A very bizarre story, with the audio format not fitting too well with a historical about silent cinema. It's a bit of fun, but not particularly good.

The Doctor goes on a fanboyish rampage, meeting the different stars of 20s cinema. Tom Baker does a good enough job, and is definitely the best actor in this story, but the way he's written feels a little off. It feels like the more toned-down, serious character in Season 18 doesn't match with his persona in this story. It's also a little disappointing that he gets about two scenes with his companion - they haven't had too many interactions in the season so far, and he even just gets someone else to talk to instead, which is really strange. I presume it's because it's rather difficult to record when Tom and Lalla aren't on good terms, so they have to be separate. Speaking of Lalla, Romana doesn't really get too much to do in this story, except for just tag along with the real companion of the story - Miss Waldorf. There's a nice little scene between her and K-9, where they discuss cinema, but it seems a little unnecessary. I really liked the idea that K-9 can't fight the monsters off via his conventional methods because the celluloids are attracted to light, which his laser gives off.

The villain is a decent concept, sort of poking fun at the fans who collect rare memorabilia, but, as I'm saying far too much with this range, the execution flops poorly, and he ends up being just a bit pantomime. Also, he was defeated in the stupidest way possible - "I used the sonic screwdriver to switch our voices around, so now you're in the radio!" What on earth? Sonic ex machina, and it doesn't even make sense. The Celluloids are obviously just Vashta Nerada knockoffs, but worse.

We get quite a bit of time to settle into this historical setting, which is good - You can tell Goss is a big fan of this period and the cinematic developments, as he shows a lot of aspects of Hollywood in the 20s, with the studios and the creepy clinics. They do spend a bit of time delving into it, but I think you can't really enjoy it properly without knowing the context of actors in the 20s, which they discuss a little in the interview.

What is it with Big Finish and American accents? Just hire American actors already - Jane Slavin, Pamela Salem - they all do terrible accents! It really gets on my nerves and makes the story a little bit annoying to listen to. Aside from that, Lulu and Miss Waldorf are likeable and fun, and we get to see more of the different sides of cinema with them.

It's nothing special - bit of cheesy fun, but not in a good way. If you like the 20s, you can listen to it if you want, but there's nothing else to add to it apart from that. Also just rips off a lot of other, better stories and doesn't fit too well into the timeline.