Wonky experimental greenscreen effects aside, the Master in this first story is unlike any other: he's far colder, much more ruthless, and more relentlessly arrogant than later versions, or even than the way Delgado himself portrays him just four episodes later. Despite the Doctor referring to him as a "jackanapes," implying he's more of a troublemaker than an actual threat, that's soon forgotten when the Doctor finds the first shrunken body and when he himself is nearly killed by the Master from afar not once but twice. This Master is less interested in humiliating the Doctor and more interested in simply getting rid of him so he can get on with his own plans. Granted, those plans are every bit as crazy as any of the Master's other schemes, but here they're brand new, as is the Master himself. Seeing the Master in this story, not only a Time Lord but one who knows the Doctor intimately, must have struck audiences back in 1971 the same way it did many of us a few weeks ago when we discovered, once again, that the Doctor is not alone. It's also one of only two times that Robert Holmes writes the Master. And as we'll see, he doesn't disappoint in either instance...
Tony Whitt has previously written TV, DVD, and comic reviews for CINESCAPE, NOW PLAYING, and iF MAGAZINE. His weekly COMICSCAPE columns from the early 2000s can still be found archived on Mania.com. He has also written a book of gay-themed short stories titled CRESCENT CITY CONNECTIONS, available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle format. Whitt currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.
