Doctor Who review: The Eighth Doctor: Time War 4 feels like the biggest volume yet in the series

Featuring the return of an iconic enemy and establishing some major mythology, Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor: Time War 4 feels like the biggest volume in the series yet.

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor: Time War 4 is an interesting volume in the series. One thing that stands out about it is how connected the stories are. While the first volume began with four closely connected stories, Time War 2 and 3 featured more distinct and slightly stand-alone episodes. The consequences of one episode could lead to the next, but there wasn’t too much that was carried over.

However, Time War 4 is different. The stories in this set feel extremely closely connected, especially Palindrome and Restoration of the Daleks. In fact, the whole box set is essentially a direct consequence of volume 3’s finale, The War Valeyard. That cliffhanger was so huge that it’s not surprising its effects would carry over into the following four episodes.

Speaking of huge and shocking moments, Time War 4 definitely features plenty of these. Across all four episodes, there are significant twists and turns throughout. This is especially true of the final episode which features several major enemies colliding and a huge cliffhanger. Honestly, this feels like one of the biggest Time War box sets yet, one that simultaneously establishes and shakes up some key mythology in both the series and the War.

It’s taken a long time, but Terry Molloy (pictured here with Isla Blair) is finally back as Davros in this box set.

Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions

The resurrection of Davros

But of course, perhaps even bigger than that is the return of Terry Molloy as Davros. This is his first performance in the role for a long time, and in fact, it’s the first major appearance of the character since Series 9 two-parter The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar. More than that: this is the Eighth Doctor’s first meeting with Davros since Terror Firma, fifteen years ago. So for several different reasons, this is a pretty major release for the iconic villain. Does it live up to expectations?

Definitely. First of all, we get the brilliant and epic two-part story Palindrome. Not only does this set the scene for Restoration of the Daleks, but it also explains exactly how Davros returned in the Time War. Even better than that, however, is that it features one of Terry Molloy’s greatest ever performances in the role. His journey from a kind-hearted scientist into the Davros we’re more familiar with is a tragic one, and Molloy portrays Davros’s descent into darkness perfectly.

Having said all that, that’s not to say that Molloy’s performance in Restoration of the Daleks is considerably weaker. On the contrary, he’s gloriously villainous in the episode, with Davros back to his old self. It should also be mentioned that Nicholas Briggs is also fantastic in this episode, voicing the Daleks, the Dalek Time Strategist, as well as one other major character. As always, he’s so great at the voices that it’s surprisingly difficult to think of them as voiced by the same actor.

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The return of the Twelve

One other major character that returned was the Twelve. Played by Julia McKenzie, the Twelve played a heavy role in Time War 2, but she only features in this box set’s second story, Dreadshade. She’s more openly villainous before, which takes away some of the complexities of this iteration of the character. While the Eleven stands out as one of the most unstable villains ever due to his ongoing personality crisis, his successor was more in control of her previous selves last time. While she wasn’t a hero, the Twelve wasn’t an out-and-out baddie either, so it’s a bit of a shame to see her take a step backwards in this one.

Still, Dreadshade is far from a weak episode. Its exploration of a universe after the Time War (or so the Time Lords like to think) is particularly fascinating to explore, and we find out that even in apparent victory, the Time Lords are far from a benevolent species, by this point.

As a whole, The Eighth Doctor: Time War 4 is an extremely impressive box set. It brings back one of Doctor Who‘s greatest villains in a big way and naturally re-introduces him in the Time War. On top of that, it establishes some new and exciting elements for the series and promises much more to come. Like Stranded 1 earlier this year, but for completely different reasons, it’s another exciting box set for Paul McGann’s Doctor.

Have you been following the Time War so far? Are you glad that Terry Molloy is back in his iconic role? Let us know in the comments below.