Doctor Who Spin-Off Review: ‘The War Master: Only the Good: Beneath the Viscoid’ (Audio)
By James Aggas
Ten years ago, Derek Jacobi played the Master, all too briefly, in the episode ‘Utopia’. In the first episode of prequel series ‘The War Master: Only the Good’, he finally returns to the role…
The War Master: Only the Good has been a box set that I’ve been looking forward to ever since its announcement back in June. A prequel series with Sir Derek Jacobi himself playing the Master sounded almost too good to be true. Especially a Master box set with no Doctor in sight!
But how well could a series work where one of Doctor Who’s greatest villains was the protagonist? Was there a risk of making him too likeable, or too sympathetic? Would the writers try to turn him into a hero, or even an anti-hero? Or would he be as evil as he’s ever been? Let’s find out.
‘Beneath the Viscoid’
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The War Master: Only the Good begins with the episode Beneath the Viscoid. On the planet Gardezza, a few soldiers rescue an old man from a mysterious capsule. He claims to be “the Doctor”, and he’s eager to help. But is he really telling them the truth?
Beneath the Viscoid sets up the rest of the series really well. In some ways, it’s quite standalone, and feels more like a prelude to the rest of Only the Good.
The Master disguising himself as his arch-enemy is a clever and fitting way for the series to begin. When he meets some of the people of Gardezza, he’s kind and very helpful. He’s also very charming. It’s almost enough to make you forget how much of an utterly ruthless villain he really is.
Well, almost.
Even while he’s trying to be the Doctor, you know that it isn’t quite right. He’s trying too hard to please, too hard to be understanding, too hard to be nice. The Master is less impersonating the Doctor and more parodying him, which just makes his scenes while in disguise doubly fun.
Of course, there are nice little moments when he isn’t hiding behind a façade, and we get to see his true personality. We only briefly saw this at the end of Utopia, so it’s nice that we get more of it here.
A mixture of old and new
Jacobi’s Master has elements of all of the best Masters. He has the charm of Delgado. The nastiness of Beevers. He even has some of the cheekiness of Macqueen. But he’s also very much his own Master, I’m glad to say. Even in just the few minutes he performed the role on television, he was absolutely brilliant. It’s great to see that that’s still the case in his own series.
And even while he’s maintaining the disguise, he still gets to indulge in his evilness. People around him suffer and die because of him. He doesn’t enjoy killing others, exactly, but he certainly sees no problem with it. To the Master, murder is just a means to an end.
By the time Beneath the Viscoid finishes, there’s no question that this is the villain we all know. In just one episode, he’s caused death and destruction on a wide scale. The Master is as evil as ever, and don’t we just love him for it!
Next: Review: ‘Eighth Doctor Adventures: The Zygon Who Fell to Earth’ (Audio)