From: doctor8@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu (Jason A Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: Re: Re: The Master
Date: 18 Nov 92 21:05:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: jhuvms.18NOV199216054214
Organization: The Johns Hopkins University - HCF
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <921117.124116@3Mail.3Com.COM>, Ric_Goldman@3mail.3com.com writes...
> 
>>Perhaps the TCE (maybe you should fill in the new readers with your
>>abbreviations - I forget what it stands for but I know what you are 
>>talking about) is AA's trademark just as hypnosis was RD's. Each Doctor 
>>has a different trademark of sorts. Perhaps AA's different attitude can 
>>be attributed to his end-of-his-set-of-regenerations insanity? Of 
>>course, it's only speculation.

	Actually, Delgado DID have the TCE, or at least a primitive
version of it.  We see it used in the very first episode of "Terror of
the Autons", the first Master story, when he uses it on an unsuspecting
lab technician.
	However, I'm not sure if we see Delgado use it again.  All I know
is that he did have it.

> 
>Actually, the Tissue Compression Eliminator (sic?) appears as early as  
>"The Deadly Assasin" used by Pratt's Master on video technician and the 
>incompetent Chancellor guard.  But I think it falls in the category of 
>the sonic screwdriver - a trademark tool, not a trademark of the
>characterization.

	Remember Part 1 of "Logopolis"?  The Master's "calling card" is
the twin shrunken bodies of a police constable and Tegan's Aunt Vanessa - 
that is how the Doctor realizes he's being pursued.  And in many subsequent 
Master stories, we see several shrunken corpses lying around.  I think it
was meant to be his trademark at first, but go dropped as time went on.
By Survival, I don't think the Master HAD a trademark - he just showed up
for the first cliffhanger of every story and looked silly.

> 
>>Finally, if we gave AA the number of stories that RD had and more 
>>importantly the quality of the stories, we might see what kind of 
>>Master that AA portrays.  The Master isn't the main character anyway, 
>>so why emphasize him? The bad guy should never be explained fully so 
>>that he always has a surprise in store for the audience.

	During Pertwee's second season, the Master was in every single
episode.  After this season concluded with his arrest in "The Daemons", he
was dropped as a "regular", and became a frequent guest star.  When Ainley
came around, he showed up once a season, and just became a sort of guest
star, like the Daleks and Cybermen.

> 
>I think it's also the chemistry between the actors themselves as well.  
>RD and John Pertwee knew each other well before DW and were able to use 
>that on screen.  AA outlasted three (maybe four or five counting McCoy 
>and the Valeyard) incarnations of the Doctor, but at least kept 
>consistent while his opposite kept changing.
> 
>Perhaps what is needed was a "Who is the Master" thread, similar to the 
>"Who is the Doctor" introduced with McCoy, to help flesh out the 
>character.

	Does anybody know if the Master is supposed to show up in any
New Adventures?  It would be interesting to see what he's like, after
he metamorphosed into Tony the Tiger at the end of "Survival" ...

> 
>>Tom


							Jason Miller