MR 95: Exotron / Urban Myths

I just finished typing up all my thoughts on the Gallifrey relisten up till now at once, so I'll keep this post brief. Well, brief by my horrific standards, anyway.

As soon as I tapped on this story I immediately lowered my expectations. Oh no, I thought. Peri. But she's actually surprisingly very tolerable here! What the heck happened? Who is this cheerful, enthusiastic woman? Is she a Zygon shapeshifter? Is this the beginning of the Zygon Peri Arc?

Okay, right. Sorry. Moving on.

Exotron is a bit of an odd story that I don't think quite came together as it should have. I liked the idea of the otherwise peaceful aliens being disrupted by sounds, I liked the idea of the biologist working alongside these robots, I liked the villain being not terribly villainous. And the latter being the ex-husband of the former was also an interesting touch. But the reveal that the Exotrons aren't really robots, but just human cadavers encased in metal? I mean, congratulations Big Finish, you've invented off-brand Cybermen. In what will become a pattern. This was only 2007 or so, you know, so: early days.

Urban Myths was much more interesting, but similarly missed the mark for me. I suppose it was kind of like VOY: Living Witness, and if Big Finish is gonna crib from Star Trek Voyager episodes, I'm glad they're sticking to the goods ones (at least insofar as I've noticed). Maybe one day I'll come across some that have borrowed from DS9: The Sound of Her Voice, or DS9: The Visitor. Goddamn does Star Trek have some great time travel stories. Sorry, sorry, got distracted for a moment there.

Peter Davison was clearly having fun with this one, but overall it felt just a bit too farcical for my tastes. The CIA agents we see here just a bit too silly compared to the nefarious and/or smarmy characters I'm more accustomed to seeing from that organization.

I do love the idea of the CIA sending investigators to these planets the Doctor visits after he leaves, though. That's such a fantastic story idea, I'd love to see it really given its due consideration. Here it's just more of a joke, which is... unfortunate. Like imagine a version of this story where the Doctor and companion(s) only appear as in-universe archival recordings, as we follow a CIA investigator as they pop down to the planet at different points in the timeline to survey the effects of the Doctor's intervention. Like an anthropological study of the Doctor's affect on the timeline immediate after the event, a decade later, a generation later, a century later, etc. Examining the ripple-effects of the Doctor's meddling in time that the Doctor, themself, always manages to so-conveniently avoid by popping off somewhere else. 

I mean, goddamn. Did I say, "story?" This could be a boxset. Hell, this could be an entire range.