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Big Mean Jerk fucked around with this message at 07:53 on Jul 20, 2017

• The setting. The Draconians only had one televised appearance but it was a good one - Frontier in Space - in which it was established that the Doctor had a warm relationship with the reptilian species and had even been granted noble rank among them. They've made numerous appearances in other spin-off media over the decades, though as far as I know this is their first appearance in a Big Finish audio. It does a rather good job of using Frontier as the foundation for the society it describes, while enjoying the freedom to go off on a wild tangent, particularly because almost none of the story takes place on Draconia or within the larger galactic empire that matched the power of the spacefaring human race. Instead, the Doctor is summoned as a noble to the funeral of the Emperor, who has joined the rank of the "Deathless". His tomb orbits the planet along with the tombs of all the prior Emperors, and the Doctor is expected to sit vigil along with the Emperor's son, his wife, a soldier and a peasant. Internal and external politics come into play within the confined quarters as the son clashes with his mother over his ascension to the throne. The past meets the present as the Doctor's part in "saving" Draconia from a deadly plague has left him less than popular, since it cost them their once vast galactic empire. A soldier has lost his name and a peasant has gotten a new and unwanted one. Charley is an unwelcome intruder in more ways than one, and a game of chess has deadly real life consequences. There's a lot to take in within a very short story, but it doesn't feel overcrowded and does a solid job of world-building.
  
  
• A wizardDoctor is never late, he arrives exactly when he intended. There is a fantastic short bit at the start of the story where Charley discovers that the Doctor has e-mail/voicemail that he never, ever checks. She chides him on missing some potentially very important messages and he calmly reminds her that he's a time traveler. He CAN'T be late, no matter how many centuries might pass before he gets to his mail.
  
  
• The horror of the "Deathless". I won't give it away, the reveal is very good and the concept is excellent.
  
  
• Charley is Charley. Normally I'd count that as a bonus, but not in this case. There is absolutely nothing to this story that in any way plays up on the events of Patient Zero, even when you have stuff like the walls that write your thoughts on them absolutely nothing comes up to suggest anything is even slightly off. There's an explanation of sorts given in the behind-the-scenes stuff, as India Fisher explains the reasoning for her performance, but while I'm all for subtlety this comes across more like they just decided to ignore that particular subplot, possibly because it would have just been too much on top of an already overcrowded story.
  
  
• Inconsistent characterization. It's present for most of the supporting characters, but especially the soldier. An honorable man who has been disgraced but still holds on to his virtues.... who then goes and does an incredibly shortsighted, stupid and self destructive thing for pure greed, then actively goes against his own self-interest in the name of that same virtue/honor.
  
  
• The voices. For an ancient spacefaring race of reptilians, the Draconians sure have voices that sound like the result of the English class system.
  
  
• Thomas Brewster. Ugh. gently caress. Uggh.