Masterly musings

[kerravonsen]

So, flist of mine, I am wondering, and thinking. Perhaps a stupid question. What do you think it would take to redeem the Master? I don't think Ten could do it, really, he's too messed up himself. I liked the android!Master in "Scream of the Shalka"; nicely ambiguous (and someone wrote a believable series for a backstory for that, which I tend to take as personal canon). Then there was the Master in Now We Have A Map of the Stars, who was chilling and manipulative and still ended up sort of redeemed. He kind of reminds me of Draco Malfoy in A Year Like None Other: a spoiled brat who has good reasons for changing allegiance, but very bad habits to overcome.

I like redemption; but while I could imagine the Master being pragmatic about allegiances with Good Guys, I can't imagine him feeling remorse. And I don't think he could truly be redeemed if he didn't.

Comments

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

While I will happily read fic that tries to convince me otherwise, I can't help but feel, deep down, that he passed the point where that was really possible quite some time back.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I agree. The last time that it seemed possible in the TV series (as opposed to audio and book spin-offs with which I'm not familiar) was "Survival". I couldn't see the Master in the TV movie or as portrayed in New Who as being redeeemable.

[kerravonsen]

Personally, I don't think the Master in the TV movie was actually the Master. My personal canon is that it was all a Dalek plot, and it was a shapeshifter programmed to think it was the Master.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I like that idea. Eric Roberts totally failed to capture the character's charm.

[ireactions.livejournal.com]

Hi! New to your blog.

The matter hasn't gone without consideration in some spin-off media. The apocryphal webcast, "Scream of the Shalka", showed the Master as a prisoner inside the TARDIS, an arrangement the tenth Doctor would have been willing to facilitate. And the audioplay, "Master", indicated that the Master is one personification of Death, and that the Doctor hopes to one day free his old friend from his curse.

The problem with redeeming the Master is that the character has never been particularly well defined; he's a killer with no motive, a malicious force with no real purpose beyond menacing the hero and being trounced every single time (which makes it hard to see him as an actual threat). So it's hard to imagine an actual persona beyond or without the villainy.

[kerravonsen]

Hi! I'm curious how you found me, since we don't seem to have any friends or comms in common.

The apocryphal webcast, "Scream of the Shalka", showed the Master as a prisoner inside the TARDIS, an arrangement the tenth Doctor would have been willing to facilitate.

Yes, I really liked "Scream of the Shalka".

The problem with redeeming the Master is that the character has never been particularly well defined; he's a killer with no motive, a malicious force with no real purpose beyond menacing the hero and being trounced every single time (which makes it hard to see him as an actual threat). So it's hard to imagine an actual persona beyond or without the villainy.

I'd disagree that he isn't well-defined; yes, the earlier Master (especially Ainley) seemed like an aimless megalomaniac, but I think there's always been a touch of rivalry with the Doctor, a desire to beat him, which was shown more explicitly with the Simm!Master.
And the advantage of a fuzzily defined character for fanfic, is that the fanfic writer can extrapolate and fill in the gaps.

[neuralclone.livejournal.com]

A belated comment as I skim back through my friends page...

What about Professor Yana? True, Yana isn't the Master, but if the Doctor was right about John Smith being part of the Doctor, then Yana is part of the Master. And Yana was basically a good man - hell, Yana was basically the Doctor when you come to think about it. (Laboratory, female assistant, trying to save the human race... )

So I think there is a spark of something there to be redeemed - but it's probably buried deeply!