A review by kmccubbin
Doctor Who: Project: Lazarus by Mark Wright, Cavan Scott
3.0
This, second in the "Forge" series, has a lot going for it and seems to have a stronger reason for existing that the first one, Project Twilight, but it still seems to fall apart at the end.
Again we are dealing with "The Forge" a sort of inverse Torchwood where alien tech and aliens are captured and are experimented on in order to find weapons for... um, somebody. And again we've got a vampire virus and a mythological siren kind of thing and... well, you get it.
The trick here is that the story is told across two Doctor's timelines.
The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn occupy the first two episodes and while there is some nonsense (The Forge's mind control techniques leave much to be desired.), there is also a gut punch of an emotional ride with The Doctor, Evelyn and Cassie. Without giving too much away, it leads to a The Doctor being left in a position so outside his comfort zone that it seems things may never be right again.
Then the Seventh Doctor half begins and the story seems to have nowhere else to really go. There is an attempt at a twist that you will see a mile away and the solution to the dilemma is way too cheap.
But that first half is awfully good! And I am reminded that, perhaps, the most revolutionary thing Big Finish has done is the pairing of Colin Baker and Maggie Stables.
Again we are dealing with "The Forge" a sort of inverse Torchwood where alien tech and aliens are captured and are experimented on in order to find weapons for... um, somebody. And again we've got a vampire virus and a mythological siren kind of thing and... well, you get it.
The trick here is that the story is told across two Doctor's timelines.
The Sixth Doctor and Evelyn occupy the first two episodes and while there is some nonsense (The Forge's mind control techniques leave much to be desired.), there is also a gut punch of an emotional ride with The Doctor, Evelyn and Cassie. Without giving too much away, it leads to a The Doctor being left in a position so outside his comfort zone that it seems things may never be right again.
Then the Seventh Doctor half begins and the story seems to have nowhere else to really go. There is an attempt at a twist that you will see a mile away and the solution to the dilemma is way too cheap.
But that first half is awfully good! And I am reminded that, perhaps, the most revolutionary thing Big Finish has done is the pairing of Colin Baker and Maggie Stables.