And You Will Obey Me

"I'm as mortal as you."

Writer: Alan Barnes

Format: Audio

Released: April 2016

Series: Monthly Adventures 211

Featuring: Fifth Doctor

Synopsis

The Master: wanted for crimes without number, across five galaxies.

The Master: escaped his pursuers. Last known location: rural Hexford, England, Earth.

The Master: dead and buried in an unmourned grave, in a lonely churchyard. 

Apparently.

Verdict

And You Will Obey Me a great audio to continue my way through the Monthly Adventures range! I think a Master trilogy is a wonderful idea and whilst I’m excited for the final instalment in particular, the idea of the Fifth Doctor taking on the Decayed Master is just marvellous! If possible in this incarnation, I thought the cover art actually showed the incarnation looking a tad more spritely than we saw on screen. That was good because I think it helps establish that the Master was in this horrifying decayed incarnation for a considerable amount of time. It makes sense given the deterioration of his appearance but I do think it’s a somewhat strange decision to essentially wait until part three for him to fully appear in the story. When he did though he oozed charisma and stole the show which is fantastic for this familiar villain. I thought the setting of Hexford was good and I enjoyed the unexpected continuity with The Awakening with the Fifth Doctor having immediately come from those events and leaving his companions behind temporarily. It’s good fun for the Doctor to be travelling alone like that and him being on a mission in picking up the distress signal from the Master’s TARDIS was fascinating. I thought it was interesting that he was so focused on what the Master was up to and hearing the local stories about Masterson and the horror description matching his decayed appearance made sense, but could he really think his old Academy friend could be reformed? The Master seemed to have stayed put for thirty years so I guess it was possible, but would he really not be that patient in another scheme? The Master’s grave having been tampered with was intriguing but I must admit I was a little confused with the Doctor thinking his adversary will have regenerated. He even references at the end when the Master escaped that he knows the fate of this incarnation as we saw in The Keeper of Traken, so why was he concerned he might not now know what he looked like? That was a little strange to me but it didn’t stop the encounter being great. I love Doctors encountering different versions of enemies they didn’t face on screen when the timelines get a little whacky. But this was intentional from the Master as he knew the Doctor had been in the location extremely recently. I’m a big fan of that coming into play with an attempted lure. The Master’s TARDIS in the form of the grandfather clock is iconic and the idea of it being up for auction was glorious! Oh to have that piece. I love having the action figure version as it is. Annie was a really lovely character and I enjoyed the relationship that was built with the Doctor. She kind of filled that companion role for the episode which was good. I do think she sounded a little too similar to Janine though which in audio was a tad disconcerting. Michael as the grandson of the Master in name was excellent and though and him and Helen having the ability to hypnotise people into obeying them was really strong. I thought that was strong to play with and I love the idea of the Master passing that ability on. I think that’s something I’d like to see more of to be honest! It works well and is genuinely scary. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Dragonhunter species and found their involvement a little underwhelming, but thankfully they disappeared for parts two and three for the most part. The Master having offered his ‘children’ their heart’s desire but then the Doctor utilising that and the renegade’s failure to provide it as a way to make them free of his will was a strong and emotional need to the story. It was really good to explore the Master in a natural human environment. Overall, a great listen! 

Rating: 8/10