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TARDIS Guide

Overview

Released

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Written by

James Goss

Directed by

Ken Bentley

Runtime

190 minutes

Story Type

Multi-Master

Time Travel

Alternate Reality

Location (Potential Spoilers!)

Gallifrey

Synopsis

The Master's finally done it. He's won. He summons his other selves to a celebration of his ultimate victory. And they come - from across time and dimensions. But he's forgotten to invite someone. And Missy's not happy.

Has the Master really conquered the universe? Or has something more awful been unleashed? Something that even all the Masters cannot stop?

Missy is determined to reveal the truth. Because one fact about the Master's existence never changes. No-one can trust the Master.

Not even the Master.

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4 reviews

There’s a magnificent amount of vocal talent on show here - I tried to list the outstanding cast and realised I’d named all of the main actors.

The ending doesn’t quite work which is a shame - as splitting the Masters into pairs is very clever but it doesn’t make a whole let of sense when they are all brought back together.

However, I could happily listen to a further three hours of these characters just bickering.


Really good - shame it’s John Simms only big finish appearance.

Really entertaining.

cool to see all these masters come together.


Masterful Part One: A bit of a slow burner to begin with, but once Missy arrives the story really comes to life. Michelle Gomez is excellent and continues to prove herself to be the best Master. She brings this addictive zany energy and a great sense of fun to the character, and her reactions to the other Masters are truly the greatest (I especially love how she refers to the Geoffrey Beevers Master as 'crispy').

John Simm is also great in his audio debut, inviting his past incarnations to a party. Only the Simm Master would gather his other incarnations for karaoke.

Meanwhile, it's nice to also hear Jon Culshaw give a pitch perfect impression of the Ainley Master and the Third Doctor. He's truly one of the greatest all time impressionists.

Masterful Part Two: Stronger than the first part. Missy and Jo Grant are tons of fun together, as are the War Master and John Simm's Master. Mark Gatiss's Master feels like he's in a different story entirely however, and his appearances so far are somewhat jarring.

A great conclusion to the Masterful trilogy. We get much more of the Mark Gatiss Master here, as he attempts to destroy Gallifrey, and the Jacobi and Simm Master combination continues to work especially well. It's Missy who steals the show once again, however, as her wonderfully batty nature sees her take control of the situation. Michelle Gomez brings this darkly manic energy to her performance that's always a joy to watch or listen to, and she will always be my favourite Master.

I also admire the twist with the Entropy Wave; it's not one that I expected, however it makes a considerable amount of sense given the hints throughout Masterful.


#JamesGossForShowrunner

This is an absolutely standout release which befits such an enemy like the Master. All of the actors interact well together. Milo Parker especially was excellent on what was his first outing on audio, likewise with John Simm. There are also some fun cameos to look out for (none of which I shall spoil), Katy Manning was superb as Jo and there were some really good and heartfelt moments particularly with the Beevers Master storyline.

Overall a fantastic story well worthy of any plaudits that should come its way.


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