This is a Perfect Example of an Audio that I should really like all Things considered, but it somehow doesn’t connect with me all that much. Wrote a Review to discuss it further here:
When I started listening to this, I thought, “Oh yeah, Colin and Davros together again; that must be good!” And while the scenes they share are definitely great, the story as a whole is just fine. I wasn’t bored but not entirely engaged either. It has good surface-level themes that it never explores more in-depth. And the Mechanoids are utterly wasted.
6/10
The Juggernauts has all the ingredients for a tense, dramatic, and morally complex Dalek tale: a shady Davros, a divided Doctor/companion team, and a twisted new take on the Mechanoids. But it never quite cooks. The pacing is sluggish, the stakes never feel high, and most of the interesting ideas – Davros hiding in plain sight, Mel unknowingly aiding evil, the ethical cost of programming machines to kill – are skimmed over rather than explored in full. It’s a functional, competently made audio, but with Big Finish’s high bar for Dalek stories this one feels like a missed opportunity.
You’re welcome to read my full review below (spoiler alert!):
Apparently this story didn’t connect with many people here but I love it. I think it tries to do something interesting with the Daleks, Mel gets an amazing character arc and gets to show a bit of a darker side, Lethe is a really interesting world. Our main cast have just amazing characterizations as well, which is always a plus. I do think that the Dalek plan takes a nosedive into the more generic but that in itself is, to be frank, a given. When everything else is so great, I’m willing to forgive a Part 4 that takes a bit of a wobble.
I’m about a third of the way through this, and I’m enjoying it for a number of reasons. The running Big Finish joke of Six getting jump-scared by Davros appearances is much appreciated. Mel’s great - just absolutely trauma-proof, brushing off being abandoned for three months in a matter of moments. I mean that sincerely, too. I think there’s something to be admired about the 1980s pantomime sheen that sometimes affords Mel Bush emotional invulnerability. Nothing fazes her, which makes her a great foil for a bombastic 6th Doctor.
Colin is great as usual, in a precursor tale to Asylum of the Daleks, surely, but with added Mechanoids? I’ll report back with later thoughts but I don’t quite agree that this is generic Dalek story. There again, these Main Range stories do have a habit of wandering away into bland resolutions, so I’m not scoring anything just yet.
I really enjoyed this! Mel was just really great in this and I am really loving her more and more with each audio I listen to. I love that she gets to use her actual background in the audios, and she works so well with Six. The story itself is decent, love hearing Davros again and some really sad moments for Mel. 4/5.