Doctor Who theory: Could the Doctor and the Master have met in the Time War?

We know that Derek Jacobi’s incarnation of the Master fought in the Time War thanks to Big Finish’s audios. But is it possible that the Doctor could have met him during this time?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC.

Image obtained from: official Doctor Who website.)

We know that the Master fought during the Time War in Doctor Who. But is it possible that he met the Doctor at some point in the conflict?

Over the past year, Big Finish have been exploring the incarnation of the Master as played by Derek Jacobi. Labelled as “the War Master“, due to his heavy involvement in the Time War, various stories have been told of this particular incarnation, both in his own series, and in various spin-offs. In fact, he’s due to face off against River Song next month.

However, while there are still many stories to tell of this particular incarnation, there is one thing that we do know: that the Master and the Doctor couldn’t have met during the Time War.

After all, when the Tenth Doctor met “Professor Yana” in Utopia, he didn’t react in shock at a familiar face. He didn’t think it was remotely suspicious that a human just happened to look like an incarnation of his oldest enemy. So there’s no way that they could have met during the Time War, right?

Well…

The child Master

Despite it looking initially unlikely, there are certainly a few interesting possibilities. The Eleventh Doctor comics featured an arc that explored the Doctor’s past in the Time War, and focused a great deal on the War Doctor.

More than that: they introduced their own incarnation of the Master. Taking the form of a small child, this incarnation actually worked with the War Doctor, for a time. He eventually regenerated into the War Master that we’re more familiar with.

This seems to be at odds with Big Finish’s depiction of the Master in the Time War. His appearance in Gallifrey: Time War, and its connection to his first series, Only the Good, seems to suggest that Jacobi’s incarnation was around more during the earlier stages of the conflict, even before Eight’s regeneration into the War Doctor. Indeed, one story has even established that Jacobi’s incarnation was around before the war had even started!

But that’s the problem with a “time war”: timelines can change so much that you can never be sure of what did happen, what never happened, or even both at the same time. (That much was clear when we looked at how badly the Eighth Doctor was affected by the Time War.)

Regardless, we can be sure that the Doctor never met Jacobi’s incarnation during the Time War, right? Again, the problem would come down to his lack of recognition of Yana, specifically.

Well…

We know that Jacobi’s Master fought in the Time War. Is there a chance that the Doctor ran into him at any point in the conflict?

(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.

Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)

The War Master

If the Doctor had met this particular incarnation during the Time War, the most obvious answer would, of course, be amnesia. Especially if it was the Eighth Doctor. After all, he’s had amnesia so many times that it’s become a running joke amongst fandom.

But let’s be honest: that’s a boring answer. Certainly one that Eighth Doctor fans wouldn’t want to hear. It would also be a copout if it was handled that way.

But there is one possibility. One way to explain why the Doctor could have met him before and yet wouldn’t recognize him as Yana: the Chameleon Arch.

Now, we know that it can re-write a Time Lord’s biology and make them appear to be human. We know that it can even give them new memories, but still retain their physical appearance. However, if these devices were designed to hide Time Lords, then what else could it do?

Let’s take a look at the perception filter. This would be placed over the fob watch a disguised Time Lord would carry. They would never open it by mistake, due to that filter. The watch would always be with them, but they would hardly think about it. Not unless their attention had been deliberately brought to it. (As Martha unfortunately learned in Utopia.)

In The Sound of Drums, the Doctor used a perception filter of his own for himself, Martha and Jack to hide from everyone while they were hunted down. Not invisible, just unnoticeable. (Which is considerably close to being the same thing, anyway.)

Not unnoticeable, but unrecognizable

Perhaps the Chameleon Arch can create another perception filter on the Time Lord himself. Not quite in the same way as the Doctor used it, but something much lower level. Something that may even work specifically on other Time Lords, so that they wouldn’t recognize one using the Chameleon Arch as a disguise. Even if they had seen that particular incarnation before.

Essentially, the Chameleon Arch would provide the same effect as Clark Kent’s glasses: even if someone had met them before in their Time Lord form, they wouldn’t recognize them. They would look exactly the same on the outside, but somehow, it just wouldn’t register to a Time Lord mind.

So while the Doctor saw Professor Yana and spoke to him, even if he had met the Master with this particular face before, it would never have occurred to him that they were the same person. That is, not until he found out about the watch.

Because look at the Doctor’s reaction in the above clip: he’s not completely glad about the idea of another Time Lord survivor. He’s panicking. He didn’t want Yana to open the watch under any circumstances. Is it possible that, just as Yana focusing directly on the watch broke through its perception filter, the Doctor’s realization broke through Yana’s?

This of course sounds devious and complicated. But then again, this is also the Time Lords that we’re talking about. “Devious and complicated” is basically in their very DNA. (As is becoming extremely clear in our ongoing reviews for the spin-off series Gallifrey.) And it’s also very, very clever technology. If anyone could create technology like that, it would be them.

So that’s my theory on how the Doctor could have met Jacobi’s Master before Utopia, without something as dull as amnesia. But why would I be theorizing about this, anyway? It’s not like Big Finish have teased anything about one of next year’s releases. Certainly not during a trailer at the end of this month’s War Master box set. No no, this is just meaningless, idle speculation…

What do you think? Could the Doctor have met the Master during the Time War? Do you have your own theory as to how? Feel free to speculate in the comments below.