Masters of War (audio story)

Masters of War
Doctor:	The Doctor
Featuring:	Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Main enemy:	Davros, Daleks, Quatch
Main setting:	Skaro
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Eddie Robson
Director:	Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music:	Martin Johnson
Sound:	Martin Johnson
Cover by:	Alex Mallinson
Release details
Release number:	8
Release date:	December 2008
Format:	2 parts - 2 CDs
Production code:	DWUN08
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-331-6
Doctor Who Unbound
← Previous	A Storm of Angels
Next →	none

Masters of War was the eighth Doctor Who Unbound audio story produced by Big Finish Productions, it was also a sequel to the second Unbound story Sympathy for the Devil. For this story David Warner reprised his role as an alternative Third Doctor alongside Nicholas Courtney as an alternative Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. Also featuring in this story was Terry Molloy as an alternative version of Davros. This story was set hundreds of years following The Daleks and presents an alternative history free of the Doctor's presence in Genesis of the Daleks. This story was double the length of the previous Sympathy for the Devil (1 CD) being presented over 2 CDs.

The Doctor of this story and Sympathy for the Devil was brought into the "mainstream" Doctor Who universe in the later release The Unbound Universe.

Publisher's summary

The Doctor and his travelling companion, retired army officer Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart, take a random trip in the TARDIS - and land on the planet Skaro. The Doctor helped the Thals to defeat the Daleks years ago, so he is surprised to find the Thal city under Dalek occupation. He determines to help them again, but what is the Daleks' purpose in keeping the Thals alive? Does it have anything to do with the Daleks' mythical creator, named in their teachings as Davros?

Plot

to be added

Cast

• The Doctor - David Warner
• Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney
• Davros - Terry Molloy
• The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
• Nadel - Amy Pemberton
• Gillen - Sarah Douglas
• Delt - Jeremy James
• Toloc - Christopher Heywood
• The Quatch - Jeremy James and Jason Haigh-Ellery

References

• The Dalek/Thal war being caused by a third alien race, and Daleks being capable of coexisting with the Thals, were elements dropped from Terry Nation's original proposal for TV: The Daleks.
• The Thousand Year War and Davros' history are different (to the proper timeline), most notably that the war was considerably shorter than a thousand years and started closer to the end. The Quatch's involvement - and the Quatch themselves - do not seem to be caused by any difference in the Doctor's timeline.
• The Daleks seen in the story were created by Davros to have a degree of compassion so they would not turn on him. This led to them developing the idea that because Daleks were superior to all other life, they had a duty to protect that life. When Davros left Skaro, most of this second batch went on a quest to find him; they returned after the events of TV: The Daleks and enslaved the unprepared Thals, in order to protect them from the Quatch. They make them work to strengthen them (via a process of social darwinism) and to strengthen the Daleks, thus protecting the Thals by making the Daleks stronger.
• The Doctor uses a sonic screwdriver at one point.
• The Brigadier gets food from the TARDIS' food machine.
• The Quatch are from another dimension.
• The Daleks mobilise several saucers to attack the Quatch.
• The Daleks' gunsticks are detachable and can fire independently of the Daleks.
• The Doctor has realised that he has left much chaos in his wake, and according to the Brigadier, he is now almost desperate to make amends.

Notes

• Sarah Douglas (Gillen) would later play Mary Christmas in AUDIO: The Claws of Santa, Professor Elizabeth Meadows in GAME: Blood of the Cybermen, the Entity in GAME: TARDIS, Jones in GAME: Shadows of the Vashta Nerada and Chancellor Dondequest in AUDIO: Reborn.
• Amy Pemberton (Nadel) would later play the Seventh Doctor's companion Sally Morgan, beginning in AUDIO: House of Blue Fire.
• This would be the final Big Finish audio drama to feature Davros until AUDIO: The Curse of Davros in January 2012.
• This is the only story in performed Doctor Who to feature both the Brigadier and Davros.

Continuity

• Masters of War is the sequel to AUDIO: Sympathy for the Devil.
• The Doctor's absence from the events of TV: Genesis of the Daleks meant the Daleks abandoned their creator Davros instead of taking the chance to exterminate him. All the Daleks seen after The Daleks are retconned as these Renegade Daleks, while the ones in The Daleks are members of the second breed who rejected Davros and remained on Skaro.
• The Thals remember the Doctor. (TV: The Daleks)
• The Brigadier fought three Daleks on Earth in 1972, an alternative version of the events of TV: Day of the Daleks. Forty seven of his men were killed in the battle. He mentions the Daleks had gone to Earth again in other, unspecified attacks.
• The Doctor mentions having met the Daleks several times previously. These encounters were depicted in TV: The Daleks, TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth, TV: The Chase, TV: The Daleks' Master Plan, TV: The Power of the Daleks, TV: The Evil of the Daleks and AUDIO: Fear of the Daleks as this Doctor's timeline diverged following the events of TV: The War Games.

External links

• Official Masters of War page at bigfinish.com
• Masters of War at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• DisContinuity for Masters of War at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide