I very much wanted to enjoy this Main Range, sadly, I do think it deserves its reputation as one of the lower-rated among the whole set of 200+ stories.  The issue with The Silurian Candidate isn't so much that it is offensively bad, it is that it is a story with a unique opportunity to do something cool and instead it is a boring, dry, and easily skipped affair.

The idea of the Silurians involved in a more political story, perhaps with a brainwashed or disguised politician running for some sort of high office like in The Manchurian Candidate, I think this could have been one of the better Silurian stories.  Between that premise and the early use of content like pet dinosaurs left me extremely excited for the story to unfold.  Yet as it does it gets so flat.  The Silurians are boring characters, with the Triad politics really feeling like old hat after so many Silurian stories have already explored that dynamic.  Meanwhile I found the human characters and their motivation very weak.  That scientist that wants to force both sides into suspended animation so they can focus more on space travel just felt so lame in execution and premise. Then there's the Silurian's candidate himself, who also felt completely wasted.  It's a cool idea but the story makes no attempt to get us invested in the political intrigue around him and the Silurians.  It's a real shame.

It feels like Mel and Ace, originally a welcome addition to a story like this since they are fun characters, well, they feel completely wasted.  It's fun to see them in pretty much any adventure together, and that definitely helps keep this from being a total slog of a listen, especially in the first part, but it doesn't salvage this audio's many flaws.