The Movellan Grave [AUDIO/2017.7.12]

★★☆☆☆

  Wouldn't it be a perfect world if every Dr. Who adventure were to have a wealth of imagination and ambition? Wouldn't it be great if I were to be impressed by the scope of Who on a regular basis, loving every output from Big Finish Productions? Well, I'd certainly like to know what living in that world would feel like, but truth be told, I think a constant run of greatness would make everyone take every blazing high-quality work as normal -- and that scares me. I understand that sometimes, Dr. Who can coast around in a relatively easy pace. I don't have to like it, though, and The Movellan Grace is an egregious example of Big Finish at its least inspired.

  The Movellans aren't the most distinctive of races anyway, so a very generic discovery-of-a-monster type adventure takes away even more of what makes them unique (it doesn't help that the audio medium doesn't allow for what really makes them stand out, their looks). Then we have Andrew Smith (oh, how I wish he'd return to his adolescent self's form and deliver experimental and truly innovative stuff like Full Circle) being so utterly content in writing a middle-of-the-road filler episode and not bothering to try any new ideas. There is absolutely nothing in The Movellan Grave that's made with an ounce of glittering passion; everyone is such an old hand at the audio drama business that they can hardly be called incompetent, but their competence is the only thing saving this adventure from being an utter slog without any merit to its name. The Fourth Doctor Adventures as a whole isn't exactly my favourite Big Finish Dr. Who range, but this is the kind of (unfortunately prevalent) audio drama of this range that really shows how boring Who can be when there's a dearth of ambition.