Audio Club Extra: Gallifrey 1.4 - A Blind Eye

more thoughts, less coherence
  • The way Leela says “I knowwww, careless talk cost lives” has made me say ‘I know’ like that all the time now :skull:
  • you just know that Narvin thinks he’s cool shit wearing that leather jacket lmaooooo he’s the worst <3
  • I also like the way Sissy is vapid and awful, especially compared to Charley - this episode is all about Choices and the way that making just a few poor choices can put you ona very bad track indeed
  • TORVALD I HATE YOU
  • Romana not knowing where the Alps are… they’re all so stupid and I love them :smiling_face_with_tear:
  • ‘Careful, you’ll break it!’ ‘I’ll break you in a minute’ they’re soooo stupiddddddd and even when they’re besties the banter stays the same i love them so much <3333
  • Leela being so vicious in wanting to kill Torvald is soooo… knowing the end of this one just makes it sting
  • also Leela is so smart and so wonderful and so brilliant and i love her so so much
  • the parallels… ‘i am a warrior/guard commander, I do not black out’ URGHHHH
  • Narvin being so shocked that Romana just agrees with him without any argument why are they like this
  • Arkadian is the actual worst. I like him less as the series goes on :confused:
  • yayyyy Narvin got shot, the first of many <3
  • Leela with a big axe… :flushed:
  • ‘pause, K9’ ‘I have no pause’ K9 is so bitchy he’s so fun
  • she’s my wife
  • actually I’m a total Andred hater. I know there are plenty of people who really love him but I shall never forgive him for doing this to my Leela

  • the way the confession is like wedding vows… this episode is so sick and twisted…
  • ‘you all lie’ ‘i never lie’ romana. that’s not true babe. come on now
  • ‘you say you are the husband I grieved for?’ ‘I do’ this just kills me. Leela… she just kills me. ‘I see my enemy in my enemy’s clothes’ god…

  • i love this episodeeeeeeee
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I love your essay on Leela! You have a lot of amazing and interesting thoughts on her place in society on gallifrey and sense of belonging.

I just love her so much

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Also I actually really love the theme tune on these releases, it’s so good

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I download your essays to my E-reader. I’ll get around to them once I finished the relisten of relevant episodes!

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Finished the story and I’ve got some thoughts, but it’s half midnight and I should probably sleep on them lmao

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A Blind Eye - 7/10

A solid story with some brilliant characterisation and use of time-travel, let down somewhat by a reliance on other stories for impact.

I’ve only listened to two stories with Charley Pollard, Storm Warning and The Stuff of Legend. I know a little about what ends up happening with her character, but generally, I don’t think making the events of Charlie’s story central to the finale here does this story any favours. It’s not that the story makes no sense without the context of Charlie’s continued adventures, everything is explained here pretty well, but it’s not felt in the way that I think is intended.

My minor gripe with the story out of the way, I think this is a very fun story. The setting is a very nice change of pace from the first three, and does a great job of showing the impacts of time travel on ‘lesser species’. Everything to do with the two trains was great ans made sense, I especially loved the idea that getting off and back on lets you switch to the dominant train.

The biggest point in this story’s favour however is the characterisation, Romana and Narvin’s banter is great, Sissy is suitably hateable, Torvald (real)'s interaction with Romana at the end where he realises she has to let him go is great, and Torvald (fake)'s interactions with Leela are brilliant. As others have pointed out, the confession being structured like wedding vows is incredible, and just works so so well.

I do wish Gallifrey leaned more into the politics rather than the espionage side of things that this first season has done, hoping for more of it in future, though this espionage side is done really well.

I think this may rank higher if I relisten to it after some more 8th Doctor stories, but for now it’s a high 7/10.

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To be fair, @sircarolyn, you’ve also consistently said that Narvin does not come across well in series 1 and that appreciation of his character does rather creep up on the listener. S2 gives us the opportunity to appreciate him much more. By S3 - we’re in a very different place re: Narvin overall.

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Oh we’ll get more into the political as the series progresses.

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Glad to hear it!

I guess it makes sense to be fair, start out with the espionage to draw people in, and then trick them into a political drama

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he’s such a horrid little man <3

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I agree the story covers what it needs to, but I feel a lot of the emotional impact is blunted if you aren’t familiar with the recent Eight stuff. Romana does cover why the fact that his is a Pollard matters, and Narvin recaps the anti-time stuff, but if you haven’t listened to Neverland (and arguably Zagreus and Storm Warning), it’s just the latest McGuffin. It isn’t bad, but that’s one of the reasons why I think it’s weaker than the other stories which require less previous listening to appreciate the emotional investment.

(That said, 8/Charley were my gateway drug into Big Finish, so I’m exactly the kind of nerd who appreciated the deep lore connections in the story.)

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I once made the mistake of pitching it to a friend as “Doctor Who meets the West Wing,” and by the end of Series 1 they were baffled why I made the connection. Because you’re right, it’s really only around now that the political stuff really kicks in.

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This is what I kept hearing and honestly, through the first 3 episodes, I was deeply confused and unsure if I was just misremembering The West Wing lmao

Having finishes “A blind eye” I do see it now. This one was what I was expecting from the rest of the season and it’s made me very excited to move onto season 2 soon.

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Pretty good, overall. Definitely my favourite of the first set of audios.

That stock gun sound effect kind of took me out of it and really dampened all the build-up for the direction of Sissy Pollard’s character, though. Maybe it is just me but I found it so silly. That alone probably dropped my overall score a couple points to 7/10

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Definitely enjoyed this one. “I never lie” That’s not true but I still love Romana anyway

I thought Sissy’s story was very well handled, someone from a privileged background falling into fascism, and the tragedy of her life ending in such circumstances, especially when we’ve seen (or rather, heard) Charley make better choices with the same upbringing

I did unfortunately have the Andred twist spoiled for me by the wiki (I wanted to see if Torvald was a preexisting character or someone new for Gallifrey, and it took me to Andred’s wiki page), but I thought Leela’s reaction was really well written and acted, especially the way they were almost wedding vows.

I’m seeing why people like this series so much.

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The vows thing killlllssssss me every time :sob::sob::sob::sob: glad you’re enjoying!

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