Thinky Master thoughts: The Essay
Mar. 28th, 2013 01:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stalkerbunnySo on Sunday after watching Reign of Terror myself and M., after reading and discussing another article, came across titled 10 Reasons We Want The Master To Return and... strangely enough, ended up disagreeing with the author on all points. Which, as you know, nothing is better for inspiring discussion.
Disclaimer: 1) I haven't seen nearly all episodes of Doctor Who, not even the ones with the Master. So be gentle if I say something totally dumb, but also feel free to let me know how you see it. 2) ... I ship the Master and the Doctor and that will probably come up. JSYK. 3) Lots of things are subject to interpretation and/or taste, and that's cool. For example, I don't like Moffat's writing but a lot of people seem to. And moving on.
That they are equals in intelligence and imagination, argues Will Barber-Taylor. Which, they do have a point, but, perhaps one could say additionally, there's a certain emotional ambivalence in the Doctor's relationship with the Master that's either missing or at least not as strong with the other villains who keep coming back. Granted, maybe that's what W.B-T was going for with "The Master-- can charm people around to his way of thinking in a much more effective manner than your normal thug."
Yes, and sometimes, not always, but sometimes, I suspect the Doctor finds him a bit charming too. And I don't even say this just as a shipper, it's possible to see it as platonic admiration/like just as well.
Here I'm mainly thinking of Delgado!Master. Who, in his first episode, was specifically designed as a dark mirror of the Doctor. The writers made the Doctor especially grumpy and mean just so the Master could seem more charming in comparison. The viewer wants to like him, even as they know the things he is doing are wrong... and there they are perhaps given an idea how the Doctor feels too. Not to mention that he and the Master knew each other from their childhood and were possibly friends, something that isn't too hard to believe when one looks at how One was in the beginning... or later, for that matter.
For Delgado!Master, while he is (presumably) ready to kill the Doctor, he'd just as well offer him co-share of the universe. And the Doctor, on being offered that, seems to hesitate. Rule or be ruled, those are the option, the Master claims, and yes, "absolute power is evil", but being stuck on earth under the thumb of the high council and UNIT both isn't much fun either.
Delgado!Master and Three are in many ways more similar than they are different. Both scientists, charming yet convinced (sometimes too much so) they are in the right, both following only their personal moral code which is irrelevant of laws or others' opinions.
Similarly, Simm!Master, while not my favourite (but then neither is Ten), actually intentionally seems to design himself into an equivalent of the Tenth Doctor. Possibly that's also intentional on part of the writer as a connection to Delgado!Master (and otherwise they have very little in common).
Whether this in any way applies to Crispy!Master I cannot say since I've not seen any of the relevant episodes, and Ainley!Master, besides often being written as a giant ham (he's still lovely, though) doesn't actually, I think, really match any specific Doctor in the same way.
Although I do, as a shipper, find it amusing that Five might as well be designed specifically to frustrate him. Which, if one proscribes to the regeneration as a sort of evolutionary defense, it would make sense that if Four's last thoughts were along the lines of "damn you Master >:I" he WOULD regenerate into an appealing young body who gets along with the Master like oil and water...
And, interestingly, I would say that Six and Seven are in their own ways more suited to dealing with Master shenanigans, Six because he can match the dramatics and Seven because he seems to actually enjoy twisted mindgames... but I digress.
Returning to W. B-Ts list, I'll hop over the "To See What Moffat Can Do With The Character" with a um no thank you and "To See John Simm As The Master Again" with a something new would be more interesting. (No offence to Simm, it was the writing I had a problem with and not even all of that. That damned drums retcon though... ugh dumb retcons.)
"To See Smith’s Doctor Battle The Master" Oh yes, that WOULD be interesting (just not written by Moffatt please) and Gallifrey coming back, yes that would b--
"As The Master had been sucked into the time space vortex at the end of “The End of Time, Part Two”, for him to return, the explanation would have to be linked in with Gallifrey."
...because he's never mysteriously come back from certain death before with no explanation? Nawww...
"As the series likes to advertise The Doctor as “the last of the Timelords,”it would be a cameo part. However, it would be good to see the planet of the Timelords one last time--" nopetopus to the right.
I mean, I haven't even seen End Of Timebecause my friends won't let me watch it but this sounds like it and... I hear it didn't work so well the first time around?
Same as with Gallifrey... why would getting to know more about the Time War need to be linked necessarily to the Master? I'm not getting the reasoning at all? Surely it's just as believable that this could be done with... any other Timelord/lady character, known or new?
Also apparently only actors who have played modern Sherlock Holmes can play the next Master. Ok.
Incidentally, as we were reading this, M. suddenly realized that Moffat, who think the Master is a "too cartoonish and a bit silly", nevertheless made his modern Moriarty look and act exactly like Simm!Master... hm. And the Master is originally based on Moriarty.
MORIARTYCEPTION
Back to business... No actually, at this point we were mostly just laughing hysterically because:
"To Show That Pure Evil Survives Whatever Happens To It" and "The Master is the embodiment of pure evil."
MOST EVIL MAN IN THE UNIVERSE!!1! Dearies, no, stop flattering him.
But if we're SERIOUSLY taking this up... "pure evil" REALLY? I mean, yeah, he's not the Nice Person of the Year. Delgado!Master, while possibly convinced his rule was the thing to make the universe a better place and didn't care how many sentient creatures he had to kill for that... he did seem like he honestly though he was in the right, for what it's worth. Crispy!Master was a burned out corpse staying alive by sheer willpower so yeah I'd be a tad messed up too and Ainley!Master... he just seemed to do whatever struck his fancy. More knowingly malicious than Delgado!Master, I think but.
Honestly, compared to, say, Daleks who want to kill everyone and everything in the universe (among others), just wanting to take over everything and wear bad orientalist cosplay isn't going to win the Master a Miss Most Evil in the Universe title anytime soon. Sorry but no. Ok he did destroy a third of the universe that one time. BY ACCIDENT.
Meanwhile our main character has multiple cases on genocide on his conscience, let's keep that in mind too, just for perspective.
Back to W B-T, apparently the Master should appear with Gallifrey, kill 11 and then disappear again taking the planet with him? Uh. Sorry I just can't. x''D
"Matt Smith will eventually leave Doctor Who and what a better way to end his era than to have a proper showdown with his arch nemesis? Something of the epic proportions of “The Final Problem”, a final fight to the death between the two time lords. It has been planned before, in the 70s--"
*cough*More like ambiguously maybe sacrifice himself to save the Doctor and die from what I've heard*cough* But who knows really...
And. Reason 1. "To Prove That He Is Not A Cartoon Villain"
What do I even say (although "His harshest critic, The Fifth doctor suggested that he had a rubbish beard." ehehehehe oh Five you mean girl) ... I do kind of want to attempt to draw this Frankensteinian figure they describe:
"The best way to prove that all the nay sayers are wrong is to bring him back and prove that he is truly evil. Let’s see him portrayed at his best like Delgardo when he was being Sauvé (sic); or Beevers when he was being creepy; Ainley when he has that evil glint in his eyes at the end of “Survival”; or even, Eric Roberts when he wasn’t being too camp."
...if only I could figure out when Roberts was not being "too camp"... =A=
And I'll leave you with that mental image.
Disclaimer: 1) I haven't seen nearly all episodes of Doctor Who, not even the ones with the Master. So be gentle if I say something totally dumb, but also feel free to let me know how you see it. 2) ... I ship the Master and the Doctor and that will probably come up. JSYK. 3) Lots of things are subject to interpretation and/or taste, and that's cool. For example, I don't like Moffat's writing but a lot of people seem to. And moving on.
That they are equals in intelligence and imagination, argues Will Barber-Taylor. Which, they do have a point, but, perhaps one could say additionally, there's a certain emotional ambivalence in the Doctor's relationship with the Master that's either missing or at least not as strong with the other villains who keep coming back. Granted, maybe that's what W.B-T was going for with "The Master-- can charm people around to his way of thinking in a much more effective manner than your normal thug."
Yes, and sometimes, not always, but sometimes, I suspect the Doctor finds him a bit charming too. And I don't even say this just as a shipper, it's possible to see it as platonic admiration/like just as well.
Here I'm mainly thinking of Delgado!Master. Who, in his first episode, was specifically designed as a dark mirror of the Doctor. The writers made the Doctor especially grumpy and mean just so the Master could seem more charming in comparison. The viewer wants to like him, even as they know the things he is doing are wrong... and there they are perhaps given an idea how the Doctor feels too. Not to mention that he and the Master knew each other from their childhood and were possibly friends, something that isn't too hard to believe when one looks at how One was in the beginning... or later, for that matter.
For Delgado!Master, while he is (presumably) ready to kill the Doctor, he'd just as well offer him co-share of the universe. And the Doctor, on being offered that, seems to hesitate. Rule or be ruled, those are the option, the Master claims, and yes, "absolute power is evil", but being stuck on earth under the thumb of the high council and UNIT both isn't much fun either.
Delgado!Master and Three are in many ways more similar than they are different. Both scientists, charming yet convinced (sometimes too much so) they are in the right, both following only their personal moral code which is irrelevant of laws or others' opinions.
Similarly, Simm!Master, while not my favourite (but then neither is Ten), actually intentionally seems to design himself into an equivalent of the Tenth Doctor. Possibly that's also intentional on part of the writer as a connection to Delgado!Master (and otherwise they have very little in common).
Whether this in any way applies to Crispy!Master I cannot say since I've not seen any of the relevant episodes, and Ainley!Master, besides often being written as a giant ham (he's still lovely, though) doesn't actually, I think, really match any specific Doctor in the same way.
Although I do, as a shipper, find it amusing that Five might as well be designed specifically to frustrate him. Which, if one proscribes to the regeneration as a sort of evolutionary defense, it would make sense that if Four's last thoughts were along the lines of "damn you Master >:I" he WOULD regenerate into an appealing young body who gets along with the Master like oil and water...
And, interestingly, I would say that Six and Seven are in their own ways more suited to dealing with Master shenanigans, Six because he can match the dramatics and Seven because he seems to actually enjoy twisted mindgames... but I digress.
Returning to W. B-Ts list, I'll hop over the "To See What Moffat Can Do With The Character" with a um no thank you and "To See John Simm As The Master Again" with a something new would be more interesting. (No offence to Simm, it was the writing I had a problem with and not even all of that. That damned drums retcon though... ugh dumb retcons.)
"To See Smith’s Doctor Battle The Master" Oh yes, that WOULD be interesting (just not written by Moffatt please) and Gallifrey coming back, yes that would b--
"As The Master had been sucked into the time space vortex at the end of “The End of Time, Part Two”, for him to return, the explanation would have to be linked in with Gallifrey."
...because he's never mysteriously come back from certain death before with no explanation? Nawww...
"As the series likes to advertise The Doctor as “the last of the Timelords,”it would be a cameo part. However, it would be good to see the planet of the Timelords one last time--" nopetopus to the right.
I mean, I haven't even seen End Of Time
Same as with Gallifrey... why would getting to know more about the Time War need to be linked necessarily to the Master? I'm not getting the reasoning at all? Surely it's just as believable that this could be done with... any other Timelord/lady character, known or new?
Also apparently only actors who have played modern Sherlock Holmes can play the next Master. Ok.
Incidentally, as we were reading this, M. suddenly realized that Moffat, who think the Master is a "too cartoonish and a bit silly", nevertheless made his modern Moriarty look and act exactly like Simm!Master... hm. And the Master is originally based on Moriarty.
MORIARTYCEPTION
Back to business... No actually, at this point we were mostly just laughing hysterically because:
"To Show That Pure Evil Survives Whatever Happens To It" and "The Master is the embodiment of pure evil."
MOST EVIL MAN IN THE UNIVERSE!!1! Dearies, no, stop flattering him.
But if we're SERIOUSLY taking this up... "pure evil" REALLY? I mean, yeah, he's not the Nice Person of the Year. Delgado!Master, while possibly convinced his rule was the thing to make the universe a better place and didn't care how many sentient creatures he had to kill for that... he did seem like he honestly though he was in the right, for what it's worth. Crispy!Master was a burned out corpse staying alive by sheer willpower so yeah I'd be a tad messed up too and Ainley!Master... he just seemed to do whatever struck his fancy. More knowingly malicious than Delgado!Master, I think but.
Honestly, compared to, say, Daleks who want to kill everyone and everything in the universe (among others), just wanting to take over everything and wear bad orientalist cosplay isn't going to win the Master a Miss Most Evil in the Universe title anytime soon. Sorry but no. Ok he did destroy a third of the universe that one time. BY ACCIDENT.
Meanwhile our main character has multiple cases on genocide on his conscience, let's keep that in mind too, just for perspective.
Back to W B-T, apparently the Master should appear with Gallifrey, kill 11 and then disappear again taking the planet with him? Uh. Sorry I just can't. x''D
"Matt Smith will eventually leave Doctor Who and what a better way to end his era than to have a proper showdown with his arch nemesis? Something of the epic proportions of “The Final Problem”, a final fight to the death between the two time lords. It has been planned before, in the 70s--"
*cough*More like ambiguously maybe sacrifice himself to save the Doctor and die from what I've heard*cough* But who knows really...
And. Reason 1. "To Prove That He Is Not A Cartoon Villain"
What do I even say (although "His harshest critic, The Fifth doctor suggested that he had a rubbish beard." ehehehehe oh Five you mean girl) ... I do kind of want to attempt to draw this Frankensteinian figure they describe:
"The best way to prove that all the nay sayers are wrong is to bring him back and prove that he is truly evil. Let’s see him portrayed at his best like Delgardo when he was being Sauvé (sic); or Beevers when he was being creepy; Ainley when he has that evil glint in his eyes at the end of “Survival”; or even, Eric Roberts when he wasn’t being too camp."
...if only I could figure out when Roberts was not being "too camp"... =A=
And I'll leave you with that mental image.
