The Mega

Lost Stories #4.4

Released: 18 December 2013

Listened: 6/3/21

This is the only one of the Lost Stories from the Third Doctor era. It’s also a six-part story, which makes it one of the longest of Big Finish’s Third Doctor offerings, although it’s not out of line with its era. Unlike the rest of Season 8, the Master doesn’t figure. The monsters are the titular Mega, which have glowing swirls for heads, so I imagine that would have been tough to pull off on TV. There’s a distinct Barry Letts feel to this story, as the villain’s goal is disarmament and overall improvement of the human race, but he intends to use force to do it, in the form of an alien death ray that can strike anyone, anywhere on the planet. The Doctor states several times that he agrees with the goal, but not the means. The Doctor is also in conflict with various military figures throughout the story, in a way that’s consistent for him, but usually wasn’t quite so sharply drawn at this point in the show’s history. As is typical with a six-part story, the first part zips right along, and the middle bogs down. There’s even a sequence where the Doctor and Jo break out of a prison cell, go do a thing, fail, and have to break back into the same prison cell before anybody notices they’re gone, so that’s a bit frustrating. The part-three cliffhanger of the British Prime Minister getting vaporized live on TV certainly grabs the attention, though. Katy Manning and Richard Franklin take turns with the narration, which means Manning gets most of the Doctor’s lines.