EA 6.1 The Home Guard (Spoilers OK)

4.5

Was really quite good. Perhaps more detail when I'm not this unmotivated.

Well, as I’ve said before, as script editor on some of his scripts, him being ‘the First’ was a surprise to me. 

I think this is one of the rare BF releases where they could have gone for another episode or two. The first half, I agree, is very slow - but there is some good world building there. I enjoyed it as it ticks my own personal interests as a History teacher. I find it interesting that several people have also commented on how 'slow' and 'dreary' the first half is - I wonder if this is intentional. We have so many 'myths' that have grown up about the Home Front during both World Wars, that it is questionable how many of them are actually half-truths/exaggeration. The slow, regimented pace of life with everyone being entirely suspicious of each other and half-paranoid with fear of outsiders/invasion is forgotten as it doesn't tie with the concept of 'plucky Brits standing alone' - I think the first half probably reflects a lot of what life was actually like, dull and ordered by military officials. There did need to be some editing of this first half - the inclusion of the Doctor in more scenes would have probably helped.

The second half probably is where the extra episode(s) would have benefitted. The moral question about colonising the planet also ties well into that other issue that continues to blight the UK - the role of the Empire. Both Wars were fought to defend that, just as much as the UK itself, and the contribution that non-British troops played in the War effort is only just being acknowledged. I find it interesting that the people who help the colonists defeat the Master are still treated with hostility and suspicion - not unlike what Commonwealth migrants found at first hand in the 1940s and 1950s (if not beyond).

I never really bought the idea of Dreyfus and Delgado. I just saw him as 'generic Master' - he never really owns the role and, whilst Dreyfus isn't a bad actor, he doesn't really put his stamp on it. Clearly, background politics has affected this release - with both Dreyfus and Chapman unlikely to return to BF. 

Personally, I think this isn't a bad release. It is slower than usual, but then that is standard fare with historical stories. This might have worked better with Hartnell as by this point in the series' run, the historical stories had largely been phased out (the Highlanders being the last exception and it is likely this was commissioned when Hartnell was still in the role).

I was joking. I don’t seriously believe anyone’s trying to wind me, and I’m not frustrated by the listeners. Just amused and being light hearted!

Thing is, I do absolutely understand why people think it’s the first Master. It’s something that often happens with stories - people go with the information they get quite early on (the two stories of mine I think people get wrong are Iceni - which isn’t a ‘you can’t change history’ story - and Assassination Games - which isn’t a C-M story more than a Who, for just this reason: opinions made in the first few minutes), so the press release seems to trump the actual content of the audios in question. I’m just saying I’m not really sure where that marketing spiel came from. I suspect it may just have been an assumption or the wrong end of the stick from the marketing department. That’s definitely happened!

And as I’ve said elsewhere - he still could be, don’t get me wrong. But if there hasn’t been much made of him as ‘the first Master’ there’s a reason for that. 

Absolutely, the joke is implicit, don't worry - but you've brought it up enough to show it is something that does peeve you just a wee bit to take as text something you know to be not part of the character's essential core better than most having worked on him. You can be amused and a bit miffed at the same time here - we frequently are with some posters    Interesting points about your stories though. I'd say the difference between those stories of yours that may be mis-read are they're thematic issues. You'd have to listen and make up your own mind as to the message of Iceni or whether Assassination is more CM or Who but Dreyfus being either the first Master or not is surely a bit more binary, a bit more either/or than those examples. 

Frankly given real-world developments I wouldn't be surprised if we never hear anything further of it anyway, regardless of whether we would have done if James didn't go on his rants online. I said at the time there didn't seem to really be any need for him to be first other than a rather easy reason of keeping the timelines of him and The Doctor from getting too tangled, but even then he only had to be pre-Delgado rather than the very first given how Delgado had already burnt through them by the time we saw him on screen. 

Oh, I’m definitely a little frustrated. Just not with listeners where it’s an utterly understandable position!

Although I’d absolutely say that the Iceni and TAG thing are equally as binary.

Don't mention Hyde and Charley....you'll set off the anti-Briggs alarm! I'd have stuck with The Steamie, that wasn't anything to do with Nick!

The marketing of Dreyfus as the First Master in a story with the First Doctor was what convinced me to bicycle that first volume.

I was disappointed as I was expecting some ambiguity between them, but Dreyfus’ Master was very generic and a boring incarnation in comparison to Big Finish’s “first” Master - Alex Macqueen