changes to the Master's back-story

[Starkers]

The Doctor said that he had to stay relative to the Master within the causal time nexus. Timothy Dalton's Timelords intentionally broke this causal nexus rule to retroactively make the Master hear the sound of drums. From the Timelord's perspective, the universe and time is going to end anyway, so such an infraction can be ignored.

Just like Star Trek, the timeline has diverged and this is an alternate universe/timeline. The original Master, his backstory and such are still intact in the original timeline. .

This is basically it - Delgado and Ainley etc weren't hearing the drums when you watched them, cos the Timey's hadn't caused it yet. But next time you watch them, they will be.

Of course, the signal probably gets stronger as it nears Simm, and so it probably isn't driving Delgado nuts - hell, he probably just notes that he's hearing his own heartbeat...

I think that's probably the best way to think of it. Simm did say the drums were getting louder in Last of the Timelords.

 

[DWF]

I always thought that Delgado's Master was the gentlemenly villain while Ainley's version was the moustache twirler. Sim's Master was the counterpoint to Tennant's Doctor, both were hyperactive and both were bombastic at times

 

[davejames]

Yeah I have to admit it was hard for me to take Simm's Master seriously as an equal to the Doctor, or as any kind of real threat.

Hopefully some day we'll get a Master who really IS.

 

[Stevil2001]

You find it hard to take a Master as a serious threat who manages to become Prime Minister of Great Britain right under the Doctor's nose and enslave the entire earth? This is the most threatening the Master's ever been (with the exception of Logopolis, I suppose).

Anyway, I listened to the Big Finish audio drama Master last week, and what struck me was how surprisingly well it works with the new series backstory for the Master.

I don't mind the drums-- I actually quite like them-- because ultimately the why's of limited importance beyond this one story. It's all about the what, and that'll never change. There's no version of the master I don't love, from Roger Delgado to Derek Jacobi, from Anthony Ainley to John Simm, from Geoffrey Beevers to Eric Roberts.

 

[Tom]

Wasn't Peter Pratt the master too in Traken? or Assasin? I forgot.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Peter Pratt was The Master in The Deadly Assassin while Geoffery Beevers was The Master in The Keeper of Traken.

 

[Tom]

Thanks EMH, I always get that mixed up.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

No worries. I use to get it mixed up, too.