A dinner party concludes with terror and death. For one person, this night represented an ending to one thousand years of darkness.
A dinner party concludes with terror and death. For one person, this night represented an ending to one thousand years of darkness.
MASTER
Comparatively speaking, reinventing Omega and the Master were simple jobs. Omega was only seen twice on television, aiming at the same goal both times, while Davros was always seen as the leader of the Daleks. Showing them in a new light was down to putting them in different situations — though excellent scripts provided the backbone for the reexamination. The Master, on the other hand, had been seen countless times in countless situations with countless motives: to reinvent this character would be a monumental task. Yet in Master, the final installment in Big Finish’s villains trilogy, author Joseph Lidster manages to provide an innovative, believable explanation for the Master, and the production backs him up with yet another strong release.
One of the central arguments in Master is that of nature vs. nurture. Much of the running time is devoted to the question of the Master’s motivation: did something happen to drive him to ruthless murder or is it inherent in his nature? The answer, interestingly, is something of a combination of the two — he was employed by Death, which qualifies as an outside influence, but as Death is an elemental force of the universe one can argue that such an influence is akin to one’s own nature. Lidster’s flashback sequences work quite well: the listener automatically assumes that the murder by the river was committed by the Master, and the revelation that the Doctor was responsible is shocking yet believable. Explaining the Master basically required the author responsible to reconcile his nature with his upbringing, and Lidster somehow pulls off a seemingly impossible task.
Much of the success of Master is due to its style and setting. This is every inch a chamber drama which could easily be done on stage; much like film versions of Sleuth or Glengarry Glen Ross, Master explores the stage environment but never allows the scope to grow too large. Unlike its predecessors, Master cannot be described as too long, simply because of its nature: it needs every one of its 132 minutes to allow the characters to talk and flesh themselves out. There is no realistic way for the production to “show, not tell” — and it’s a testament to Lidster’s writing that he keeps the material interesting throughout such a dialogue-heavy script. The framing device is also interesting; its ending may be predictable but it works well despite this.
Sylvester McCoy is, yet again, on fine form throughout Master, returning to his “dark Doctor” persona that served him so well in Project: Lazarus. This is very much a pre-TVM Doctor, one whose weariness is clearly on display and one who just wants to help an old friend. His screaming is anguished and painful, his anger is intimidating, and his tone is commanding — it’s performances like this that reaffirm my placement of McCoy among my favorite Doctors. Wonderful stuff.
Geoffrey Beevers once again assumes the mantle of the Master — at least in part. Mostly he’s the mysterious Dr. John Smith, and he’s great: his voice is perfect for audio, and it sounds very soft, soothing, and sympathetic as he interacts with his friends in the house. But occasionally he slips back into the Master, and here Beevers truly excels: he sounds more malevolent than all of his predecessors combined, with a vicious snarl to his voice that is truly frightening. The Keeper of Traken is truly no indicator of the excellence Beevers has brought to the part in his two Big Finish appearances — and here, unlike Dust Breeding, he actually has a decent production around him.
Philip Madoc returns to Doctor Who here as Victor Shaffer and he, too, is excellent, portraying a character suffering the “nurture” degeneration into madness. Lidster isn’t afraid to show harsh emotion, and this has earned him a large amount of unfair criticism — yes, Victor’s madness is painful to hear, but one hardly expects a real-life loss of sanity to be pleasing to the senses. Anne Ridler is a little more one-note as Jacqueline, though her performance is still well above average. Charlie Hayes’ turn as Jade/Death is fine when she’s playing Jade, but I think her turn of phrase as Death is a bit too flippant — there’s not enough gravitas no matter the filter placed over her voice.
David Darlington’s post-production work is excellent, demonstrating an understanding of the “stagy” nature of the script and allowing the performances to stand out. His music is dramatic and evocative. I’d say Gary Russell could have prompted a different performance from Charlie Hayes, but other than that the direction here is on fine form. Poor production values are a Big Finish rarity, and Master is certainly not among the exceptions — the production team clearly understands the demands of the script.
Master is not perfect: overdone in parts, overplayed in others, it certainly has its share of flaws. But much like with its two predecessors in the villains trilogy, it features exceptional performances from the two leads and strong production values, as well as another thematically-rich script. This is yet another worthy addition to the library of a Doctor Who fan, and continues the generally high quality of the anniversary year.
Recommended.
8/10