The Seventh Doctor arrives in Excelis and finds a dystopia at odds with how he left the place in his Sixth incarnation. It’s time for Audio Club Extra to discuss Excelis Decays.
Rate and review below:
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6 Likes
I still like the idea of Doctors who keep returning to a place. I feel like this is done better in the BBC Audio “Of War” trilogy. My problem is that I don’t care that much about the story. 6/10
I think that we should do the fourth one next week.
8 Likes
We will. Promise. Already scheduled.
6 Likes
This one was a major drag for me. 4/10 and a very disappointing end to the three Excelis audios with the Doctor.
5 Likes
It’s a little 1984 in some spots and my mind kept going to that in some scenes. I thought it was overall fine. A solid little experiment that foreshadows greater things to come in the future.
5 Likes
I agree with the general sentiment here - Decays is perfectly fine, but not overly exciting. It follows a similar pattern to the previous two stories and throws in Orwellian elements. McCoy is good, and Stewart Head manages to deliver yet another performance that feels different despite playing the same character. There’s a slow build-up in the first half and then the climax is lengthy and then just sort of ends, and it feels somewhat underwhelming after two stories of setting the story.
5 Likes
I quite enjoyed that which I wasn’t expecting to as I didn’t remember being particularly excited by it first time round. I thought McCoy was very good and ably supported by Ian Collier and Penelope McDonald as Jancis.
I thought the whole relic aspect worked well enough as part of the reason for Excelis’s various developments and the dystopia aspects of this story are broadly-painted but satisfying enough. A longer story may have developed those better (I always thought it odd that Dawns is a two disc release but Rising and Decays are only one disc).
And as for Anthony Head. He basically picks one element for each different version of his character. Grayvorn is gruff; Maupassant is serene and Sutton, in Decays, is camp. He isn’t bad in any of the stories but he doesn’t particularly blow me away and, for a guest star with the kudos that Head brings, I do think I would have expected just a little bit more from him.
6 Likes
It was enjoyable enough I would say.
There is a through line between the stories where we see Excelis “evolve”.
Having the same character in all three of them travelling “the long way round” is a good idea, but I don’t quite think Anthony Stewart Head manages to pull off what is required for the character of Grayvorn.
The relic is put to good use in the plot, and I am looking forward to seeing the prelude to this trilogy with more Iris and my favourite time travelling archeologist 
Coincidentally I am listening to the “The Burning Prince/The Acheron Pulse/The Shadow Heart” trilogy in the Main Range where it is also these three Doctors that gets a story each - and it just feels so much more thought out, there is a very clear progression in not only audio quality but also in script editing in the years between those trilogies.
I would say the Excelis trilogy is good, but very run-of-the-mill Doctor Who in the end. 
6 Likes
Listened to this on Saturday, but forget to comment on it. I enjoyed this one. As a whole, I think the middle story is the best, but I do think McCoy does a good job here. I think Head protrays Grayvorn descent into madness well here. I do agree that it just kind of ends and the resolution feels a little lackluster. A solid 4/5.
4 Likes
The big question is. Will @shauny give us a special set badge after finishing the whole first extra audio club this weekend?
8 Likes
This was enjoyable if a little run of the mill. Anthony Head continues to give a great performance, and McCoy is brilliant as ever. I think the plot here is a little on the weaker end, but I think the worldbuilding and ideas on display here bring it back up.
It’s very rare you get the more mythical in Doctor Who without a technological explanation, and it’s nice to see that not only do they not explain the relic or the spiritual aspects of this planet in this final(ish) part of the saga, but also I really like the use of souls as almost fuel(ish) here is interesting, almost reminds me of Class.
The implication that The Doctor had been going around without his soul (or at least without all of it) for at least one full regeneration is something, not sure what the implication there really is, but the way Greyvorn then uses that to draw on The Doctor’s knowledge is fun and making him a more deadly enemy. I also like that you get a bit of The Doctor dealing with the destruction of Excelis, not much, but it’s there at the end which is nice.
Overall a 6 out of 10 for me.
7 Likes
Also, I’ve determined from this story that Yee Jee Tso is not the greatest audio actor. He’s exceedingly one note I find.
3 Likes