Books & Literature

Audiobook Review: Doctor Who Short Trips: I Am The Master, by Big Finish

The Doctor’s arch nemesis and fellow Time Lord, The Master, recalls how he destroyed a perfectly well-balanced planetary system and in particular, the main planet, Glox.

Geoffrey Beevers portrayed the Doctor’s arch-nemesis and fellow Time Lord in the classic Tom Baker serial The Keeper Of Traken. Since the advent of Big Finish nearly 20 years ago he has returned to this character a number of times facing off against a number of the Doctor’s incarnations.

In this short story, written by Beevers himself, he takes on the voice of The Master and regales the listener from inside his TARDIS which, at this point, is shaped like an audio recording booth. Yes, this short story is incredibly meta. Not only does The Master talk about how the Big Finish studios are set up, he also goes on to describe the apparently wonderful lunches that get mentioned on many a Big Finish interview disc.

All this is as a means to an end for The Master to regale the listener about how he destroyed a perfectly well-balanced planetary system and in particular, the main planet, Glox. Over the 45 minute run time, he meticulously shows how he invaded the planet’s government and ruined the population and their development for no other reason than he could.

Despite much humour, this is a particularly dark story but perfectly in tune with the character that is doing the narration. Beevers’ Master is a shrivelled husk and his resentment is deeply embedded in the performance.

Beevers is well directed by Lisa Bowerman who keeps the narration ticking over and she is aided by a fine sound mix and musical score by David Roocroft.

This series is designed for the time-poor fan who just wants to dip their toe into the Big Finish universe and it provides a cheap opportunity for listeners on a budget to experience a Big Finish audio. This particular volume will not disappoint and may encourage some to perhaps spend a little more for the bigger boxsets and stories.

Reviewed by Rodney Hrvatin
Twitter: @Wagnerfan74

Rating out of 10: 9

Distributed by: Big Finish Productions
Released: October 2018
RRP: $2.99 Digital Download

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