Doctor Who - Mastermind Review

Doctor Who:

Mastermind

By Jonathan Morris

Starring Geoffrey Beavers,

Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso

Every Five years a certain prisoner awakens in the vault.  It is up to two members of the US Army to interrogate the prisoner and that dubious job belongs to Captain Ruth Matheson and Warrant Officer Charlie Sato.  You see the prisoner is a very dangerous person who is kept in a vault that has a lot of safety measures like both eyes to open the door, they are only allowed to talk to the prisoner in 10 minute shifts and if one gets hypnotized the other pushes a panic button that will lock the pair in the prison until they are deemed safe.  All these measures might seem a tad bit extreme but this prisoner is extraordinarily dangerous as the prisoner is none other than the evil Time Lord The Master and he is itching to get free.

I don’t normally buy The Companion Chronicles series from Big Finish in fact I hardly ever do. But I found the synopsis for Mastermind to be really interesting and it piced ny interest enough to dole out the extra cash and buy it.  I usually listen to Doctor Who audio adventures while driving on long vacation trips or long commutes to my parents so on a resent camping trip I decided to go for it and buy Mastermind and listen to it on the way back.  I am glad I did as Mastermind was a really good story.

I really liked the interaction between the two interrogators and The Master.  It was pretty suspenseful as you knew he was going to try something and you were just waiting with baited breath for him to.   I loved listening to the back story of The Master as he explained to his interrogators of what happened to him after the Doctor Who movie.  We find out what happened to him when he escaped the Eye of Harmony in The Doctor’s TARDIS.  I really enjoyed how The Master kept on surviving by stealing bodies and how he eventually stock piled them for him.  It is pretty clever how the events lead up to where he is now.  

The ending and how The Master escapes is pretty clever and brought to life perfectly by Geoffrey Beevers who plays the Master masterfully again but you will have to buy Mastermind to find out how he does it.  I have to say the entire cast did a really good job in their performances and it adds highly to the enjoyment of this story.  Especially the realization of what happens to them at the end.  Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso two of the main actors in the Paul McGann TV movie come together again in Mastermind and were excellent as Matheson and Sato. You could almost feel sorry for them because you knew that they were destined to, well, buy the audio and you’ll hear for yourself.  Mastermind is a clever and entertaining adventure that is worth your time and it will keep you guessing.

Grade A