The War Doctor Begins: Forged in Fire

Part 1: Light the Flame

I first heard Jonathan Carley as the War Doctor in the Once and Future Coda. I didn’t realise it was the war Doctor at the time, but hearing him here it is quite a good voice likeness.

For me this was an odd decision, I wasn’t keen on the War Doctor audios. The War Doctor and the time war were not depicted as I had imagined so I always felt a little let down by them, but as it was on sale why not?

I do tend to jump in to audios without doing any research and its not always the best idea. This continues almost directly on from the TV minisode, where the Eighth Doctor regenerates, so it very much helps to keep that in mind - I did go back and watch it in fact.

Its set on Karn and the war is getting nearer, the Timelords are pleased the Doctor has joined the cause and plan to upgrade the TARDIS but that’s not all they’re after.

It is very talkie, its almost half way through before anything really starts to happen. The war Doctor is whiny - a trade mark of his character it seems.

There’s the use of ‘flashlight’ and I find it jarring using American expressions in a British production.

The Doctor does get to a point where it seems as if he’s actually going to live up to the idea of making unpleasant decisions in order to shorten the war, and do something that goes completely against who the Doctor is, and give reason fo why He’s not the Doctor. However it doesn’t happen and its a little disappointing.

I said the war doctor isn’t quite how I imagined. I’d of preferred more action, battles, rather than a lot of timelords arguing.