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Doctor Who: The War Master: The Master of Callous – Analyzing a polarizing story

By James Aggas

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The first series of The War Master, Only the Good, was extremely popular, and lead to the creation of three more series. But what of the second series?

(Photo credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

Today, we look at arguably one of the more divisive of Big Finish’s Doctor Who related audios in recent years: The War Master: The Master of Callous. What makes it stand out, and what makes it more divisive than the previous volume, Only the Good?

OK, so this is admittedly a story that I’ve reviewed already. But I’m just extremely fascinated by Big Finish’s audio The War Master: The Master of Callous. A spin-off from Doctor Who, the four-part story explores one of the Master’s grand schemes, as he manipulates a family on the colony world of Callous.

Now, what’s fascinating about this audio is the polarizing reaction that it’s received. Across not just reviews but also Facebook groups and even comments from friends of mine, I’ve seen as many fans adore it as I have seen others considerably disappointed by it. It’s honestly one of the most divisive stories I’ve come across on audio, and possibly one of the most divisive stories in the Doctor Who universe I’ve seen since Love and Monsters.

The funny thing is that even at the time it was released back in December last year, I pretty much expected this reaction. There are many key reasons why some fans wouldn’t enjoy this story.

Why some fans don’t enjoy it

The first thing that The Master of Callous has against it is the previous volume of The War Master, Only the Good. That wasn’t polarizing, far from it. Everyone seemed to absolutely love it. It was a huge release from Big Finish, and all four stories were fantastic to listen to. It was also magnificent to hear Derek Jacobi back as the Master again, for the first time since Utopia in 2007. (In fact, The War Master was announced on Utopia‘s tenth anniversary.)

The Master of Callous is radically different to that. Instead of telling four stories linked by a grand epic arc, Callous is one long story with a much smaller scale. While the Master was a major character for most of Only the Good, (while having a slightly reduced presence in third episode The Sky Man,) he’s only in Callous for half as long, while having brief appearances in the other two episodes.

This actually leads me to my second point. In the behind the scenes interviews for the story, the people who worked on it commented that Callous is very similar in style to many Jon Pertwee stories, such as Colony in Space or The Mutants. The story focuses on a small planetary colony; they’re threatened by an extremely capitalist villain; there are hints of something dangerous in the mine etc. Some of these tropes Callous subverts, but others are played completely straight.

Skippable episodes?

But one thing that’s worth pointing out is that, to tell that kind of story, you only really need the second and fourth episodes. The first episode, Call for the Dead, is essentially a huge amount of buildup, exploring much of the main family’s history while the Master occasionally shows up in phone calls. It’s in the second episode, The Glittering Prize, that the story really kicks off, and the Master puts his plan into action.

Now, I’m not saying you could entirely skip the first episode. There are a few key elements established in that opening chapter that do come into play later on. Just that it is essentially buildup.

However, that isn’t the case for the third episode, The Persistence of Dreams. That really is an episode that can be entirely skipped. Focusing on one single, isolated character, the episode focuses on her slowly going mad, leading to an incredibly dark and bleak ending.

It’s completely separate from the rest of the story, and in fact, thanks to one scene in finale Sins of the Father, you still find out what happens to her, even if you do skip it! Honestly, you really can jump from The Glittering Prize to Sins of the Father and not feel like you’ve missed anything, especially as the latter takes place at the same time as The Persistence of Dreams.

So we have a four-hour long story that’s extremely small in scale, with only half the episodes featuring Jacobi’s Master and one episode that could be skipped entirely. So why is it one of my favorite releases from Big Finish in recent years?

Why some fans love it

There are a number of reasons why I and many others have a lot of love for this story. The first is, while The Master of Callous doesn’t have a huge sense of scale in terms of a Time War story, it does unfold very nicely as a story focused on a generation of a single family.

All the members of the King family are flawed, and all are running away from something. The Master of Callous is very keen to explore these flaws, their obsessions and their greed. They may not be the most likable characters at times, but they’re certainly interesting and believable ones.

This is why the first episode works so well. Yes, in a Doctor Who story, the story it explores would be nothing but pure background detail. But it’s actually kind of refreshing to go into considerably more depth on that detail, for once. It makes us feel more attached to the characters, even when we don’t like them too much. And, again, it also helps to make them that much more believable.

Also, while the Master does have a tiny presence in the first episode, it works extremely well. Whenever you hear his voice, you know something major is going to happen. During these scenes, he’s at his most vile, as he relishes in telling people their biggest mistakes or their deepest regrets and making them feel remorse over them. It’s a very effective use of the character that allows him to have presence, even when he’s hardly in the episode.

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An experimental episode

As for the third episode – while it can be skipped entirely, I’m not saying you should, at least not the first time. The Persistence of Dreams is easily a Marmite episode – some will love it, some will hate it. As a horror fan, I’m definitely in the former camp. It’s extremely atmospheric, and has a strong sense of claustrophobia and isolation. It’s a disturbing episode, and honestly, whether you like it or not, it’s hard to get through, either way. But one thing you certainly can’t say about it is that it’s a by-the-numbers story.

The finale leads to a satisfying payoff, in a huge number of ways. Sins of the Father is when we find out exactly what the Master’s been planning, and why. In some ways, this makes the whole of The Master of Callous even more satisfying to listen to a second time – when you know what the Master’s up to the whole time, you learn to appreciate every single move that he makes (while of course loathing how he’s using everyone). And the final line he has is perfect.

The Master of Callous definitely isn’t for everyone. And perhaps a part of me likes it even more for that. Because it didn’t just copy the success of Only the Good and tried to play it safe. It went for something a little different and a little riskier (or, in the case of The Persistence of Dreams, a lot riskier).

As a result, it paid off in a very interesting way, and it’s an audio that I’ve listened to many times since its release. The Master of Callous might be small in scale, but that doesn’t stop it from being a bold and extremely ambitious story.

Next. Should we have seen more of Derek Jacobi’s Master on television?. dark

Have you listened to The Master of Callous? Do you love it or hate it? What Doctor Who stories stand out to you as divisive ones? Let us know in the comments below.

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