UNIT: Dominion

Special

Released: 23 October 2012

Listened: 3/13/21

This story is weird: in its purpose, its place in continuity, and the story itself. Big Finish had done a set of UNIT stories in 2004-2005, without the Doctor (but with David Tennant, oddly). This 2012 box was meant to be a continuation of that series, but featuring the Doctor, and unfortunately without Nicholas Courtney, who had passed away by this time. Klein is the primary UNIT character, which is a bit odd, because the story takes place in the 1990s, and Klein was active in the 1960s. Then this all got set aside a few years later as Big Finish got the license for new-series UNIT. Alex MacQueen appears in this story as a future Doctor, which was an effective trick if you were hearing it for the first time when it came out. However, he then played the Master (quite effectively) several times over the next few years, so the effect is spoiled, much like when Rufus Hound appears as the Monk in disguise, in “The Black Hole.” As the Doctor, though, he does a decent job of imitating the Doctor’s quirkiness, but with a streak of ruthlessness that Klein actually admires, even though she doesn’t trust him. His Master portrayal is similar to the last few TV Masters, especially Sacha Dhawan, in that he seems normal, even cunning for a bit, and then is equally likely to explode into shouting or giggles.

On top of that, the Doctor’s companion is Rayne Creevey, and Ace is stated to be on Gallifrey. It’s not clear exactly why Rayne, and why now, especially since the Doctor is specifically portrayed as older. However, I like Beth Chalmers, and I like Rayne, so I’m not complaining. Rayne does complain rather a bit, though; seeing a “future Doctor” who doesn’t appear to remember her makes her think that she’s fated to die in this story, which tends to make companions act oddly, and isn’t particularly endearing. The story itself is pretty bizarre too. The “Doctor” turns up at UNIT to get a dimensional thingy, and ends up forced to help them out because there are multiple dimensional incursions going on around Earth. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rayne are stuck dealing with an incursion elsewhere, and spend the first two stories just getting to Earth. UNIT, meanwhile, deals with energy vampires, then mind leeches, then giant floating heads (who turn out to be helpful), then giant spiders that spit lava...it’s like the writers (Nick Briggs and Jason Arnopp) took “other dimension” as a cue to upend their “bizarre aliens idea drawer” all over this story. UNIT, unfortunately, acts less like the UNIT we know, and more like a generic military force from the show. The British leaders are pretty much incompetent (the American and Japanese leaders we meet briefly are better), and Klein is the only voice of reason, but she has major trust issues with the Doctor, so she’s not a reliable ally. As for Klein herself, there are hints that she has some vague memories of her alternate life, and the Master is more than happy to tell her about it, but as far as this story is concerned, that only results in her distrusting the Doctor, who really handled the situation very poorly. Once the big twist is revealed at the end of Part 3, it goes downhill somewhat, as the Master and the Doctor spend a lot of time talking at each other...well, gloating, on the Master’s part, but he does like a good gloat. Ultimately, the ending doesn’t hold up the epic nature of the rest of the story, but introducing a new Master, establishing the new Klein, bringing back Rayne, and all the wacky ideas give this a thumbs up.