Audio Club: Arrangements For War

It’s time to listen to and discuss Arrangements For War

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Even if you listened to it before and just want to discuss it - dive right in! Just please use spoiler tags!

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2 Likes

An utterly beautiful and wholly unique story that feels taken from a different show entirely. It’s tense, it’s poetic, it really doesn’t feel like it should work but it does.

Brilliant performances, brilliant worldbuilding, tense political thrills, layered and interesting characters, this is just about the heights of what The Monthly Range can do.

And it has one of the best endings to any audio.

Full review here, if you enjoy, please leave a like

6 Likes

Knowing the reputation this audio has in the fandom, I kept waiting for that Special Moment to arrive that would make me see why it has that status. And while I appreciate the performances, the worldbuilding, and the general vibes—not to mention the poignant themes—this didn’t quite have the profound effect on me that I had expected. It’s objectively a very well-written audio, but I didn’t gel with it. The ending is very sharp, though.

Arrangements for War is an introspective, slow-burning character piece that focuses on the fractured relationship between the Doctor and Evelyn. While the political intrigue sometimes lacks urgency, the emotional beats—particularly in the final act—hit hard. Colin Baker and Maggie Stables shine, and the story offers a rare exploration of the Doctor’s softer side. It may not be the most gripping tale, but it’s a fascinating study of character, consequence, and the cost of war.

Feel free to read and like my review :slight_smile:

6 Likes

I really really do not remember this one so I’ve queued it up for relisten. I think I was underwhelmed but I know it’s a fan favourite and I honestly couldn’t tell you a thing about it so, let’s see

7 Likes

Agreed. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to this, but I didn’t see the big deal about it either. The only part that stood out was the contemplative ending, which is a 10/10 and that might be why it’s so heralded. Even Colin said it’s one of his favorite audios.

9 Likes

I honestly didn’t know about the beloved Status of this Audio, but I can totally see why it’s so beloved. If your Ending hits the right notes then you can usually expect your Story to be regarded very highly.
As for me, I had a great Time with the Story and while I think it’s great, there were still a few Things that didn’t get to with me as much as I would have hoped. Still a great one nonetheless.
Further Thoughts below in this Review:

8 Likes

I enjoy Arrangements for War in its entirety.

I think it’s a really good shake up to the Doctor and Evelyn’s dynamic - and I don’t mean just the ending. I love how they are separated in this story not because of plot convenience, but because Evelyn needs some time apart and is still deeply hurt by the events of Project: Lazarus. I find it extremely engaging that even in this scenario, they are still working together to solve the conflict and get everyone a happy ending.

I love Rossiter and Evelyn’s dynamic. I love the Doctor’s relationship with Krisztina, it’s beautifully constructed. I love the political drama and the thriller-ish aspect it has. My enjoyment didn’t go down even a bit when the invasion starts to happen - on the contrary, the story got me to care about the characters in its firts half and now I really, really want everything to go well.

And of course it doesn’t. Yeah, the ending is extremely powerful. It stuck with me when I listened to it years ago, it still is. That confrotation with Evelyn and how she has been disregarding his feelings towards Cassie’s death is one of my favorite Sixth Doctor scenes of all time.

13 Likes

Great audio that gets 8/10 from me. I also want to highlight insanely good music. Really fits the atmosphere

6 Likes

8 Likes

My overriding memory of this audio is listening to it whilst decorating my eldest’s bedroom back when they were tiny.

Also it has the Killorans in it and its interesting to see Adrian Wall’s race in a different light.

7 Likes

Absolutely adored this when I listened to it in September. Strong political drama and writing, perfect performances all round, and a beautiful opening and ending. I think it’s a pretty perfect story.

Here’s my review from then: Review of Arrangements For War by BSCTDrayden · TARDIS Guide

9 Likes

One of my personal GOAT stories. It’s the finale of the “Break Evelyn” trilogy and what a finale it is. It’s a beautiful character piece where the Doctor and Evelyn get to touch a planet and change it and it simply destroys everyone involved. Those final scenes between the Doctor and Evelyn are electric in their sadness.

10 Likes

Just finished this one, I’m interspacing 5-7 doctor stories to break up the 8th doctor divergent universe arc, and this was a very welcome relief after the Creed of the Kronon!

In fact, this is my favourite story yet, and only the second I’m giving 5 stars to (the first being Davros). Colin Baker really does get the best scripts, this one really brings out the character of the 6th doctor, gives Evelyn a chance to shine, and manages to rise above the cliche of “princess falls in love with a commoner”.

Even without the ending it was a solid story but with it, I can’t think of a single thing I could suggest that would improve it!

10 Likes

Colin Baker’s absolute best performance of all time RIGHT HERE

7 Likes

You all are making me want to give this another spin.

9 Likes

The true origin of the Time Lord Victorious.

4 Likes

5/5 no notes, absolutely phenomenal. Sixie’s MR stories are really, really landing with me and I am loving every minute of them.

10 Likes

One of the best Big Finish have ever produced, Evelyn’s arc has very few bad stories

5 Likes

You just know when you get a Six MR it’s going to hit :heart_eyes:

7 Likes

I really really want to love this to bits crying my eyes out most beautiful story ever created, but sadly I only think it’s really good. Like we have all the conversations, those are wonderful, very poetic things all these guys are saying. After Project: Lazarus, I especially think it’s really cool of this story to just take the consequences of that ending, and to spin a whole other story around it that’s so much more emotionally intelligent. I do really like this, it’s very good, I’ve given it a 9/10, I swear I’m not having lingering effects of dislike from the project stories (also known as PTSD, Project Twilight Stress Disorder).

Right, now I’ll attempt at trying to understand why this doesn’t click for me entirely. Please bear with me lol.

I think this story goes too fast. It confused me quite a lot of times, how quickly we go from Evelyn meets princess to Evelyn is besties with princess. I had a difficult time noticing and placing the timeskips. I could just about follow the love stories emotionally, but the whole political situation wasn’t super clear in my mind. Especially the parts about the Doctor’s involvement. I don’t mean to say that there’s a lack of care from Sutton, but the way there’s skipped over a lot of what often is called ‘filler’ feels a little bit easy to me. Because I personally feel that I’m in need of that ‘filler’ to connect to everything better in the long run, to be able to get a better understanding of all the going’s on. It’s super fun this way, to snap snap get all the emotional moments and payoffs that I want to hear, and the minutes genuinely fly by so quickly, but none of those moments hit as much as, the end of DWatP for example.

Because the other thing, because that’s what sort of happens to a degree because of that, is that the story often has to be quite in your face about a lot of stuff. It’s that thing, as an example for people who’ve read my review of DWatP, where in that story, half of the things said are about things the characters don’t say. That sort of thing. Everything in this story is a bit obvious and literal. And I really don’t mean that as a ‘Oh look at me I’m so clever I require intelligent subtextual thematic reasoning in stories blah blah’ because that’s rubbish. But every story has something, several somethings, that give you a certain ‘feeling’. The vibes. And for me in this specific instance, the lack of something beyond what the writer is signaling to the more conscious part of my brain, I think, makes that I ‘feel’ a disconnect, because this story really ‘feels’ like it should be able to bring those things over, because the stuff that’s ‘so literal and obvious’ is extremely stellar. I feel like I’m missing a piece of the puzzle, basically.

To be fair, it’s a bit in the nature of the story where they’re opening up about how they feel, so maybe I’m just being grumpy. Maybe it’s all so in the forefront with nothing beneath it because that’s the whole point. That it’s healthy to open up completely, make yourself clear, make whoever’s listening understand completely. You’ll be much happier that way. Maybe it’s that. But then I still didn’t mesh with it entirely on this listen.

Anyways sorry it’s still a masterpiece tbh don’t listen to me

9 Likes