‘ANTI-GENESIS’ (WM)

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Narvin, the Unbound Master and Daleks with the War Master

Is the Master the real creator of the Daleks?

At the time of this review, it’s amazing that Sir Derek Jacobi has done about six box sets of ‘The War Master’ audio series by Big Finish. I greatly enjoyed the epic scale of four-part stories like ‘Only the Good’, ‘The Master of Callous’ and ‘Rage of the Time Lords’. They’ve been worthwhile to listen to. 🙂

We now come to ‘Anti-Genesis’, the fourth box set of ‘The War Master’ series. I’d like to think that ‘The War Master’ series is getting braver when venturing into new territory. This is particularly the case when we have certain star elements featured in ‘Anti-Genesis’ throughout the four episodes. 🙂

As well as having Derek Jacobi back as the War Master, we also have Mark Gatiss a.k.a. Sam Kisgart making a guest star appearance as the Unbound Master. I’ve only heard Mark Gatiss’ Master in ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ and ‘Masterful’, but this should be interesting to hear him in ‘Anti-Genesis’.

There’s also Seán Carlsen as Narvin, who regularly appears in the ‘Gallifrey’ audio series by Big Finish. I can’t claim to know Narvin well enough as a character as I’ve not heard the ‘Gallifrey’ audios yet. But I was interested in finding out how Narvin became involved in the War Master’s story here.

Incidentally, Narvin did appear at the end of ‘The Master of Callous’. Nicholas Briggs also returns to voice the dreaded Daleks in ‘Anti-Genesis’. Both Nick Briggs and Alan Barnes provide writing duties in terms of writing two episodes each out of the four-part epic. That makes it even more exciting. 😀

With the title of the fourth ‘War Master’ box set being called ‘Anti-Genesis’, it can be easily assumed that this is an alternative take of ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. This is especially when the Daleks, Skaro, the Kaleds and Davros are concerned and the fact the Unbound Master makes an appearance in this.

However, I must inform you that alternative takes of ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ have been done in the Divergent Wordsmiths anthology ‘Genesis of Terror’. One story called ‘Psychic Image’ is penned by a writer I know very well called ‘Billy Walker’. 😀 I’m sure a Roger Delgado Master story is in the collection.

‘Anti-Genesis’ was the second ‘War Master’ box set released in 2019 in December after ‘Rage of the Time Lords’ was released in July of that year. Like the first three ‘War Master’ box sets, I purchased ‘Anti-Genesis’ as a download, which was part of my bundle for the first four ‘War Master’ box sets. 😀

I listened to ‘Anti-Genesis’ on the Big Finish app on my android tablet. The four episodes of ‘Anti-Genesis’ include ‘From the Flames’, ‘The Master’s Dalek Plan’, ‘Shockwave’ and ‘He Who Wins’. The ‘War Master’ stories themselves seem very well-told throughout the four lengthy episode structures.

Like previous ‘War Master’ CD releases, ‘Anti-Genesis’ was presented as a 5-disc CD set! The four episodes of the story were on the first four discs. Disc 5 contained behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew on the making of the four episodes. Let’s see what the Master’s up to, shall we? 🙂

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1. ‘FROM THE FLAMES’

In the first episode of ‘Anti-Genesis’ called ‘From the Flames’ by Nicholas Briggs, the Master’s TARDIS first ends up on the planet Doldrathia. Stepping out of his TARDIS, the Master has a new companion.

This is Jordan Renzo as Insloy. Apparently the Master rescued Insloy from a Dalek prison camp. Unfortunately, Insloy doesn’t last long as the Master has him killed by this Dolthdrathian Dragon. 😮

It’s slightly amusing how the Master seems charming and reasonable towards Insloy before he has him killed. Apparently, the Master wants something from the dragon to achieve his next grand plan.

Elsewhere during the Time War, Franchi Webb as Lamarius, who commands a battle TARDIS, orders for a time torpedo to be aimed at a Dalek ship after a time destructor destroyed her family’s planet!

Lamarius is soon put into custody by the Time Lords and she’s paralysed for her actions. Seán Carlsen as Narvin of the CIA oversees Lamarius, who is in a rage, being encased inside a huge cryogenic tube.

She is to be saved for later. Gallifrey soon receives a distress call from the Master who is on his way back in his TARDIS. He’s on his way to his imminent death and he asks to be buried with full honours.

Narvin doesn’t trust the Master being in death and shares his suspicions with Pippa Bennett-Warner as President Livia. Now, I thought that Romana was the Time Lord President of Gallifrey at this time.

But then again, I’ve not heard the ‘Gallifrey’ audios properly yet and Livia is a character I’ve not come across in Big Finish before. Apparently, I’ve read that Livia would have been Romana’s successor.

The Master soon ends up on Gallifrey and Narvin with his assistant Gavin Swift as Crazlus investigate to make sure that he’s truly dead. Crazlus also uses the Infernal Toxciant to burn his entire corpse. 😐

But of course the Master isn’t dead as he’s revived by Crazlus with whatever he gave him. The Master survived the ‘dragon disease’ and he’s soon on his mission to locate the ‘Anti Genesis codes’.

Crazlus reports to Narvin what occurred with the Master. Soon, Narvin and Crazlus enter the Matrix in order to find the ‘Anti-Genesis codes’ before the Master does. The Matrix scenes are confusing. 😐

I did have to rehear the episode in order to understand the Matrix scenes where Narvin and Crazlus seemed to be getting elderly. But it’s soon revealed that Narvin has been caught in a trap by Crazlus.

Or rather the Master who was disguised as Crazlus! The Master did something to Crazlus when he had contact with him. The Master soon acquires the information he needs and departs in his TARDIS.

Eventually, the Master’s TARDIS ends up on Skaro where warfare occurs. The Master is soon taken by Kaled soldier before he soon takes the soldier’s ID tag and his security pass to get into the bunker.

Inside the bunker, the Master finds another soldier and asks him to see his nephew, hypnotising him to do so. Eventually, the Master meets up with a young man known as Davros, voiced by Ben Crystal.

It was intriguing to hear a young Davros before he became crippled. It was equally intriguing to have Davros not voiced by Terry Molloy for a change. How come Big Finish didn’t get Terry Molloy back?

To make a long story short, the Master changes history by having Davros killed too early. I wonder how the future will change now that the Daleks didn’t happen. Or could they still happen regardless?

Meanwhile, back on Gallifrey, Narvin and Livia have Lamarius woken up from cryosleep. They assign her to stop the Master on Gallifrey in order to be given a full pardon or to be erased from all history.

Despite her fury, Lamarius soon agrees to carry out the mission in order to save the lives of her family. Lamarius is given back her battle TARDIS and she’s soon sent back in time to the planet Skaro.

The episode also features Zaraah Abrahams as a Castellan and Daniel Brocklebank as a prosecutor. There’s also Vikash Bahai as a Kaled commander and Christopher Harper as a Kaled guard in this tale.

‘From the Flames’ is a good opening episode in ‘Anti-Genesis’. I’m curious about how things will change significantly with the Master changing history on Skaro. Will Lamarius be able to stop him? 😐

‘From the Flames’ rating – 8/10

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2. ‘THE MASTER’S DALEK PLAN’

In the second episode of ‘Anti-Genesis’ called ‘The Master’s Dalek Plan’ by Alan Barnes, Derek Jacobi’s Master has taken control of the Kaled scientific elite on Skaro. Can things become truly bad?

I found it fascinating how the Master takes over Skaro’s history and does what Davros did in creating the Daleks. The only difference is that the Master has the Dalek obey him, which was very intriguing.

The Master does the opposite of what the Doctor would have done. Rather than preventing the Daleks from being created, the Master does all he can in order to ensure their survival and existence.

It’s something the Time Lords aren’t happy about as they seek to counter his interference with Skaro’s history. Seán Carlsen as Narvin and Pippa Bennett-Warner as Livia try to stabilise the past. 😐

But a new and horrifying future dawns in the wastelands of ancient Skaro with the Master taking over. I can only imagine how dreadful things are going to be with the Master in charge of the Daleks.

Franchi Webb as Lamarius continues her mission to track down the Master on Skaro before he meets up with a Muto – Vikash Bhai as Arfor. Arfor is pretty unsavoury and he’s not at all like Sevrin.

It was intriguing to hear the Master’s interaction with Nicholas Briggs as Elrond at the Kaled scientific elite. And no, it isn’t Elrond from ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ as in books and movies. 😀

Mind you, Skaro could have once looked like Rivendell before the Thousand Year War began. Anyway, it’s very interesting how the Master interacts with Elrond when he turns him into a mutant.

The Master zaps Elrond with a device to turn him into a Dalek mutant. Nick Briggs ends up doing squeaky, hissy noises as a Dalek mutant. Maybe that’s where the Dalek voice came from with Elrond.

In the episode, the Master goes by the alias name of ‘Sorvad’ which is ‘Davros’ spelled backwards. I’m surprised that not many people realised this when they interacted with ‘Sorvad’ on the planet Skaro.

Then again, not many people realised that ‘Dalek’ was ‘Kaled’ spelled backwards. Or not as the case may be! Daniel Brocklebank as Yaren points out to ‘Sorvad’ that it should be ‘Delak’ not ‘Dalek’ here.

I wonder why Davros didn’t consider calling his new creations ‘Delaks’ instead of ‘Daleks’ when he created them. Or how come the Kaleds weren’t called ‘Kelads’ when Tom Baker’s Doctor meet them?

Anyway, I digress. As I’m sure you know, the episode’s title ‘The Master’s Dalek Plan’ is a play on the TV story’s title ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’. Me being a ‘Doctor Who’ fan could spot this in an instant. 🙂

It’s also intriguing to hear the names of military officials that were killed in the bombardment of the Kaled dome. This included Frenton, Parran, Gharman and Nyder. It’s sad to hear Nyder is dead here.

Kavell and Ronson were also among the dead. There are even mentions of characters from Dalek comic stories like Dalazar and Davius as well as from the ‘I, Davros’ audio series like Ral and Shan. 😀

I wonder how the Master’s changing of history affected what happened in ‘I, Davros’. Did the Master kill Davros’ mother and his half-sister instead? The Master also rides about in Davros’ wheelchair. 😀

Clearly, Derek Jacobi’s Master wants to have Davros’ chair before Peter Capaldi’s Doctor gets it in ‘The Witch’s Familiar’. 😀 It’s pretty hilarious to hear Derek Jacobi’s Master trundle about in Davros’ chair.

It was intriguing to hear how the Master’s tampering with history changed certain timelines. This includes the Daleks winning the Hyperon war and taking control of the planet Peladon. So shocking!

The episode also features Richard Clifford as Novar, Will Kirk as a Kaled captain and Zaraah Abrahams as a Kaled corporal. Nicholas Briggs of course returns to voice the horrible Daleks in this. 🙂

I like how the episode concluded with the Master sending Lamarius back to Gallifrey where Narvin and Livia are waiting. The Master outwits the Time Lords whilst he has control of the Daleks on Skaro.

I like how the Master’s final speech echoes the Dalek’s final speech from the end of ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. Overall, ‘The Master’s Dalek Plan’ has been a gripping instalment of the ‘Anti-Genesis’ saga.

‘The Master’s Dalek Plan’ rating – 8/10

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3. ‘SHOCKWAVE’

The third episode of ‘Anti-Genesis’ is called ‘Shockwave’ by Alan Barnes. This is not to be confused with the ‘DOTD’ story called ‘Shockwave’ by James Swallow, featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace. 😀

This episode of ‘Anti-Genesis’ is notable for featuring Mark Gattis/Sam Kisgart as the Unbound Master for the first time. I wondered how he was going to become involved with this epic adventure.

Sadly, Mark Gattis’ Master doesn’t meet Derek Jacobi’s Master in the episode. Hopefully that will be saved for the grand finale when we come to ‘He Who Wins’ next time. We will have to stay tuned. 😀

History is being threatened throughout many universes. The Dalek Time Strategist from our prime timeline takes desperate action for the Daleks’ legacy throughout time and space to be preserved. 😐

The Dalek Time Strategist crosses dimensions to recruit the Unbound Master in order to save all realities. An uneasy alliance is formed, but can each side truly trust the other? Will one be a traitor?!

There are a lot of confusing moments featured in the episode, especially with the timelines being rewritten and everything. This is especially when certain shockwaves affect certain characters in this.

This is evident when Mark Gatiss’ Master and the Dalek Time Strategist meet up with Seán Carlsen as Narvin and Pippa Bennett-Warner as Livia. Narvin and Livia keep altering once the shockwaves hit.

Mark Gattis’ Master and the Dalek Time Strategist are protected whilst Narvin and Livia are altering outside their bubble. Sometimes Livia is the Time Lord President of Gallifrey, sometimes she isn’t. 😐

Sometimes Narvin is being played by Seán Carlsen, another time Narvin is being played by Zaraah Abrahams. Intriguing how Narvin can be a man in one minute and then a woman the next minute. 😀

Whilst all of this is going on, Derek Jacobi’s Master’s plans for himself and the Daleks are set in motion. I wish we had more of these scenes as Derek Jacobi’s Master’s appearance seems limited. 😐

It was interesting and terrifying when the War Master arranged for the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry to be killed in an ambush shortly after having arrived on Skaro in ‘Genesis of the Daleks’. 😦

I wonder if the Fifth Doctor, Nyssa and Billy would get killed instead of the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry, should the War Master tamper with the events of ‘Psychic Image’. Intriguing thought.

The episode also features Gavin Swift as Crazlus, who was in the first episode of ‘Anti-Genesis’. He gets killed off by the Dalek Time Strategist when Mark Gatiss’ Master finds Crazlus really annoying. 😐

Franchi Webb appears as Lamarius in the episode. It’s suspected that Lamarius may be the cause of the shockwaves occurring to change the timelines so often. As it happens, it isn’t Lamarius causing it.

Will Kirk guest stars as Uglen, one of Livia’s aides, I believe. There’s also Richard Clifford as Pandak, one of the six founders of Time Lord society and briefly a Gallifrey president instead of Livia here. 😀

The episode also features Jordan Renzo as the First Berserker and Christopher Harper as the Second Berserker who appears briefly at the beginning with Mark Gattis’ Master when we are in his universe.

I don’t know if the Berserkers are a reference to something featured in the ‘Bernice Summerfield’ box sets with David Warner’s Unbound Doctor. That’s something for me to discover at a future date.

Nicholas Briggs gets to voice the Daleks on Skaro under Derek Jacobi’s Master’s command and he gets to voice the Dalek Time Strategist. It’s so intriguing how his voices for both sets of Daleks differ.

I like how Nick Briggs voices the Dalek Time Strategist in being calculating, manipulative and everything. This must be one of many endeavours for the Dalek Time Strategist during the Time War.

I’m not sure how the episode ended. Mark Gatiss’ Master and the Dalek Time Strategist aren’t getting anywhere in finding out who caused the shockwave to change history. Will they find out?! 😐

‘Shockwave’ is quite underwhelming, especially when there isn’t the confrontation between Derek Jacobi’s War Master and Mark Gattis’ Unbound Master. Hopefully that will come in the next episode.

‘Shockwave’ rating – 7/10

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4. ‘HE WHO WINS’

The last episode of ‘Anti-Genesis’ called ‘He Who Wins’ is by Nicholas Briggs. I like how things came together in the final instalment of this story and how the original timeline was restored in the end. 🙂

Incidentally, there were original titles for some of the episodes of ‘Anti-Genesis’. ‘The Master’s Dalek Plan’ was first called ‘The New Daleks’ whilst ‘Shockwave’ was first called ‘The Master Shockwave’. 🙂

‘He Who Wins’ was originally called ‘The Emptiness of Victory’. Not sure why the original titles were changed to be different titles in ‘Anti-Genesis’. The initial episode titles seem to be reasonably good.

In ‘He Who Wins’, it seems that the War Master has achieved an ultimate victory! He and the Daleks have wiped out all inferior beings and they seem to be the supreme masters of the universe here. 😐

But it doesn’t seem to have all gone too well for Derek Jacobi’s Master. Very soon, the Daleks begin to turn against the War Master, despite him saying that he’s ‘their creator’ and they must obey him.

There are certainly echoes of Davros being exterminated by the Daleks in ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ when the War Master’s execution by them is similar. I found that a nice parallel when hearing this. 🙂

Whilst the War Master is in self-doubt over his victory, he soon receives telepathic contact from Mark Gatiss/Sam Kisgart as the Unbound Master. It was fun to hear the interaction between them. 🙂

Mark Gatiss’ Master seems to know everything that’s going on with the War Master changing history and becoming the ‘creator’ of the Daleks. He warns him of the dangers of causing all this to happen.

It was equally fun to hear Derek Jacobi’s Master interacting with the Dalek Time Strategist, voiced by Nicholas Briggs. The War Master is very shocked by the insubordination of the Dalek Time Strategist.

I like how the Dalek Time Strategist speaks in a calculating, intelligent manner compared to the often monotone Daleks under the War Master’s command. Some Daleks aren’t good conversationalists. 😀

The episode also features Seán Carlsen as Narvin and Pippa Bennett-Warner as Livia. It was intriguing that the War Master had the two and Crazlus picked up from Gallifrey as the last survivors.

Narvin isn’t the CIA co-ordinator anymore and Livia isn’t a Time Lord President. The War Master has a conversation with Narvin, Livia and Crazlus before the Daleks enter and they exterminate the three.

The War Master is shocked by the Daleks’ extermination of Narvin, Livia and Crazlus. It becomes disturbing for the War Master when his Daleks don’t seem willing to obey him without any question.

Speaking of Gavin Swift as Crazlus, apparently he becomes very important in how the War Master started things with changing Skaro’s history. This involves them meeting Ben Crystal as the Soogasor.

When it all goes horribly wrong for the War Master, he soon teams up with the Unbound Master and the Dalek Time Strategist. They soon go back in time to the point where it began for the War Master.

This results in two War Masters meeting each other – a younger one who hasn’t been to Skaro yet and the older one who had already been there. Sometimes things got very confusing in the telling. 😀

The older War Master struggles to convince his younger self that what he is about to do will end up in disaster. Eventually, with enough persuasion, the younger War Master doesn’t go through with it.

Very soon, the Dalek Time Strategists disappears and the Unbound Master goes back to his universe. The older War Master is gone and the younger War Master escapes in his TARDIS from the Daleks. 😐

Once the original timeline has been restored, the War Master, who tries to escape the Daleks, soon gets captured. This leads up to the Master having to retrieve his TARDIS from the planet Gardezza. 😮

That takes place in the first episode of ‘Only the Good’ called ‘Beneath the Viscoid’, which Nicholas Briggs wrote. It’s so intriguing how the end of ‘Anti-Genesis’ leads up to the start of ‘Only the Good’.

‘He Who Wins’ is a good conclusion to ‘Anti-Genesis’. And yes, the episode’s title is taken from a line in ‘The Five Doctors’ which Mark Gatiss’ Master says: “To lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose.”

‘He Who Wins’ rating – 8/10

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BEHIND THE SCENES

Disc 5 of the ‘Anti-Genesis’ CD box set contains behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew which look into the making of the four-part story. As with ‘The Master of Callous’ and the ‘Rage of the Time Lords’ CD box sets, the interviews are conducted by the producer/director Scott Handcock.

It starts off with Scott Handcock interviewing the writers Nicholas Briggs and Alan Barnes. It was intriguing to hear from their points of view how they found the writing process of ‘Anti-Genesis’ and how they derived certain material from ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ to fit it into their ‘War Master’ story.

We soon have interviews with Seán Carlsen, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Will Kirk and Gavin Swift who talk about their experiences of playing their characters in ‘Anti-Genesis’. It was nice to hear the ‘Gallifrey’ angle and intriguing how Navin and Livia’s characters got reintroduced for this certain tale.

Sir Derek Jacobi is of course interviewed in the behind-the-scenes extras and he’s joined by Nick Briggs with Scott Handcock. There’s also an interview with Ben Crystal and an interview with Franchi Webb, Daniel Brocklebank and Vikash Bhai who talk about playing their characters in the adventure.

And we can’t have a behind-the-scenes disc on ‘Anti-Genesis’ without having an interview with Mark Gatiss/Sam Kisgart himself. It was intriguing how Mark Gatiss compared to his beginnings in playing the Unbound Master in ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ to him working with Derek Jacobi’s Master here. 😀

Quite often, the interview cuts back and forth to interview segments with Derek Jacobi and Nick Briggs being conducted by Scott Handcock as well as interview segments with Nick Briggs and Alan Barnes being conducted by Scott Handcock. Derek Jacobi and Nick Brigg share their final thoughts to end the disc.

It was funny how the bonus disc ended with Nick Briggs giving Derek Jacobi a chance to use the ring modulator in order to find out how a Dalek voice sounded and how to do a Dalek voice on audio. I’m sure Derek Jacobi enjoyed the Dalek voice lessons by Nick Briggs, but he clearly prefers being the Master. 😀

After the behind-the-scenes interviews, there’s a suite of incidental music of ‘Anti-Genesis’ to enjoy.

I enjoyed ‘Anti-Genesis’ very much. It’s an intriguing alternative version of the ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ story where Sir Derek Jacobi’s War Master changed history and became the creator of the Daleks. It was also great to hear Mark Gatiss/Sam Kisgart’s Unbound Master in the epic adventure. 🙂

With ‘Anti-Genesis’ leading into ‘Only the Good’, I’m curious about how the next two ‘War Master’ box sets will fit into the War Master’s story. Do they take place between ‘Rage of the Time Lords’ and ‘Anti-Genesis’. I’m looking forward to finding out when I get to hear those two exciting box sets.

‘Anti-Genesis’ (WM) box set rating – 8/10

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The previous story For the Master was ‘Hearts of Darkness’ (WM) (Audio) For the Unbound Master was ‘Masterful’ (Audio)	The next story For the Master is ‘Self-Defence’ (WM) (Audio)
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