I truly don't know, on one hand the story the master is saying is really boring but I enjoyed the ending bit and the twist very much got me.

Ghost Train

Prerequisites: None needed for the most part, other than the knowledge that the other stories in this boxset have been with a similar structure of the Master telling a story to an audience.

Signal and I'll Come to You ends this boxset on an alright note. The story the Master tells this time around is pretty engaging, and I did find myself liking the characters. The idea of some entity from the Time War being trapped in a time loop/paradox thing and the Master needing to complete the loop to keep it contained is pretty cool, and I think it's set up decently here. However, as a closer to the overarching story, this audio doesn't satisfy me. The reveal that the Master here is just a projection from his Tardis after he left the Time War is something I'm mixed on. While it does cast the previous stories in a more forgiving light, it also renders them just a bit more pointless, since this is a story thread I'm not particularly interested in. I love the War Master range for displaying just how manipulative, cruel, and even petty the Master can be... and we just don't get a lot of that in this boxset. The Master is more of a side character in nearly every story here, and it just seems like an odd choice for the Handcock era of this range to end on. Somewhat disappointingly, I think I'd call Future Phantoms the worst boxset of this range, and something I wouldn't recommend people buying. Still, this isn't bad by any means, it's just not up to the standards I've come to expect.

I liked the idea of this story, more than the story itself. The story focus on a Victorian railway and a company investigating a suspected incident involving a missing train. Of course over the story the master masquerading as a railway engineer slowly putting pieces into place for his own plan.

The story's score is great, if a bit loud at times and it does well to conclude the boxset. However, I think the story is weak as I personally was fatigued by this type of story. 3 out of the 4 stories have the master as effectively secondary characters manipulating events to ensure a grisly fate for the protagonist. Whilst this type of story is good, having the Master entirely in control in this boxset makes it feel predictable. Whilst each story's ending had a twist, they were all predictable to an extent. This story is no different, like the story it pastiches the signal-man is struck by a train. Whilst the scfi elements are a fun addition, it felt like the story had only been building to them briefly and relatively disconnected to the rest of the tale.

The story-in-a-story narrative used feels natural however, it does come across as being relatively bland. Whilst it reveals what the Master's plan and why he's being telling stories, the fact the Master was really a Tardis looking for a pilot feels like a "yes, and?" moment. For me at least, it lacks the kick needed too make it a good conclusion. The boxset had been building to a revelation as to why the master had been doing telling stories, but this feels like an-built up twist with little foreshadowing.

Either way, the story was fine it wasn't spectacular or awful. It was just fine.

Interesting ngl brain kinda broke listening to this but I liked it

📝6/10 → ACCEPTABLE!

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: “SIGNAL AND I'LL COME TO YOU”

While this concluding story of the Future Phantoms set is more active than the previous stories and largely plays out in a train where the Master joins a couple of other characters in chasing phantoms, I have to admit that my head wasn't fully in the game. I can't say that I disliked this, but I'm also not particularly engaged by it. The performances are continuously great, and the sound design works well, but the story itself does not leave lasting impressions.