I absolutely loved Kaleidescope and I think this is a bit underrated.
I had so much fun with this extra-long audio adventure. In spite of being seven parts long, I found it thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. There was so much to like here. Kaleidescope the character along with reporter Jenny Nettles were great as "replacements" for the Doctor and Sarah Jane, even getting their own faux theme song. I found that fake theme song so catchy and it was stuck in my head for days after listening to this audio.
I think the audio design of Kaleidescope in general is really well done, too, constantly evoking the energy of the Third Doctor era, while adding lots of flair of James Bond to give it a real sense of unique identity to it. This gave the audio a great sense of pace, which is good for something so long, and even better sound effects at times, such as when the Doctor and Sarah are trapped in Siberia.
All told, I had a great time. All the performers are pretty outstanding, but Keeth Hazel, played by Stephen Noonan, was absolutely memorable, even more so than the theme song. He was so great for what really could have been a small nothing of a guest role. However, the nanobots he also plays feel almost completely unnecessary and tacked on in comparison. This story is interesting when it is about Soviet intrigue and the mystery of Kaleidescope's identity. It's full of great homages to Bond, 70s television, culture, and music. Once we start getting into nanotechnology, I feel like writer Alan Barnes has kind of lost sight of the purpose of this audio to begin with, and that diminishes it more than I would prefer.
Still, it's worth it for Noonan and the excellent production value alone. They put so much thought into the editing and direction of Kaleidescope and the effort really shows. This experience is further enhanced by the performances of the Doctor, Brigadier, and Sarah Jane, at least in my opinion. Our core cast of characters are all well cast and I do love the Brigadier in this story. You can feel the tremendous relief he experiences not having to constantly supervise the Doctor and is able to boss around Kaleidescope a lot more, which I found really funny. I found a lot of Kaleidescope funny, actually, and all of it intentional, too. I would definitely recommend this one if you can get it for a good price.
