The Genocide Machine [AUDIO/2000.4.?]

★★☆☆☆

  I can only imagine how underwhelmed early-days Big Finish listeners were after their first experience with The Genocide Machine. As far as they knew, this could have been their only new performed Dalek adventure for God knows how long -- and it's extremely forgettable! The monthly range Dalek Empire series has two letdowns, but at least The Time of the Daleks is memorable for its Evil of the Daleks pastiche. This thing fails to linger in the mind in any respect, which is a shame; I suppose the concept of a Dalek conquest story happening in an ancient and hidden intergalactic library is interesting, but that's sadly about it.

  Not even Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred giving their all can save this from the dumps, because they're given barely anything interesting to do. McCoy gets to have an outburst of anger at a morally deplorable character, and Aldred plays two characters with her second role being a Dalek duplicate of Ace -- these are the most enjoyable aspects of The Genocide Machine. If only this would've gone through at least one more rewrite... and possibly a cutdown in duration to half its size... I would hazard a guess that it would've fared better. Sadly, due to its dragging on for far too long between scenes, I cannot recommend it to anyone looking for a good Big Finish Dalek adventure.