I'm listening my way through The Ninth Doctor Adventures and Monsters in Metropolis is my favourite so far.

The use of a Cyberman in the iconic role within Metropolis makes for a new twist on their race (a similar fresh take also happened in the, more recently released, Sins of the Flesh within the Everywhere and Anywhere boxset).  It's a level of creativity I'd love to see used more often with the Daleks.

The Ninth Doctor's first response to seeing the Cyberman is evocative of the TV episode Dalek, bringing a real sense of danger as Eccleston did in 2005.  And, similar to Dalek, we get to develop a sense of sadness and even empathy for the Cyberman as an increased level of awareness and free-will is exhibited.

A comparison between the ethos of the Cyber-race and the Nazi's creed (with our knowledge that World War Two is on the horizon) brings a sci-fi mirror up to human behaviour; adding the comfort-blanket of distance to allow us the freedom to reflect on what this might mean for us and events around the world - all the more relevant (from an international perspective) at the time of writing this review than at the time of the story's release.

Using the location of the film set of Metropolis adds a sense of occasion and grandeur to the story, and the timing and setting provides a chilling, powerful final message as it draws to a close.

Both a fast-paced and a thoughtful piece, Monsters in Metropolis doesn't hold its punches and, within this range, provides Christopher Eccleston with arguably the best material to sink his acting teeth into yet.

I came into this audio very excited thanks to it's very positive reception among fans.

Sadly this might have set me up for disappointment. By no means was this a bad Cybermen story and I really liked how it takes place against the backdrop of early cinema history. That leads to a very distinct and unique story for these recurring Doctor Who enemies.

Outside of some standout moments like the Doctor reacting to the Cyberman and some good horror scenes with the Cyberman and some of the characters, I didn't quite find this as memorable or as moving as I was hoping for. I like the story enough, it just didn't affect me emotionally much nor draw me in, so I didn't get that good sense of pay-off you want in the story. Still, I can appreciate it is well-made and interesting. I just wish more were done with the idea of this taking place around the production of Metropolis. That's a really neat movie but the idea feels a bit underplayed - Monsters in Metropolis really feels like it could have taken place around any film set and the story would be functionally the same. So we aren't really using Metropolis here. Maybe it is because I most love that movie through its visuals and that is pretty much lost entirely to the audio format. I would love to see this adapted for the show for that reason.