I find the problem is that Delgado's Master maybe becomes less of a danger in each reappearance. By the time we get to Frontier in Space he seems hardly a threat at all, and just banters along with the Doctor and Jo
@@Whittingtons Tbf, wasn't the reason for the master being 'warmer' towards them, the original plans to reveal the master and the doctor being brothers but then delgado died?
@@thearmyguns I don't think he actually is "warmer" to them, at least not in the usual sense. He's charming and cordial, and he definitely likes them, but it makes no difference to his plans. That's a huge part of what makes him such a good villain and Master - the respect he has for The Doctor and Jo doesn't affect his intentions to kill or abuse them if they get in his way because his aspirations are more important to him than anything else. That's a way more believable villain than most.
@@lapelcelery42 Good viewpoint. I find he grows to 'like' them throughout the series, considering when you think back to Terror of the Autons where he unflinchingly tries to kill them several times
I think the avoiding the handshake is a deliberate bit of foreshadowing as later the Sea Devils telepathy involves physical contact. The Doctor may be warming up to the idea of a reformed Master but he's not going to trust him with skin to skin contact.
And yet, off camera, Mr. Delgado and Mr. Pertwee were very close friends. Mr. Pertwee left the show, because Mr. Delgado's death hurt him a great deal. Not a lot of people remember this.
@@mikekean8344 I don't think Delgado's death was the only reason Pertwee left. Think it was also cuz Katy Manning had left and producer Barry Letts was also moving on. Plus the Doctor had started travelling more in the TARDIS again after years of earthbound stories and was therefore having less to do with UNIT.
I always loved how oddly polite Delgado’s Master was to everyone. A true villain never constantly raises his voice. By being calm and somewhat polite, they are almost in complete control.
‘Goodbye’ ‘Goodbye miss grant’ The master always had the upmost respect for Jo, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out they just played uno when she got captured
"Respect"? He had good manners and a cultured personality. There is a difference. It is why I just don't buy the "New Who" versions of the Master! He just does not seem like a reincarnation of the same Person. And, what is his name, "Simms" Master, who did succeed in taking over the World; CLEARLY the show producers were copying The Joker from "Batman"!
Having recently listened to an audio drama where a later incarnation of The Master gaslights Jo into believing he was responsible for getting her to join UNIT in the first place and that she had been a sleeper agent working for him the whole time, I'm not sure that "respect" is the right word.
@@TheNoiseySpectator I think Ainsley started to fall off the deep end. Running out of regenerations changed him some. Then the Time War changed him more. Simm felt more of a callback to a wilder, more "seen some things" Ainsley, where Gomez (Missy) felt more of a callback to Delgado in many ways.
The reason why he is acting nice is because he is a very professional incarnation of the master i looked up his personality type it is mastermind just like the 3rd doctor when I looked up he is what the master said his intellectual equal he is good at hiding his villain side
The Pratt incarnation is just fucking insane and the Simm incarnation was basically a Batman 66 villain with no redeeming qualities. Other than those failures, yes charming mass murderers all of them.
I do wonder if the drums were softer back then. It made sene for them to be a thing when he had become a more manic character, but in this classier style, I wonder what influence the drums actually had.
Mr. Delgado is still my favorite actor to play the Master. Yeah, the other guys and Michelle Gomez all did fine jobs playing The Master but Delgado's original take on the character just had a little bit more "panache" I guess than the other actors.
No. Simm's Master reminds me of Professor Zaroff - over the top and responding to the script he is given to deliver nuttiness. Delgado here is entirely different. He is playing a cleverly constructed scene that shows his manipulative nature as he has fooled both Trenchard, and not the Doctor and Jo, into having some sympathy for him. He is a sympathetic figure before them,,, in private though it's all a joke for him. A fun exercise. Roger Delgado is always playing it straight, that's one of the things that makes him so memorable and a benchmark for the character. John Simm on the other hand is having fun, because the Master is a nutty fruitcake. He's insane, one step away from being The Joker, while Delgado is playing the part like he is James Moriarty... it's a world of difference.
@@davidmullen6011 Oh, did you just mention "the Joker"? 🃏 Yes..... I doubt it is a coincidence that the BBC developed the personality of Simm's Master while the Joker was a popular character in Entertainment pop-culture! I _very much_ doubt it is a coincidence! 😒
Not sure if you mean you were confused or still are, so I'll try to explain. In the story, the Master is in prison and is visited by the Doctor and Jo. Why the niceness between them? It makes for good storytelling. The Master isn't (ostensibly) in a position to do anyone harm and the three of them have done a lot together. So they may as well be polite to each other. It's funny. But it runs deeper than that. This story was scripted by Malcolm Hulke, who was one of the best Doctor Who writers of that time. He specialized in creating characters that had shades of being both heroes and villains rather than being just one or the other. So it is very appropriate that an expert like him would incorporate a scene of this kind.
After movies like _The Silence of the Lambs_ or _Con Air,_ this ‘prison’ looks incredibly naïve on the part of the art production / set builders. I mean, this guy is a deadly alien (both verbally manipulative as well as physically lethal), with futuristic knowledge in lieu of any earthly equivalency, right? But he’s just sat in a comfy hotel room full of furniture, exercise equipment and mechanical junk. Even as a kid this one aspect of the story bothered me. Granted, those aforementioned movies happened like twenty-five years after this broadcast, but even so.
Ah but that's because the Master got transferred here from a more secure place. IIRC there's a comic story explaining it since apparently there's a production goof having him placed in two different prisons. Clearly even if you disregard that as canon, he's got Trenchard in his pocket already. That's why he has all the benefits. And also that hypnotism lark also probably helped.
