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“UNREGENERATE! – TOO MUCH MIND FOR ONE BODY?"

David A. McIntee’s Unregenerate! boldly slots itself just after Time and the Rani, making it the earliest Seventh Doctor story in the Big Finish timeline. That alone is an intriguing choice—plunging us into the chaotic fallout of a regeneration that was already abrupt on screen, and playing with the Doctor’s instability in a way that few stories dare to explore.

And what a way to begin: a mysteriously empty TARDIS lands without the Doctor, delivering only a holographic message to a puzzled Mel. Meanwhile, inside a grim and secretive institute, a raving, deranged figure—barely recognisable as the Doctor—screams in agony. Back in the 1950s, a man is recruited for a strange experiment, only to be retrieved the day before his death decades later in the 1990s. It’s eerie, fragmented, and very Seventh Doctor. The tone is closer to the show’s later McCoy seasons than one might expect for something set so early.

The first episode is particularly strong, setting up a layered mystery with a blend of sci-fi paranoia, New Series-style character drama, and classic weirdness. There’s even a touch of The Doctor’s Wife in the premise, as the story delves into what happens when TARDIS consciousness is transplanted into humanoid forms—a concept we’d later see explored more fully in 2011.

MENTAL HEALTH, MANIPULATION, AND MIND MELTDOWNS

The early asylum setting lends the story a psychological edge, but not without problems. The portrayal of mental health care feels rather dated, at times grating and insensitive in its language. It’s a reminder that Doctor Who, for all its ambition, doesn’t always age gracefully in how it approaches sensitive topics.

Still, Sylvester McCoy delivers a gripping performance, playing the Doctor as shattered, incoherent, and intermittently terrifying. His agonised screams are genuinely unsettling, lending real weight to the suggestion that his mind has been damaged beyond repair. Yet, in classic Seventh Doctor fashion, it’s all part of a bigger plan—though one that goes slightly wrong. He’s attempting to expose a dark experiment involving TARDIS minds and dying bodies, but in doing so, accidentally pushes himself too far.

This is where Unregenerate! leans heavily into The Savages-style mind transference, fused with more timey-wimey technobabble than your average Doctor Who story. The institute is conducting experiments on time-sensitive individuals, blending Time Lord technology with ethically dubious intent. The end goal? To create stable, humanoid time travellers who can help regulate the flow of time as other races begin to master it.

MEL GOES SOLO (WITH A CABBIE SIDEKICK)

Mel, too often underused in classic Who, gets a refreshingly proactive role here. After receiving the Doctor’s holographic SOS, she sets off to investigate on her own—with the help of a delightfully confused taxi driver who turns out to be part of the Doctor’s contingency plan. The two make for a fun duo: Mel taking the lead with surprising competence, and the cabbie providing comic relief with his perpetual state of bafflement.

Bonnie Langford plays Mel with real verve, bringing charm and sharpness to a companion often unfairly maligned. Her computer skills and deductive reasoning are given time to shine, and she holds her own in an increasingly surreal situation.

TIME LORDS, TWISTS, AND A STORY BURSTING AT THE SEAMS

As the story progresses, the scope expands dramatically. We learn the Doctor infiltrated the institute deliberately, aiming to expose a Time Lord-backed experiment that’s causing untold suffering. The plan involves TARDIS minds, doomed human hosts, and a secret CIA operation tied to preserving the Web of Time. It's big, bold, and very lore-heavy.

Supporting characters Shokhra and Louis aren’t just side dressing—they’re integral to the plot. Shokhra, a Feledrin multiform alien, helps the Doctor contain the trauma of his fragmented mind. Louis, a fellow Time Lord, ends up regenerating in a moment that adds unexpected weight. These two are vital threads in the Doctor’s complicated gambit, and their inclusion adds texture to the wider universe.

Dr. Kleist, the initial face of the institute, is an interesting figure—cold and scientific, yet slowly forced to reckon with the ethical mess she’s facilitating. She’s eventually challenged by CIA Coordinator Rigan, who takes a more aggressive, power-hungry stance. This rivalry adds another layer of intrigue, but also adds to the already bloated structure of the final act.

Because here’s the issue: Unregenerate! tries to do a lot. There are fascinating ideas throughout, but the final episode becomes a technobabble-heavy tangle of voices, revelations, and plot turns. It’s hard to keep track of who’s doing what, why they’re doing it, or how we got from scene to scene. While the backtracking narrative technique (revisiting earlier scenes from new perspectives) is clever, it doesn’t always help in grounding the story.

A HEADY MIX OF CLASSIC CONCEPTS AND MODERN PARANOIA

Despite the overload, there’s no denying the ambition here. McIntee crafts a story that bridges The Savages, The Doctor’s Wife, and even shades of New Adventures-era paranoia about Time Lord manipulation. It’s a rare tale where the Time Lords are the true villains—corrupt, secretive, and willing to sacrifice lives in the name of temporal control.

The moral centre remains with the Doctor and Mel, both trying (in their own ways) to expose the horror beneath the surface. But there’s something almost New Who about the way it all unravels—a sense of personal cost, institutional betrayal, and a Doctor who carries the weight of too much guilt and too many secrets.

📝VERDICT: 76/100

Unregenerate! is a dense, concept-heavy early Seventh Doctor adventure that leans hard into Time Lord politics, mind-swapping horror, and regeneration trauma. Sylvester McCoy excels as a fragmented, dangerous Doctor operating on the edge of sanity, while Bonnie Langford’s Mel proves herself as an unexpectedly capable investigator in her own right.

The story’s strengths lie in its tone, its ambition, and its fascinating central premise: a Time Lord experiment gone horribly wrong. But the plot ultimately strains under the weight of its own complexity. With too many threads, too much technobabble, and a final act that descends into narrative overload, Unregenerate! feels like a four-parter trying to squeeze in six episodes’ worth of ideas.

Still, it’s a worthy listen for McCoy fans, for those interested in Time Lord intrigue, or for anyone who wants to see what Doctor Who might have looked like if it had tackled post-regeneration madness with a bit more edge.