Dominion

"Spiders are supposed to run away from us."

Writers: Jason Arnopp & Nicholas Briggs

Format: Audio

Released: October 2012

Series: UNIT 2.01

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Raine, Klein 

Synopsis

The universe stands on the brink of a dimensional crisis – and the Doctor and Raine are pulled into the very epicentre of it. 

Meanwhile, on Earth, UNIT scientific advisor Dr Elizabeth Klein and an incarnation of the Doctor she's never encountered before are tested to the limit by a series of bizarre, alien invasions. 

At the heart of it all is a terrible secret, almost as old as the Time Lords themselves. Reality is beginning to unravel and two Doctors, Klein, Raine and all of UNIT must use all their strength and guile to prevent the whole of creation being torn apart. 

Verdict

Dominion was a great story to act as the entire second series of UNIT adventures from Big Finish! There was understandably very little, if any, continuity to the first series and that was a good move I think as this was more of an instalment in what would become the Seventh Doctor Adventures. This one is seemingly placed somewhere close towards the regeneration in The Movie with the appearance of the Doctor on the artwork and Raine as a companion indicating that. I thought it was good continuity with Intervention Earth to have Ace on Gallifrey and only appearing in a couple of cameo scenes, but I must say I would have preferred her featuring here alongside the Seventh Doctor and Raine. For whatever reason, I couldn't quite get on board with them as a pairing but it might be due to the fact that for much of the story there was another 'Doctor' in town. Unfortunately, I knew all about the twist in this tale regarding the mysterious Other Doctor and the fact he was actually the Master, but whilst listening in hindsight it did seem a little obvious. Maybe for listeners at the time it was a surprise, but for me even with the knowledge it did feel like things were always pointing in that direction. That's not to say it was bad in the least! I thought the part three cliffhanger was tremendous and the anticipation and build to get there was marvellous. Nearly from the very off the Doctor was suspicious of his apparent future self and I do think that Alexander Macqueen played the part very well. This was my first experience of him in the role of the Master and it has been a long time coming. I love the little nod on the CD cover art for part one showing the TARDIS exterior used by the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor to indicate him being a future version of the Doctor, but right when the Doctor wonders why a different TARDIS looked like his own police box design the game was up. I thought the focus on Klein was brilliant and her finding out that she was actually a Nazi from an alternate timeline was tremendous. She soon found out why the umbrella man was stalking her dreams and reality. He needed to ensure she hadn't reverted back. That was great stuff. I thought the overall plot here was good and I really enjoyed the idea behind the Dimensioneers. Diving into the depths of other dimensions is really strong and certainly feels like the kind of thing the Master would try. Why rule one dimension when you could have them all? That was right up his alley and I enjoyed the audacious nature of the plan. The attempt to disguise himself as the Doctor to get the dimension node was fun stuff and I really enjoyed his relationship with UNIT. Wilson was a really nice character and I liked the realism of him struggling to cope with the job amidst his baby nearly being born. There's a whole load of pressure there! He was able to be something of a hero by the end. Arunzell was decent as well but I wasn't overly sold on the booming voice. It didn't quite work for me but its fate in sealing the Master behind before falling to death at the Time Lord's hands was very well done. At four hours long, there probably was a little too much going on for one adventure with the likes of the giant spiders and floating heads quickly getting forgotten. The news report on the latter was a nice touch though. I thought Doctor's internal struggle with the Master was very good and I love the way Sylvester McCoy says 'Master'. It adds a huge quality of almost distain. The Doctor pondering on how he and the Master had gone in such different directions despite having the same upbringing was really intriguing to explore, as was the idea of Raine and Klein coming to terms with the fact the Doctor left the Master to die. We all know he comes back though, he always does, and I look forward to further exploring the adventures of this mysterious incarnation. Overall, a lengthy tale but a really strong one! 

Rating: 8/10