Masterology Part 4 – The Ham
Gustaff Behr continues the series examining each incarnation of the Master.
- Catch-up on part one of this article here.
- Catch-up on part two of this article here.
- Catch-up on part three of this article here.
This is the part where I’m supposed to do the whole ‘intro’ paragraph thing. The Master. Rival Time Lord. Arch enemy of the Doctor. But you know all that already. Instead, let’s get to the fun stuff. “Masterology” is the study of the Master, focusing in-depth on each of the various incarnations, chronology, aims and a psychological personality deconstruction of the multiple bodies, specifically concerning psychoanalytical, behavioural and social-cognitive perspectives. Sounds fun eh? Let’s continue with…
The Ham – Eric Roberts
The Roberts Master was even more tragic a villain than his predecessor. He was stuck with a very rapidly decaying body which didn’t leave him much choice but to steal the Doctor’s remaining regenerations. Not only that, but he had to do it fast! Never before had death been closer than it was now. This Master was prone to physically aggressive outbursts when things didn’t go his way. It had shades of being both a cornered animal acting out, as well as a selfish child throwing a tantrum at not getting their way. Whatever the case may be, this Master was unique in that he instigated direct physical violence – killing people with his bare hands and attacking the Doctor with blunt instruments. Very rarely had he been driven to these extremes. He was perhaps the most physically aggressive of all the Masters.
As mentioned, this rise in physical aggression is most likely born out of a fear for time (irony), specifically death approaching the Master. Also worth noting is that this Master again viewed the Doctor as a hindrance in his schemes and utterly despised him, if not more so than his Beever’s incarnation.
Much like the Ainley incarnation, this Master was even more camp, insisting on proper sartorial dress wear despite the short window of time open to him before death, suggesting a subconscious recklessness rather than a lack of interest which doubles as a fatal flaw. He preferred to dress in all black and was very pedantic. Despite being as evil as they come, this Master felt driven to correct those around him when they used incorrect grammar in his presence.
Another weakness of this Master was his inability to blend in and his discarding of disguises despite his normal looking form. We know from the above that he was theatrical, so it is very contradicting that the Master should not try to disguise himself better or at least avoid drawing attention whilst in public. He showed no care discussing his plans and motives in front of others he viewed as unimportant, nor did he mind showing others the state his body was in, again suggesting a discarding of all things that take up unnecessary time. He did however cover his alien eyes with glasses, suggesting a spark of conscious awareness on the subject. In this sense, this Master often contradicted himself in his behavior. Whether this was a conscious or unconscious decision is irrelevant as this made the Robert’s Master the most unpredictable Master yet.
After being sucked into the Eye of Harmony, the Master existed (Mastermind) there through sheer force of will until he was able to project his thoughts and trick one of the Eighth Doctor’s companions into opening the Eye again, escaping into 1906 and possessing the body of a young sailor. For the next one hundred years, the Master continued to possess the bodies of humans and built himself an empire in San Francisco and Las Vegas until he was imprisoned and subsequently discovered by UNIT. In actuality, the Master allowed himself to be captured and detained by UNIT because he’d learned that they had retrieved his TARDIS from the Valley of the Kings three thousand years after the Daleks captured him, unaware of what it really was.
Escaping from UNIT, the Master was involved in a ‘predicament’ from which the Time Lords helped him out of, offering him a new regenerative cycle in exchange for helping them with ‘something’, likely the Time War. Afterwards, the Master regenerated into a much younger and healthier body.
Join me next month when we examine the Master as portrayed by Alex MacQueen and Sir Derek Jacobi.
