“The Masters of Luxor” is a Doctor Who audio play released a few years ago by Big Finish Productions as part of the Lost Stories range. Nigel Robinson adapted a script that was originally conceived by Anthony Coburn. This story has an interesting history in that it was supposed to have been the second television serial if another more intriguing adventures known as “The Daleks” had not have been broadcast instead. William Russell and Carole Ann Ford reprise their roles as Ian Chesterton and Susan, respectively, as well as share narration duties. Joseph Kloska joins them as a guest actor portraying several characters, but most notably as the not so aptly named The Perfect One.
The Doctor and his companions are drawn to a seemingly dead world by a mysterious signal and find a vast dormant army of robots. Then, a creation of theirs known as the Perfect One reveals himself and has some plans to make himself more human which does not bode well for the TARDIS crew.
This adventure has six parts, and I am not sure this story needed to be that long. It seemed to move at a slow crawl at times. Ford and Russell are both effective storytellers so that helped a little. Russell, of course, has to stand in for the late William Hartnell as the First Doctor and does his best. He’s pretty impressive anyway for doing these performances when he is closing on a century of life.
The sound effects and musical score were effectively realized, but Big Finish almost always comes through with the technical requirements.
It’s a worthy addition for Doctor Who fans who appreciate the very early years, but it just seems longer than necessary.
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