Dust Breeding review [Mike Tucker]

"Mysterious and wealthy. I'm so looking forward to getting to know Mr Seta."

Socialite Madame Salvadori hosts an art auction aboard the space liner Gallery, with funding from the mysterious Mr Seta. Who is this masked man? What is it that he's so desperate to protect in his cargo? And what's the connection between a dusty planet plagued with the screams of Daleks and Edvard Munch's The Scream?

Where are we?: The planet of DuChamp 331, a refuelling station off of the major space lanes. Also aboard Gallery, a pleasure cruiser/art museum.

When are we?: The 26th century, set post-Survival at some point between The Genocide Machine and Master.

Who are the bad guys?: The Master wants to gain control over a superweapon called the warp core, which was created to kill the vicious Krill that the Master has eggs containing.

The Good:

• Geoffrey Beevers gives a fantastic performance as Mr Seta. His suave voice hidden behind that expensive mask makes him an interesting enigma from the off, although anyone who's watched the classic series will quickly be aware of the anagram. A little better than Estram. As we learn, the Warp Core stripped the Master from the body of Nyssa's father Tremas and he had returned to the degenerated form seen between Delgado and Ainley. With a performance as magnetic as this one Beevers is very much welcome to return to the role. Ainley was originally to appear instead but a deal could not be struck - not necessarily a bad thing, as the Tremas Master was much too camp (with the exception of in Survival).
• Doctor Who and accents don't have a fantastic history, but the ones at the beginning of episode one aren't too bad.
• Edvard Munch painting The Scream to get the screams out of his head (the warp core) is a dark and interesting idea that makes the already somewhat disturbing painting even creepier.
• Caroline John (assistant to the Third Doctor and prospective scientific advisor Liz Shaw) gives an unrecognisable but very good performance as the materialistic Madame Salvadori.
• The constant screams of the Daleks are very disturbing and an inspired idea. A corpse with its veins full of dust is also a wonderfully eerie image.
• "I am the Master and you will obey me," Mr Seta says in a very good cliffhanger as the newly-hatched Krill emerge. 

The Bad:

• The story is a jumble of good ideas, none of which are properly fleshed out nor satisfyingly intertwined. 
• The Doctor's playroom (rescued art that history records as being lost in fires and disasters) is an intriguing tidbit that shows a new side of the character, building a gallery that only he and his companions will ever see, even if it does seem a bit strange that the Doctor would do this. He's all about seeing the universe and, whilst it might be unfair to compare his actions to the Monk since it isn't really doing any harm, it is questionable.
• Sophie Aldred is a bit shouty sometimes, especially during the scene that Damien leaves her with The Scream. "Doctooooooor!!!" she wails. Ace simply isn't this screamy.
• Was there really any need for Bev Tarrant to return in this story? Whilst not a bad character she hardly made a groundbreaking impression in The Genocide Machine and this story doesn't warrant her return. 
• The Master scolds Madame Salvadori for being so enamoured of his supposed wealth that she never bothered to question his identity - but she did and couldn't find anything about him. Then she sent Klemp into the cargo hold to dig around his crates. The tiny message that the story is trying to give fails because of this. What more could she have done?
• The warp core inhabits the Doctor and then drops exposition and backstory on Ace without any prompting, an example of lazy writing. The Master later explains the Krill to Madame Salvadori and tells the Doctor everything... for some reason.

A Good Quotation: "Curiosity can be a particularly dangerous pastime." (Mr Seta)

A Bad Quotation: "The girl from Perivale hits the jackpot again!" (Ace)

This Reminds Me...:

• The Terileptils, who created a sculpture placed in the Doctor's playroom, appeared as the main villains in the Fifth Doctor story The Visitation.
• The Doctor references the Fourth Doctor's City of Death when talking to Ace about the Mona Lisa.
• Bev Tarrant previously met the Seventh Doctor and Ace in The Genocide Machine.
• The Master's previously used aliases include Colonel Masters (Terror of the Autons) and Sir Gilles Estram (The King's Demons).
• The Master threatens to shrink Klemp to the size of a toy, referencing his tissue compression eliminator first used by "Colonel Masters" in Terror of the Autons.

His Constant Companion: The body of Tremas of Traken (although already described as being dead) is destroyed by the warp core before the story. Munch's friends get swallowed up by the monster. Klemp is killed by the Master. Madame Salvadori sacrifices herself to the Krill to allow the Doctor, Ace and Bev to escape. Guthrie causes an explosion that rips the planet apart, killing the Krill and dispelling the warp core.

I'll Explain Later: The Master clearly disapproves of Madame Salvadori and her beguilement, as well as that of all of her guests, describing them as base peddlers of human misery and calling them uncivilised. How come this Master is so moral? This is the same incarnation who inhabited Nyssa's father Tremas, who would never have espoused such views.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Dust Breeding has a number of good ideas; the eeriest painting of human history being painted as a way for Munch to exorcise the screams of an alien life form in his head, the Master behind a bejewelled mask mixing with the corrupt upper echelons of society aboard an airborne art gallery, a planet with Daleks' screams echoing from the sands... Unfortunately the final script is too busy for its own good, with none of these ideas being given the focus or properly fleshed out. Instead, Dust Breeding messily jumps between various things as though it hopes it might be able to avoid good storytelling by distracting you with cool ideas. Without the first Big Finish appearance of the Master, this would be a forgettable, below average release. I'd rank this story as a D.

Main Range

Loups-Garoux  |  Dust Breeding  |  Bloodtide