Folks, this one just didn't do it for me.

Firstly, it was way too long. Emphasis necessary. The plot and the conception of said plot was not done interestingly enough to warrant a three-hour story. I got bored early prior to the half-way point as the obligatory set-up episodes felt like they dragged on and on even though the credits kept rolling into new segments. There was never a moment where I felt like, "Okay, now the good stuff's happening". Everything blended together like white paste. I understand that this set was meant to celebrate S23, but the storyline was basically a G-rated rejigging of S22's Vengeance on Varos with emphasis on the tired joke of how Doctor Who had ratings issues and got cancelled during Six's run. I honestly feel like being meta was the entire reason as to why they decided on this plot. I wish they would've created a story that paid homage to the season itself, rather than creating one giant reference about something that happened outside of the DW universe. It felt like a cop-out, like they couldn't decide on any other plot without resorting to that tired joke. Let's put Six in a show where he causes the ratings to go down and eventually gets the show cancelled! So very funny. So very original.

And this probably wouldn't have been an issue if they would've chosen different writers. Trials tried to be lighthearted but fell flat from the beginning. Rayner has done a similar storyline much better with "Like" from the Six and Peri Boxset, and the Ninth Doctor TV episode was great also. There was actual humor and jocularity infused within those, but without turning it into a mockery of itself. Nev probably would've done a fine job of it also, as would have the duo who wrote The One Doctor. There were too many characters in Trials, and yet too much of nothing going on.

I was pleasantly surprised that Warrior Queen Peri made an appearance that sustained throughout the setions, but even she couldn't save this story. Considering this was the first time she'd seen the Doctor since Mindwarp, they didn't seem too shocked to see each other, nor was there much in the way of "catching up with old pals". For all of the audios in Big Finish's backlog where Six literally chases after her and tries to bring her back to him (not to mention all the times he weeps or mourns for her in conversation with other characters), he was incredibly understated here in terms of her arrival. She, too, didn't sound that ecstatic to see him.  Peri's grown up now but, considering their history, I was expecting more saccharinity and expressions of gratitude and friendship. On that same note, Mel and Peri, who have never met before, didn't have much of an introductory conversation either. They acted as though they'd known each other for years which didn't make sense.

I looked up each of the three authors who wrote Trials on the Big Finish site to see what their bibliography consists of. Lo and behold, none have written for Six, Peri, or Mel. I can tell. This entire set read like a story in which none of the authors were too familiar with how the characters should interact with each other; as if, once they were asked to write for the set, they watched an episode or two of the series and started writing. Everything was just off. I also came to learn that one of these authors also wrote for the Bayban the Butcher set. I had this same experience with her in that audio as well, as the characterization of Bayban was astoundingly inaccurate compared to the show. I could be weird, but I wouldn't hire someone to write a fannish story when they aren't fannish about the requested characters. The inexperience shows in their writing. (As an aside, while the Bayban set was out of character almost from start to end, it was, without a doubt, a more entertaining set than this).

It's disappointing that both anniversary sets for Six were effectively middling for me. This one wasn't terrible, but aggressively average; while Quin Dilemma wavered between entertaining and boring depending on the episode. The latter remains my preference, however. It had Rayner, Peri, emotional scenes, humorous scenes, oh, and stuff actually happened. There were absolutely no highs and lows in Trials; everything stayed at an even keel which, in this case, made it something I easily tuned out of.