'Doctor Who: The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield - Volume 4: Ruler of the Universe' (Review)

In the 1990's, with Doctor Who off-screen, Virgin were publishing a range of books called The New Adventures, which continued the Seventh Doctor and Ace's adventures after Survival, the finale of Season 26, the last run of stories for the classic era.
Since Big Finish Productions picked up the character of Bernice Summerfield and others, they have taken them to all uncharted areas of the storytelling universe that on-screen, franchises like Doctor Who probably wouldn't dare trying.

Bernice Summerfield is a past companion of the Seventh and Eighth Doctor who is a time-travelling archaeologist (yes, before there was River Song). Heck, she even met the Twelfth Doctor in a TV tie-in novel by good old Gary Russell.

In 2014, since Bernice (or Benny) had her own adventures, she was reunited with Ace and the Seventh Doctor to feature in a series called The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield, which centred itself more around the character of Bernice herself.
Come to 2017, we are up to Volume 4.

In the previous volume, Benny made her way to the "Unbound universe" with the help of an alternate incarnation of the Doctor, who features in two previous titles, Sympathy for the Devil and Masters of War, where he never worked for UNIT, travelled with the Brigadier and battled Davros.
This Doctor originated in the Unbound series, a saga that started in the 40th anniversary year, 2003, where each new title posed "What If?" questions, which were set in an alternate universe.

To fully enjoy Ruler of the Universe, it is heavily advised that you go back and listen to Volume 1 of this run to help paint the picture for what has happened so far, particularly Volume 3.

Synopsis:
Bernice Summerfield is still trapped in a dying universe with the wrong Doctor. Things have taken a turn for the worse – the Doctor has become President Of The Universe and, it turns out, he’s a controversial choice for the job. While Bernice works to unearth the mythical Apocalypse Clock, the Doctor’s immersed in the murky world of politics and the dark forces that are working against him. As battle fleets fight and terrible deals are done, the peoples of the universe wonder if they’ve made a terrible decision. Is the Doctor up to ruling the universe? Watching from the sidelines, the Master is quick to reassure everyone that he has no ambitions in that direction. And, meanwhile, the stars are going out…

The City and the Clock

In The City and the Clock, the box set opens with Benny inviting the Doctor on an archaeological dig, but is preoccupied by constant phone-calls in regards to his position as President of the universe.
It feels a bit repetitive and slow to start off, but the music queues made the story feel very fresh and new series-esque.
Bernice is still very fresh in this universe, and I'm still trying to understand what's different about it.
In the last volume, the universe was on the brink of destruction and because of that, it felt very small.
As the story begins, the whole Unbound universe sounds a bit more like a glorified America with it's very use of the essence of trying to be like The West Wing, which I will give credit where due and say it works really well for David Warner's incarnation of the Doctor.
Warner and Bowerman have a great chemistry, it was a pretty steadily paced episode, and I was definitely hoping for a bit more sting going into this first episode, but then again, I'm into pretty dark stuff.

7/10

Asking for a Friend

This is where it began to get good. 

From the pre-title sequence, the idea of the Doctor visiting a psychologist was such an intriguing concept as he is so reserved. 

I got real vibes from Series Four of Sherlock with Watson's psychologist whom he saw. 

But as the interview process went on, we had cuts to previous settings both the Doctor and Bernice had been to, or adventures they had been going on together, which was quite endearing to hear and understand how their relationship over time has developed. 

In saying that, it's a really good character piece, and probably outdoes the previous episode. 

There's a lot of nitty gritty and hard-hitting material to enjoy in this story. There are things that will most definitely catch you off-guard here and it is quite enjoyable when everything comes full circle. I won't spoil the big thing here, but there is a wonderful moment that had me gaping through the whole scene and it was a very well-played match by James Goss. 

9.5/10

Truant

One of the problems with New-Who is that the whole season will lead up to an epic finale, and often, people will claim that there is too much hype and the final episode won't live up to the expectations.
With saying that, Truant didn't leave me falling all that bad.
There are still lots of interesting concepts at play.
It's great to see the Doctor pining to go on an old fashioned adventure and try and be his natural self, but then again, this doesn't feel like what an Unbound Doctor should be like.
It feels more like traditional Doctor Who.
The story gets exciting when everybody is stopped in their tracks and everything steers on collision course. Without giving anything away, things pack on very quickly towards the latter half of the story and makes you wonder what may come next. It was an enjoyable romp but probably nothing more than anything to gawp over.

6/10

The True Saviour of the Universe

First of all, let me say how gracious I am for Mark Gatiss giving his time to play the Master for Big Finish. Sympathy for the Devil is one of my favourite things, merely for the presence of his Master, and he definitely brings back justice here. 

The story carries on directly from Truant, having the Doctor thrown back into the shadows while Benny and the Master take the main stage.

It does feel like Mark Gatiss is playing the role as Mycroft, but that's probably because I watch a copious amount of Sherlock. 

The story itself is tantalising and I was hanging on to the edge of my seat throughout the whole episode, wondering what was going to happen, and there were glimmering moments that made me chuckle, particular the Master breaking the fourth wall moments, or where the characters directly where going to go. Overall, this was a good way to sum up the box set, and it has left the series open ended to go on. There are options available for what could happen without giving anything away, and that definitely excites me. 

8/10

Overall Thoughts:

It feels rather obscure listening to someone else play the lead title role who is not in the main line of actors playing the Doctor on and off screen, but it is definitely a welcome and refreshing change to have a different voice. I am intrigued to see where Big Finish want to push the dynamics of the Doctor and Benny next, and I hope they continue to challenge ideas. 

As mentioned before. I would definitely recommend listening to this box set, but it is one of THOSE sets that you have to have context around by listening to the ones before it. It heightens the experience and gives a lot of context to what is going on, and it definitely is an epic saga worth going on. 

To purchase Ruler of the Universe, visit the link here.