‘CIRCULAR TIME: WINTER’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Winter’s End with the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa
Jeremy James and Sarah Sutton in ‘Circular Time: Winter’.
The fourth and final episode of ‘Circular Time’ is the strangest of all. It takes place after the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa’s travels together. Set during the final episode of ‘The Caves of Androzani’, the Doctor finds himself in a dream. Nyssa and her husband Lasarti visit him and rescue him from death.
This episode beautifully sums up everything I love about Nyssa and the Fifth Doctor. It’s nice when Nyssa reunites with the Doctor in a dream, as she helps him to escape death when at a farmhouse during a snowy blizzard. I could easily feel the cold and the snow when listening to this certain story.
Jeremy James guest stars as Lasarti, Nyssa’s husband in the episode. It was intriguing to find Nyssa married and a mother following the events of ‘Terminus’. I heard this episode before even seeing ‘Terminus’. Nyssa and Lasarti happen to have a daughter called Neeka, who’s a baby by this stage. 🙂
Lasarti happens to be a dreams specialist and he helps Nyssa to make contact with the Doctor when he’s having his dream in the farmhouse. Lasarti ends up getting caught in the adventure when he follows Nyssa into the dream. Lasarti could have ended being a potential companion for the Doctor.
Sunny Ormonde guest stars as Anima, the Doctor’s wife at the farmhouse. It turns out however that Anima happens to be Kamelion, the Fifth Doctor’s short-time robotic companion. This was the first time I came across Kamelion before seeing him in his stories ‘The King’s Demons’ and ‘Planet of Fire’.
I liked the namedropping of previous companions of the Fifth Doctor who came to his aid to escape death and go through his regeneration. This included Tegan, Turlough and Adric as well as Peri. I’m pretty sure companions like Erimem, Thomas Brewster and Billy Walker helped the Fifth Doctor out. 😀
The Master makes an appearance in the episode, albeit as an evil laugh. The Watcher from ‘Logopolis’ also makes an appearance in this episode. I like how the connections are made to previous ‘Doctor Who’ stories and how things unravel before the Doctor approaches his regeneration.
I found Nyssa’s closing speech at the end of the episode very moving. She describes how the story ended for her. I liked it when Nyssa said that she’ll always remember the Doctor and it’s clear she’s very fond of him. It concludes the ‘Circular Time’ anthology on a very reassuring and positive note. 🙂
‘Circular Time’ is a Big Finish audio anthology that I highly recommend! There are lots of lovely character moments between the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa in the four episodes. There are also lovely performances by Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton, and I’ve grown to love them as their characters. 🙂
If you’re in the mood for some relaxation and wonderful drama, then ‘Circular Time’ should be the ‘Doctor Who’ audio anthology for you if you’ve had a surfeit of Daleks, Cybermen and the like. ‘Circular Time’ has made me want to purchase more Big Finish audios with the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa.
The CD extras are as follows. On Disc 1, there’s a trailer for ‘Nocturne’ with Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Philip Olivier. On Disc 2, there are trailers for more Fifth Doctor and Nyssa audios with Peter Davison and Sarah Sutton, including ‘The Land of the Dead’, ‘Winter For The Adept’, ‘The Mutant Phase’, ‘Primeval’, ‘Spare Parts’, ‘Creatures of Beauty’ and ‘The Game’.
‘Circular Time: Winter’ rating – 9/10
‘Circular Time’ CD rating – 10/10
Click here to read my reviews of ‘Spring’, ‘Summer’ and ‘Autumn’ from ‘Circular Time’ (Audio)
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| Return to The Fifth Doctor’s Timeline | |
| Return to Nyssa’s Timeline | |
| Return to Kamelion’s Timeline | |
| Return to Tegan’s Timeline | |
| Return to Turlough’s Timeline | |
| Return to Adric’s Timeline | |
| Return to The Doctors’ Timelines Index | |
| Return to The Companions’ Timelines Index | |
| Return to Doctor Who Timelines | |
| Return to The Nyssa Challenge | |
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Bradley's Basement 
One of if not the best single parter Big Finish have done, your review is a excellent informative read & kinda like a love letter to the fifth doctor era.
Nice one Bradders.
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Thanks Timelord Simon. Glad you liked this. It certainly is a compelling and heart-warming episode to finish off the Fifth Doctor era and it’s great Nyssa gets to be with him to help to the end.
Thanks. Tim. 🙂
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Great review Tim.
‘Winter’ was the perfect cap-off for the ‘Circular Time anthology. I enjoyed the scenes between Nyssa and her husband Lasarti and I found it sweet that Nyssa has a daughter. It was great when Nyssa and Lasarti helped the Doctor out of his dream and escape death. It was interesting to hear that the Doctor thought that Adric and Tegan were his infant children and didn’t remember who Nyssa was. I also liked the semi-cameos of the Watcher and the Master.
It was good that ‘Winter’ namedropped most of the Fifth Doctor’s companions. I’d like to think that Michael Anderson also helped him, when I get around to it in the future.
I’m hoping to share my review of ‘Circular Time’ soon once I’ve typed up my thoughts in ‘Winter’. I also hope to share my thoughts on ‘The Toy’ once I’ve listened to it. Have you had a chance to listen to ‘I, Kamelion’ from the ‘Forty’ box set?
Take care, WF92.
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Hi WF92,
Glad you enjoyed my review on ‘Circular Time: Winter’. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the audio episode. I look forward to your blog review on ‘Circular Time’ when you get to share it.
Hope you enjoy ‘The Toy’. I’ve not listened to ‘I, Kamelion’ properly yet, but I have heard a little snipet of it on download. I’ve finished the ‘Forty’ box set. Hope to share some quick thoughts on the two stories in the box set soon.
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂
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