Old Soldiers

Many years into the future, the Brigadier pours a drink and toasts to absent friends. He recalls seeing men fall in service, both at his side and under his command, but in particular one old friend who was transferred to West Germany and then called out for his help. As a loyal friend the Brigadier attended and witnessed an incursion by an enemy that can walk through walls to attack, and when he needed help the Doctor came to his aid. The Brigadier muses that there are few old soldiers in the world, and death is a reminder of why.

Normally I leave the Companion Chronicles like this until a time after a character no longer appears in the series. giving them a bit more perspective on their time with the Doctor and time to get their new lives sorted out. This time, though, I have placed it where it is set in continuity, immediately following the end of Doctor Who and the Silurians. The Doctor is outraged at the Brigadier for blowing up the Silurian habitat and marches out of UNIT with the Brigadier wondering if he would see him again. The call for the Brigadier's help comes soon after and when he finds himself overwhelmed eventually he is surprised to have the Doctor come to his aid. We never really see it on screen and it's not explicitly said here either but there's a forgiveness granted by the Doctor; as the story is told from the Brigadier's perspective there's no insight into when the Doctor gets over what the Brigadier had to do in the line of his duty, but coming to his aid as he did is the sign that he understands what that duty is.

The other reason for doing this tale where I have is because the Brigadier is around a very long time in the series, across all the media and crossing paths with almost every Doctor over time. It's more effective to tell this story closer to the Brigadier's more active days with the Doctor than years and years later... cause it could take that long before I reach his final appearance. This is the only Companion Chronicle that Nicholas Courtney actually does as the Brigadier and he only gets a few more outings with Big Finish as it is. This is a unique character in the whole universe that is Doctor Who; no other has adventured with as many Doctors as the Brigadier, and no other has been called "the Doctor's greatest ally" (words from the Great Intelligence in the Lethbridge Stewart range) not even the infamous companion Sarah Jane Smith. It's a unique friendship stepped in blood and fire, there's no other like it in the series; indeed the Doctor's involvement with UNIT itself carries on long after the Brigadier is gone, and try as it may the new series has yet to really capture that again try as it might with other groups like Torchwood or the tremendously unlikely and boring Paternastor Gang on the new series circa 2010 to 2014.

NEXT EPISODE: THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH