Happy Who - Official Page

A positive spin on the world of TV Doctor Who. 3-4 minute videos accentuating the positives!

Introduction

The Dominators
Planet of the Daleks
The Twin Dilemma
Terminus
Underworld
Delta and the Bannermen
Creature from the Pit
The Time Monster
Kinda

I continue my defence of some well worn Doctor Who stories...

Underworld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdAa08kDuUk&t=76s

Delta and the Bannermen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnJWOb4xC2Q&t=102s

Creature from the Pit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99uM4InQCr4&t=88s

The Time Monster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au3lFPpak08&t=151s

The Famished Lands written by Lisa McMullin and directed by Ken Bentley

What’s it About: Trying to make a difference far from the front lines, the Doctor and Bliss arrive in the Vale of Iptheus, where the Time War is starving populations out of existence. The inhabitants have taken matters into their own hands – but are now on course for something worse. Bliss discovers exactly how the robot Enablers are helping the people, while the Doctor uncovers a terrifying secret...

Physician, Heal Thyself: The Doctor thinks he has found himself a personal war to fight when he witnesses the slaughter of a dozen starving people. I’m guessing that in a conflict where he is struggling to do any real good that he needs to find these personal victories wherever he can. There’s an incredibly bizarre conversation where the Doctor tries to convince an Ipthean that he is not a Dalek and they do not come from Gallifrey. It does stress the point that the details of the Time War are all muddled up on these worlds but in execution it is a very strange conversation (the dialogue is really awkward). The Doctor feels compelled to tell the people of the worlds affected by the Time War that this isn’t a war against them, and that they are only fighting the Daleks. I’m sorry, Doctor, but I think the Time Lords would shit all over the people of these worlds if it lead them to victory. He’s going to have to abandon this kind of woolly thinking if he is going to make an impact in this conflict. If he keeps seeing the best of his people, he’ll never get to the point where he feels compelled to wipe both sides out. He’s very quick to throw out absolutes.

Bless Bliss: What’s the worst thing that you can do when you land on a world with no food…turn up looking as if you have eaten a lot lately! She’s never been taken to dinner at gunpoint before but apparently it is the only way to dine out in the universe. Had Bliss turned into a hideous skeleton warrior then at least that would be memorable.

Standout Performance: Interesting ‘starving’ performance in there. Just sound like you have a bad sore throat and you are phoning up work to make your excuses for not coming in.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘If you see people starving you feed, don’t shoot.’

Dreadful Dialogue: ‘What did you do to the Doctor? You didn’t laser him! Was that a transmat?’

Great Ideas: A pretty world but not a self-sufficient one. It’s a world that relies on trade with other worlds for its food supplies and the Time War has cut off most of its supply routes. The skeleton army are the people that have eaten the synthetic food. A planet of raging skeleton warriors, to fight against the Time War.

Isn’t it Odd: I’m starting to wonder if Russell T Davies didn’t do me any favours by suggesting that the Time War was a conflict so awesome that it could not quantified, or described in any great accuracy. He offered up tantalising hints and whispers, terrifying imagery without ever going into any great detail and leaving the rest to our imagination. When Steven Moffat took the brave step of actually showing us what occurred it was pretty disappointing to realise that at its apex it was just a shoot ‘em up between the Time Lords and the Daleks. With an ongoing Time War series that is adding ever more detail to the conflict, it is becoming more normalised and less inventive. Boiling down the great conflict to a planet that are suffering because their trade routes are cut off might pass muster in an earthbound historical conflict but in the great unknowable Time War it seems to reduce it to something so utterly domestic and unremarkable. I think my expectations of the Time War were placed in an unreasonably high place and Big Finish are never quite going to reach it. Ultimately, in my heart, I feel like this is a War that belongs in the mind and not in actual stories. ‘What on Iptheus’ – it is a rookie mistake to have people talking like they would on Earth but change the name of the planet. Look at that cover art. It feels like they have given up trying to front these adventures with anything striking. I find the argument that it was an accident that they created an army of skeleton warriors through attempting to cure starvation on the planet a pretty shallow one. Why didn’t they stop the abuse on their people and go back to the drawing board? No, instead they gave the food to more people and used it to create a terrifying force that would protect their planet. As ever, it is not case of what people say but what they do. The Doctor literally cannot do right for doing wrong here. He shows these people a little glimpse of the Time War in a hope that they will understand how serious it is and as a result they decide to all become skeleton soldiers to try and fight back. And then a few lines of ‘perhaps the Time War won’t reach you here’ and they are convinced to go the other way. This is really simplistic writing. The entire existence of this story is justified in the very final scene, a bargain made between the Doctor and the Time Lords where they want something in return from him. Fair enough, but it could have been any favour that he was asking that was more exciting than 'please don't cut off the food from this planet.'

Standout Scene: It’s very odd having scenes of the Doctor and Bliss delighted at their dining experience on a planet where starvation is rife. I realise that the produce they are eating is a marvel and could solve all of this planet’s problems, but tonally it is extremely jarring. Talk about white privilege. We also swing from a conversation about the implications of the Time War to the Doctor screaming and dancing in a drug induced state. These scenes just do not sit next to each other harmoniously.

Result: ‘Is there an army of giant skeletons standing in front of us?’ I admire a story that gets to the point quickly and The Famished Lands certainly does that, offering up a fresh location and a conflict in less time that it would take to boil an egg. There’s an odd tone to this adventure that doesn’t quite marry up to the subject matter. It’s a story that wants to delve into the idea that worlds are suffering because of the Time War, where starving people are massacred and yet the tone is somewhat jovial, the dialogue jokey and the regulars are treating all of this as though it is a jolly outing. I appreciate that this is far more linear and approachable story than Fitton’s debut, mind, and Bliss feels much more comfortable playing second fiddle to the Doctor than she did being the focus. Are these Time War adventures supposed to be hard hitting dramas or is there room for lighter, slighter romps? On the strength of The Famished Lands I would argue against that approach I the future. I don’t understand the point of such a story; it doesn’t have anything particularly revelatory to say about the Time War, it isn’t a stepping stone in an arc, it’s not a character piece that reveals anything about the regulars. It feels like the quintessential ‘let’s churn them out’ Big Finish adventure, the great sausage factory of audio adventures. The only thing that this story does particularly well is weirding me out; scenes rub shoulders that swing from seriousness to high farce and I was left wondering whether the Time War was infecting the story, forcing to the tenor to shift so dramatically. Is this a comedy or a drama or a tragedy? Beats me, Chief: 4/10

Emissary of the Daleks written by Andrew Smith and directed by John Ainsworth

What’s it about: On the planet Omnia, a young man leads the Doctor and Peri through the battle-scarred ruins of a city. Among the rubble he shows them proof that their invaders and new masters, thought to be invincible, can be defeated. The proof is the blasted, burnt-out remains of a Dalek. But this is a Dalek-occupied world like few others. For one thing, there are few Daleks to be seen. And for another, the Daleks have appointed an Omnian, Magister Carmen Rega, to govern the planet as their emissary. Why are the Daleks not present in force? And can the Doctor and Peri risk helping the Omnians, when the least show of resistance will be met with devastating reprisals from space?

Softer Six: How things have changed. I have recently watched an episode of The Twin Dilemma for a new YouTube project of mine and was aghast to recall just how toxic the sixth Doctor and Peri’s relationship was at the beginning. I have been so spoilt by their continued adventures with Big Finish that I have practically been tricked into believing that they were always made for each other. I forget that what I am listening to is the kind of rapport that Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant would have liked to have developed over time if they had had the chance. He’s the surrogate stepfather, the teacher, the mentor. And she’s the intrepid young botanist, exploring the universe and basking in his wisdom. And I say this without any hint of irony whatsoever, there is little that gives me more pleasure than listening to these two adventuring together; their warm, occasionally spiky and always caring relationship growing all the while. It’s something that Andrew Smith taps into in the first scene of this story. The Doctor is hardly surprised to find that the Masters turn out to be the Daleks and immediately sets about taking the lid off a dead one to make sure that the creature inside has croaked it. When he is accused of being the fugitive, the Doctor he cries out in a sing-song voice ‘hel-lo!’ There’s that rebel in him, that kicked off with Troughton. It’s been a while since he was last on Skaro, and it wouldn’t be long before he wipes the planet out.

Busty Babe: Back home in Baltimore Peri would wander the church graveyards and read the inscriptions. I didn’t realise she had so much emo in her. Peri is appalled that the resistance seems to consist of people with entire books stored in their brains reciting those volumes for other people to learn from. I suppose that’s what Martha Jones did in last of the Time Lords. Tell stories and build a resistance and support for the Doctor. Poor Peri resists the Daleks during interrogation and almost kills herself in the process, screaming like a banshee as they torture her to extract information. Nicola Bryant could always let rip a scream but this is something quite different. When Peri says ‘goodbye for now, Doctor’ it is in a fashion that she thinks that she will never see him again.

Standout Performance: You’ve got a fabulous performance here from Nicholas Briggs as the Dalek Supreme. One of the most prissy, clipped, bitchy Daleks in recent history. It’s scenes with Saskia Reeves’ Rega are fuelled by pure hatred. It’s rare to hear a prolonged humanoid/Dalek bitch fight of this nature (essentially, it’s a power struggle between them) and it’s gloriously entertaining to listen to.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘It’s my first time ruling a Dalek occupied world, Doctor!’
‘You will want your revenge on me and you will have it.’

Great Ideas: Reading and writing is forbidden on this world. Omnia’s previous history was irradiated after the war. The calendar began again at the Masters insistence: Day One, Year One. I loved the dialogue surrounding the names ‘Magister’ and ‘Masters’, it’s almost as if Andrew Smith is taking the piss out of the Doctor Who traditional of hiding its central monster/villain behind a grand title. It might be a bit grisly for me to say but I really enjoyed the sequence where the Daleks massacred all of the insurgents in a sequence that recalled Blakes’ 7’s The Way Back. Just as those scenes started to get a little wordy, the writer cut through it all with a shocking flurry of mass murder.

Audio Landscape: Some of the direction in episode one lacks finesse, a surprise from John Ainsworth. You’ve got an overly melodramatic score, lots of running about with people shouting and a dearth od sound design to back up what is happening. It sounds like a fan made production in parts, not a professional one.

Musical Cues: It’s a very strange score because for the most part I found it suspenseful and mood-inducing…and yet there were bursts of insane melodrama during action sequences that quite took me out of the atmosphere the rest of the score was generating.

Isn’t it Odd: Daleks started as irradiated mutations and the nuclei radiation at the heart of Omnia attacks their cell structure very aggressively. That’s the reason why there as so few Daleks on this planet. They need radiation shielding to land here, hence the psychological attack on the planet. It’s a shame that there is a physical reason that the Daleks are taking this stance because I think it makes them so much more exciting to be playing mind games to keep people in check. For them to have done this just because they can’t land on the planet and subjugate in force blunts that Whitaker-esque approach to writing for them. When I think it is just a smart thing to do, saving resources and getting the same results. I actually think that it would have been more intense for Rega to have killed her own son rather than disobey the Daleks. But I suppose the story had to come to a conclusion at some point and her speech to her people, knowing that she will persecuted after they have finished dealing with the Daleks, has a ring of truth to it. Her sacrifice at the end is too easy an answer to what has been a complex character.

Standout Scene: The conversation between the Doctor and Rega is fantastic because he comes to it with all those centuries of hatred for the Daleks and those who work with them and Rega is able to fight back with the knowledge of what the planet went through and the atrocities she has managed to stop by collaborating. There are no easy answers. She cannot be entirely condemned or entirely praised. It’s a morally grey area that Doctor Who rarely steps into. I also really liked the end of episode three, which isn’t couched in melodrama. The Daleks simply live up to their promise of punishing the Omnions if they try to resist them in any way. Half of the population will be exterminated. Not an exclamation of intent, just a cold, hard fact.

Result: The concept at the heart of Emissary of the Daleks is a really classy one. If the Daleks threaten to exterminate a planet full of innocents unless they stay in check, what good can the Doctor possibly do if stirring up rebellion will lead to genocide? It’s bizarre to have such a sophisticated idea emerge from this story because I cannot imagine a more stripped back episode one of Doctor Who. The Doctor and Peri are already on the planet that their adventure will take place on, meet a citizen who spells out the entire situation on the planet and then stumble on the rebels almost immediately. All in time to realise that the ‘Masters’ on this planet are the Doctor’s oldest and deadliest of enemies. It’s complete lack of intricacy is remarkable, and enjoyable. I was waiting for some twist to reveal that this is all some simulation, or a test scenario for somebody who might want to join the Doctor and Peri on their adventures. It’s pure, unsophisticated Doctor Who. Even the first cliff-hanger is utterly guessable given what you would expect from a traditional Dalek story. It’s almost like Smith is trying lull you into a false sense of security because something much more interesting starts happening in the trenches of episode two. The Controller was by far the most thought-provoking character in Day of the Daleks and we have a terrific equivalent in this story; a woman who has been given an exalted position by the Daleks and rather enjoys the power enslaving her people at their whim. John Ainsworth direction is mostly excellent, and he lets the performances and the dialogue do a lot of the work but during moments of action I feel like he took his eye of the ball. I’m not sure there is enough incident to justify a two-hour release but it would also be the work of a better reviewer than me to point to any individual scene as written and say that it doesn’t work. I don’t think Emissary of the Daleks is a seamless Doctor Who adventure but it takes an unusual approach to a Dalek story in that it barely features them and focuses on the psychological ramifications of one of their invasions rather than just the death count. I was impressed by the tough dialogue with no easy answers. Much like Memories of a Tyrant, it has substance and that makes this trilogy a real tonic after the gothic naffness of the Mags trilogy. I just wish it had been slaved to a more succinct, punchier narrative: 6/10

State of Bliss written by Matt Fitton and directed by Ken Bentley

What’s it About: Bliss has lost her home, her family, and her friends – an orphan of the Time War. The Doctor attempts to find out where things went wrong. Across a multiverse of possibilities, Bliss discovers the many paths her life could have taken – but do they always lead to the Time War? And if Bliss can save her past, will she destroy her future – and the Doctor’s?

Physician, Heal Thyself: Where does Paul McGann fit into a story like this? As an interloper in each of the timelines in a different guise. Does that make sense? Not really. Listen to him in the last scene. He doesn't sound particularly motivated by any of this.

Bless Bliss: This seems like the perfect time to talk about Bliss because she hasn’t been an enormous success as a companion in my eyes and its worth trying to find out why, Why does somebody like Adric fall into fan consciousness as a failure and Sarah Jane as a success? Does accomplishment equate to a companion being well defined, developed, well-acted and likable? My initial problem with Bliss is that she was rather foisted upon the Doctor thanks to a quirk of the Time War, rather than meeting him naturally. In that first series of Time War adventures she was side-lined a lot in favour of more interesting guest characters and I couldn’t get a handle on who she really was and what her stake in the Time War was. The second box set dropped and we had a story where we visited Bliss’ home world, a genius notion that should have had me on side from that point on. Despite being written with more humour and less mediocrity, I still found myself drifting away from caring about the character but now I think the issue is that Rakhee Thakrar plays the part with all the gravitas of somebody that has evening meal at stake rather than the entire Time War. She’s so casual about everything, reacting to huge, universe changing events as though she is still walking the streets of Albert Square. Trust me, this isn’t me condemning actors for appearing in soap operas, there have been plenty of examples of actors who have left from soaps to Doctor Who with enormous success. When I compare the chemistry of Paul McGann and India Fisher and Sheridan Smith, his scenes with Thakrar are flat and insubstantial. It’s the oddest of things, chemistry. There is no exact science to it but I do think that once it has been tested out and unsuccessful (as this has in my book) then somebody making this needs to step back from the production and say ‘this isn’t working, let’s try something else.’ Now perhaps those in Big Finish towers think that Bliss and Thakrar are a roaring success (good for them) but then they are clearly looking at these things from a massively different critical standpoint to me. What do you think? Am I the crazy one? Has Bliss snuck into the upper echelons of your favourite companions? Or is she to you, like me, an unmemorable interloper who is giving this potentially fascinating range a black mark? Explain to me why I like Flip so much and Bliss so little, because the performances really aren’t that different.

Bliss has an aptitude for applied quantum mechanics. Has she? Or is that in one of the alternative universes? In many of the realities, Bliss is so distrustful.

Standout Performance: Anjili Mohindra is one of my favourite performers out of all the Doctor related spin offs. But her turn here as Calla just goes to show how well defined and characterised Rani was in the Sarah Jane Adventures. In comparison, she is shockingly unmemorable here.

Great Ideas: A quantum visualiser shows an infinity of different realities. Time is breaking down. The barriers between realities are falling. Something is happening across the universe. With Bliss, Deepa can tune into alternative universes. We are in the here and now but the visualiser can show the alternative routes that can be used to get here. Just the past, not the future. In each one, there is a person who looks like the Doctor. There are technology parasites emboldened by the Time War. They strip planets clean. Deepa isn’t just opening windows to other realities, she can tweak them too, even walk into them if things aren’t going well. She has a quantum anomaly that allows her to enter them and keep things on track. Deepa as all of her possible selves at once – that’s the most exciting idea at play here.

Isn’t it Odd: It’s hard to pick Thakrar out of the crowd in this story. Which is a sure sign that something unique is not standing out. Had this story featured Evelyn or Hex or Erimem, I would have had no problem at all. There’s a scene where it seems Bliss will be killed as the oxygen is bled out of the Rover…but it had none of the required tension because Thakrar sounds like she is laughing, not asphyxiating.

Standout Scene: There’s an implication that Deepa changed Bliss’ timeline so that she would end up with the Doctor. That literally makes her the Sam Jones of the audios. An undercooked companion who would have been nothing without interference to her timeline, who is supremely irritating because she has been placed in the Doctor’s path. Well, there’s a thing. It should be a heart-breaking discovery. Imagine if this had been Evelyn or Hex or Erimem (sorry I keep mentioning them) – this would be revelatory. With Bliss, it’s another reason why perhaps she is so ill-defined.

Result: ‘This place is built on sand. Sand shifting from one reality to another!’ Remember Turn Left? Of course, you remember Turn Left, it’s one of the most memorable episodes of new series to date and a regular top ten poller. Huge, high concept ideas, an emotional rollercoaster with the whole of reality at stake…and with Donna Noble at its heart. Brilliant, bold, silly, funny, self-critical, vulnerable Donna Noble. You can cut through complicated ideas because you’re following the path of a character we know and love. I feel that is what Matt Fitton was going for in State of Bliss. A complicated, big stakes story…but this time it is with Bliss as it’s emotional core. Unremarkable, ill defined, stress-free Bliss who seems to cut a path through the Time War by behaving as though she is navigating a supermarket. By centring the whole premise around Bliss I found myself really not giving a damn about much of it. This feels like it is trying to be The Wrong Doctors all over again and whilst you think a story featuring the sixth Doctor and Mel would be the nadir of what Big Finish can achieve, their characterisation enhanced that story tenfold. Bliss’ increased priority here has the reverse effect. State of Bliss flies from one alternative universe to another, one protracted and underwritten dialogue scene to another, with no clear narrative running through it. I think writing confusing stories and trying to pass it off as a fault of the Time War is about as slack as these stories could possibly be. Matt Fitton has written some very effective adventures elsewhere but between this and The Conscript he really doesn’t seem well suited to the Time War. Ken Bentley does his damndest to make the incidents count and you could say that there are a number of dramatic moments, but I was highly unengaged with the whole thing. Pretty much how I have been across all nine stories I have listened to, aside from the stories written by John Dorney and Jonathan Morris. These Time War sets have form in positioning the best stories of the set first. I’m hoping that the reverse is true of the third boxset: 4/10

More Happy Who!

Three more instalments of Happy Who. I opened out the Facebook group to suggestions of stories to tackle and I was given a list of difficult tales to try and find nice things to say about...

Planet of the Daleks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21WLlrs9N64&t=20s

The Twin Dilemma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiqKQKWFZvg&t=27s

Terminus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuWiG8wbLP4&t=36s

Happy Who!

I was inspired by a Twitter account to step back from my 30 year old complacency about Doctor Who and create a new series of videos highlighting the positives about a number of Doctor Who stories that I have savaged in the past. It in no way invalidates my original reviews but merely provides a more upbeat counterpoint to them, perhaps looking at them in a way that I didn't when I originally took them apart. It's just quick, three minute vignettes, as low budget a production as you can imagine (just me, my phone and my sofa) but hopefully it will give you the impetus to revisit some of these stories with me and perhaps give them more of a chance than you have in the past. Of course if you loved these stories all along, it's your chance to say I told you so!

Here's a quick video explaining what all this is about in a little more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5TGfvzdE8&t=3s

And here is where I have started, with The Dominators: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBdm_M8Zrkc

The Darkness and the Light written by David Llewellyn and directed by Scott Handcock

What’s it about: With the Master’s plans near completion, his victory is threatened by the presence of his greatest friend and enemy: the Doctor.

War Master: He could watch an entire city burn to the ground with barely a flicker of concern but he only has to hear the opening bars of Dido’s lament and he’s in floods as tears. Does he really want the respect of the Time Lords? Does he really want them to sing songs about him in the Capitol as the man who saved Gallifrey? Just when the Doctor thinks he has seen the worst of the Master, he always manages to sink even lower. He had almost forgotten that there were times when he and the Doctor were friends and worked together. His ultimate aim is to use the Rage to reshape the universe in his image. The Rage is his ‘Master’piece. Even at his worst there is still some good in him. The Doctor and the Master are the perfect balance, the darkness and the light.

The Doctor: The Mater has come to the conclusion that the universe is far more interesting with the Doctor in it. I can’t help but think that if he had an opposing view and killed him for good that he might actually see one of his plans through to fruition. This might be one of the idler uses of the Doctor I have witnessed in some time. He does all the right things, says all the right things but it is all pitched at such a predictable level (he and the Master circle around each other, spit insults, I’m going to stop you, I’d like to see you try, I was always better at Gallifreyan hockey, I copped off with the Rani and you didn’t etc, etc) and lacked the sort of fireworks I imagined by bringing these two great actors together. The Doctor is there to witness the apotheosis of the Master’s great scheme and then to show terrific surprise when that isn’t what he was really up to…and then is in place to defeat him (not by doing anything especially clever, just because that’s what the Doctor does). It’s a lethargic use of the character. And it’s as if McGann knows because it’s not his greatest performance either. I wish the Doctor would just quietly tell the Master ‘look mate, you always lose, your plans always backfire, someone betrays you, your allies turn their backs on you, you miss a vital part in your plan…why don’t you just not bother. Save face.’ The Master knows a darker flame burns inside the Doctor.

Standout Performance: It’s difficult to write a script that trips up

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘It’s monstrous. You are playing with the laws of nature as if they were a child’s toys. What gives you the right to do this? To conjure life into existence simply to use it as a weapon?’
‘Gallifrey will never defeat the Daleks with nothing but good intentions and two bleeding hearts!’

Great Ideas: Rassilon might have discovered the secret of immortality but the Master has created life itself. The Rage is a distillation of over 500 species, taking specific qualities from each one. Chief amongst those qualities is rage. A despite to destroy. The War Council agreed to this in principle because they wanted something, anything that would win them the War. The Time Lords have one catastrophic weakness when it comes to defeating the Daleks: compassion. A conscience. They need something as unsympathetic as a virus, all powerful. When put that way what the Master has been up to makes perfect sense. As usual it is over complicated and grandiose but it certainly makes sense of his actions in this set (never let it be said that the Master isn’t well motivated) and for specific purpose within the Time War. Thanks to the Doctor, the Rage has a little piece of Time Lord rage inside it. He hopes with time that because of that he will be able to control it in time. Fully matured it will have the ability to bend matter to its will, change shape to mimic any other creature, read minds, multiply itself, teleportation, maybe even short-range time travel. The Master is mining anti-matter from the moment of the Big Bang and feeding it into the Rage. The more knowledge the Rage acquires, the more dangerous it becomes. Because of this story there is a little piece of both the Doctor and the Master in everything in the universe, darkness and light. That reveal is the best moment in the story, but it’s treated as an aside rather than being what this story is about.

Isn’t it Odd: Can you imagine a more vanilla synopsis for a Doctor/Master story than that? I mean that’s ALL of them, isn’t it? The Doctor and the War Master crawling on their hands and knees in a grubby vent? This is the best use of these characters? The Master gets an ‘I am your father’ moment with the Rage. There’s almost a scene where Llewelyn explores the Doctor/Master dynamic from before they were adversaries but just as it threatened to get interesting, the Master cuts off the ‘moment’ before it becomes one. I’m glad the Master says he ‘almost’ plans for every eventuality because that is clearly not the case. Something always trips up his lunatic schemes. He turns on a sixpence when the Rage refuses to obey, and works with the Doctor to bring it down. It’s almost as quick as a turnaround as Terror of the Autons. I’m so bored of Big Finish wanting to have their cake and eat it, They want the New Series creations (River the War Master) to meet the classic Doctors and rather than take the Terrance Dicks/Robert Holmes approach of simply making continuity ad malleable thing for the sake of a story, they try and please fandom by restoring everything to its factory settings by the end of the story. The War Master first met the tenth Doctor, if he now meets the eighth then he needs to lose his memory. Amnesia is always their go-to explanation. It's all so obvious.

Standout Scene: Did anybody think that there wouldn’t be a moment when the Rage turns its back on the Master? His hubris knows no bounds and this downfall was always going to come.

Result: ‘The weapon. It’s been born…’ This is what happens when fans get their own way. As I mentioned in my review of the previous story this is a two parter where the Master is fully exposed and Derek Jacobi is given a considerable amount of material. The Master spells out his motives, has a showdown with the Doctor and pulls a rabbit out of his hat at the climax. This is a War Master story that is all about the War Master. And it’s predictable as hell, lacking interest in many areas and wastes a fine incarnation of this character on a banal re-tread of so many other Master tales. That’s the problem with the character, he’s been done to death. There’s no way of offering in terrific new insights into him because that has also been done to death. The absolute best approach with the War Master is to stick him in the shadows and to show the effect that he has on the people he comes into contact with. That is exactly why Master of Callous worked so well. We got close to those people and watched as their lives went to hell when his plans sprang into life. If you place the Master front and centre you get a story like The Darkness and the Light; a been there, done that extravaganza where the Doctor and the Master dance around each other and ultimately his plans are pulled apart effortlessly. It diminishes him as a character to have him this visible. Jacobi and McGann should have been sparring viciously. Instead they go through the motions. Some of the ideas are pretty exciting but when they are hung on a narrative this familiar, it’s just concepts hanging in the air. Ultimately the Rage isn’t anyway near as terrifying as advertised. Big Finish has had far more success with scarier monsters by applying some subtlety and toning down on the modulated voice. Sometimes less is more. A run-around, but one lacking passion: 3/10

The Missing Link written by Tim Foley and directed by Scott Handcock

What’s it about: On a desolate world in the distant future, the Master embarks on his latest scheme, aided and abetted by a team of brilliant scientists. But who is he truly working for? And in a universe at war, is there anyone left in all the cosmos who can stop him?

War Master: Imagine the Master running a facility that awards an ‘employee of the month’ where he congratulates them directly? What would you have to do to impress this evil fiend? The prime they are doing could have implications for the Time War but the Master has another agenda as well (plans within plans, he’s always had an overcomplicated mind). When the entire universe is going up in flames it takes a true genius to make it blaze even brighter. Is the Master working for powers within the War or is hiding from it? There’s an implication that he is running scared. Only the Master could be so utterly glib about genocide and then boast that he has kept the only member of that race alive and in full knowledge that they are the last of their kind. He won’t let the Time War make him feel powerless. Why does his facility work better when he is out of the building? Remember when Vorg asked Shirna to put her finger on a live circuit in Carnival of Monsters? There’s a much darker version of that that plays out in this story, but the Master’s victim receives far more than a little shock.

The Doctor: How could they resist the thought of bringing together Jacobi and McGann? Even if there is some lame technobabble explanation as to why the eighth Doctor met the War Master and doesn’t remember him when he meets him again as the tenth…the thought of bringing those two actors together is too enticing to resist. A man who is on the fringes of the Time War, battered, holding on for dear life. There is some very right about the Doctor turning up to save one of the Master’s prisoners, but only after she has already freed herself from captivity. Things aren’t looking bright for Alice and the Doctor turns up like a beacon of light, which is exactly what he should be. Where else would the Doctor be but trapped in a ventilation shaft? This isn’t the battle weary eighth Doctor from the recent Legacy of Time story so it must be set reasonably early into the Time War. He’s still got that Tiggerish charm, a way with the ladies and is up for the adventure. The Master calls the Doctor’s adventures ‘petty.’ In this incarnation it is hard to tell the difference between the blathering idiot he has become thanks to Alice and how he usually behaves. The Master really doesn’t have time for number eight.

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘All War is senseless but this War makes no sense…’ – there’s a very Russell T Davies-esque description of the Time War that is far more interesting than practically anything that has been told by Big Finish to date.

Great Ideas: When the Master has extracted their unique abilities, he usually disposes of the people who wield them. If you’re kept alive after your usefulness has ended, he must have a soft spot for you. The genetic skills that he has amassed are invisibility, super strength, levitation, luminescence, camouflage. Clearly the Master’s employees haven’t been working for him long enough to get to know him. One questions the logic of him creating a base only to destroy it before achieving his objective. Like he wouldn’t be crazy enough to throw it all away on a whim. This is the man who let half the universe blink away simply to hold the other half to ransom. God bless anyone who agrees to work for him. They’re less than dust beneath his feet. The Missing Link to the Master’s plan was a rogue Time Lord.

Isn’t it Odd: There has been an awful lot of grumbling that the Master hasn’t been front and centre of his own series (that work to glorious effect in Master of Callous) and to be honest I’m not sure a series where we follow the Master behaving like the Doctor and off having adventures would work. It’s far more effective to have him on the sidelines; prodding, poking, plotting and watch how his plans effect those around us. I don’t think the Master should ever be an identification character – he’s an evil sonofabitch – more a springboard to understand the characters that fall into orbit around him. Plus, it makes stories like this one where he is out in the open and working all the more vivid. I’d rather hold back Jacobi a bit to make his moments all the more delicious when they come. You can certainly have too much of a good thing and I wouldn’t ever want to get to the point where I’m tired of this most sinister of iteration of the character.

Standout Scene: For one fascinating scene the Master’s psyche is laid bare as Alice reads his mind and sees precisely what he thinks about the Time War and the Doctor…

Result: ‘Perhaps he can shed some light on this…’ What happens to all of these people that the Master collects for his nefarious schemes? Now it’s time to find out…in that respect this has been an intriguingly structured box set. Usually we come in at the end of all this, during the Doctor’s adventures and witness the Master turning up with all these madcap elements already in operation. This time we are looking at things from the opposite perspective, following the Master’s narrative with the Doctor popping up in ‘his’ adventure. Where we would usually begin is where the fourth story of this set is placed. Everything beforehand (whatever you or I might think of its quality) is a refreshing, never before seen, perspective. This is also the story for those of you who want a full-on story with the Master at the heart of the action. Essentially this is an hour worth of people saying ‘the Master is up to no good…but what is he doing?’ but to summarise it that way you would be missing on Paul McGann’s Tiggerish Doctor returning, a fascinating insight into the Master and his true feelings on the Time War and as previously mentioned the unusual backdoor exposure of one of the Master schemes in the making. There’s no great subtleties of characterisation beyond the central players but the performances are all fantastic and it paces along at a decent lick. I still question whether we needed quite this much set up – I think this would have worked far better as a three-part set – but at least we’re getting to the good stuff. The Missing Link is all foreplay, but I have to say it has gotten me very hot under the collar. Let’s hope the main event is explosive: 8/10

The Coney Island Chameleon written by David Llewellyn and directed by Scott Handcock

What’s it about: When the carnival arrives on Coney Island, it brings with it the most incredible specimens that New York will ever see. Unfortunately for the acts, not all eyes on them are friendly. Enigmatic businessman TS Mereath has taken a shine to the Coney Island Chameleon, for example… and he will seemingly stop at nothing to acquire her.

War Master: The Master putting on a Texan accent? You can’t say that he doesn’t throw himself into every guise. He’s willing to offer $2000 for the chameleon, which is a considerable sum.

Standout Performance: I don’t want to be one of those people that cast aspersions on peoples accents especially since half the time when actors are called out on dreadful accents they turn out to be their own. So, I guess the diplomatic thing to say that some are more convincing than others. There’s one scene around the 30-minute mark where they were extremely unconvincing.

Audio Landscape: The direction was far more apparent in this story. New York was conjured up very atmospherically by Peter Doggart, although I might have been leaning more on the sound design this time around because the story wasn’t gripping me as much.

Isn’t it Odd: I really admire this ranges willingness to try new things all the time and to not just stick with the status quo. After its reception it would have been so easy for the producer to stick to the Master of Callous format and do something similar again but instead the War Master series heads of in a completely different, seemingly random (although I think we all know that when it comes to the Master that nothing is random), direction. The consequence of that is that there’s a 50/50 chance that you will prefer the new direction or not and right now this isn’t quite to my taste. These character vignettes, the Master travelling the universe to acquire weapons to fight the Tie War in the most diverse of locations. It does mean that we get to visit the Second World War in England and the New York carnival scene, proof that you literally have no clue what is coming next. With this set I guess its how these stories contribute to what is clearly going to be the two-part finale, a showdown between the War Master and the eighth Doctor. That’s where all the meat is going to be, this is two hours’ worth of set up beforehand.

Result: This really dragged, and the twist at the climax lacks the punch of previous attempts at this sort of thing. It might have been more interesting and less time consuming if this story and The Survivor had been blended into one, since they are essentially the same story, and have the Master achieve his goals in half the time. It would certainly make the first half of this set drag less. It would have been pretty unique to skip between two such diverse locations and to come to the realisation that the Master is collecting skilled people to fight in the Time War in both. Instead we have two separate tales, neither of which is distinctive enough to standout and because of their similarities one is bound to be weaker than the other. And The Coney Island Chameleon loses out. It’s not that the performances or the characterisation are unimpressive, I think my problem was I never found myself invested in these people that we dropped in on. It’s nice to see what the Master gets up to away from the Doctor and how he pieces his plans together, but his turn as the insidious Priest in the previous story was much more uncomfortable to listen to than his guise as the wealthy American businessman here. I was waiting for the story to take on dramatic turn as in the previous story, that all the ponderous talking was leading to something more memorable that promised much for the second half of the set but this really lack momentum all the way through. When the Master does finally show his true colours, I was hoping that he would kill the lot of them and get on with something more interesting, a sure sign that this hadn’t clicked with the characters. An unusual misfire for this range, which typically blazes a trial for the Time War Big Finish narrative. Let’s hope that things get back on track when the Doctor joins the action: 4/10

The War Master: Rage of the Time Lords: The Survivor written by Tim Foley and directed by Scott Handcock

What’s it about: At the height of the Second World War on the planet Earth, Alice Pritchard wants for nothing more than the fighting to stop, and to do her bit for King and Country. But when the village priest offers her guidance, her life will change in ways she could never imagine.

War Master: The idea of the War Master hiding under the guise of Reverend Magister is even more sinister than when Roger Delgado had a go because this iteration of the Master is such an insidious swine. When he asks how would somebody like to help with the ware effort, it is a double-edged question. One of his jobs is to make sense of the senseless, to try new techniques. They need more than just plain old science and he senses that Alice is gifted. When he talks about fighting in a war, they all think he is talking about the First World War. Isn’t it sick that the Master has a purpose now, a reason to seek out weapons of mass destruction. And that he has cart blanche to do whatever he needs to to get it done. He can indulge his taste for carnage as long as he gets results. There’s nobody trying to rein him in, he’s being actively encouraged. He thinks he has the ultimate authority, whether that is as a Time Lord or a man of the cloth. He could have taken Alice at any time but he wanted her to come willingly. His opinion of the Second World War is a condemnation on humanity.

Standout Performance: Listening to Derek Jacobi silkily talking around an innocent girl under the guise of religion is enough reason to buy this box set on its own. When you’re getting advice like ‘if a Priest asks you to do something, you do it…’ what sort of a chance does Alice have?

Sparkling Dialogue: ‘We are in a state of grace, my dear. This church wasn’t built by Gods, but they certainly like to think of themselves as such.’
‘Anymore feathers in your cap, Magister? How about provocateur!’
‘So everyone will just…burn?’
‘I can give you a fight that is playing out amongst the cosmos…’

Great Ideas: Meat eating is outlawed on the Earth at some point in the 22nd Century. The crystals are a mean of boosting latent telepathic powers. Alice is a legendary choronopsychos, a legendary weapon that fell to Earth from the Time War.

Isn’t it Odd: It’s always very easy to get impatient with these War Master sets and wonder why they aren’t getting to the point and concentrating on what feels like extraneous characters instead of getting right down the throat of Jacobi’s Master. I might have made that observation at the beginning of previous set too except getting close to those characters was the entire point of the series and proved to be an emotional rollercoaster ride. It got me thinking about whether the Master should be front and centre of this series or somebody who is pulling the strings from behind the scenes and turning up occasionally to make his presence felt in a dramatic way. Certainly the latter seems to be providing us with some shockingly good drama. So, whilst the first ten minutes of this story might have you wondering if you have wondered into the wrong series, my advice is to be patient and wait see where this takes you. You might just be surprised. This story is ultimately very like The Master of Callous but condensed down into one tale. It’s the Master, on a mission to find a weapon that will aid in the Time War, doing it his way with as much destruction as possible along the way.

Standout Scene: Because I wasn’t especially connected to anybody in the village, I was smiling as they were all wiped out. Or about to be wiped out. God knows what that says about me. To be fair, they were all willing to go along with the witch trial (or traitor trial) of Alice without exception. The Master is such a bastard, he traps Alice in a situation where she has to act in a violent way in order to escape with her life, and he squeezes until she finishes them all off…

Result: ‘Judgement for all of you!’ What a strange story to introduce the set with. For the first half of its story, The Survivor is a deliberately small scale, intimate piece about a group of characters that I cannot imagine will have much bearing on the rest of the set, a minor role for the Master and only hints about how this weapon will come in useful in the War effort. The Time War effort. It’s a bold move, not entirely successful because tonally it is unlike anything before in this series and it does feel like an insignificant tangent. It is a story that is mostly sold on its performances and character interaction but for once I wasn’t entirely on board with that either. These people weren’t exactly stereotypes but they weren’t far from it. If you’re telling a story set in rural England during the Second World War this is exactly the sort of people you would expect to find. And being predictable is exactly what this series hasn’t been until now. The real beacon of light is the War Master himself; Derek Jacobi is just so shockingly vivid that he lifts the story whenever he appears. Things turn on a sixpence in the second half and the pace, plot and suspense all rachet up. That’s where the character stuff comes in handy because we’ve seen the seeds of discord between these people before they erupt into paranoia and suspicion. Where this mostly stands out is in its direction. Scott Handcock ensures that things are very quiet early on so when the trial begins there is a sick feeling of dread that permeates the audio. The Jacobi heavy second half really sees the story firing on all cylinders, but the first half was a struggle. This story just goes to show how the Time War touches all manner of times and places: 7/10