Although he lacked the elegance and subtlety of the previous incarnations of the Master (though obviously were discounting the Eric Roberts incarnation from that), the John Simm incarnation of the Master was very popular with fans and critics. So popular in fact that he was brought back from the dead for David Tennants send-off special The End Of Time (2009). But there wasnt as much goodwill towards him the second time around. Thanks to his wife botching his resurrection, the newly risen Master effectively had superpowers. Because his body was ripped open, at the cost of burning up his own life-force he could jump to incredible heights and fire bursts of lightning at people. While the Master had previously been shown to be capable of hypnosis and had used weapons before, this was completely out of the blue. The reason it didnt really gel with fans is (as well as it entering the story out of nowhere) that it ran contrary to pretty much everything wed seen from the Master so far. Post-resurrection, his personality is basically on par with what wed seen from the John Simm version in Series 3 but its the weaponised life-force that doesnt fit and is too over the top even for a Master story. While The End Of Time is highly regarded by most Tennant fans, the superpowered Master isnt remembered quite as fondly.
JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
