"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Sunday, August 13, 2023

Top (Two) Magnificent Bastard Moments: The Jacobi Master (Doctor Who)

 *Spoilers.*

I managed to find a full Top Five for the Roberts Master, despite him only appearing in the TV movie. The Jacobi Master, meanwhile, only appears in a single episode, and what’s more, he’s not actually himself for most of it. As a result, we only have a few minutes with this Master before he regenerates. In light of that, it’s a testimony to his villainy that he manages two Magnificent Bastard moments in that timeframe.

 

Letting In the Futurekind (Series 3, Episode 11 – “Utopia”)

In his amnesiac human form, Professor Yana was all about preserving life, dedicating his life to building an escape for the rest of humanity and preparing to sacrifice himself to do it. But once the Master regains his memories, his very first act is one of violence, lowering the base’s defenses to let the ferocious Futurekind swarm in. He’s cavalier as he does this, responding to Chantho’s protests with an airy and ironic, “Where one door closes, another opens.” Stone cold—it’s as if, after spending so long as a human doing good, he has to immediately do some dastardly to wash the altruism off him.

 

Killing Chantho (Series 3, Episode 11 – “Utopia”)

It’s not enough that the Master kills Chantho, the faithful assistant who served Professor Yana for years and silently loved him. It’s that he has to mock her before he does it, berating her for never asking about the fob watch that had concealed his true memories and making fun of her cultural manner of speech. Since I started watching Doctor Who with the new series, this was my first real glimpse of the Master, and it was unnerving to see how instantly cruel and chilling he was.

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