Doctor Who: 12 Greatest Master Moments Of All Time

2. Get Out Of My Way

The End of Time is one of the most twist filled episodes in Doctor Who’s history. There’s enough here to make even some of Steven Moffat’s scripts seem pedestrian. But there is one twist that completely changes the goalposts as far as the Master is concerned. Those drums, the fourfold beat that turned him to the dark side, had been deliberately placed there by Rassilon as a key to opening the time lock.

In John Simm’s final act as the Master, he saves the Doctor’s life by sending Gallifrey, Rassilon and the Time Lords back into the time lock. It’s not so much an act of mercy, born of a secret love for the Doctor. The Master has hardly turned good. This is partly vengeance against Rassilon for ruining his life, but primarily it is about closure. Even the Master’s death couldn’t break the signal, the only way was to return the Time Lord’s back into the heart of the Time War. Tragically, it also meant that the Master had to go with them.

The scene leaves lasting questions that some fans are expecting to be answered in series 10. What exactly happened to the Master and Rassilon when they returned to the Time War? How did the Master break free? And what led to his regeneration into Missy?

Contributor
Contributor

Paul Driscoll is a freelance writer and author across a range of subjects from Cult TV to religion and social policy. He is a passionate Doctor Who fan and January 2017 will see the publication of his first extended study of the series (based on Toby Whithouse's series six episode, The God Complex) in the critically acclaimed Black Archive range by Obverse Books. He is a regular writer for the fan site Doctor Who Worldwide and has contributed several essays to Watching Books' You and Who range. Recently he has branched out into fiction writing, with two short stories in the charity Doctor Who anthology Seasons of War (Chinbeard Books). Paul's work will also feature in the forthcoming Iris Wildthyme collection (A Clockwork Iris, Obverse Books) and Chinbeard Books' collection of drabbles, A Time Lord for Change.