The Monthly Adventures #011 - "The Apocalypse Element" by Stephen Cole

The Monthly Adventures’ Dalek Empire Arc was strange for many reasons. Four audios that are mostly unrelated connected via their focus on the titular kingdom of nazi pepperpots was characterised by slow and uninventive stories that have already demonstrated the extent of their quality with utter atrocity that was The Genocide Machine. The Apocalypse Element is probably the most well-known of these four stories purely because it involves Gallifrey and has been retroactively tied into the Time War. It’s got Time Lords, it’s got Daleks, and it’s got the powerhouse TARDIS team of Six and Evelyn in the middle of it all, so surely there is no way it could possibly disappoint. Somehow, Stephen Cole found a way for it to disappoint.

Unintentionally wrapped up in the Dalek invasion of the planet Archtryx, the Doctor and Evelyn uncover a decades old plot including the kidnapping of an old friend and a plan to destroy the entire universe as we know it.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

I have listened to The Apocalypse Element twice now, having finished my second listen just a few hours ago. Before writing this review, I had to look up the plot to remind myself of what had happened. You could not pay me to tell you what transpired in The Apocalypse Element, you also could not pay me to tell you a single character’s name besides our recurring cast members. You may notice the length of this review and how short it is; I assure you, this is every thought I have on The Apocalypse Element. Romana was a great inclusion, she’s one of my favourite companions and every story that has her is better because of it (I should really get around to listening to Gallifrey one day). This being one of the opening battles of the Time War is a really cool piece of lore and it’s the type of thing I go to Doctor Who for: some neat worldbuilding plus some added context for later stories. Unfortunately, past these elements, I can not remember anything that happened.

I really can’t express this enough, I feel it’s physically impossible for this story to hold my attention. The Daleks were mining an element that could, somehow, blow up the universe when ignited - I think. That is pretty much all I can recall. Not only is the premise lacking a lot of originality, so is pretty much everything else. Evelyn is written particularly poorly here - she’s sidelined for a lot of the story (I can’t actually remember anything she does) but I do recall her acting like a feckless old grandmother, constantly stopping in the middle of a crisis to compliment people’s jewellery. This is not only against Evelyn’s established character, it just feels insulting towards one of the best companions. The Daleks are at their worst too. I always find an issue with Dalek stories where there are thousands of them crushing a planet, because they feel too big to be an understandable entity, they just become a force without character and, by extension, threat. We need little intimate moments of pain and suffering to really show off their evil, but we just don’t get it. And then there’s this story’s biggest sin: it’s really, really boring. When the second part ended, I legitimately thought it was the end of the audio and audibly groaned when I realised I was only half way through. It’s bloated, padded and fills this space with nothing interesting; the dialogue is boring, the Daleks are unoriginal, it boasts no interesting ideas, and I think that’s the most a Doctor Who story can fail at, feeling generic and dull.

You may call this an unfair review since I can’t actually remember most of what I’m evaluating but since I listened to this literally earlier today, I think it’s fair to call The Apocalypse Element a complete misfire.

4/10

Pros:

+ Romana was a wonderful inclusion in the story

+ Loved the lore it introduced and its historical place in the show

Cons:

- Evelyn is incredibly wasted and acts constantly out of character.

- One of the most forgettable stories I’ve ever listened to

- The Daleks are simply too massive to feel threatening

- Drags on for two parts too long