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TARDIS Guide

Review of The Exxilons by Ryebean

3 June 2025

This review contains spoilers!

This is okay, but I'm not itching to listen to it again.

This story didn't fit the Fourth Doctor very well - I didn't get that charm and humour that Tom Baker performs with, and he's a lot more gentle and serious - I wasn't too impressed with this and I think this could've fit the Third Doctor Adventures better. Normally I'd expect Leela to save this release, especially with her meeting the savage Exxilons, but she's just as screamy as Victoria. However, this is K-9's first outing into Big Finish (During my rewatch, I know he first appeared during Series 2) and again, he doesn't act like the robot dog he is on the TV show - unfortunately none of the TARDIS team replicate their roles in this story, which is a real shame.

It's been a long time since Death to the Daleks, but I don't think they at all warrant a return. Obviously Big Finish just needed something to sell this story, otherwise it wouldn't be anything special. There are some clever ideas, such as the Exxilons wanting to build their temples on other planets, which is a reference to the Third Doctor saying he saw something similar to the Exxilon city in Peru.

Despite being on another planet, there was nothing standout about the landscape that we hear, and it's just very dull. Because of this, I can't say anything about it.

There are some great ideas with the side characters here, with the controversial topic of slavery from different perspectives. I think this was the most interesting part of the story, and I wished this was the main focus of the story.

I'm not sure why Big Finish decided on this story - it's not interesting in any way, and the the subplot was far better than the main theme of the story.


Ryebean

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