Master of the Daleks [AUDIO/2015.3.2]

★★★☆☆

  If the first two installments of Dark Eyes 4 were showing just how expansive, imaginative, creative and pure fun these stories could be, the final two adventures bring our lofty expectations down to reality by reminding us that there's a bucketload of story threads that needs to be sorted out and referred to. Thus, Master of the Daleks feels more like a mandate made out of requirement more than anything. The Master is here to explain away his part in DE4, the Daleks' plan is laid out in the broadest of strokes, and an older Molly appears because of course she does; it's nearing the end for this saga, of course they have to bring back the main character! Throw in some Sontaran action there for good measure, and John Dorney's cooked up a pretty basic beginning-of-the-end wrapup story.

  Not to be too uncharitable to Master of the Daleks, though; it's still an entertaining piece that goes along nicely. You can level a bunch of criticisms at it, but at least it isn't a drag and you actively want to stop listening to it. Alex Macqueen is the chief factor of this story being enjoyable; he makes every line of his ten times more fun and memorable, and his little inflections and chuckles give his incarnation of an age-old character a unique touch. At this point, I don't even have to wax lyrical about him anymore; he's a fantastic Master, and he was the standout star of Dark Eyes. With him, Master of the Daleks turns out to be quite the entertaining runaround that achieves very little other than setup for the very final story. Not that any Dr. Who story should try to work for a purpose, of course; problem is, this was conceived from the ground up with that purpose in mind and it's pretty... okay as a whole.