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mind the walrus
Sep 22, 2006

Can any old-fans explain to me what The Master ever did that was so incredible aside from simply show up a lot? I've tried to watch a few old Who episodes, most notably The Five Doctors, but I've never really gotten a good sense of what makes The Master formidable aside from the fact that we're told ceaselessly that he's The Doctor's Moriarty.

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thexerox123
Aug 17, 2007

mind the walrus posted:

Can any old-fans explain to me what The Master ever did that was so incredible aside from simply show up a lot? I've tried to watch a few old Who episodes, most notably The Five Doctors, but I've never really gotten a good sense of what makes The Master formidable aside from the fact that we're told ceaselessly that he's The Doctor's Moriarty.

There was a good stretch where he kept showing up in elaborate disguises and then revealing that it was actually him all along... he's fairly entertaining, in that regard, at least.

And he's a good change from the monsters and aliens that are often the antagonists... he had his own TARDIS and gadgets, and he's kind of the Doctor's flipside... a renegade from Time Lord society, but with very different goals.

(Although other antagonistic Time Lords were less uncommon in the classic series, obviously.)

thexerox123 fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Sep 29, 2014

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy

mind the walrus posted:

Can any old-fans explain to me what The Master ever did that was so incredible aside from simply show up a lot? I've tried to watch a few old Who episodes, most notably The Five Doctors, but I've never really gotten a good sense of what makes The Master formidable aside from the fact that we're told ceaselessly that he's The Doctor's Moriarty.

You only REALLY get it if you watch it from the Third Doctor on, with the original Master.

He is, in several episodes, simultaneously the Doctor's best friend and arch enemy- they will team up while plotting to stab each other in the back at the same time.

It helps that the Third Doctor and the original Master were best friends in real life, so their chemistry on screen is just beautiful, and that the Master's interactions with the Doctor are some of the best of the franchise.

One stand out scene? The Master is in a human jail and has his lunch ready. The Doctor breaks in because he knows the Master is plotting an escape, and is right only the Master actually controls the jail because gently caress you he's the Master, and the two have a sword duel. The Doctor disarms the Master, pins him to the wall AND EATS HIS LUNCH before picking up the Master's sword and tossing it back to him-because he was having so much fun!

After that things got less personal in a sense, less 'friendly', the Master got nastier and nastier.

An entire serial, Mark of the Rani, is derailed by the Master deciding to pop up and be a total dick to the Doctor.

An entirely different serial, a super short one, The Kings Demons, is pretty much just the Master loving with the Doctor because he was bored.

It's pretty fantastic.


Then there's the time the Master accidentally killed off 80% of the universe, and that WASN'T fixed, worked with the Doctor to stop the decay, and then held the REST of the universe at ransom lest he just murder them all.

thexerox123
Aug 17, 2007

Burkion posted:

You only REALLY get it if you watch it from the Third Doctor on, with the original Master.

He is, in several episodes, simultaneously the Doctor's best friend and arch enemy- they will team up while plotting to stab each other in the back at the same time.

It helps that the Third Doctor and the original Master were best friends in real life, so their chemistry on screen is just beautiful, and that the Master's interactions with the Doctor are some of the best of the franchise.

One stand out scene? The Master is in a human jail and has his lunch ready. The Doctor breaks in because he knows the Master is plotting an escape, and is right only the Master actually controls the jail because gently caress you he's the Master, and the two have a sword duel. The Doctor disarms the Master, pins him to the wall AND EATS HIS LUNCH before picking up the Master's sword and tossing it back to him-because he was having so much fun!

After that things got less personal in a sense, less 'friendly', the Master got nastier and nastier.

An entire serial, Mark of the Rani, is derailed by the Master deciding to pop up and be a total dick to the Doctor.

An entirely different serial, a super short one, The Kings Demons, is pretty much just the Master loving with the Doctor because he was bored.

It's pretty fantastic.


Then there's the time the Master accidentally killed off 80% of the universe, and that WASN'T fixed, worked with the Doctor to stop the decay, and then held the REST of the universe at ransom lest he just murder them all.

This is a good explanation... basically, I think the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock is not quite apt... it's probably more like the Joker to his Batman.

Proposition Joe
Oct 8, 2010

He was a good man
A lot of the RTD vs Moffat debate has more to do with how they two run the program as a show-runner than just comparing their scripts. I don't think that most of the people who hate on Stephen Moffat in this thread or any of the other Doctor Who threads had a low opinion of Moffat during the RTD years. I would probably not worry about comparisons between the two until you get to the later seasons of the revival.

Soothing Vapors
Mar 26, 2006

Associate Justice Lena "Kegels" Dunham: An uncool thought to have: 'is that guy walking in the dark behind me a rapist? Never mind, he's Asian.

thexerox123 posted:

There was a good stretch where he kept showing up in elaborate disguises and then revealing that it was actually him all along... he's fairly entertaining, in that regard, at least.

And he's a good change from the monsters and aliens that are often the antagonists... he had his own TARDIS and gadgets, and he's kind of the Doctor's flipside... a renegade from Time Lord society, but with very different goals.

(Although other antagonistic Time Lords were less uncommon in the classic series, obviously.)

There's a really good article with a roundup of some of his disguises that I want to link so bad, but it has one revival spoiler in it. Most of his old-who disguises were apparently hilariously lovely and lazy and revolved around translating the word "master" into different languages and calling himself that.

Regy Rusty
Apr 26, 2010

Soothing Vapors posted:

Jacobi was so good as Yana/The Master but I had the exact same reaction Occ -- I had no idea why "The Master" was a big deal until I googled it.

It really confused me too, though I didn't look things up until sometime later. It was compounded by the fact that I didn't realize the Time War was invented for the revival and not a part of long running Doctor Who mythos.

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy

Soothing Vapors posted:

There's a really good article with a roundup of some of his disguises that I want to link so bad, but it has one revival spoiler in it. Most of his old-who disguises were apparently hilariously lovely and lazy and revolved around translating the word "master" into different languages and calling himself that.

I'm telling you, 90% of the Master's plans were "I'm bored, let's gently caress with the Doctor."

Kings Demon? The Doctor pretty much knew it was the Master from the get go and kept calling him out on it-until he finally tore away his fake beard and went "IT WAS ME ALL ALONG DOCTOR!"

And then he continued loving with him.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

I was really looking forward to this review, because I was fascinated to learn how somebody with ZERO knowledge of the old series would deal with the reveal of the Master. It's undeniably a fantastic scene, but I've always felt it's real strength lay in foreknowledge of the character. Yes people instinctively understand,"Okay whoever the Master is, he's bad news!" but that's not the same as going,"Oh gently caress it's the Master! :derp:"

This episode is really not all that great as a whole, but key scenes in it are fantastic and I love the explored themes of clinging on to life (more importantly, to hope!) in the face of inevitable death, as well as exactly what it means to be human. What are the Futurekind (other than shite)? Well what they're NOT is human - they may look like some dudes in bad Mad Max cosplay but it's clear that even if they're physiologically the same as human beings they've surrendered/submitted to fatalism and savagery, while the humans inside the base are holding on with everything they've got to their civilization, their families, their sense of self. What is Jack? For all his "inhuman" powers and his temporal-abhorrent nature (the Doctor can't bare to look at him, the TARDIS flees to the end of time to escape him) he proves himself still utterly human. What is Yana? A genuinely caring and kind and SELF-SACRIFICING human being who loses everything he was in an instant when he opens that fobwatch and the gentle, self-deprecating genius is wiped away with a sneer by the Master - nothing sells this moment more than the Master's sneering,"Utopia :rolleyes:" when he spots the signal that inspired such hope in Yana.

Based on where we are up to this point in your watch, I don't know if I agree about Moffat not being able to hit the emotional moments like RTD can. Nancy and Jamie's reconciliation and the EVERYBODY LIVES! scene in The Doctor Dances are superb and emotionally resonant, and the Doctor's sad realization that Reinette has died before he could ever return in The Girl in the Fireplace is also extremely strong. Yes Moffat's stories up to and including Blink are very much about putting together a strongly constructed, almost air-tight story where everything is resolved/tied up in a neat little bundle, but I don't think they've been lacking in emotional punch.

mind the walrus
Sep 22, 2006

Burkion posted:

You only REALLY get it if you watch it from the Third Doctor on, with the original Master.

He is, in several episodes, simultaneously the Doctor's best friend and arch enemy- they will team up while plotting to stab each other in the back at the same time.

It helps that the Third Doctor and the original Master were best friends in real life, so their chemistry on screen is just beautiful, and that the Master's interactions with the Doctor are some of the best of the franchise.

One stand out scene? The Master is in a human jail and has his lunch ready. The Doctor breaks in because he knows the Master is plotting an escape, and is right only the Master actually controls the jail because gently caress you he's the Master, and the two have a sword duel. The Doctor disarms the Master, pins him to the wall AND EATS HIS LUNCH before picking up the Master's sword and tossing it back to him-because he was having so much fun!

After that things got less personal in a sense, less 'friendly', the Master got nastier and nastier.

An entire serial, Mark of the Rani, is derailed by the Master deciding to pop up and be a total dick to the Doctor.

An entirely different serial, a super short one, The Kings Demons, is pretty much just the Master loving with the Doctor because he was bored.

It's pretty fantastic.


Then there's the time the Master accidentally killed off 80% of the universe, and that WASN'T fixed, worked with the Doctor to stop the decay, and then held the REST of the universe at ransom lest he just murder them all.

This does clear it up a lot. Thanks.

thexerox123 posted:

This is a good explanation... basically, I think the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock is not quite apt... it's probably more like the Joker to his Batman.

That doesn't really jive with what I'm hearing, sorry.

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



I think you've got your finger on the divide between Davies and Moffat, but the catch there is that nine times out of ten Davies fails at what he sets out to do while the majority of the time so far Moffat succeeds in telling a good story. Davies is big gestures, heavy handedness, ham fisted, and sometimes succeeds despite himself.

As for the Master, I think I need to save most of my comments for the next review, but the Master was notable for his absence from the new series through this point. Every fan knew as soon as the show started up that the Daleks would be back ASAP, that the Cybermen would be arriving before long, and that the Master had to make a big return. At this point it felt long overdue. They definitely needed to build up to him a bit more, though, to let people not in on the old stories to follow it.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Burkion posted:

An entire serial, Mark of the Rani, is derailed by the Master deciding to pop up and be a total dick to the Doctor.

That's pretty much the only good thing abut that terrible story. The Master is just constantly loving up the Rani's plans for his own amusement or because he wants a chance to poke the Doctor with a stick, and she spends much of the story with a,".... you motherfucker :aaa:" look on her face.

thexerox123
Aug 17, 2007

mind the walrus posted:

That doesn't really jive with what I'm hearing, sorry.

Well Moriarty was basically just in one story and was just talked up as being Sherlock's equal in intellect, but on the criminal side.

Whereas Joker and Batman are basically in a never-ending battle of one-upmanship and Joker will gleefully do things just to gently caress with his nemesis.

Bicyclops
Aug 27, 2004

I say this every time this episode comes up, but it's biggest crime is that Derek Jacobi doesn't get nearly as much time to be a cackling evil man, twirling his mustache and chewing on the scenery.

Burkion
May 10, 2012

by Fluffdaddy

Jerusalem posted:

That's pretty much the only good thing abut that terrible story. The Master is just constantly loving up the Rani's plans for his own amusement or because he wants a chance to poke the Doctor with a stick, and she spends much of the story with a,".... you motherfucker :aaa:" look on her face.

That might be the sole reason my friends and I loved it so much when we did our group watch. When her turn people into tree minefield plot actually came up and we REALIZED what she was actually WANTING to do, thus what the actual plot was about, we couldn't shut up about how dumb it was-and then the Master just fucks over everyone all over again and made it OK.

Doctor Spaceman
Jul 6, 2010

"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

thexerox123 posted:

Well Moriarty was basically just in one story and was just talked up as being Sherlock's equal in intellect, but on the criminal side.

Whereas Joker and Batman are basically in a never-ending battle of one-upmanship and Joker will gleefully do things just to gently caress with his nemesis.

The point of the Master is that he's got exactly the same background and capabilities as the Doctor, and even has the same MO; travel around the universe and flamboyantly meddle in poo poo.

Oxxidation
Jul 22, 2007
Doctor Who
"Utopia"
Series 3, Episode 11

As Occ said, the two of us had a lively little debate on what rating he should ultimately give "Utopia," and that debate was a weird one. He started off liking it, I was pretty cool on it, and as we picked apart its pros and cons we eventually ended up swapping positions, with me holding up the episode's merits and him condemning it in spite of those merits. A nice, safe "C" was inevitable, and also why I think giving grades in writeups like these is for chumps. Ooh, it makes the blogosphere disapprove. Blogs are nothing, they're just farts cloaked in html.

I have said ad nauseum that even at their best Davies' scripts are nearly always jangling, ramshackle, incohesive wrecks, a disparate jumble of actors, lines, performances, and plot points that never quite mesh. "Utopia" is yet another example in a long line of them: its entire first half is a glorified SNL sketch between nu-Who old-timers, its setting is completely wasted, its plot is a non-starter, its villains laughable and serving only to set up the expected, wearying cliffhanger at the end. Its Big Moment caves in on itself because Davies couldn't look past his own fanboyism long enough to wonder whether his reveal would land with people who didn't give a rip about Doctor Who before stumbling into his dastardly Welsh clutches. But I'm moving too fast. Let's step back.

Out of all the wasted concepts in Davies' episodes, "Utopia" is one that grinds my gears the most. After Captain Jack and his Chin sprint across Cardiff and back into our hearts, the TARDIS spazzes out and drops us into the point of the universe right before the chairs are flipped onto their tables and the manager shuts off the light. The stars are dead, the cosmos is cold, and all civilizations have crumbled to dust. At the funicular center of the universe the wine has been left open too long and the memory has gone flat (who among you knows this reference? WHO DARES TAKE THE CHALLENGE). And what does Rusty do with this sober, awesome, thought-provoking concept? Exactly what the Doctor wheels about and accuses Jack and Martha of doing: ""We're at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy...blogging!"

The sets in "Utopia" consist of metal corridors and a cluttered lab. Oh gee golly gosh, haven't seen those before. While the universe ends outdoors, the audience gets to witness an extended comedy routine where three veteran time-travelers riff at each other and around a bewildered Derek Jacobi and his irritating insectoid assistant. A flashback is made to the Christmas swordfight, there's yet more scattered conversation about Rose, the Doctor sonics some stuff. The majority of "Utopia" consists of the cast just doing things to get the rocket up and running, and plot movement is so jerky and disjointed that Occ literally lost track of what the hell was going on around midway through. Throughout all this stalk the "Futurekind," normal dudes with pointy teeth who occasionally leer at the camera and serve no use at all except to hammer at doors. Oh, sure, one of them sabotages the reactor at some point, but that whole plot event could have happened just as easily and believably through equipment malfunction (given that the lab's tech was literally held together with edible toothpaste). They add yet more noise and distraction to an episode that ideally would have had as little of it as possible, and are probably the most irrelevant villains since the Langoloyles in "Father's Day."

The actual plot of "Utopia," that having to do with Professor Yana, lives and dies by its surprise. There are two surprises: one, that "Utopia" is not a stand-alone episode, but actually part one of a three-parter. Two, that Yana is the Master, the Doctor's third primary nemesis aside from the Daleks and the Cybermen, his opposite number, antithesis, mirror image, guy who always insists on Final Destination in Smash, whatever. One surprise works. The other doesn't, for reasons that Occ mentioned - there is no clue or context given for who the hell the Master is or why we should be so concerned about him, besides the fact that Jacobi suddenly went from "kindly old grandpa" to "way too kindly old uncle" after opening that watch. We know that Yana is, in fact, another Time Lord, and this is probably not a good thing, but his whispered pronouncement of being the Master just sounds like a non-sequitur without foreknowledge of the character. Honest question to the nerds out there - was this viewed as not a big concern for the British audience? Is Doctor Who's cultural penetration in that fetid nation so complete that the Master's just one of those characters you know, like Moriarty, the Joker, or Elmer Fudd? 'cuz Occ's clueless California butt sure didn't get the memo, and I was so prepared for it that I made him pause the video just so I could give him the Cliff notes on the guy and send him on his way.

Such a mess, such a mess. And yet it's all quite nice despite all that, isn't it? Davies is so often rescued by his characters, and while the side cast here is a poor lot - the random citizens are throwaways, I hate that kid's accent, and Chantho is both annoying and vaguely racist, a demure geisha archetype in a bug mask - the main cast is great as always, and not even Rose can ruin their good time since she's approached as an actual plot element instead of just a nostalgic specter getting in the way of Martha's puppy-dog eyes. I don't consider Professor Yana side-cast, either, since he's actually the antagonist in disguise, and also because God Himself may well strike me dead for besmirching Jacobi's performance.

Derek Jacobi is so deft in his portrayal of Yana that it's almost embarrassing, like he's thinking the whole time that he could, with some creative camera trickery, have played every single character on this episode simultaneously, to the episode's benefit. Jacopi seems to be downright revered in British theatre, and there is something theatrical about the way he layers Yana's character over the course of this episode - his every emotion is just as overblown as Tennant's (look at the way he frantically waves his hands about when he heard of the Doctor's approach, or the wibbly lips he gets when he starts to tear up), but they all complement each other in the end, creating the portrait of a brilliant old man who's almost suicidally devoted to his work to cover up the cheated insecurity he feels over having wasted his genius in this dim, cold age. And when the watch opens, Jacobi switches gears sharply enough to make us all buy the fact that the Master is a completely different, far less pleasant person than Yana - his confused wandering around the lab becomes brisk and purposeful, his jaw is always set firm, his eyes contemptuously narrowed. And even in the first five minutes of his introduction, he puts across the notion that the Master really is the Doctor's dark mirror image: "Ohhh...now I can say I was provoked," he says, leering with that cable in his hand, which is really not too far off from the Doctor's gambit with the Family just two episodes prior.

Jacobi is so strong that his early departure is a serious blow, especially when his replacement, John Simm, immediately proves himself a poor successor - his clownish leaping around the TARDIS and almost sludgy initial delivery of his lines is more irritating than threatening. Just one more peak and valley in an episode, season, and show full of them, which is to be expected with Davies at the wheel.

I'm going to engage Occ's Davies/Moffat comparison very briefly here, partly to save something for later writeups and partly because I don't want to clean up the bodies that will hit the floor if this thread tries to pick up the debate itself. I suspected from the very start that Occ and I would gravitate into separate camps with these two writers, due to that whole "emotion/logic" divide that's constantly being thrown around with them, but also because I have never really thought Davies' reputation as an "emotional" writer was deserved. My perspective on it is that Rusty sort of tripped and fell into that category because of his tendency to rely on cheap, easy catharsis to resolve his ramshackle plots, and also because David Tennant, his main Doctor, is a cartoon in the shape of a man. That aside, I definitely view "emotive" writing differently than Occ does - hell, just look at the text above, where I pretty much break apart Jacobi's wonderfully heartfelt performance into its component bits and put each of them under a microscope - and with that in mind, it shouldn't be any surprise that Moffat's puzzle boxes have scratched my itches way more that Davies' weepy climaxes and "heartfelt" character moments.

I'm sure this subject will come back to haunt us soon enough, but let's shelve it for now. The breakup season is approaching its end. Here come the drums.

Oxxidation fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Sep 29, 2014

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



One thing to mention is that the Master is directly responsible for two regenerations, and possibly a third if you want to count it. He made Tom Baker fall from the top of Reichenbach Falls a radio telescope, manipulated events so McCoy got shot up by a gang in San Francisco, and possibly caused a situation where Troughton had to call the cops on him despite the Doctor being a fugitive himself.

There was an entire 26 episode season where the villain in every story was the Master. He was showing up as the villain once or twice a season in the 80's. He was a really big deal in the old series.

Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Sep 29, 2014

thexerox123
Aug 17, 2007

Doctor Spaceman posted:

The point of the Master is that he's got exactly the same background and capabilities as the Doctor, and even has the same MO; travel around the universe and flamboyantly meddle in poo poo.

Yeah, but Moriarty wouldn't go through with a plan that makes no goddamn sense just to gently caress with Sherlock Holmes.

thexerox123 fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Sep 29, 2014

EvilTobaccoExec
Dec 22, 2003

Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts!

thexerox123 posted:

Yeah, but Moriarty wouldn't go through with a plan that makes no goddamn sense just to gently caress with Sherlock Holmes.

Sounds like a personal failing of Moriarty to me.

mind the walrus
Sep 22, 2006

Random Stranger posted:

One thing to mention is that at this point the Master is directly responsible for two regenerations, and possibly a third if you want to count it. He made Tom Baker fall from the top of Reichenbach Falls a radio telescope, manipulated events so McCoy got shot up by a gang in San Francisco, and possibly caused a situation where Troughton had to call the cops on him despite the Doctor being a fugitive himself.

There was an entire 26 episode season where the villain in every story was the Master. He was showing up as the villain once or twice a season in the 80's. He was a really big deal in the old series.

Also true.

thexerox123 posted:

Yeah, but Moriarty wouldn't go through with a plan that makes no goddamn sense just to gently caress with Sherlock Holmes.

Depends on the version, honestly. Point being The Joker is much more of a polar opposite in every way of Batman, while The Master is more of a funhouse mirror version of The Doctor.

thexerox123
Aug 17, 2007

mind the walrus posted:

Depends on the version, honestly. Point being The Joker is much more of a polar opposite in every way of Batman, while The Master is more of a funhouse mirror version of The Doctor.

Well yeah, Moffat's version totally would. But likewise, some versions of The Joker are a funhouse mirror version of Batman.

For example, The Dark Knight draws attention to this:

quote:

Joker: I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, NO! No. You… you… complete me.
Batman: You’re garbage who kills for money.
Joker: Don’t talk like one of them. You’re not! Even if you’d like to be. To them, you’re just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper!

I guess neither one is precise, I just felt like Moriarty as an example was missing that element of anarchy that both The Joker and The Master bring.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Oxxidation posted:

I think giving grades in writeups like these is for chumps.

I agree, especially because a lot of people will automatically just jump to whatever the grade was rather than reading the very relevant and interesting points of discussion that get brought up.

Doctor Spaceman posted:

The point of the Master is that he's got exactly the same background and capabilities as the Doctor, and even has the same MO; travel around the universe and flamboyantly meddle in poo poo.

Also, while the Doctor is constantly trying to save the earth from alien threats, the original Master was the guy often bringing them to earth (or taking advantage of them when he found them) which almost always lead to the same hilarious conversation.

Doctor: So what are you getting out of helping the Flagalovonians?
Master: They will conquer the earth and I will be at their side!
Doctor: But then they won't need you anymore and they'll probably just kill you :confused:
Master: Ahh, but you see.... I..... uhh.... :aaa:

At which point the Master would team up with the Doctor to help him defeat those evil aliens! :)

Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 09:59 on Sep 29, 2014

bawk
Mar 31, 2013

I was in the same boat, this was my first view of the master and he does not disappoint. Just the knowledge that there was another time lord, and that the Doctor was afraid of him, really nails down the entire context of the time war and time lords. The Doctor was meant to be the sole survivor, so what would other survivors say of his actions?

That and the steady drumbeat that comes up really sells that maybe this guy ain't all there in the head... Then the realization that they are trapped on a godforsaken rock with a rocket that goes to who-knows-what-hosed-up-thing-is-considered-utopia-at-the-universe's-end really cinched the complete feeling of desolation. There's two time lords now, and the Doctor has never been more powerless or stranded.

Plus, the Master's regeneration isn't just a great rival to the Doctor, it's a great rival to Tennant. It's not just a battle of wits, it's a battle of who can chew more scenery. Which is exactly what Tennant needs.

mind the walrus
Sep 22, 2006

thexerox123 posted:

Well yeah, Moffat's version totally would. But likewise, some versions of The Joker are a funhouse mirror version of Batman.

I won't drag this derail out so please consider this my last word, but I respectfully disagree. Some people do try to make the Joker out to be Batman two steps removed, but I've never really bought it. There are similarities to be sure, but by and large the Joker and Batman go about their business in completely different ways.

Angry Salami
Jul 27, 2013

Don't trust the skull.
I'm getting the impression the Master reveal actually has more impact if all you know is "He's some bad guy who calls himself "The Master" than if you actually know what the character's like...

Doctor Spaceman
Jul 6, 2010

"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."
I was curious as to what the reaction would be, since most of the stories I first watched / read had the Master in them and so to me he's as big a part of the series as the Daleks.

death .cab for qt posted:

Plus, the Master's regeneration isn't just a great rival to the Doctor, it's a great rival to Tennant. It's not just a battle of wits, it's a battle of who can chew more scenery. Which is exactly what Tennant needs.
It's something that happened with the original Delgado version of the character (as a foil for Pertwee) but which didn't carry over to the Ainley one.

Craptacular!
Jul 9, 2001

Fuck the DH
There's two events you need to see to be fully informed on the RTD/Moffat "debate."

First, you need to see Moffat drive the show for a season or two. He does hide his failings better in short doses.

Secondly, you need to watch the next season. I won't give away plot details, but your aspiring writer side should appreciate a point where RTD deconstructs the show in ways that is a more fair, apples to apples comparison to Blink than Utopia is.

Anyhow, The Master...

I haven't watched old Who, but after this episode I looked at a montage of the various Masters, and from what I can tell is that he's a Time Lord on his last life for most of his appearances. Robert Delgado was deliciously hammy until he died, and The Master kept going and looks like The CryptKeeper or something for a while as he's a zombie-man until he finds a new body (who immediately looks and sounds as much like Delgado as possible.)

The lovely US movie even continued this thing, as apparently The Master was reduced to a snake thing before he met Eric Roberts dressed like the T-1000 (well, aviator glasses were defacto villain wear at the time) and snatched his body as well.

That said, I'm sort of a bad study, since the reason I got into Doctor Who was that I was intrigued over an online debate over whether another character was secretly The Master. So, I kind of knew of the character's existence from the get go, though I didn't know the backstory or motivations. But the whole Evil Counterpart dynamic is always fun to me, and come on, guy calls himself "The Master". How badass is that?

Craptacular! fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Sep 29, 2014

Doctor Spaceman
Jul 6, 2010

"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."
I think this is a fair time to bring up The Curse of Fatal Death, something Moffat wrote in 1999 for a comedy special.

It's got the Daleks, the Master, and is a pretty funny mix of what the old series was like and what the revival ended up being. Jonathan Pryce plays The Master in the tradition of Delgado and Ainley, there's time fuckery, romance, and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do-wDPoC6GM

NieR Occomata
Jan 18, 2009

Glory to Mankind.

Jerusalem posted:

I agree, especially because a lot of people will just automatically just jump to whatever the grade was rather than reading the very relevant and interesting points of discussion that get brought up.

I also agree, grades are generally stupid things and trying to determine what grade I'll give to stuff is one of the most difficult and irritating parts of my reviews, but I think it accomplishes 3 important things:

1) it leads to stuff like the conversation I had with oxx which was possibly the single most satisfying discussion I've had about doctor who

2) it allows me to quantify my thoughts in a way that's concise, which as you can see from my last two reviews is a weakness of mine

3) it allows me to separate whether or not an episode is GOOD from whether or not I ENJOY IT, like if you read my blink review and my utopia review back to back you'd think I gave a higher grade to the latter than the former, or I think the latter is a better episode because I enjoyed it more when the opposite was the case

I feel like the third point is the most important reason why grades are important even if they're often super dumb

howe_sam
Mar 7, 2013

Creepy little garbage eaters

Toxxupation posted:

I don't know how Doctor Who's overall writing process works, but the singular writing credit per episode implies that stories are first broken and then assigned to a given writer in the pool based on whatever byzantine system of favors and interoffice politics Davies engages in, with little to no story/editing or roomwork.

People who know more of the behind the scenes stuff can feel free to correct me, but I don't think the show has ever had a traditional writer's room. Instead the writers are more like freelancers who come in do their episode and then the show runner goes in and adds however much stuff he feels the episode needs to move the season arc plot along.

thexerox123
Aug 17, 2007

Doctor Spaceman posted:

I think this is a fair time to bring up The Curse of Fatal Death, something Moffat wrote in 1999 for a comedy special.

It's got the Daleks, the Master, and is a pretty funny mix of what the old series was like and what the revival ended up being. Jonathan Pryce plays The Master in the tradition of Delgado and Ainley, there's time fuckery, romance, and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do-wDPoC6GM

Haha, I had been debating for awhile whether I should post this/when would be the right time... I think you chose a good time for it.

mind the walrus
Sep 22, 2006

Do let us know what you think about The Curse of the Fatal Death Oxx and Occ :allears:

Xenoborg
Mar 10, 2007

Random Stranger posted:

There was an entire 26 episode season where the villain in every story was the Master.

Hahaha, what?

Doctor Spaceman
Jul 6, 2010

"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

Xenoborg posted:

Hahaha, what?

The Master was introduced in Pertwee's second season and literally every story had the Master in it as one of the antagonists, often in disguise as something like Mr <Master-translated-into-Latin>.

NeuroticLich
Oct 30, 2012

Grimey Drawer

Doctor Spaceman posted:

The Master was introduced in Pertwee's second season and literally every story had the Master in it as one of the antagonists, often in disguise as something like Mr <Master-translated-into-Latin>.

So for an entire season he was basically Count Olaf?

I could get behind that.

Oddity
Jun 22, 2003

"This woman here depicted will possess unseen marks. Signs that she will be the one to bring forth my works."
I think the fact that so many people are explaining why the Master is important highlight the fact that the episode didn't, and that's their beef with it...

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
I don't think I've ever felt like more of a nerd in my entire life then when I realised how happy Occ preferring RTD made me. I mean jesus christ I barely even like this show 80% of the time no matter who's in charge and his reasons are largely different from my reasons but.....you and me, Occ. Bros.

Anyway the next two reviews are perhaps the ones I've been most interested in reading so let's see how this goes.

FreezingInferno
Jul 15, 2010

THERE.
WILL.
BE.
NO.
BATTLE.
HERE!

Toxxupation posted:

I also agree, grades are generally stupid things and trying to determine what grade I'll give to stuff is one of the most difficult and irritating parts of my reviews, but I think it accomplishes 3 important things:

1) it leads to stuff like the conversation I had with oxx which was possibly the single most satisfying discussion I've had about doctor who

2) it allows me to quantify my thoughts in a way that's concise, which as you can see from my last two reviews is a weakness of mine

3) it allows me to separate whether or not an episode is GOOD from whether or not I ENJOY IT, like if you read my blink review and my utopia review back to back you'd think I gave a higher grade to the latter than the former, or I think the latter is a better episode because I enjoyed it more when the opposite was the case

I feel like the third point is the most important reason why grades are important even if they're often super dumb

I feel the same way about scores for video game reviews. Putting an X/10 to quantify your opinion is fine, but it's been twisted to the point where that's the only thing people give a poo poo about now. As opposed to the actual words that the person wrote about the thing. To this thread's credit, there's nobody like that in here yet. No people yelling bloody murder about Love And Monsters getting an A.

Also I had the Master reveal spoiled for me by Wikipedia, of all things. Back in the day in Canada we got the episodes months late on the CBC, and in the middle of the season I looked up old Who stuff on Wikipedia, read about the Master, and oops he's a villain at the end of Series Three played by John Simm!

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Tiggum
Oct 24, 2007

Your life and your quest end here.


thexerox123 posted:

This is a good explanation... basically, I think the Moriarty to the Doctor's Sherlock is not quite apt.
It never is. The Holmes/Moriarty comparison gets made all the time about hero/villain pairs and basically makes no sense, because Moriarty is such a minor, insignificant character. He's in one story and exists basically as a plot device to kill Holmes off because Doyle didn't want to to write about him any more (although he later changed his mind and brought him back anyway).

Although if you mean one of the Sherlock Holmes adaptations it may make more sense, because for some reason the people who make those seem to like to shoehorn Moriarty into everything for no goddamn reason.

mind the walrus posted:

That doesn't really jive with what I'm hearing, sorry.
Depends which Joker and which Batman. It's not like either of them is consistent in how they're portrayed. Adam West and Cesar Romero may have been playing characters with the same names as those played by Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, but they're not the same characters. :shrug:

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