It’s time to listen to and discuss Dust Breeding
Buy it online using the link above, or listen for free - you’ll find links where to listen free on the story page!
Once you’ve listened, talk about it below! Even if you listened to it before and just want to discuss it - dive right in! Just please use spoiler tags where appropriate.
Everyone who participates will get a coveted Audio Club badge! 
Just for fun, add your rating here:
I’ve listened to this story twice now.
Still really can’t remember anything from it besidesthe twist with the Master.
I think I liked it
I was thinking about giving it a 0.5/5 because it ends in Norway. Why always Norway… Sweden exists and is right next to it. Can we also get a mention once in a while 
On a more serious note. I think that this was a fun story. Nothing special but fun. I like 7 and Ace in audio. Feels like they never ended the show. The Master is often fun but this was a pretty mid master story. I often like them more when they are more in full power. I gave it 3.5/5 which is my good but nothing special rating.
Safe to say, I cannot remember one single thing about this story… I rated it a 3 but I think I ought to relisten to give it a more fair judgement bc absolutely nothing is familair about this at all to me
This release is entirely forgettable after the fact, but enjoyable while listening. It’s nice to hear Bev again before she moves on to the Bernice Summerfield range. Hearing the Master again was a nice surprise, as I didn’t remember them from the last time I listened. It was a nice debut, but it’s a shame it’s in such a forgettable story.
Overall, I give this a 3.5/5 (7/10)
Mike Tucker is someone I would describe as being a meat and potatoes writer: the kind of person who does more traditionalist Doctor Who adventures, but they’re usually incredibly solid.
This is evident if you’ve listened to stories like ‘The Genocide Machine’ or - my personal favourite of his scripts - ‘The Warehouse’.
Outside of the atrocious Rutan story he penned for the Benny range, ‘Dust Breeding’ is honestly the only time I’ve been left feeling disappointed by this man’s work.
Caroline John and Sophie Aldred both delivered abysmal performances, whilst Geoffrey Beevers was doing all the heavy lifting in a mediocre script.
McCoy delivered a decent performance here, and once more demonstrated that we were robbed of more adventures with him and Louise Faulkner (Bev Tarrant).
It’s just a bit underwhelming, isn’t it?
I actually posted my review of ‘Dust Breeding’ about ten days ago now.
Feel free to check it out, and likes are very much appreciated (I am unashamedly aiming for those reviewer badges )
I always thought this one was underrated. Caroline John pulls a really fun performance out of a nothing burger of a character. Seven is characterized as the perfect mix of clown and mastermind. Ace gets the short end of the stick and doesn’t really get tot do anything. I wish Bev was more interesting.
I often wonder what the fan reaction to the big twist in this one was at the time of release because in a Watsonian context it is an obvious twist but a massive twist in a Doylist context at the time.
I really love when BF choose to pull from other mediums of the EU like the inclusion of the Krill from one of the novels by the same writer and I wish they did it slightly more often outside of just the occasional random continuity reference.
Just started it and omg its about that painter guy. This feels like getting a deep cut franchise reference except the franchise is irl history. And the reference isnt deep cut at all but its cool recognizing the story. I dont have this much im horrid at history okay
Edit: WAIT RIJKSMUSEUM MENTIONED DUTCH MOMENT HELL YEAH
SPOILER SPOILERS SPOILER SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
I can answer this as I was a fan reacting to it at the time.
Big Finish did something very clever with the marketing of this. The headlines were the return of Caroline John to Doctor Who, even if in a different role; the presence of the Krill from Mike Tucker’s novel Storm Harvest and the return of Bev Tarrant.
Oh and isn’t that lovely - there’s a character at the bottom of the cast list being played by Caroline’s husband Geoffrey Beevers. Somebody called Seta. Must have been nice to have him along for the day…
End of episode 2 - WHAT THE ■■■■! HOW DIDN’T I REALISE?!? THEY’VE BEEN CALLING HIM MR SETA FOR THE ENTIRE PLAY BUT HE’S ONLY CREDITED AS SETA IN THE BOOKLET…
MR SETA - MASTER
I can honestly say I hadn’t been as excited by a cliffhanger in BF since the one at the end of part 3 of Phantasmagoria.
It was a very clever bit of misdirection by BF. You have to remember that Beevers hadn’t played the Master since The Keeper of Traken and, unlike nowadays, there was no precedent for jumping back and forth between his incarnations. Maybe someone somewhere did work it out but no one in my group did.
Man i really wished i didnt click around on tardis guide last week or else i wouldnt have been spoiled by the appearance of you know who.
Still thought it was good. Lots of great moments like when the master reveals himself and starts talking about money to that woman i loved that bit. I really liked the historical aspects mixed in with the science fiction. Thought the dusty atmosphere (Sutekhs dust of death reference???/j) was pulled of well. So quite some good stuff to find here.
It wasn’t boring, and while it’s not necessarily a standout, it had very little faults and did everything nicely imo. So an 8/10
I like this one. I had a great time listening to it again.
One thing the Doctor can’t deny in this, is that Brax is his brother.
Dust Breeding, the introduction of the Master to the world of Big Finish (and the superb Beevers Master at that!).
I’m a bit bummed because I had a review written and ready on my Docs, but then I accidentally deleted it before adding it here or to GoodReads, so I have no written review of it now.
But it’s essentially a strong 
6/10 for me.
Beevers, McCoy and Aldred are all very good. The stuff with the paintings isn’t very interesting. The desert planet setting is nice and brought alive believably through the sound design. This one also features Caroline John in a fun performance. It doesn’t quite hold the tension of the earlier Seven adventures, and the Master’s involvement is slightly underwhelming.
Just finished it this morning 
Geoffrey Beevers’ voice is just made for audio!
And I love that this is the Ainley Master degenerated to his Crispy Master form - all the history between the Master and the Doctor throughout the 80s exists in this relationship.
Bev Tarrant felt like she was more of a wholly fleshed out character here, is next we meet her in the Benny audios?
A good story in my mind ending in a “Contact” battle between the Doctor and Mr Seta, that stuff is just made for me
I put this one at a 4/5
Listened to the first half yesterday. I enjoy this story, it a strong story and an excellent Big Finish debut for The Master. I will say that Geoffrey Beevers is excellent as the Master on audio. I have read the novel Storm Harvest which was also by Mike Tucker and featured the Krill, but it’s been ages so I don’t remember it. I liked the reference to City of Death in Part 1, because how can you have an art-themed story without a reference to City of Death, and I loved how different Caroline John’s character her is from Liz Shaw. The one downside I have is that Ace and Bev sound almost too similar. Plan on listening to the second half today.
Finished this this morning, and it’s quite enjoyable. I did notice that the cliffhanger reprises were rather long. This is one of the early ones that I wish had behind-the-scenes interviews because I’d love to hear about the return of the Master and what husband-and-wife Beevers and John thought about working together, plus I’d love to have heard how she came up with that amazing accent.
Just finished this.
I’m going to be controversial here.
I was really actually enjoying the story - I genuinely love the banter between Seven and Ace, they are probably my favourite Classic Who TARDIS Team after the Eighth Doctor ones.
Then we got that cliffhanger which, despite me adding this to the site and probably looking at it a few times, I didn’t remember (bad memory can be good sometimes).
(And I’ve set the character as a “spoiler character” now so it shouldn’t spoil anyone else who is listening to this for the first time 23 years late, like we did…)
And I was really excited! The first return of The Master! And such a great voice! So chilling! But to be honest, the more I heard the less I liked it.
What was an interesting story (the mystery of the dust, mystery of the identity of Mr Seta, mystery of the eggs), all became a rather paint-by-numbers ordeal. The Master describes his plan in detail to the Doctor, his plan involves trying to control another, stronger enemy, and then it thoroughly backfires… again…. I actually ended up not liking the last 2 parts and wishing it just was simpler.
I still don’t understand why the dust was sentient, it wasn’t anything to do with the Krill or the Warp Core, so what was it? The dust was part of the Core, which is why the Krill were scared of it, but then they used the dust to destroy the Core? My head hurts.
So yeah what was probably about to be a 7 or 8 out of 10 ended up being completely ruined and I now rate it 5/10.
(And this is the big return of the Master! It should have been epic! What happened?)
Relistened to this one yesterday—the third time I’ve heard it, I think? It was one of my earliest Big Finish stories, and I liked it quite a bit at the time, but enjoyed less so this time around. What I liked before I still like—the dust-choked setting, the mystery, the Master (Geoffrey Beevers always gives a stellar performance, he’s a really underrated Master). But this time I found the action scenes underwhelming and the Warp Core a bit of a dull villain.
The characters are pretty bland too—Ace and Seven are written decently enough, and I like Bev, but she wouldn’t come into her own until joining the Collection in the Benny series. And for a story so concerned with art, it didn’t have anything very interesting to say about art or artists. Both Damien and Salvadori are written very much to be stereotypes (although Caroline John is <3).
I’d give it maybe a 6/10 overall, for being enjoyable but standard. It’s definitely my favourite Mike Tucker story, though! I like it a lot more than both The Genocide Machine and the books of his I’ve read, mostly because of the Master and the interesting setting.
Relistening to Project: Twilight next!
Hmmm I must admit I have sometimes a hard time to remember a lot of some Big Finish play, but if I recall correctly I did really enjoy this one and it’s overall on the better side of the early Big Finish Plays. It’s lovely hearing Caroline (who played Liz) in this Audio, even through she plays somebody else and as always 7 and Ace just work! The Setting is delightful and hearing Beevers reprising his Role as the Master is wonderful, not his best Work on Audio and certainly not the best from the first 50 but as his first time on BF Audios he does a pretty good job and is a lot more comfortable in this medium than McCoy was in his first Outing.
That’s all positive, but I must admit I barely can recall much of the Story itself, which is not a good sign already, I really need to relisten to it to give it a fair and proper judgment since it seems like only the few positives stuck with me.
