Daleks! Genesis of Terror [AUDIO/2023.5.25]

★★☆☆☆

 

  Ahaha, we have a few things to talk about here. See, the majority of the detractors of this adventure wouldn't even be that vocal (or indeed, make their voices heard in the first place) had Big Finish been more transparent about what listeners were paying for. I'm sure most listeners were like me in thinking that it was going to be a different take, or at least a story with some differences to it that would make it its own thing and not a Genesis of the Daleks rehash... and what we got was certainly not that. I get the Lost Stories range unearthing cancelled scripts, or realising semi-professional scripts "submitted" by future showrunners. What I don't really get is using an unfinished pitch and, rather than expanding upon it (they already had Simon Guerrier write more lines in Episode 1), they keep the rest of the serial untouched and unfinished. Why? Were they simply running out of time to make a completely new story out of the outlines? Was it because of the COVID restrictions at the time? Were they just so confident that Big Finish fans would gobble this nostalgia bait up like nobody's business and they'd be able to rake in a quick few bucks? I can be quite critical of Big Finish, but I've seldom been this concerned about their business practices before. Now, I'n not saying they should shut down or anything, but a lack of communication is a serious issue Big Finish really ought to sort out by the next time they release something this lacklustre.

  I mean, there's no other way to describe Daleks! Genesis of Terror. There's no creative reason I could think of for making an audio drama based on a first draft pitch that was only ever one-sixth fully written and presenting it in that exact format without any addition of the imagination. Why didn't they do what they always did with the Lost Stories -- expanded the pitch sentences into actual scenes and other, more interesting new ideas? It's certainly a peculiar experiment of a format, to have one full-scale episode being a mix of narration and full-cast audio drama and the other five parts of this six-parter being hasty three-minute script reads from each of the actors. If they wanted to tell the story from Harry and Sarah's perspectives so bad, I would've at least liked a bit more of a personal touch from those characters. As they stand, they recite the story of Gen -- I'm sorry, Daleks! Genesis of Terror in the most cookie-cutter, TARDIS Wiki-like way. I found this audio drama to be boring, underwhelming, and devoid of imagination -- with the latter being the biggest crime. Take my advice, and watch Genesis of the Daleks instead. Apart from the Kaleds being adults instead of teenagers, there's really not going to be any major difference between the final TV version and its original pitch.