Seventh and Klein Arc Review - now that is truly timey wimey stuff

Hello people! This is my review thread about the whole story arc with Seventh Doctor and Elizabeth Klein. I might include Colditz because I was told that’s where she appeared first but I might just do the two trilogy of stories + UNIT: Dominion only. Also that one extra story with Klein in it. Now strangely enough I will start the whole thread with Dominion and then go back to the original trilogy later on! Hope you will enjoy my reviews nonetheless!

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS LARGE SPOILERS AS I GO OVER THE STORY IN LARGE DETAILS! ENJOY!

UNIT: Dominion – Episode One (64:18)

Well well well! This release is somewhat a continuation of the Klein trilogy and Raine’s story but I never visited those stories so I will be in a large surprise. I wanted to listen to this story only because this was the first appearance of Alex MacQueen in the rule of a very very special Time Lord. At this point anyone who follows the whole Big Finish brand knows who MacQueen’s character is. I wanted to listen to this story because of his recent appearance in The Stuff of Legend with 8 and Charley. So enjoy me over-analysing shit!

I can’t believe Nicholas Briggs wrote this with Jason Arnopp. I had a really good time with the first episode and I already see how things will come together like holy shit we still have 3 hours to go and I already feel like we are in the end game.

The story aka it’s the Doctor but probably not the one you were expecting

Not that Doctor either!

We are starting with a bang already with an opening bang. I don’t know what’s with Doctor Who and banger openers first Goth Opera now this? Anyways we get to know Dr Elizabeth Klein who works for UNIT and the scary spooky umbrella man is spying on her. Sounds like the Doctor.

Welp Klein still thinks and stresses about the Doctor and UNIT has something weird going around with a sort of ballish thing that keeps growing and loopty hoop the Doctor appears but umm that’s not my Doctor- ladies and gentlemen I welcome you the 420th incarnation of the Doctor. He appears in the perfect moment and UNIT starts asking his help.

7 with a new companion Raine who had 4 previous stories with him and they get a distress signal from a different universe but oopsie daisy the signal drags them there. They find a vastly empty planet with a huge ass stone there and there he goes again THE Doctor, the OTHER Doctor appears and warns 7 about not trusting a race. I’m sure it won’t bite him back in the ass. We also discover that the stone drains energy from the planet and its bug like people.

Something weird is happening over our universe too because who has thought it’s draining the electricity of nearby buildings. We quickly learn it also sucks people’s juicy brain. How fun. Honestly the screams, the performances were freaky and absolutely nerve wrecking.

7 decides to help these creatures because he thinks future him is a big noob. It very much backfires and now he is forced to blast more and more energy to them to the point where universes could collapse or something like that. I’m not a science guy. I also almost believed that they could just kill of Raine like I just met her! Leave her alone!

Meanwhile out of nowhere big baby head. Yep. That’s the cliffhanger. What in the absolute hell is this? Like what the hell. I assume this could be a consequence from the other plot line with the Doctor and Raine but who knows maybe Briggs just likes floating baby heads-

During this whole episode we also learnt from both side that having the two stones could bring the end of the universe so Klein is keeping a very close eye to the other Doctor. Not even sure if she told her the truth about the stones tbh-

The other Doctor aka MacQueen is fabulous

I already love him and I haven’t even seen his full form! I feel like his performance as the Doctor is a mixture of Sixie and Eighth. He seems way too cheerful to the situation or in general to the ideas his “future” self represents.

I really don’t know what else to say in the moment. We only started the story and I already enjoy it a lot. The monsters are nothing unique really, cool concepts they drain your brain and all but I think this story will reach peak with the interactions of the main cast especially when Klein reunites with our Doctor and confronts him cause she did try to do that with the MacQueen Doctor but he barely even cared like oh my god. I feel like there was a huge clue to who this Doctor really is with the scene where he hypnotised the soldiers so they cannot access their minds. Also Raine casually foreshadows the future of Gallifrey is so funny to me. The Doctor is like “naaah it could never happen. Not to me.” RIP. I really should listen to the original trilogy because I heard it leads into the story BUT not necessary to listen to it. You know me. I am poor. Plz send moni.

UNIT: Dominion – Episode Two (60:10)

The story so far

To be honest not a lot of stuff happened in this episode that I could talk about. The Doctor and Raine get trapped in between dimensions and got their life forces almost sucked out but then they get out with telekinesis~ also Ace shows up again and fails to deliver her message again. Ah classic Ace (no idea what this means since I never watched the 7th Doctor era before). The other Doctor and Klein try to talk to giant heads and then they almost die but actually a couple of people do die in this episode because of the other Doctor and as Klein said slowly but surely his act is falling apart like his patience is running thin.

So the Doctor and Raine get to a different dimension where they get chased down by horse sized lava spiders but at the same time Klein and the Doctor get separated because all around the world creatures appeared suddenly so Klein and her team go investigate until they almost die… again- well the driver dies here too. In the end the Doctor saves the day because he arrives riding on of the heads like what the hell is happening anymore? It’s very chaotic. They realise there is like a doorway that leads the spiders here and the Doctor and Raine also find a doorway that leads to Earth but oh oh cliffhanger time and the spiders come back running at cha Doctor so you better run-

This story just keeps getting more and more chaotic and I love it. I feel like we are gonna have a reunion between the Doctor and Klein very soon. The first half of the episode was quite slow-paced actually but then the pace got picked up along the way so it’s alright- The Doctor really really getting impatient with Klein and everyone in general cause I feel like he accidentally stumbled onto the real Doctor when in reality he just wanted to get the stone but hey it’s just a theory MYYYYYY theory and we move oooonnnn!

UNIT: Dominion – Episode Three (51:32)

The story again aka the umbrella man returns

Here we go again everyone! This is by far the shortest episode of the four but also this episode drops a couple of lore and ends with a killer cliffhanger. So the Doctor and Raine are rescued by the other Doctor in the Spiderverse- but they successfully close the portal! Reunion! The Doctor and Klein meet again and oh boy oh boy it gets spicy. Apparently there is something about an alternative version of Klein that he travelled with but something something happened to her and now he watches over her so the same thing doesn’t happen here or something. What in the hell- also apparently she used to be a Nazi- like jeez.

So we have more dangers coming and UNIT acts like a piece of sheit. Like really makes me wonder what past UNIT is like compared to new UNIT- not like it’s any better with hiring kids into deadly situations. You know who else is a piece of sheit? The Doctor! Or well the other Doctor. Now you can really feel something absurd is going on and he isn’t even hiding it.

Everything comes together when the other Doctor literally threatens UNIT to give them his TARDIS back or else he will let everyone ■■■■■■■ die like bruuuuuh and then they agree and he just leaves and UNIT starts shooting him. And now The Doctor got into his TARDIS. And the reveal was sooooo good. He is The Master and he has returned yet again. I really wanted to see the Doctor face right now with that reveal like my god.

The ending of this episode was absolutely terrific and was so worth it. Hoping the last episode, the whole conclusion to the story will be also amazing because now there is this whole thing with Klein that I don’t think the Doctor will explain or at least he says he can’t. Unbelievable. But in a way not much happening but you gotta give them an award for writing so many unique monsters for one story. Like falling cubes from the sky that shoot people. HMM. WHERE DID I HEAR THAT BEFORE?

De ja vu

And those tentacle creatures were something too huh? I definitely will remember those monsters yep, but hey you gotta give them credits for them. So the big big finale is closing upon us and I have no idea what the Master is planning. Well probably getting the hell out there and getting the other stone. Gotta catch ‘em all.

UNIT: Dominion – Episode Four (61:55)

Here we go with the very last episode of this story! It was a journey that was sure but what happened during this episode you ask? Not much actually. The Master revealed the plan, did some oopsie daisies, the Earth almost got destroyed for the bijillion times. You know, the basic stuff. We again start with a very cool opening with The Master and The Doctor and some explanation about the nodes. We get some actions here and there UNIT realising that The Doctor not so trustworthy. I am surprised that The Master didn’t kill anyone (well apart from those 2 soldiers I think they were and some monsters RIP them). Klein’s story gets spoiled by the Master. CURSE YOU MASTER THE TIMELORD.

Get spoiled-

Anywho the Master eventually gets outsmarted by pure logic! And the Doctor saves the day and he also almost gets shot… ANYWAYS now onto the more juicy stuff because there are some characterisation here that I really wanna talk about.

Seventh Doctor and the Master dynamic

I saw laughing my ass off. Seriously I loved their dynamic. The Master being all menacing and a maniac while the Doctor is just yeah yeah yeah keep yapping or really you wanted to inspect my shoes all along? How nice of you- I love them. That energy that MacQueen gives this version of the Doctor is absolutely brilliant and can be terrifying at times but very comical. He also loves torture but that’s just a Master thing. Also a note that Klein made about the Master envying the Doctor because he sometimes enjoyed playing him too much. This whole scenario reminds me of the Power of the Doctor and in my opinion this story does it way much better with The Master pretending to be the Doctor and occasionally ruining his reputation but also maybe there is a side of him that wants to be good but he’s wayyyyy too gone for that to happen? I dunno I am just yapping about characters.

Elizabeth Klein

Now she’s a whole other character like god damn she’s kinda complex not gonna lie and I probably would have more to say about her if I did do the original trilogy but the whole she has an alternative version where the Nazis won WWII and the Doctor wants to make sure it doesn’t happen here with her is just so so so ■■■■■■ up. I hating in here- Also I feel like by the end she opens up to the Doctor (even though he is not the one to tell her the truth but the freaking Master) and kinda saves him from a gun shot. She gets damaged on her arm so she’s fine and seems like her story doesn’t end here, but I was told the other trilogy is really bad so that is that.

Raine Creevy

Welp she’s alright. I am not saying she’s the best companion who I ever saw. She can be very useful at times but her personality just feels very general, but it might be me and this being my first adventure with her and this also (according to the Tardis Wiki) being her last story ever released. So they didn’t really do much with Raine because I feel they either couldn’t or didn’t want to. She’s just there most of the time. Tries to be sympathetic to others and that’s all to her.

Conclusion

Very epic 4 hour long story and really enjoyed it! It had New Who vibes and maybe because each episode is wildly different, each having new interesting (or at least try to be) creatures in them. The stories building up on each other feeling like a mini series with a story arc. There was also a sweet romantic story line which I think the point is that even UNIT soldiers have life and it doesn’t need to be relevant to the plot. It’s just nice to have it there showing they are real people with real motivation. Anyways I really really enjoyed this whole and the other Doctor definitely pushed along the way. I wish there was a little more variety other than adding new monsters who keep attacking Earth but I guess that was kinda the point. 9/10

7 Likes

Just a little heads up: Colditz cannot be skipped. It’s absolutely essential to the first Klein trilogy. Plus, it’s just an awesome story! Hope you enjoy these audios.

8 Likes

Well I kinda did myself a promise that after Dominion I would go and do the Seventh Doctor timeline in order (except for Time and the Rani and Unregenerate!) so I probably won’t skip it before getting there-

4 Likes

Dominion is really on my radar lately, so seeing you enjoy it so much is bumping it up my list! Klein is a very interesting character, though I feel her later outings aren’t as strong as her first trilogy. It will be interesting to see what you think!

4 Likes

The Will Arrowsmith/Klein years are definitely a step down from the first trilogy.

2 Likes

I think UNIT: Dominion is a really strong story for Klein!
And also just a good box set of stories in general.
Absolutely loved Alex McQueen in it :grin:

And it was freely available on the music streaming service I have :+1:

2 Likes