Once and Future 3 – ‘A Genius for War’ brings the Doctor face to face with an old enemy.
Updated 20/07/23: Davros plays chess!
To celebrate the release of the third instalment of Once and Future, the Doctor Who 60th Anniversary audio series, audio producers Big Finish have provided another video trailer.
Again echoing ‘The Five Doctors’, Davros is seen moving Dalek and Time Lord figures pieces around a chess board…
Now that the story is released, we can see the wider cast list. In addition to those already revealed, it features cameos from Big Finish’s recast first three Doctors.
Writer Jonathan Morris has spoken about his tale, saying:
“I was thrilled to be asked to write for the 60th anniversary audio series. Working on other Big Finish things, I’d occasionally caught a tantalising glimpse of a page of script or overheard actors in the studio recording a scene which I didn’t know about. And I was all, ‘Oh, that sounds terribly exciting, I wish they’d ask me to do something’. And then, out of the blue, they did!
“I had two main thoughts, though, which you could consider part of my ‘brief to self’. It needed to deal with a significant part of the series mythology – it couldn’t be ‘just another Doctor Who story’. And rather than being written in the style of the Seventh Doctor’s era it had to be a contemporary piece because it’s not only a celebration of the past, it’s a celebration of the fact that it’s still going.”
Check the CultBox reviews of the Once and Future series so far: ‘Past Lives‘ and ‘The Artist at the End of Time‘.
Doctor Who: Once and Future – A Genius for War is available now on standard Collector’s Edition CD + download, or digital download only from Big Finish.
Updated 21/06/23: Big Finish have released a trailer for July’s Once and Future story.
As we count down to the third instalment of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary series, the audio producers have teased us with a two-minute trailer.
The trailer sets up the story’s premise, with the Dalek creator Davros making the Time Lords an offer they can’t refuse – one that compels them to call in an expert.
The story’s cast list now goes further than its cover stars too. Unsurprisingly, Nicholas Briggs appears as Daleks and the Dalek Supreme. He’s joined by Esmonde Cole as Bosco and Yasmin Mwanza playing Aldan.
While you wait for ‘A Genius for War‘ to land, check out the CultBox reviews of the previous Once and Future series ‘Past Lives‘ and ‘The Artist at the End of Time‘.
Original article (of 01/06/23) follows…
Doctor Who – Once and Future 3 cover and cast revealed
With the second release in the Doctor Who: Once and Future series imminent, producers Big Finish have revealed details and covers for the third story.
Due out in July, ‘A Genius for War’ by Jonathan Morris will see the degenerating Doctor in his Seventh incarnation, encountering the creator of the Daleks himself, Davros (Terry Molloy)
Here’s the synopsis for ‘A Genius for War’:
The Time War. The Doctor has been injured and brought to a Time Lord field hospital. His body glows with energy, but this is no regeneration into a future form – instead, the Doctor’s past faces begin to appear as he flits haphazardly between incarnations…
Staggering to his TARDIS, the Doctor sets out to solve the mystery of his ‘degeneration’. Who has done this to him? How? And why? From the Earth to the stars, across an array of familiar times and places, he follows clues to retrace his steps, encountering old friends and enemies along the way. Tumbling through his lives, the Doctor must stop his degeneration before he loses himself completely…
In the midst of the Time War, the Time Lords have received a communication from Falkus, the prison moon of Skaro. Its sole inmate, Davros, wishes to make them an offer.
He will help them win the Time War… but only if the Doctor comes to his rescue.
So far, in addition to Sylvester McCoy and Terry Molloy, the announced cast includes Ken Bones as the General and Beth Chalmers as Veklin.
Terry Molloy, who plays Davros, said:
“The thing I’ve always said about Davros and the Doctor is that they have a kind of a touching respect for each other as well as hatred because they know they’re both on the same intellectual level. And they know they’re both alone.
“So, for them, and for me, the joyous bit is the intellectual chess game they play with each other, as to who’s going to win, rather than the bangs and the whistles. At the end of it, it’s all about the battle of minds.
“Sylvester McCoy and I have worked together many times in the past. We have known each other for a long time, way before Doctor Who. It’s always great fun to get together with him again.”
Doctor Who: Once and Future – A Genius for War is released in July 2023. It’s available to pre-order on standard Collector’s Edition CD + download, or digital download only from Big Finish.
For those who’ve taken the Special Edition route, there’s an alternate cover too:
We’ll keep you posted on Doctor Who: Once and Future.