There's one word I want to just keep on using time again in this review, and that’s "lovely." Arrangements for War is a lovely story, with lovely performances, lovely acting, and lovely sound design. It's character driven, featuring the Doctor and Evelyn-- and Colin Baker and Maggie Stables-- at their best. The Doctor's attempt to reassure a distraught young man, Corporal Reid, soon results in a major political incident that disrupts the TARDIS travelers' planned vacation. But despite that, there's not a lot of action in this story. Instead, the Doctor finds himself an advisor to Princess Krisztina, Reid's beloved, who is obligated to marry a prince from an opposing nation to secure a lasting peace. Meanwhile, Evelyn has fallen in with Governor Rossiter, who is from a neutral nation in the conflict, and the two find their feelings for each other gradually increasing.

I've never cried listening to a Big Finish Doctor Who audio. Not during Neverland, not during Scherzo, not during The Girl Who Never Was, not during Blue Forgotten Planet, not even during this month's To the Death. I still haven't, to be honest. But Arrangements for War is the closest I've ever come-- while listening on my iPod to the last few scenes, I made my wife hold me until they were done. Thanks to the writing of Paul Sutton, the direction of Gary Russell, the performances of Colin Baker and Maggie Stables, and the sounds of Steven Foxon, these scenes had me completely within their emotional control. Everything about them worked. Even now I'm getting a little misty-eyed thinking about them.

I can't believe that I skipped over Arrangements for War on its original release, and I'm quite glad that I recently decided to jump back and pick up some of the Evelyn audios I'd skipped the first time through. This is one of Big Finish's most masterful productions in every regard, showing the real strengths of its characters, its stories, and its format. Lovely.

You can read a longer version of this review at Unreality SF.

a story of the Doctor trying to get Evelyn's mind off recent tragic events and ending up getting over-involved in a local political situation. Indeed, really rather too involved for my reading of how both the Doctor and Evelyn normally operate. But the whole thing hung together well, with a grim and tragic story which yet found some redemption at the end. ( )