When "The Curse of Time" was announced by Big Finish back in July, I was quite surprised. The story is meant to celebrate 50 years of Tom Baker's iconic Doctor, yet Big Finish seemed to be taking a low-key approach with this one. While Big Finish's anniversary releases are usually full of returning companions and enemies, “The Curse of Time” promised none of these.
At the same time, the story still sounded exciting. It promised to act as the final story of Season 12 – a season that ended up being one story short thanks to “Terror of the Zygons” being moved to Season 13.
And there’s no question that the season is a popular one. Along with introducing Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, it’s an extremely strong season that also features two of the best stories in Doctor Who history: “The Ark in Space” and “Genesis of the Daleks”. It's no surprise that it was the first complete season of Classic Who released on Blu-ray.
More than that, it features the brilliant TARDIS team of the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, and Harry Sullivan. Harry left the team at the start of Season 13, which is a shame, as he was an extremely lovable character thanks to Ian Marter’s performance.
So a brand new story with this team is more than welcome. Especially since this is the first original story from Big Finish set during this era. So how well does “The Curse of Time” work?
Capturing the era
Within minutes of listening to the story, it’s clear that Big Finish has captured the flavor of Season 12 perfectly. The banter between the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry is fantastic to listen to, and it feels true to the era.
I also must mention how great the three leads’ performances are. While you can hear the age in Tom Baker's voice, you can also hear how much he still loves playing the Doctor. As for the companions, both Sadie Miller (daughter of Elisabeth Sladen) and Christopher Naylor have been playing Sarah Jane and Ian for several years now, and they’ve continued to get better and better.
Jonathan Morris has done a great job of creating a gap where there wasn’t one before and making it feel natural. Yes, the Doctor may have been summoned by the Brigadier on an urgent matter, but that doesn’t stop him from getting distracted by something even more urgent. Especially since the story neatly addresses that, since they are in a time machine, urgent is relative.
The arc of the Ark
Another detail I appreciated about this story is how well it fits Season 12's arc. Arcs were pretty rare in the Classic Series, but the Fourth Doctor’s debut season was an exception. It featured several stories exploring the Earth’s future and how it survived an apocalyptic event. This began with “The Ark in Space”, which showed much of humanity’s elite surviving in suspended animation onboard Space Station Nerva – otherwise known as “the Ark”.
“The Curse of Time” addresses this mythology very directly. Set hundreds of years after “The Ark in Space”, the story of the Ark has become legend and humanity has regressed to a medieval style of society in order to repress technology. It’s so easy to picture the production team making a story like this at the time – one set in the far future yet feels historical.
The rest of the story scratches that nostalgic itch nicely, and even leans into some of the cliches of the era. For example, there are a few instances of the Doctor and his companions getting kidnapped, escaping, and then getting kidnapped again. This little trope was extremely common for many stories of this era. It's also a clear reminder of why the New Series introduced shorter stories and a faster pace.
Nostalgic yet original
But I honestly can’t complain at such cliches being used here. After all, the whole point of this release is nostalgia. It could be argued that selling nostalgia is primarily what Big Finish does anyway. But for something like the Fourth Doctor’s 50th anniversary, it’s needed even more.
And there is something nostalgic about “The Curse of Time”, which is impressive. Because this isn’t a story that’s filled with old enemies or returning friends, aside from the Season 12 TARDIS team, of course. But Jonathan Morris’s script does such a brilliant job of capturing the era in terms of storytelling and characters that, for fans of this era at least, it’s impossible not to feel a good dose of genuine nostalgia, even for a completely new story.
“The Curse of Time” may not seem like the typical way to celebrate an anniversary as big as the Fourth Doctor’s 50th. It’s not something that celebrates his whole era by having him face Davros, Morbius and Sutekh in a big 3-hour extravaganza. But it is a solid story that captures the spirit of his debut season extremely well. Highly recommended for fans of the Fourth Doctor and especially this TARDIS team.