Seventh Doctor's Machinations

For me, it’s undoubtedly the Klein arc that demonstrates Seven at his peak. That’s Colditz, A Thousand Tiny Wings, Klein’s Story, Survival of the Fittest, and The Architects of History. Klein’s Story is the real meat and potatoes in terms of Seven’s scheming. I don’t think it’s him at his absolute cruelest, especially given Klein’s backstory and her ultimate goals too, but it still draws attention to how he uses people like pawns to achieve his goals.

Besides that, Subterfuge is a good one and so is LIVE 34, the latter of which places you in a position where you’re an outsider looking in as one of the Doctor’s plans unfolds. Also if the audio adaptation of Love and War falls into your territory, that’s absolutely the best example out of any of these for Seven’s manipulation and cruelty.

I’d also recommend looking here for more machinations in the form of the Black/White TARDIS storyline:

notthebigfinishforum.freeforums.net/thread/737/black-tardis-white

(With thanks to Digi for bringing the arc stories together)

I remember listening through it at the time and starting to do a double take.


Maybe just read Digi’s post and not the one following it if you don’t know the details of the arc!

The Big Finish adaptation of Love and War (and, I assume, the original novel) hits very hard with the emotional repercussions of his lies. Just be prepared to lie in bed staring at the ceiling for a while after you’ve finished.