I'll admit it off the top: plotting wise this story is a 3/5 or a 3.5/5. It's not particularly gripping, probably a little too long, and plays very fast and loose with canon. However, that is not the primary way to judge this story. Because this story is a big anniversary tribute to the Sixth Doctor era, and on that respect it's a smashing success.

The Doctor is trapped within a web of tv shows inside tv shows in the 'Ludosphere', where actors are constantly getting killed and it's all being broadcast for entertainment purposes. It's essentially a mash-up of Vengeance on Varos and Bad Wolf. Here we encounter a who's who of villains: Androgums for our first course, the Cyber Leader played campy as ever by David Banks (seriously, the Cyber Leader sits in on a late night talk show of sorts and riles up the crowd with a knowing overuse of 'Excellent'. So funny), Davros (who tells the Doctor 'been a while', yep, a canned line of dialogue), a seriously surprising reveal of the Ainley Master, and then at the end: Daleks.

The whole thing is essentially satirizing Colin Baker's two seasons: the excessive violence that the show came under heavy criticism for, people complaining certain things are too boring. The villains, 'Muskoids', are literally disgusting blobs that engorge themselves on Audience Appreciation. Hell, even the actual Doctor Who theme song becomes in-universe as the opening to the Doctor's program Trials of a Time Lord. The Doctor (joined by Nicola Bryant as full on warrior queen Peri who is delightful as usual) is constantly threatened by cancellation, in which the lead actors get killed. Sound familiar? Hell, the final cliffhanger are Daleks saying 'DAVROS IN DISTRESS'. We weren't going to forget Hans Zimmer's best work!

The story ends as we have a rare three-way melee between the Daleks/Cybermen/Master, and how does it end? The Master discovers the 'producer' is simply an AI that has been synthesizing stories from throughout the universe to produce the Ludosphere. That doesn't remind me of anything at all! It turns out, in every single story: the Doctor wins. So it comes to pass! And Mel ends it by sending a signal to everyone watching tv to stop watching and go outside which is a bold message for a franchise based around a tv show.

Between The Quin Dilemma and this story, I think they did an excellent job of paying tribute to the Sixth Doctor. Ever since I started the Sixth Doctor's audio stories, I completely understood why Colin Baker is so beloved for his work with Big Finish. It's easily the biggest improvement between the tv show (where he's fine - it's really the production that screwed him over), and him showing us his true potential. He'll likely be passed by Paul McGann soon, but as I write this, Colin Baker per my estimation has put in more hours being the Doctor than anyone alive. Here's to another decade!

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: The Firstborn

That was unfortunately dull. I'm not a big fan of these longer stories, they can really drag if the writers don't have a good enough story to tell and this was one of those situations. For a start, it's a bit of a rehash of Vengeance on Varos in it's commentary on TV viewing habits (although a bit more modernised, atleast with the constant talk about Audience Appreciation scores and viewing figures that I hear about supposedly signalling the end for the show meanwhile the show keeps running just fine).

I didn't really mind the "meta" stuff in this story. I don't mind the way it linked to real-world issues regarding Season 23 (something I normally dislike when stories do). I also have to admit, it was quite fun having all these villains show up in one story. Those were easily the best bits and the only thing that really made any of it worthwhile. Having 6, Peri and Mel was great and there's absolutely potential in that combination.

I think the issue is really down to it's length. If they made this story about an hour shorter and just really jampacked it full of fanservice and cameos it would have been a lot better. As it is, they're halfway in between trying to tell a genuine story and pure fanservice which leaves any fan who wants only one of those things disappointed. Overall, a disappointing way to end the celebrations of the 6th Doctor (although some would argue that's the only way to truly be faithful to his TV run) (not me).

Next Story: The Rotting Deep

HOLY HOLY GOLY MOLY s**t f**k SO GOOD

➡️6/10 = OKAY!

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

“A MISHMASH OF SIXIE: A COMMENTARY”

Big Finish continues celebrating 40 years of the 6th Doctor with the second 6th Doctor set of the year—this time joining him with Mel against the Cybermen. The Quin Dilemma was a fairly uneven release for me, so will The Trials of a Time Lord serve any better?

• THE STORY

Part 1 goes all in on conversions and sinister atmospheres, to a point where I felt that I’d jumped straight into an adventure rather than to the beginning of it. It also sets up the plot of this strange planet, used by the Cybermen as a major cyber conversion factory, filled with prisoners who end up on the planet out of nowhere. Still, this opening installment is a bit of a rough start for the adventure.

Interestingly, we get a very intriguing ending to Part 1, which reveals everything to be part of a scripted reality horror series, thus changing the rules of the game significantly (and tapping into that 1980s media critique feel of the televised Sixie stories; see Vengeance on Varos). What makes it more intriguing is that we learn that the Cybermen are in on the ruse, just to receive more bodies to convert. And so begins the greatest show in the galaxy, the very first TV show starring the Doctor!

I guess part of the charm of this release comes from the way Big Finish tells a meta-level narrative here and pokes fun at the very show they are contributing to.

First off, Sixie has to make it through a cooking show with the Androgums in Roshana Patel’s Part 2. It doesn’t achieve much as narrative development goes.

Katharine Armitage takes over writing duties for the middle two parts. She brings the older warrior queen Peri into the fray and makes Part 3 a parody of The Traitors. It’s sort of annoying how there is a lot going on, yet somehow, the story barely moves an inch.

Part 4 brings in Davros, who is the “big boss” behind everything but really another pawn in the game. This proves to be a more fun episode, as the Doctor and Davros have to work together to make it through.

The final two episodes complicate things further as the Master pops up and reveals himself as the big bad. Jon Culshaw makes another great performance here.

The very last episode turns things tense again as Davros takes over and begins using Daleks and Robomen in an attempt to take over the universe.

• THE PEOPLE

Mel is mostly on her own, learning about the wider background of the people involved in the story. Bonnie Langford is delightful and plays as well along with ally Voss Nimm (George Naylor). Similarly, Peei is as energetic as ever, and since this is her older version, she is a bit more seasoned than usual.

Tiffany Jenkins takes on the role of the primary companion. She has supposedly been travelling with the Doctor and Evelyn previously, and her constant battle between her normal self and her Cyber self brings good dramatic tension to the plot.

The Cybermen show up right off the bat, as the TARDIS takes the Doctor and Mel to Siberia. We don’t have to wait three episodes until a sloppy cliffhanger reveal for once!

I really love to hear the legendary David Banks back as the Cyber Leader. He pops up here and there, but the focus is never on him, sadly. Similarly, Terry Molloy is a delight as Davros, whose cliffhanger reveal at the end of Part 3 is spoilt by the cover art. Davros is used well here, as he begins the story as an unwilling ally to the Doctor before attempting to take over the show from everyone.

The Androgums from The Two Doctors pop us as well, and they bring plenty of colour and humour into the story. John Culsahw provides yet another perfect impression of the race in his performance as Stunrib.

The aliens running the show are sort of annoying. They constantly stress about appreciation indexes and ratings but end up more grating than villainous. They are meant to parody all these TV channel bosses, but I think that the writers have overshot the characterisation a little.

There are a lot of minor voices here, and it is sometimes difficult to keep up with everyone.

• MUSIC AND SOUND

The sound design is quite nice. The conversions sound horrifying. The cold winds of Siberia sweep over you. The music is very reminiscent of the era.

• ATMOSPHERE

This story is mostly a mishmash of ideas, references, and plot points plucked from the Sixth Doctor's TV era, and it’s too thin to make for an exciting plot to fill out six episodes. The exciting ending means that it's not completely wasted, though.

There are many elements to this story that I enjoy, such as the commentary on the future of television/streaming/AI. An obsession with viewing figures, cancelling shows before they're even given a chance. Focusing on reality TV because that's what gets the big numbers, art be damned.

But ultimately it feels as if it's guilty of the very thing it's trying to critique.

With endless cameos, it almost becomes comical at how many character reveals there are. I think it's supposed to be intentional but at points it doesn't feel like commentary, but just fan service.

I think the premise has been done before in Vengeance on Varos, and done better there imo.

All in all, I think our main characters had quite a bit to do, and Mel was a real joy. It was an enjoyable listen, but I think at six episodes, it's premise runs out of steam and turns into a Monster Mash. I prefer conversational Big Finish over Action Set Pieces.