Eh, this is one of the reasons I never listen to the BF trailers. They’re usually bad and do nothing to want me to buy their sets. The 15-minute drama tease at the end of each BF podcast is usually better for me
But in this case, the Dhawan Master is enough to make me interested!
I agree about the trailer. I’ve pre-ordered this because I think Sascha is phenomenal as The Master … but oh, dear. This just seems a mish-mash of overacting and silly voices. I hope BF are not attempting a full comedy approach for these stories. He needs to be as evil as evil can be, and desperate too in my opinion. I wouldn’t say the trailer has dampened my enthusiasm for this release, but it’s made me a little worried!
I agree. We already have the Missy sets for our comedic Master needs (and they’re generally great), so I want this to be more unhinged.
And I was looking forward to this…
I think as far as Big Finish trailers go, that one is fine.
They are always pretty bad.
The final moments of that trailer gave me minor sensory overload; what were they thinking 
I’m glad I clicked off the trailer before that!
But even then, it was a painful listen…
Maybe they were hiding a hypnotic message in all of that, one that would make us all want to buy the set…
Throwing my hat into the ring, I listened to both the trailer and the excerpt from the newsletter. Code ZENITH, by the way. I wasn’t impressed by the excerpt, couldn’t quite get into it which was extra disappointing because of the two ranges announced way back when, this was the one I was the most excited for.
Sacha Dhawan is - in my opinion - the best on-screen Master since the classic series. His more unhinged nature draws comparisons to John Simm’s Master but I think on the whole you get a better execution of a more manic Master with Dhawan, he’s ready to explode at any moment and it’s clear that he has some serious issues that could lead to him falling apart at any given moment too (most notably seen in him hoping compressing Ashad would result in his own demise in The Timeless Children and “Don’t let me go back to being me” from The Power of the Doctor).
This aspect of the character is something I hope to be a big part of Call Me Master, from what we have of Self-Help it’s obvious he’s in a slump, such frequent self deprecation and without the Doctor to face off against all the bravado that he usually (poorly) masks himself with is gone. He’s got nobody to put up that front for so you get a feel for where he’s at, I like that. Especially excited for the therapy session teased in the trailer for this very reason.
Unfortunately the story itself is a bit dull even working with a fun premise, as the Master finds himself accidentally taking the place of another historical figure (future history, that is) and becoming a hermit for centuries due to a scheme gone wrong. This should be ripe pickings, especially for the Master in this incarnation but it doesn’t get the mileage out of it and where the preview ends it seems the story is about to change course anyway.
The theme song is pretty bad too, someone has shared it over on Twitter. Very disappointed, Jago and Litefoot, The Diary of River Song and The War Master all had main themes I’ve really enjoyed but something about this feels so wrong in a way I don’t know how to articulate. To try, it feels a little empty (and like it lasts longer than it does…) and the very obvious midi instruments do not help.
I get why people are a bit put off by the trailer. It is a bit much, but I see what they were going for and I respect them for it. “Why has he done this, all of this pain and misery, what was it for?” followed by “Oh I don’t know, I think I was bored.” is great too, love the delivery from Dhawan there. I’ve missed him in the role so much.
The theme song feels so… Subdued? Which is weird for a Master with this chaotic, manic and explosive energy