The Macros
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Big Finish Productions The Macros |
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| Written by | Ingrid Pitt and Tony Rudlin |  |
| Format | Compact Disc | |
| Released | 2010 |
| Starring Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant |
| Synopsis: The TARDIS materialises on the USS Eldridge, after the Philadelphia Experiment has gone disastrously wrong. Most of the crew are dead, the ship is disintegrating, and the Doctor soon realises that the problem comes from another dimension. As they attempt to find a way to get the ship home, the Doctor and Peri visit the distant planet Capron and meet its tyrannical ruler Osloo. But the search for a possible solution only creates increasingly dire problems. Osloo's horizons have been widened --- and space and time are hers for the taking... |
The Microscopic Universe by Jacob Licklider 2/10/22
The original Season 23 would have ended with The Children of January by Michael Feeney Callan, and Big Finish did intend to adapt the story as finale to the first season of the Lost Stories. The rights deal, however, fell through when Callan didn't have time to adapt the script and refused to allow anyone else to adapt his work for them. David Richardson had to find another script to serve as a finale and they came across The Macros written by Ingrid Pitt and Tony Rudlin. A deal was made, and the story became the finale for the Lost Stories Season 1. Interestingly enough Big Finish did not include Pitt as an actor in the story to play the villain, instead going with Linda Marlowe.
The story takes the historical mystery of the Philadelphia Experiment and explains that it was caused by a micro-universe draining the energy from our universe and must be stopped by the Doctor and Peri. Ingrid Pitt is most famous for being an actor without any real writing experience, and The Macros really shows her inexperience. The ideas behind the plot are great, taking Planet of Giants one step further and having the Doctor shrunk down to the size of this universe and overthrowing the government. The story's main flaw is that it is poorly paced over the course of two hours. Part One is a slow burn to the reveal of the reveal of this universe where Peri nearly dies, and Part Two has a way to end the story halfway through, but then drags it out for thirty more minutes where it really should just have ended with Osloo stepping out of the TARDIS and dying. It had set up Chekov's gun at the end of Part One, but did nothing with it. This isn't a good twist, it's just lazily ignoring the obvious solution of letting Osloo out of the TARDIS, which would kill her.
The story also suffers from a really lackluster supporting cast. Osloo, played by Linda Marlowe, is decent enough as the villain due to her over-the-top performance. She's got this high pitch to her voice, which gives off an air of royalty, but at points that really feels off to the dictatorial state that Pitt and Rudlin write her in. Vincent Pirillo as Professor Tessler is interesting enough as the man at the end of his wits due to the effects on the U.S.S. Eldridge. Those effects are a green mist and rust, which makes the rest of the crew stuck in a time loop a la Carnival of Monsters, which is really an interesting way to stage a time loop but in no way original. The other characters are the inhabitants of Capron, who are just your standard stock characters out of your typical star-crossed lover's story.
Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant are even a little flat in their acting skills, although the extras do lead you to believe they are entranced with the idea of the Philadelphia Experiment, but just can't get their heads around what is going on in the story. Peri of course gets a really good scene where she pretends to be a singer for Osloo, but of course fails miserably because she simply cannot sing. The comedic timing is perfect as she tries to pass off "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" as a piece of orchestra music.
To summarize, The Macros is an awful season finale for the Lost Stories, as it's almost impossible to get through without feeling bored by the awful pacing of the story. The plot is nothing that we haven't seen before and is taken off a story that wasn't that good to begin with. The characters fall really flat at almost every turn, and even the acting happens to be off from what should be generally good actors, with Nicola Bryant and Colin Baker feeling a bit towards the meh side of the scale. There are quite a few good ideas present, but nothing really to give anything above 40/100.