*Spoilers
for “Utopia.”*
This will be a
tricky Master to talk about. You thought the Eric Roberts incarnation didn’t
have much screentime to work with? Derek Jacobi is in one episode of new
Who, and for most of it, he isn’t actually the Master! (Side note: I’m
aware that the Jacobi Master, along with other short-lived TV characters, has
had a fuller life in supplementary materials like Big Finish audiobooks, but today,
I’m focusing just on what we see on the show.)
We can’t talk
about the Jacobi Master without talking about Professor Yana. Similar to the
Tenth Doctor in “Human Nature,” this version of the Master experienced a human
life via a Chameleon Arch. While the Doctor became human to hide out from the
murderous Family of Blood, the Master did it to escape the Time War. He’d been granted
a new regeneration cycle in exchange for fighting, but as the Time War dragged
on, he needed an out—and so he used the Chameleon Arch to make himself human, concealing
his Time Lord essence and true memories in a fob watch.
Thus, the
Master became Professor Yana. The Master had intentionally chosen the end of
the universe as his hiding spot, but for Yana that’s simply his life. And
although Yana has some of the Master’s qualities, like his scientific mind and the
psychic drumming that plagues a number of the Master’s regenerations, he’s in
truth a very different person. Much like the Doctor as John Smith is pretty
indifferent to suffering and falls to useless pieces when aliens attack, the
Master as Yana is a kind, altruistic soul who devotes his life to building a
rocket to find a new home for the remnants of humanity. When it seems to him he
won’t be able to complete it, he keeps that news to himself, not wanting to
deprive people of hope in their final days, and when the Doctor shows up in the
TARDIS, Yana is all too happy to defer to his quickly-apparent expertise to get
the job done.
It's this same
encounter with the Doctor, though, that ultimately leads Yana to open the fob
watch and release the Master within. And credit to Derek Jacobi—even though
he’s only in this one episode and is playing Yana for most of it, it’s
immediately clear that his Master is someone else entirely. In the blink of an
eye, he turns cold, cruel, and ruthless. All of the sudden, he’s once again
looking out only for number one. He’s only too happy to leave the Doctor,
Martha, and Jack stranded at the end of the universe, and he’s needlessly cruel
to his former assistant just because.
Given his limited
screentime, as he’s shot and regenerates maybe four minutes after he
regains his identity, it’s hard to say too much about this version of the
Master, but the impression I get is that he’s harder and more serious than many
who come before or after him. We don’t really see much of the Master’s more
dramatic tendencies here. And I suppose that makes sense. The Master most
likely experienced some intense shit before he ran away from the Time War, and
then he spent 60+ years as a human puttering around on a dying planet vainly
trying to save a bunch of refugees. 1) This Master has been through it and
isn’t really in the mood for theatrics. And 2) he doesn’t have the time for it,
having “wasted” enough of his regeneration as Yana. So he goes straight for the
jugular, pausing only to frighten and mock Chantho before he kills her. He may
not have the chance to be the Master for long, but he packs as much villainy
into those few minutes as he possibly can.
