Review by Daniel Mansfield

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Last time we saw Jenny and Noah, they managed to stop the murderous cyborg that had been chasing them across the universe… with devastating consequences. In the new timeline, Noah became the COLT-5000, Jenny’s sidekick now her arch enemy.

Three years later, it’s time to pick up from this shocking cliffhanger in Saving Time, a new four-episode boxset from Big Finish. Picking up immediately after the end of the previous set is Florence O’Connor and the Sandwich of Doom, a John Dorney script which sees Jenny determined to save her best friend from his murderous fate.

Fast-paced and quirky, this story features talking guinea pigs, time portals and a very important librarian whose choice of sandwich might just be the key to saving the universe. There isn’t much depth here, Dorney’s script feeling more like a romp than some of his other efforts, but this is an entertaining way to spend an hour – solid story bolstered by strong guest performances from Jessica Regan as Florence and Elizabeth Bower as the mysterious Margosia.

Next up is A Beginner’s Guide to Monsters (and How to Slay Them) by Rochana Patel, which is without a doubt the weakest story in this set. Like the previous episode, this is very much a runaround with no depth, but it also suffers from being quite boring. Apart from this, there really isn’t much to say about this story.

Episode three, Genesis of the Humans, is like Into the Dalek on steroids, seeing Jenny and Noah miniaturised and sent inside a man who is purportedly the genetic template for all of humanity. What follows are several trippy, dreamlike scenarios created by Theo’s body as a defence against the two intruders, with Jenny and Noah thrust into various strange situations that test their relationship.

This story sees the return of Simon Fisher-Becker as unscrupulous blue bartender Dorium Maldovar, and Stuart Milligan as the slimy froglike conman Garundel. While the latter gets much more airtime here than the former, it’s great to her from both of them, their re-appearances We also get some much-needed answers here about just who Noah is and, while we don’t go into too much depth, the explanation is at least satisfying.

Lizzie Hopley‘s finale, Reboot, is quite possibly the strongest story in the series so far, seeing Jenny faced with the villainous Jexabel Glyce (Anna Lundberg), the Richest Woman in the Universe. Hopley makes Jexabel into a really formidable foe, fleshing her out remarkably well over the hour-long runtime. She also creates a fascinating storyworld, with some unique challenges for both Jenny and Noah.

There are great moments for both the main characters and Jexabel, as well as some intriguing revelations that close down some of this series’ long-running storylines. A Black Mirror-esque story with a great villain and glorious dark humour, Reboot is an excellent finale.

Overall, this is the best Jenny set so far, with a glorious central performance from Georgia Tennant and some unexpected development of the series’ story arc. I’m excited to see what happens next.

Saving Time is available on CD or as a download from http://www.bigfinish.com