The Ultimate Evil [AUDIO/2019.11.14]

★★☆☆☆

  There are Lost Stories that benefit greatly from Big Finish treatments, and there are those that are so good in both concept and execution that I wish they could've made their way into production back in the day. Then there are unproduced scripts and stories that make me go, 'Dodged a bullet there, didn't you?', and I report that The Ultimate Evil is very much of the final category.

  Had this made its way onscreen, I bet my hat that it would've been Exhibit A whenever anyone talks about the Sixth Doctor era being a "mistake (the very idea!)". It's got the technobabble, ham-fisted allegories and violent Doctorisms in spades. Yes, the Doctor very much has a reason to be hateful -- being controlled by an aptly-called hate ray -- but I can't see it going down well with an audience which already had second and third thoughts about this incarnation at the time. I can't see this improving the reputation of Peri either; although I always found her to be a great companion, I can't disagree that she's basically a non-entity in this adventure whose sole purpose is to be reminiscent of a side character's dead lover. Big Finish tries their best (as they always do) in making the best out of the script -- and they succeed in making this a somewhat palatable experience -- but I can't see recommending this to anyone who wishes to try what the Lost Stories range can be, let alone Big Finish in general.

  Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are great as always, and Baker especially seems to relish in being the acerbic "young Sixie" again after years of being a much kinder Doctor. Nigel Fairs impresses with a wonderfully era-accurate soundtrack that stands out on its own right. That's where the major positive aspects end, I suppose. The Ultimate Evil really deserves its rather tainted reputation as an unimagiantive adventure that fails to do anything interesting with its subject. I mean, a hate ray... a ray that makes people hate others -- it's utterly ridiculous, but imagine how fun it could have been had Wally K Daly been willing to go for a much bolder interpretation than a simple space feud that's utterly boring?