The War to End All Wars

Steven's choice to leave the Doctor seemed like the right thing to do at the time; he wanted to make a difference somewhere, he was tired of not being able to help out properly and being bound by the laws of time and the Doctor's insistence that they never interfere was pushing him to the edge. But after taking the leadership of the Elders and the Savages, Steven has been deposed by his own daughters years later. Visited by his granddaughter in his exile, Steven tells her of his previous life, and of a time when he, the Doctor and Dodo landed on a world which was always at war, where everyone was conscripted and no one ever came back from the front, and how they found themselves swept up in the tide of that war and ended up holding guns on a front light years from their own planets.

So it didn't go so well for Steven, did it? Mister high morals and all found himself booted out as soon as they didn't need him anymore; got themselves established as a democracy, rebuilt their world, had no use for a king, which is pretty much a dictator, and all because Steven wanted to show them the way to a proper society.... ohhhh.... hang on a second... they got it, didn't they? Was this actually a plan?

And on the other side of the episode, speaking of things not always being the same in the background, this war that Steven and Dodo are separated and sent off to fight in doesn't add up. The enemy is described as inhuman monsters without mercy and Steven immediately suspects that the Daleks are nearby. But no-one has ever seen the enemy, no-one has ever come back from the front. And on both sides politicians come and go all promising to win the war and restore peace, but the war continues like an automated process.

It's interesting that in his older age Steven is now speaking in parables, likening what's going on around him to his early years with the Doctor and drawing a moral from the story. This does, though, make for an opportunity to tell two stories at the same time which is great - until now Steven has just been relating his point of view but now we get his own story at the same time, much as we did with Ian, Susan and Vicki with their post-TARDIS adventures. Steven is far more isolated in both stories than he has been before: exiled in one, and taken from his friends in the other. One would surmise that Dodo would have her own tale to tell as well, but, alas, still no sign of Jackie Lane on the Big Finish roster. The war, though, is a convenient way to sideline her without falling back on the tactic of having her make a new best friend and run off for an afternoon shopping or something.

But taking the place of the old companions is someone new here: Steven's granddaughter Sida. She's not just here to be told a story, though; she is fully cast and voiced by Alice Haig and her presence will form something of a trilogy for Steven's post-TARDIS life, effectively making her into a companion for Steven...

NEXT EPISODE: THE FOUNDING FATHERS