With the final boxset of Series 7V, I found myself oddly disappointed. None of the Dalek stories really landed for me and the final episode felt underwhelming.
However, I listened to this and the previous set back to back over the course of a 10 hour flight from the US, so I was probably a little exhausted; I’ve been meaning to relisten to them at some point.
None of the final episodes hit me as hard as the rest of the series, that’s for sure, and I blame the Daleks and the ending which I believe had to be rewritten a bit due to external circumstances? Have I remembered that right?
But it was 4/5 instead of 4.5/5 for me.
I also listened to it all back-to-back, maybe it does need some breathing room. I’m looking forward to a re-listen!
Agree to disagree! The final set definitely landed for me, and while yeah I have Dalek fatigue too I agree they were done well here.
I really liked the finale a lot, and I was so emotionally attached to pretty much every story. For me it’s the usual 4.5-5/5.
Yes me too! I thought it stuck the landing really, really well. Even more so when I was able to binge listen to the whole run all the way through.
That they had to change their plans at all and still end up with something as good as that is remarkable. Alfie Shaw feels like the future of Big Finish after that run for me and I’m not prone to hyperbole.
How Valarie would leave was something I was constantly wondering about on first listens and that they managed to do so in such a satisfying way when my expectations and worries were so high is just wonderful.
Insanely consistent series and I hope we get much more of Valarie. Whether that’s meeting later Doctors (I think she’d be excellent with Jodie) or more stories slotted into this run with 11 now that it’s past tense, however they do it, I would dearly love her to come back in the future.
Evelyn, Charley, Lucie and now Valarie. All BF original companions who deserve to be counted among the TV ones.
Valarie and 13 YES PLEASE !!
There. I just finished “Victory of the Doctor”.
And it was just a fantastic finale to the run of the 11th Doctor and Valarie D. Lockwood.
I think a 5/5 
is in order for this final story 
I have utterly, utterly loved this entire run of stories, I don’t think it is often you actually encounter something that just shatters high expectations in this way.
Safiyya Ingar was a revelation as Valarie, and they played exceptionally well off of Jacob Dudman. And Jacob Dudman! He out Matt Smithed Matt Smith in the last two seasons of these stories. It is not just an incredible imitation, it is high level voice acting.
I am a bit saddened that we won’t have more of these audios, but it was a perfect run, and sometimes you just shouldn’t mess with perfection. Let the Lockwoods live a joyous life together in our imaginations
The goodbye between the Doctor and Valarie was so great. Companions making their own choice to leave the TARDIS days behind them in order to move on with their life is just my favourite kind of companion exits 
(At one point when they met the Cybermen I feared that Valarie would have ended up as Handles, tying up the loose end of how Handles ended up in the TARDIS in the Time of the Doctor - which would have been a bit cool, but really heartbreaking)
I will come back to this run of audios again and again and again in the years to come. And it is now the law that one must listen to this season between series 7A and 7B! Fact! 
What else can I say but:
Geronimo!
That would’ve been an… interesting end to this run of stories.
But I agree with you, genuinely one of my favourite bits of Doctor Who out there, pretty much every story is pure gold.
And, it’s basically eclipsed the rest of the Eleventh Doctor era for me. I like this Series more than Series Five and Valarie more than any of the Moffat companions.
I’ve only listened to the first boxset with them and one in the second but I was immediately hooked the second I saw the trailer. The 11th Doctor and Valarie have great chemistry. They bounce off of each other really well and the moment in the House of Masks where they have a small argument about the dangers of going back in time to save Valarie’s mom is a good example. Reminds me of a mix between Rose and the 9th Doctor in Father’s Day and Beast Below with Amy and the Doctor. . It’s my favorite big finish box set (despite only having 2 big finish audios. The other one is a War Master box set). I love Dudman’s impression of the 11th Doctor. I originally saw him outside of Big Finish and had a very hard time telling between him and Matt Smith when getting into the audios.
I’ve realised I’ve started listening to The Inheritance but people mentioned some sort of prequel - I assumed it was on the box set but it seems its an online thing. Is it on the BF website?
Ah never mind, I think I’ve found it on one of the podcasts. Better listen to that before I carry on.
I think The Yearn is the only story I didn’t totally love from this run (I think they have awful voices for audio, and I found the story very generic other than Valarie’s story in it! Still enjoyed it well enough though overall) but I really do absolutely adore this run.
I’m with Speechless about how this is my favourite 11 season, even over series 5-7 with Matt Smith himself.
THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS BZZZRT
THIS POST ALSO CONTAINS SOME SMALLER SWEARS BZZRT
READ CAREFULLY HUMAN
Welcome everyone! This right here is peak masterpiece and I’m only saying that because I started this review 7 episodes late but wanted to do these reviews first because they were the most fresh in my memory! Also do tell me if I should blur specific sections or I should just put out the spoilers warning sign and call it a day.
We got 14 absolute banger stories to eat through and oh boy. These are something else. The reviews will probably get longer and longer through out of the thread. Starting with episode 2 each story can be found below this post BUT also I will be linking the reviews in my ULTIMATE review data base.
So before we start I feel like we should get a bit of introduction for this new era of stories. It’s a shorter era because it only lasted for 14 episodes and started in 2022 and ended in 2024. 14 stories across 4 boxsets and they are not even Adventures sets but they are part of The Doctor Chronicles which features New Who Doctors with good and bad (looking at you Briggs) impersonators.
These stories are placed after The Snowmen which is an episode in Series 7B but actually fans started calling this “series” 7V(alarie). So this whole era plays after Clara freaking dies and the Doctor goes and look for another version of her but (obviously) that’s where he gets sidetracked and actually there was a small 5-6 minute-long minisode called Clara which was shown in the beginning of the Big Finish Podcast. So let’s talk about that first!
This is basically a prequel to what to come and also a sweet nice recap to the Clara arc. We get the Doctor travelling to places looking for Clara even mistaking people for Clara. We get a reference for The Rocket Men and we also get a one parted conversation with River Song! It’s sweet to see these in-between small moments for the Doctor but then he gets a distress signal from Earth! Basically, this is where everything begins. The Doctor is hoping that this signal was sent by Clara Oswin Oswald but something worse might be waiting for the Doctor and it’s called capitalist parasites. 7/10
For Patricia and Valarie Lockwood, it was to be an evening like any other. Dinner with a few friends, a chance to unwind and forget the horrors of the world. However, their plans are disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious stranger. A man who brings tragedy in his wake.
Umm actually 
it’s capitalist viruses it’s just doesn’t sound as cool as parasites! Anyways this is the first episode from the season and a new companion is introduced!
The story aka capitalist bliss is no good
So basically we got a nice family, a nice Valarie, a nice Doctor and then a nice bomb called Mr Bomb. Say hi to everyone Mr Bomb :DD
BOMB
So the Doctor just breaks in to this nice family after following a signal (6 months late). Then someone dies and then everyone cries. Then the politzai comes and no one cries at that. Anyways big boss baby asks the Doctor to find a cure and then someone else dies and then everyone cries. The Doctor finds out what it is and the solution would be incredibly easy by deleting all the currency on Earth but big boss baby arse says nah and imprisons them. The Doctor eventually confronts her (after Valarie’s mum dies) and we learn that she actually planned all of this. Why? For the funnniieeees. Actually for the munz. This was actually a pretty sick plot twist too like even a second time I really enjoyed the story but like always the Doctor saves the day but big baby boss escapes because the Doctor either prisons her or saves Valarie.
The enemy aka bliss you!
Well it’s alien duh and also the villain is not even the bliss which I always love when writers do the “exploit the enemy for their own good but then stab themselves in the face.” The Bliss basically corrupt their digital currency like some kind of virus. If you have more you will die sooner. Basically one of Valarie’s friends won the lottery and immediately died and now they are dying one by one because they are INHERITING the money. Very clever title. It’s very Moffat like I feel to have a title like that for an episode. We also learn that she probably will return in the future AND (setting up an arc) her supplier is a time lord- pretty heavy stuff if you tell me. I wonder who they can be.
Valarie aka a companion who is finally from the future
She’s like a cyborg- she has some cyber parts in her body like her arms or legs but she is also human and she is pretty freaking cool if I have to be honest. She rocks. Also OH MY LORD SHE’S GINGER-
She is played by the amazing Safiyya Ingar. Give her a round of applause because she absolutely deserves it. All the raw emotional energy I felt from her in this episode was absolutely beautiful. She’s your quite average girl but then the Doctor appears and all goes wrong. Her friends dies and then she loses her mum too and she gives such an amazing performance that it’s just brilliant.
The Doctor aka Eleven out of ten for Jacob Dudman
Jacob Dudman voices the Eleventh Doctor. I know boring news because he already voiced him in the previous 2 sets BUT this time the BBC basically told Big Finish “Hey! Why not go full timelord mode” and so they did. His performance is such a blast like it’s such a joy to listen to. The writing helps boosting his performance as well with his comedic personality but also having a sort of darker turn by the end of the episode.
I destroyed my WHOLE world. I’m haunted everyday by the millions I had to sacrifice. I can cope with a few more.
Jesus Christ. Stay calm Doctor. Jacob Dudman nails every single line in this episode and he was incredibly magnificent the whole time. I felt more Matt Smith here than in the whole Matt Smith era.
What did we learn today?
Money is bad and go cry about it. All seriousness there was a small debate about the importance of money in society but also the Doctor gets called out when he says you don’t need money. He doesn’t live in those societies he saves. He just runs in his silly blue box. He can’t even deny that because he lived on a cloud for the last I don’t know what years.
We also learn that Valarie would be an epic companion and she is because the Doctor comes back for her… weeeeell being 2 weeks late (that’s a new record) they are off to adventures! And the story ends on a cliffhanger where the TARDIS is being controlled or pulled by someone who is calling the Doctor and Valarie for help. 10/10
Having rewatched Age of Steel for the TV club and relistened to the absolutely STELLAR Broken Hearts yesterday, I might just relisten to Sins of the Flesh tomorrow…
A cool piece of concept art for a Steelbook version of Season 7v.
Credit to Dani Kennedy on Twitter.
Oh god this is beautiful
A very fun little runaround.
There’s not really much if any plot here, but it gets you into the mindset of Eleven at this point, and gives it a firm timeline placement which is really nice to have.
Now that I think about it, this era really is some unexplored ground, on TV you just go straight from “Where’s Clara” to finding her, filling in the gap here is really nice and is a fun way to set this era apart right from the off.
Also of course, Dudman’s impression is spectacular.
Even though the entire Eleven & Valarie series was only recorded over a few sessions, his impression improves. I agree that it is great from the off, but it gets better too.
I think his impressions has its limitations, but they very much write to his strengths to hide them.
I’m excited for you to be on this journey, those audios are 
perfection
I want to listen to these so badly!
A brilliant new companion introduction, and a great bunch of sci-fi ideas!
Valarie is immediately the standout of this story, and I love the insight we get into her home and world, the almost Russell era family dynamic is also just really nice to see (making it all the more sad when it’s cut short). Plus a companion that’s from the future (and a cyborg!) is great to have!
The worldbuilding here is also great, sci-fi tech that you can easily picture, and the explanations dont’ feel forced or overdone, The Doctor doesn’t know this tech but can easily understand it, and with a little imagination so can we
And then there’s the villain, delightfully evil with a spectacular plan (I’m always a sucker for Capitalism Is Bad as a trope), and setting up a mystery to be explored later down the line. Plus the ‘money monster’ is a really interesting concept, and the way it’s played around with here, using inheritance to pass on the ‘curse’ is genius.
Plus the ending, Eleven being gone for a few weeks instead of a few minutes, is very in keeping with him, and leads to a lovely interaction with him and his to-be-companion.
All in all, a very strong start to the series.
Then listen to them. They’re really good.
