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Gallifrey #2.4
Gallifrey: Insurgency
They are the brightest minds of their generation; the architects of tomorrow. And now, they have the chance to attend the finest, most exclusive school known to the temporal powers. After millennia of secrecy, the Gallifreyan Academy has opened its doors to off-worlders…
But the experiment is failing. As interracial violence erupts in the corridors of learning, somebody is using the students as pawns in a political power game - and, while Tutor Leela struggles to unravel the motives of her ex-husband, Andred, President Romana may be falling under an ancient spell.
It's a dangerous time to be a stranger on Gallifrey.
It seems that not all Time Lords want to share their secrets…
But the experiment is failing. As interracial violence erupts in the corridors of learning, somebody is using the students as pawns in a political power game - and, while Tutor Leela struggles to unravel the motives of her ex-husband, Andred, President Romana may be falling under an ancient spell.
It's a dangerous time to be a stranger on Gallifrey.
It seems that not all Time Lords want to share their secrets…
Audio CD
First published July 30, 2005
45 people want to read
About the author
Steve Lyons
186 books105 followersSteve Lyons is a science fiction writer, best known for writing television tie-ins of Doctor Who for BBC Books, and previously, Virgin. The earliest of these was Conundrum in 1994, and his most recent was 2005's The Stealers of Dreams. He has also written material for Star Trek tie-ins, as well as original work.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 8, 2025
Gallifrey Relisten-
Braxiatel has left Gallifrey and Romana is lost without the guidance of her old friend and counsellor. She is slowly losing her grip on her Presidency and she slowly knows it as she turns to Pandora for advice through K9 and as she pushes Leela further away.
Andred is slowly becoming back to normal ish even when it becomes too late for himself and Leela and Leela is uncertain in the Academy despite Braxiatel making it his last request for her to teach the students what it means to be alien on Gallifrey in the hopes it would do some good.
And the friendship between the four students in the Academy, Neeloc, Taylor, Galadina and B'arech is wonderful to see especially from Neeloc and Taylor as they remind me so much of the second Doctor and Jamie.
It is also interesting to see Narvin and Darkel finally splitting sides and Narvin questioning his loyalties to Darkel and whether or not it is really worth it for Gallifrey and Darkel is rallying up her own army for a civil war.
Absolutely brilliant politics. I love how they relate to so much in our own world only a lot more sophisticated.
5/5
Braxiatel has left Gallifrey and Romana is lost without the guidance of her old friend and counsellor. She is slowly losing her grip on her Presidency and she slowly knows it as she turns to Pandora for advice through K9 and as she pushes Leela further away.
Andred is slowly becoming back to normal ish even when it becomes too late for himself and Leela and Leela is uncertain in the Academy despite Braxiatel making it his last request for her to teach the students what it means to be alien on Gallifrey in the hopes it would do some good.
And the friendship between the four students in the Academy, Neeloc, Taylor, Galadina and B'arech is wonderful to see especially from Neeloc and Taylor as they remind me so much of the second Doctor and Jamie.
It is also interesting to see Narvin and Darkel finally splitting sides and Narvin questioning his loyalties to Darkel and whether or not it is really worth it for Gallifrey and Darkel is rallying up her own army for a civil war.
Absolutely brilliant politics. I love how they relate to so much in our own world only a lot more sophisticated.
5/5
February 21, 2018
Things seem a bit quieter without Brax. Andred is behaving more like a person. Darkel is behaving much worse. Romana seems to be going a little insane (her conversation with K9 as Pandora is definitely one of the highlights) and there are students in the acadmey that from alien worlds and there is lots of prejudice and people wanting change. A slightly new direction for series 2 but still keeping the overall theme of the series.
February 19, 2015
Still can't believe they . Plots upon plots and intrigue. Darkel is a real piece of work, but I miss Brax so hope he will be back. On edge of seat stuff. Loving this series.
June 1, 2023
Gallifrey Series 2 is proving to be one of Big Finish's finest accomplishments in political storytelling, so nearing the end of this series has been an absolute breeze, it's slow-paced but so well-written and devised.
Darkel is finally making their ultimate move against Romana and with prejudices high in Gallifrey, the students of the Academy have gone into factions and turned on one another. Leela is finding her place as a tutor, whilst Andred finally wants to do the right thing, but is it already too late?
Insurgency is by far the most political story in this series so far dealing with themes of insurrection, xenophobia, bitter selfishness, and lies said about others deemed to be lesser people by politicians that still feels very relevant in this day and age, especially with MAGA supporters and their corrupt leader. I don't like to get too political in my reviews but it does feel somewhat relevant to do so here.
Overall: Steve Lyons has written a fantastic installment that leads us into the final installment of this series! 9/10
Darkel is finally making their ultimate move against Romana and with prejudices high in Gallifrey, the students of the Academy have gone into factions and turned on one another. Leela is finding her place as a tutor, whilst Andred finally wants to do the right thing, but is it already too late?
Insurgency is by far the most political story in this series so far dealing with themes of insurrection, xenophobia, bitter selfishness, and lies said about others deemed to be lesser people by politicians that still feels very relevant in this day and age, especially with MAGA supporters and their corrupt leader. I don't like to get too political in my reviews but it does feel somewhat relevant to do so here.
Overall: Steve Lyons has written a fantastic installment that leads us into the final installment of this series! 9/10
July 29, 2019
Steve Lyons takes the series across the last threshold into the realm of a fully formed, deeply political, thriller. What we see growing and reaching a sort of fruition throughout this season is a kind of maturity that few stories in the Who-canon are allowed to reach anymore. It's stunning and from Lalla Ward and Louise Jameson on down the cast list, actors are giving remarkable performances.
When Doctor Who gets too fasinated with it's own mythology, we should all beware. But this shows that it can be done right.
When Doctor Who gets too fasinated with it's own mythology, we should all beware. But this shows that it can be done right.
October 14, 2019
This might be one of the best in the Gallifrey series yet. Curious to see where this story goes.
February 13, 2020
Deceit! Treachery! Scheming! It was sad to see Leela and Andred part ways for what seems like the last time.
May 12, 2020
Good finish to a strong second series, although clearly not at a conclusion with more to come. Tense, brooding atmosphere throughout.
August 27, 2022
Not quite as exciting as a couple of the other installments.
January 7, 2024
Shenanigans at the academy. Race riots on Gallifrey? Xenophobia runs amok. Lots of potential as it opens, but it didn’t quite deliver what I was anticipating. Still entertaining though.
September 3, 2009
It's very difficult to discuss or rate Insurgency separately from the rest of the Gallifrey series. So much of this particular installment is devoted to developing or starting plotlines that clearly won't pay off until later. This might well change my opinion of this story based on how things eventually play out. Insurgency suffers very markedly from a problem that I have with the Gallifrey series as a whole: Many of the characters here are playing very long and subtle games, making decisions based on motives and information that the listener doesn't have complete access to, and misrepresenting their intentions to other characters (and even to themselves).
When it works, it's fascinating. When it doesn't, it leaves me with the uneasy sensation that the writers are cheating: by being so mysterious about everything, they can make the story come out however they want, and justify it by ex post facto revelations about what was "really" going on.
A particular case in point: In the past few episodes, Romana has increasingly been faced with a dilemma: To defend the open, democratic, and tolerant Gallifreyan society that she's been trying to build, she's being pushed to use increasingly secret and undemocratic means. I'm gripped by the dilemma of how to defend civil society against those with no respect for it. (Who wouldn't be, in this day and age?) But I have this uneasy feeling that if Romana fails, it won't so much be because she made the wrong choices as because the writers wanted her to fail.
To the extent this audio has a self contained plot of its own, it mostly focuses on the Gallifreyan academy, and a small group of students of different species. With various people playing on the Gallifreyan's fear of outsiders and the tensions between the other species, things start to get ugly. The audio does a good job of portraying the rising tensions and the strain this places on the friendships between these students. (Although, I can't help but think that they missed a bet by not having this play out as a running thread over several audios, though time and budget constraints probably would have made this impossible.) Finally, a human student named Taylor is pushed to try something drastic to change the balance of power between Gallifreyans and non-Gallifreyans, but it seems that he might have been playing into someone else's hands all along.
On a meta note, the Gallifrey audios do somewhat undercut their own criticism of Gallifreyan xenophobia by so rarely bothering to make the non-Gallifreyan/non-human aliens compelling or sympathetic characters. Though, in fairness, the Monan character, B'arech, would probably have been more sympathetic if Monans weren't apparently required to perform all their lines in a tones composed of various linear combinations of sulkiness and outrage.
There are also some interesting developments in Andred's story. I'm still not sure whether Andred will be revealed to have been a bad guy pretending to be a good guy, a good guy pretending to be a bad guy, or a bad guy who is redeemed, possibly too late to save himself. I say "have been" because it also appears that Andred may really be dead by the end of this audio - and killed by a very surprising person. But this is one of the instances where I think the writers' general policy of mystery and misdirection may pay off.
This audio was also the first in the Gallifrey series in a long while not to feature Brax, and I was surprised by how much I missed the character, given how often he merely fills the role of Captain Snarky Exposition. This audio was sadly lacking in snarky exposition.
Despite the number of criticisms I had of this audio, I very much enjoyed it and hope that the next installment will resolve some of the questions it raises in a satisfying way.
When it works, it's fascinating. When it doesn't, it leaves me with the uneasy sensation that the writers are cheating: by being so mysterious about everything, they can make the story come out however they want, and justify it by ex post facto revelations about what was "really" going on.
A particular case in point: In the past few episodes, Romana has increasingly been faced with a dilemma: To defend the open, democratic, and tolerant Gallifreyan society that she's been trying to build, she's being pushed to use increasingly secret and undemocratic means. I'm gripped by the dilemma of how to defend civil society against those with no respect for it. (Who wouldn't be, in this day and age?) But I have this uneasy feeling that if Romana fails, it won't so much be because she made the wrong choices as because the writers wanted her to fail.
To the extent this audio has a self contained plot of its own, it mostly focuses on the Gallifreyan academy, and a small group of students of different species. With various people playing on the Gallifreyan's fear of outsiders and the tensions between the other species, things start to get ugly. The audio does a good job of portraying the rising tensions and the strain this places on the friendships between these students. (Although, I can't help but think that they missed a bet by not having this play out as a running thread over several audios, though time and budget constraints probably would have made this impossible.) Finally, a human student named Taylor is pushed to try something drastic to change the balance of power between Gallifreyans and non-Gallifreyans, but it seems that he might have been playing into someone else's hands all along.
On a meta note, the Gallifrey audios do somewhat undercut their own criticism of Gallifreyan xenophobia by so rarely bothering to make the non-Gallifreyan/non-human aliens compelling or sympathetic characters. Though, in fairness, the Monan character, B'arech, would probably have been more sympathetic if Monans weren't apparently required to perform all their lines in a tones composed of various linear combinations of sulkiness and outrage.
There are also some interesting developments in Andred's story. I'm still not sure whether Andred will be revealed to have been a bad guy pretending to be a good guy, a good guy pretending to be a bad guy, or a bad guy who is redeemed, possibly too late to save himself. I say "have been" because it also appears that Andred may really be dead by the end of this audio - and killed by a very surprising person. But this is one of the instances where I think the writers' general policy of mystery and misdirection may pay off.
This audio was also the first in the Gallifrey series in a long while not to feature Brax, and I was surprised by how much I missed the character, given how often he merely fills the role of Captain Snarky Exposition. This audio was sadly lacking in snarky exposition.
Despite the number of criticisms I had of this audio, I very much enjoyed it and hope that the next installment will resolve some of the questions it raises in a satisfying way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2024
In a lot of ways, Insurgency acts as a stepping stone to the finale Gallifrey: Imperiatrix. But there's good stuff here. The primary focus is a mixed species group of students at Romana's new Time Lord Academy. However, as the story progresses, politics and suspicions and anti-alien sentiment break up the group with the aliens returning home and one of the clique dead. In midst of this, we're introduced to acting Chancellor Valyes, Leela becomes a tutor at the academy, Darkel prepares to run against Romana for the presidency and Romana looks to the future aspect of Pandora for advice as to what the future holds. It's a decent story, though perhaps overshadowed by the finale. In some ways, despite being published in 2005, it feels very relevent with themes of anti-alien violence and racial suspicions. It's good, but the best of the season is yet to come.
June 9, 2015
Following Braxiatel’s exile from Gallifrey, the old-school Cardinal Valyes is appointed Chancellor of the Academy -- and despite what he says in public, it’s clear that he doesn’t approve of admitting aliens as students.
Nevertheless, the young Time Lord student Neeloc is enthused about the opportunities that the new policy presents, and his closest friends at the Academy are non-Gallifreyan: a human named Taylor Addison, a Phaidon Warpsmith named Galadina, and two Monans, Barech and Carel.
They are the best and the brightest of their year, and Neeloc is convinced that their cultural differences are nothing compared to their shared intellect. Like his hero, the Doctor, Neeloc intends to get out there and make a real difference, and he’s sure that he and his friends will make their mark on history...
Nevertheless, the young Time Lord student Neeloc is enthused about the opportunities that the new policy presents, and his closest friends at the Academy are non-Gallifreyan: a human named Taylor Addison, a Phaidon Warpsmith named Galadina, and two Monans, Barech and Carel.
They are the best and the brightest of their year, and Neeloc is convinced that their cultural differences are nothing compared to their shared intellect. Like his hero, the Doctor, Neeloc intends to get out there and make a real difference, and he’s sure that he and his friends will make their mark on history...
July 4, 2020
As Leela is teaching the alien students at the Academy, Romana fights for her Presidency against high inquisitor Darkma. The aliens get beaten up and are wanted thrown out. Romana fights off the Imperiatrix from becoming real.
May 4, 2016
Wow. Ramping up to the series one finale. I must say, Big Finish and this series has done a lot to improve my opinion of both Leela and Romana as characters. Looking forward to 'Impiriatrix'.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews