The Doctor is drawn into a desperate battle with his arch-enemy – squared!
1 Comment
Styre
on June 20, 2016 at 5:45 PM
THE TWO MASTERS
With all the various incarnations of the Master out there, I’m genuinely surprised it took Big Finish this long to do a “multi-Master” story – but here we are, with John Dorney’s “The Two Masters.” It pairs the Geoffrey Beevers and Alex Macqueen Masters in a twisted, time-bending story that I think holds together reasonably well and is delightfully entertaining throughout.
It’s quite clear that Dorney approached this story with the desire to explore the Master’s character, to see how his different incarnations are all manifestations of the same person by exploring their personality quirks. But right from the beginning, it seems as though he’s gotten it wrong: the Beevers Master is giggly and silly and the Macqueen Master is serious and cruel. When the Doctor notices something is up, though, it becomes apparent that Dorney is doing this on purpose, and it works quite well. Beevers in particular is having the time of his life impersonating Macqueen’s more ebullient personality – his episode 2 exclamation “That one nearly popped in to use the bathroom!” had me laughing out loud. There isn’t nearly as much time spent with Macqueen impersonating Beevers, and I think that’s to the story’s benefit, as it’s simply not as entertaining in reverse.
The plot is quite complex. The Macqueen Master meets with the Cult of the Heretic, a cult dedicated to worshipping a previously unknown Time Lord renegade, in an attempt to take control of their paradox technology. They try to convince him to create a paradox by killing his earlier self, the Beevers Master; he betrays them by electrocuting his earlier self near to death but not killing him. (Incidentally, here we learn just how the Pratt/Beevers Master got so horribly burned – evidently he started out as a healthy Geoffrey Beevers! No explanation why his voice changed in “The Deadly Assassin,” but I think that would be a bridge too far.) But then the Cult of the Heretic recaptures the Macqueen Master, switches his mind with that of the Beevers Master, and sets the two of them against each other, with Beevers-in-Macqueen trying to kill Macqueen-in-Beevers. Oh, and as part of this, they send mercenaries back through time to various points of history, explaining some of what’s going on in the previous two Master stories. Got all that? Good, because I’m not sure I do, but it seems like it all works.
All of this is leading up to the final episode, when the two Masters team up to achieve their ultimate goal: rewriting the universe to their own blueprint, then ruling it as the Masters of everything. There’s even a great episode 3 cliffhanger with both Masters launching into some fantastic evil cackling. And I love the joke of the Beevers Master killing Macqueen’s victims before he can punctuate his murders with terrible puns. It’s here that Dorney shows his understanding of the character, though, as the traditional bickering we know from the various multi-Doctor stories starts happening here as well. But this isn’t a sign of several well-meaning personalities clashing; it’s a sign of two megalomaniacs discovering they have no actual plan to work together. “Master” is a rather unitary role, after all – the clue, as both Masters and the Doctor repeat, is in the name. And it’s this incompatibility that ultimately allows the Doctor to outsmart them both and save the day. It’s smart, funny writing that reinforces what we already know: Dorney is one of the most valuable writers in the Big Finish stable.
The production is very good, with Jamie Anderson directing and Martin Montague handling the sound design. Jamie Robertson’s score is suitable if unmemorable. Overall, “The Two Masters” is a high quality release. It’s a bit too convoluted for its own good, but the main attractions are Beevers and Macqueen and, in that respect, the story gives you everything you want. Just try to listen to this without grinning.
THE TWO MASTERS
With all the various incarnations of the Master out there, I’m genuinely surprised it took Big Finish this long to do a “multi-Master” story – but here we are, with John Dorney’s “The Two Masters.” It pairs the Geoffrey Beevers and Alex Macqueen Masters in a twisted, time-bending story that I think holds together reasonably well and is delightfully entertaining throughout.
It’s quite clear that Dorney approached this story with the desire to explore the Master’s character, to see how his different incarnations are all manifestations of the same person by exploring their personality quirks. But right from the beginning, it seems as though he’s gotten it wrong: the Beevers Master is giggly and silly and the Macqueen Master is serious and cruel. When the Doctor notices something is up, though, it becomes apparent that Dorney is doing this on purpose, and it works quite well. Beevers in particular is having the time of his life impersonating Macqueen’s more ebullient personality – his episode 2 exclamation “That one nearly popped in to use the bathroom!” had me laughing out loud. There isn’t nearly as much time spent with Macqueen impersonating Beevers, and I think that’s to the story’s benefit, as it’s simply not as entertaining in reverse.
The plot is quite complex. The Macqueen Master meets with the Cult of the Heretic, a cult dedicated to worshipping a previously unknown Time Lord renegade, in an attempt to take control of their paradox technology. They try to convince him to create a paradox by killing his earlier self, the Beevers Master; he betrays them by electrocuting his earlier self near to death but not killing him. (Incidentally, here we learn just how the Pratt/Beevers Master got so horribly burned – evidently he started out as a healthy Geoffrey Beevers! No explanation why his voice changed in “The Deadly Assassin,” but I think that would be a bridge too far.) But then the Cult of the Heretic recaptures the Macqueen Master, switches his mind with that of the Beevers Master, and sets the two of them against each other, with Beevers-in-Macqueen trying to kill Macqueen-in-Beevers. Oh, and as part of this, they send mercenaries back through time to various points of history, explaining some of what’s going on in the previous two Master stories. Got all that? Good, because I’m not sure I do, but it seems like it all works.
All of this is leading up to the final episode, when the two Masters team up to achieve their ultimate goal: rewriting the universe to their own blueprint, then ruling it as the Masters of everything. There’s even a great episode 3 cliffhanger with both Masters launching into some fantastic evil cackling. And I love the joke of the Beevers Master killing Macqueen’s victims before he can punctuate his murders with terrible puns. It’s here that Dorney shows his understanding of the character, though, as the traditional bickering we know from the various multi-Doctor stories starts happening here as well. But this isn’t a sign of several well-meaning personalities clashing; it’s a sign of two megalomaniacs discovering they have no actual plan to work together. “Master” is a rather unitary role, after all – the clue, as both Masters and the Doctor repeat, is in the name. And it’s this incompatibility that ultimately allows the Doctor to outsmart them both and save the day. It’s smart, funny writing that reinforces what we already know: Dorney is one of the most valuable writers in the Big Finish stable.
The production is very good, with Jamie Anderson directing and Martin Montague handling the sound design. Jamie Robertson’s score is suitable if unmemorable. Overall, “The Two Masters” is a high quality release. It’s a bit too convoluted for its own good, but the main attractions are Beevers and Macqueen and, in that respect, the story gives you everything you want. Just try to listen to this without grinning.
Highly recommended.
8/10