‘AGENTS OF CHAOS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Shadow, Eternity and Harmony with the War Doctor

Let’s venture forth once again with Sir John Hurt as the War Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’! 🙂

You may have noticed that I don’t review every ‘War Doctor’ box set by Big Finish in an instant when they come out and I don’t review them year after year. The fact that I’m not a fan of the War Doctor as a concept in ‘Doctor Who’ accounts for that, but there is another reason to fuel that motivation. 🙂

Whilst I’m pleased that John Hurt recorded some Big Finish audios as the War Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’, following his appearance in ‘The Day of the Doctor’, he sadly only recorded four box set adventures, since he sadly passed away in January 2017. It’s a shame, as I have enjoyed him in these.

I’ve savoured each box set adventure featuring John Hurt’s War Doctor when I get to hear them, and I don’t feel the need to rush and check out every box set. I’m happy to check out ‘Agent of Chaos’ for now and wait for a while before I get the chance to check out the fourth box set: ‘Casualties of War’.

As far as I’m concerned, John Hurt is the definitive actor to play the War Doctor – that should be a no brainer. 😀 I’ve enjoyed ‘Only The Monstrous’ and ‘Infernal Devices’, and I’ve enjoyed checking out ‘Agents of Chaos’. I’m hoping to keep the memory of John Hurt’s War Doctor alive for a while longer.

It’s why I haven’t checked out ‘The War Doctor Begins’ audio box sets, starring Jonathon Carley as the War Doctor yet. I’m sure Jonathon Carley is very good in playing the character in those audio box sets, and I’m sure there will come a time when I will check out ‘The War Doctor Begins’ box sets.

For the time being, I’d like to focus on John Hurt as the War Doctor, and I have ‘Agents of Chaos’ and ‘Casualties of War’ to enjoy before the time comes for me to accept the end of his appearances in ‘Doctor Who’. They have been engaging and gripping to listen to, as John Hurt is a key factor to that.

At the time of this review, I purchased ‘Agents of Chaos’ to celebrate the John Hurt/War Doctor era of ‘Doctor Who’, as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations in 2023. Granted, John Hurt didn’t have much of an era on TV to begin with, as he appeared in one TV story to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

But John Hurt is still considered one of the main Doctors in ‘Doctor Who’, and it’s only fair I should include him in the proceedings to celebrate 60 years of the TV show. I’m also pleased the War Doctor has had a life in comics and books as well as audios. Some of which I have yet to check out. 🙂

‘Agents of Chaos’ is another collection of three-linked episodes. They include ‘The Shadow Vortex’ by David Llewellyn, ‘The Eternity Cage’ by Andrew Smith and ‘Eye of Harmony’ by Ken Bentley. Nicholas Briggs is once again the director of this ‘War Doctor’ box set, since he directed the first two.

Originally, ‘Agents of Chaos’ was released as a 4-disc CD box set. When I purchased ‘Agents of Chaos’ from the Big Finish website, the box set was out of print on CD. But that doesn’t matter to me, since I’m fine with owning the rest of ‘The War Doctor’ audio stories as downloads instead of CD box sets.

As well as the three episodes, there’s a behind-the-scenes documentary focusing on the making of ‘Agents of Chaos’ with behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews. ‘Agents of Chaos’ stars John Hurt as the War Doctor and Jacqueline Pearce as Cardinal Ollistra. They’ve become regulars in this series. 😀

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1. ‘THE SHADOW VORTEX’

In the first episode of ‘Agents of Chaos’ called ‘The Shadow Vortex’, the War Doctor finds himself visiting East and West Berlin on planet Earth in 1961 during the Cold War. I quite like this episode. 🙂

One of the reasons why I’m not so keen on the War Doctor stories in ‘Doctor Who’ is that there’s not much variety to them. You’re limited to just one time and place, which happens to be the Time War.

So, for this episode, I’m glad we have the War Doctor visit Earth for a change to stop a terrible disaster as part of the Time War. It means that the War Doctor isn’t restricted to just alien planets. 🙂

The episode’s writer, David Llewellyn, is someone who has written several ‘Doctor Who’ audio stories over the years. They include ‘Serpent In The Silver Mask’ and ‘Tartarus’ with the Fifth Doctor.

He’s also written for ‘The War Master’ series, including episodes of ‘Rage of the Time Lords’ and episodes of ‘Hearts of Darkness’. He also wrote the Fifth and Tenth Doctors story ‘The Gates of Hell’.

I enjoyed David Llewellyn’s take on the War Doctor, and John Hurt plays well to the script’s strengths. I quite like how John Hurt’s War Doctor tackles being on Earth to prevent a Dalek invasion.

The Doctor has been sent to Earth by Jacqueline Pearce as Cardinal Ollistra. He’s on the trial of a Dalek agent called Lara Zannis. She happens to be played by Madame Vastra actress Neve McIntosh.

It was nice to hear Neve McIntosh in a ‘Doctor Who’ episode where she didn’t have to wear any Silurian make-up. In fact, no make-up is required, since Lara Zannis is a human working for the Daleks.

I’m not sure why Lara Zannis is willing to serve the Daleks, as it’s not explored. There isn’t a scene between John Hurt’s War Doctor and Lara where he’s questioning her collaboration with the Daleks.

Lara also seems to know about the Doctor already, probably from her conversations with the Dalek Time Strategist who orders her to set up the Shadow Vortex on Earth. Ah, the Dalek Time Strategist.

If you don’t recall, a Dalek Time Strategist was in two episodes of ‘Dark Eyes 4’ with Paul McGann. It was very fascinating to hear it in this episode. Nicholas Briggs voices it differently than other Daleks.

However, this could be a different Dalek Time Strategist compared to the one that was in ‘Dark Eyes 4’. I’m not sure. It has been a while since checking out ‘Dark Eyes 4’, and things might have changed.

Apparently, Lara Zannis was responsible for an attack on a Draconian embassy during the Time War, I believe. She’s a ruthless woman, especially when knocking out her two guards at the Stasi base. 😮

The episode starts with the War Doctor and Lara Zannis imprisoned. Once Lara is out, the War Doctor acquires the services of Timothy Speyer as Kruger, who is a member of the Stasi in Germany.

The Stasi are the East German secret police during the Cold War. It was intriguing to hear a Cold War setting in this ‘Doctor Who’ episode compared to say hearing a World War II setting in ‘Doctor Who’.

Kruger ends up being a short-time companion when he joins the War Doctor in his TARDIS to stop Lara Zannis. He’s amazed when he sees the TARDIS interior. I did enjoy the Doctor’s reaction to that.

There’s also Helen Goldwyn as Professor Crane, who is a British scientist working in West Berlin. She’s suspicious of Lara Zannis setting up the Shadow Vortex and she helps the Doctor and Kruger. 🙂

The episode also features Matthew Cottle as Leith, a British military commander who funded Professor Crane’s work. He sadly gets exterminated by the Daleks that arrive via the Shadow Vortex.

There’s also Gunnar Cauthery as Kavarin, who I believe works with the KGB. He seemed to know a lot about the Daleks in this story. He tries to make a bargain with them before he gets exterminated.

Thankfully, the Doctor saves the day and planet Earth. When he returns to his TARDIS, he receives a message from Honeysuckle Weeks as Heleyna of Gallifrey. She tells him Ollistra has been kidnapped.

‘The Shadow Vortex’ is a good opening episode in ‘Agents of Chaos’. I enjoyed the Cold War setting and the episode is engaging to listen to. John Hurt also excels whenever he’s playing the War Doctor.

‘The Shadow Vortex’ rating – 8/10

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2. ‘THE ETERNITY CAGE’

In the second episode of ‘Agents of Chaos’ called ‘The Eternity Cage’, the War Doctor meets up with Heleyna, who tells what happened to Ollistra. There are a few flashback sequences which depict this.

It turns out Ollistra has been kidnapped by the Sontarans. They want to partake in the Time War, which they consider the ultimate conflict. They’re denied this by both Time Lords and Daleks alike. 😐

I did wonder why they would be denied to fight in the Time War, as established in ‘The Sontaran Stratagem’. It seems the Sontarans don’t understand time-travel capabilities like Time Lords and Dalek do.

On one level, I find that an odd statement, as surely Sontarans have some time-travel abilities, as established in ‘The Time Warrior’. They also managed to invade Gallifrey in ‘The Invasion of Time’. 😐

Then again, they could have been lucky on both occasions. After all, the Sontarans had the Vardans to get to Gallifrey. 🙂 And it’s likely Time Lords and Daleks are more sophisticated than the Sontarans.

The War Doctor is asked to be part of a rescue team to recover Cardinal Ollistra. At first, the Doctor is sceptical, as Ollistra branded him a war criminal during ‘Infernal Devices’. Thus, he has a grudge. 😐

But of course, the War Doctor eventually helps to save Ollistra. He and Heleyna soon join a team to go to the planet Rovidia. They hope to save Ollistra and prevent the Sontarans entering the TIme War. 🙂

I’m pleased the Sontarans are in this War Doctor adventure. Apparently, it was suggested that the War Doctor and the Sontarans had never met each other, according to one of Strax’s ‘Field Reports’.

But of course, that has been debunked. It’s great Andrew Smith is the writer of this episode. Andrew Smith is no stranger to Sontarans, as he penned ‘The First Sontarans’ with the Sixth Doctor and Peri.

He also wrote ‘The Sontaran Ordeal’ with the Eighth Doctor, which had the Sontarans in an almost Time War setting too. I enjoyed Andrew’s take on the War Doctor. He really gets into his character. 🙂

There’s the flippant and bitter side to him, especially when he’s interacting with other Time Lords, but there’s also the compassionate side, especially when he meets the Rovidian urchin named Kalan.

Josh Bolt guest stars as Kalan. He seems to be a pleasant person on Rovidia, who’s willing to help the War Doctor and his team on finding Ollistra. But suspicions are raised on Kalan’s willingness to help.

These suspicions are raised by Andrew French as Muren, who is a Time Lord commander in charge of the team rescuing Ollistra. He suspects that a spy has betrayed his team to the Sontarans on Rovidia.

Dan Starkey returns to play the Sontarans in this episode. He particularly plays Fesk of the Eighth Sontarans Battle Fleet. It was so fascinating to hear Fesk’s determination to partake in the Time War.

It turns out the Sontarans can use time pocket technology to outwit the Time Lords and the Daleks. This is especially when the Sontarans thwart the Daleks before they capture their Time Strategist. 😐

As the Doctor and his team discover more about what’s going on, they uncover a crashed Battle TARDIS as well as Time Lord in an Eternity Cage that’s generating the time pockets for the Sontarans.

This Time Lord happens to be Barnaby Edwards as Vassarian. The Doctor is able to communicate with Vassarian telepathically, as they work together to thwart the Sontarans’ diabolical intentions. 🙂

It was fascinating to hear the Dalek Time Strategist captured by the Sontarans and be imprisoned with Ollistra. As prisoners, Ollistra and the Time Strategist discuss the Sontarans and their intentions.

It was quite unnerving to hear that, especially when Ollistra and the Time Strategist are deadly enemies to each other. Also intriguing how they’re against the Sontarans partaking in the Time War.

The episode ends with the War Doctor, Kalan and Ollistra trying to escape. Muren got killed. But it turns out that Heleyna is the real traitor, as she tried to shoot Ollistra and she tries to kill the Doctor.

It was quite a shock to hear John Hurt’s War Doctor falling through the sky. I wonder how he’s going to survive that. ‘The Eternity Cage’ is a pretty good audio episode, especially with the Sontarans in it.

‘The Eternity Cage’ rating – 8/10

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3. ‘EYE OF HARMONY’

In the third and final episode of ‘Agents of Chaos’ called ‘Eye of Harmony’, the War Doctor survives falling through the sky after he’s been saved by Cardinal Ollistra. But there are now bigger problems.

Heleyna takes Ollistra prisoner, and they go deeper into the Battle TARDIS that once belonged to Vassarian. The Doctor and Kalan pursue after them and they hope to stop whatever Heleyna’s doing.

It’s intriguing this final episode of ‘Agents of Chaos’ has a small cast compared to previous episodes, since John Hurt, Jacqueline Pearce, Honeysuckle Weeks, Josh Bolt and Nick Briggs take up the bulk. 🙂

This episode also happens to be penned by Big Finish director Ken Bentley. My last encounter with Ken Bentley as a writer was when he wrote ‘The Chartwell Metamorphosis’ for ‘The Churchill Years’.

I didn’t find ‘The Chartwell Metamorphosis’ very inspiring, since there wasn’t enough Eleventh Doctor in it. Now with ‘Eye of Harmony’, I found this a pretty compelling audio episode to listen to. 🙂

I was keen to find out what was going on with Heleyna’s plan, and I enjoyed the interaction between her and Ollistra as well as between the War Doctor and Kalan. It helps that this is a full-cast drama. 🙂

I believe that was another problem with ‘The Chartwell Metamorphosis’, considering it had more audiobook elements than full-cast drama, with Ian McNeice as Churchill being mostly the narrator. 😐

It was nice to hear how the War Doctor and Kalan interacted with each other. Kalan could’ve been a worthy companion to travel with the War Doctor in the TARDIS. Sadly, it ends in tragedy for Kalan. 😦

Heleyna reveals her plan to Ollistra, as she’s getting revenge on the Time Lords for the death of her grandfather who was opposed to the Time War. Heleyna shows no-nonsense carrying out her plans.

Ollistra tries to reason with Heleyna, but she refuses to listen. It was compelling to hear their fiery conversations, and that’s all down to Jacqueline Pearce and Honeysuckle Weeks’ performances here.

It’s also interesting there are echoes of Seratrix’s attempt to make peace with the Daleks from ‘Only The Monstrous’. But Heleyna’s plan does involve torturing Ollistra, connected to the Eye of Harmony.

Oh yeah! Heleyna and Ollistra go to the heart of the Battle TARDIS they’re in, and they find the Eye of Harmony. I liked the echoes of ‘The TV Movie’ in this story when explaining the Eye of Harmony. 🙂

It’s established that the Eyes of Harmony in TARDISes are connected to the Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey. I believe it’s something that Terrance Dicks made clear when authored ‘The Eight Doctors’.

There’s also mention of the Quadriggers when Heleyna uses equipment that would have been used to repair TARDISes. I wonder if Quadrigger Stoyn would be proud of Heleyna’s efforts in this story. 😐

The Dalek Time Strategist continues to be manipulative as ever, especially when it goes back on its word to resurrect Heleyna’s grandfather when she works for them. Heleyna should have seen this coming.

Yeah, I would have thought Heleyna would be smarter than that, since it’s known the Daleks are capable of lying and only think about themselves. Does blind revenge make you forget these things?

I like how the Doctor turns things in his favour when he announces a future event that will ultimately ruin the Daleks and Heleyna’s plans with the Eye of Harmony. Thus, the Dalek plans quickly backfire.

As the War Doctor helps Ollistra to escape, Kalan tries to save Heleyna. When she refuses, Kalan gets caught in the time distortion of the Eye of Harmony, which ultimately kills him. So sad this occurred.

Thankfully, the Doctor gets Heleyna to help when he communicates to her via the Battle TARDIS’ telepathic circuits. Thus, Heleyna’s assistance permits the Doctor and Ollistra their chance to escape.

The Doctor and Ollistra soon find themselves stranded from Gallifrey. With Kalan dead and without his TARDIS, as it was locked away by Heleyna, the Doctor does not know what he and Ollistra can do.

This ends ‘Agents of Chaos’ on a cliffhanger, which I was quite surprised by. Mind you, I suppose everything will be alright for the War Doctor, as he’ll get his TARDIS back for ‘The Day of the Doctor’.

After ‘Eye of Harmony’, there’s a suite of incidental music to enjoy.

‘Eye of Harmony’ rating – 8/10

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BEHIND-THE-SCENES

The behind-the-scenes making-of documentary of ‘Agents of Chaos’ would be on Disc 4 of the CD box set. It has behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew of this three-part adventure. Like ‘Only The Monstrous’ and ‘Infernal Devices’, it’s intriguing hearing how ‘Agents of Chaos’ came to be.

It starts off with an introduction by Nicholas Briggs who directed the three-part story and voiced the Daleks. Throughout the box set, there’s the theme of agents during a war, which is something that Nick Briggs makes clear as he’s discussing the three episodes featured throughout ‘Agents of Chaos’.

There’s then a look into the making of each of the three episodes of ‘Agents of Chaos’. We first go into ‘The Shadow Vortex’. We have interviews with writer David Llewellyn and cast members John Hurt, Neve McIntosh, Helen Goldwyn, Timothy Speyer, and Matthew Cottle and Gunnar Cauthery. 🙂

After that, we have a look into ‘The Eternity Cage’, where there are interviews with writer Andrew Smith and actors Barnaby Edwards and Andrew French. I’m surprised that Dan Starkey, who plays the Sontarans, wasn’t interviewed for this box set. Script editor Matt Fitton isn’t interviewed either.

Finally, we have a look into ‘Eye of Harmony’, where there are interviews with writer Ken Bentley and cast members Josh Bolt and Honeysuckle Weeks. David Richardson is also interviewed, as he pays tribute to Jacqueline Pearce. I’m surprised that she wasn’t interviewed for this box set either. 😐

There’s talk about John Hurt by the cast and crew, who praise him. Incidentally, Barnaby Edwards discusses his roles in both ‘Only The Monstrous’ and ‘Agents of Chaos’. I also like Josh Bolt talking about Kalan, who refers to the Sontarans as ‘moon-heads’ and he calls the War Doctor ‘Grey Beard’.

‘Agents of Chaos’ has been another great three-part ‘War Doctor’ audio adventure. Even though I’m not a fan of the War Doctor as a concept, I do enjoy checking out these Big Finish audios. They have given the late John Hurt a huge opportunity to play his Doctor more compared to playing him once on TV.

I’m not sure when I’ll be checking out ‘Casualties of War’ next, especially since it’s the final box set adventure to feature John Hurt as the War Doctor. I’m sure I’ll be checking it out soon, especially as it follows up on the cliffhanger ending of ‘Agents of Chaos’ and it features Louise Jameson as Leela. 🙂

‘Agents of Chaos’ box set rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the War Doctor was ‘Infernal Devices’ (Audio)	The next story For the War Doctor is ‘Casualties of War’ (Audio)
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