Doctor Who: Mastermind

The Companion Chronicles #8.01

by Jonathan Morris, Geoffrey Beevers (Narrator), Yee Jee Tso (Narrator)

The Vault – an archive of alien artefacts securely stored deep beneath the Angel of the North.

There's also a prisoner in the Vault. An extraterrestrial known as the Master. He has been on Earth for some time, but now he's under lock and key.

This is his story.

Or, as Captain Ruth Matheson and Warrant Officer Charlie Sato discover... perhaps it is theirs.

Genres: Doctor Who, Science Fiction, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Jonathan Morris is one of the most prolific and popular writers of Doctor Who books, including the highly-regarded novels 'Festival of Death' and 'Touched by an Angel' and the recent guide to monsters, 'The Monster Vault'. He has also written numerous comic strips, most of which were collected in 'The Child of Time', and audios for BBC Audio and Big Finish, including the highly-regarded comedies 'Max Warp' and 'The Auntie Matter', as well as the adaptation of Russell T Davies’ 'Damaged Goods'.

Recently he has started his own audio production company, Average Romp. Releases include a full-cast adaptation of Charles Dickens' The Chimes', an original play, 'When Michael Met Benny', and three episodes of a SF sitcom, 'Dick Dixon in the 21st Century'.

For details visit www.averageromp.com

He also originated his own series, Vienna and script-edited the Nigel Planer series 'Jeremiah Bourne in Time'. He’s also written documentaries and for TV sketch shows.

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Rick]

Wonderful! This was enormously entertaining. Forget the Daleks. Forget the Cybermen. The Master, the Doctor’s greatest nemesis, has several mysterious and foggy aspects of his history that are never really made clear. This audio drama offers to shine a light on one of those deep dark murky periods. It also brings back UNIT Captain Ruth Matheson and Warrant Officer Charlie Sato from Doctor Who: Tales from the Vault, which I had enjoyed as well, so this was an exciting and cleverly written tangential spin-off for Doctor Who.

[Steven Shinder]

Given that the actors for Charlie and Ruth were in the TV movie, it’s nice that this has The Master recalling what happened after he fell into the Eye of Harmony on that New Years’ Eve. As the Decaying Master is imprisoned in the Vault with a creepy The Silence of the Lambs vibe going on, he recounts how he ended up in the year 1906. I guess Edward Grainger is from the Short Trips and this ties into those.

It was funny how The Master tried getting to America via the Titanic, and even Charlie laughs at this. But it makes sense that The Master wouldn’t remember the name of every Earth ship that sinks. (Weirdly, just as I typed that, the words “Earth ship” came up in my rewatch of Star Trek: “The Managerie, Part 1.”) We get a sense of how evil The Master is, possessing men of the same family each generation (and there’s an explanation for him staying within the family).

The ending might have issues, but I loved the acting and storytelling overall. I really wonder whether this idea of The Master imprisoned in a vault may have inspired Missy’s imprisonment in series 10.

[Juan Fernandez]

This was nothing short of excellent. I loved the Master going through his past life as a Mafia type boss, preying on his own family for his next body. And all the while in his cell like Hannibal Lecter, behind glass. I adored Charlie and Ruth as UNIT operatives who come under the Master’s influence and we end up as manipulated as they do. And the Sapphire and Steel type ending, with them locked in a cell for eternity for what they did in letting the Master escape seems so unfair and so poignant. This ticked all the right boxes for me. A real winner. And do I see a grandfather clock over there?

[Charles Mitchell]

Really enjoyable story.

[Zach]

Claustrophobic Beever's Master at his best. I feel this will be improved upon with Beever's self written Short Trip.

[Yosef Shapiro]

Geoffrey Beevers never really got much of a chance to play the Master in the orignal series. He was a horribly disfigured master in "Keeper of Traken" that soon gave way to the Master as played by Anthony Ainley. As much as I loved Anthony Ainley's master, the audio portrayals by Beevers make me wonder how he would have done if he got to play the role regularly. He is really good in the audio adventures that have featured him.

The story itself is pretty good and helps to fill in some of the gaps regarding the Master's history. I especially enjoyed him in the Godfather role that he assumes for part of the story. I recommend this story for fans of the Master.

[Maria]

I listened to it last night before I fell asleep and I was in bed, lauging at some awesome, classic Master quotes and I just remembered just how evil he really is and how much I love him anyway because he's just so brilliant!
I loved it, I really really loved it!

[Debra Cook]

The Master talks to 2 time vault agents about how he lived on the earth but are they safe.

[Verity]

loved it