Every hero needs an archenemy. From Roger Delgado through Anthony Ainley and Eric Roberts, The Master has been just that for The Doctor.

I haven't caught any of the regular series with the Master, but I have seen The Five Doctors, where he almost comes across as a tragic figure. You get the sense that he really does want to help the various Doctors, and it's only their refusal to accept his assistance that makes him revert to being evil again.

The Master always seemed to be over the map when it came to being evil. My favorite Master has to be the first. Roger Delgado played him with such charm and style. And the curious thing was that he seemed to really want the Doctor to join him in his plans. I always got the impression that they were old friends who took drastically different paths. Delgado's Master seemed so half-hearted in his attempts to kill the Doctor, and the Doctor seemed so much to enjoy going up against the Master.

Of course, once the Master went through the decaying stages to emerge as Ainley's version, he'd gone quite mad and was obsessed with destroying the Doctor and his schemes of universal domination were just a side show to that. I think it was a great pity that Ainley's Master ended up being so over the top and completely unbelievable in his ability to pop back up after apparently dying over and over again. At least in his last performance as the Master in Survival, he was able to give the character some depth and real motivations.

Exactly! You know that restaurant scene in Boom Town? The Doctor and the Master could do that. Sit down and have a civilised meal together. I'm not so sure about the Ainley version, but the Delgado version was a villain who knew which knife was for buttering the bread, and which was for stabbing that irritating do-gooder sitting opposite.

AinleyMaster would get so worked up he'd try to kill you with the soup spoon if he got half a chance.

According to Wikipedia, Ainley did want to be more of a Delgado type Master, but the directors' and writers' insistence that like the Doctor each generation have a different personality overruled him.

There's a Missing Adventure novel, "The Dark Path," that you may want to check out. It's a Second Doctor story in which he runs into an old Academy friend Koschei. (Koschei isn't yet calling himself the Master, but since Delgado's picture is on the cover it's not exactly a spoiler.) Koschei appears as a sort of Doctor-ish figure -- he even has a female human companion -- although he's a little more disciplined and organized, and is apparently not regarded a renegade like the Doctor.

Koschei ends up starting down, well, the Dark Path, when he accidentally kills his companion during a firefight.

Ainley was the first Master I had seen and since I didn't have anyone to compare to (without heavy makeup), it seemed like he did a good job.

lacorelli writes:


That's cool. I think the relaxed, gentlemanly Master is too cozy to be a credible threat, and that he works better as a vicious rogue who's trying to kill the Doctor and meaning it, turning people into action figures, and already halfway into an Evil Plan when the story starts ("Terror of the Autons", "The Deadly Assassin", "Logopolis").

Does anyone know if they're planning to bring back the Master in the new series? I'm getting tired of the Daleks. The Master is a much more interesting villan IMHO. I wouldn't mind seeing Rani either.

There have been persistant rumours that Antony Stewart Head would be playing the Master in the second series, but these have been repeatedly denied. I'm still wistfully hoping for it, but I think we might have to wait a bit longer.

You know who I'd like to see play the Master? Patrick Stewart. If I met him on the street tomorrow, I'd recognise him as the voice of authority. He's Picard! He's Professor X! I trust him to do what's right. For him to take that trust and use it in an evil role would be great!

Am I making any sense?

I hear you, Foolish, but Patrick Stewart is way, way, way too expensive for British television, I fear. Unless he really wanted to do it (is he a big fan?) you wouldn't see him.

Personally, I'd suggest Nathaniel Parker(picture), who I just saw in Bleak House on PBS (Mr. Skimpole). He could be good and evil.

I haven't seen the new series -- for all I know, he's in it already.

I don't think Patrick Stewart would be too expensive (if ITV could afford him for that terrible Doomwatch rip off, the BBC could afford him for a couple of episodes of their flagship programme), I think he'd be too hard to pin down. From what I can make out, he's still pretty much based in the US, so to get him slotted into Who's already hellish filming dates would probably be a huge effort. Plus, knowing RTD, I think if he did bring the Master back, he'd probably want to do something radically different with him. Shake him up the same way he did for the Doctor, so rather then another plummy voiced British character actor all in black, he'd be something new and not so cliched.

Of course, I'm hoping the Master doesn't come back at all because (as I've argued repeatedly on the original Who thread here, and over on the Outpost) I think he's a very boring character, based on a flawed perception and usually relying only on the actors charm to raise him above two dimensions.

I read in an article somewhere that Tom Baker (4th) joked that he should play the next Master.

Personally, I think that would be hilarious.

Hee. Maybe the Doctor's new nemesis will be the Mistress...

Hmm. Is Mary Tamm doing anything at the moment? Plummy-voiced, all in black... I'd watch!

Ahhhh, I'd love that. Mary Tamm was one of my favorite companions, and I always loved how she seemed more on the ball than the Doctor himself. Maybe that same vibe is what made me like the Rani as a villain as well.

Master Yupa!

The Delgado Master from the Pertwee era had the coolest hypno-voice. I try to use it at work sometimes, but only get quizzical looks. "You will obey only me."

Pity. I was hoping for Jonathan Pryce.

Was I the only one who watched the War Games and was so sure that the "war chief" was really the Master? I mean, he was an evil time lord and he even looked like a Master - dark hair, goatee, etc. Even if he isn't counted as a Master, I'm convinced that the writers drew from the War Chief when making up the Master. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, he was a previous regeneration, and the Doctor just never retrospectively figured it out.

There's a certain element of fandom that is convinced that the War Chief = the Master, but I don't see it. It's not like it's rare for Time Lords to go screwy and run off to try to rule the universe, so I'd just put him down as another in a long line of Gallifreyan whack jobs. Also, the War Chief doesn't seem as eeeeevil as the Master - ruthless and self serving yes, but not full on "The power shall be mine, all mine!", which is probably why I prefer him as a character. For instance, he only wants to control the galaxy, the Master would want the universe or nothing!

From a meta point of view however, it's pretty obvious that when Uncles Terry and Barry were looking for a way to spice up their limited story options with the Doctor stuck on Earth, they remembered the War Chief and just reworked the character.

If I recall correctly, in 'The Five Doctors' The Master makes a throw-away line to the Doctor while they are in the tower - something about ' you don't remember me? - implying that they'd met before.

Now I'm going to have to dig that episode out and watch it again

The only thing that bothered me about the 9th doctor (I've only seen the first two eps just shown on Sci Fi) is that they tell us he is the last of his kind. I immidiately felt a pang at the idea of never seeing the Master again. I hope the Master somehow escaped the war that destroyed Gallifrey, which the more I think of it the more likely he did. He was a renegade and therefore probably wasn't on Gallifrey whenever whatever the hell happened happened so I'm feeling better about it.

Can somebody refresh my memory...when was the last time we saw the Master in the SERIES? I'm not sure Eric Roberts counts as the tv movie didn't seem all that canonical to me. I never got to see the Ace as companion seasons was he on then? If so what is the last thing we saw happen to him? Thanks

The Master was seen in the very final serial of the old series, Survival. He becamed trapped on a planet of a cheetah-like race and attempted to lure the Doctor there in order to escape. It's a lot more complicated than that, actually. The ending left it unclear whether the Master escaped or remained trapped. It's a pretty good story (barring the inevitable poorly-realized effect, of course), and one worth checking out if you are interested. It hasn't been released on DVD yet, unfortunately.

The current production team pretty much count the TV Movie as canonical though (hense Eccleston is the Ninth Doctor and not the Eighth), so what you saw there is the last of what we saw of the Master...

Eric"It's My Party" Roberts. Eric "The Ambulance" Roberts. You could have had Rip Torn as The Master and you went with ERIC ROBERTS???? Sorry. Ten years and it still bugs me.

Anyway, we did get Jonathan Pryce, The Man Born To Play The Master, as The Master in The Curse of Fatal Death. (For those not in the know, it was a spoof done for Comic Relief UK that aired on the BBC in 1999, I believe, in which Rowan Atkinson played the Doctor, who later regenerated into Hugh Grant and Joanne Lumley, among others.)

Is that available anywhere?

Was it just me, or did one of the incarnations of The Master remind anyone else of Skeletor? My younger sisters were into 'Masters of the Universe' at the time and they even stopped calling Skeletor by that name and started calling him The Master. LOL

It was available as a Region 1 VHS. Of course, it might be available through other avenues.

The Master's incarnation in "The Deadly Assassin" and "Keeper of Traken" was a decaying body in a hooded cloak. "The Deadly Assassin" makeup, in particular, gave me nightmares for ages.

I think this'd be a bit of a cop-out, but technically the Master isn't a Time Lord and hasn't been for sometime. He transfered his consciousness out of his old Gallifrean body a long time ago. He'd transfered his mind to a weird liquid/energy/snake for the telemovie.

Didn't he get killed in that movie? I know Master deaths aren't binding but I hope not to see him, actually. Despite the technicality I do think him being alive would lessen the tragedy of the Doctor's "last Time Lord" situation. And while I like the character enough, the way he was always coming back from the dead without explanation was a real weakness of the old show in my opinion.

On the other hand, you think you're the last living member of your race, you go on moping about the universe, and then you discover that someone lived! You get all happy for a few hours, and then you discover that that someone? Is your arch enemy, who still wants to kill you and rule the universe. What a kick in the nuts.

It could work.

Yeah, he got eaten by the TARDIS after getting kicked into its innards.

In the Doctor Who annual, which I bought for the princely sum of 99 pence, it mentions that there is a memorial to Gallifrey on a nearby planet (near to where it was, I think), and someone had scrawled on it "You're not alone". The annual's written by the series writers, so take that how you will.

I hold on to the dim hope that somewhere out there Susan was safe from the Time War and lived happily ever after.

We don't even know if Susan qualifies as a Time Lord. If the Doctor's interest in the universe outside Gallifrey was a feature of his youth he could have fathered a child outside of his species. And that child, Susan's mother or father, could have done the same. Susan might only be 1/4 Time Lord(or 1/8 if you believe the film).

It'd actually be pretty sad if Susan is a full Time Lord, because that means she'll be regenerating and living over a thousand years. The husband she met on 22nd Century Earth, and any family she starts there or friends she makes, will all be dead before her life is even 1/10th over. Thats depressing.

I started writing: "And with no TARDIS of her own, she'd be stuck on Earth for a very long time," but of course she'd be able to buy a starship ticket at some point in there. Still.

The topic is the Master.

Let's see, the Master has:

1. Burned through all 12 regenerations
2. Somehow forced a (botched) 13th regeneration according to The Deadly Assassin, hence his skeletor state
3. Survived being in the Eye of Harmony, despite wearing protective gear of Rassilon's that wasn't working properly
4. Partially healed into a less skeletal version of the above from the EoH energy
5. Absorbed the power of the Keeper of Traken, then fused himself into Treelan's body, rejuvenating it into a younger state and turning it into a Traken/Gallefreyan hybrid
6. Survived being shrunken by his own TCE (tissue compression eleminator), as shown in Planet of Fire
7. Been healed by healing energies in PoF, then incinerated by the non-healing version of the flame by the 5th Doctor (residual energy explaining how he survived, maybe).
8. Been turned into a Cheetah person in Survival
9. Exterminated by the Dalek
10. Somehow survived the above and turned into a liquid snake
11. Possessed a human (Eric Roberts) in the TV movie, that promptly began to decay
12. Attempted to absorb the Doctor's remaining regenerations through the EoH
13. Knocked into the TARDIS's link to the EoH

You could always fanwank that seeing as how the Eye powers time travel, he may have met his past self from "Assassin" in there and got help getting out/surviving, and that his attempt to absorb the Doctor's regenerations kept his body from decaying anymore. As from there, you'd probably have to get him a new body/set of regenerations, because looking at the above, it's getting ridiculous how much he's gone through merely to keep the character alive by putting him in deadly situations where he dies, without the benefit of regenerations of making it easy to bring him back for future stories.

Anyway, the one thing I've hated about the new Who is the whole "last of my kind" stuff. It's been ripped off of a lot from Superman, and having Gallifrey and other rogue timelords out there is what made "Doctor Who" "Doctor Who". Destroying a good number of existing characters, species, and concepts ultimately hurts the show in the long run. Particuarly if it means we can't look forward to more appearances by fan favorites such as the Master :(

As to the "How the Master got all skeleton-y and burned through his regenerations..."

According to the now-out-of-print 'Legacy of the Daleks', (not sure if one needs spoiler space on a decade-old-novel, but people might not have read it, so...) the Delgado Master tried a scheme on 22nd century Earth, a few decades after the Dalek invasion was foiled by the First Doctor, but was himself foiled by the Eighth Doctor (who reunited with his grand-daughter.) In retaliation, he killed David Campbell (Susan's husband), and Susan took her revenge by repeatedly zapping him with his own Tissue Compression Eliminator, burning through all his remaining regenerations, then kicked his dying body out to be found by Chancellor Goth and stole his TARDIS.)

It's a bit of a stretch, and that's me putting it politely, but it's the only explanation we've ever got and if you're one who believes the books to be canon (and I do, even if I'd like to make specific exceptions for 'War of the Daleks' and 'Legacy of the Daleks'), it's right there in print.

As people have pointed out, the "Doctor Who 2006 Annual" does state that on a mural of the Time War etched by some primitive culture that believed it to be a war between two races of gods, someone scrawled over the picture of the Doctor as only survivor, "You are not alone." It does not take a great feat of imagination to suppose that to be the Master.

And to correct one minor point about someone's summary of 'The Dark Path', the Master didn't just start on his current philosophy when his companion was killed. It also had a lot to do with the fact that she then regenerated, and he learned she was a spy for the Time Lords placed with him to ensure he didn't do anything too drastic when traveling. Which backfired, as he viewed this as a clear betrayal of their trust and it hardened him against putting faith in others.

The only actor that I am familiar with who played The Master is Anthony Ainley. He was good in Logopolis and Castrovalva, although it has been years since I have seen either story.

There were several stories that he appeared in the Davison era, but the only story that he was in that I have seen recently is Planet of Fire. I thought that he died at the end of that story, but apparently he returned twice in the Colin Baker era. Was it ever explained how he survived?

I read that The Mark of the Rani has been released on DVD, but will not be available here in the US until November. Does anyone have any thoughts or opinions on how Ainley came across in that episode?

Neumesmatron Gas. It was what the Master was after on the planet in the first place, to retstore him to regular size. "heal an injured Timelord" is what the Doctor said. While it appeared the fire consumed him, the healing properties ressurected him.

Oh yeah - Don't count out the Master just yet. He should make an appearence or two next season.

Remember the last line of the latest ep. "I need a new body." Hmmmmm. Where have I heard that before?

I'd like to see not the Master, but his son/daughter turn up. Seeing as he's been bumbling around nicking bodies from various other races he could have fathered a child who he's indoctrinated with hatred to the Doctor (like he did with that kid in the movie). But that's just me.
Been reading some fanfic recently that had the Doc & the Master as brothers. Anyone know if that's got any vague root in canon?

Is this for certain sure?!? If so, I may have to give up my "no spoilers" policy so I'll know which episodes to avoid like the bubonic plague. I cannot abide the character.

Though to be fair (if I must), although I was tired of the number of Master stories in the Pertwee era, it was really Anthony Ainley's portrayal that makes me shudder uncontrollably as Delgado was really quite good. Cardboard character, OTT 'acting'. Maybe another actor, better writing and direction could make him tolerable?

Still, I would rather that the Last of the Time Lords remain just that. Let us not waste Nine's angst.

One of the Big Finish audio dramas, Master, has an interesting story about the Doctor and the Master, and how their childhood friendship set them on their respective paths. As wikipedia says,
but it's an interesting take on their relationship.

There's a synopsis of it at Wikipedia.

I don't think AA is necessarily bad per se, but there have been comments that they forced him to "ham up" the role, particuarly with the constant laughing. He was particuarly keen to do a more subdued performance in Survival, but they made him cheese it up again. Another problem was that in the Delgado stories, he really was more of a "moriarty" to the Doctor. You could tell that while deadly, they really enjoyed their little "games" with each other. The AA Master missed that fun of twisted competitiveness and twisted friendship; he was just a complete nutte.r

You're probably right that AA wasn't really that bad an actor and that JNT forced him to ham it up. But that portrayal, forced or not, has made me despise the character. Plus, -- I find nothing interesting in watching such a one-dimensional character. If the character does come back I hope he'll have had some intensive pyschotherapy.

I'd like to see the Master return, even if only for a one off story. Given the new, darker and slightly more sardonic approach to the Whoniverse, the new Master could be even darker. And before you go "meh" -- remember that the Daleks were destroyed in the Time War, absolutely and completely. Only not so much...

And there's a perfectly good explaination for the reappearance of the Master, if Davis wants to avoid simply introducing another survivor: Rose's use of the "TARDIS energies" could have released whatever was left of the Master's essence. As was shown in the 8th Doctor, it would be simplicity itself for the Master to "possess" another body.

What RTD needs to avoid, like the plague, is doing another overblown villain like the characature of the Master played by Ainsley. ASH would make a superb master -- as would any of the other suggestions in this thread -- but I was deeply impressed by ASH's subtle sense of menace in SR (and those few times Ripper appeared in BtVS). That's what the Master needs to be, not a scenery-chewing megolomaniac.

OK, I can agree with this. I also liked ASH, and would be willing to watch him. I think I would just have to forego my non-spoiler policy if the Master ever returned, and check out what the response to any new one was.

Just, please, no AA. Even a non-scenery-chewing meglomaniac one. I don't think I could get past the horrible visceral reaction I have towards that old portrayal.

I've just rewatched Claws of Axos, and I have to wonder. Why, oh why, is this the only Roger Delgado episode on DVD right now? I mean I like it, but I know it isn't one of the more highly rated Third Doctor episodes. Come on, couldn't they at least give us Terror of the Autons? It's the Master's first episode and features a return of the Autons. Or how about The Sea Devils? Anything. The Delgado Master is my favorite and I often think he's the best thing about much of the Pertwee era.

It's not fair that Ainley gets the whole New Beginnings set, while Delgado has just one single story out. He was the Master, the original you might say. I really enjoyed his and the Doctor's friendly adversarial relationship, especially whenever they're forced to work together. I also think it's rather appropriate than in Mind of Evil that the Master's greatest fear is the Doctor laughing at him. I want more Delgado on DVD, darn it.

The Delgado Master, as suave as he was, quickly became boring to me, especially after seeing him in episode after episode of the Pertwee era, and it was, after a while, painful to watch him turn into the fool’s fool.

The Ainley Master, which was essentially a clone of the Delgado Master, was even more painful to watch; the only exception being his performance in Survival. His restraint (instead of the campy acting) managed to actually return him somewhat to a pseudo Delgado-mode, with shades of the Pratt Master in The Deadly Assassin.

The Pratt Master was actually the first Master I ever saw, and to me he was the best of them all; a complete contrast to Delgado, hiding in shadows, the determination in that powerful voice, his skeletal appearance and tatterdemalion-like clothes…

If the Master were to return, this is the Master I would like to see; he was indeed the most compelling of all the incarnations we have seen, pure hatred, pure revenge…

We’ve had the Three Doctors, the Five Doctors and the Two Doctors, why not the Two Masters? If done right, they would be more than a match for the Tenth (or Eleventh) Doctor, and if written and directed right, could make for entertaining television.

But, how do you get him out of the Eye of Harmony in the heart of the Tardis? Unless the Pratt Master somehow rescued him…

Much as I love Delgado, I will admit they overused him, but I really did like the fact that we got the sense that the Doctor and the Master were once friends who took separate paths.

But, yes there is something very compelling about a Master burned and at the end of his lives desperately trying to survive. While Pratt was mesmerising, I also have to put in a good word for Geoffrey Beevers who played an equally, to my mind, well done Master at the end of his tether in Keeper of Traken. I especially remember his gloating over the Doctor, forced to stand absolutely immobile in the Master's TARDIS, just as the Master was planning to take over his body.

I never really liked Ainley's Master; he popped up like a jack in the box in the most absurd ways, and was really too mad to have any of the charm of the original. Basically, as I see it, Delgado's Master was after power and if he managed to kill the Doctor along the way, well that was fine and if not, the game went on, and maybe someday they'd be on the same side. Ainley's Master wanted the Doctor dead and his daft schemes were more of a sideshow diversion to that plan.

Also, I'm rather fond of Jonathan Price's Master in Curse of the Fatal Death. I really think he could do an excellent serious Master.

A lot of the best Delgado Master stories have technical problems, which have held back them coming out on DVD. Autons and The Daemons both had to be recolourised and the results wouldn't hold up well on DVD, so they'd need doing again to get something more DVD standard. Frontier is a paired story with Planet which has the black and white episode problem, while many of the rest have to be RSC'd. I hope that the good job that the improved RSC process did with Inferno means we will get more Delgados, especially The Sea Devils, as that's oen of my all time Who favourites.