Doctor Who: Prisoners of Fate

Following stories that focussed on first Turlough, and then Tegan, this episode rounds out the trilogy by turning to Nyssa. The TARDIS crew arrive 25 years after Nyssa rejoined them in the audio story Cobwebs, almost immediately encountering some of the fallout from that event, and, in particular, the consequences of Nyssa's apparent “disappearance” from history.

In addition to its direct ties to Nyssa herself (which are evident right from the opening moments, but are kept secret on the packaging/blurb, so I'll consider them a spoiler), the colony world on which the TARDIS lands uses a machine that can apparently tell the future to arrest and convict people before they can commit crimes. Naturally enough, in the style of Minority Report, Tegan and Turlough soon find themselves accused of a murder that the supposedly infallible machine claims they are about to commit.

Once it becomes clear just how the machine actually operates, however, the story becomes significantly more complicated, and, while all the companions get something to do, it's the ties to Nyssa's background that are most significant. The story becomes one that's largely about time travel itself, in a way that became more common during Moffat's time as showrunner, but was much less so during the series' classic run. One of the exceptions, of course, is the Fifth Doctor TV story Mawdryn Undead which is referenced more than once here.

This is very much not a standalone story. In particular, it relies heavily on past audio adventures, tying up a number of loose threads in the process - one key plot point references an episode released six years prior. And, while there's plenty of tension, and an unusual villain with links to the Doctor's own past, the core of the story is an emotional one tied up with the question of just how fixed and immutable time actually is - and whether we are, indeed, “prisoners of fate”. I can imagine that, despite the '80s-style incidental music, this might make those who strongly prefer the classic series find this all too much like the modern one.

With those caveats in mind, and given that I quite like stories about the ramifications of time travel, I thoroughly enjoyed this tale. But it's not one for the casual listener, rewarding those who have closely followed events in Big Finish's Fifth Doctor stories over a period of time. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.