Master! Planet Doom from Big Finish Review

Once again torn from the time vortex, The Master finds himself forced to work with the universe’s most glamourous assassin Vienna Salvatori, having found themselves a part of an expedition to a dangerous planet.

Of course, the cover gives away what is going on here but a lot of the fun of the opening story Basilisk from Robert Whitelock comes from the eventual reveal of the Axons. One might find the pairing of the Master and Vienna a strange one but she’s been his main antagonist throughout Eric Roberts’ range with Big Finish and it’s all the better for her inclusion, standing in for the Doctor. While the War Master range only needs Derek Jacobi’s performance, something about Eric Robert’s Master lends itself to having someone to spar with.

Chase Masterson playing Vienna began as a villain against Sylvester McCoy and has grown to be one of the best original characters from Big Finish in a long while.

Basilisk rightly plays with the dynamic between the two characters forcing them to both rely on one another when they find their lives have been connected with cuffs which, not only kill one if the other dies but also deliver electric shocks if the pair are too far apart. Kidnapped by a mad marine called Philips, played with villainous aplomb. Still, Nigel Whitmey, Vienna and the Master are forced into joining their expedition because of the Master’s previous experience with the Axos entity and Vienna’s ability to keep the Master in line.

Author Robert Whitelock doesn’t get much to do here but his exploration of the dynamic between the two leads makes sure that things don’t get boring while giving us some tantalising hints of what is to come.

Luckily Barnaby Edwards’ Axos Rising is where things kick into a higher gear. The Master, having learnt of the Axos connection to the planet, takes advantage of the situation and begins to manipulate people so that events turn in his favour. It might feel a little dull to just have the Master standing around while he sends other people into the Axon prison to fall victim to the traps. Still, thanks to Roberts’ chilling performance it feels much more in keeping with the character to stand back and let other people kill themselves so he can just easily stroll in.

Edwards makes sure that Vienna has a tough time here too as she rapidly loses control of the situation and the Master and then the Master finally sacrifices her in a way that feels genuinely in keeping with how he’s interacted with her across the range. Thankfully, Vienna’s story won’t end here and Masterson does a brilliant job of rising to the challenge and delivers a fantastic performance throughout.

Also reintroduced here is the character of Passion, who became Vienna’s bounty hunting partner in the previous Master release Nemesis Express and as well as Edwards handles the character it does feel a little disjointed from the action taking place elsewhere. I do have to be honest it made me wonder if I’d missed something but this is a minor quibble in a story that vastly improves on the opening episode and does a lot of work of developing the lead characters.

What is quite surprising is that throughout the two episodes so far, the Axons haven’t been featured. Barnaby Kay’s Axos voice does add some menace to the proceedings though when they do arrive in force, but for a set so heavily relying on the creatures, the fact they haven’t featured feels odd.

Hellbound, the third and final episode from Robert Valentine does make full use of the strange aliens, as well as going into the mythos of the aliens and their connections to the Time Lords. Its fun that Valentine wastes no time in showing the Master’s plans going wrong very quickly and Roberts steps up to the plate showing us how the Master is really trying not to panic as things spiral away from him.

An issue with this episode and indeed the whole set of stories is that it does make the Master feel a little like an afterthought in his series. This is the episode where Vienna feels a little underused and the Master doesn’t get much to do here either. Where author Robert Valentine shines is in his handling of all the characters’ motivations. Everyone here is out for themselves and it’s hard not to see things from the Axon’s perspective that these characters are trying to use them for their gain.

Paul McGann does make a welcome appearance here though as the Eighth Doctor, even if the Master’s plans resort to what he wanted to do in the television movie, he does have some great scenes with his old co-star and the pair make the most of this Doctor and Master relationship. The Doctor manages to stay calm throughout all the action and works well as the listener’s anchor keeping us invested in the ensuing chaos.

The Master’s fate feels a little bit like it’s been overdone as he finds himself back in the vortex but Big Finish are a bit limited to what they can do with him as they can’t kill him off because of the future incarnations of the character. And say what you will about Eric Robert’s incarnation, he still feels the most insidious of all the Masters, other incarnations you kind of know what they will do, but the Movie Master is so unhinged that you don’t know what he is going to do next.

With Vienna and Passion going off with the Doctor at the end, hopefully, this will give us some more stories for these characters it’s hard not to wish that the Master will just have his solo adventure next time in his series.

Hellbound is a good ending to Planet Doom and it features some strong characterisations for all involved, even if the Master is far less involved than we might have liked. Planet Doom proves that this series is getting far braver to do its things and is gradually feeling more assured with each outing, let’s just hope next time we get to hear Eric Roberts going solo in all his campy glory!

You can pick up Master! Planet Doom from Big Finish on both digital and CD now.