionally helped humainty.
Tom was lovely as always and it was really nice to see the development of the relationship between Romana and the Doctor in this. (And amusing to see Mary hint that may there was a tiny possibility of romance between those two!) K9 was also brilliant. Really this episode was just a lovely character piece the plot just seemed an incidental way to get everyone to interact that was really enjoyable.

[Jon Arnold]

The virtues and vices of the second part of this story are much the same as the first, though with even more Dalek ranting. Cuthbert at least gets an interesting motivation, though the Back to the Future 2 style explanation comes out of thin air at the end when it really should have been seeded at some point in the three hours of story time he’s already had. In the end, a standard melodramatic adventure for the Doctor with vague nods to an anti-corporate mindset but otherwise with little depth or anything to recall five minutes after you’ve finished listening bar some sterling work from the cast.

[Steven]

Another fun and exciting Dalek and temporal adventure with Tom Baker, Romana, K9 and Cuthbert. The dialogue and antonymy between Tom's Doctor Who and the fascistic Dalek Supreme is comic philosophical absurdity.

[Debra Cook]

Cuthbert tries to get to another dimension with the help of the Doctor but the Daleks double cross Cuthbert and take it for themselves. Can the Daleks be stopped.

[Luiz Santiago]

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