A wonderful concept and perhaps it would have benefited from being a four part story rather than just two.

After reading The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly perhaps my expectations were raised too high by the prospect of this story.

Still, just like the other stories in this set, it was a very enjoyable listen.

This is the first part of a two part story and it ends with a strong cliffhanger. The episode overall is not hugely exciting or outstanding but it is a decent standard story with some very good aspects. The make up effects are very good and the 'gangers' are creepy. They do turn out, as is often the case, to not be as evil or one dimensional as it first may appear. This is a double edged sword as on one hand it lessens the threat and menace of potential villains but on the other hand it adds depth and a thoughtful aspect about what makes us who we are. If this episode was followed by a second part that took the build up to a higher level with a perfectly judged climax then this story would stand up alongside great, fun stories of the past but this episode is not entirely effective in the build up and the second part, in my opinion, is not as good as this one so it ends up a bit flat and disappointing.

Taken on its own there are no major problems with this episode and it has some nice gothic horror aspects harking back to the classics stories of years gone by but this potential for a scary horror episode do not come fully to fruition. One or two characters, one or two plot elements and one or two bits of dialogue feel a bit underwhelming in some ways compared to how thrilling they could have been. Occasionally I feel it is not fully thought through. However, it is still solid and pretty enjoyable so I rate this part as 7.5/10.

The sunsetestran kill is a good start to this very fresh run of fourth doctor adventures.
Sure enough the story is rather traditional in respects and familiar. Basically a twist on the body snatchers which we have had well enough times.

That aside though this story has lovely acting , pleasant enough score and effects and to top it off a brand new companion for the charming T Baker doctor. Ann Seems great I’m already aware she sometimes doesn’t get full attention in stories but I’m confident development will come. What a simple and yet great idea having a coppa on the team. I love crime stories and as a kid always wanted a companion that’s a cop. Of course as I binged classic and new who I found there wasn’t really (Unit characters at the closet) but finally that idea of mine I’m seeing come to fruition.

Now to listen to the rest of the set and get on the case , tally ho!

This is the first Big Finish adventure that really disappointed me

I'll start with the positive:
I really enjoyed Darwin at first and I always enjoy Evelyn Smythe and this Doctor and I really like it when Evelyn gets to explore history further.

Darwin got on my nerves about halfway in, hitting us over the head with evolution > creator myth which is true of course, but it gets very very old. Also, I think this is the first time I was really just taken out of the story because of acting but Jane Goddard as Greta was just really unconvincingly shrill and annoying and her accent was awful.

A very subjective point but the story didnt keep me engaged and I got bored after a while and the messaging of the piece just confused me. For that I want to highlight a specific scene

About one and a half minutes into part 4 Evelyn and the Doctor talk about the treatment of humans/apes under Silurian rule:

It is explained that the reason there is a missing link in human evolution,(which in our world doesn't exist) is because the Silurians genetically modified humans to be more productive food. This is compared to how humanity treats cattle, which in my opinion is a fine and reasonable although often explored metaphor in sci-fi, but it's also compared to the way humans are genetically modyfing crops and how those crops can spread out over the countryside and kill their rivals and therefore "taking over the world after turning your back for 5 minutes"

The second part is where it falls apart. The first homo sapiens existed at least 100,000 years ago so that's at least how old the Silurian gene modification must be. Humanity didn't start overcrowding places or hunting animals to extinction until in comparison to 100,000 years fairly recently and at that point, the story explains to us, the humans weren't at the evolutionary state they were 100,000 years ago anymore, since the new humans were able to resist the Silurians' mind powers.