Doctor Who Watch Madness spotlight: the popularity of the Master

Following up our examination of the winner of Doctor Who Watch Madness, the Tenth Doctor, we focus on the popularity of the runner-up, the Master.

For Doctor Who Watch Madness, there could only be one winner. In a final round against the Master, the Tenth Doctor won, and not by a small margin, either.

Still, for the Master to get all the way to second place, it’s quite impressive. It wasn’t just other key enemies that they beat, including the Weeping Angels, the Cybermen and of course, the Daleks.

They even beat Sarah Jane Smith, too. She’s not just a highly popular Classic Series companion, either. She’s also, due to both multiple appearances in the New Series and her own spinoff, a character popular with New Series fans, too.

So what is it that makes the Master so popular? How did a character like that beat not just some of Doctor Who‘s most memorable monsters, but even some of the Doctor’s most memorable friends, too?

Roger Delgado as the Master. (Credit: BBC)

The Doctor’s enemy/friend

Perhaps one key reason for their popularity is because that in some ways, the Master is a combination of both. At the very least, it’s been established that, in their first incarnations and before they left Gallifrey, the Doctor and the Master were good friends, at least.

The Third Doctor described them as being “at school together” in The Sea Devils. (A highly recommended story that features both an awesome sword fight, and the Doctor eating a sandwich.) So throughout many of his incarnations, the Doctor felt a sort of responsibility towards their old friend. More than that: a hope that his old friend could come back.

This hope faded after the Third Doctor’s era, but it has seen a revival in the New Series. Particularly between the Twelfth Doctor and Missy, when the hope came close to fruition in Series Ten. A deadly enemy that the Doctor feels personally close to certainly adds an interesting angle, and it’s not something seen with most other villains.

A shared history

And of course, this personal edge is only enhanced by the shared history between the two, both off and on-screen. Off-screen, they were raised on the same planet and, as children, had similar dreams of seeing the universe.

On-screen, their relationship is almost equally extensive. While the Master has hardly been in the series since its origins, (in fact, the character was originally introduced in Doctor Who‘s eighth season,) they have been around for a very long time.

And since their introduction in 1971 in Terror of the Autons, the character has made almost regular appearances, appearing in numerous stories across the decades. In fact, the Master is the only villain to appear in a canon TV story in the Nineties, thanks to the TV movie. (We don’t count charity special Dimensions in Time.) So having that kind of regular appearance helps for the villain to be just a little bit more memorable to audiences in the long term.

BBC

Multiple Masters

One more reason why the character is so popular is the same reason for the Doctor: multiple interpretations of the role. (Although unlike the Doctor, in most cases, it’s actually more complicated than a result of regeneration.) Just as everyone has their favorite Doctor, everyone has their favorite Master, too.

For many fans of the Classic Series, Roger Delgado is still seen as the definitive incarnation. The original actor to play the role, his Master had such style, charm and sophistication. He was also ruthless and pure evil, but you couldn’t help but love the character. He really was a true equal for the Doctor.

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Another popular choice is Anthony Ainley, who appeared in so many stories throughout the Eighties. In fact, he met four different Doctors in their respective eras, plus three previous incarnations in The Five Doctors.

And of course, in the New Series, we have two equally popular choices with John Simm and Michelle Gomez. In some ways, their incarnations are very different. But at the same time, they’re also much closer to each other in terms of personality than to others. Both have a real sense of manic energy and absolute insanity. Unsurprisingly, both have proven to be highly popular with fans of the New Series.

Expanded media

But even beyond the TV series, the Master has had a rich and vibrant life. Not only has the character appeared in books and comics, but also in many audios, too. And like the TV series, these audios have allowed for a variety of interpretations.

Geoffrey Beevers, Alex Macqueen and more recently James Dreyfus give consistently brilliant and very different performances in the role.

Even Sir Derek Jacobi, like Beevers, has recently had the opportunity to expand the role greatly. He had such a short time on television in the episode Utopia. On audio, however, he really gets to shine.  He has recently performed both in his own series, The War Master, and in Gallifrey: Time War. He’ll also be appearing in UNIT: Cyber-Reality next month.

The Master is a villain that truly stands out in Doctor Who. With a very personal connection to the hero, a variety of great interpretations, and a strong life in expanded media, it’s no wonder that the character proved to be so popular in Doctor Who Watch Madness. And, more than likely, the character will remain a popular villain for a long time to come.

Next: Doctor Who Watch Madness spotlight: the popularity of the Tenth Doctor

Do you agree with the reasons listed for the Master’s popularity? Are there additional reasons you can think of of why you love the character? Or is there another villain that you prefer? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.