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Master (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
The Master is a recurring character in the British science fiction television
series Doctor Who
. He is a renegade Time Lord
and the archenemy
of the Doctor
.
When the Master first appeared in January 1971 he was played by Roger Delgado
, who continued in the role until his death in 1973. Afterwards, Peter Pratt
and Geoffrey Beevers
played a physically decayed version of the Time Lord until Anthony Ainley
assumed the part in 1981 until the show's cancellation in 1989. In the 1996 TV movie, the Master was played briefly by Gordon Tipple, then by Eric Roberts
while in a human body. In the revived series, Derek Jacobi
provided the character's re-introduction before handing over to John Simm
, who portrayed the Master in the climax of the 2007 series and in the 2009 serial "The End of Time
", with William Hughes also portraying the Master at the age of 8.
, a "Professor Moriarty
to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes
." He first appeared in Terror of the Autons
(1971). The Master's title was deliberately chosen by producer Barry Letts
and script editor Terrance Dicks
as evocative of supervillain
names in fiction, but primarily because, like the Doctor, it was a title conferred by an academic degree
.
Barry Letts had one man in mind for the role: Roger Delgado
. Delgado had a long history of screen villainy and had already made three attempts to break into the series. He had worked previously with Barry Letts and was also a good friend of Jon Pertwee
. Delgado was killed in a car accident in Turkey
on 18 June 1973, while on his way to shoot footage for the French comedy The Bell of Tibet. The next Master story was replaced by Planet of the Spiders
(1974).
An unrelated character called the Master of the Land of Fiction, also referred to as "the Master", had previously appeared in the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Mind Robber
opposite Patrick Troughton
's Doctor.
In "The Sound of Drums
" (2007) and "The End of Time
" (2010), a flashback shows the Master at the age of eight, when as part of a Time Lord initiation ceremony he is taken before a gap in the fabric of space and time known as the Untempered Schism, from which one can see into the entire Vortex. The Doctor states that looking into the time vortex
causes some Time Lords to go mad, implying that event to have been the cause of the Master's actions and the four-beat sound of drums, which the Master calls the "drums of war". The drumming is later revealed to be a signal placed in his mind by the Time Lords during the Time War. The beat is the same in its rhythmic construction as a significant component of the show's theme music.
his ambitions were described as becoming "the master of all matter", and in "The Sound of Drums" he acknowledges that he chose the name "the Master"), with a secondary objective of eliminating and/or hurting the Doctor. The original (and most common before 1996) look of the character was similar to that of the classic Svengali
character; a black Nehru
outfit with a beard and moustache.
In his three seasons beginning with Terror of the Autons
, the Master (as played by Delgado) appeared in eight out of the fifteen serials. In his first season the Master is involved in every adventure of the Doctor's, always getting away at the last minute before he is captured in The Dæmons
(1971), only to escape imprisonment in The Sea Devils (1972). He would often use disguises and brainwashing
to operate in normal society, while setting up his plans; he also tried to use other alien races and powers as his means to conquest, such as the Autons and the Dæmons. Delgado's portrayal of the Master was as a suave, charming and somewhat sociopathic
individual, able to be polite and murderous at almost the same time.
Delgado's last on-screen appearance as the Master was in Frontier in Space
, where he is working alongside the Dalek
s and the Ogron
s to provoke a war between the Human and Draconian
Empires. His final scene ended with him shooting the Doctor and then disappearing.
(1976), the Master (played by Peter Pratt
under heavy make-up) appears as an emaciated, decaying husk (similar to a corpse) at the end of his thirteenth and final life
. Here, the evil Time Lord almost succeeds in his plan to restore himself to full life with the symbols of the office of President of the Council of Time Lords, the artefacts of Rassilon
. The Doctor stops him because the process would have caused the destruction of Gallifrey
. After this story, the Master again departs the series, returning in 1981. In The Keeper of Traken
, the Master (Geoffrey Beevers
under different heavy make-up but playing the same incarnation as Pratt) succeeds in renewing himself by taking over the body of the Trakenite scientist named Tremas (an anagram of "Master"), overwriting Tremas's mind in the process. The Master (played by Anthony Ainley
, who played a double role in the serial as Tremas) then appeared on and off for the rest of the series, still seeking to extend his life – preferably with a new set of regenerations. Subsequently in The Five Doctors
, the Time Lords offer the Master a new regeneration cycle in exchange for his help.
In many of his appearances opposite the Fifth Doctor
, the Master shows his penchant for disguise once again. For example, in Time-Flight
he operates under concealment for no clear plot reason. The character's association with playful pseudonyms also continued both within the series and in its publicity: when the production team wished to hide the Master's involvement in a story, they credited the character under an anagram
matic alias such as "Neil Toynay" (Tony Ainley) or "James Stoker" (Master's Joke).
Ainley's final appearance in the role in Survival
was more restrained. He was also given a more downbeat costume, reminiscent of the suits and ties worn by Delgado's Master. In this final story, he had been trapped on the planet of the Cheetah People and been affected by its influence, which drove its victims to savagery. Escaping the doomed planet, he attempted to kill the Doctor, a plan which left him trapped back on the planet as it was destroyed.
of the 1996 Doctor Who television movie that starred Paul McGann
as the Eighth Doctor
and Eric Roberts
as the Master.
In the prologue, the Master (portrayed by Gordon Tipple) was executed by the Dalek
s as a punishment for his "evil crimes". The Master survives his execution by taking on the form of a small, snake-like entity. This entity escapes and slithers inside the Doctor's TARDIS
console, forcing the vessel to crash land in San Francisco.
The novelisation of the television movie by Gary Russell
posits that the modifications and alterations that the Master has made to his body over the years in attempts to extend his lifespan had allowed this continued existence, and the implication is that the "morphant" creature is actually another lifeform that the Master's consciousness possesses. This interpretation is made explicit in the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures
novels, The Eight Doctors
by Terrance Dicks
, and also used in the Doctor Who Magazine
comic strip story The Fallen (DWM #273-#276), which states that the morphant was a shape-shifting animal native to Skaro
.
The morphant form is unsustainable and requires a human host, and it possesses the body of a paramedic Bruce (played by Eric Roberts
, the first and thus far only American actor to play the role). Bruce's body is also unsustainable and begins to slowly degenerate, although he has the added abilities to spit an acid
-like bile as a weapon and a snake-like ability to hypnotise. The Master attempts to access the Eye of Harmony
to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations, but instead is sucked into it and supposedly killed.
" that all the Time Lords except the Doctor were killed in a Time War
with the Daleks. The Doctor stated that if other Time Lords had survived, he would have been able to sense them. The Master did however reappear as the main antagonist
of the third series; his return is foreshadowed in "Gridlock
", when the Face of Boe
gives the Tenth Doctor
a message before dying: "You are not alone".
In "The Sound of Drums
", it is revealed that the Time Lords resurrected the Master to serve as the ultimate front line soldier in the Time War. After the Dalek Emperor took control of "The Cruciform", the Master fled the war in fear, ignorant of its outcome. He disguised himself as a human through the same process the Doctor himself used in "Human Nature
"—a Chameleon Arch that stores his Time Lord nature and memories in a fob watch
and allows him to become biologically human—and hid at the end of the universe
ageing into the benevolent scientist, Professor Yana. The professor was still plagued by the constant drumming as he attempts to send the last remaining humans to Utopia. The Doctor meets Yana in "Utopia
", and a discussion of Time Lords and related issues by the Doctor and his companions (Martha Jones
and Jack Harkness
) cause Yana to recall his Time Lord essence. This, along with the increased drumming and Martha's curiosity about the fob watch, causes Yana to open the watch and become the Master again, in a scene that makes clear that YANA is an acronym for the Face of Boe's final words.
", the Master is mortally wounded when his companion Chantho shoots him after he fatally injured her, regenerating into a new younger incarnation. The Master steals the Doctor's TARDIS and escapes, but the Doctor sabotages the TARDIS using his sonic screwdriver so that the Master is only able to travel between present-day Earth and the year 100 trillion.
Following his escape from the end of the universe, he arrives in the United Kingdom 18 months before the 2008 election, prior to the fall of Harriet Jones
. The Master assumes the identity Harold Saxon, becoming a high-ranking minister at the Ministry of Defence
. He apparently holds this post during the 2006 Christmas episode, "The Runaway Bride
", as the Army
are said to be firing upon the Racnoss ship on Mr. Saxon's orders. During this period, he finances Professor Richard Lazarus' (Mark Gatiss
) research and sets up the Archangel communications network, which allows him to influence humanity using a telepathic field, enabling him to rise to the office of Prime Minister. Before the events of "The Runaway Bride" in the show's adult-themed spin-off Torchwood
, a "Vote Saxon" poster is seen on a wall among several other tattered posters in the episode Captain Jack Harkness, possibly the first indication of the Master's return. In "Love & Monsters
", an article about Saxon leading the polls can be seen when the Abzorbaloff first reveals himself.
After becoming Prime Minister, the Master uses the TARDIS to recruit the Toclafane as allies, having them kill one tenth of the world population, and rules the Earth for a year, while he turns whole nations into work-camps and bases for a fleet of war rockets. Just as he is ready to wage war on the rest of the universe and forge an empire, the Doctor is restored to strength by the efforts of Martha Jones, using the Archangel network. The Doctor intends to keep the Master with him on the TARDIS; this plan is thwarted when the Master is shot by his wife Lucy Saxon (Alexandra Moen
). The Master then dies after refusing to regenerate, unwilling to be the Doctor's prisoner. Since his death emotionally hurts the Doctor, the Master views this as a victory.
The Doctor cremates
the Master's body on a pyre
. His ring remains, which is picked up by a woman with long, bright red fingernails, revealed later to be a member of a coven loyal to the Master.
In "The End of Time
", the Governor and other members of the Master's coven conduct the resurrection ritual at Broadfell prison, where Lucy Saxon was incarcerated. Lucy sabotages the ritual and the Master is returned to life with a failing, undead
body and a ravenous hunger for meat, including human beings. He is able to manipulate bolts of electricity, move with phenomenal agility and jump great distances by manipulating his life force. Resorting to wandering the fringe of London and feeding on homeless people, he is eventually captured by billionaire Joshua Naismith in order to use his knowledge to repair an alien 'Immortality Gate' to make Naismith's daughter immortal. The Master sabotages the device, using its original purpose as a planet-wide medical tool to overwrite the DNA
of every human on Earth with his own and create a "Master Race".
The Master realises that the drum beat in his head is a signal. Using his duplicates, he triangulates the signal to the Time Lord President Rassilon
, who had sent the signal in order to be released from the time-locked Time War. Using the time vortex, Rassilon sent a unique Gallifreyan diamond to Earth to help the Master create a link through which Gallifrey, the Time Lords, and all in the Time War could escape. The Master intended to overwrite his DNA onto the Time Lord race, only to learn he had been used as a pawn in Rassilon's own plan to destroy the universe and evolve the Time Lords to a higher plane of existence. The Doctor destroys the link and the Master attacks Rassilon in an act of revenge for a lifetime of manipulation, disappearing along with the other Time Lords in the process.
). This is mentioned several times in different stories (The Five Doctors
, The Sea Devils
and Terror of the Autons). A similar connection between the two was also referenced in "The End of Time
" in which the Master reminisces with the Doctor about his father's estates on Gallifrey and his childhood with The Doctor before saying "look at us now". In the 2007 episode "Utopia
", the Doctor calls the transformed and disguised Master a genius and shows admiration for his intellect before discovering his true identity. The Doctor further expresses admiration for the Master's intellect in The End of Time
by calling him "stone cold brilliant" and yet states that the Master could be more if he would just give up his desire for domination.
Aspects of Simm's Master parallel Tennant's Doctor, primarily in his ability to make light of tense situations and his rather quirky and hyperactive personality. According to the producers, this was done to make the Master more threatening to the Doctor by having him take one of his opponent's greatest strengths, as well as making the parallels between the two characters more distinctive. This rationale is written into dialogue by the Master in "Utopia
", in which he explicitly states, as he is regenerating, that if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can he. In an episode of Doctor Who Confidential
, "Lords and Masters", Russell T Davies also classifies the Master as both a sociopath and a psychopath.
the Doctor said of the Master, "He's a Time Lord. In many ways, we have the same mind." The Master is often able to anticipate the Doctor's moves, as seen in stories such as Castrovalva, The Keeper of Traken
, Time-Flight
, and The King's Demons
, where he plans elaborate traps for the Doctor, only revealing his presence at the key moment. In The Deadly Assassin
, the Master was able to send a false premonition as a telepathic message to the Doctor, but it is unclear whether he performed this through innate psychic ability, or was aided technologically. In "Utopia" after the Master regenerates and reveals himself, he taunts the Doctor to try to stop his elaborate schemes again.
In The End of Time the Master uses a kind of psychic technique, previously used by the Doctor to read the minds of others, allowing the Doctor to hear the constant 'drumming' inside the Master's mind.
), a fir tree (Logopolis
), a computer bank (The Time Monster), a grandfather clock
(The Deadly Assassin and The Keeper of Traken), a fluted architectural column
(Logopolis
, Castrovalva, Time-Flight
), an iron maiden (The King's Demons
), a fireplace
(Castrovalva), a British Airways
jet (Time-Flight
), a cottage (The Ultimate Foe
), and a triangular column (Planet of Fire
). Of the Master's TARDISes seen in The Keeper of Traken, one appears as the calcified, statue-like Melkur
, able to move and even walk; the other appears as a grandfather clock. The Melkur TARDIS is destroyed. At one point in Logopolis, the Master's TARDIS even appears as a police box
, like the Doctor's.
By the time of the new series, it is unclear whether any of the Master's TARDISes still exist. In "Rise of the Cybermen
", the Tenth Doctor
claims that his TARDIS is the last one in existence although at the time of his saying this, he also thought he was the last Time Lord. In "Utopia
", the Master resorts to stealing the Doctor's TARDIS, and later demands access to the Doctor's ship in The End of Time
, but this could be because he cannot immediately access his ship because it is somewhere else rather than meaning that his TARDIS was destroyed.
. Both the tissue compression eliminator and the sonic screwdriver resemble a short hand-held rod; at different times in the series, both tools have had a LED
on the end to signal its use.
Despite his own fondness for the weapon, Russell T Davies decided against bringing it back for the Master's reappearance in "The Sound of Drums
", on the grounds that the Master had too many new "tricks" to use against the Doctor.
During the course of "The Sound of Drums
", the Master unveils a new handheld weapon: a laser screwdriver. The device functions as a powerful laser weapon, capable of killing with a single shot. It also carries the ability to age victims rapidly using a miniaturized version of the genetic manipulator developed by Professor Lazarus ("The Lazarus Experiment
"). The screwdriver itself also contains isomorphic technology
, a biometric
security feature which effectively disables use of the device by anyone other than the Master.
. There have been times when he made exceptions, though in his case they are not so much "companions" as "tools". In Castrovalva, the Doctor's companion Adric
was abducted by the Master and forced to create a block transfer computation. Later, in The King's Demons
, Kamelion
is controlled by the Master before the Doctor steals him away, with the Master regaining control of Kamelion in Planet of Fire
. In the second episode of The Ultimate Foe
, Sabalom Glitz
chose to go with the Master in search of Time Lord secrets.
In the 1996 television movie, Chang Lee helps the Master because he has been duped into believing that the Doctor had stolen his body. When Lee's loyalty begins to falter, the Master attempts to kill him without hesitation. In promotional media surrounding the movie, Lee is depicted more as a companion to the Eighth Doctor
(alongside Grace Holloway
).
In "Utopia", Chantho plays a similar companion role to the Professor Yana persona. Chantho states that she has been with him for 17 years as a "devoted assistant". Later, when the Master persona resurfaces, he berates her for never freeing him from his confinement, and the two fatally wound one another, resulting in Chantho's death and the Master's regeneration.
In "The Sound of Drums
", the Master, as Harold Saxon, is married to Lucy Saxon, to whom he refers at one point as his "faithful companion". Lucy is aware of the nature of the Master's plans yet is still loyal to him. She has travelled with him to Utopia, the end of the universe, and thus believes "there's no point to anything." Their relationship appears to be non-platonic; they kiss quite often and it seems as though their marriage is more than just a pretence. Lucy comments, "I made my choice, for better or for worse." In "Last of the Time Lords
" she is still present, but showing signs of apparent physical abuse, and her loyalty towards him begins to waver. She shoots the Master at the climax of the story, killing him. She is imprisoned, but when the Master's ring is found in The End of Time
, she is forced to go to his new birth-place to help. Having foreseen his resurrection, she sets off an explosive in an attempt to stop it, killing herself in the process. The Master is resurrected nonetheless, but is damaged, with a unsustainable lust for meat and lightning fast reflexes.
Although not a companion in the traditional sense, the Master allied himself with another evil renegade Time Lord, the Rani
, in The Mark of the Rani
to thwart the Doctor. The Master has also been known to ally himself with other villains of the series, including the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Autons. None of these alliances lasted past the Master achieving his own aims, or his being stopped by the Doctor.
and the Eleventh Doctor
, the Master has had onscreen encounters with all of the past incarnations of the Doctor. This includes the First and Second Doctors whose onscreen stories occurred before the character of the Master was created for the show. They encountered him during the events of The Five Doctors
.
The Master has featured in spin-offs
of the series, which are of unclear canonicity and may not take place in the same continuity. The Master in these stories is, nevertheless, recognisably the same person.
One of the most notable of these other appearances is David A. McIntee
's "Master trilogy" of novels comprising The Dark Path
and First Frontier
in the Virgin Publishing
lines and The Face of the Enemy
for BBC Books
, and the Doctor Who radio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions
, in which Geoffrey Beevers has reprised the role.
tried to make peace with the Daleks through something known as the "Act of Master Restitution". Davies has not confirmed that this is a reference to the Master.
, when he encounters the Second Doctor
during their travels. Although initially a somewhat anti-heroic version of the Doctor- willing to commit murder as a first option to save the day rather than the Doctor-, Koschei turns evil and becomes the Master after he discovers that his companion and lover, Ailla, is an undercover agent of the Celestial Intervention Agency
sent to spy on him.
During the course of the novel, Ailla is shot and killed. Not knowing she is a Time Lord and that she will simply regenerate, Koschei completes a time-based weapon in an attempt to bring her back and the weapon is used to destroy the planet Teriliptus and its inhabitants. When Ailla turns up alive, the knowledge that he has destroyed a planet for nothing, coupled with the revelation of Ailla's betrayal, proves too much. Koschei resolves to bring his own order to the universe at the expense of free will
and becoming its Master. Thanks to the Doctor reprogramming his weapon, Koschei is trapped in a black hole
at the end of the novel, with it being left uncertain how he will escape, although it is generally implied that it takes him most of his remaining lives to do so (Hence why the Master is on his last life while the Doctor, intended to be his contemporary, is only on his third).
The Face of the Enemy centres around the Delgado-era Master, but includes a cameo by a Koschei from an alternate timeline (originally featured in Inferno
) who never became the Master. This version of Koschei is still a loyal Time Lord who becomes stranded on the alternate Earth after that universe's version of "The Web of Fear
" destroyed his TARDIS. He is subsequently captured and forced to work for the fascist rulers of this Earth, who keep him alive, in agony, using life support
systems. When the Master, crossing over from the other universe, learns of this, he ends his counterpart's life in a rare moment of compassion.
Last of the Gaderene
by Mark Gatiss
and Deadly Reunion by Terrance Dicks
and Barry Letts
are both close homages to the Delgado/Pertwee stories. In the former, the Master, disguised as Police Inspector LeMaitre, assists an alien race called the Gaderene to invade Earth, starting with a small village. In the latter, he attempts to control powerful forces through a cult, but finds himself at the mercy of a godlike alien. The Delgado Master also appears in Verdigris
by Paul Magrs
, a more parodic take on the Pertwee era. The eponymous genie
spends much of the novel impersonating the Master, who is in fact controlling him: the real Master appears in the novel's epilogue, buying a Chinese takeaway
.
The reason the Master is so emaciated when he appears in The Deadly Assassin is explored in John Peel
's novel Legacy of the Daleks
, in which he attempts to capture the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman
- resulting in an out-of-sequence encounter with the Eighth Doctor
when the Doctor receives a telepathic cry of distress from Susan and attempts to trace it back to before its origin-, but is badly burned when she attacks him in self-defence and takes possession of his TARDIS. After Susan escapes, the dying Master is eventually found by Chancellor Goth on the planet Tersurus, which leads directly into the events of The Deadly Assassin.
The Ainley-era Master appears in the novel The Quantum Archangel
by Craig Hinton
, a direct sequel to The Time Monster. In this novel he poses as a Serbian businessman called Gospodar
- prompting the Sixth Doctor to wonder if he's "running out of languages"- while attempting to subvert the power of the higher dimensions to turn himself into a god, only for it to be revealed that this plan was actually the result of the machinations of the Chronovore/Eternal hybrid Kronos trying to trick the Master into punishing the Chronovores for his lifetime of imprisonment.
First Frontier shows the Master (apparently the Ainley version) finally acquiring a new body, who according to McIntee is based on the cinema persona of Basil Rathbone
. This incarnation reappears in Happy Endings
by Paul Cornell
, Virgin Publishing's celebratory fiftieth Virgin New Adventures
novel. After the broadcast of the television movie, some fans suggested that this is the incarnation briefly played by Gordon Tipple in the prologue, eventually succumbing once again to the cheetah virus in the first Eighth Doctor novel The Eight Doctors
.
Prior to the end of the Virgin Missing Adventures
series, the Delgado version of The Master appeared in the novel Who Killed Kennedy
which, while published by Virgin, was not considered part of the Missing Adventures series.
The short story Stop The Pigeon, and the Past Doctor Adventure
Prime Time
, both by Robert Perry and Mike Tucker
and probably set before First Frontier, feature the Ainley Master looking for a cure for the Cheetah virus.
Gallifrey and the Time Lords are destroyed in the Eighth Doctor Adventures
novel The Ancestor Cell
, but in The Adventuress of Henrietta Street
a mysterious stranger wearing a rosette
appears who could have been the Master, somehow surviving the cataclysm. Gallifrey's destruction here is not related to its subsequent destruction just prior to the new series (see Time Lord – Recent history). In Lance Parkin
's The Gallifrey Chronicles
, a surviving Time Lord named Marnal appears, and it is implied in dialogue that he may have been the Master's father. In the same novel (and earlier, in Sometime Never...
), the Doctor talks with a malign entity within the TARDIS's Eye of Harmony, which could have been the Roberts Master, throwing the true identity of the Man with the Rosette into doubt. The entity within the Eye refers to itself as an "echo", thus leaving scope for the real Master to be elsewhere. (In his Doctor Who chronology book AHistory, Parkin suggests that Lawrence Miles
intended the Man with the Rosette to be the Master, even if it was not explicitly stated.)
The Master is seen to escape the Eye of Harmony in the short story Forgotten by Joseph Lidster
, published in Short Trips: The Centenarian
. The story ends with him left in 1906 in possession of a human male's body.
Another version of the Master appears in The Infinity Doctors
(also by Parkin), where he is known as the Magistrate and is, once again, the Doctor's friend, although when this takes place in continuity is unclear. Parkin has stated that the novel can fit into continuity and that its incarnation of the Master is based on Richard E. Grant
.
During the Faction Paradox
arc that runs through the Eighth Doctor Adventures, a character known as the War King is featured which is implied to be a future incarnation of the Master. The character is also referenced in The Book of the War
, published by Mad Norwegian Press
when the Faction Paradox stories spun off into their own continuity.
Martha Jones
's year long journey across a Master-controlled planet Earth is detailed in the short story collection The Story of Martha
, which was released on 26 December 2008.
(DWM) comic strip story The Fallen, although the Doctor does not recognise him. The Master reveals himself a few stories later, in The Glorious Dead (DWM 287–296). The Master had survived the events of the television movie by encountering a cosmic being named Esterath in the time vortex. Esterath controls the Glory, the focal point of the Omniversal spectrum which underlies all existence. The Master's scheme to take control of the Glory fails, and he is banished to parts unknown (see Kroton
).
In Character Assassin (DWM 311), the Delgado Master visits the Land of Fiction
and steals part of the technology behind it, wiping out several nineteenth century fictional villains as he goes. He can also be seen in the following comic strips set during the Pertwee era:
, Dust Breeding
, where Geoffrey Beevers
reprised the role. The story reveals that, at some point after Survival
, The Master's Trakenite body is damaged and he becomes a walking corpse again, using the alias Mr Seta, another anagram of Master.
In the later Master
, it is revealed that while the Seventh Doctor
is Time's Champion, the Master is Death's. This is a result of an incident in their youth, where the Doctor killed a school bully who was trying to drown the Master; unable to cope with his guilt and grief, the child who would become the Doctor accepted a deal with Death (personified as a woman) to take away his pain, unaware that this would result in her erasing his memory of committing the crime and transferring it to the Master. Temporarily restored to the person he would have been if Death had not marked him, the Master forgives the Doctor for this, understanding that the adult cannot be blamed for the actions of the child that did not foresee the consequences of his actions, but the end of the play implies that the Master will once again become Death's servant.
An out-of-continuity Master is heard in the Big Finish audio play Sympathy for the Devil
, voiced by Mark Gatiss
. In this alternate version of events, the Third Doctor
- now voiced by David Warner
- does not arrive for his exile on Earth until 1997 and the Master has been trapped on the planet while a series of extraterrestrial disasters occurred over the decades without the Doctor's help to stop them.
included Anthony Ainley's incarnation of the Master in his short story, Birth of a Renegade, in the Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special one-off magazine, published by Radio Times
(and in the United States by Starlog Press
) in 1983.
In a short story by Cavan Scott
and Mark Wright, The Feast of the Stone, an android version of the Master is created by the Doctor as an ally—albeit a slightly sinister one. Exactly why the Doctor created an android duplicate of the Master is not revealed, but it is suggested that the Doctor somehow extended the Master's life by doing so. The android is able to pilot the Doctor's TARDIS, but is physically unable to leave the ship.
) appeared in the animated webcast Scream of the Shalka
. He also appears, with the "Shalka Doctor
" (Richard E. Grant
), in the webcast of The Feast of Stone.
who deeply resembled the incarnation played by Roger Delgado in the Comic Relief
sketch, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death
.
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
. He is a renegade Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
and the archenemy
Archenemy
An archenemy, archfoe, archvillain or archnemesis is the principal enemy of a character in a work of fiction, often described as the hero's worst enemy .- Etymology :The word archenemy or arch-enemy originated...
of the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
.
When the Master first appeared in January 1971 he was played by Roger Delgado
Roger Delgado
Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto was an English actor, best known for his role as the first Master in Doctor Who....
, who continued in the role until his death in 1973. Afterwards, Peter Pratt
Peter Pratt
Peter Pratt was an English actor and singer who is best remembered for his comic roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas....
and Geoffrey Beevers
Geoffrey Beevers
Geoffrey Beevers is a British actor who has appeared in many different television roles.Beevers has worked extensively at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, both as an actor ; and as an adaptor/director of George Eliot's novel Adam Bede , for which he won a Time Out Award, and Balzac's...
played a physically decayed version of the Time Lord until Anthony Ainley
Anthony Ainley
Anthony Ainley was an English actor best known for his work on British television and particularly for his role as the third Master in Doctor Who. He was the fourth actor to play the role of the Master, and the first actor to portray the Master as a recurring role after the death of Roger Delgado...
assumed the part in 1981 until the show's cancellation in 1989. In the 1996 TV movie, the Master was played briefly by Gordon Tipple, then by Eric Roberts
Eric Roberts
Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies , earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case...
while in a human body. In the revived series, Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
provided the character's re-introduction before handing over to John Simm
John Simm
John Simm is an English stage and screen actor. In recent years he is best known for his roles as Sam Tyler in the detective drama Life on Mars and as The Master in the revival of the science fiction series Doctor Who, but he has also starred in many highly acclaimed award-winning television...
, who portrayed the Master in the climax of the 2007 series and in the 2009 serial "The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
", with William Hughes also portraying the Master at the age of 8.
Origins
The creative team conceived the Master as a recurring villainVillain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
, a "Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
to the Doctor's Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
." He first appeared in Terror of the Autons
Terror of the Autons
Terror of the Autons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast in four weekly parts from 2 to 23 January 1971...
(1971). The Master's title was deliberately chosen by producer Barry Letts
Barry Letts
Barry Leopold Letts was a British actor, television director, writer and producer best known for his work on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and for producing the BBC's Sunday Classic drama serials in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
and script editor Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
as evocative of supervillain
Supervillain
A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various media.They are sometimes used as foils to superheroes and other fictional heroes...
names in fiction, but primarily because, like the Doctor, it was a title conferred by an academic degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
.
Barry Letts had one man in mind for the role: Roger Delgado
Roger Delgado
Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto was an English actor, best known for his role as the first Master in Doctor Who....
. Delgado had a long history of screen villainy and had already made three attempts to break into the series. He had worked previously with Barry Letts and was also a good friend of Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
. Delgado was killed in a car accident in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
on 18 June 1973, while on his way to shoot footage for the French comedy The Bell of Tibet. The next Master story was replaced by Planet of the Spiders
Planet of the Spiders
Planet of the Spiders is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from May 4 to June 8, 1974. It was Jon Pertwee's last serial as the Doctor and marks the first, uncredited appearance of Tom Baker in the role. It also marks...
(1974).
An unrelated character called the Master of the Land of Fiction, also referred to as "the Master", had previously appeared in the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Mind Robber
The Mind Robber
The Mind Robber is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in five weekly parts from September 14 to October 12, 1968...
opposite Patrick Troughton
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
's Doctor.
Childhood and early life
The Sound of Drums
"The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007, and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...
" (2007) and "The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
" (2010), a flashback shows the Master at the age of eight, when as part of a Time Lord initiation ceremony he is taken before a gap in the fabric of space and time known as the Untempered Schism, from which one can see into the entire Vortex. The Doctor states that looking into the time vortex
Time vortex (Doctor Who)
In the science fiction television series Doctor Who, the time vortex is the medium that the TARDIS and other time machines travel through...
causes some Time Lords to go mad, implying that event to have been the cause of the Master's actions and the four-beat sound of drums, which the Master calls the "drums of war". The drumming is later revealed to be a signal placed in his mind by the Time Lords during the Time War. The beat is the same in its rhythmic construction as a significant component of the show's theme music.
Aims and character
A would-be universal conqueror, the Master wants to control the universe (in The Deadly AssassinThe Deadly Assassin
The Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 October to 20 November 1976...
his ambitions were described as becoming "the master of all matter", and in "The Sound of Drums" he acknowledges that he chose the name "the Master"), with a secondary objective of eliminating and/or hurting the Doctor. The original (and most common before 1996) look of the character was similar to that of the classic Svengali
Svengali
Svengali is a fictional character of George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby. Svengali "would either fawn or bully and could be grossly impertinent. He had a kind of cynical humour that was more offensive than amusing and always laughed at the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong place...
character; a black Nehru
Nehru jacket
The Nehru jacket is a hip-length tailored coat for men or women, created in India in the 1940s. The jacket essentially blends the collar of the achkan, historically the royal court dress of Indian nobles, with the Western suit jacket...
outfit with a beard and moustache.
In his three seasons beginning with Terror of the Autons
Terror of the Autons
Terror of the Autons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast in four weekly parts from 2 to 23 January 1971...
, the Master (as played by Delgado) appeared in eight out of the fifteen serials. In his first season the Master is involved in every adventure of the Doctor's, always getting away at the last minute before he is captured in The Dæmons
The Dæmons
The Dæmons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in five weekly parts from May 22 to June 19, 1971.-Plot:...
(1971), only to escape imprisonment in The Sea Devils (1972). He would often use disguises and brainwashing
Mind control
Mind control refers to a process in which a group or individual "systematically uses unethically manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulator, often to the detriment of the person being manipulated"...
to operate in normal society, while setting up his plans; he also tried to use other alien races and powers as his means to conquest, such as the Autons and the Dæmons. Delgado's portrayal of the Master was as a suave, charming and somewhat sociopathic
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
individual, able to be polite and murderous at almost the same time.
Delgado's last on-screen appearance as the Master was in Frontier in Space
Frontier in Space
Frontier in Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 24 to March 31, 1973...
, where he is working alongside the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s and the Ogron
Ogron
Ogrons are a fictional extraterrestrial race from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The name may be derived from the mythological ogres....
s to provoke a war between the Human and Draconian
Draconian (Doctor Who)
The Draconians are a fictional extraterrestrial race from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Their only television appearance to date was in the 1973 serial Frontier in Space. Unlike many "monster" races in Doctor Who, the Draconians were articulate and portrayed as having a...
Empires. His final scene ended with him shooting the Doctor and then disappearing.
Quest for new life
In his next appearance in The Deadly AssassinThe Deadly Assassin
The Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 October to 20 November 1976...
(1976), the Master (played by Peter Pratt
Peter Pratt
Peter Pratt was an English actor and singer who is best remembered for his comic roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas....
under heavy make-up) appears as an emaciated, decaying husk (similar to a corpse) at the end of his thirteenth and final life
Regeneration (Doctor Who)
Regeneration, in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, is a biological ability exhibited by Time Lords, a race of fictional humanoids originating on the planet Gallifrey. This process allows a Time Lord who is old or mortally wounded to undergo a transformation into a new...
. Here, the evil Time Lord almost succeeds in his plan to restore himself to full life with the symbols of the office of President of the Council of Time Lords, the artefacts of Rassilon
Rassilon
Rassilon is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the backstory of the programme, he was the founder of Time Lord society on the planet Gallifrey...
. The Doctor stops him because the process would have caused the destruction of Gallifrey
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
. After this story, the Master again departs the series, returning in 1981. In The Keeper of Traken
The Keeper of Traken
-Cast notes:Denis Carey, who plays the Keeper, also played Professor Chronotis in the uncompleted Fourth Doctor serial Shada, and the Old Man in the Sixth Doctor story Timelash....
, the Master (Geoffrey Beevers
Geoffrey Beevers
Geoffrey Beevers is a British actor who has appeared in many different television roles.Beevers has worked extensively at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, both as an actor ; and as an adaptor/director of George Eliot's novel Adam Bede , for which he won a Time Out Award, and Balzac's...
under different heavy make-up but playing the same incarnation as Pratt) succeeds in renewing himself by taking over the body of the Trakenite scientist named Tremas (an anagram of "Master"), overwriting Tremas's mind in the process. The Master (played by Anthony Ainley
Anthony Ainley
Anthony Ainley was an English actor best known for his work on British television and particularly for his role as the third Master in Doctor Who. He was the fourth actor to play the role of the Master, and the first actor to portray the Master as a recurring role after the death of Roger Delgado...
, who played a double role in the serial as Tremas) then appeared on and off for the rest of the series, still seeking to extend his life – preferably with a new set of regenerations. Subsequently in The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...
, the Time Lords offer the Master a new regeneration cycle in exchange for his help.
In many of his appearances opposite the Fifth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
, the Master shows his penchant for disguise once again. For example, in Time-Flight
Time-Flight
Time-Flight is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 March to 30 March 1982...
he operates under concealment for no clear plot reason. The character's association with playful pseudonyms also continued both within the series and in its publicity: when the production team wished to hide the Master's involvement in a story, they credited the character under an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
matic alias such as "Neil Toynay" (Tony Ainley) or "James Stoker" (Master's Joke).
Ainley's final appearance in the role in Survival
Survival (Doctor Who)
-Writing:Writer Rona Munro approached script editor Andrew Cartmel at a BBC scriptwriting workshop and said that she'd "kill to write for Doctor Who." The story Munro developed incorporated themes including the morals of hunting...
was more restrained. He was also given a more downbeat costume, reminiscent of the suits and ties worn by Delgado's Master. In this final story, he had been trapped on the planet of the Cheetah People and been affected by its influence, which drove its victims to savagery. Escaping the doomed planet, he attempted to kill the Doctor, a plan which left him trapped back on the planet as it was destroyed.
Doctor Who television movie
The Master appeared as the main antagonistAntagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
of the 1996 Doctor Who television movie that starred Paul McGann
Paul McGann
Paul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...
as the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
and Eric Roberts
Eric Roberts
Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies , earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case...
as the Master.
In the prologue, the Master (portrayed by Gordon Tipple) was executed by the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s as a punishment for his "evil crimes". The Master survives his execution by taking on the form of a small, snake-like entity. This entity escapes and slithers inside the Doctor's TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
console, forcing the vessel to crash land in San Francisco.
The novelisation of the television movie by Gary Russell
Gary Russell
Gary James Russell is a freelance writer and former child actor. As a writer, he is best known for his work in connection with the television series Doctor Who and its spin-offs in other media...
posits that the modifications and alterations that the Master has made to his body over the years in attempts to extend his lifespan had allowed this continued existence, and the implication is that the "morphant" creature is actually another lifeform that the Master's consciousness possesses. This interpretation is made explicit in the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures
Eighth Doctor Adventures
The Eighth Doctor Adventures are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. 73 books were published overall...
novels, The Eight Doctors
The Eight Doctors
The Eight Doctors is a BBC Books original novel written by Terrance Dicks and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures range and features the Eighth Doctor and introduces his new companion, Sam Jones.The novel...
by Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
, and also used in the Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
comic strip story The Fallen (DWM #273-#276), which states that the morphant was a shape-shifting animal native to Skaro
Skaro
Skaro is a fictional planet from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who created by the writer Terry Nation as the home planet of the Daleks and, at times, the centre of the Dalek Empire....
.
The morphant form is unsustainable and requires a human host, and it possesses the body of a paramedic Bruce (played by Eric Roberts
Eric Roberts
Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies , earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case...
, the first and thus far only American actor to play the role). Bruce's body is also unsustainable and begins to slowly degenerate, although he has the added abilities to spit an acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
-like bile as a weapon and a snake-like ability to hypnotise. The Master attempts to access the Eye of Harmony
Eye of Harmony
The Eye of Harmony is an artificial black hole created by the Time Lords to provide energy for their home world of Gallifrey and their time travel technology in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-First appearances:...
to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations, but instead is sucked into it and supposedly killed.
Revived series
When Doctor Who was revived in 2005, it was initially stated in the episode "DalekDalek (Doctor Who episode)
"Dalek" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who that was first broadcast on 30 April 2005. It should not be confused with the first Dalek serial, The Daleks...
" that all the Time Lords except the Doctor were killed in a Time War
Time War (Doctor Who)
The Time War, more specifically called The Last Great Time War, is a conflict within the fictional universe of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
with the Daleks. The Doctor stated that if other Time Lords had survived, he would have been able to sense them. The Master did however reappear as the main antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
of the third series; his return is foreshadowed in "Gridlock
Gridlock (Doctor Who)
"Gridlock" is the third episode from the third series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who which aired on 14 April 2007. The Doctor returns to a much grittier New Earth with Martha Jones and meets the Face of Boe one final time. But as New New York becomes a deadly...
", when the Face of Boe
Face of Boe
The Face of Boe is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Not portrayed on-screen by an actor, the Face of Boe is a wholly mechanical effect, resembling in appearance a gigantic, wrinkly human-like head with, in place of hair, numerous tendrils which...
gives the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
a message before dying: "You are not alone".
In "The Sound of Drums
The Sound of Drums
"The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007, and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...
", it is revealed that the Time Lords resurrected the Master to serve as the ultimate front line soldier in the Time War. After the Dalek Emperor took control of "The Cruciform", the Master fled the war in fear, ignorant of its outcome. He disguised himself as a human through the same process the Doctor himself used in "Human Nature
Human Nature (Doctor Who episode)
"Human Nature" is the eighth episode of the third series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the first episode of a two-part story written by Paul Cornell adapted from his 1995 Doctor Who novel Human Nature...
"—a Chameleon Arch that stores his Time Lord nature and memories in a fob watch
Pocket watch
A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design,...
and allows him to become biologically human—and hid at the end of the universe
Heat death of the universe
The heat death of the universe is a suggested ultimate fate of the universe, in which the universe has diminished to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and therefore can no longer sustain motion or life. Heat death does not imply any particular absolute temperature; it only requires that...
ageing into the benevolent scientist, Professor Yana. The professor was still plagued by the constant drumming as he attempts to send the last remaining humans to Utopia. The Doctor meets Yana in "Utopia
Utopia (Doctor Who)
"Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series...
", and a discussion of Time Lords and related issues by the Doctor and his companions (Martha Jones
Martha Jones
Martha Jones is a fictional character played by Freema Agyeman in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. She is a companion of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, replacing Rose Tyler...
and Jack Harkness
Jack Harkness
Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character played by John Barrowman in Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. He first appeared in the 2005 Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child" and reappeared in the remaining episodes of the 2005 series as a companion of the ninth incarnation of the...
) cause Yana to recall his Time Lord essence. This, along with the increased drumming and Martha's curiosity about the fob watch, causes Yana to open the watch and become the Master again, in a scene that makes clear that YANA is an acronym for the Face of Boe's final words.
Harold Saxon
Near the end of "UtopiaUtopia (Doctor Who)
"Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series...
", the Master is mortally wounded when his companion Chantho shoots him after he fatally injured her, regenerating into a new younger incarnation. The Master steals the Doctor's TARDIS and escapes, but the Doctor sabotages the TARDIS using his sonic screwdriver so that the Master is only able to travel between present-day Earth and the year 100 trillion.
Harriet Jones
Harriet Jones MP is a recurring fictional character played by Penelope Wilton in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. With the revival of Doctor Who in 2005, Jones was introduced in the two-part story "Aliens of London" and "World War Three" as an MP who aids the...
. The Master assumes the identity Harold Saxon, becoming a high-ranking minister at the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
. He apparently holds this post during the 2006 Christmas episode, "The Runaway Bride
The Runaway Bride (Doctor Who)
"The Runaway Bride" is a special episode of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor...
", as the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
are said to be firing upon the Racnoss ship on Mr. Saxon's orders. During this period, he finances Professor Richard Lazarus' (Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
) research and sets up the Archangel communications network, which allows him to influence humanity using a telepathic field, enabling him to rise to the office of Prime Minister. Before the events of "The Runaway Bride" in the show's adult-themed spin-off Torchwood
Torchwood
Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
, a "Vote Saxon" poster is seen on a wall among several other tattered posters in the episode Captain Jack Harkness, possibly the first indication of the Master's return. In "Love & Monsters
Love & Monsters
"Love & Monsters" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In this episode, an ordinary man named Elton Pope becomes obsessed with a man called the Doctor and his strange blue box, and joins a group of like-minded people in hopes of finding him...
", an article about Saxon leading the polls can be seen when the Abzorbaloff first reveals himself.
After becoming Prime Minister, the Master uses the TARDIS to recruit the Toclafane as allies, having them kill one tenth of the world population, and rules the Earth for a year, while he turns whole nations into work-camps and bases for a fleet of war rockets. Just as he is ready to wage war on the rest of the universe and forge an empire, the Doctor is restored to strength by the efforts of Martha Jones, using the Archangel network. The Doctor intends to keep the Master with him on the TARDIS; this plan is thwarted when the Master is shot by his wife Lucy Saxon (Alexandra Moen
Alexandra Moen
Alexandra Moen is an English actress, best known for her roles as Emily James in the British TV drama Hotel Babylon, as Tamsin in the TV drama Tripping Over and as Lucy Saxon in the closing episodes of the 2007 series of "Doctor Who"....
). The Master then dies after refusing to regenerate, unwilling to be the Doctor's prisoner. Since his death emotionally hurts the Doctor, the Master views this as a victory.
The Doctor cremates
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
the Master's body on a pyre
Pyre
A pyre , also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite...
. His ring remains, which is picked up by a woman with long, bright red fingernails, revealed later to be a member of a coven loyal to the Master.
In "The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
", the Governor and other members of the Master's coven conduct the resurrection ritual at Broadfell prison, where Lucy Saxon was incarcerated. Lucy sabotages the ritual and the Master is returned to life with a failing, undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
body and a ravenous hunger for meat, including human beings. He is able to manipulate bolts of electricity, move with phenomenal agility and jump great distances by manipulating his life force. Resorting to wandering the fringe of London and feeding on homeless people, he is eventually captured by billionaire Joshua Naismith in order to use his knowledge to repair an alien 'Immortality Gate' to make Naismith's daughter immortal. The Master sabotages the device, using its original purpose as a planet-wide medical tool to overwrite the DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
of every human on Earth with his own and create a "Master Race".
The Master realises that the drum beat in his head is a signal. Using his duplicates, he triangulates the signal to the Time Lord President Rassilon
Rassilon
Rassilon is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the backstory of the programme, he was the founder of Time Lord society on the planet Gallifrey...
, who had sent the signal in order to be released from the time-locked Time War. Using the time vortex, Rassilon sent a unique Gallifreyan diamond to Earth to help the Master create a link through which Gallifrey, the Time Lords, and all in the Time War could escape. The Master intended to overwrite his DNA onto the Time Lord race, only to learn he had been used as a pawn in Rassilon's own plan to destroy the universe and evolve the Time Lords to a higher plane of existence. The Doctor destroys the link and the Master attacks Rassilon in an act of revenge for a lifetime of manipulation, disappearing along with the other Time Lords in the process.
Intelligence and attitude
The Master and the Doctor are shown to have similar levels of intelligence, and were classmates on Gallifrey, wherein the Master outperformed the Doctor (Terror of the AutonsTerror of the Autons
Terror of the Autons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast in four weekly parts from 2 to 23 January 1971...
). This is mentioned several times in different stories (The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...
, The Sea Devils
The Sea Devils
The Sea Devils is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from February 26 to April 1, 1972.-Synopsis:...
and Terror of the Autons). A similar connection between the two was also referenced in "The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
" in which the Master reminisces with the Doctor about his father's estates on Gallifrey and his childhood with The Doctor before saying "look at us now". In the 2007 episode "Utopia
Utopia (Doctor Who)
"Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series...
", the Doctor calls the transformed and disguised Master a genius and shows admiration for his intellect before discovering his true identity. The Doctor further expresses admiration for the Master's intellect in The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
by calling him "stone cold brilliant" and yet states that the Master could be more if he would just give up his desire for domination.
Aspects of Simm's Master parallel Tennant's Doctor, primarily in his ability to make light of tense situations and his rather quirky and hyperactive personality. According to the producers, this was done to make the Master more threatening to the Doctor by having him take one of his opponent's greatest strengths, as well as making the parallels between the two characters more distinctive. This rationale is written into dialogue by the Master in "Utopia
Utopia (Doctor Who)
"Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series...
", in which he explicitly states, as he is regenerating, that if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can he. In an episode of Doctor Who Confidential
Doctor Who Confidential
Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary series created by the British Broadcasting Corporation to complement the revival of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Each episode was broadcast on BBC Three on Saturdays, immediately after the broadcast of the weekly...
, "Lords and Masters", Russell T Davies also classifies the Master as both a sociopath and a psychopath.
Mental abilities
Both the Doctor and the Master have been shown to be skilled hypnotists, although the Master's capacity to dominate – even by stare and voice alone – has been shown to be far more pronounced. In LogopolisLogopolis
Logopolis is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 28 February to 21 March 1981. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison in the role...
the Doctor said of the Master, "He's a Time Lord. In many ways, we have the same mind." The Master is often able to anticipate the Doctor's moves, as seen in stories such as Castrovalva, The Keeper of Traken
The Keeper of Traken
-Cast notes:Denis Carey, who plays the Keeper, also played Professor Chronotis in the uncompleted Fourth Doctor serial Shada, and the Old Man in the Sixth Doctor story Timelash....
, Time-Flight
Time-Flight
Time-Flight is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 March to 30 March 1982...
, and The King's Demons
The King's Demons
The King's Demons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in two parts on March 15 and March 16, 1983...
, where he plans elaborate traps for the Doctor, only revealing his presence at the key moment. In The Deadly Assassin
The Deadly Assassin
The Deadly Assassin is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 30 October to 20 November 1976...
, the Master was able to send a false premonition as a telepathic message to the Doctor, but it is unclear whether he performed this through innate psychic ability, or was aided technologically. In "Utopia" after the Master regenerates and reveals himself, he taunts the Doctor to try to stop his elaborate schemes again.
In The End of Time the Master uses a kind of psychic technique, previously used by the Doctor to read the minds of others, allowing the Doctor to hear the constant 'drumming' inside the Master's mind.
TARDIS
In the original Doctor Who series, the Master's TARDISes have had fully functioning chameleon circuits, having appeared as various things, including a horsebox (Terror of the Autons), a spaceship (Colony in spaceColony in Space
Colony in Space is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in 6 weekly parts from April 10 to May 15, 1971.- Synopsis :...
), a fir tree (Logopolis
Logopolis
Logopolis is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 28 February to 21 March 1981. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison in the role...
), a computer bank (The Time Monster), a grandfather clock
Longcase clock
A longcase clock, also tall-case clock, floor clock, or grandfather clock, is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower, or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are commonly 1.8–2.4 metres tall...
(The Deadly Assassin and The Keeper of Traken), a fluted architectural column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
(Logopolis
Logopolis
Logopolis is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 28 February to 21 March 1981. It was Tom Baker's last story as the Doctor and marks the first appearance of Peter Davison in the role...
, Castrovalva, Time-Flight
Time-Flight
Time-Flight is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 March to 30 March 1982...
), an iron maiden (The King's Demons
The King's Demons
The King's Demons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in two parts on March 15 and March 16, 1983...
), a fireplace
Fireplace
A fireplace is an architectural structure to contain a fire for heating and, especially historically, for cooking. A fire is contained in a firebox or firepit; a chimney or other flue allows gas and particulate exhaust to escape...
(Castrovalva), a British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
jet (Time-Flight
Time-Flight
Time-Flight is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 22 March to 30 March 1982...
), a cottage (The Ultimate Foe
The Ultimate Foe
The Ultimate Foe is the generally accepted title for a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 29 November to 6 December 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, encompassing the whole...
), and a triangular column (Planet of Fire
Planet of Fire
Planet of Fire is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 23 February to 2 March 1984...
). Of the Master's TARDISes seen in The Keeper of Traken, one appears as the calcified, statue-like Melkur
The Keeper of Traken
-Cast notes:Denis Carey, who plays the Keeper, also played Professor Chronotis in the uncompleted Fourth Doctor serial Shada, and the Old Man in the Sixth Doctor story Timelash....
, able to move and even walk; the other appears as a grandfather clock. The Melkur TARDIS is destroyed. At one point in Logopolis, the Master's TARDIS even appears as a police box
Police box
A police box is a British telephone kiosk or callbox located in a public place for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police...
, like the Doctor's.
By the time of the new series, it is unclear whether any of the Master's TARDISes still exist. In "Rise of the Cybermen
Rise of the Cybermen
"Rise of the Cybermen" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode features the return of Cybermen, where they are created on Earth itself. It is the first part of a two-part story, the concluding part being "The Age of Steel"...
", the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
claims that his TARDIS is the last one in existence although at the time of his saying this, he also thought he was the last Time Lord. In "Utopia
Utopia (Doctor Who)
"Utopia" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 16 June 2007 and is the eleventh episode of series three of the revived Doctor Who series...
", the Master resorts to stealing the Doctor's TARDIS, and later demands access to the Doctor's ship in The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
, but this could be because he cannot immediately access his ship because it is somewhere else rather than meaning that his TARDIS was destroyed.
Handheld weaponry
The Master's original weapon of choice was the "tissue compression eliminator", which shrinks its target to doll-like proportions, killing them in the process. Its appearance is similar to that of the Doctor's favourite tool, the sonic screwdriverSonic screwdriver
The sonic screwdriver is a fictional tool in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spinoffs. It is a multifunctional tool used by The Doctor. Its most common function is that of a lockpick, but can be used to perform other operations such as performing medical scans,...
. Both the tissue compression eliminator and the sonic screwdriver resemble a short hand-held rod; at different times in the series, both tools have had a LED
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
on the end to signal its use.
The Sound of Drums
"The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007, and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...
", on the grounds that the Master had too many new "tricks" to use against the Doctor.
During the course of "The Sound of Drums
The Sound of Drums
"The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007, and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...
", the Master unveils a new handheld weapon: a laser screwdriver. The device functions as a powerful laser weapon, capable of killing with a single shot. It also carries the ability to age victims rapidly using a miniaturized version of the genetic manipulator developed by Professor Lazarus ("The Lazarus Experiment
The Lazarus Experiment
"The Lazarus Experiment" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 May 2007 and is the sixth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series. It stars David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones as his companion, played...
"). The screwdriver itself also contains isomorphic technology
Technobabble
Technobabble , also called technospeak, is a form of prose using jargon, buzzwords, esoteric language, specialized technical terms, or technical slang that is incomprehensible to the listener...
, a biometric
Biometrics
Biometrics As Jain & Ross point out, "the term biometric authentication is perhaps more appropriate than biometrics since the latter has been historically used in the field of statistics to refer to the analysis of biological data [36]" . consists of methods...
security feature which effectively disables use of the device by anyone other than the Master.
Companions
Unlike the Doctor, the Master does not usually have companionsCompanion (Doctor Who)
In the long-running BBC television science fiction programme Doctor Who and related works, the term "companion" refers to a character who travels with, and shares the adventures of the Doctor. In most Doctor Who stories, the primary companion acts as both deuteragonist and audience surrogate...
. There have been times when he made exceptions, though in his case they are not so much "companions" as "tools". In Castrovalva, the Doctor's companion Adric
Adric
Adric is a fictional character played by Matthew Waterhouse in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a young native of the planet Alzarius, which exists in the parallel universe of E-Space. A companion of the Fourth and Fifth Doctors, he was a regular in the...
was abducted by the Master and forced to create a block transfer computation. Later, in The King's Demons
The King's Demons
The King's Demons is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in two parts on March 15 and March 16, 1983...
, Kamelion
Kamelion
Kamelion is a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. A shape-changing android voiced by Gerald Flood in its default form, it is a companion of the Fifth Doctor and appears in the television series in two serials between 1983 and...
is controlled by the Master before the Doctor steals him away, with the Master regaining control of Kamelion in Planet of Fire
Planet of Fire
Planet of Fire is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 23 February to 2 March 1984...
. In the second episode of The Ultimate Foe
The Ultimate Foe
The Ultimate Foe is the generally accepted title for a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 29 November to 6 December 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, encompassing the whole...
, Sabalom Glitz
Sabalom Glitz
Sabalom Glitz is a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Glitz is a rogue from the planet Salostophus in the Andromeda Constellation. Glitz's first love is money, and he is often engaged in mercenary acts and profiteering...
chose to go with the Master in search of Time Lord secrets.
In the 1996 television movie, Chang Lee helps the Master because he has been duped into believing that the Doctor had stolen his body. When Lee's loyalty begins to falter, the Master attempts to kill him without hesitation. In promotional media surrounding the movie, Lee is depicted more as a companion to the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
(alongside Grace Holloway
Grace Holloway
Dr. Grace Holloway is a fictional character played by Daphne Ashbrook in the 1996 television movie Doctor Who, a continuation of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
).
In "Utopia", Chantho plays a similar companion role to the Professor Yana persona. Chantho states that she has been with him for 17 years as a "devoted assistant". Later, when the Master persona resurfaces, he berates her for never freeing him from his confinement, and the two fatally wound one another, resulting in Chantho's death and the Master's regeneration.
In "The Sound of Drums
The Sound of Drums
"The Sound of Drums" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 23 June 2007, and is the twelfth episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...
", the Master, as Harold Saxon, is married to Lucy Saxon, to whom he refers at one point as his "faithful companion". Lucy is aware of the nature of the Master's plans yet is still loyal to him. She has travelled with him to Utopia, the end of the universe, and thus believes "there's no point to anything." Their relationship appears to be non-platonic; they kiss quite often and it seems as though their marriage is more than just a pretence. Lucy comments, "I made my choice, for better or for worse." In "Last of the Time Lords
Last of the Time Lords
"Last of the Time Lords" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 30 June 2007, and is the thirteenth and final episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series...
" she is still present, but showing signs of apparent physical abuse, and her loyalty towards him begins to waver. She shoots the Master at the climax of the story, killing him. She is imprisoned, but when the Master's ring is found in The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
, she is forced to go to his new birth-place to help. Having foreseen his resurrection, she sets off an explosive in an attempt to stop it, killing herself in the process. The Master is resurrected nonetheless, but is damaged, with a unsustainable lust for meat and lightning fast reflexes.
Although not a companion in the traditional sense, the Master allied himself with another evil renegade Time Lord, the Rani
Rani (Doctor Who)
The Rani is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She was played by Kate O'Mara. The word "Rani" means "queen" in the Urdu and Hindi languages and "The Rani" follows the naming convention for other renegade timelords, "The Doctor," "The Monk," "The War...
, in The Mark of the Rani
The Mark of the Rani
The Mark of The Rani is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 2 February to 9 February 1985...
to thwart the Doctor. The Master has also been known to ally himself with other villains of the series, including the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Autons. None of these alliances lasted past the Master achieving his own aims, or his being stopped by the Doctor.
Other appearances
With the exception of the Ninth DoctorNinth Doctor
The Ninth Doctor is the ninth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by Christopher Eccleston....
and the Eleventh Doctor
Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor is the eleventh incarnation of the protagonist of the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. Matt Smith plays this incarnation, replacing David Tennant's Tenth Doctor in the 2010 episode "The End of Time, Part Two"...
, the Master has had onscreen encounters with all of the past incarnations of the Doctor. This includes the First and Second Doctors whose onscreen stories occurred before the character of the Master was created for the show. They encountered him during the events of The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...
.
The Master has featured in spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
of the series, which are of unclear canonicity and may not take place in the same continuity. The Master in these stories is, nevertheless, recognisably the same person.
One of the most notable of these other appearances is David A. McIntee
David A. McIntee
-Biography:McIntee has written many spin-off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, as well as one each based on Final Destination and Space: 1999. He has also written a non-fiction book on Star Trek: Voyager and one jointly on the Alien and Predator movie franchises...
's "Master trilogy" of novels comprising The Dark Path
The Dark Path (Doctor Who)
The Dark Path is an original novel written by David A. McIntee and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The novel features the Second Doctor, Jamie, Victoria and the Master , looking at the events that led to the Master's descent into villainy...
and First Frontier
First Frontier
First Frontier is an original novel written by David A. McIntee and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice...
in the Virgin Publishing
Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a United Kingdom book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Enterprises, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company.-History:...
lines and The Face of the Enemy
The Face of the Enemy (Doctor Who)
The Face of the Enemy is a BBC Books original novel written by David A. McIntee and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.It is a sequel to the Third Doctor serial Inferno...
for BBC Books
BBC Books
BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
, and the Doctor Who radio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
, in which Geoffrey Beevers has reprised the role.
Doctor Who Annual 2006
An article in the Doctor Who Annual 2006, describing the Time War and written by Doctor Who lead writer and executive producer Russell T Davies, stated that Time Lord President RomanaRomana
Romana, short for Romanadvoratrelundar, is a fictional character in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
tried to make peace with the Daleks through something known as the "Act of Master Restitution". Davies has not confirmed that this is a reference to the Master.
Novels
The Master's past with the Doctor is explored somewhat in The Dark Path, which reveals that his name prior to taking the alias of the Master is KoscheiKoschei
In Slavic folklore, Koschei is an archetypal male antagonist, described mainly as abducting the hero's wife. None of the existing tales actually describes his appearance, though in book illustrations, cartoons and cinema he has been most frequently represented as a very old and ugly-looking man...
, when he encounters the Second Doctor
Second Doctor
The Second Doctor is the second incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by character actor Patrick Troughton....
during their travels. Although initially a somewhat anti-heroic version of the Doctor- willing to commit murder as a first option to save the day rather than the Doctor-, Koschei turns evil and becomes the Master after he discovers that his companion and lover, Ailla, is an undercover agent of the Celestial Intervention Agency
Celestial Intervention Agency
The Celestial Intervention Agency is a fictional organization of Time Lords in the universe of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
sent to spy on him.
During the course of the novel, Ailla is shot and killed. Not knowing she is a Time Lord and that she will simply regenerate, Koschei completes a time-based weapon in an attempt to bring her back and the weapon is used to destroy the planet Teriliptus and its inhabitants. When Ailla turns up alive, the knowledge that he has destroyed a planet for nothing, coupled with the revelation of Ailla's betrayal, proves too much. Koschei resolves to bring his own order to the universe at the expense of free will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
and becoming its Master. Thanks to the Doctor reprogramming his weapon, Koschei is trapped in a black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
at the end of the novel, with it being left uncertain how he will escape, although it is generally implied that it takes him most of his remaining lives to do so (Hence why the Master is on his last life while the Doctor, intended to be his contemporary, is only on his third).
The Face of the Enemy centres around the Delgado-era Master, but includes a cameo by a Koschei from an alternate timeline (originally featured in Inferno
Inferno (Doctor Who)
Don Houghton came to Terrence Dicks with an idea for the story based on the real life Project Mohole. A smaller budget for the serial drove the idea of a parallel world, where the studio could use the same actors in multiple roles...
) who never became the Master. This version of Koschei is still a loyal Time Lord who becomes stranded on the alternate Earth after that universe's version of "The Web of Fear
The Web of Fear
The Web of Fear is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 3 February to 9 March 1968. This serial — which marks the return of the Yeti, the Great Intelligence, and Professor Travers — is the sequel to The Abominable...
" destroyed his TARDIS. He is subsequently captured and forced to work for the fascist rulers of this Earth, who keep him alive, in agony, using life support
Life support
Life support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...
systems. When the Master, crossing over from the other universe, learns of this, he ends his counterpart's life in a rare moment of compassion.
Last of the Gaderene
Last of the Gaderene
Last of the Gaderene is a BBC Books original novel written by Mark Gatiss and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Third Doctor, Jo, the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton, Mike Yates and other members of UNIT.- Plot :RAF Culverton, East Anglia,...
by Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
and Deadly Reunion by Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
and Barry Letts
Barry Letts
Barry Leopold Letts was a British actor, television director, writer and producer best known for his work on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and for producing the BBC's Sunday Classic drama serials in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
are both close homages to the Delgado/Pertwee stories. In the former, the Master, disguised as Police Inspector LeMaitre, assists an alien race called the Gaderene to invade Earth, starting with a small village. In the latter, he attempts to control powerful forces through a cult, but finds himself at the mercy of a godlike alien. The Delgado Master also appears in Verdigris
Verdigris (Doctor Who)
Verdigris is a BBC Books original novel written by Paul Magrs and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Third Doctor, Jo Grant and Iris Wildthyme.-Plot:...
by Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs
Paul Magrs is a writer and lecturer. He was born in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, England, and now lives in Manchester with his partner, author and lecturer Jeremy Hoad.-Early life:...
, a more parodic take on the Pertwee era. The eponymous genie
Genie
Jinn or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that...
spends much of the novel impersonating the Master, who is in fact controlling him: the real Master appears in the novel's epilogue, buying a Chinese takeaway
Take-out
Take-out or takeout , carry-out , take-away , parcel , or tapau , is food purchased at a...
.
The reason the Master is so emaciated when he appears in The Deadly Assassin is explored in John Peel
John Peel (writer)
John Peel is a British writer, best known for his books connected to several television series. He has written under several pseudonyms, including John Vincent and Nicholas Adams. He lives in Long Island, New York and his wife is a U.S...
's novel Legacy of the Daleks
Legacy of the Daleks
Legacy of the Daleks is an original novel written by John Peel and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, in which he attempts to capture the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman
Susan Foreman
Susan Foreman is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The granddaughter and original companion of the First Doctor, she was played by actress Carole Ann Ford from 1963 to 1964, in the show's first season and the first two stories of the second season...
- resulting in an out-of-sequence encounter with the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
when the Doctor receives a telepathic cry of distress from Susan and attempts to trace it back to before its origin-, but is badly burned when she attacks him in self-defence and takes possession of his TARDIS. After Susan escapes, the dying Master is eventually found by Chancellor Goth on the planet Tersurus, which leads directly into the events of The Deadly Assassin.
The Ainley-era Master appears in the novel The Quantum Archangel
The Quantum Archangel
The Quantum Archangel is a BBC Books original novel written by Craig Hinton and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Sixth Doctor and Mel, the Master, and an appearance by an alternate version of the Third Doctor...
by Craig Hinton
Craig Hinton
Craig Paul Alexander Hinton was a British writer best known for his work on various spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who....
, a direct sequel to The Time Monster. In this novel he poses as a Serbian businessman called Gospodar
Hospodar
Hospodar or gospodar is a term of Slavonic origin, meaning "lord" or "master".The rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia were styled hospodars in Slavic writings from the 15th century to 1866. Hospodar was used in addition to the title voivod...
- prompting the Sixth Doctor to wonder if he's "running out of languages"- while attempting to subvert the power of the higher dimensions to turn himself into a god, only for it to be revealed that this plan was actually the result of the machinations of the Chronovore/Eternal hybrid Kronos trying to trick the Master into punishing the Chronovores for his lifetime of imprisonment.
First Frontier shows the Master (apparently the Ainley version) finally acquiring a new body, who according to McIntee is based on the cinema persona of Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
. This incarnation reappears in Happy Endings
Happy Endings (Doctor Who)
Happy Endings is an original novel written by Paul Cornell and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the fiftieth book in the Virgin New Adventures series...
by Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell
Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield....
, Virgin Publishing's celebratory fiftieth Virgin New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
novel. After the broadcast of the television movie, some fans suggested that this is the incarnation briefly played by Gordon Tipple in the prologue, eventually succumbing once again to the cheetah virus in the first Eighth Doctor novel The Eight Doctors
The Eight Doctors
The Eight Doctors is a BBC Books original novel written by Terrance Dicks and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures range and features the Eighth Doctor and introduces his new companion, Sam Jones.The novel...
.
Prior to the end of the Virgin Missing Adventures
Virgin Missing Adventures
The Virgin Missing Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which had been cancelled in 1989, featuring stories set between televised episodes of the programme. The novels were published from 1994 to 1997, and...
series, the Delgado version of The Master appeared in the novel Who Killed Kennedy
Who Killed Kennedy
Who Killed Kennedy is an original novel written by David Bishop and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
which, while published by Virgin, was not considered part of the Missing Adventures series.
The short story Stop The Pigeon, and the Past Doctor Adventure
Past Doctor Adventures
The Past Doctor Adventures were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. For most of their existence, they were published side-by-side with the Eighth Doctor Adventures...
Prime Time
Prime Time (Doctor Who)
Prime Time is a BBC Books original novel written by Mike Tucker and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Seventh Doctor and Ace.-Synopsis:...
, both by Robert Perry and Mike Tucker
Mike Tucker
Mike Tucker is a special effects expert who worked for many years at the BBC Television Visual Effects Department, and now works as an Effects Supervisor for his own company, The Model Unit. He is also the author of a variety of spin-offs relating to the television series Doctor Who and...
and probably set before First Frontier, feature the Ainley Master looking for a cure for the Cheetah virus.
Gallifrey and the Time Lords are destroyed in the Eighth Doctor Adventures
Eighth Doctor Adventures
The Eighth Doctor Adventures are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. 73 books were published overall...
novel The Ancestor Cell
The Ancestor Cell
The Ancestor Cell is a novel by Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole, based on the science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor, Fitz Kreiner, Compassion and Romana III- as well as a brief appearance of the Third Doctor in a ghost-like state due to the Faction's...
, but in The Adventuress of Henrietta Street
The Adventuress of Henrietta Street
The Adventuress of Henrietta Street is a BBC Books original novel written by Lawrence Miles and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor, Fitz and Anji....
a mysterious stranger wearing a rosette
Rosette (decoration)
A rosette is a small, circular device that is presented with a medal. The rosettes are primarily for situations where wearing the medal is deemed inappropriate. Rosettes are issued in nations such as France, Italy and Japan...
appears who could have been the Master, somehow surviving the cataclysm. Gallifrey's destruction here is not related to its subsequent destruction just prior to the new series (see Time Lord – Recent history). In Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin is a British author, best known for writing fiction and reference books for television series, in particular Doctor Who and Emmerdale...
's The Gallifrey Chronicles
The Gallifrey Chronicles (2005 novel)
For the John Peel book of the same name, see: The Gallifrey Chronicles The Gallifrey Chronicles is a BBC Books original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
, a surviving Time Lord named Marnal appears, and it is implied in dialogue that he may have been the Master's father. In the same novel (and earlier, in Sometime Never...
Sometime Never...
Sometime Never... is a BBC Books original novel written by Justin Richards and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
), the Doctor talks with a malign entity within the TARDIS's Eye of Harmony, which could have been the Roberts Master, throwing the true identity of the Man with the Rosette into doubt. The entity within the Eye refers to itself as an "echo", thus leaving scope for the real Master to be elsewhere. (In his Doctor Who chronology book AHistory, Parkin suggests that Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles
Lawrence Miles is a science fiction author known for his work on original Doctor Who novels and the subsequent spin-off Faction Paradox...
intended the Man with the Rosette to be the Master, even if it was not explicitly stated.)
The Master is seen to escape the Eye of Harmony in the short story Forgotten by Joseph Lidster
Joseph Lidster
Joseph Lidster is an English television writer best known for his work on the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.-Biography:His debut work was the audio play The Rapture for Big Finish Productions in 2002...
, published in Short Trips: The Centenarian
Short Trips: The Centenarian
Short Trips: The Centenarian is a Big Finish original anthology edited by Ian Farrington and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The collection follows the life of a man, Edward Grainger, from his birth through to his death and explores the history of the...
. The story ends with him left in 1906 in possession of a human male's body.
Another version of the Master appears in The Infinity Doctors
The Infinity Doctors
The Infinity Doctors is a BBC Books original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(also by Parkin), where he is known as the Magistrate and is, once again, the Doctor's friend, although when this takes place in continuity is unclear. Parkin has stated that the novel can fit into continuity and that its incarnation of the Master is based on Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
.
During the Faction Paradox
Faction Paradox
Faction Paradox is a fictional time travelling cult/rebel group/organized crime syndicate, originally created by the author Lawrence Miles. The Faction's belief-system as portrayed has some similarities to voodoo, and is sometimes described as such...
arc that runs through the Eighth Doctor Adventures, a character known as the War King is featured which is implied to be a future incarnation of the Master. The character is also referenced in The Book of the War
The Book of the War
The Book of the War is a hypertext multi-author novel presented in the form of an encyclopedia of the first 50 years of the War in the Faction Paradox universe based on the Doctor Who universe. The book was edited by Lawrence Miles, and written by Miles, Simon Bucher-Jones, Daniel O'Mahony, Ian...
, published by Mad Norwegian Press
Mad Norwegian Press
Mad Norwegian Press is an American publisher of science-fiction guides and novels. The company has worked with authors such as Peter David, Harlan Ellison, Robert Shearman, Lance Parkin, Elizabeth Bear, Mary Robinette Kowal, Seanan McGuire, Jody Lynn Nye, Catherynne M...
when the Faction Paradox stories spun off into their own continuity.
Martha Jones
Martha Jones
Martha Jones is a fictional character played by Freema Agyeman in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. She is a companion of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, replacing Rose Tyler...
's year long journey across a Master-controlled planet Earth is detailed in the short story collection The Story of Martha
The Story of Martha
The Story of Martha is a BBC Books original novel written by Dan Abnett with David Roden, Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis, Robert Shearman and Simon Jowett and based on the long running science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones...
, which was released on 26 December 2008.
Comic strips
The Master returns in a new body and guise, that of a street preacher, in the previously mentioned Doctor Who MagazineDoctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
(DWM) comic strip story The Fallen, although the Doctor does not recognise him. The Master reveals himself a few stories later, in The Glorious Dead (DWM 287–296). The Master had survived the events of the television movie by encountering a cosmic being named Esterath in the time vortex. Esterath controls the Glory, the focal point of the Omniversal spectrum which underlies all existence. The Master's scheme to take control of the Glory fails, and he is banished to parts unknown (see Kroton
Kroton (Cyberman)
Kroton is a fictional character who appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a companion of the Eighth Doctor. The canonicity of the comic strip with respect to the television series, like other Doctor Who...
).
In Character Assassin (DWM 311), the Delgado Master visits the Land of Fiction
The Mind Robber
The Mind Robber is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in five weekly parts from September 14 to October 12, 1968...
and steals part of the technology behind it, wiping out several nineteenth century fictional villains as he goes. He can also be seen in the following comic strips set during the Pertwee era:
- "The Glen of Sleeping" by Gerry Haylock and Dick O'Neill (TV Action 107–111)
- "Fogbound" by Frank Langford (Doctor Who Holiday Special 1973)
- "The Time Thief" by Steve Livesey (Doctor Who Annual 1974)
- "The Man in the Ion Mask" by Brian Williamson and Dan AbnettDan AbnettDan Abnett is a British comic book writer and novelist. He is a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, including 2000 AD...
(Doctor Who MagazineDoctor Who MagazineDoctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
Winter Special 1991)
Audio plays
The Master appears in the Big Finish Productions audio playRadio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
, Dust Breeding
Dust Breeding
Dust Breeding is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.The story marks the return of Caroline John to Doctor Who and the introduction of the Master to the Big Finish continuity.-Plot:The Seventh Doctor's diary has a...
, where Geoffrey Beevers
Geoffrey Beevers
Geoffrey Beevers is a British actor who has appeared in many different television roles.Beevers has worked extensively at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, both as an actor ; and as an adaptor/director of George Eliot's novel Adam Bede , for which he won a Time Out Award, and Balzac's...
reprised the role. The story reveals that, at some point after Survival
Survival (Doctor Who)
-Writing:Writer Rona Munro approached script editor Andrew Cartmel at a BBC scriptwriting workshop and said that she'd "kill to write for Doctor Who." The story Munro developed incorporated themes including the morals of hunting...
, The Master's Trakenite body is damaged and he becomes a walking corpse again, using the alias Mr Seta, another anagram of Master.
In the later Master
Master (Doctor Who audio)
Master is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It forms a trilogy with Omega and Davros to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the show...
, it is revealed that while the Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
is Time's Champion, the Master is Death's. This is a result of an incident in their youth, where the Doctor killed a school bully who was trying to drown the Master; unable to cope with his guilt and grief, the child who would become the Doctor accepted a deal with Death (personified as a woman) to take away his pain, unaware that this would result in her erasing his memory of committing the crime and transferring it to the Master. Temporarily restored to the person he would have been if Death had not marked him, the Master forgives the Doctor for this, understanding that the adult cannot be blamed for the actions of the child that did not foresee the consequences of his actions, but the end of the play implies that the Master will once again become Death's servant.
An out-of-continuity Master is heard in the Big Finish audio play Sympathy for the Devil
Sympathy for the Devil (Doctor Who audio)
Sympathy for the Devil is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The Doctor Who Unbound dramas pose a series of "What if...?" questions.-Plot:What if.....
, voiced by Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
. In this alternate version of events, the Third Doctor
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
- now voiced by David Warner
David Warner (actor)
David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
- does not arrive for his exile on Earth until 1997 and the Master has been trapped on the planet while a series of extraterrestrial disasters occurred over the decades without the Doctor's help to stop them.
Short stories
Eric SawardEric Saward
Eric Saward was born on 9 December 1944 and became a scriptwriter and script editor for the BBC, resigning from the latter post on the TV programme Doctor Who in 1986....
included Anthony Ainley's incarnation of the Master in his short story, Birth of a Renegade, in the Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special one-off magazine, published by Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
(and in the United States by Starlog Press
Starlog
Starlog was a monthly science-fiction film magazine published by Starlog Group Inc. The magazine was created by publishers Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs. O'Quinn was the magazine's editor while Jacobs ran the business side of things, dealing with typesetters, engravers and printers. They got...
) in 1983.
In a short story by Cavan Scott
Cavan Scott
Cavan Scott is a freelance author, journalist and editor best known for his work on a variety of spin-offs from the BBC Television series Doctor Who...
and Mark Wright, The Feast of the Stone, an android version of the Master is created by the Doctor as an ally—albeit a slightly sinister one. Exactly why the Doctor created an android duplicate of the Master is not revealed, but it is suggested that the Doctor somehow extended the Master's life by doing so. The android is able to pilot the Doctor's TARDIS, but is physically unable to leave the ship.
Webcasts
In 2003, an android version of the character (resembling the Delgado version of the Master voiced by Derek JacobiDerek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
) appeared in the animated webcast Scream of the Shalka
Scream of the Shalka
Scream of the Shalka is a flash-animated series based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was produced to coincide with the 40th Anniversary of the series and was originally posted in six weekly parts from 13 November to 18 December 2003 on bbc.co.uk's Doctor Who...
. He also appears, with the "Shalka Doctor
Shalka Doctor
The Shalka Doctor is the common fan name given to the character that appeared as an alternate incarnation of the Doctor in the flash-animated serial Scream of the Shalka in 2003 and the later short story The Feast of the Stone which were based on the British science fiction television series,...
" (Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant
Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:...
), in the webcast of The Feast of Stone.
Computer game
- Destiny of the DoctorsDestiny of the DoctorsDoctor Who: Destiny of the Doctors is a PC computer game based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who; released on 5 December 1997 by BBC Multimedia.- Overview :...
, played by Ainley; his last performance as the Master
Parody
The Master was played by Jonathan PryceJonathan Pryce
Jonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
who deeply resembled the incarnation played by Roger Delgado in the Comic Relief
Comic Relief
Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief...
sketch, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death
Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death
Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death is a four-episode special of Doctor Who made for the Red Nose Day charity telethon in the United Kingdom, and broadcast on BBC One on 12 March 1999...
.
See also
- Meddling MonkMeddling MonkThe Meddling Monk, or simply The Monk, was a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Played by the British comic actor Peter Butterworth, the character appeared in two stories: as an adversary of the First Doctor.Other than the...
- The War Chief
- OmegaOmega (Doctor Who)Omega is a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. In the context of the series, Omega is known as one of the founding fathers of the Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey, and is a revered figure in Time Lord history together with the equally...
- Morbius
- The ValeyardValeyardThe Valeyard is a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. He is described as an aspect of the Doctor from between his twelfth and final incarnations as depicted in the TV show or regenerations in the novelization of the story...
- DavrosDavrosDavros is a character from the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Davros is an archenemy of the Doctor and is the creator of the Doctor's deadliest enemies, the Daleks...
- The RaniRani (Doctor Who)The Rani is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She was played by Kate O'Mara. The word "Rani" means "queen" in the Urdu and Hindi languages and "The Rani" follows the naming convention for other renegade timelords, "The Doctor," "The Monk," "The War...
- RassilonRassilonRassilon is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the backstory of the programme, he was the founder of Time Lord society on the planet Gallifrey...
External links
- "The Feast of the Stone" – short story featuring the Shalka Master on the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
website. - A BBC viral website created to promote the election campaign