The Doctor's missus meets the Doctor's best frenemy..God, do people actually talk like this..Anyway, four iterations of the character who designates themselves The Master. Four very different interpretations of that character. As River moves through The Doctor's timelines (And her own, off course.) bopping back and fourth, "in the wrong direction" as she and he have put it. Time travellers lives are so hard to keep track or make sense of its best to just smile and get on with it. Which sounds like a vaguely Churchilian thing to say but I suspect he would have put it in a more suggestively Harrowvian fashion, ahem.
The Master, dreadful fellows all off them.
One of those meetings including the truly er, masterful Missy, one of my favorite things to come out of Doctor Who since it came back on telly. It was awe at first sight for me regarding this character. From the first time she appeared at the end of Deep Breath, setting in motion one of the darkest , and deeply disturbing, story arcs in the history of the show. It was clear to me that something special was happening here. mostly down to the electrifying performance of Michelle Gomez. She so embodies and brings that character to life I cannot imagine anyone else playing her. When Missy is in a scene it becomes difficult to see anyone else.
As Missy will, so mote it be.
The Bekdel Test by Jonathan Morris is the first story in this boxed set. Poor River finds herself locked up in another inescapable prison, the sort she generally escapes from every other week, surrounded by some of the galaxies very worst criminals.With the arrival of another prisoner, Missy, things are about to get a whole lot..er, worser.
Missy and River locked up in the same maxi-security prison, heaven help the other prisoners. It all goes very Shawshank Redemption oh so very quickly. I was reminded of the time Rorscharch in The Watchmen is locked up in a similar position only he let the other inmates know they were locked up with him and not the other way around. It is that kind of crazy. It is just so damn fine to hear Missy again, up to no good as always. The very embodiment of everything The Doctor is not. Joyfully so. Missy likes being Missy. I do hope that she and River get to meet again. River has many qualities The Doctor enjoys and I think Missy would be drawn to her for similar reasons.
A fantastic start to this insanely themed collection.
Animal Instinct is the next story, written by Roy Gill. Geoffrey Beavers interpretation of the cosmically aloof rotter with the most sneering and condescending voice of them all. All those hissing sibilants and almost Shakespearean dismissiveness. As without so within, in his case. The Deadly Assassin is one of the all time greats from any era of Doctor Who and this is the doctor of that era, all rotting flesh and filthy cowl. Since I was a boy I have heard The Master regarded as The Doctor's Moriarty, the ultimate foil and his equal in almost every regard. The Master is never more demonic than when we meet him in this iteration. Looking and sounding like something which has stepped from a Hieronymus Bosch painting, a fifth horseman, with Geoffrey Beaver wringing every quantum of malice from the character. River is at her most Indiana Jones in this story while The Master is like a rotten and indeed rotting Belloch.
A terrific and well paced adventure yarn.
The Lifeboat And The Deathboat by Eddie Robson is probably the most surprising story in the boxed set. Given that I just could not imagine how Bruce the paramedic tale would stretch beyond the screen time he was afforded, yet they pull it off in this Agatha Christie like deep space thriller. Eric Robert's voice had an almost surreal effect in me, I felt like I was tumbling down the rabbit hole with no magic biscuit or potion at the end of the fall to right me.
No "Eat me", No "drink me", just "Listen."
And to round it all off me have the magical Derek Jacobi in the story Concealed Weapon by Scott Handcock. Just fantastic. A murderous voyage in a deep space vessel with good people being bumped off one by one as the ship's computer calmly reminds them there is one more person on board than should be. An evil game is afoot and it feels like no one who is playing will get out alive.
This is a great boxed set. One that succeeds in honoring the past while feeling completely modern. River has really been able to grow and breath in this series of boxed sets. A good man cannot be too careful in their choice of enemies. Why should it be any different for a good woman?
Although poor doomed River would never go so far as to describe herself as a good woman.
That is best left to those who care about her.
