Gallifrey VI

This collection of 3 hour-long episodes had the unenviable task of not only wrapping up the “alternate Gallifrey” arc of the previous two seasons, but also the “time terrorists” arc of the first three, an ending that had, by this point, been long delayed.

* Extermination - This episode has the somewhat simpler job of concluding the “alternate Gallifrey” plot line, which it does by facing off the non-time travelling Gallifreyans of the alternate reality against the Daleks - a foe they are entirely unfamiliar with. For the most part, it's an action story, with the three central characters struggling to survive against the Dalek invasion as the death toll mounts around them. The resolution is, perhaps, not terribly innovative or surprising, but it's notable that Romana shows a particularly vicious streak in one scene with the Dalek commander, lending a dark tone to the story.

* Renaissance/Ascension - Effectively a two-part story, this concerns the main characters' return to the original Gallifrey, to face, and hopefully resolve the viral outbreak created by the Free Time terrorists at the end of the third season (released seven years previously). The first half, as they try to figure out their new surroundings, moves rather slowly, although there is a decent build up of mystery around events, as well as an entertaining turn from Juliet Landau as the Third Romana, travelling in from the future (or is she?) Things pick up immensely in the second half as what's been going on finally becomes clear and Gallifrey stands, once again, on the brink of disaster.

There are a lot of nice ideas in this final episode, with the sort of complex plotting that was evident in the early seasons. There are a number of nods to the fans, too, with references to events in both the old and new series of Doctor Who, and, in the form of Landau's character, even the BBC novels of the late '90s. With both the main plot arcs wrapped up, this could have served as a perfectly good finale for the Gallifrey series as a whole (and was apparently intended as such at the time), although later stories did follow, and one can see their seeds here.

The final episode is an easy five stars, and the others come close enough that the average rounds up to that, too.