recent listen; Doctor Who - UNIT: Dominion

Big Finish synopsis;

The universe stands on the brink of a dimensional crisis – and the Doctor and Raine are pulled into the very epicentre of it.

Meanwhile, on Earth, UNIT scientific advisor Dr Elizabeth Klein and an incarnation of the Doctor she's never encountered before are tested to the limit by a series of bizarre, alien invasions.

At the heart of it all is a terrible secret, almost as old as the Time Lords themselves. Reality is beginning to unravel and two Doctors, Klein, Raine and all of UNIT must use all their strength and guile to prevent the whole of creation being torn apart.

As you can see from the photo, UNIT: Dominion is a bit of an epic tale spanning four CDs (the fifth CD is behind-the-scenes interview content.)

This was epic, but it kept my attention all through. Plenty of setups and payoffs. In addition to Sylvester McCoy as the (7th) Doctor, the supporting characters were well done.

Elisabeth Klein continues to be one of the best, most interesting supporting characters Big Finish have created. This time around, she's been slightly reinvented. Integrated back into the proper historical timeline, she is now an efficient scientist and the Scientific Advisor of UNIT (the Doctor's old gig.) But, the Doctor has been keeping tabs on her, to ensure her Nazi previous personality doesn't reassert itself. Unfortunately, his plan has backfired and she has become almost paranoid & obsessed with "the Umbrella Man" - the Doctor.

Alex Macqueen was a real treat as the “Other Doctor.” Now that the story has been out for a few years, the spoiler can be mentioned here. The Other Doctor is, in fact, the Master; the Doctor's arch-villain. Big Finish have created their own incarnation of the Master here. Macqueen does a great job, too. Though, he is only revealed as the Master in the last episode, so we only get a taste of the Master in this story. But, it highlights how similar the Doctor and the Master truly are – two sides of the same coin.

I really enjoyed this one. I look forward to listening to both the next Klein trilogy, as well as Alex Macqueen's continuing performance as the Master in the Dark Eyes series.