Audio Club Extra moves on to Series 3 of Gallifrey.
Rate and review below
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1 Like
Yayy I love this one! Louise Jameson is on her finest form as ever and Narvin… well, let’s say he attracts suffering like a magnet >:)
8 Likes
Okey, I admit it. I like this series.
I was going to write that I don’t like evil K9 but then he was a good boy and the world is right again. This was a good episode and I like the combination of action and politics. In some weird way it almost reminds me of the TV show 24 
Lela is such an interesting character and I like her in this environment. Great episode!
9 Likes
Weird… I thought I time-traveled
Summary
7 Likes
This is a very strong start to the season. The atmosphere is tense and immersive, the civil war rages on, you feel the desperation on both sides. The performances are golden, especially Louise and Mary and John Leeson as K9.
And Narvin…
I’ll admit that I found the last third a bit busy and Iit didn’t fully hold my attention. But this was a very strong story that made me excited for the next chapter (which is even better!).
5 Likes
I wrote it directly. Otherwise, I would never remember what I thought.
7 Likes
I adore this one! I haven’t even registered yet but it’s already taken permanent residence in my brain. Just. Perfect in my opinion.
I adore Leela so much in this one, I don’t have words to express it. Making her blind is a really, really compelling choice narratively so I’ll even forgive hurting her. Just, the way that she is both uniquely suited to dealing with this situation while at the same time experiencing that loss so much harder than any Time Lord would. The way it robs her from her connection to the present while also enhancing her reliance on other senses, the way she denies it at first because she’s experienced it before, the way she breaks down crying on her own when she realizes it’s permanent. That broke me. The way Romana both trusts her capability and helps her without looking down on her. And Louise Jameson just ■■■■■■■kills me with her performance.
Romana. Just Romana. I love her and I think being a leader of a faction in a war is actually way more suited to her than being president in peacetime because at least there’s something she can do instead of just talking but it’s just as bad for her <3. I love the way she knows as precisely as possible for how many deaths she’s responsible, the way she takes every one as her personal failure, the way she’d do anything to stop it. And how in spite of this terrible situation, her first concern is still Leela and also Narvin, the way she worries for them personally.
And how Pandora works as her foil is excellent too, they’re really just two sides of the same coin, the things Pandora does are easy enough to imagine a Romana pushed to the brink, with her morals warped doing and I think that’s perfect. And just. Mary Tamm. No more words.
K9 is wonderful, honestly even evil K9 is cute in my opinion, but when he reveals he’s working against Pandora?! And the way he lies better than anyone else, he’s just so loyal.
And Narvin. I went in expecting Narvin suffering and I was not disappointed. Just loves to get blown up, doesn’t he? When he woke up and his first concern was still Romana, I just about died. The loyalty of that man is unparalleled. And he works so well with Leela, somehow they complement each other so wonderfully, I love them working together when grievously injured because none of them could do it alone, just perfection. I also think that having listened to Damned If You Do came in handy for me here because it gave me a deeper understanding of his character, and that makes his change in loyalty to Romana over these last two episodes so much more compelling. And mostly just. That man is so good at suffering. All those whimpers<3
(Also I will post a liveblog later if you guys want it, I just need to edit it because I can’t type as fast as I can think on my first listen)
6 Likes
Yes 
This series sees something really interesting in his character where he starts to conflate his one truest love and loyalty - the planet Gallifrey - with the person he sees as the embodiment of the planet - Romana. It’s not necessarily her that he’s loyal to (at this point. they become codependent later <3) but the fact that she IS Gallifrey. Which is something she believes about herself too because that woman sure can have a complex about it <3
8 Likes
I really, really love the way Narvin’s loyalty works because it’s so selfless. He really just puts his planet, his people above all else, and it’s so interesting how other Time Lords react to that because they tend to all be out for their own gain, their own political power and status and they assume the same about him. And he has one of the most influential positions precisely because that is not what he wants. And it’s really interesting that he sees Romana more as Gallifrey than Pandora or Darkel, even though they work so much more in line with how the average Time Lord seems to be. It really speaks to her character, because even in the beginning, when he worked against her, I think he could tell that she was working towards what she thought was best for Gallifrey, he just didn’t think it was the right way or that she was sane about it (very trues, Romana is so insane<3) and still he was loyal to the president! Because that is his job, that is what he believes in!
And also really, just all the ways Romana is so messed up and how that came to be is so interesting to me because that evolution between the the Time Lords want me back in Full Circle to this, to being so entwined with this planet she wanted to never see again makes me crazy. I think you can really see this in this one, because she takes it all so personally (and rightly so, she is literally fighting herself), all the deaths, all the destruction are her personal failure alone, she sees herself as the only one capable of stopping it and I really need to relisten already because there were so many interesting things in her parts but I didn’t catch them all because I got distracted by Narvin and Leela suffering.
Also loyalty is just such a central theme of this whole series, and especially Narvin, Leela and K9 and Romana in a different messed up way are so, so defined by it, I love it.
5 Likes
Also here is some beautiful fanart that I found after fighting with the tumblr search function (just so that you are warned: some of it is pretty bloody)
5 Likes
Yeah!!! Like, I think a big reason he becomes to attached and loyal to romana as a person, not just as a president, is that he’s thrown so off balance by what darkel and pandora are doing to gallifrey, romana basically becomes his anchor to the Before Times/When Things Made Sense. Because even tho he wasn’t a fan of her Woke Liberal Agenda™️, it’s still miles closer to what he knows and is loyal to than the absolute chaos happening around him right now.
5 Likes
Barely halfway through but I have THOUGHTS.
Heavy agreement on Leela being blinded being an extremely compelling choice and Louise Jameson, woman that she is, portrays it with all the nuance and devastation that Leela would feel from such a development. There’s a lot to say about Leela throughout the entirety of Gallifrey and most of it has to do with how good Louise does with the material. She genuinely makes an argument for being one of the best actors to grace Doctor Who from her performances here and in numerous other BF productions.
4 till mate
8 Likes
I did not quite expect this to start with Romana having already escaped and running a campaign of sabotage, and Narvin getting hurt yet again. It was heartbreaking listening to Leela’s emotional breakdown at realizing the permanence of her blindness. I am glad both K9 and Gerber proved loyal to Romana. I am curious to see where Romana and Leela go from here. Gallifrey overall has not been as I expected, but I am still enjoying it.
6 Likes
Oh this is a good one 
I have always just had the Gallifrey audios in a playlist, and have never really paid attention to the titles of the stories of the first six seasons. Each part is very much a chapter in the larger storyline, I love that.
Romana II, Leela, Narvin, Pandora, Darkel, Evil K-9, Valyes - the cast is stellar!
6 Likes
Fractures - 7/10
This is setup for the rest of the series more than anything else I feel, but god is it compelling setup.
The opening scene is a brilliant way of bringing you back into the world despite the break, catching the audience up on the events that happened in the last story (and between then and now). It almost reminded me of the opening crawl to a Star Wars film, and I mean that in the best way possible.
The scene at the start with Leela and Narvin is also great as a small bit of character stuff, and what it leads to is really good. Leela being blinded is a really interesting character choice, and what it gives us here is already great. “Your voice led my knife to you” is just such a great line (and scene), and shows how cool she is even with this new disability. (“The savage has more lives than a time lord” hell yeah she does)
There’s some really interesting stuff in there with the mention of a war using timeships, especially with this releasing post-season 1 and the Time War now being an established part of DW canon and fresh in the minds of listeners. Dramatic Irony at its peak.
The stuff with the time-split assassin was also pretty interesting, Narvin’s reaction to Romana having gone to the vaults was great, but I think even with Pandora’s explanation of her plan with it it does take away from the primary threats of Pandora, Darkel, etc.
Darkel gets to be exceptionally cruel again here which is great, and I absolutely adore K9 being a good boy/double agent, working with Pandora so he can help Romana and her side.
Overall I really liked this, but more than anything I’m looking forward to the rest of the series with this episode in mind.
5 Likes
Finally got around to relistening and cleaning up my first notes, so here they are!
live blog
- oh the theme tune is a little different I like that
- oh opening narration that’s cool
- this civil war does seem interesting
- oh poor Romana she knows those numbers by heart
- takes it all completely on herself
- I feel like there is a lot to be said about those tactics and what they mean
- Romana puts lives first before anything and that is an interesting psychology
- and I’m pretty sure she was a historian, wasn’t she? So she knows precisely what she’s destroying
- and good on her for preventing this from becoming a time war
- she is so ruthlessly tactical and I love it
- I wonder what it did to Romana’s mind to be imprisoned again
- ugh there is no honor I love her
- love Narvin and Leela working together
- they were a very good team last episode
- yes it pleases me I love Leela doing violence
- this is so much more Leela’s territory it’s interesting how she seems so much more comfortable with a purpose
- oh shit
- that’s bad
- oh I do love Mary Tamm
- oh Romana worrying
she does care - I think it’s really interesting psychologically to see Romana without power
- oh he is suffering <3
- wonderful
- I cannot see anything that pain in her voice
- oh Leela
- oh shit is that when that happens
- I knew she goes blind at some point
- oh no poor Leela
- she really is desperate love how she says that
- it’s so interesting how they’re really two sides of the same coin
- using nearly the same arguments
- similar tactics and manipulation
- just that Pandora has no morals left
- Oh yes Narvin is suffering
- I love that Leela is so capable
- and standing up for herself
- even as she’s clearly denying the reality of the situation
- Leela take my hand
- I love Leela going for Narvin
- and Romana counting on Leela so completely even in this situation
- they should always be holding hands
- evil K9 is kind of cute
- I love getting glimpses of Romana’s childhood
- is this another suicide plan
- desperate situation, desperate measures the situation really doesn’t have to be that desperate for Romana to start doing stuff like this
- it’s really cool how Romana knows all of gallifrey’s secrets
- I adore that even the evil ones know how loyal Leela is
- oh he is indeed good at moaning
- I think it’s very interesting how Leela approaches the idea of more invasive medical treatment
- these Time Lords are really kind of useless
- okay now what is Darkel’s situation here
- oh Leela
- I love her
- that is wonderful
- even in his sleep Narvins must correct me
- I am pretending wonderful
- that is actually a really interesting narrative choice for Leela and I hope it’ll be explored properly
- and Gallifrey has been dark for her for a long time so having that be physical is so good
- Romana is kind of paranoid
- the savage has more lives than a Time Lord
- oh that is good
- very good
- oh I love that even so injured he thinks of Romana first
- interesting stuff with that vault
- love that they can apparently just do surgery on time
- that doctor is really mean
- she is not â– â– â– â– â– â– â– stupid
- oh I want to kill him
- Narvin being the only one remotely trusted is interesting
- is it a prison
- oh what the â– â– â– â– is that
- compelling
- this political maneuvering is interesting
- Leela sounds so heartbroken
- and I still want to kill that doctor
- oh I love that view on the war
- oh â– â– â– â–
- Leela
- it should be forbidden to make her cry that is heartbreaking
- high contender for most heartbreaking moment of Gallifrey
- god she cries in the same way I do as quiet as suppressed as possible that’s horrible
- now Romana are you going to make more â– â– â– â– â– â– up decisions ?
- the little fool love the Romana/Pandora dynamic even in the distance
- oh Romana is scared
- I love that Narvin has got his priorities down now
- Her safety be damned I can’t allow the thing in there to possess a Time Lord president that’s his moral core
- you’re gonna regret saying that I am laughing and in pain
- he’s got integrity gotta respect that
- I shall take her at my leisure why did that sound so sexual
- she will be quite quite mad adore that
- alright you can guard me
- oh Leela pleading with K9
- oh K9 is fighting for her
- my heart
- Brax mention!
- Leela I love you
- I see Narvin is feeling better
- no one will ever laugh at me yes Leela kill them all I love you
- I love K9
- he is better at lying than anyone in this show
- I love how all the things Pandora does are the same sort of things Romana would do just more intense
- K9’s little trembling voice
- Romana you do not know what you are doing
- oh â– â– â– â– this is tense
- it’s like this episode was written precisely for me
- Leela is so worried for Romana still
- Narvin really gets put through the wringer
- too many Romanas ?
- oh Romana’s little noises
- her gasping
- she is also very good at suffering
- love that it’s Leela who gets through to her
- lots and lots of good screaming and moaning and gasping in this chapter
- oh is Romana hurt
- an identity crisis for Romana? love that
- that’s narratively very cool to use the academy
- oh she’s going to faint
- that was good
- this stuff was like psychologically written for me
I really, really love this chapter, it’s so good
7 Likes
Just realized that I never commented on this one. It’s good, but I find myself liking other stories this season better. I do find the idea of the splintered assassin interesting, though.
3 Likes
Realised I haven’t been posting in the threads to get my badges! Horror!
Thought this was great. These are now much less standalone and really Gallifrey is one episodic series. Really love the fact Mary Tamm got to play an evil version of Romana, as it were. I wish we’d had more time with her.
7 Likes
hear hear, I could have listened to a million hours of Pandora and Romana going head to head
7 Likes
Just listened to this one!
It’s late so I don’t want to write too much.
I really enjoyed the first 3/4s of the episode, it was very gripping and tense and I love that our heroes are completely on the back foot, having to react and even do a bit of terrorism 
It is a very good political series.
The last bit kinda lost me, and I don’t really know what that assassin was all about. I’m hoping either it doesn’t matter in the next one or I may have to listen again lol
But yay I really enjoyed it!
6 Likes