Dr Who chit-chat

[Louise Pembroke]

I agree John, I think the Master should ideally be a bit older for that additional gravitas

[Andrew MacLean]

I take the view that the "Master" only needed to be invented when the Doctor lost the slightly sinister aspect to his character that William Hartnell portrayed so ably. His Doctor was not unambiguously good. Once the Doctor himself had been established as a force for good it became necessary to invent his counter: like Moriarty to Holmes, the Master is to the Doctor a malevolent counterpart; an evil Time Lord. I reckon that it will be good to see a Master portrayed as young and energetic, yet still malevolent. This will make the horror of the character the more intense.

Andrew

[Matthew_]

Wasn't it great though! When the watch appeared, I thought yeah! The Master is coming back. When he said "I am the Master", I was mouthing the words at the same time, whilst gripping the sofa at the same time! Truly brilliant...it just gets better!!
It went very well with the Father's Day Rioja I was drinking at the same time!

[Louise Pembroke]

This Master doesn't quite do it for me, too jokey to be taken seriously as the Dr's nemesis, not enough menace

[Andrew MacLean]

I think I agree with that. You could always believe RD as The Master being able to mesmerize masses of people. The sublimi8nal message on everybody's mobile phone didn't quite make it.

However, I don't want to give the impression that I did not enjoy Dr Who last night. It was excellent!

BTW John Barrowman (Capt'n Jack) is a welcome addition to the Dr's travelling companions. I hope that we'll see more of these cross-opver programmes with the Dr appearing in Torchwood as well as Capt'n jack in Dr Who.

[Louise Pembroke]

Yep me too, thoroughly enjoyed it but he doesn't have that hypnotic RD quality where he could make people do what he wanted simply with an intense stare

[Andrew MacLean]

There is no doubt that RD was the definitive Master. The problemn is that we never get time to become used to another actor in the role. Unlike the Doctor, to whom we can get used over a run of episodes, the temptation with an occasional character is always to compare this one with an earlier version.

Notiwthstanding the fact that I have enjoyed every Doctor, my favourites so far have been Tom Baker and William Hartnell as my favourite ex-doctors and David Tennant as my all time favourite doctor.

RD is head and shoulders the best Master. John Leeson was the best DALEK voice, and he was also the best K9 voice.

Billie Piper was a pretty good "assistant".

Andrew

[Matthew_]

How good was the last episode on saturday!
I loved it, it was truly great. The new Master (John Sim?) He pulled it off and no mistake. He is doing a great job as a loony timelord.
The jelly baby bit? Inspired!!!

[Matthew_]

Oh, and I have to challenge the sinister aspect point you made, Andrew. I am not sure about William Hartnell, I picked it up about Ton Baker time (although I have seen the earlier stuff). But David Tennant has also played out some of the bleaker aspects of the Dr Who personality. There is a sense of the battle with power he wields (like a 'dark side' thing...?)

[Andrew MacLean]

Oh I agree that there is a struggle in David Tennant's Doctor, but good always wins in him. William hartness, on the other hand, brought a history of playing dark and sinister roles to his portrayal of the Doctor (as did Peter Cusing in the cinema). It was never clear whether the Doctor woud turn out to be good or not in those days.

Maybe David Tennant is having to work harder to find the dark aspects of a character what was made a clown by Sylvester McCloy and Christiopher Ecclestone.

Andrew