The War Master Part 3

"Don't you find Gallifrey boring?"

Writer: James Goss

Format: Audio

Released: September 2024

Series: Dark Gallifrey 2.03

Featuring: War Doctor, Benny 

Synopsis

The Master and Captain John are trapped amid the ruins of Dark Gallifrey, where familiar faces and infinite impossibilities gather.

With his dream of the ultimate weapon almost within his grasp, the Master revels in the chaos. But all roads lead... to the Imbomination.

Verdict

The War Master concluded in decent style to round out this latest series of Dark Gallifrey! The concept of the titular series is fascinating and whilst I find it weird that the second release seems to be chronologically the last, this still felt like I was left wanting more. That's obviously a great thing ahead of the next batch of releases next year, but if this is the end I can't help but feel slightly shortchanged. There were a lot of fantastic ingredients to make the episode a good one and as my rating reflects it was still one I very much enjoyed, but it did get a bit silly in parts. Also, considering this was billed as the first time we have had the War Doctor versus the War Master, I didn't really feel like we got that at all. The title of the episode over the last three months has of course been all things War Master and he's been a delight, but the real star of the story for me has been Bernice Summerfield. She didn't feature too much here after the damage she had caused by blabbing about Dark Gallifrey's existence causing it to return, but when she did it was nice to round things out with her referring to the Master as her provost once again. That brought things full circle rather nicely. I thought the role of Captain John Hart in the story was just incredibly whacky and whilst I think James Marsters did a decent job in presenting it, I thought the material given was a little weird. He just seemed to be there for the flirting at times which was fine and definitely added some extravagance to the episode, but it also seemed a little forced at times. The moments towards the end where he was temporarily made into his own TARDIS was just strange. Sure, it was absolutely entertaining but at the same time it bordered on ridiculous. Furniture in the pancreas and having a swimming pool inside of him? It was all a bit weird and not entirely necessary in my opinion. Although it was a joy and surprise for him to take the form of the Tomb of Rassilon to save the Master. The efforts of the Imbomination to entice the Master were fantastic and I really liked the temptation on offer to change the history of Gallifrey. It was some weapon in offering the Master the chance to take the position of Rassilon and have him shape the future of Gallifrey instead. It was quite the prospect! I'm honestly a little surprised the Master didn't take it up on the offer. It was tantalising though and as a listener I would have loved a glimpse at what that would have looked like. I'm a huge fan of the Master so having him as the founder and revered within Time Lord society could have been special. Never say never though! The echoes version of the War Doctor was decent and I liked that there was Time Lord involvement given the respective Doctor and Master incarnations but it didn't really take over the focus of the story. That was still very much on Dark Gallifrey as expected. I did enjoy the discussions on paradoxes as they're always something I find fun and difficult to wrap my head around in the best way. I do wish there was more involvement from the Doctor here, especially with the Master, but alas it wasn't to be. We'll surely get that at some point though? I thought the role of Imbomination at the end was a little predictable and given the build up over three parts perhaps that's why I felt things were slightly anticlimactic with it destroying Dark Gallifrey. It took out the planet it had basically brought into existence and saw the Master and company lying in its ruins. Considering there are four more series to go over the next few years, it's an interesting move to go with that chronology and release order! But I'll purchase regardless. I'm a big fan of the series so far and I can't wait to find out what Time Lords we'll be exploring with next. For now, a fine conclusion to what has been a very strong series, but it definitely could have had a few more twists and some more main character involvement. A good listen nonetheless! 

Rating: 7/10