‘VAMPIRE OF THE MIND’

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The Sixth Doctor vs. the Reborn Master…But is it Really?

I greatly enjoyed the ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventure ‘Vampire of the Mind’! 🙂

To be honest, I found this a better story than ‘And You Will Be Obey Me’ in ‘The Two Masters Trilogy’. I was able to get into the story and the characters at a fluid rate, thanks to the writing by Justin Richards. The performances of the cast, including Colin Baker and Alex Macqueen are good. 🙂

This four-part story is the second of ‘The Two Masters Trilogy’. It’s arguably a standalone adventure and I quite agree with that, since you don’t need to worry about listening to ‘And You Will Be Obey Me’ before this. With that said, a hint of what’s going on in the trilogy is made during this adventure.

Just to go off on a tangent a bit, the reason why I don’t check out some of these Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’ immediately is often because I wanted to get a complete set of stories like a trilogy first. I sometimes allow time to process what other people have said about these Big Finish audios. 🙂

From what I’ve heard about the story arc going on in ‘The Two Masters Trilogy’, it’s most fascinating. It’s something I hope to elaborate on when we get to ‘The Two Masters’ with the Seventh Doctor. Mind you, I do wish Big Finish had companions joining the three Doctors in this multi-Doctor trilogy.

Granted, they don’t need to repeat the same companions of Nyssa, Peri and Ace, as was the case in ‘The 1963 Trilogy’ of Big Finish audios. They could’ve had different companions like Tegan, Mel and Raine to join the Doctors in their adventures with tackling the two different Masters in these stories.

Anyway, back to ‘Vampire of the Mind’. The story begins with the Sixth Doctor calling on the house of Professor Threadstone. He’s greeted by the Professor’s daughter Heather. It seems the Professor and his daughter already know who the Sixth Doctor is, as they’ve met him on a previous occasion. 🙂

I’m okay with this, and it put me in mind of the Sixth Doctor having met Commodore Travers before ‘Terror of the Vervoids’. It’s also interesting when Heather gets to be the one-off companion character in this adventure, and she doesn’t turn out to be a bad girl as one might have expected. 🙂

Several scientists have disappeared, including one that Professor Threadstone has been trying to locate in California. Curious about these very mysterious disappearances, the Doctor and Heather decide to investigate. 🙂 The two soon end up on a lonely island that’s on the South Coast of England.

On the island, there happens to be a solitary castle that’s been considered long abandoned and haunted. The Doctor and Heather find the scientists there and the mysterious goings-on are connected to the top-secret Dominus Institute, which is organised by the CEO – Sir Andrew Gobernar.

But is it really? The Doctor and Heather also encounter Dr. Damian Scott, who turns out to be the Master, played by Alex Macqueen. Things become serious when the scientists’ minds have been emptied and they’ve become ‘blanks’. The Master is also using a ‘Mind Leach’ creature for his work.

It was quite a thrill to hear this story with Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor confronting Alex Macqueen’s Master. This isn’t the first time that Colin Baker and Alex Macqueen have worked together. Alex Macqueen was also in a Sixth Doctor story called ‘Paradise 5’. He played a different character in that.

I was initially confused as to how the Sixth Doctor could be meeting Alex Macqueen’s Master here, since surely it was Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor that met this Master for the first time in ‘U.N.I.T. Dominion’. Thankfully, the continuity confusion is resolved quite satisfyingly in this story. 🙂

This is especially when the Sixth Doctor has his short-term memory removed when having made a deal with the Mind Leach creature in ‘Part Four’ of the story. I hope it’s a temporary short-term memory loss, as the Sixth Doctor and Dory from ‘Finding Nemo’ could be sharing a lot in common. 😀

With all these things said, it may be that the Alex Macqueen Master in this ‘Doctor Who’ audio adventure isn’t as he seems. This is especially when he mentions about something that happened to him and the Doctor suspects it’s post-regenerative trauma. Is it that though? I hope to find out soon.

I liked some of the subtle Master references featured throughout this story. This includes the word ‘Dominus’ that happens to be a Latin word for ‘Master’. There’s Sir Andrew’s surname ‘Gobernar’, which happens to a Spanish word for ‘Master’. Dr. Damian Scott is also a new alias for the Master. 🙂

It’s also mentioned that the castle featured in the story happens to be one of the prisons that the Master was held at during his imprisonment between ‘The Dæmons’ and ‘The Sea Devils’. I don’t think it’s the prison that appeared in ‘The Sea Devils’. It must be an entirely different prison in this story.

Colin Baker is excellent throughout this adventure as the Sixth Doctor. I like how he quickly forms a good friendship with Heather Theadstone, as the two work together to solve a problem. The Doctor is quite friendly in this adventure, even if he considers his intelligence to be better than Heather’s. 😀

I found it funny when the Doctor’s application to the Dominus Institute got rejected whereas Heather’s was accepted. It was fun to hear Colin Baker’s scenes with Alex Macqueen’s Master, as the two sparked off each other very well and the Doctor is determined to thwart the Master’s scheme.

Incidentally, comparing this to ‘And You Will Obey Me’, the Doctor meets the Master sooner in ‘Part Three’ rather than in ‘Part Four’. I’m happy with this, as it allows more interaction time between Colin Baker and Alex Macqueen, contrasting differently to Peter Davison and Geoffrey Beevers’ interaction time.

Alex Macqueen is equally excellent as the Master in this ‘Doctor Who’ adventure. I can’t claim to have heard every Big Finish audio featuring Alex’s Master, but the ones I’ve heard that feature him are mostly good. It’s intriguing how he interacts with Colin Baker’s Doctor compared to other Doctors. 🙂

Through his performance, Alex Macqueen relishes the evil of the Master when manipulating people to his ways. This is especially in the moments where he hypnotises characters like Andrew Gobernar and Professor Threadstone to get his way, and how he’s emptying the minds of scientists for his agenda.

The story features special guest star John Standing as Professor Threadstone. John Standing is no stranger to ‘Doctor Who’, having appeared in the audio story ‘Gods and Monsters’ with Sylvester McCoy. I enjoyed him as Professor Threadstone and how he gets to help the Doctor and Heather. 🙂

Early on, he’s investigating what’s happening on the island. Halfway in the story, he meets up with the Doctor and Heather, rescuing them from ‘blank’ zombie scientists when they’re escaping from the castle. It’s quite unfortunate that Threadstone fell for the Master’s hypnotic trick in ‘Part Four’ of the story.

Kate Kennedy is also excellent as Heather Threadstone, the one-off companion character that could have travelled with the Sixth Doctor in the TARDIS. In some respects, there are elements of Liz Shaw in Heather, especially when sharing a similar scientific mindset that the Doctor has in this adventure.

Heather is also capable of looking after herself when she’s seperated from the Doctor. Sometimes, she and her father find a way to rescue the Doctor when the Master has him as his prisoner. I enjoyed the banter between Heather and the Sixth Doctor, especially when they had their meal in a pub in ‘Part Two’. 🙂

The story also features Elliot Levey as Sir Andrew Gobernar. It was tense when Sir Andrew seemed to be under the Master’s influence once the Doctor and Heather tried to persuade him to free them from being tied up. Unfortunately, Sir Andrew is killed when trying to overcome the Master’s control.

There’s also Catriona Knox as the landlady at the pub on the island. Catriona Knox also plays the Mind Leach, who is the titular ‘vampire of the mind’ when the Master uses her to empty the minds of scientists. Thankfully, the Mind Leach isn’t terribly hostile when the Doctor communicates with her. 🙂

Neil Edmond also plays a boatman as well as a guard in this story. The boatman, who doesn’t have a name in this story, is helpful to the Sixth Doctor and Heather when they’re seeking information. The story finishes with the boatman strangely walking into the sea, repeating that he ‘must obey’. Hmm.

There are also the ‘blank’ zombie scientists who are voiced by Elliot Levey, Catriona Knox and Neil Edmond. I don’t know if calling the scientists ‘Blanks’ makes them sound threatening when listening to this story. Honestly, just crediting these characters as simply ‘scientists’ would have been enough.

‘Vampire of the Mind’ is a very good ‘Doctor Who’ story in ‘The Two Masters Trilogy’. I wish ‘And You Will Obey Me’ matched the same writing style as ‘Vampire of the Mind’, since the story and the characters were engaging to listen to, and Colin Baker and Alex Macqueen are excellent throughout.

I’m intrigued about where ‘The Two Masters Trilogy’ will go next, especially with the revelation that the Alex Macqueen may not be what he seems here and with the boatman strangely walking into the sea at the story’s end. I hope that the conclusion to ‘The Two Masters Trilogy’ will be satisfying. 🙂

The CD extras are as follows. On Disc 1, there are two tracks of incidental music to enjoy. On Disc 2, there’s trailer for ‘The Two Masters’ with Sylvester McCoy, Geoffrey Beevers and Alex Macqueen. There are also behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew, including Colin Baker, Alex Macqueen, director Jamie Anderson, etc.

If you subscribe to Big Finish for ‘Vampire of the Mind’ via a 6 or 12 CD/download subscription, you’ll get the following extras. There’s a PDF script (which apparently contains spoilers for ‘The Two Masters’) and extended extras of ‘Vampire of the Mind’.

‘Vampire of the Mind’ rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Sixth Doctor was ‘Last of the Cybermen’ (Audio) For the Master was ‘The Two Masters’ (Audio)	The next story For the Sixth Doctor is ‘Judoon in Chains’ (Audio) For the Master is ‘The Two Masters’ (Audio)
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