Masters of Earth

"We work together and we die together."

Writers: Mark Wright & Cavan Scott

Format: Audio

Released: November 2014

Series: Monthly Adventures 193

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

The year is 2163. Ten years since the Daleks invaded the Earth. One year until the Doctor, in his first incarnation, will help bring the occupation to an end. But for now, their reign of terror goes on.

The TARDIS brings the Doctor and Peri to Scotland - enslaved, like everywhere else on the planet. But there are rumours of Dalek-free islands off its coast. Places where resistors and refuseniks are coming together, gathering arms and armour, preparing to strike back against the enemy.

When the Doctor falls in with an unlikely group of freedom fighters making that dangerous journey to Orkney, he finds himself trapped - but not only by the Daleks, their robotised henchmen and their human collaborators.

By history.

Because history shows that for another year, resistance is useless...

The rebellion must fail - and as a Time Lord, the Doctor can do nothing to help 

Verdict

Masters of Earth was an excellent story to continue my way through the Monthly Adventures! This seems to be a fascinating point in time for the chronology of the Sixth Doctor as we fill that gap between The Trial of a Time Lord and Time and the Rani, with this incarnation's adventures fleshed out before he would go onto meet Melanie Bush. I think it's a lot of fun to have Peri back in the TARDIS after her on screen departure, and there's now knowing what will happen to her as a companion. There's definitely some jeopardy there for the companion which isn't always the case with Big Finish, and what better place to start than on a Dalek occupied Earth? I think it's a sublime idea to do a story set a year prior to The Dalek Invasion of Earth and have the Doctor pretty much helpless. He would go onto stop the Dalek invasion in 2164, but here he was rather helpless. Having him battle the predicament of having to leave the Daleks in control of Earth because of what he did in his first incarnation was just brilliant. I liked the continuity with Revelation of the Daleks as far as Peri was concerned and it was great for her to acknowledge how the Daleks here seemed a little more primitive than the ones she met. It was amusing for her at the start of the story to be impressed by the Dalek saucer and it's a little funny that the Doctor was aiming for the twentieth century. Crikey did he get that wrong! I thought it was really intriguing for these Daleks to have no knowledge of the Doctor and that was actually something that worried the Doctor. If he was captured and subjected to a mind probe, the foreknowledge the Daleks would gain would be very troublesome. Despite all this, Peri was having trouble getting to grips with the actions of the Doctor. She was not interested in the established events which was a surprise given her experience as a companion. I thought she would understand, but she doesn't seem to be getting along all that well with the Doctor at this moment in time. It's a strange and interesting dynamic. I look forward to hearing it develop further. It was a delight to hear the Robomen in the story and they were presented fantastically. They sounded like the genuine article and I think it's terrific that they were utilised to prevent an added threat in the story to what we already had with the Daleks. The development of the Robomen Elite seemed to contradict what we would see on screen with the First Doctor's encounter, so it was clear they would always be defeated, but I appreciated the effort and experiment! I thought the Doctor knowing about Moira was very good and her position as someone used to fight up was fantastic. Of course, the truth didn't quite turn out to be as accurate as the tale that would be told, but never let the truth get in the way of a good story. It would aid resistance against the Daleks and I like that. It seemed an important point to finish on given that the Doctor couldn't actually thwart the Daleks here. It was a little weird with that being the predicament as we know how the story ultimately ends in a year's time, but the Robomen Elite provided a good enemy to actually thwart. Moira went way too far in her efforts to make humanity part of the Elite even if they did defeat the Daleks themselves. Overthrowing them just wasn't enough. Peri being scratched by a Varga plant was a good threat and it was fun to learn of their presence on Earth during the invasion. The way the Doctor was appealing to her to stay herself was really good and I loved the desperation and emotion in his voice. He so deeply cares about doing right by Peri now he has a second chance. Overall, a brilliant setting and a rather fun dynamic with the Doctor being ahead of the Daleks chronologically. An emotional tale. A terrific listen.

Rating: 9/10