Before the fall of Project: Rassilon, the Regenerators of Gallifrey committed atrocities upon their slaves in the name of science. As Leela discovers the results of one such crucible, Romana and Narvin are pushing forward ways to discover the secrets of time travel, and jump-start their new Gallifrey’s evolution.
However, science isn’t always the way forward, and in a society built upon the foundations of amorality and fear, a backward step may be the only solution…
GALLIFREY: EVOLUTION
Can we please be done with this alternate universe already? I know, I know, I didn’t really like this series when it was set on “Gallifrey Prime,” either, but at least then it was developing something real. “Evolution,” the second installment of Gallifrey V from Una McCormack, is largely an exercise in spinning wheels. We already know that this Gallifrey has a more brutal history than our own, so the revelation that the Regenerators conducted cruel experiments upon their slaves doesn’t come as a shock. We’ve never heard of Maris before, so while Anjli Mohindra and Louise Jameson give good performances, her betrayal of Leela carries very little weight. And none of this particularly matters anyway, because the main characters make plain their desire to leave at the first possible opportunity. If they actually kept them here permanently, things might be different, but they’re obviously going home eventually. Paul McGann didn’t stay in the Divergent Universe indefinitely, either. Even the efforts to get home fall flat: Romana commissions a competition among all the greatest scientists to make progress on time travel, and then promptly tells anyone who’ll listen how boring she finds it! If your lead character is complaining that she’s bored, odds are your audience is following suit. Also, while I generally liked the sound design, this is yet another in the endless list of examples of Big Finish struggling mightily with crowd scenes. Characters yelling “Everyone!” to an obviously empty room will never be convincing. Despite all this, there’s nothing overtly bad about “Evolution,” but there’s nothing particularly good, either.
Blah.
5/10