‘GOD OF WAR’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Ice Warriors and Viking Women with the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric
Peter Davison in ‘God of War’.
After ‘Secrets of Telos’ in the first ‘Forty’ box set, we move on to ‘God of War’ where the Fifth Doctor is displaced in time again. He ends up with Nyssa, Tegan and Adric in the Season 19 period. 🙂
‘God of War’ takes place between ‘The Visitation’ and ‘Black Orchid’ (more specifically between ‘Zaltys’’ and ‘Kingdom of Lies’, I believe). References to ‘Kinda’ are made a few times during this story.
In this adventure, the TARDIS foursome end up in 9th century Iceland near a Viking settlement. Soon, they come across the Ice Warriors, as some Viking women believe the Grand Marshal is a god.
This is the first time I’ve come across Sarah Grochala as a ‘Doctor Who’ writer. I believe this is the first time that she’s written for the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric in the Big Finish audio dramas.
She writes well them for them in this adventure. Mind you, I wish ‘God of War’ was a four-parter instead of a two-parter in this box set, as more time could have been spent on this TARDIS foursome.
Sarah Sutton in ‘God of War’.
I’m not really a fan of the Ice Warriors compared to the Cybermen, but they’re done decently well in this audio adventure. Nicholas Briggs is also very good at voicing the Ice Warriors in ‘Doctor Who’. 🙂
The main Ice Warrior that he plays is their leader, Grand Marshal Xasslyr. It was very nice to hear how the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric interacted with the Ice Warriors in this Big Finish audio.
It’s very refreshing and it’s good to know this is the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric’s earliest encounter with Ice Warriors. The Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy can meet Ice Warriors in a future story.
This story also features Belinda Lang as Revna Ulfsdottir and Matilda Tucker as Inga Kundsdottir. Apparently, Belinda Lang also worked with Matthew Waterhouse in ‘To Serve Them All My Days’. 😀
Revna and Inga are two Icelandic/Viking woman who are very intriguing to listen to. It was fascinating to hear the backstory of how Revna fled and killed her husband to protect her daughters.
Janet Fielding in ‘God of War’.
Apparently, Revna has more than one daughter, even though we don’t get to hear the others in this story. Inga is the only daughter who gets to say dialogue and the only one to survive the Ice Warriors.
I liked the scenes Inga had with Tegan when they were aboard an Ice Warrior ship and they were suffocating before Adric rescued them. Adric forms a bond with Inga by the time this story is over. 🙂
It was interesting that Adric actually considered staying behind on Earth with Inga when she had no-one to look out for. The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa rightly point out the cons concerning Adric’s idea. 😐
Of course, it’s Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse who stand out for me as the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric, especially in both of the first two ‘Forty’ stories. 🙂
I greatly enjoyed listening to the TARDIS foursome and the actors continue to be enthusiastic about their characters. They slip right into their characters into these audios like they’ve never been away.
Matthew Waterhouse in ‘God of War’.
It was interesting to hear how Peter Davison’s Doctor interacted with Adric and told him that he was being displaced throughout his timeline. He tells Adric not to tell Nyssa and Tegan about this revelation.
Knowing that Adric is going to die in ‘Earthshock’, the Doctor tries to be kinder to Adric and not treat him like a kid. He even allows Adric to go to rescue Tegan and Igna whilst Nyssa protests about him going off alone.
Sarah Sutton is lovely as Nyssa in this audio story. It’s intriguing that Nyssa carries around a tincture (a medicine that consists of a substance in a solution of alcohol) on her to keep her and Tegan warm.
Perhaps Nyssa should give that to Billy at some point in a future story. 😀 Nyssa also helps the Doctor a lot in certain scenes, especially as she tries to repair Grand Marshal Xasslyr’s bioelectronic armour.
Janet Fielding is very good as Tegan in this audio adventure. This is at a point where Tegan is still determined to return to Heathrow Airport. She shares some nice scenes with Nyssa during the story.
This is especially when the two women meet up with the Icelandic women who are convinced that Xasslyr is their god. Tegan disguises Nyssa being asleep in bed when she goes out to visit a glacier. 🙂
Matthew Waterhouse is excellent as Adric in this audio story. There are times where he can be a bit immature and cold, but he has compassion, especially when he’s concerned about Inga’s well-being.
It was intriguing how Adric reacted to the Ice Warriors when he and the Doctor encounter Xasslyr and how he tries negotiating with some Ice Warriors who are about to execute him, Tegan and Igna.
The story ends with Nyssa and Adric accompanying Igna to catch up with a sailing ship that’s about to come ashore. The Doctor meanwhile finds that he’s being dragged along his timeline once again.
Nicholas Briggs in ‘God of War’.
‘God of War’ is an enjoyable two-part adventure featuring the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric. I wish it was a four-part story, but there are some enjoyable moments in it that are nice to listen to. 🙂
At the end of Disc 3 of the first ‘Forty’ box set, there are behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew, including Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse, Belinda Lang, Matilda Tucker, writer Sarah Grochala, etc.
If you purchase the two ‘Forty’ box sets in a bundle from Big Finish, you’ll get the bonus ‘Interludes’ story called ‘I, Kamelion’, featuring the Fifth Doctor, Turlough and Kamelion, and read by Dan Starkey.
I greatly enjoyed the behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew for both ‘Secrets of Telos’ and ‘God of War’ in the first ‘Forty’ box set. It’s amazing the cast and crew were able to record these audio stories, especially when we were living during the Covid-19 pandemic that occurred at the time.
I’ve heard from a few people that some have criticised the first ‘Forty’ box set of ‘Doctor Who’. I don’t tend to read other opinions about certain Big Finish audio releases of ‘Doctor Who’, but I don’t see what the complaining is about, as I thoroughly enjoyed the two stories in the first ‘Forty’ box set.
Some have also complained about Big Finish’s 2022 slogan and opening ident at the beginning of each audio story. I don’t mind this so much. If Sony can change their opening logo before a ‘Venom’ or a ‘Spider-Man’ movie, why shouldn’t Big Finish be allowed to change their slogan and opening ident before an audio story?
As long as the story is present and is easy enough to follow, I’m happy with that. Quite often, Big Finish make changes to how they present the front covers of ‘Doctor Who’ stories, so why should this be different? It’s a minor complaint that shouldn’t be made a big issue of when you’re thinking about it.
It’s been nice to revisit the two ‘Forty’ stories and to do in-depth reviews on them. After I finished the first ‘Forty’ box set in January 2022, I was looking forward to how the saga would end in the second box set, which was to be released in September 2022. There were still questions hanging in the air though. 😐
Who or what was dragging the Fifth Doctor in and out of his timeline? Would it mean a union of the Fifth Doctor and his companions by the end of the ‘Forty’ saga in a similar vein to how Russell T. Davies did things in ‘Journey’s End’? I hoped so and I was very keen and intrigued to find out more.
‘God of War’ rating – 8/10
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