The Heart of the Battle review [Nicholas Briggs]

The Daleks want peace with Gallifrey. Ollistra sent Seratrix to them to broker a peace, but why send the Doctor and a team of Time Lords after him?

When and Where: Keska, between The Thousand Worlds and Legion of the Lost.

The Warrior's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "Where can I find you, Doctor, when I need you again?" / "At the heart of the battle, where the blood of the innocents flows and only the monstrous survive."
• Trying to make peace with the Daleks sounds ridiculous, but Seratrix's belief that this could be a reality makes more sense when we learn that they've been given an empire of more than a thousand planets.
• We've been told that Ollistra is a master manipulatrix but it's not until this story that we see any evidence of this. She sent the peace-desiring Seratrix to the Daleks to die and tried to dispose of his fellow believers Bennus and Arverton by "randomly" selecting them to detonate the Time Destructor. When the Doctor saved them, she planned to get rid of all three by sending them after Seratrix, willing to sacrifice Veklin in the process.

The Cardinal's Case:

• We learn that the purpose of the Daleks' plan (the same as in The Dalek Invasion of Earth) is to fire planets at Gallifrey (the same as in The Apocalypse Element), resulting in a story that lacks in originality. Also, a thousand planets being fired at Gallifrey at 50x the speed of light is ludicrously over the top.

This Reminds Me...:

• The Daleks' plan is a combination of their plots in The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Apocalypse Element.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: After a disappointing start, The Heart of the Battle ends the box set on a better note than it started. All plot threads introduced through this lacklustre box set are wrapped up and the Doctor and Ollistra are reset and ready for the next volume, with Rejoice gone. She was much better as an older woman than a young girl, but was still one of the most forgettable and bland Big Finish companions. Concluding a poor first series of The War Doctor, this is an okay story, and that earns it a C.

The War Doctor - Only the Monstrous

The Thousand Worlds  |  The Heart of the Battle  |  Legion of the Lost (Infernal Devices)