1.8 - The Macros

The Doctor takes on the Philadelphia Experiment (aka the alleged Invisibility experiments on the USS Eldridge) and how in the story, it ties the main Doctor Who universe to a microverse which is draining the Eldridge for its own energy needs.

Overall, the concept and set-up were quite interesting. The acting was solid with American accents being particularly well-done.

What stops this from being a great story are the fact is that the guest characters (except for the Professor aboard the Eldridge) aren't all that interesting. Osloo is pure stock villain material with very little motivation, character, or even style. The resolution to the story is eerily reminiscent of "Boom Town" and given how many times the writers lost the script and had to recreate it, it's not impossible that story influenced the final version of this one.

Overall, a mediocre conclusion to the first season of Lost Stories.

Yeah, it's a bit of a plodder, and based on infamous hoax. Nothing wrong with the performances, and the production values are good, but I think BF could have done a bit more to generate some atmosphere. I found it to be unusually flat, and overall I didn't think this was a particularly engaging story.

Not keen on Peri's singing attempt, more cringe worthy than comedy. Peri poking fun at how much time she spends in prison cells is a nice meta-joke. Presidente Osloo's motivation of 'Oh, there is another universe? I know, let's conquer that!' is beyond ridiculous. Compensate for transfers between dimensions? Was it necessary in 'The Mind Robber' or 'Inferno'? No. What utter techno-babble, and it just feels dumped in there, so I assume that's also Richardson's contribution.

The Big Finish Companion Volume 1: states that before commencing work on the audio version of 'The Macros', the writers, Ingrid Pitt and Tony Rudlin lost their only version of the original script due to a hard drive failure; This release was rush commissioned due to 'The Children of January' falling through at late notice. Also, the zero room scene was an addition by the producer David Richardson, and was intended to high light the warming relationship between Peri and the Doctor.

Big Finish has a real problem with historicity- the history they reference is often referenced badly wrong - in this case it would not be noticeable to most listeners, one assumes.

The actual microverse vs macroverse plot could have been more front and centre but it's a good enough story to listen to. It is not likely to blow you away, but it didn't disappoint and here and there are some nice little moments.

One thing that earns extra points in every Nicola Bryant / Colin Baker audio I've heard is that they're clearly loving doing it and it is a wonderful way for both of their roles, so mangled by third parties on TV, to get a long full run that lets both of these amazing talents soar.

I also really enjoyed this - would have been difficult (but not impossible) to realise on television, but thankfully it works brilliantly on audio too. There are some lovely ideas in here, lots of atmosphere and great performances. Recommended.