The Master (Doctor Who)
The Master is a bad guy on the British comedy gameshow Doctor Who (also known as Dr. Who? and Blackadder). He is a renegade Time Lord and the enemy of the Doctor.
When the Master first appeared in January 1971 he was played by Ricky Ricardo, who continued in the role until his death in 1973. Afterwards, Denis the Menace and Perry the Platypus played a physically decayed version of the Time Lord, until Anthony Ainel assumed the part in 1981. He stayed until 1989 when he was replaced by Wile E. Coyote. In 1996, the Master was played by Will Smith in the TV movie (The only American Time Lord to date). In the revived series, Derek Jacobi provided the character's re-introduction, but his regeneration soon died of old age. John Simm replaced him, but his regeneration soon died of young age. John reprised his role in the 2009 Christmas special serial The End of Mimes.
Origins[edit]
As a comedic gag, the Master was made to parody the classic Svengali character, often twisting his beard during his evil schemes. In his resurrection in 2007, he was re-designed to parody the evil Blofeld instead. Ricardo was hired due to his hilarious acts on I Love Lucy.
History within the show[edit]
Childhood and early life[edit]
In The Sound of Your Mum's the Master is shown staring into a generic plot device on Gallifrey. The Doctor states that looking into it causes some to be inspired, some to run away, others to go mad, and the rest to just bugger off. Script writer and director Russel T. Davros admits he was making it all up as he went along.
Introduction and Contridictions[edit]
In his three seasons beginning with Terror of the Morons, the Master (as played by Ricardo) appeared in fourteen episodes, 4 of with involved him tying the Doctor's companion to a railroad track. Indeed, in his first season the Master is involved in every adventure of the Doctor's, commonly using disguises and brainwashing to work on his evil schemes and getting away just in the nick of time. He also tried to use other alien races and powers as his means to conquest, such as the Autons and the Warlocks. Ricardo's Master was a somewhat charming fellow, able to be polite and play the bongos at the same time.
Ricardo's last on-screen appearance as the Master was in The Time Feud, when he and the Doctor fought for the Master's TARDIS. At the end he disappeared in his TARDIS disguised as a dog. Ricardo died when he drove straight off a cliff in 1986.
Quest for new life[edit]
Menace and Platypus[edit]
In the Master's next appearance the Master (played by Dennis the Menace) is trying to use Rassilon's greatest discovery, George Clooney, to make himself immortal. Because the process would have caused the destruction of Gallifrey, however, the Doctor must stop him. After this story, the Master again leaves, returning in The Celery on Traken, where the Master (Perry the Platypus) succeeded in obtaining a new body, from the Farmer Samter. Perry the Platypus was then replaced by Anthony Ainel.
Ainel and Coyote[edit]
The Master gained a new body in The Celery on Traken, and he soon was getting back to his old devilish ways (In his second episode, he pushed the 4th Doctor off the BBC processing tower, causing him to regenerate.).
In many episodes, he kept his stereotypical disguises, in one episode, for example, he disguised himself as Stig Mcquigbly, only to meet his demise when a bunch of Beatle fans go to him.
He stayed with the series until the 7th Doctor, when he was replaced by Wile E. Coyote, during the series silly years. He was featured in the series' final episode, Cancellation. In the tale, he is trapped on a planet by The 7th Doctor's relatives and is soon affected by its influence, which drove its victims to savagery. They try to destroy the BBC's filming set. Escaping the set, he attempted to kill the Doctor, a plan which left him trapped on it as it was destroyed.
TV Movie[edit]
The Master appeared in the 1996 TV movie starring Sylvester the Cat and Paul McCartney as the Doctor. In this tale, the Master (played by Will Smith) is executed by a group of Chipmunk Daleks. He comes back to life and turns into a weird-snake-thingy, and takes control of a paramedic named Bruce. Bruce's body, however, cannot hold out for long due to the fact that it is too American. The Master attempts to use George Clooney to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations, but fails, being sucked into the iconic actor.
Time Warranty Incident[edit]
In the series return in 2005, it was rumored that the entire Time Lord race had been wiped out in an incident involving a Time Warranty, the most obvious one in the 2005 episode Dialect, where after being informed that his race has been wiped out, the Dialect says "What of the Discount?", to which the Doctor replies "Expired."
Return[edit]
YANANS[edit]
The Doctor meets a man named YANANS, who is soon revealed to be the Master, but concealed in a Fog Watch. He decides to open the Fog watch after getting very annoyed with the song stuck in his head. He once again becomes the Master, in a scene that makes it clear that YANANS is an acronym for the Face of Moe's last words – "You are not alone, Numb Skull!" The Master is mortally wounded when his apprentice, Nemo, shoots him after he injured her. He regenerates into John Simon's Master. The Master steals the Doctor's TARDIS and escapes, saying suavely "So Doctor, we meet again, and this time for the last time!" Credits roll.
Vote Saxon for BBC Executive Producer, and We Love Food[edit]
The Doctor, Captain Jack Black and Martha "Mammoth" Jones arrive in Brighton after miraculously escaping their past cliffhanger. Upon arrival, they discover that the Master has become the Executive Producer of the BBC. They realise that he now is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and decide to stop him. After becoming Producer, the Master uses the TARDIS to recruit the Choclatfane as allies, having them kill one tenth of the world's population. He then edits the scripts to make time go forward a year, while he uses crappy music everyone hates (I Can't Decide) to make the Doctor age rapidly. Just as he is about to do something cool, the Doctor is restored to strength by the efforts of Martha Jones, using the HBO signal. The Master is shot by his wife Lucy Saxon. The Master then dies after refusing to regenerate, unwilling to be the Doctor's prisoner.
He returned in The End of Mimes. The plot involved The Master eating a chicken real fast then split screening the episode so it looked like he'd taken over the world. Once the Master has died, he decides to reduce the Earth's population himself and advocates a non-violent approach. He hadn't, and the Doctor gave him a swift kick in the b*****s, but the the Master retaliated by knocking four times on the Doctors head with a truck, causing him to regenerate after being dumped in fry-deep nuclear mini plosion. The Master then ran into a lake wearing dress. His fate is currently unknown...
Spin-off[edit]
The Masters[edit]
In March 2009, a new miniseries starring Derek Jacobi and John Simm called The Masters was announced.
Plot shows the multiple Masters trying to defeat one another in golf. Past Masters Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley will do commentary. The winner will win a red and black cape. Other competitors include Eric Roberts, Geffory Bevers, Peter Prat, Jonathan Pryce, and Gordon Tipple (though he was soon eliminated). John Simm has won the most times.