October 2018’s Short Trips story was yet another unusual release, continuing Ian Atkins approach as outgoing producer of innovating with this range. It’s I Am The Master written and performed by the Master himself, Geoffrey Beevers. Short review: it’s great.

Longer review…

I Am The Master

First the synopsis:

There is a message for you. It comes from a long way, from a dying world. No, not a dying world. A killed world. And the message is from the killer.

Please attend carefully. The message that follows is vital to your future…

However much longer that may be.

From the beginning this is very much told from the point of view of the Master, how brilliant he is, how much he likes power and his approaching to gaining that power regardless of collateral damage.

What won’t be obvious is the setup: the concept (and this is a spoiler) is the Master is narrating a story of his rise to power from inside a recording booth in a studio not unlike the Moat where this was recorded under the watchful (not the right word – listenful perhaps, or just listening?) ear of Lisa Bowerman.

It’s thus almost tongue-in-cheek and very much written for the Big Finish listener. It’s a joy to listen to though an idea hard to repeat. We even get reference to the famous Big Finish lunches!

I Am The Master is overall a good if somewhat dark listen. But be careful, don’t listen too hard or you might just get sucked into something you’d rather avoid!