Monsters: The Ideal Quarry

"Countless apologies for the deception."

Writer: Jody Houser

Format: Audio

Released: September 2025

Series: Call Me Master 2.02

Featuring: The Master

Synopsis

To make his journey more interesting, the Master has decided to take on a travelling companion – disgraced Sontaran Vegg, who is keen to get home for his execution. But soon the Master and his escort are marooned on a world where they are not the only hunters. In fact, they are the quarry...

Verdict

The Ideal Quarry was an excellent episode to continue my way through the Monsters second edition of Call Me Master! This was a terrific hour of audio drama and I didn’t know I needed it, but the duo of this Master along with Vegg the Survivor was just glorious. I was a huge fan of their dynamic and it was glorious to hear a Sontaran being so willing to travel to his execution. How else could his honour be restored? I’m a massive fan of the Sontarans and what Dan Starkey has brought to them at Big Finish can’t be overstated. It’s really impressive and I just love everything he brings to the performance. The dynamic between Vegg and this incarnation of the Master was terrific, so to have them captured was really intriguing. Right from the off you got the impression that the Master was far from impressed in being captured, but even from within the game of being hunted he seemed to have the upper hand. That’s an impressive attribute to have! And slowly but surely throughout the episode the anger was festering and that was not going to end well for Fang. I thought she was a strong character and her animalistic nature was fascinating to hear. I like how she was goading the Master and Vegg but again, that just wasn’t going to end well. I thought the emotional journey for Fang was strong and you couldn’t help but feel sorry for her at times. She had been stuck since she was a cub and the Master wanting the truth regarding the signal that he followed and why she didn’t leave immediately was fantastic. He was so in control and had worked everything out right away. I thought Fang’s reaction to hearing that the Master had two hearts was good because suddenly she realised she had bitten off more than she could chew. Quite literally! That also sparked Vegg’s intrigue too as he realised the Master was a Time Lord. I thought his take on the Time War was brilliant and for Vegg it was reminiscent of the Sontaran attitude seen in The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky where they were abhorred they didn’t get to take part. But for the Master, his reflections his participation in the war were quite somber. I’m not sure it was in line with the War Master we have heard at Big Finish, but that’s not a problem as reflection is certainly different to being in the moment and we heard in Only the Good that he was drawn to run away and turn himself human to escape. It was a rare sign of vulnerability for this incarnation, and one that was still relatively fresh as he was still adjusting to this new body. He soon became the maniac we know and love though because the way he was laughing when he took all the threat from Fang was incredible. He was giddy! He knew that the planet was not a hunting ground for Fang and they weren’t quite playing the same game. It turned out that she was actually the one who was the hunted and their kind had been left behind because of finance and practicalities. No wonder she was irked! Vegg playing his part and wanting to stay behind to help was not something the Master saw well. After everything they’d been through, he was just considered muscle. The tissue compression eliminator was utilised and that was the end of Vegg in maximum sized form! He’d put Fang out of her misery as well after what she’d been through and that was almost welcomed. It’s a shame Vegg didn’t get to go to his execution because this Master on Sontar would be quite spectacular! But alas, this encounter and duo was still tremendous in what was a really strong audio. Overall, an excellent episode! Another monstrous performance for Dhawan. 

Rating: 9/10