Doctor Who – Time Lord Victorious: The Enemy of My Enemy

Paul McGann is brilliant as always, and Nick Briggs delivers a superb performance as The Dalek Strategist.

The people of Wrax are happy to begin peaceful negotiations with the Dalek Empire. The two species are preparing to engage in an alliance that will last throughout the ages.
The only one who seems to object to this happy union is the Doctor. He knows that you can never trust the Daleks.
But more than that, he knows that the Wraxians should never have existed… 

Full disclosure: The Enemy of my Enemy is my first exposure to the Time Lord Victorious saga. I’ve never been entirely sold on the whole concept, I still don’t fully understand it to be honest, so this review will purely be about The Enemy of my Enemy in isolation. With that being said though, if the rest of Time Lord Victorious is as good as The Enemy of my Enemy, then I might have to check it out!

The Enemy of my Enemy is a Dalek story, but it’s one of the most unique approaches to a Dalek story I’ve seen in a long time. The Daleks aren’t really the antagonists, and in fact the Daleks have actual personalities! This is old news to those familiar with Time Lord Victorious of course, but these small things turn what could’ve been an incredibly dull, predictable story into an intriguing one, that keeps the listener guessing. I’ve never been a fan of the whole concept of Daleks being nothing but mindless killing machines, that isn’t what makes them interesting, what makes them interesting is their capacity for manipulation, the idea that they can let other people think that maybe they aren’t all bad, and that’s something that The Enemy of my Enemy captures beautifully. The Dalek Strategist is a fantastic character, Nick Briggs delivers a superb performance as not only him but as all the Daleks. Paul McGann is superb as always, acting alongside the Daleks always brings out the best in him.

The actual story of the audio is admittedly where The Enemy of my Enemy falls down a bit. The Wraxians, the “antagonists” of the story, have an interesting backstory and culture that’s sadly underdeveloped, and everything to do with the Devolver Gun feels a little bit underwhelming, considering what it is and what it can do. If this had been a longer story, or maybe a story arc in a boxset, it would be a very cool idea, but as it stands in The Enemy of my Enemy it’s just sort of… there. It’s such a shame too, because as mentioned these ideas have a lot of potential, and in a way it’s a shame that the story focuses so much on the Doctor and the Daleks, as amazing as all those moments are, it does mean everything else falls into the background somewhat. I don’t know if Wrax is a recurring planet in Time Lord Victorious, but I sincerely hope it is.

The Enemy of my Enemy as a standalone story works, and works very well at that. The relationship between the Doctor and the Daleks is brilliant, and best of all, unique. This may be the most unique Big Finish Dalek story in a long time, and on the strength of this story alone, I really, really want to hear the rest of Big Finish’s Time Lord Victorious related material. If you weren’t sure about picking up an individual story from this ongoing epic, The Enemy of my Enemy is a worthy standalone story.


❉ Doctor Who – Time Lord Victorious: The Enemy of My Enemy is now available to own as a collector’s edition CD (at £10.99) or digital download (at £8.99), at the Big Finish website.

❉ Stephen Brennan has been writing for fanzines and charity anthologies for some time. A writer by day, a game developer by night, they can be a bit of a grump, but with a mischievous twinkle in their eye that lets you know they aren’t all bad.

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1 Comment

  1. I can’t wait to listen to this. I’ve enjoyed the other Big Finish ‘Time Lord Victorious’ stories and love them! The entire TLV project seems a bit convoluted and exhausting… overly ambitious… to me. I’m just going to enjoy the audios. This is next on my list!

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