Master Thief

"Death is inevitable, even when you think you hold all of the cards."

Writer: Sophie Isles

Format: Audio

Released: October 2020

Series: Time Lord Victorious: Short Trips #1

Featuring: The Master

Synopsis

The Master wants to plunder one of the most secure vaults in the universe, the Repository. He's got a plan, and a deadly new weapon to assist him. However, as the Master quickly discovers, getting in might be easy, but getting away with it might cost him everything.

Verdict

Master Thief was a decent little Short Trips audio adventure to kick off Big Finish's contribution to the Time Lord Victorious range! However, despite a positive rating I couldn't help but feel this was somewhat a letdown as the placement in the range didn't really seem to make an awful lot of sense. As is the case with the connectivity amongst stories within this multi-platform range, I do hope there are answers to the questions presented here as this literally just felt like an ordinary tale featuring the Master with no connections to the Dark Times or the Kotturuh for example. Now, the story itself was hardly a bad one but it just seems misplaced at this moment in time. I will admit that I felt the opening of this adventure sadly lagged which considering the range it is a part of, that's not a positive! There was an awful lot of unnecessary description for what was actually quite a simple action of the Master going into the vaults of the Repository under supervision. Once we got there, things picked up thankfully and made for an entertaining listen but I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried after the first fifteen minutes or so! I thought Jon Culshaw did a really good job as narrator and his impression of Roger Delgado's incarnation of the Master was fantastic. I felt like he grew into the performance and the benefits of having an impressionist as the sole actor for a story were felt here in a big way. Moving between narration and performing as the Master, it wasn't at all obvious that both parts were played by the same actor so that made listening really enjoyable. The mannerisms were there but credit also must go to Sophie Isles as the writer as her description of this incarnation of the Master was excellent. I felt it captured him really well. I liked the simple nature of the Master grinning when things didn't quite go his own way and Georgina not responding to his mental prowess on command was a terrific moment. The description of the pools of people (yep - literally!) was quite disturbing and I loved the Master's initial lack of remorse. His hunt for the map of the boneyard was very good and gave us an end goal, but the way the story developed I don't think it ended how anyone would have expected! The very concept of personalities being fed upon and consumed is outstanding and I just wish that this was presented from the start. As even though I still gave a very positive rating, I can't help but feel that an idea like that should be part of a better story. The image of the Master, and especially this Master, feeling remorse for his victims was brilliant and I loved how he was toying and almost arguing with himself about what he was enduring. He was clearly impacted because he left a visual message for his future self in the TARDIS with a stark warning of what was happening to him as he was literally becoming and feeling other people within, whilst also giving a stern reminder and using the last of his mental powers to ensure his future self obeyed him and remained the Master. He must remember who he was. Toying with the idea of presenting the Roger Delgado's Master regenerating was really intriguing and I think they should have gone with it and provided some sort of ordering for the multitude of Masters we now have. That could have been if it turned out the emaciated form we would see in The Deadly Assassin didn't follow the Delgado Master. Regardless, it was an excellent ending to a story that sadly started a little too slowly. The lines about the Master knowing a thing or two about shrinking things with his large structure in hand was definitely a highlight though! Overall, a decent outing. 

Rating: 7/10