Gallifrey V

Following on from a rather weak fourth season, Gallifrey returns to its roots as a political thriller. Shorter than the prior seasons, this one consists of three one-hour episodes, rather than four.

Emancipation
Several months after the events of the previous season, Romana is now serving as the Lord President of an alternate reality version of Gallifrey – one which never developed time travel technology. The background to the story is her attempts to gain safe access to a mineral required to build TARDISes, currently controlled by the rag-tag Outsiders beyond the Citadel. Complicating this, and rather more centre-stage, are moves by traditionalist Gallifreyans to depose her, ending time travel experimentation and bringing back slavery.

For a one-hour episode, this has quite a few twists and turns, and there are a number of suspects for who exactly is behind the assassination attempts and other skulduggery. In this respect, it works rather well, although sci-fi fans should note that it's basically a conventional thriller that just happens to be set on an alien planet. It's also not standalone, and does require some limited knowledge of the previous seasons. If none of these things worry you, it's a great return to form for the series. 4.5 stars.

Evolution
This second episode splits the story between two separate threads, which only come together near the end. In one, Romana is hosting a sort of X-Prize for time travel technology, while, in the other, Leela explores an old biomedical research facility that has been taken over by a religious cult. It's a change of pace from the first story, with dark secrets a-plenty, but little in the way of overt action or high tension.

The story is, at least in part, about the legacy of slavery on this alternate Gallifrey, and how neither the former slaves nor their masters have fully left behind their pasts or the culture they created. Once again, the characters are well-drawn, with the core of the story being the mystery of what exactly what one of the scientists has achieved, and how it connects with the cult's visions of other-worldly deliverance. It's a mystery that is not fully resolved, perhaps being left open for the next season. 4 stars.

Arbitration
Leela causes a diplomatic incident that could lead to all-out civil war across the planet. This is a tense story that focuses on powerful moral issues, as the righteousness of Leela's cause is pitted against the terrible disaster that following it will bring. (Fiat justitia ruat caelum and all that, appropriately enough in a story concerning slave emancipation). It's notable that the main villain, who is, among other things, an apologist for slavery, does get some good lines, and some detailed, if admittedly odious, justification for what he's done.

The story continually ratchets up the tension, with the imminent escape of the central characters back to ‘our universe' hanging over the escalating crisis. It ends on a dramatic and unexpected cliffhanger, to be followed up in the sixth season - at the time, planned to be the last one in the series, although some short sequels eventually followed. 5 stars.

Overall, 4.5 stars, rounding up to 5.