# Doctor Who - Utopia, open spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119 "2007-09-22T17:35:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/21 "2007-09-23T18:35:45Z")
[QUOTE=merrily] I also am afraid of spoilers on the Wiki, so can someone tell me why he’s called the Master? [/QUOTE] I don’t think there’s ever been any specific explanation – it’s just how he sees himself. He’s essentially your standard megalomaniac arch-villain – a cross between Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dick Dastardly. Looking at his schemes in the classic series suggests that he can’t quite decide whether he’d rather rule the universe, hold it to ransom or destroy it out of pure spite, and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that his main motivation is to piss off the Doctor. Unresolved issues, I’m thinking. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/22 "2007-09-23T18:43:33Z")
[QUOTE=merrily] I also am afraid of spoilers on the Wiki, so can someone tell me why he’s called the Master? [/QUOTE] I peeked just enough to clarify a couple of backstory points, and per Wiki the out-of-universe explanation is that it sounds supervillain-y but more importantly “Master,” like “Doctor,” has an academic connotation. ---
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/23 "2007-09-23T19:38:23Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] I peeked just enough to clarify a couple of backstory points, and per Wiki the out-of-universe explanation is that it sounds supervillain-y but more importantly “Master,” like “Doctor,” has an academic connotation. [/QUOTE] Ah! That makes more sense, although I realize it would still have the double meaning. Kind of funny to think of all the Timelords having academic names. Hmmm, maybe that would explain the lack of interest in women for the Professor on Gilligan’s Island… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/24 "2007-09-23T19:43:15Z")
[QUOTE=merrily] Kind of funny to think of all the Timelords having academic names. [/QUOTE] [Most of them don’t](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Time_Lords). ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/25 "2007-09-23T23:45:54Z")
[QUOTE=merrily] I also am afraid of spoilers on the Wiki, so can someone tell me why he’s called the Master? [/QUOTE] He’s like the Doctor’s evil counterpart: another renegade Timelord who wanders the cosmos, except devoted to general villainy. They were boyhood friends, both of whom left Gallifrey because they found it pompous and boring, but whereas the Doctor became a crusader for good, the Master sought power. He was best portrayed by [Roger Delgado](http://www.s9.com/Biography/Delgado-Roger): dapper, Mephistophelean, urbane, suave, and sardonically witty. More self-contained than the Doctor, but just as charismatic, and almost the Doctor’s equal in brilliance: he frequently had to be enlisted to thwart some greater peril, which he’d always do to serve his own selfish ends. He was one of the great SF villains, in that he thoroughly enjoyed his evil schemes, and approached being bad with such a zestful glee that you couldn’t help cheering for him: and he’d never _quite_ be defeated; the Doctor might thwart this particular alliance with the Nestenes and plan to flood the world with murderous plastic devil dolls and killer armchairs, but he’d always escape in the final chaos, and you just knew he was out somewhere undaunted, planning another nefarious scheme for the sheer hell of it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/26 "2007-09-23T23:59:26Z")
[QUOTE=Scissorjack] plan to flood the world with murderous plastic devil dolls and killer armchairs, [/QUOTE] How very, very _British._ 🙂 Thanks. I thought your sig was from _Guys and Dolls._ ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/27 "2007-09-24T00:38:37Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] How very, very _British._ 🙂 Thanks. I thought your sig was from _Guys and Dolls._ [/QUOTE] That was from, I think, The Terror Of The Autons. Remember the Nestenes from the first Christopher Ecclestone episode, the alien intelligence who could animate plastic and make shop dummies come to life? They had a few cracks at South West England in the early 70’s, allying themselves with the Master who, posing as a businessman, took over a struggling plastics factory with “revolutionary new methods” which involved infiltrating every home with evil plastic doohickeys which would come to life and kill the occupants. The devil doll was one: this evil leering little mannikin which came to lurching life and murdered people - it was fucking scary, when you were 6 years old. Another product line was the plastic armchair, which would come to life when you sat in it, envelop you in its folds, then engulf you whole - probably traumatised a generation, that one did. The Master was nothing if not inventive when it came to being bad. I’ve also remembered that he was big into mind control: he’d fix hapless humans with a burning mesmeric stare and intone “I am The Master and you will obey me”; and they’d promptly wander off and attempt to strangle Jon Pertwee. None but the strongest minded could resist his baleful influence. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/28 "2007-09-24T01:13:24Z")
[QUOTE=Scissorjack] I’ve also remembered that he was big into mind control: he’d fix hapless humans with a burning mesmeric stare and intone “I am The Master and you will obey me”; and they’d promptly wander off and attempt to strangle Jon Pertwee. None but the strongest minded could resist his baleful influence. [/QUOTE] Though it memorably failed to work on Peri, in her first episode: “I am the Master! You will obey me!” “I’m Perpugilliam Brown, and I can shout just as loud as you can!” OK, she was sassing a projection of the Master and not the flesh-and-blood one, but still it was refreshing. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/29 "2007-09-24T02:05:32Z")
[QUOTE=Tengu] 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. [/QUOTE] Some are even capable of mentally projecting a figure of their future self. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/30 "2007-09-24T02:55:45Z")
[QUOTE=ryobserver] OK, she was sassing a projection of the Master and not the flesh-and-blood one, but still it was refreshing. [/QUOTE] He was also most satisfactorily sucker-punched, mid-triumphant rant, by the Brigadier at the end of The Five Doctors: “Hello, Master. {Boof!} Lovely to see you again.” I _miss_ the Brigadier. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/31 "2007-09-24T13:39:34Z")
Why did Martha say “I know that voice” when she heard the new new Master speak? Was it just an in-joke referring to the actor having been in a popular TV show (e.g. “Life on Mars”?) or is it a hint of something to come? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/32 "2007-09-24T13:51:54Z")
What is the device Captain Jack has on his wrist? He mentioned time traveling with it, but that it was now broken. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/33 "2007-09-24T14:22:44Z")
From reading the wiki on Doctor Who (and from the School Reunion episode that I just saw), I think that this series is actually being treated as a continuation of the previous version. As I gather, the Doctor has the ability to regenerate 13 times. In that case, The Doctor can only regenerate 3 more times and then he is stuck. I wonder what plot device will be found to overcome this, since regeneration seems to be a staple of the series. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/34 "2007-09-24T14:31:28Z")
[QUOTE=Christopher] From reading the wiki on Doctor Who (and from the School Reunion episode that I just saw), I think that this series is actually being treated as a continuation of the previous version. As I gather, the Doctor has the ability to regenerate 13 times. In that case, The Doctor can only regenerate 3 more times and then he is stuck. I wonder what plot device will be found to overcome this, since regeneration seems to be a staple of the series. [/QUOTE] _Deus ex machina_ of course. I would guess something to do with the Tardis itself. It apparently gave Rose the power to make Capt Jack incapable of dying. It would not take much to give the Doctor some additional regenerations. I am sure they would get it done quick and then not mentioned it again. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/35 "2007-09-24T14:43:25Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] _Deus ex machina_ of course. I would guess something to do with the Tardis itself. It apparently gave Rose the power to make Capt Jack incapable of dying. [/QUOTE] Or the dozen was an artificial limit instituted by the High Council, which no longer exists. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/36 "2007-09-24T14:46:47Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] Or the dozen was an artificial limit instituted by the High Council, which no longer exists. [/QUOTE] Or the great big face of Bo told him the secret to more regenerations or that time he fought the “Exabian Time Eel”\* it gave him extra lives, or he found the cheat code for extra lives or etc. 😉 We could even have him be another Doctor from a parallel universe. Jim - Of course we never saw him fight an “Exabian Time Eel”, but that was when it could have happened. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/37 "2007-09-24T15:09:39Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] What is the device Captain Jack has on his wrist? He mentioned time traveling with it, but that it was now broken. [/QUOTE] They called it a Vortex…something. Hopper? Slider? It sounded like it allows space/time travel but with no degree of exactitude. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/38 "2007-09-24T15:11:04Z")
[QUOTE=h.sapiens] Why did Martha say “I know that voice” when she heard the new new Master speak? Was it just an in-joke referring to the actor having been in a popular TV show (e.g. “Life on Mars”?) or is it a hint of something to come? [/QUOTE] Hint of something to come. For those who thought John Simm’s Master was a little too silly/manic, keep in mind that he _has_ just regenerated, and that tends to make Time Lords notoriously wonky for a bit. [QUOTE=carnivorousplant] What is the device Captain Jack has on his wrist? He mentioned time traveling with it, but that it was now broken. [/QUOTE] Vortex Manipulator - a device identical to the one the Doctor mentioned the Family of Blood had stolen in the two parter a couple weeks back. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/39 "2007-09-24T15:16:35Z")
[QUOTE=h.sapiens] Why did Martha say “I know that voice” when she heard the new new Master speak? Was it just an in-joke referring to the actor having been in a popular TV show (e.g. “Life on Mars”?) or is it a hint of something to come? [/QUOTE] It’s a hint of something to come. [QUOTE=carnivorousplant] What is the device Captain Jack has on his wrist? He mentioned time traveling with it, but that it was now broken. [/QUOTE] It’s called a Vortex Manipulator – a type of time-travel device used by the Time Agency that Jack used to work for. It seems that it’s primitive technology compared to the Tardis: the Doctor said that if the Tardis were a sports car, Jack’s Vortex Manipulator would be a [space hopper](http://www.pootergeek.com/wordpress/wp-content/Spacehoppers.co.uk.gif) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119/40 "2007-09-24T15:29:10Z")
[QUOTE=WotNot] It’s a hint of something to come. It’s called a Vortex Manipulator – a type of time-travel device used by the Time Agency that Jack used to work for. [/QUOTE] Is this sort of thing considered to be a spoiler? One presumes the Doctor can repair and adjust it to pursue the Master. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-who-utopia-open-spoilers/420119.md?page=3)