Macedon is another of the Lost Stories brought to life by Big Finish. It was originally submitted for production during the first season of the show but was not picked up for broadcast; some reasons offered include budget complications projected for the sheer scale of the production, others say the serial was set aside in favour of Marco Polo for historical content. I had a cast about the internet after I finished the story but didn't immediately find out the truth. I'm not too bothered, anyways; we have it now as an audio and in all likelihood if it had been produced it would have been truly lost along with Marco Polo and others from the era anyways. The production on audio stays very true to the series of the time, and despite the fact that it is being told with the voices of only two of the original cast it is still a very entertaining adventure. As with Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance William Russell skillfully handles the lines for both the Doctor and Ian, but also for several of the Greek generals who surround Alexander. Carole Ann Ford is both Susan and Barbara and provides a great deal of narration given that there are not a lot of other female roles for her to pick up.
Susan, however, is a bit off in the first episode of this one. Normally I get annoyed when she loses her shit and screams and panics like a teenage girl in a subway train when it stops in a tunnel (I've been on that train and wanted to kill) and this time she gets... weird; for some reason because the TARDIS scanner isn't providing any sound when they land she thinks they have all died and gone to heaven. Just a couple stories back in The Witch Hunters she was all about rationality and not believing in any religion or gods, and now this. The Doctor has his own moment as well, saying that he doesn't know the way to heaven yet but one day when he meets the Almighty he will. I found strange that this was left in the adaptation when reportedly a big continuity hiccup - that of a machine which would teach the travellers how to speak Greek instantly - was dropped because it was at odds with the "official" version in the series (not to be revealed until The Masque of Mandragora in 1976 although hinted at in 1972's The Time Monster, and then really spelled out in 2005's The End of the World).
Macedon is a long story, too. It's presented in six episodes but they are not six standard length episodes of approximately 23 minutes, they vary in range from 30 minutes at the shortest to 44 at the longest. This is probably the original draft without any editing (aside from the above bit) as it feels very much like it should have been in the first season line up with its dialogue between the characters and the scale of the adventure with the regular cast staying with Alexander and his army for weeks. And once again the TARDIS crew are caught in history and learn another lesson about how it cannot be changed, no matter how much they try; this time the Doctor is the one facing the temptation despite previous dire warnings he himself gave to Barbara and Susan in Aztecs and Witch Hunters. Barbara and Susan then become the voices of reason, believing absolutely that there is no chance for them to make a difference as events begin to unfold.By the time the tale is ended the crafty folks at Big Finish drop in a little nugget foreshadowing one of their own original pieces ahead, referencing a library to be built at Alexandria. That's still a ways ahead, but for now there is still one more "lost" story to take in.
NEXT EPISODE; THE MASTERS OF LUXOR
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