The Trial of a Time Machine review [Andy Lane]

We've had the Doctor sit before a court in Trial of a Time Lord. We've had the Valeyard switch from the prosecutor's chair to the defendant's in Trial of the Valeyard. We've had Romana sit before the Inquisitor in The Inquiry. Continuing the theme of anything Gallifreyan facing legal action, The Seventh Doctor: The New Adventures begins with The Trial of a Time Machine. Now we're just waiting on The Summary Hearing of Susan Foreman.

The Doctor's Case
The TARDIS being on trial is a novel idea and arguably the main draw of this box set, aside from seeing original Big Finish stories with Chris and Roz. After all, how can a box be put on trial? The answer is that the people of Thrantas believe that, given that the ship has some sentience, it's responsible for its actions. Unlike in Trial of a Time Lord and Trial of the Valeyard, the actual hearing itself isn't the main nor the most interesting part of the story.

What the trial does allow for is some understated exploration of the Doctor's relationship with the TARDIS. It's something we've seen a lot more of in the modern series (especially Eleventh with The Doctor's Wife) but very little with the classic Doctors beyond Sixth and Eighth referring to it as "Old Girl". Here we get a fascinating idea - given that the TARDIS has sentience, has the Doctor enslaved it by stealing it from Gallifrey and flying away? It's something that he worries about in a particularly poignant moment at the end of the story. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Big Finish had run out of new ideas and facets to show of the "old" Doctors but this isn't the case. This might be one of my favourite Seventh moments despite how subtle and short it is. His pained reaction to the TARDIS's sentence is another standout moment.

The cancelled novel adaptations range was cancelled for lack of an adequate number of sales, so it seems a number of listeners might not be too aware of companions Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester. My only exposure to them so far has been Cold Fusion. The story wisely gives them a reintroduction, letting us know their background as law enforcers through natural and believable dialogue rather than espousing exposition. They clearly haven't been travelling with the Doctor for long given that he's almost training them, getting them to assess where they've landed based on what they can see.

The story begins with an intelligent but uncomplicated discussion on the nature of law and universal truths, which I (a third year law student with an interest in legal theory) wasn't expecting and thoroughly enjoyed. We also get criticism of black letter law that doesn't account for different circumstances or how harmful an act actually is to society in the short- and long-term. In fact, acts on Thrantas may or may not be a crime depending on the impact it has on the public.

Again, you might think that we'd run out of things to learn about the Doctor but clearly that isn't the case - he believes that what is right and what is wrong is dependent on where you are and what the norms are there. It would have been easy (and dull) for the Doctor to say that there is inherent black-and-white morality but instead Lane goes for something arguably more controversial. Perhaps I'm reading into this too much.

The Valeyard's Case
The nature of law and ethics was my favourite part of this story and I was looking forward to seeing what was going to happen to Thrantas after the Magistrum was released... but we didn't get any of that. Has the Doctor destroyed justice on Thrantas? We have no idea, which is a huge shame and an unfortunate consequence of this being a fifty minute story rather than a Main Range release. For that matter, perhaps I missed something but I have no idea what the TARDIS was trying to teach the crew.

Chris and Roz might be given a soft reintroduction but the scenes with them off on their own are easily the weakest of the story. The plot just isn't all that interesting and, if this is to present Chris and Roz for a wider audience after the unfortunate failure of the novel adaptations, we could have done with them taking a larger role that shows them in a more dynamic light. This is nitpicking, though.

Not a gripe with this story per se but what was wrong with Seventh's TV theme? Why did they make a new one for the novel adaptations?

I'll Explain Later

• The Doctor says that the TARDIS is incapable of communication. However, not only have we seen it communicate through beeps and boops in Clara and the TARDIS, but it's used a voice interface in Zagreus (as the Brigadier), Let's Kill Hitler (as Amy) and Hide (as Clara).

The Inquisitor's Judgement
A weird idea plus interesting things to say is a perfect recipe for Doctor Who and a decent start to this volume. The discussion of legal theory and the Doctor's worry that he's enslaved the TARDIS are standout themes, but the fifty minute format means that the ending feels somewhat rushed and the question of whether or not the Doctor was right to free the Magistrum is never brought up. Still, this is a good story and earns itself a B.

The Seventh Doctor: The New Adventures - Volume 1

The Trial of a Time Machine  |  Vanguard  |  The Jabari Countdown  |  The Dread of Night

The Revolution review [Nev Fountain]

When and Where: Arviem II in the 27th century. The Doctor is travelling alone (having left Ace on Gallifrey) and is wearing his question mark pullover. This is between Many Happy Returns and Good Night, Sweet Ladies.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "As I thought, there's nothing archaeologically significant about this floor." / "Thanks for that expert analysis." / "No charge."
• "It's a bar. Citizens come in here to imbibe intoxicating liquids for the purpose of inducing unconsciousness."
• "I hope you're not engineering miracles. That is a Category A Science Crime."
• "This isn't easy, Doctor, but I don't want you to come with me. I just don't think this is your kind of adventure. This isn't the kind of adventure where we do something frightfully clever at the end where everybody ends up more-or-less happy. This is the kind of adventure where I fire my guns at them and they fire their guns at me and the one who fires their guns the most number of times wins. It's just a lot of shooting and shouting and you don't fit in here. Most of the time you are the most wonderful, inventive, clever person I've ever met and you have quite definitely the finest brain in the galaxy but here... here you're just an odd little man saying odd little things and you're just getting in the way."
• Everything the robots say.
• The rebranding of the series was presumably to bring in a new audience, meaning that this story has to introduce Benny and let us get to know her. The way that they chose to do this was with something of a reboot, making this a perfect jumping-on point. The presence of the Doctor, too, is a good way of making the series feel accessible to newcomers.
• The Doctor has been affected by Renk Van Magnastein and isn't his usual self, meaning Sylvester McCoy is able to let his hair down, as it were, and not be too dour and dark. This is occasionally taken a little too far but is a nice reminder of the genial and friendly Seventh Doctor of season 24 (with the exception of the abominable characterisation in Time and the Rani). He's the companion in this story and is even referred to as much. It's always good to see him Aceless.
• Aside from Benny and the Doctor, we have Inquisitor Xavier, who's fine, and Renk. Renk is a fun and flirty character who you would never guess was the bad guy.
• This story is probably the funniest Big Finish I've ever listened to, being consistently hilarious. There deserves to be far more good quotations above.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "Doctor, please! Send me a sign!"
• The Doctor does, at times, become too comic a character. This is most noticeable with his worship of his future-self, who he believes is behind the story's events.

I'll Explain Later:

• What's with the McCoy theme song?
• Why is the Doctor wearing his linen suit on the cover? He's said to be wearing his question mark pullover in the story.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: The beginning of a new era for Professor Bernice Summerfield, this audio is a great one. It's laugh-out-loud funny with a decent plot, great performances and a sense of fun throughout. The Revolution is very good, and that earns it an A.

The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield Volume 1

In Living Memory  |  The Revolution  |  Good Night, Sweet Ladies

Last of the Titans review [Nicholas Briggs]

The Doctor lands in a gigantic spacecraft and meets its captain, a cousin of the Neanderthals who once lived in Devon. But how did he get from the sunny south of England to the planet of Ormelia? And why did he leave?

Where and When: The planet Ormelia. The Doctor is travelling alone but the TARDIS still makes its TV sound effects rather than the film ones. He's in his white jacket on the cover, so perhaps he dropped off Ace at some point before 1963: The Assassination Games, although he seems to be travelling alone permanently rather than being on a break. Perhaps it's between Ace's departure just before Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code and his meeting Chris and Roz in Original Sin. We know from the cover of The Hesitation Deviation that he does wear his white coat during this period. It's impossible to tell.

The Doctor's Case:

• The Seventh Doctor has something of a problem with companions in that he seems to be defined by them. If he's with Mel, he's a clown. If he's with Ace, he's dark and brooding. If he's with Klein, he's tired and nearing the end of his life. To have him on his own means that we get to experience him as a singular character and not as part of a double-act, which he and Ace have come to be.
• Sylvester McCoy can sometimes be less than stellar when acting, such as when he had to be angry in Battlefield ("There! Will! Be! No! Battle! Here!") or in his overly theatrical delivery at the end of Survival ("If we fight like animals, we die like animals!"), but he does a great job as a narrator. He's very easy to listen to.
• Vilgreth is a sympathetic character, living all alone, but turns out to be a murdering sociopath. Despite this revelation, it's hard not to feel sorry for him. It was in his nature after all, being close kin to the Neanderthals.

I'll Explain Later:

• When does this take place?

This Reminds Me...:

• The TARDIS will again be plunged into fire in Journey's End, but with Donna inside.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Short, sweet and with more substance than its runtime might suggest. It's good to see the Seventh Doctor alone (presumably after having Ace surgically removed from his side) and proving that he doesn't need a companion. The setting and story are immersive and engaging and the finale tragic. All in all, a good story deserving of a B.

Special Releases

Last of the Titans  |  The Ratings War

Earth Aid review [Andrew Cartmel]

For some reason, Ace is the captain of a spaceship called the Vancouver, which coincidentally gets targeted by Metatraxi ships. What are the chances?

Where and When: At some point between Animal and The Fearmonger.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "You let others die for you."
• "You wouldn't by any chance be telling a huge fib."
• The Doctor and Raine get some proper time alone together since... probably the first half of Crime of the Century. It's just traditional Doctor-and-companion exploration but it takes on a whole new dynamic with Raine being inexperienced. She emerges from a safe just as the Doctor did when they first met, which is a nice reversal.
• Ingrid Oliver (who would later be cast as Osgood) isn't given the most engaging of roles but she does a great job with what she's got.
• It isn't the most interesting of plots and takes a while to kick in, but at least this story has one, which its predecessors were lacking in. 

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "Belay that!"
• "You will know the wrath of the Metatraxi!"
• "Muuuum."
• "Yeah, we're like the three musketeers."
• The Metatraxi are an immensely impotent threat, hanging upside down and shouting empty threats. They supposedly led Raine on a wild goose chase in order to trap her in a safe and send her onto the Vancouver, but we've seen nothing to show that they can be so crafty and patient. It's safe to say that they've been an utter failure since their first appearance in Crime of the Century, not working as comic relief nor as villains. One of the most warlike races the Doctor has ever come across? Please.
• New companion Raine is wasted once again. What was the point in introducing her if Ace is going to serve the role of companion and Raine is going to do next to nothing? It isn't even as though Ace is getting great material to half-justify it. She pretends to be the captain of a spaceship (for some reason) and does a terrible job of acting the part.
• Raine's method of finding the password for the grain silo was, frankly, ridiculous. It's up there with Tosh's random leap in logic that an ISBN would open the Torchwood Hub in They Keep Killing Suzie.
• The Vancouver is saved thanks to the Metatraxi's sexism. It wasn't funny or clever when this sort of thing happened in Crime of the Century and it is even less so here, happening completely out of the blue.
• The character of Yanikov exists for one sole purpose - to point out Ace's mistakes, yet nothing comes of this until she is finally relieved of her command in part 4.

I'll Explain Later:

• Why were the Doctor and Ace on the Vancouver in the first place? Unless I missed a fleeting explanation, none was ever given.

This Reminds Me...:

• Ace is angry at how she keeps being called small.
• The Great Mother created the Metatraxi to kill her previous generation of children, much like the Giants and the Titans in Greek mythology.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Whilst it's the best of season 27, it's not good by any means and wins by the slimmest of margins. The humour remains flat, the Metatraxi remain pathetically ineffective and Raine remains superfluous. It has more direction than the previous releases and Raine gets to play companion for a short time but there's very little else to compliment about this story. This is a poor story to end a very disappointing season. Earth Aid is very bad, and that earns it an E.

The Lost Stories (Series 2)

Animal  |  Earth Aid  |  The Elite

Animal review [Andrew Cartmel]

Raine has her first journey with the Doctor and Ace, arriving at Margrave University in 2001. She and Ace pose as freshers to investigate an ecoterrorist plot with extraterrestrial connections.

When and Where: Margrave University in England, 2001. This is between Crime of the Century and Earth Aid for the TARDIS crew, and four years after Battlefield for Brigadier Bambera.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "You will come to know harm."
• Like with Crime of the Century, the first episode is the best, although still not great, featuring some nice interaction between Ace and Raine which has just the right amount of antagonism between the two. Ace learning that she's supposed to be a vegetarian and then having a burger served to her is funny.
• Brigadier Bambera (one of the few decent elements of the otherwise solid season 26, Battlefield) returns, played more convincingly than in her onscreen appearance.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "You lied to me." / "You lied to yourself."
• "Here's one he prepared earlier!"
• "Hey, Doctor dude! Check this out!"
• The cliff-hanger is one of Classic Who's staples and Big Finish have done a number of excellent ones. Cartmel's scripts, however, are utterly devoid of any exciting endings. The various plotlines don't tie up very neatly either: we've got Ace and Raine going undercover to investigate an ecoterrorist who turns out to be in contact with the Numlocks; we've got man-eating plants in the university for some reason; and then there's the battle robots that the Doctor came here to investigate in the first place. Very little actually happens in this story and, whilst this could be forgiven if it involved some character work for Raine or something, it's another overly thin plot with nothing happening until part 4.
  
• Ace is still present but has no function that Raine couldn't just have easily assumed, meaning that despite the fact that this is Raine's first journey in the TARDIS she disappears for large chunks of the story. We've seen the Seventh Doctor and Ace. Give us Seventh and Raine.
• Is the sergeant dopey or corrupt? He isn't consistently characterised, seeming to want to execute Ace for one of the cliff-hangers but showing no such cold-bloodedness in the rest of the story. Scobie, too, is boring and, although his mission is noble (at least, his motivation is) he isn't remotely sympathetic.
• Oh, dear. The Metatraxi. Why? They aren't an interesting race and the translator gag isn't funny.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: An improvement on Thin Ice and Crime of the Century, but still a poorly written release. Thinly-plotted, uninteresting and once again sidelining Raine, this story is a jumble of plotlines with no engaging characters or developed themes. Still, it's more competent than its predecessors and Brigadier Bambera's appearance is a welcome one making a rare connection to the later seasons of the classic series. This story is very bad, and that earns it an E.

The Lost Stories (Series 2)

Crime of the Century  |  Animal  |  Earth Aid

Crime of the Century review [Andrew Cartmel]

Cat burglar Raine Creevy sneaks upstairs at a garden party and cracks into a safe containing an object she'd been contracted to obtain. But that's not all that's inside. There's also a short man in a brown jacket and a hat.

When and Where: We're in London and Kafiristan in October 1989. This takes place between Thin Ice and Animal for all involved.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "Lock-manipulation is safe-cracking in its purest form. No specialist tools are required, just a notebook, a pen and the stethoscope I got from a nice medical student I once met at a party in Holland Park."
• "The dogs? Now that really is uncivilised."
• New companion Raine is the polar opposite of Ace. She's more mature and sophisticated and from a far different background, making her a breath of fresh air. She speaks in an upper-class accent and has an appreciation for art, and dislikes her father whilst Ace disliked her mother. Big Finish have the Seventh Doctor travelling with Ace all the time, with a handful with Elizabeth Klein or Mel, so this new dynamic is a joy to listen to.
• Raine cracking open a safe to find the Doctor inside was pretty much all that Andrew Cartmel knew would happen in the planned episode that became this audio drama, and it's realised very well. Raine talking about safe-cracking in an almost sensual way is fascinating and finding the Doctor in the safe more so. Timey-wimeyness is a rare thing with the classic Doctors, so the Doctor knowing what Raine was going to do from her diary in the future is cool. It's easily one of the best companion introductions and would have made a great scene had it been filmed.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
  
• "Come back and fight, you sexist Metatraxi!"
• The Doctor and Raine work beautifully as a pair in a way wholly different to him and Ace. Unfortunately, Ace is still here holding him back from diving into a fresh relationship with a new companion and the beginning of a new era in the Seventh Doctor's life. Ace is a great companion and easily amongst the best of the classic series, if not the series as a whole, but the Seventh-and-Ace Era has become tired with very little new things to be said about them. Ace should have left in Thin Ice and her presence in this story is unwanted. It's mentioned early on that Raine has some skill at fencing, yet for some reason it's Ace who uses the artefact to fight the Metatraxi at the end. Ace is a thunder-stealer.
• The plot of this story is ever so slightly better than Thin Ice, but it has very little substance to it, failing to interest or develop in interesting ways.
• The Metatraxi are a dull villain. The translator gag isn't remotely funny and their code (yawn) is reminiscent of the Ice Warriors, who only just appeared in Thin Ice. Otherwise, they're quite similar to the Sontarans.
• If the score is trying to sound like it really could have belonged to a season 27, it does a poor job of it.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: The first episode is a promising start, introducing the refreshing character of Raine Creevy in a hugely memorable scene that earns a place amongst the best companion introductions. After this episode, however, the story falters. Ace is a relic of an era that should have ended with Thin Ice and the Metatraxi (who take a long time to make themselves known) are unoriginal and uninteresting. Cartmel's script suffers from the same trap-falls as the previous story: there's not that much plot and a change in setting doesn't equal plot development. Aside from Raine's great introduction, Crime of the Century is very bad, and that earns it an E.

The Lost Stories (Series 2)

Thin Ice  |  Crime of the Century  |  Animal

Click here for more audio dramas featuring the Seventh Doctor

Thin Ice review [Marc Platt]

Martian relics have found their way into the hands of Russian scientists in 1967, and so have the Doctor and Ace. Caught up in the planning of a robbery with Londoner Markus Creevy and Russian Raina Kerenskaya, the two come face-to-face with the Ice Warriors.

When and Where: Moscow, November 1967. For the Doctor and Ace, this is between Survival and Crime of the Century, which is just under twenty-two years later for the Creevys. For the Ice Warriors, this is between Empress of Mars and Cold War.

The Doctor's Case:

• A Good Quotation:
• "You always used to call me 'professor'." / "Kids' stuff. Things change." / "I liked it."
• "Come on, professor. We've still got work to do."
• Choosing to introduce a companion's parents and her own birth the story before her first real appearance is a wonderful idea that makes this one of the best companion introductions, certainly of Classic Who. Markus is a cheeky and likeable man who we'll be seeing again and who was meant to be a recurring character in the classic show much as the Brigadier was. Raina too is well-performed by Beth Chalmers and proves to be one of the more interesting characters, having a believable and sweet secret romance with Markus. Doctor Who doesn't have a great track record of accents (Ray's Welsh accent in Delta and the Bannermen, Peri's American) but Ricky Groves and Beth Chalmers do an excellent job, as do all the Russians.
• Ace sympathises with Lord Hhessh, having been taken from her planet against her will when she had to live on Svartos. They have a nice relationship, which is the sort of thing not really seen between Ace and any aliens on the show (with the exception of Kara). It helps that Hhessh is played by Nicholas Briggs with a voice far superior than was used in Red Dawn for Lord Zzaal.
  
• The Doctor is his manipulative self, secretly training Ace to become a Time Lady and keeping the fact that his people are testing her from her.

The Valeyard's Case:

• A Bad Quotation:
• "Groovy, baby."
• Had this story been produced for the television, it was to be Ace's departure. Big Finish chooses, rather than to have Thin Ice take place post-Hex, to have it take place shortly after Survival, meaning that Ace remains with the Doctor rather than going to Gallifrey. This is disappointing. Ace has appeared in around forty audio dramas and, just as the Sixth Doctor was refreshed by travelling with Evelyn and Flip, it would have been nice to finally see Ace leave and to have the Doctor travel alone with Raine. Ace staying gets in the way of what could be an engaging new relationship between the two and will relegate Raine to a tag-along rather than the companion that she would have and should have been. This could have been the start of a brand new era for the Seventh Doctor, but it wasn't so.
• A powerful relic searched for and fought over by a number of factions and starring the Seventh Doctor, Ace and one of the big Doctor Who monsters. This could be used to describe Remembrance of the Daleks, Silver Nemesis and now Thin Ice. The heist element adds some refreshment, but it can't disguise that it's the second story to follow on the successful formula of Remembrance without much success.
• Each of the cliff-hangers are lacklustre. Hhessh saying that Ace needs to die in an unthreatening way that could only be resolved with ridiculous ease (which it is), the Doctor saying that a tractor beam is pulling them in... They fail to make any sort of impression or cause any degree of excitement or anticipation. The Time Lord telling Ace that she was being tested to join the Academy would have been a great cliff-hanger if we didn't already know that this was the case.
  
• Ace getting angry at the Doctor because she feels she can't trust him. We've already seen this, in Ghost Light and The Curse of Fenric. Unfortunately, this means that Ace's statement that she will never trust the Doctor again just feels like something we've heard before and adds nothing new to their relationship.
• There's far too much percussion in this story. Not only is it unlike the classic series' soundtrack, but it can get rather irritating at times. The music at times is reminiscent of that of Attack of the Cybermen.

I'll Explain Later:

• If the Doctor can communicate with the Time Lords telepathically as he does in this story, why hasn't it been done before?

This Reminds Me...:

• "This is a kindness," Hhessh says. This is the catchphrase of the Handbots seen in The Girl Who Waited.
• "Who are you calling small?" Ace says, as she did to a Dalek in Remembrance of the Daleks before beating it up with her enhanced baseball bat.

The Inquisitor's Judgement: Thin Ice would have been the first episode of season 27 and would have made for a sedate opener notable only for Ace's quiet departure. The audio drama doesn't have that, meaning it's all-round average and largely unmemorable. The bottom line is that, despite some great performances for Markus and Raina, there isn't enough plot for four parts (perhaps making it even more authentic as a Classic Who story than it intended). It goes through the motions and from plot point to plot point, but it's slow and a boring listen. It's atrocious, and that earns it an F.

The Lost Stories (Series 2)

The Destroyers  |  Thin Ice  |  Crime of the Century

Click here for more audio dramas featuring the Seventh Doctor

Forever Fallen review [Joshua Wanisko]

"It's my choice to do this, and in doing so I am acting by my principles. I'm sticking to what I believe and I hope you always do too." - Sean

Who are we with?: The Seventh Doctor, Ace and Sean Calvin.

Where are we?: A cafe called the Uncertain-Tea Principle on Elysium 7.

When are we?: Uncertain, but it takes place at some point after the Doctor first dons his brown suit jacket in 1963: The Assassination Games.

The Good:

• The framing device of Sean visiting the Doctor and Ace once a year is utilised far more effectively here than in A Christmas Carol, allowing us to explore Sean and his development, as well as the relationship between him and the time-travelling pair.
• The mention of the Doctor's metaphorical aunt is very funny. It's a wonder that a similar line has never been uttered by him before.
• Sean was always going to be arrested and exiled. The Doctor didn't involve himself to save Sean but to save Odessa. Because of his stopping Sean, Odessa reacts differently to her father's fate and will live a happier life of hope rather than one of resentment. This was a nice twist, injecting a bit of positivity into a sad ending.

The Bad:

• Sean is a little unbelievable at the beginning with the Leviathan and his supposed skill at robotics at a very young age. However, he quickly becomes a realistic and rounded character. 
• Nicholas Briggs could do with a little bit of work on his McCoy impression.

This Reminds Me...:

• The Doctor refers to a possibly metaphorical aunt - this is, of course, a reference to the Second Doctor's exclamation of "my giddy aunt!"
• The Doctor mentions haemovores, the monsters of The Curse of Fenric.

I'll Explain Later: Why does the Doctor say that he "possibly" has a granddaughter? Was it a reference to the belief that Susan isn't actually his granddaughter? Regardless, it feels like a missed opportunity to have a rare character moment of the Doctor thinking about Susan.

Verdict: I'll admit I had some unfounded prejudices against this story because of its being written for a competition, but soon after starting Forever Fallen that mood was dispelled and by the end I was of the belief that it would have been a crime for this not to have won. We're introduced to an unlikeable stranger as our main character who we learn about and journey with and by the end accept for his flaws and pity him for his past. Odessa being the true centrepoint of the Doctor's plans was an inspired idea. Hopefully this wasn't the last we'll see of Mr Wanisko at Big Finish. A

Short Trips

The Hesitation Deviation  |  Forever Fallen  |  The World Beyond the Trees

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