Big Finish - Lost Stories Season 4
The alien villains in this story are terrors on a killing spree but their motives are very ambiguous. This is a long story, as Katy Manning, Richard Franklin, and Ken Bentley point out in their after the story chatter, which is quite fun on this audio. The motives of Prince Cassie are a bit odd as well – the plague of this story is the motivation! The action is well conceived for the most part. I like the various methods the Doctor tries to use to contact UNIT then ends up with a hawk. And the most compelling feature of the prince is that he gets angry easily.
And I think the Master gave the prince his plan then left him on his own to pull it off, leaving the Mega behind to help implement it? It gets a bit hazy in the middle. I rather enjoyed this story overall and it did keep me on pins and needles at times – what will they do next?!?! And what will a guy do who can listen to any conversation anywhere in the world? Now that is more of a super power than anything else… There are times that this story makes me wonder why the doctor doesn’t have a smart phone or tiny camera on hand to help him with his investigations.
My issue with the 3rd Doctor companions is always that they don’t “do” deception. They are always up front with opposing whatever is the villainous plan of the week but they give no consideration for actually going along with the plan until they can sabotage it. A symptom of the times, perhaps? Earlier companions, like Barbara and Ian, do this to a certain degree but Jo and Liz and the Brigadier seem to just blurt out everything and almost get themselves killed for it. The good guys should always be forthright, perhaps? Not sure why they don’t have a deceptive bone in their bodies sometimes but it can put me right out of the story, too.
Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Richard Franklin (Mike Yates), Bo Poraj (Wiley/Cassie/Prime Minister/Man), Derek Carlyle (Magee/Laurence/The Mega/Chap)
Writer: Bill Strutton, adapted by Simon Guerrier
Director: Ken Bentley
Release: December 2013