Masterful (audio story)

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Masterful was the first story in the specially released Masterful audio anthology Box Set released by Big Finish Productions to mark the 50th Anniversary of the first appearance by The Master in Terror of the Autons. It was written by James Goss and featured Geoffrey Beevers, Mark Gatiss, Derek Jacobi, Alex Macqueen, Eric Roberts, Milo Parker and John Simm as the Master and Michelle Gomez as Missy.

Publisher's summary

The Saxon 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.

Plot

Part one

Six different incarnations of the Master reach a desolate planet after being taken out of time with a Time Scoop. The group consists of the young Master before leaving Gallifrey, the "Decayed" Master, the "Tremas" Master, the "Bruce" Master, the "Bald" Master and the "War" Master. One after another, they reach a black castle furnished with black garments, where the service is entirely composed by robot butlers, all of the same kind, and where a dining hall is set for a banquet. As they confront each other, trying to guess who summoned them here and why, they find out that the "Tremas" Master has actually sent Kamelion in his place, looking like him.

Finally, the "War" Master understands that they have been summoned by another of their incarnations, and on that moment the "Saxon" Master enters the room. He announces his previous selves that at last he managed to conquer the universe and kill the Doctor, and has invited them all here to celebrate his success. The other are still not impressed, so "Saxon" arranges for them a treat: the arrival of a special guest, the "UNIT enemy" Master - only for Jo Grant to appear in his stead.

Mistaking them for Time Lords, Jo tells the other Master that "her" incarnation threw her in the Time Scoop in his place as the Third Doctor and the Brigadier were putting him away in the Tower for attempting to steal the Crown Jewels. To her shock, the men reveal themselves as the Master and decide to kill her; their attempt is interrupted when Missy bursts into the room, disguised as a fortune teller. Although "Saxon" immediately recognizes her, she is not fazed by that, and proceeds berating him for not inviting her - to which "Saxon" replies he didn't because, now that he won, he does not need anymore to become her.

Missy then reveals the other Masters the truth about "Saxon": although he did conquer the universe, he also destabilized it, making the universe collapse; what's more, his own body is decaying rapidly, and that's why he invited them here: to steal their lives. Enraged, the Masters begin arguing with each other, until the arrival of an unknown, hostile entity forces them and Jo to flee using the Time Scoop. Due to the fact they all use it at the same time, though, they end up scattered all thorough the universe.

The "Decayed" Master finds himself on a beach, on an isolate planet, where a woman named Kitty saves him from drawning and welcomes him in his house. There, he discovers that his body is no more disfigured. In the following weeks, he stays with her, and stars to really enjoy his time with her, taking up fishing on a nearby lake and at last being at peace. He also comes to know that Kitty exiled herself voluntarily on this planet, to escape from a war and also to make penance of an error, and has no desire to come back or to leave. Neither does the Master.

The "Bald" Master is trapped on a spaceship, where the few survivors of a catastrophe are migrating, after winning a lottery for survival. He tries to convince one of the drones on the ship to let him see the captain, but the drone does not register him as one of the winners, and locks him away in a cell, threatening to deprive him of air too. While forced here, the Master is contacted by Sardo, one of the refugees. He refuses to let him out, but nonetheless begins to confide in him; from him, the Master comes to know that the journey is supposed to last sixty-five years, that the ship risks going off course and that the captain has confined the passengers in the cargo hold.

The "War" Master finds himself amidst the evacuation of a planet: a horde of citizens is escaping from a catastrophe. The Master grabs a weapon by a droid he destroyed and forces a woman, Carola, to give him a lift. Upon learning that the mighty and powerful of the planet closed themselves inside an area protected by force fields, the Master takes control of the vehicle and drives it against the shields.

Upon her awakening, Missy is greeted by a mysterious man, saying he is the Doctor from another universe. However, as he tries to hypnotize her, she recognizes him as a Master from another universe. The Master then proceeds to offer Missy to work together to save the universe.

Jo and Kamelion are stranded on a jungle planet, by themselves, near the ruins of a city. To comfort a distraught Jo, Kamelion takes the form of the Third Doctor, and the two of them starts exploring. They eventually comes across a lake, and Jo hits the water with a peddle, thus unwillingly awakening the creature inside, which causes an entropy wave: the cause, gathers the "Doctor" Kamelion, of the death of the planet. They run away, and Kamelion stays behind to stall the monster and allow Jo to escape. This is apparently useless, since the monster reaches her a few moments later.

Part two

Jo is saved by Missy, as she dangerously dangles from a cliff. Missy pretends to not know her, in fact she initially addresses her as 'the Doctor'. Jo insists on investigating to find a way to save themselves and the planet, and eventually Missy begrudgingly accepts. Jo also gathers that Missy appears to be rather curious about how the Doctor always wins, and that's why she is keeping her alive and well: she wants a friend. Missy dismisses all of this as nonsense. Jo proposes they find a library, so they can understand what happened to the city; Missy initially mocks her, but then accepts when Jo points out that the creature in the lake can not have built the city by itself.

On the beach, time passes for the "Decayed" Master, who grows fond of the peace and quiet of his actual life; he even starts liking Kitty. One night, though, Kitty spots someone arriving on the shore; worried it may be one of his other selves, the Master starts reinforcing the solar generators of Kitty's force fields, to ensure her protection. The next day, his worry is proved right by the arrival of the "Bruce" Master, who introduces himself as a friend of his, "Ryan". Kitty welcomes him and the "Bruce" Master stays all day with them, joking with Kitty and without telling her the truth. That night, as they contemplate a sunset on the beach, the three of them discuss evil and the possibility of redemption. As Kitty goes away, to make adjustments for the night, the "Decayed" Master invites the "Bruce" Master to leave, but the latter one refuses.

The "Exiled" Master meanwhile reaches a planet at the end of the universe, from where he can observe the entropy wave spreading throughout the universe. He is accompanied by Kamelion, who Missy saved before Jo and gave to him as a companion. The "Exiled" Master sees the wave spread, and understands that it threatens to cross the boundaries across the universes, and destroy also its place of origin. He tries preventing that by putting his ship in the middle of the wave as a shield, but Kamelion takes them away, saving their life but also allowing the wave to reach parallel universes.

Jo and Missy manage to find a library, and start looking for answers. Missy reveals to Jo that the Doctor always knows instantly, in any library, which book to consult, because he possesses Time Lord's superior ability to scan their environments. They find a green book, and read that there was an Earth colony once on the planet; a colony blessed with a particularly fertile soil. Their reading is interrupted by the appearance of the Lumiat, projecting herself from the future to warn both Missy and Jo about the consequences of the Master's actions. She exhorts Jo to trust her because she incarnates the good side of the Master, but Jo retorts the Master has always been capable of goodness. The Lumiat disappears, however, before she can explain herself.

The "Bald" Master finally persuades Sardo to release him, and joins the other passengers in the cargo hold, where he helps another refugee, Achim, to stir up a riot to protest against the inhuman conditions they are kept by the new captain. The riot fails when the new captain (i.e. the "Young" Master) tricks the "Bald" Master into appearing as a "food hoarder", by having a droid hitting him with a hundred rations of the food he gives to the passengers. Undeterred, the "Bald" Master helps Achim and Sardo to stage a second attempt, and this time he uses it as a distraction and reaches his younger self on the control deck. There he learns from the "Young" Master that the ship was never equipped for a long travel, and there is an entropy wave coming from the planet Kiamet on their tail.

On that same planet, the "War" Master tricks Carola's companions into smashing against the force field built to protect the elite, thus verifying how strong the shield actually is. As he comes back to the car, the "Saxon" Master appears and goes on to confront them. Carola recognizes him and attacks him, but "Saxon" is able to hypnotize her into calm and kill her with a Tissue Compression Eliminator. "Saxon" then joins his younger self, thinking he's going to escape, but the "War" Master drives instead straight into the heart of the destruction, to figure out what happened. "Saxon" reveals that he took control of the colony, and exploited it to take control of the massive energy stored inside the planet, an energy he gave some of his personality. He used it to take control of the universe, but he accidentally armed himself causing his body to deteriorate; even more, the energy has become sentient and it doesn't obey it any more, as the "War" Master sees when they reach it and "Saxon" fails to make it listen to him. The two Masters then decide there is only one thing to do: save the planet.

Missy and Jo find another room in the library amongst the ruins, one which makes Missy smile. Jo points out that the Master must be sick of losing, and even if he wins, his victory must be a hollow one. With a laugh, Missy reveals that the books of the room they are are part of an extended biography of his/her life as the Master: he took control of the colony, and had the colonists fill the room for him (the planet is then alluded to be Kiameth, after the destruction).

Part three

to be added

Cast

References

  • Kamelion takes on the form of both the "Tremas" Master and the Third Doctor.
  • The "Young" and "Deathworm" Masters suggests that the Rani might have brought the Masters together, but the "Bruce" Master initially thinks they mean the Terrible Zodin.
  • The "Deathworm" and "Saxon" Masters use the Tissue Compression Eliminator. The "War" Master states he hasn't used one for a while.
  • The "War" Master believes that none of his former incarnations could handle the Last Great Time War.
  • In the aborted timeline, the "Saxon" Master killed the Thirteenth Doctor by throwing her into the heart of a star, after she escaped from being shackled in its orbit.
  • The "Saxon" Master dislikes ABBA, but admits a soft spot to "Waterloo".

Notes

  • Eric Roberts' dialogue was directed by Jason Haigh-Ellery[1], whilst Mark Gatiss' was directed by Scott Handcock.[2]
  • Missy makes a sly reference to The Fan Show, even telling Jo to "don't forget to like and subscribe" in the same vein as Christel Dee.
  • Missy refers to the "War" Master as "Gandalf's husband". Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi once played a married couple in the ITV sitcom, Vicious.
  • During Missy acting as a fortune teller one of the things that can be heard in her ramblings/incantations is the name of Johnathan Dorney who regular listeners should recognise as a voice actor and often writer for Big Finish Productions.
  • The "Saxon" Master says 'Don't tell him Pike!,' a reference to British comedy show Dad's Army.
  • The "Saxon" Master, speaking in an American accent, claims he can "make the universe great again", a reference to American president Donald Trump's slogan, "make America great again".
  • The release's behind-the-scenes track reveals the internal names the production used to differentiate the different Masters.
    • Milo Parker - "the Young Master"
    • Geoffrey Beevers - "the Decaying Master"
    • Mark Gatiss - "the Alternative Master" or "Unbound Master"
    • Eric Roberts - "the Movie Master"
    • Alex Macqueen - "the Reborn Master"
    • Derek Jacobi - "the War Master"
    • John Simm - "the Saxon Master"
    • Michelle Gomez - "Missy"

Continuity

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ David Richardson's Twitter
  2. ↑ David Richardson's Twitter
v • e
The Master stories
Early life
Television
Prose
Comic
Audio
Webcast
"Inventor"
Audio
War Chief
Television
Prose
UNIT era
The cycle
ending
Decayed
Master
Tremas
Master
Old
Master
Television
Prose
Bruce
Master
Android/
Echo
Webcast
Prose
"Preacher"
Comics
Reborn
Master
"Merlin"
Prose
Pryce
Television
Child
Master
Comics
War Master
Saxon Master
Missy
The Lumiat
Audio
Spy Master
Unclear
incarnation

Prose
.
Other
realities
Barusa's universe
Prose
Unbound Master
Inferno Earth
Prose
The Warrior's universe
Audio
From stories
considered
not part
of the DWU
by this Wiki
"DWM"
Prose
"Battle"
Games
"Exclusive!"
Prose
"DWMS"
Comics
According to one account, the Master had the appearance of Roger Delgado while on Gallifrey. According to another, he had Anthony Ainley's likeness. According to another one, the one with James Dreyfus's appearance was the incarnation who ran away from Gallifrey.

Divided Loyalties, A Brief History of Time Lords and The Legions of Death feature, or otherwise acknowledge, the War Chief, but in the process contradicted the notion put forward by other stories that he was an incarnation of the Master.

One account suggests that the incarnation portrayed by Roger Delgado may be the same as the one portrayed by Peter Pratt while some others distinguish them.

According to one account, the incarnation portrayed by Gordon Tipple is the one portrayed by Anthony Ainley, while some others state that the Ainley one was already lost by then.

While fighting to extend his life at the end of his regeneration cycle, many bodies were possessed by the Beevers incarnation, but all kept somehow reverting to his real being until he finally regenerated into the MacQueen one. Hence, these sections cannot be strictly chronological
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