Top Five Magnificent Bastard Moments: The Roberts Master (Doctor Who)

*Spoilers.*

The Eric Roberts incarnation of the Master isn’t my favorite, but he certainly has the whole “evil” thing down pat. Despite only appearing in the 1996 TV movie, I was still able to fill an entire Top Five for him. Though I have to say, his list is less Magnificent Bastard Moments and more just straight-up Bastard Moments.

 

Taking Over Bruce’s Body (Doctor Who)

Like the Anthony Ainley Master before him, this Master has a very particular M.O.: cheat death by any means necessary, no matter who he has to kill to do so. After being executed by the Daleks, the Master is able to survive as a translucent, semi-corporeal snake thing (it’s the TV movie, don’t ask for logic.) He escapes the TARDIS and hitches a ride on a passing ambulance, then follows Bruce, one of the EMTs, home. This is this incarnation of the Master in a nutshell: he attacks poor Bruce in his snake form, wriggling down the guy’s throat, suffocating him and then taking over his body when he dies. To add insult to injury, he knows Bruce’s body won’t withstand this takeover for very long, so he immediately starts plotting to take the Doctor’s body instead. The Master murders this man, essentially, to serve as his temporary transport. Cold. Blooded.

 

Possessing Grace (Doctor Who)

As a byproduct of his previous snake form interacting with Bruce’s body, the Master now has snake eyes and can secrete this weird substance that can immobilize people. We also learn, unfortunately, that he can use it to possess people. Grace gets hit by a stray splash of the substance in the ambulance, and that’s enough for him to later take her over during a crucial moment, getting her to knock the Doctor out before he can thwart the Master’s plans.

 

 

Killing Chang Lee (Doctor Who)

While the Master possesses Grace, he uses old-fashioned lying and manipulation on Chang Lee, convincing him that the Doctor stole his body and promising Lee all manner of fabulous wealth in exchange for his help. When the Doctor tricks the Master into revealing the truth, he discards Lee at the first sign of anything less than complete loyalty and obedience. Just to be super gross about it, moments before snapping his neck, he purrs, “Lee, I would never lie to you. I would only protect you.” :shudder:

 

Opening the Eye of Harmony (Doctor Who)

The Master needs a human eye to open the Eye of Harmony, a security measure the Doctor had put in place. Now, first of all, the Master is doing this to steal the Doctor’s remaining regenerations, knowing that the Earth will be destroyed in the process. Second, he’s just killed one human lackey, and his other, Grace, has blackened eyes while he’s possessing her. The Master handles this obstacle in the grossest way possible, macking on Grace to suck the possession out of her(?), then forcing her in front of the Eye to open it. Talk about a creep!

 

Killing Grace (Doctor Who)

Once Grace has recovered from her possession, she struggles to thwart the Master’s plan, remembering the Doctor’s earlier instructions on jumpstarting the TARDIS. When she tries to help the Doctor, the Master flies into a rage, killing her by pushing her over the railing. Fortunately, the TARDIS is in a temporal orbit at the time, which allows recent events to be rewritten, but even if it gets quickly reversed, killing a companion will always be an absolute villain move.

Character Highlight: The Roberts Master (Doctor Who)

*Spoilers for the TV movie.*

Even though the Derek Jacobi Master spends considerably less time actually being the Master, the Eric Roberts incarnation is probably my least favorite. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s the fault of the actor—I’ve talked about other talented actors who’ve been hamstrung by less-than-stellar writing for their Masters, and while the Eighth Doctor and Grace get most of the TV movie’s best qualities, the Roberts Master is saddled with a lot of its worst.

Like the Anthony Ainley incarnation before him, the Roberts Master isn’t actually a regeneration. With no regenerations left and on the brink of being executed, the Master’s final wish is to have the Doctor transport his remains home. By unknown means, his essence is transmuted into some kind of incorporeal serpent thing (is this a Horcrux situation? Enquiring minds want to know,) and he plans to steal the Doctor’s body and remaining regenerations. That plan hits a snag when the Doctor receives a fatal blow and is on the road to regenerating himself, so the Master coopts a nearby human body in a pinch.

If the Ainley Master usurping Tremas’s body is awful on an emotional level, the Roberts Master taking over Bruce’s body is awful on a physical level. The hijacking is fraught this time around and the body almost immediately starts decaying. A side effect of the serpent thing, maybe? Either way, we’ve now got a Master with yellow snake eyes who spits hypnotic venom, desperate to make a second play for the Doctor’s regenerations before his current body falls apart.

I’m again struck by how tenaciously the Master tries to run away from death, trying to scrape and steal a bit more life for himself any way he can. For all of their schemes for assorted villainy and/or domination, a significant part of any Master is motivated purely by their fear of dying.

The Master we’re left with isn’t great. He does have some quintessential Mastery traits, like the aforementioned hypnotic abilities (even if it’s transmitted through venom in this incarnation) and a propensity for dramatics. But he’s weirdly split between this really slick, slightly cheesy Master and some kind of zombie-snake animalistic Master that growls and hisses. It’s odd, it’s over-the-top, and it doesn’t work all that well.

I do get a kick out of the fact that he changes into traditional Gallifreyan robes before executing his ultimate plan against the Doctor. 1) Again with the dramatics. And 2) since the TV movie was a prospective relaunch for the show to an American audience who wasn’t necessarily familiar with the classic series, I like imagining people who’ve rolled with the regenerating Time Lord and the police-box spaceship suddenly going, “Wait, what on earth is he wearing?”

Roberts Master, we hardly knew ye. Not the best, but you’re still a part of the Master’s lives and thus still a part of that delightful, crazy journey we call Who.