Doctor Who: 10 Worst Master Stories Ever

1. Time-Flight (1982)

There's so little to recommend Time-Flight as a story to begin with that it regularly comes in low on most polls ranking classic Doctor Who episodes, so it should be no shock that it's by far the worst Master story ever written as well. If fans ever needed proof that those drums in his head drove the Master bat-s**t insane, this story should provide it, and it doesn't even need John Simm turning his performance up to 15 to do so. For one thing, it's never, ever explained why the Master is dressed as Khalid to begin with, nor why he's going through the whole rigamarole of using that stupid crystal ball to fool the Doctor, unless it's just as a goof. Then there's his "death," which is patently ridiculous - why pretend to die, much less writhe on the floor drowning in geysers of snot, when none of it, absolutely none of it, means a hill of beans? The rest of the plot isn't much better either, and the Master gets precious little to do once he unmasks. From that point onwards, it's all about the Xeraphim and getting Concorde (and Tegan) back to Heathrow. The Concorde at least finally gets decommissioned, but fans still had to endure Tegan for a while after this. And did they really have to bring Adric back? Let the poor kid - and us - rest in peace. Perhaps viewers should look at this as the first chapter in the unofficial Kamelion trilogy, a set of stories that only gets good (or even competent) when it ends. Maybe in that light it has some redeeming qualities. But as a Master story? No, uh-uh. N So, the next time you want to watch a Master story, it's much better to put in a disc of one of the Delgado stories, even one of the ones on this very list, to see how it's really done. What are your thoughts on our rankings? Where should we have placed The Five Doctors, if it should be placed on either list at all? Let us know in the comments below!