The Monthly Adventures #007 - "The Genocide Machine" by Mike Tucker

I have listened to The Genocide Machine three times in my life. The first was years ago, when I first found out about Big Finish. I got The Sirens of Time for my birthday, listened to it, mildly enjoyed it, before discovering it was free on Apple Music and Spotify. At that point, I decided to listen to the first of the Dalek Empire arc, a little story called The Genocide Machine. I listened to it, didn’t think much of it, and promptly forgot it entirely. The second time I listened to it was about a year and a half ago, when I first really got into Big Finish. Listened to it in the car, didn’t think much of it, enjoyed the Daleks, and promptly forgot about it again. The third time I listened to it was today, and I have no idea how in god’s name I enjoyed any part of it the last two times. At least I know why I kept forgetting about it, this is one of the most tired, pointless executions of a Dalek story I have ever had the displeasure of sitting through. Let’s get into it.

On a mission to return overdue library books to the universe’s largest store of information, the Doctor once again finds himself up against the Dalek Empire, as they try to assimilate all knowledge known to man.

(CONTAINS SPOILERS)

There are a few ways a story can get this low a score for me. 4/10 is about the lowest I can go whilst still getting some enjoyment out of the story, 3/10 I enjoy a few elements but nothing that helps the rest of the plot, 2/10 is reserved for real dumpster fires with maybe one redeeming element and 1/10 are stories that genuinely make me livid. The Genocide Machine offers me next to nothing, it is a vacuous, pointless slog through a tired, rehashed Dalek scenario that has been done time and time again. Its biggest claim to fame is inventing the character of Bev Tarrant, who I understand becomes important in the Bernice Summerfield range, which I have not listened to. I have, however, listened to Dust Breeding, a better story with Bev in it, so despite liking her here (she’s not the greatest character in the world and I kept mixing her and Ace up since the actress sounds pretty similar to Sophie Aldred but she’s fine), I could just find better audios with her in. Seven and Ace are good, I suppose, but really, when aren’t they? Honestly, my favourite thing here is the concept of the Kar-Charratans, a race that has assimilated with the water on the planet and are in the rain and “wet-works”, a liquid data storage complex. It’s certainly an interesting idea and a race living in the water of a planet is a cool idea (an intelligent civilisation, not a parasite like The Flood), trouble is it’s stuck in the world’s most boring Dalek story.

I was bored out of my mind from ten minutes in to the very end, there is literally nothing here of note. One good character that’s in other stories and a good idea smothered by a by the numbers narrative. The Daleks are trying to steal all the knowledge in history, an idea that is neither innovative nor interesting. If you’re writing a Dalek story, you’ve got to do something new with it, there have been too many of them to just do the same old thing and The Genocide Machine is the most basic a Dalek outing could possibly be. Besides Bev we have a supremely annoying librarian getting lugged around with us and a character who… doesn’t speak. In an audio only story. Whose idea was this? I don’t know if I’m just stupid but I genuinely thought Prink (the aforementioned mute member of our cast) was a delusion by another character, since he was rarely spoken to by anybody else but them and never made a sound; this caused me to be very surprised when he gets killed off and we’re meant to feel sad about the death of a character we’ve never heard speak. I understand the joke they were trying to make, constantly calling him “very chatty”, but it’s, one, not funny in the first place and, two, really doesn’t work without a visual aid. As for the setting, it’s also really dull. We never really spend time exploring this supposedly grand library and we spend most of the runtime in a generic jungle setting. It reminded me of the setting of Alien Bodies - which I also found to have quite a dull backdrop - but without the insane alien auction carrying the rest of the narrative, just leading to a bland and forgettable locale.

Sitting through this bore again was hellish and I was counting down the seconds to when it finished. The Daleks are dull as they possibly could be, there are some frankly ridiculous creative choices muddying the proverbial waters and the only positives are not even unique to this release, making it a pointless waste of time that you would do yourself a favour in skipping.

3/10

Pros:

+ Bev was a welcome addition to the cast I’d like to see in better stories

+ Seven and Ace, were, as usual, fantastically written and acted

+ The Kar-Charratans had a wonderfully novel concept behind them

Cons:

- An utterly by the numbers Dalek story that does nothing new with the infamous pepperpots

- Chief Librarian Elgin was an incredibly annoying bit of baggage for our cast

- Makes the infinitely confusing choice to feature a nearly entirely mute character on audio

- Has an incredibly generic and dull setting

- Trudges along with no action or excitement through the first act to and into the climax

Unfortunately I really struggle with the sound design of this story, particularly the Kar-Charratans which give me a headache, and I mean that very literally. Is it otherwise good? I don’t know because through no fault of the story itself the audio causes me physical pain. It certainly starts off fine, fairly intriguing and engaging once it gets going, if nothing particularly special, but once characters are having conversations with the Kar-Charratans, I am unable to judge the story as I can no longer follow it due to the sound design, and the headache it causes.

This is very much a personal problem, I’m sure most people will not have this issue, so probably worth a try

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

"The Genocide Machine: A Library of Mystery and Missed Opportunities"

Big Finish's The Genocide Machine, part of the Dalek Empire arc, offers a mix of atmospheric tension, intriguing concepts, and uneven execution. Written by Mike Tucker, it reintroduces the Seventh Doctor and Ace into an audio world of mystery, with Daleks lurking in the shadows.

The story starts strong, setting a moody and tense atmosphere reminiscent of Mission to the Unknown or Tomb of the Cybermen. The library planet Kar-Charrat is an evocative setting, filled with rain-soaked landscapes, ghostly whispers, and a clever touch of humour as the Doctor returns overdue library books—despite owning a time machine!

Unfortunately, the suspense of Part 1 is undercut by spoilers: the Daleks are revealed on the cover and in early scenes, robbing their later "big entrance" of its impact. The cliffhanger of Part 1 feels a bit lacklustre as a result.

The Doctor immerses himself in Kar-Charrat’s technical and educational systems, while Ace befriends Bev Tarrant and predictably stumbles into trouble. Sadly, Ace’s strengths—her resourcefulness and emotional depth—aren't utilised effectively here. However, Sylvester McCoy shines as the Doctor, commanding the narrative with his enigmatic style.

The Daleks’ plan centres on yet another clone subplot, which, while adding some tension, feels derivative. Worse, the Daleks themselves are underutilised for much of the story, appearing sporadically and failing to fully integrate into the plot until the latter half. The pacing suffers, with Part 3 bogged down by slow developments, before Part 4 brings a flurry of action and twists. While the climactic moments offer excitement, they also feel cluttered and occasionally overwhelming due to muddled sound design.

Despite these flaws, there are highlights. The concept of the native population existing in raindrops as a living information storage system is fascinating, even if it’s only explored meaningfully in the final act. This idea adds a unique layer of sci-fi ingenuity to the narrative.

Performances anchor the story. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred effortlessly recapture their classic dynamic, with Aldred delivering a particularly strong performance as Ace’s Dalek duplicate. Louise Falkner’s Bev Tarrant debuts as a confident and tough ally, though she’s sadly underused. Bruce Montague’s librarian character adds charm with a twist of betrayal, while Nicholas Briggs makes an official debut as the voice of the Daleks, solidifying his future iconic role.

The sound design, while occasionally messy, does enhance the setting with its rainy ambience and ominous tones. The score adds to the atmosphere, though it sometimes competes with the dialogue in busier scenes.

📝Verdict: 6/10

While The Genocide Machine delivers moments of tension, clever ideas, and solid performances, it struggles with pacing, sound design, and making the Daleks integral to the story. Still, it offers enough intrigue and nostalgia to appeal to fans of the Seventh Doctor and Ace, even if it doesn’t fully capitalise on its potential.

Random Observations:

• The Sun and The Mirror as future literary classics? A wonderfully absurd touch that adds to the humour.

The story has a lot of very interesting ideas but few if any are fully realized. A library engineered by Time Lords? That's cool. Daleks, Ace, and the Seventh Doctor are all cool. This is apparently Briggs' first time voicing the Daleks, and that's extremely cool. Water-based ghosts victims of a librarian-based genocide scheme? Not cool, but good sci-fi, sure! Unfortunately it never seems to come together and is a very rough listen overall.

For one thing, there are far too many ideas here and so the plot feels scattered and underdeveloped. I was really hoping for something cool out of the library but found it mostly was just a background thing. The Daleks are doing their thing but when one of them gets sick and just won't stop screaming about it, the experience is pretty infuriating! And while Briggs is good as the Daleks, I could instantly tell without having to look it up that there was another person also voicing them (Alistair Lock) and oh boy, those lines were extremely rough to hear and Lock does not make for a good Dalek voice actor, in my opinion.

But the Seventh Doctor is fantastic here and does have a really good moment. McCoy is still in form even after the big gap between the show and his return on the Main Range for Big Finish. That's true of all the Doctors but it is impressive how strong he is out of the gate with audios like this and The Fearmonger. On the other hand, I was kind of bored with Ace's role here. She goes through that thing where an evil version of her is created by the Daleks. A fun reference to The Chase, I think, but a pretty flat role for any companion. And that should NEVER be true of Ace. So, yes, very middling, probably worth skipping, but bursting with potential.

A bit of refinement could have made The Genocide Machine great, but it is instead oh so barely passable. This is the first Big Finish audio edited digitally, apparently, and you can definitely tell. The sound effects are a lot better blended, and although there is an awful lot of them, it largely works in service of telling us stuff - like a Dalek entering and exiting the scene - so I think it generally works quite well. Didn't get much of anything out of the music, but I can appreciate the company slowly refining itself in these early days.

This is very much one of those "growing pains" of early Doctor Who Big Finish stuff, the kind of thing I worry puts off potential new fans. It has its moments but I do wish The Genocide Machine didn't have this sort of false allure of being a potential jumping on point for Big Finish content - I definitely don't think this story works at all in service of that or any newcomer. This is more something for a curious fan well-versed in Doctor Who, at this point, nothing more. That type of person will probably get a kick out of it with lots of cool references and the introduction of a Bernice Summerfield character, but I think the average new listener would not be left with the same positive impression at all.

The Genocide Machine is a fine story, but it does drag on a little too long. That being said, there are quite a few things that I enjoy. The main concept is interesting, with a good twist, and made for an interesting element of the story. My MVP for this story was Sophie Aldred. She had a lot to work with, even if I don't think she managed to stick the landing on one main thing. Also interesting that we get to hear Nicolas Briggs as the Daleks for the first time in an official capacity, and the first appearance of the Daleks at all in Big Finish. Some of the voices he uses still appear in Doctor Who to this day, which is a nice piece of continuity. This is also the first part of a 'soft' prequel to what will be called Dalek Empire. It'll be interesting how this story impacts it. While not the best, this story has enough to keep you entertained for the most part.