The Monthly Adventures:Sword Of Orion

(McGann Series 1)

(8 and Charley)

I have no words this was so boring

0.5/10

Paul McGann's second adventure in audio. A Cyberman story set amongst the backdrop of an intergalactic war between humans and androids. It's pretty good! A much more subdued Cyberman story than what the new era of DW TV usually offers. And a great little bit in here about humanity and if androids can be considered such. I liked it.

Perhaps envisioned as a companion piece to Tomb of the Cybermen, but could also be seen as a remake. It seems to hit a lot of similar story beats anyway. Meanders a bit at the start but does eventually pick up momentum. Most of the twists aren't particularly surprising , but this doesn't detract form the drama too much, especially since we seem to be heavily in homage territory. Ends abruptly, and seemed to me that the fate of some of the admittedly thinly written characters were unresolved, unless I just missed something. There's fun to be had but not wholly engaging.

One of the biggest problems with Sword of Orion is that its ideas are old like it came out of the 80s. The plot is a mostly generic rinse and repeat Cybermen premise in every sense of the word. Paul McGann and India Fisher's performances are both strong and very enjoyable but she is noticeably given a background role despite it being her first adventure as an official companion. The rest of the actors are not anything particularly noteworthy, but they're still tolerable. The most interesting thing about this story are the references to a war between human's and androids elsewhere in the Galaxy, I want to see that instead.

A cool twist, which provided a lot to think about at the end, I was ready to write it off completely, but the last part helped elevate it.

But besides that, its very mundane, and brings down the story. A paint by numbers Cybermen story, that has a quite cool location not utilised fully, and in a story that drags through, without providing enough new to truly stand out. By no means bad, just a little average.