Dear God, TWO OF THEM? All my worst nightmares at once...

Multi-Doctor stories have been bread and butter of the series since the show's tenth anniversary, when Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee teamed up against the legendary Omega and even as recent as the epic anniversary special The Day Of The Doctor with Tennant and Smith, and Big Finish hasn't shied away from the concept, even re-inventing it with the Colin Baker story The Wrong Doctors. But we've never really seen a multi-Doctor-esque story with a different Time Lord....until now.

Dear sweet sanity help us.

DOCTOR WHO MAIN RANGE REVIEW

THE TWO MASTERS TRILOGY

By Jack Ryan

BEWARE: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

AND THIS TIME I BALLY WELL MEAN IT!!!! DO NOT SPOIL THIS FOR YOURSELF!!!!

Just as multi-Doctor stories are par for the course with Doctor Who in general, multi-Doctor trilogies have been par for the course, with the Excellis trilogy in 2002, the Empire trilogy in 2012, the 1963 Trilogy in 2013 and recently the Locum Doctors trilogy last year, celebrating 200 main range releases of Doctor Who with Big Finish. So for this years one, Nick Briggs, writers Alan Barnes, Justin Richards and John Dorney and director Jamie Anderson teamed up to create a huge 12 part summer blockbuster of a story.

211: AND YOU WILL OBEY ME

In the village of Hexford, England, the Fifth Doctor is at an auction house. There, because he's found something he'd rather no one else got their hands on; a grandfather clock. Problem is that there are other parties interested in this item. From a group of determined teenagers, to Russian mobsters, to robotic dragonflies, to the owner of the clock itself. Because the clock is actually a TARDIS. The TARDIS that belongs to the renegade known as The Master. But The Master is dead.....

Isn't he?

212: VAMPIRE OF THE MIND

In the seventies.... or was it the eighties?....there was a small island owned by the international peace-keeping organisation UNIT. Back then it was a prison, for UNIT's most dangerous criminal. Today, it's now the base of the Dominus Institute, a new research and development facility headed by the elusive Sir Andrew Gobenar. And when the Sixth Doctor tracks a group of missing scientists to the island, he's about to discover that UNIT's most dangerous criminal is loose on the island once more. The only question is, who is he this time?

213: THE TWO MASTERS

Time is dying.
Time is disappearing.
Time is disintegrating.
The Master is the one behind it.
The Master is the one stopping it.
The Doctor is the one figuring out precisely what's going on.

Two Masters, One Doctor.
What could possibly go wrong?

This, ladies and gentlemen, without a shred of doubt, is one of the biggest ploys and risks Big Finish have pulled in recent times. In my opinion, more so than the Locum Doctors trilogy, for a major reason which I will discuss later. For the moment, this boxset had the monumental task of creating a trilogy featuring 5 separate incarnations of two Time Lords where the stories could be good standalone tales but also interweave and connect into a cohesive whole. No pressure then...

Messrs Barnes, Richards and Dorney have crafted a perfect trilogy of stories and have outdone themselves with the quality of their writing with them. Barnes' And You Will Obey Me is a nice, atmospheric, if a little odd, trilogy opener. It's, for want of a better term, the most absurd of the three stories, with the Master taking a group of teenagers under his wing to help him repair his TARDIS and nurse him back to health. It seems to take a very personal stance with the relationships developed within this story. That and a relisten or two might be needed to fully appreciate it, as it seems to play the flashback card a lot. But don't let that deter you. Barnes' writing and Anderson's directing are exemplified by its stellar cast. As well as Davison and Beevers as The Master, like Aquatine, we have a cast of relative unknowns, at least I've never heard of them before, but like I said before, that is never a bad thing; it allows you to imagine the characters in a way only you can. That and the music and sound design by Richard Fox and Lauren Yason being brilliantly haunting, make this a release that shouldn't be passed over. And trust me you won't want to with what's coming up....

Onto Richards' Vampire Of The Mind and the GLORIOUS RETURN OF ALEXANDER MacQUEEN!!!!! Okay I'll get to that later. Richards choice of going for a classic style cat-and-mouse story between the Doctor and the Master pays off brilliantly, as not only do we get a well written story choc-a-block with continuity references for bigger fans, but the story is also fantastically accepting and open for newcomers, despite MacQueen's previous appearances.Speaking of MacQueen, MY GOD HE IS DIVINE!!! Listening to him is like listening to Mark Hamill as the Joker; insane, scary, and yet, so gloriously brilliant that you want to smile. Like the previous story, the cast are relative unknowns save for the glorious John Standing. But like last time, they are brilliant to listen to and they all perform fantastically thanks to Anderson's stellar directing. That, plus the on point music and sound design from Andy Hardwick, and....
Let's face it, I'm going on about Alex MacQueen in this review as if he's Alex Vlahos. And with good reason. HE'S AMAZING!!! As is this story; pure brilliance. If only I could have more....

As for John Dorney's The Two Masters......

YES! YES! YES! YES! ALL OF THE YES!!!!! DEAR GOD THIS IS BLOODY GLORIOUS!!!!!

Okay, indoor review voice now...

If there was anything wrong with the last two stories, this fixes them. Every single criticism I had for the previous two stories is gone out the window cause they are explained perfectly in this story. In fact, I now have only one criticism about this story. This story is continuity heavy, but continuity within the show itself rather than the bigger main range. What the legend that is John Dorney has done is explained how the Pratt/Beavers incarnation of the Master came to be and it is delightful. Dorney has also worked in the continuity of some previous BF Master appearances, but they're not necessary for enjoying this tale. The cast for this story..... need I say anything other than Sylvester McCoy, Sherlock's Lauren Crace and..... GEOFFREY BEAVERS AND ALEX MacQUEEN IN THE SAME STORY!!!!!! SQUEEE!!!!! Not only that but... (I did say spoilers)... them playing each other! AND THEY SUCCEED!!! This is like Doctor Who meets Face/Off.... only more over the top, bigger and so much funner!!!!!! With the added sound design of Martin Montague, and the horror of the TCE forever etched into my ears, and the stupendous soundtrack of Jamie Robertson, this is.... there's no other word for it, it's a necessity for Doctor Who fans, let alone Big Finish fans.

VERDICTS:

And You Will Obey Me: 3/5 Bit hard to follow first time, due to needing context, but still a fine piece of story telling.

Vampire Of The Mind: 5/5 A fine tale from Richards and a pure delight to hear Colin Baker and Alex MacQueen bantering!!

The Two Masters; 10/5!!!!! BLISS!!!! PERFECTION INCARNATE!!!! SO AMAZING IT'S BROKEN MY COUNTER THINGY!!!!!!

As for the trilogy as a whole, listening to the three stories consecutively is a very pleasurable experience and makes every small thing you thought was wrong with the stories disappear. It is quite simply the most perfect way to experience these stories and to bask in the acting geniuses that are Geoffery Beavers and Alexander MacQueen. All I can say is, thanks to everyone who was responsible for one of Big Finish's greatest magnum opuses. Also, I WANT MORE OF IT!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

The Trilogy: 5/5 Just brilliant! That is all. Simply..... masterful! ;D