Menu Close

Tag: the Master

Nu-View #10: Mastering the Situation

2 Comments

Terror of the Autons (Story #55, 1971)
Viewed 28 Aug 2012

Doctor/Companion: Three, Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Stars: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning, Nicholas Courtney
Preceding Story: Inferno (Three, Liz Shaw, the Brigadier)
Succeeding Story: The Mind of Evil (Three, Jo, the Brigadier)

Summer has really wreaked havoc with our quasi-regular WhoFest schedule. We even watched the first episode of this story once already, at the end of our last WhoFest. Of course, that was so long ago that I didn’t expect anyone actually to remember it, so we watched it again anyway. (Also, I’d managed to lose my notes.) And it’s good that we did, because it had pretty much completely escaped everyone’s memory (except mine, of course; I’ve seen it more times in the last year and a half since its release on DVD than is perhaps entirely healthy).

In terms of pre-Hiatus Who, it’s an Auton-rich environment around here lately, what with the Special Edition of Spearhead from Space coming out on DVD earlier in August, too. However, the Autons were just a bonus; my main reason for screening this particular story was to give the Ladies a proper introduction to the Master.

Before that could happen, though, we’re introduced to another new, and in her own way iconic, character: Jo. “What terrible clothes!” Clearly jA is not hip to the 1971 fashion scene. Putting things in perspective, jE chastised, “think of the year – that’s not a terrible outfit!”

Read more →

Neither Angel Nor Devil

2 Comments

Review of The Dæmons (#59)
DVD Release Date:  10 Apr 12
Original Air Date:  22 May – 19 Jun 1971
Doctor/Companion:  Three, Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Stars:  Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning
Preceding Story:  Colony in Space (Three, Jo)
Succeeding Story:  Day of the Daleks (Three, Jo, the Brigadier)

A lot of Long-Term Fans have a pretty high opinion of The Dæmons, from what I understand. That kind of reputation always makes me approach a story with caution. With a pedestal so high, can it possibly be as beautiful as those who put it there believe?

For me, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, it’s an enjoyable story. There’s a lot to recommend it, and I could probably watch it again relatively soon without complaint. But there are the standard silly bits, too, and it’s not quite engaging enough for me to ignore them all.

Based on conversations elsewhere, I think at least some of the story’s charm is lost in translation, as it were. An idyllic English village doesn’t trip all the cultural nostalgia triggers that it would for a Brit or that, say, a small rural town or farm would for me, as someone who was raised in the American Midwest. So while the village square surrounded by pub, chapel, and such may stir something deep in the soul of a native of the British Isles, I find it merely quaint.

So what is it I’m not ignoring? Let’s start with the Master’s whole plan. Why the hell (~ahem~) is the Master bent on dominating humanity? Doesn’t he hate this backward little planet? Hasn’t he already tried to wipe out our species several times over? Isn’t he sick of the place? For a while I thought maybe that last bit was part of the answer – he’s stuck here, but has decided to make the best of it, and live up to his name. But that can’t be right – it’s not till the end of The Dæmons that he’s locked up by UNIT (so he can later wreak havoc with The Sea Devils), and since we’ve just seen him in Colony in Space, we know he’s got full control of his TARDIS. So I’m back to square one: wtf?

Read more →

Still Raze-y After All These Years

Review of Colony in Space (#58)
DVD Release Date:  08 Nov 11
Original Air Date:  10 Apr – 15 May 1971
Doctor/Companion:  Three, Jo Grant
Stars:  Jon Pertwee, Katie Manning
Preceding Story:  The Claws of Axos (Three, Jo)
Succeeding Story:  The Dæmons (Three, Jo)

When the Doctor forcibly regenerated into Three, he was exiled to 20th Century Earth. While that made for some less expensive down-to-earth filming for about a series and a half, eventually he needed to get back out into the broadness of time and space to keep the show fresh and interesting. Thus begins the Time Lords’ co-option of the Doctor’s services for their own purposes.

Off the Doctor and Jo go, quite unwittingly, to just one more dystopian Earth-colony of the future where a mining company is prepared to raze the planet for its mineral wealth. Notably, despite having already had three adventures with Three, this is both the first time Jo has set foot inside the TARDIS and, resultantly, the first time she’s traveled with him away from her own planet or time. Unlike some Companions, she’s less than thrilled at first, though just like all of them, she’s thrown right into Yet Another Fine Mess.

This story is from Season 8 – the one in which every single story involved the Master – so the only surprise is that, barring passing mention by the Time Lords in episode 1, he doesn’t show up until episode 4 (of 6). When he does, though, it’s Delgado’s typical schmoov operator, complete with updated TARDIS defenses (and filing cabinets! what Time Lord would be without them?) and classic quotes (like “tried and true methods are best,” and “but of course that’s typical of the High Council of the Time Lords – know everything; do nothing”).

Read more →

Confession #12: I Adore Delgado’s Master

5 Comments

When I first started thinking about why the original Master was such a delicious villain, I thought in terms of his characteristic muahaha!!  He seemed like a wonderfully campy nemesis for the Doctor, and though I don’t know that the character ever literally said, “they laughed at me at the Academy!” I really felt he should have.

As I went back over some of the Master’s stories I’ve seen so far (remember that I haven’t seen them all) and watched the DVD extra on Frontier in Space about his career and tragic death, I realized that what Katie Manning (who played Companion Jo Grant) said of him was true: “he never camped it up.” The character itself is something of a caricature, but Delgado always played the Master straight.

His Master was intelligent, polite, charming, sharp-witted, suave, persuasive (even without the hypnosis), and completely evil. He cared not one whit for what damage his plans might do to the universe or any minor players, as long as he got a thrill from it – and showed up the Doctor. With the easy way he could arch his eyebrow with disdain, he had me at “universally.”

Read more →