Dr Who

[Buster's Uncle]

39:16

You have to wonder what exactly the Master had done at the beginning of the US movie to the Daleks, don't you?  It's the Master  - you have to figure he didn't just kill a few thousand; more like destroyed at least a whole planet full of them, minimum, maybe multiple Dalek solar systems.

He comes off like a loser, in the aggregate, every time you see him because the Doctor is there, but nobody else in the entirety of time and space should be able to lay a glove on him for long.  He always survives setbacks, he always escapes, he dies a lot but always, always always, gets better - and taking him on, even in an annoying reduced MTM incarnation, is a very, very, VERY stupid idea.  Even trying to team up with him is sorta like working for the Red Skull; you're probably gonna die.  Even if you take him with you, (S)HE's going to get better.

Lots of the Doctor's enemies who have lived to tell the tale STILL shouldn't want none of the Master in any context - he won't take his time talking and running around to destroy you; he'll just kill you.  Avoid at all costs.

[Buster's Uncle]

When I went to make more coffee, I figured this rates popcorn; back to watching now...

[Green1]

39:16

You have to wonder what exactly the Master had done at the beginning of the US movie to the Daleks, don't you?  It's the Master  - you have to figure he didn't just kill a few thousand; more like destroyed at least a whole planet full of them, minimum, maybe multiple Dalek solar systems.

He comes off like a loser, in the aggregate, every time you see him because the Doctor is there, but nobody else in the entirety of time and space should be able to lay a glove on him for long.  He always survives setbacks, he always escapes, he dies a lot but always, always always, gets better - and taking him on, even in an annoying reduced MTM incarnation, is a very, very, VERY stupid idea.  Even trying to team up with him is sorta like working for the Red Skull; you're probably gonna die.  Even if you take him with you, (S)HE's going to get better.

Lots of the Doctor's enemies who have lived to tell the tale STILL shouldn't want none of the Master in any context - he won't take his time talking and running around to destroy you; he'll just kill you.  Avoid at all costs.

True... But outside the Doctor, Missy (the Master) is the only known surviving Time Lord who will mess up your extermination fetish as a Dalek. And, not to be underestimated.

Plus, us old whovians may remember that this is not the first time the Master has come to the aid of the Doctor. He did reveal the Valeyard during the trial that #6 had. There is some, as Missy says, deep connection between the Master and the Doctor that has never been fully explored.

Speaking of valeyard (evil incarnation of the Doctor, remember this quote from the Master:

"There is some evil in all of us, Doctor – even you. The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say you do not improve with age."

Capaldi may be 13th regen, but remember... one of those regens 10 did counted twice so this could technically be Valeyard time .

Hence the ending.

[Buster's Uncle]

SHHHH!  Not quite there yet.

43:29
Well, I called some of that in my last.  She'll get better.  Hope it doesn't happen in the next episode, at least.  She shouldn't have been in this one - seriously.  It's the Dale the Whale rule.  The original Delgado Master should never have teamed with the Daleks in a throwaway adventure memorable mostly for him calling them stupid trashcans - it should have been this great, huge, thing, or not gone there at all.

The Who revival has definitely broken the Dale the Whale rule -wheeling out the Moriarty more than once a season dilutes and ruins him- left, right and center since 2005 with multiple enemies, though to be fair, the wonderful Delgado Master broke it as hard as it can be broken...

[Valka]

Thing is, though, the Delgado version of the Master was over 40 years ago, and well before the Genesis of the Daleks scene that this current story stems from. I think you can excuse the Pertwee-era Master by saying that back then they were writing adventures, and had no idea that 40+ years later the show would still be on, and would have basically turned into Doctor Who: The Soap Opera.

[Buster's Uncle]

Weelllll - 3's exile on Earth period was pretty fundamentally wrong-headed.  It was SO mundane, relatively for a string of Doctor adventures, especially in the aggregate.

[Buster's Uncle]

44:40

Oh hell.  That guarantees that MTM gets better immediately the same way Clara does.

[Buster's Uncle]

Finished.

A whole letter grade deducted because Missy, but B+.  Good pacing, good popcorn, a good time.

[Buster's Uncle]

I just had another look at the two season 9 trailers I've posted - and it reminds me the Who revival hasn't done well by the Master at ALL.  It's been ten years now, and you GOTS to step up your game if you can't do ANYTHING good with your hero's Moriarty  He should be as big on that show as the Daleks...

Makes me kind of glad they haven't troubled themselves to fish Romanna out of E Space -fingers crossed- which I would have done the second or third year, but then I would have come up with an appealing/cool Romanna or died trying, which is not the way to bet with the revival...

I've mentioned it before, but after the first season of the revival, I actually had a pretty good story pitch worked up for bringing back the Master -it was obvious to anyone that with all the other Time Lords dead, he'd get better.  He always gets better.  (At the End of The Universe, he'll be somewhere -separate from, and infinitely older than, the Derek Jaccobi chameleon-arched incarnation who fled there- doing something Dastardly and Horrific to try to reverse it when he dies like a [girldog] for the Last Time.)

There was a great deal more too it, but I had him trying to fish Romanna out of E-Space because, Romanna.  Gotta repopulate the race and all.  -Even if other Time Ladies were similarly rescue-able, who would you grab first?-  (The professional fanfic and audioplays are simply not canon, it's simply UNTHINKABLE that she died with the rest, and such a simple out with having her still in E-Space.)  It's a pity it's all lost in emails that Mylochka and I no longer have, 'cause I thought I threw in a bunch of neat stuff.

It is significant that I do not recall bothering with a handwave of how he survived the Time War.  It's The MASTER.  Same with this episode; that's what's left of The MASTER;  why even bother to explain?

[Buster's Uncle]

I went back to look at the series 9 Prologue video I posted recently, since it ought to make a lot more sense now, and discovered that it had been taken down.  Fear not; here it is, this time posted by the Beeb:

Exclusive scene - Doctor Who: Series 9 Prologue - BBC One

Interesting; it does indeed mean more now - not really much to it, though.

[vonbach]

I'm not that big on the new Dr. Who. Fourth doctor for me.

[Buster's Uncle]

Me, too - and my mom and a lot of people with any taste at all.  But they're not making new ones of him anymore, and I've seen them all at least twice.

[Buster's Uncle]

Speaking of the Sisterhood, more than worth rewatching...

The Night of the Doctor: A Mini Episode - Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor Prequel - BBC

[Green1]

Especially in THIS situation, it deserves rewatching. the question is much to be reasked; IS THE DOCTOR a -goood- MAN?

But, maybe I read too much.

[Buster's Uncle]

I don't really think so.  They explicitly asked that question last year, and though he came up with answer, "I'm just a bloke with a box", it seems to still be in play.  Good point.