Lost Warriors: Monster in Metropolis

"Your monster man, I need it!"

Writer: John Dorney

Format: Audio

Released: November 2021

Series: Ninth Doctor Adventures 3.03

Featuring: Ninth Doctor

Synopsis

Berlin, 1927. The making of a science fiction legend. But death stalks the film set and history is not what the Doctor expects it to be. And this new 'Machine Man' is a more terrifying vision of humanity's future than Fritz Lang had in mind...

Verdict

Monster in Metropolis was a magnificent adventure to conclude the Lost Warriors third series of Ninth Doctor Adventures from Big Finish! At long last, Christopher Eccleston meets the Cybermen and boy was it worth the wait. This was a great adventure and a real celebratory historical that would work so well on screen in the modern era. It was wonderful to hear the Cyberman essentially being auditioned off to be part of the Metropolis film and the naming of it as something as simple as Machine Man was wonderful. It was akin to the Metaltron in Dalek. I was a big fan. I like that the Ninth Doctor met another lone adversary of one of his great enemies and at one point he wasn't in disagreement that they were the universe's most efficient species despite their deadly connotations. The setting of 1925 was terrific in Germany and I loved how important the timeframe and location was when it came to the motive of Jovanovic. Anna as the assistant to Fitz, the film's director, made for a good pairing of characters and her shock at the Doctor's arrival and the impossibility of the 'blue shed' being present on set was a lot of fun. I loved the movie theme of the story and just having the Doctor bask in history and filmmaking was terrific to hear. He was having such a good time! That was until he realised that Gustav Frohlich wasn't part of the cast and an unknown Olaf was. That revelation was nothing compared to the Doctor's reaction at seeing the famous metal man being a Cyberman! That truly was an epic moment and the comedic timing of the Doctor's comments about the true article being so obviously a woman was marvellous. This was no ordinary Cyberman though and it was one that uncharacteristically could feel pain. That was a great dynamic and the Doctor even acknowledged that it was different, but refused to believe a Cyberman could evolve. That idea was brilliant though! I thought Jovanovic claiming to have control over it was amusing because that never ends well, but it was actually him who ended up as the story's villain. Olaf being killed by the Cyberman was brutal and a good red herring, with the human within beginning to reassert itself! I loved that idea. Jovanovic had found the Cyberman lost, but now it was asking of home which it had come to from a faulty transmat. The human inside growing out of the internal mechanism was terrific as the human was repairing from within. It was resisting the core programme and doing a good job! Jovanovic losing control over the Cyberman was marvellous to hear and I liked how he didn't want the film's message of spreading peace to get made and out into the public after all that Germany had endured with reparations since the Great War. The Cyberman putting him to sleep to see off his threat was great and I was surprised that a Cyberman was tired of killing, but it was a novel concept. The original actress being planned on returning to the role to ensure the masterpiece was complete was really nice and finishing things with the Doctor taking the Cyberman to the cinema to see the film in action in 1927 was really poetic and brought things around full circle very nicely. Overall, a truly brilliant adventure!

Rating: 10/10