‘THE KAIROS RING’ (BTD)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Joshua, the Kairos Ring and the Sluagh with Romana and Lazlo
I was going to check out ‘The Kairos Ring’ as a ‘Doctor Who’ audio story eventually. 😀
After I finished checking out the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ 2023 Target novelization along with updating my review on the 2019 unabridged audiobook that it’s based on, it’s only fair I should check out the rest of the stories featured in the ‘Warriors’ Gate and Beyond’ book.
The next story after ‘Warriors’ Gate’ in the Target book is ‘The Kairos Ring’ by Stephen Gallagher. This story features Romana and Lazlo (or is it Laszlo, according to the book’s text?). Originally, ‘The Kairos Ring’ was released as an exclusive-to-audio story in 2021. 🙂
It was part of the ‘Beyond the Doctor’ audio series by BBC Audio, which featured characters who’ve met the Doctor – specifically after their travels with the Doctor ended. This includes Ian and Barbara, Ben and Polly, Mrs. Wibbsey and Mike Yates, and…Bessie!
Yes! Even Bessie, the Third Doctor’s yellow roadster got a story. 😀 All but one of the ‘Beyond the Doctor’ stories are by Paul Magrs. ‘The Kairos Ring’ is unique in that it’s not by Paul Magrs and it’s by the author who wrote ‘Warriors’ Gate’ and ‘Terminus’ in the TV show.
It does take a while for me to check out these original ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories, whether by the BBC or by Big Finish, unless they happen to feature Nyssa in them. 😀 With ‘The Kairos Ring’ however, I was able to check it out, thanks to it being in the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ Target book. 🙂
In some respects, I enjoyed checking out ‘The Kairos Ring’ in book form as opposed to on its own in audio form. It can be a challenge to listen to a BBC audiobook story compared to a full-cast audio drama when you don’t have the text to refer to. You need to keep up with it. 😐
Like the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ and ‘Terminus’ novelizations, Stephen Gallagher doesn’t divide ‘The Kairos Ring’ story into chapters. That’s understandable, considering ‘The Kairos Ring’ was originally released as an audio episode and there wouldn’t be chapters to divide it. 😐
So, as I read through ‘The Kairos Ring’ in the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ Target book, I had to make up my own chapters whilst listening to the audiobook. I made about four chapters whilst reading ‘The Kairos Ring’ in the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ Target book, which made for easy reading.
This also allowed me to absorb and break down pieces of the story as I read through it. I wish there was something like that for the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric audio story ‘Dark Contract’, as I had to listen to that all in one go on an audio CD. That went by swiftly.
The narrator for ‘The Kairos Ring’ audiobook is interesting. It happens to be Steven Pacey, who’s well-known for playing Del Tarrant in the sci-fi TV series ‘Blake’s 7’. This isn’t the first time that Steven Pacey has read a ‘Doctor Who’ story for audio by Stephen Gallagher.
Oh no! He read the ‘Terminus’ audiobook, which I’ve enjoyed. He also read the ‘Enlightenment’ audiobook. Honestly, it’s fine that Steven Pacey is the reader for ‘The Kairos Ring’, considering it’s an original audio story and it’s not based on a TV production.
Mind you, I wonder why Lalla Ward wasn’t chosen as the narrator for ‘The Kairos Ring’, considering that this is a Romana story. Also, Steven Pacey didn’t read the ‘Warriors’ Gate’ audiobook, as that was Jon Culshaw. So, why isn’t Jon Culshaw the narrator of this story?
Whilst I say that ‘The Kairos Ring’ is a Romana story, it doesn’t exactly focus on Romana as a character, as I would expect it to in being a post-TARDIS travels story for her. ‘The Kairos Ring’ happens to be a story about this American Civil War soldier called Joshua. 😐
In the story, Romana is still helping out with freeing the enslaved Tharils. She accompanies Lazlo, as they journey through the Gateway whilst residing on the threshold of E-Space. They’re looking for a deadly enemy, who happens to be the desperate Sluagh.
Whilst that’s happening, a young soldier named Joshua fights on the battlefield of the American Civil War. However, he’s haunted by spectres, who happen to be pale, vicious-looking aliens that prey upon the dead to raise an army of living corpses. Gruesome stuff!
Acquiring the fabled Kairos Ring that create portals into other dimensions, Joshua accidentally ends up going through one of them and he meets Romana and Lazlo. He soon helps them to fight against the dreadful Sluagh once ending up in this strange world.
I must admit, ‘The Kairos Ring’ is a challenging story to comprehend entirely, as is often the case with Stephen Gallagher’s storytelling. But it wasn’t bogged down in science like ‘Warriors’ Gate’ is, as I was able to relate to Joshua’s journey more than I would’ve anticipated.
Mind you, I wish this story was focusing more on Romana’s journey rather than Joshua’s. It’s not that Joshua’s a bad character or anything. Far from it! But because the focus goes to him, it means that Romana and Lazlo’s story is left on the sidelines for most of the episode.
With that said, it was interesting to uncover more of Romana’s chapter in E-Space when she decided to stay behind and help with the Tharils at the end of ‘Warriors’ Gate’. That part of Romana’s story hasn’t been told much, especially via the Big Finish audio stories.
When it comes to post-TARDIS travels with Romana, the Big Finish audios tend to deal more with her as President of Gallifrey, particularly in the ‘Gallifrey’ spin-off series. We know how Romana ended up on Gallifrey, particularly in ‘Blood Harvest’ and ‘Goth Opera’.
The books, anyway. But it’s good we have a story where we find out what happened to Romana when she made that decision to stay behind in E-Space and not return to Gallifrey. We get to find out how Romana is helping the Tharils, particularly through Lazlo.
It’s fascinating that Lazlo is the character that interacts with Romana in ‘The Kairos Ring’ instead of Biroc. This is considering Lazlo didn’t say anything in ‘Warriors’ Gate’ when played by Jeremy Gittins. Mind you, this story is keeping more with the Target novelization.
In the 2019/2023 Target novelization/audiobook, Lazlo has a voice and is more interactive with Romana compared to how he is the TV story. I assume most listeners would follow the TV story’s continuity instead of what’s in the 2019/2023 Target novelization/audiobook.
K-9 does make an appearance in ‘The Kairos Ring’ (sort-of), though he’s stuck inside a taxi cab when Romana picks up Joshua when he ends up in London. Sadly, he’s not mentioned by name in the story, but it’s clear from reading the book and hearing the audiobook, it’s K-9.
It does get confusing when you’re trying to comprehend how Romana and Lazlo can end up in London on Earth when they’re still in E-Space. I assume they have limited access to the London library they’re in whilst trying to track down the Sluagh, but it’s not explained.
And yes, Joshua ends up in London and finds himself in a library where a group of librarians are helping Romana and Lazlo to defeat the Sluagh. And the Kairos Ring ends up being used to defeat the Sluagh. 😐 Not sure how that works, but that’s ‘Doctor Who’ for you. 😀
I can’t say the Sluagh are impressive for me in terms of being a ‘Doctor Who‘ monster. For one thing, the Sluagh don’t speak and they tend to be described as vicious monsters, especially from hearing the sound effects. There’s not much to go on concerning them. 😐
I enjoyed checking out ‘The Kairos Ring’ whilst reading the story in the ‘Warriors’ Gate and Beyond’ Target book and I’m pleased to have heard the audiobook read by Steven Pacey. I can’t say this is a story I would go back to repeatedly. Checking it out once is more than enough.
I’m not discouraging anyone checking it out, as it was great to read it through the ‘Warriors’ Gate and Beyond’ Target book and hear the audiobook via Audible. But if you’re expecting this to be an exciting follow-up to ‘Warriors’ Gate’ for Romana, don’t be so keen.
Incidentally, ‘The Kairos Ring’ as an audio episode happens to be 1 hour and 19 minutes. Thank goodness I broke this story down when checking it out in prose form as four chapters, since I wouldn’t have appreciated it had I read and heard this story all in one go.
‘The Kairos Ring’ (BTD) rating – 6/10
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