6 episodes Running Time: Approx. 201 minutes. Adapted by: Simon Guerrier, from a story by Bill Strutton. Directed by: Ken Bentley. Produced by: David Richardson.
THE PLOT:
After witnessing a demonstration of a deadly new gas, the Doctor is appalled. He argues with Gen. Wiley, the man behind the weapon, who laughs off his concerns. Shortly after, Wiley is killed, targeted by a mysterious organization claiming to stand for peace. The organization demands the governments of the West disband, promising further violence until the demand is met.
The Doctor investigates and discovers that Wiley's death was the work of a Mega, a member of an alien race whose touch is instantly fatal to human beings. The Mega are collaborating with a group of humans led by Prince Cassie (Bo Poraj), the ruler of a small European state bordering Austria. Cassie observed the Doctor's argument with Wiley; and, believing the Doctor to be a kindred spirit, he invites him to join his plan to impose peace on Earth - a peace that will be enforced by the Mega.
It's an offer the Doctor can't refuse - even if doing so makes him look like a traitor!
CHARACTERS:
The Doctor: He tries to get Cassie to see that he's being used, but he also attempts to get information back to UNIT. The tinkerer in him can't help but want to work on the disused biplane that he finds in an abandoned research center, and he seems personally insulted at the prince's rejection of that and other old technology as useless. There's also a lovely character note in Episode Six: When it appears that he's failed completely, the narration describes the Doctor as looking suddenly old and exhausted.
Jo Grant: At the beginning of the story, when she and the Doctor drive through a demonstration against the weapons facility, she voices her opinion that she and the Doctor should be among the protestors. She doesn't like anything about Gen. Wiley's gas - but she's no happier with Cassie, appalled by his callousness toward individual human lives, and she loudly (and foolishly) refuses to cooperate with his plan.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: It's a shame that this was recorded after Nicholas Courtney's death, as the Brigadier has quite a good role. He trusts the Doctor even after his apparent defection, but he knows how bad his friend has made himself look. He glumly accedes to being scapegoated for the Doctor's apparent betrayal. Even so, he remains ready to fight, and he's never portrayed as less than capable. Richard Franklin's Brigadier is a bit of a caricature in the early episodes, but he improves as the story goes on.
Capt. Yates: He isn't as quick to condemn Wiley's gas as the Doctor and Jo. As a soldier, he sees it as a tool that could potentially save many friendly lives - though he's intrinsically assuming that it will only ever be used appropriately. That assumption is inevitably proved false, with Yates ordered to use the gas against rioting civilians. He wavers, attempting to find a way to justify the order, but he ultimately balks. He tells the Brigadier that he will submit to court martial rather than accept this particular order.
Sgt. Benton: He's introduced in an amusing scene in which he's watching a match he's made the mistake of betting on. Naturally, the match is interrupted when Cassie cuts into the broadcast to make his demands. Benton's fundamental decency is spotlighted when he and Yates find themselves in the midst of the riot. The police aren't even attempting to quell the unrest, and Yates points out that they have no chance of stopping it on their own. Still, Benton insists that somebody has to do something, and Yates agrees. Richard Franklin doesn't sound remotely like John Levene, and the accent he adopts for Benton's lines is equally far from Levene's own. However, the voice he adopts suits the character, so it still succeeds in bringing the sergeant to life.
Prince Cassie: The main human villain, and also the serial's most interesting character, Cassie firmly believes in peace. This isn't because he cares about people. When the Doctor confronts him about the devastation he's causing in the UK, Cassie shrugs and says that it will be a good demonstration for the rest of the world. He values only what is useful, sneering at the old technology from the disused research center and threatening Jo, whose only value in his eyes is as leverage against the Doctor.
THOUGHTS:
The Mega was commissioned in October 1970 for Season Eight, Jon Pertwee's second season as the Doctor. It was eventually dropped; and though I wish the entirely actor-centric CD extras went into both that and the adaptation process, I can make reasonable guesses as to why this wasn't made. There are large-scale sequences here that would have stretched the budget, not to mention the Mega themselves. The story also shares similarities with The Mind of Evil, right down to much of the action taking place inside a castle where the Doctor and Jo are held prisoner - and The Mind of Evil is simply better.
That said, I enjoyed The Mega. It feels absolutely of a piece with the televised Pertwee era: stuffy officials for the Doctor to lose his temper at; military set pieces; the Doctor tinkering with bits of equipment; and a story structured around a moral message. This last is actually somewhat interesting. As much as the Doctor believes in peace, he puts an even higher premium on freedom. Seeing that Cassie's imposed peace would be equivalent to slavery, he works against the prince.
The Doctor gains room to work by pretending to be on Prince Cassie's side. He spends much of the serial trying to find a way to get a message to UNIT, taking care not to alert his host. These scenes create tension, and it ends up being the Doctor/Jo material that work best in this story. There are good moments in the UNIT scenes, such as the attempt by Yates and Benton to quell a riot and Yates's refusal to obey the order to gas civilians. However, emotional stakes of the UNIT thread are lowered because it's made clear early that neither the Brigadier nor Yates believes the Doctor has actually betrayed them.
The rest of the military scenes end up being repetitive. In fairness, that is authentic to the Pertwee era, as is the story feeling about two episodes too long... but that's probably the kind of authenticity Big Finish could do without.
Katy Manning and Richard Franklin split performance duties, with Manning covering the Doctor/Jo scenes and Franklin the UNIT subplot. Both do a fine job. Richard Franklin's voice is well suited to narration, and he recaptures his 1970s work as Mike Yates effortlessly. Neither his Brigadier nor Benton are very accurate to the original actors, but both voices are distinct enough that I knew which character was speaking, and those voices improved as the story went on.
Katy Manning's the one who really shines. Her "Pertwee voice" has impressed me since her first Companion Chronicle, and she varies pitch and delivery style so that the narration has a different sound than Jo's lines. There are long stretches that are just the Doctor and Jo, with narration covering visuals and actions as the two exchange dialogue. The only performer in these scenes is Manning... something that I never felt conscious of while listening, because her various voices are all so distinct!
OVERALL:
The Mega was planned as the final entry in Big Finish's "Lost Stories." The range wouldn't be revived until 2019, a good six years later.
I'm glad that the range was brought back, as I enjoy these dramatizations of stories we might have had - even if, most of the time, I end up thinking the production team was right not to move forward. The Mega runs a little too long and has repetitive elements, but I still found myself absorbed. There's a reasonable amount of tension, a well-written guest villain, and some well-produced and well-described set pieces.
Most of all, it feels entirely like something out of the Third Doctor's era, and fans of that era should enjoy this.
Overall Rating: 7/10.
Set during: Season Eight
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