The Master and the Timelords

[The Cyber Mistress]

I'm a big fan of the Master in general but I don't love his appearance here all that much. One thing I do love though is the sort of redemption at the end. Despite everything he has ever done he still effectively saves the day and saves Earth. I've no doubt that we will see him again at some point but I also think this would be a good way to round out and end the character.

[The Cyber Mistress]

Oh and as for the Timelords, I've never been much of a fan and I found them to really irritating in this.

[Tardis-Console]

There seems to be a bit of a dislike of the Timelords but I haven't really seen enough of them in the classics to understand why. Of what I have seen they have been a bit annoying but then there are also really good stories like The Deadly Assassin. In this story though they didn't work.

[Tardis-Console]

When it comes to the Master I agree with the above that this would be a good point for his permanant exit.

[Peri-Peri]

I've never been much of a fan of the Timelords but at the same time I think removing them completely does remove the possibility of some great stories. We've seen now that there are ways and means of getting around that but after all that's been said about them never returning I think it would feel a bit cheap initially to suddenly have them back.

[Roranicus]

They bug me. So does the Master. I only liked Delgado in the role.

[Nyki]

I enjoyed Simm's first go at the Master, but this seemed to stray too far from the basic character, and all his leaping around, shooting fire and eating people felt as ridiculous to me as the Eric Roberts "Godfather" interpretation.  The Master's meant to be suave and ironic, and to use hypnotism and a shrink-ray.

I always liked the Time Lord stories, but there wasn't enough development of them here to justify the reintroduction.  It might have helped if they hadn't been keeping it a big secret who they were till the end of part one - then there might have been time for a bit of development.  Also, I didn't like that they just tossed in at the very last moment that the president was Rassilon.  Huh?  There's a big story there, not something you just mention in passing.  They should have done the Time Lords properly or not at all.

Just a thought, actually.  If this had been a story that focused on the Time Lords enough to have room for development, the Doctor face-to-face with Rassilon would have been a great excuse to revive the idea of the Doctor being The Other.

[Aneurin]

The thing that made the Master work so well during the classic run, especially with Delgado in the role, was that he was a psychopath but it was hidden under this charming exterior. He was the type of character you might not think twice about letting into your house and then all of a sudden it's too late. The Master in this story is so far removed from that that it may as well be someone else. I think it sort of ruined the character. And as Nyki said, it's all made more worse by the fact that he now has these really stupid super powers. It's just far too over the top.