Doctor Who - Utopia, open spoilers

Really, I’m the first? Alright then.
(extra spaces to avoid mouse-over spoilers)

I’m so glad this episode has finally aired in the US so I can stop dancing around the subject with other friends who have recently become interested in the show. It’s been an interesting line to walk - knowing that they’re not going to have the slightest idea who the Master is and wanting to explain it to them, but also knowing I should just keep my fool mouth shut and let them discover him for themselves the way I did.

That being said: THE MASTER!!! Derek Jacobi and John Simm! Captain Jack! Chan-Tho! Rose…in a flashback!

I was so pissed off at the Doctor the first time I saw this for his treatment of Jack, but upon rewatching it I think maybe I misunderstood his reaction. Look at how dark his eyes are when he acknowledges that maybe he and Martha should be frozen to death but he’s not so sure about Jack: he looks accusatory, angry, scared. I think that, for whatever reason, he really is terrified of what Jack has become, and yet he still throws his arms around him for a big hug when they are first reunited and immediately adopts him as his “responsibility” again, even though all of his instincts are probably bleating DANGER, GET AWAY at that point.

The conversation in the radiation chamber is awesome - it was mentioned in the Confidential that the only way they knew they could get these two men to come together and talk things out was to put a wall and a chamber full of deadly stet radiation between them. So many answers, and how heartbreaking was it when Jack admitted to watching Rose growing up? And, check out the look on Martha’s face when she hears that Rose is “not just living on a parrallel world, she’s trapped there”. In an instant she goes from snarky to sympathetic - dammit Doctor, if you’d just explained what happened to Rose and actually had a conversation with your companion about it, she might have understood your lingering depression about it and gotten over her own schmoopy behaviour!

Professor Yana is a great character, and once you start to sense what is coming you’re screaming at the television, begging him not to open the watch because he’s such a sweet old man and he deserves his long awaited rest after saving humanity. But, it’s ripped away from him and he becomes the evil anti-Doctor, destroying all the Professor’s work, killing his faithful assistant and revealing that Utopia has been a big hoax all along. So sad, that. But almost worth it for the surprisingly hot “Use my name” “Master” exchange! Rowr.

So, my fellow Americans - what did you think?

Like it, though I guessed at once that Jacobi would turn out to be the Master. The use of the watch was quite good.

From the show and the clips, I’m less impressed with John Simm. He’s frothing at the mouth too much – like the later Davros portrayals that trashed the character. The Master was much more low key, and even would work with the Doctor when necessary. He’s shouldn’t be your standard screaming madman (though, admitted it makes some sense in this episode, and perhaps the scenes from next week were not representative).

Well, no, remember how I started that thread yesterday? That you posted to?

The Master is not the Master without a goatee. I’m sorry, but a clean-shaven Master is just wrong.

What did the Master ever want that he was such a bad guy anyway? I don’t want to read the Wikipedia article for fear of spoilers for the upcoming Dr Who episodes. What I recall is that he was always looking for ways to hook himself up with extra regenerations and would do nefarious deeds in pursuit of them, but before that what did he do that was so bad?

Well yeah, you mean the one that had nothing to do with the airing of the show but was instead a question regarding Torchwood spoilers that may possibly be contained within?

Jeez, sorry.

Chantho. Hottest alien ever. That’s all.

How about a dried-up husk of charred flesh? A snake?

Perhaps there was a well-trimmed goatee in either of those characterisations, but I really doubt it.

All will be revealed in the season finale, be aware of spoilers!

I thought the reveal of the Master was great, but the yoof-master was rubbish and I’m glad to see someone agreeing with me (above).

Is the Master a character from the David Baker days?

David? If you mean Tom Baker, well perhaps, maybe. But The Master is The Doctor’s bete noir, his nemesis, his brother.

Sorry, Tom. Thanks. Has the character been around since then? How long did Doctor Who continue in Britain? I saw the Baker era on US public television.

The Master was introduced as an adversary for the Doctor in Jon Pertwee’s second season (Pertwee was the third Doctor). He was played (wonderfully) by Roger Delgado, and was a frequent antagonist until Delgado’s untimely death in a car accident.

The Master was next seen (as a horribly decayed figure, having reached the end of his “regeneration cycle”) in the Tom Baker story “The Deadly Assassin” … he turned up again, in similar condition, in Tom Baker’s penultimate story “The Keeper of Traken”, at the end of which he took over the body of a guy called Tremas, and began a new lease of life. Tremas was played by Anthony Ainley, who got to be the Master for Tom Baker’s final story “Logopolis”, and intermittently during the Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy eras. (For the sake of completeness, the character was played by Peter Pratt in “The Deadly Assassin” and Geoffrey Beevers in “The Keeper of Traken”.)

In the TV movie with Paul McGann, the Master is supposedly captured and executed, but escapes in the form of a semi-substantial CGI snakey thing, and takes over the body of a paramedic, played by Eric Roberts.

So am I to understand that The Master is a Doctor Who villain from previous versions? I have no experience with earlier Doctor Who so I have no idea what the canon is. I love this one though. I guess that makes me a little apprehensive about watching the earlier versions.

What about that funny little floating robot thing with the octapus inside? That thing was so ghetto that I assumed it had to be from previous versions.

As long as I’m asking about Doctor Who. Does he really change his appearance like that, or was it just an excuse to change actors?

ETA: Never mind I see the first question was answered.

Yes. :slight_smile:

I agree with both those statements. Rowr indeed!

Hubby and I were screeching at the telly when Dr Yana was about to open the watch–“You freakin’ fool! Don’t do it! Don’t…ah shit. Here we go again.”

He’s a timelord too, so he can change like the good Doctor can.

I’m not sure what you’re asking here.

Regeneration isn’t new to the canon, having been in the series since the first Doctor, William Hartnell, was forced to leave, due to ill health in 1966 (or else, since the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, handed the role over to Tom Baker 1974, which apparently is the first time it was referred to as Regeneration), and are a major part of the characters of the Doctor and the Master.

But, it was introduced as a way of replacing the actor with an in-universe explanation.

And the TV series is the primary canon, so what’s shown on the screen is what’s true. (Unless contradicted by another episode of the TV series, in which case, it may not be…) So, by definition, if the Doctor (or another Timelord) is shown Regenerating on screen, then, they really do it.

I actually meant what has happened over the course of the series prior to this.

This is just a few of the Master’s activities. In no particular order, of course. I also agree about the goatee, but I really loved Derek Jacobi in the role.

The Master nearly destroy the universe once (Logopolis) and in that oops moment destroyed Nyssa’s planet. This, of course, is after killing Nyssa’s father Tremas and taking his body for his own.

He tried to take the Doctor’s regenerations; set the Doctor up as the assassin of the President of Gallifrey (The Deadly Assassin). He assisted the Axon’s invasion of earth (Claws of Axos).

He also had something to do with the Daleks back in Pertwee’s era but I haven’t seen that particular story in about 20 years so I don’t really remember it.

Then there was the TV movie, when he became Over the top Eric Roberts. I suppose that isn’t the fault of the character.

I’ve always liked the Master, except when he got cartoonish in the late 80’s. He always seemed so exasperated by the Doctor’s do-gooder self that I couldn’t help but like him. And, it seemed to me that if any of the Time Lords would survive the Time War, he would have been it. He’s devious, cunning, and very much into self preservation.

That said, now about Utopia.

I loved this episode. I wasn’t spoiled, but I had that feeling that this was either a later regenration of the Doctor or it was the Master. When I heard Roger Degaldo’s voice coming from the watch, and then Anthony Ainley’s laugh, I actually yelled out loud. The only other show that I’ve ever been on the edge of my seat and holding my breath for like this was Heroes.

It seemed to me, also, that once the Doctor believed Martha that there was a hidden Time Lord about, he *knew * who it had to be.

I also am afraid of spoilers on the Wiki, so can someone tell me why he’s called the Master?