Power Play [AUDIO/2012.6.?]

★★☆☆☆

  Between this and The Last, I'm starting to suspect that this Gary Hopkins character must really like stories centered around atom bombs and nuclear energy. Out of the two, Power Play unfortunately gets the short stick; the anti-nuclear sentiments are there, but when an audio drama is as boring as sin as this particular Lost Story, I really can't be bothered to care much about coming from the right place.

  The problem here isn't that the concepts are dull; far from it, because how ambitious is it that an intergalactic fraud zips between two Earth time zones in a maniacal bid to blow up the planet and reap the profits? In a large sense, I can enjoy the craftmanship of the plot; however, it seems Hopkins stopped bothering about polishing the script. This thing is chock full of padding, a lot of unengaging dialogue between characters. If this was as explosive (pardon the pun) as its concept suggested, I suspect I would've enjoyed it more. It doesn't help that Ken Bentley's direction feels very dull here; I don't blame the man for having his off days, though, considering the giant workload he has as resident director for Big Finish. What a shame as a potentially bold conceptual sci-fi piece... and what a waste of Deborah Watling's acting talent. She sounds very bored throughout the duration, and I don't blame her when she barely gets anything to do. When an adventure gets me complaining about the lack of fanfare concerning a returning legacy character, you know something's seriously out of line.