‘Luna Romana’ (Audio)

‘LUNA ROMANA’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Quadrigger Stoyn with the Fourth Doctor and two Romanas

Technically, it’s three Romanas in this ‘Doctor Who’ story, but I’ll explain more about that later. 🙂

‘Luna Romana’ is the third story in what I call ‘The Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’ of ‘Doctor Who’ audios by Big Finish. It stars Lalla Ward and Juliet Landau with Terry Molloy as Quadrigger Stoyn. This is also the third story of a ‘Companion Chronicles’ trilogy to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’.

Which is quite ironic, considering the story was released in January 2014, after the 50th anniversary year happened. Wouldn’t it have made sense to release ‘The Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’ alongside ‘The 1963 Trilogy’ by Big Finish? Perhaps there were some scheduling reasons for that to occur here.

Or maybe it’s because ‘The Beginning’ featured the First Doctor and Susan and Big Finish wanted to release that story in November, since it was the anniversary month in 2013. Sounds fair, but perhaps it would have been better to release both ‘The Dying Light’ and ‘Luna Romana’ in December 2013. 😐

Anyway, ‘Luna Romana’ came about with the idea of having the first two Romanas of ‘Doctor Who’ – played by Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward to be in the same story together. According to producer David Richardson in the CD sleeve notes, Mary Tamm was on board to record more ‘Doctor Who’ stories. 🙂

Matt Fitton was to write the story featuring Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward’s Romanas. Sadly, in July 2012, Mary Tamm was admitted to hospital, and she passed away. It’s sad that happened, as I would’ve liked to have heard more audios featuring Mary Tamm’s Romana and perhaps meet her in person.

For a while, ‘Luna Romana’ was shelved, until it was decided to reuse the story as the third entry of ‘The Companion Chronicles’ trilogy to celebrate 50 years of ‘Doctor Who’. Matt Fitton wrote this as a four-part story with a ‘Companion Chronicle’ style to it and Lalla Ward became one of the narrators.

But how do you have the first Romana side of the story told to you whilst Lalla Ward is narrating the second Romana side of it? Well, that brings us to the inclusion of Juliet Landau as the third Romana, where she’s recollecting what it was like being the first Romana during the events of this adventure.

Yes, there is a third Romana in ‘Doctor Who’, played by Juliet Landau, who has appeared in the ‘Gallifrey’ spin-off audio series, particularly in the stories ‘Renaissance’, ‘Ascension’ and ‘Intervention Earth’. There’s also been a third (and possibly fourth) Romana in the BBC Books stories.

I don’t think the third Romana in the BBC Books stories is the same one as Big Finish’s third Romana, but I would need to check out both versions to find out more. As is, ‘Luna Romana’ is my first encounter with Juliet Landau as the third Romana. I like how she narrates the first Romana’s story. 🙂

For the first Romana, this story takes place during ‘The Key to Time’ season, between the stories ‘The Power of Kroll’ and ‘The Armageddon Factor’. The Fourth Doctor and Romana I are searching for the sixth segment of the Key to Time…that turns out to be the fifth segment instead (more later).

For the second Romana, this story takes place presumably between Seasons 17 and 18, possibly after ‘Shada’, though there isn’t much evidence to suggest that. However, judging by how light-hearted the Fourth Doctor and Romana II’s side of their story is, we can assume this is after ‘Shada’.

If you’re wondering if there’s any audio of Mary Tamm’s Romana in this story, then I can happily say “Yes, there is”, but like only in the story’s opening. There are some audio clips of Mary Tamm’s Romana from other Big Finish audios, including ‘The Auntie Matter’, which I recognised so distinctly.

It took a while for me to adjust to Juliet Landau as the third Romana narrating the first Romana’s side of the story, but somehow, I was able to picture Mary Tamm’s Romana whilst Juliet Landau was narrating. Juliet Landau also did capture Mary Tamm’s Romana’s voice in certain parts of this story. 🙂

‘Part One’ features the Fourth Doctor and Romana searching for the sixth segment of the Key to Time when the TARDIS ends up in Ancient Rome in Italy. The Fourth Doctor enjoys the latest Plautus comedy and meets Plautus himself whilst Romana I goes off to look for the sixth segment of the Key.

Since Juliet Landau is narrating the first Romana’s story as the third Romana, one can assume that the Time War is happening for the third Romana by this stage. This is especially when in the framing story, Romana III happens to be shutting down some Quadrigger stations throughout the universe. 🙂

Yeah, apparently, Quadrigger is a title rather than a name and happens to be an obsolete term for a Gallifreyan engineer/mechanic by Romana’s time on Gallifrey. Stoyn, who returns in this story, causes trouble for the Fourth Doctor and the second Romana whilst they’re visiting Ancient Rome. 😐

During Plautus’ latest play, the performers wearing masks happen to be multiple versions of Stoyn, played by Terry Molloy. On first listen, I’m not sure if they’re holograms, robots or splinters of Stoyn. Either way, Romana I gets caught in Stoyn’s trap whilst the Fourth Doctor is enjoying Plautus’ play. 😐

Incidentally, ‘Luna Romana’ is also the title of the play by Plautus, which has been set up by Stoyn in the streets of Rome. There are connections to Earth’s moon, which is a nice link to ‘The Beginning’ where Stoyn found himself on Earth’s moon with the First Doctor and Susan after leaving Gallifrey. 🙂

In ‘Part Two’, Lalla Ward takes over the narration part of the story. I’m surprised this audio story didn’t have Juliet Landau doing all of the story’s narration and just had Lalla Romana playing Romana and not narrating. You know, like how Frazer Hines did all of the narration for ‘The Dying Light’ story.

Wendy Padbury was just playing Zoe and didn’t do any narration in ‘The Dying Light’. It would make sense, since Juliet Landau’s Romana is recollecting all that happened in ‘Luna Romana’ whilst decommissioning the Quadrigger station that she visits. This story’s narration aspects can be jarring.

It’s especially the case when we get to ‘Parts Three and Four’, as the narration often shifts between Juliet Landau and Lalla Ward when they’re narrating the first and second Romana’s sides of the story respectively. I know this might seem a minor thing to complain about, but I found this quite baffling.

Why have Lalla Ward as the second Romana narrate certain parts of ‘Luna Romana’ whilst Juliet Landau as Romana III narrates the first Romana parts? It’s just odd to jump from the main narrator – Juliet Landau who’s on the Quadrigger station and recollects what occurred – to another narrator. 😐

At what point in time is Lalla Ward’s Romana narrating her side of the story? Presumably in the TARDIS after the adventure is over, I suppose. I know it would have meant more work for Juliet Landau to do the narration for the entire story, but I find it odd in terms of the narrative perspective.

I’m fine with Lalla Ward being the second narrator of ‘Luna Romana’, but in terms of the narrative progression of this story when you consider the framing device involved by Romana III, logically it doesn’t make much sense. I’m sure people will disagree with me on that score, but that’s how I feel.

This leads me onto an aspect about ‘Luna Romana’ that I found disappointing when I heard it. There isn’t a scene featuring the first and second Romanas meeting each other. At one point, I thought Romana I appeared at the end of ‘Part Two’ to warn Romana II and told her to enter a time tunnel. 😐

But it turns out it was another version of Romana II from the future telling the earlier Romana II to go through. I’m saddened that both TV Romanas didn’t meet each other in this story. It would have been pretty exciting if the two TV Romanas were joined by Juliet Landau’s Romana at some point. 😀

Mind you, I can sort-of understand why the two TV Romanas didn’t meet in this story. After all, from Romana I’s perspective, this is before ‘The Armageddon Factor’, and in that story, she would meet Princess Astra, who looks like what Romana would become as Lalla Ward for Season 17 of the series.

From that standpoint, I can see why Romanas I and II didn’t meet each other in this adventure, but it sort-of makes the story less exciting for it. Even for a four-part story by Matt Fitton, there’s no opportunity for the multiple incarnations of Romana to meet each other, which is what I expected. 😦

Incidentally, it’s quite rare to have a ‘Companion Chronicle’ story in ‘Doctor Who’ be a four-part story instead of an usual two-part story. It’s happened before with ‘The Suffering’ with the First Doctor, Vicki and Steven, and ‘Peri and the Piscon Paradox’ with the Fifth and Sixth Doctors and Peri.

I suppose it fits with ‘Luna Romana’, since it is the third and final story of ‘The Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’ and it was probably meant to be a four-part story to begin with and as a full-cast production featuring Mary Tamm and Lalla Ward. Despite the issues I’ve raised, I do like this as a four-part story.

One of the aspects about ‘Luna Romana’ I found interesting is when Romana I and the Fourth Doctor find a segment of the Key to Time in Ancient Rome. This confused me, as I wondered why Romana and the Fourth Doctor would look for the sixth segment in Ancient Rome since it should be on Atrios.

But it turns out it wasn’t the sixth segment at all, but the fifth segment. As the Fourth Doctor and Romana I are baffled and distracted by the fifth segment’s presence in Ancient Rome, Stoyn acquires and dematerialises the TARDIS. The time travellers are stranded, and this is ‘Part Three’s cliffhanger.

Thankfully, all is not lost, as Romana II managed to stow away aboard the TARDIS after ending up in Ancient Rome. After Stoyn places the fifth segment of the Key to Time in Ancient Rome years earlier for the Fourth Doctor and Romana I to locate, Romana II returns the TARDIS to Four and Romana I. 🙂

Yeah, yeah, I know, this is wibbly-wobbley, timey-wimey, and you probably need to listen to this story a couple of times to get around that. But on first listen, I was able to grasp what was going on and found it clever of Matt Fitton to resolve the ‘Part Three’ cliffhanger in ‘Part Four’ in that manner.

Mind you, a missed opportunity for Romanas I and II to meet in Ancient Rome is made, especially when Romana II could tell Romana I that her appearance might be a key to find the sixth segment on Atrios, but Romana I forgot about it afterwards. However, that isn’t something to harp on too much.

Incidentally, if you’re wondering where K-9 is in the story, from Romana I’s time period, apparently, he’s recharging in the TARDIS. I assume the same thing is happening to K-9 in Romana II’s time period. K-9 does seem to be put on recharge quite a lot in certain stories set during Season 16 and 17.

It happened in ‘Babblesphere’ after all. Mind you, I’ve read that Stoyn dismantled K-9 Mark II in the TARDIS, having found the robot annoying. I didn’t pick this up when listening to ‘Luna Romana’ first time, though it’s a shame that’s the case, since I would have liked K-9 to make an appearance in this.

When the Fourth Doctor and Romana II visit a recreation of ancient Rome on Earth’s moon in ‘Part Two’, at one point, it’s described as being like a theme park, I believe. It’s an interesting notion, though it becomes tense when the Fourth Doctor and Romana are chased by cosplaying robots here.

By cosplaying robots, I mean robots dressed in warrior armour like Roman centurions and samurais, I believe. I’m surprised K-9 didn’t come out of the TARDIS to help fight off the cosplaying robots in order to protect the Fourth Doctor and Romana II. It would’ve been a kin-of part for him to play in this story.

Despite the narration issue I have, Lalla Ward as Romana II is equally very good as well as Juliet Landau as Romana III. It was fun to hear her voice Tom Baker’s Doctor as well as Romana II. This is especially in the scenes where the Fourth Doctor and Romana are confronting Stoyn in his domain. 🙂

Juliet Landau is also good in voicing Tom Baker’s Doctor when she’s narrating Romana I’s side of the story. And then there’s Terry Molloy as Stoyn. I’ve enjoyed Terry Molloy’s performances as Stoyn in this trilogy. It’s interesting to hear him play a different character compared to usually playing Davros.

It’s also fascinating how Stoyn has come about as a character in this trilogy, since he’s a backward-thinking Time Lord who was afraid to leave Gallifrey and is determined to bring the Doctor’s downfall as payback for taking him away from his home. In a sense, Stoyn can be quite petty indeed.

Romana’s interaction with Stoyn in both incarnations has been interesting, especially in comparing how she left Gallifrey to be with the Doctor on their quest for the Key to Time. In the end, Romana II manages to outwit Stoyn in defence of the Doctor, and as a result, Stoyn gets killed in the process. 😐

I’ve read that Terry Molloy would like to reprise the role of Stoyn in a future story. At the Edinburgh Sci-Fi Con in 2018, he suggested Stoyn could be trapped inside the TARDIS, trying to find a new way to take control of the ship and return to Gallifrey. Whether that will happen is yet to be determined.

‘Luna Romana’ concludes with a tribute to Mary Tamm as the first Romana, which I found touching when I heard it. Despite the issues I have with ‘Luna Romana’, I like how Big Finish made the effort to honour this story in Mary Tamm’s memory, especially through the narration Juliet Landau gives. 🙂

The CD extras are as follows. There’s a trailer for ‘The Sleeping City’ with William Russell as Ian Chesterton and John Banks as Gerrard. Sadly, there aren’t any behind-the-scenes interviews, which I found disappointing. I would have liked to have heard Lalla Ward, Juliet Landau, Terry Molloy and writer Matt Fitton share their thoughts on the making of this story.

‘Luna Romana’ is a decent conclusion to ‘The Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’. Despite this being a four-parter instead of a two-parter, I wish things were handled differently compared to what’s in the actual production, particularly with how the narration was handled as well as the multiple Romanas.

It would have been nice if all three Romanas met each other in this story, making it more poignant and significant. Despite that, there are things I enjoyed, particularly in the tribute that’s made to Mary Tamm by Big Finish as well as the performances by Lalla Ward, Juliet Landau and Terry Molloy.

As for ‘The Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’ overall, it’s okay. I know I didn’t rate ‘The Beginning’ highly when I reviewed it, but the trilogy got better with ‘The Dying Light’ and ‘Luna Romana’ afterwards. With that said, this trilogy of stories is not as good as ‘The 1963 Trilogy’ and ‘The Light At The End’. 😐

It’s probably why I left the entire ‘Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’ on hold to an extent until 2023, as the stories themselves didn’t seem exciting enough for me, especially with being ‘Companion Chronicles’. I heard ‘Luna Romana’ for the very first time in 2023 and despite my issues, I enjoyed it.

‘Luna Romana’ rating – 7.5/10

‘The Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’ rating – 7/10

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The previous story For ‘The Quadrigger Stoyn Trilogy’ was ‘The Dying Light’ (Audio) For the Fourth Doctor was ‘The Power of Kroll’ (TV) ‘Special Occasions’ (ST) For Romana was ‘The Power of Kroll’ (TV) ‘Special Occasions’ (ST) ‘Ascension’ (G) (Audio)	The next story For the Fourth Doctor is ‘The Armageddon Factor’ (TV) ‘The Winged Coven’ (Audio) For Romana is ‘The Armageddon Factor’ (TV) ‘The Monster in the Wardrobe’ (ST) ‘Intervention Earth’ (G) (Audio)
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