BBC Wales Head of Drama Julie Gardner was recently quoted as saying that the inclusion of the manicured hand picking up a ring at The Master’s funeral pyre was a significant way to keep the door open to the character’s return. Not that it makes any sense, but is it possible that the Master will be returning to face off against the Doctor one last time?
Will it the familiar dancing feet of John Simm that tango with the Doctor or perhaps the high heeled shoes of the Master’s red-dress adorned lover? She was acting very odd at the end of the series, after all…
With the incumbent Doctor #10, David Tennant on his way out the door, it would be fitting to have The Master as a returning adversary, wouldn’t it? As the current production team says adieu to the series, they will surely have to pull out all the stops for a big send off.
The Master does have a nasty habit of coming back from the dead. In the 29 odd years of it’s television history, the Master has been burnt alive, dropped into a black hole, eaten by the TARDIS and just plain shot… but he always comes back with a taste for revenge.
A major hit with fans of the new series (even earning the character a place on the cover of the Season Three DVD box set despite the fact that he stars in only two of the thirteen episodes), it would come as no surprise to see the Master return in one form or another.
Check out this tribute to Roger Delgado,the first actor to portray the Doctor’s arch rival
Every year Terry Nation’s Daleks play some role in the series.
This year we had the very disappointing ‘Daleks In Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks’ two-parter. Since this will be the last year for Russell T Davies to play in the Doctor Who toybox, it only follows that there will be a significant use of the dreaded pepper pots.
Now that The Cult of Skaro (first seen in the Season Two finale, Doomsday), has been reduced to just Dalek Caan, will it be much of a comeback?
If so, I’m hoping that they will be more than a part of the scenery and pose a real menace to the Doctor. It seems that the Doctor has become accustomed to their ways, as evidenced in his nonchalant manner in the aforementioned Doomsday.
He just doesn’t pay them any mind any more.
The Cybermen lost a lot of face after being built back up to fighting form in ‘Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel’, the first televised attempt at an origin story, but since it was a new ‘parallel world’ version of the mighty metal monsters, it hardly ‘counts,’ does it?
Seeing the Cybermen undone by their contenders for the ‘deadliest foe in Doctor Who,’ the Daleks in the Season Two two-parter ‘Army of Ghosts/Doomsday’ was a significant blow to their street cred. If they do make a comeback in Season Four, it should really be the original ‘proper’ Telosians from the Classic Series.
Just my opinion, mind.
Producer and Head Writer Russell T Davies has claimed the desire to bring back a foe from the Classic Series each year. So far we’ve had the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Master. So… who’s next for a major make-over?
Last year’s inclusion of the Macra in Gridlock didn’t do much for the crab creatures’ reputation, but the rumored return of the Ice Warriors got fans all aflutter. Could this be the magic year for Martians?
Other possibilities include the mighty Sontarans (very similar in look to Season Three’s opening monster The Judoon), The Sea Devils (name-dropped in the finale) and even the fidgety Davros.
I must confess an interest in how special effects wizards at The Mill would dress up the one-eyed/one armed creator of the Daleks.
Season Four is still in very early stages with the Christmas Special in production stages as I type, so this may all be for naught (see the recent ‘Eleventh Doctor’ announcement in the Sun UK), but it’s at these in between stages that fans get most excited.
Anything is possible until we’re all staring at the screen, wrapt with anticipation come next Spring.
What do you, the readers at home, think?
Suggested reading/viewing/listening:
Doctor Who and the Terror of the Autons (The Doctor Who Library, No. 63)
Doctor Who – The Claws of Axos (Episode 57)
Doctor Who – New Beginnings (The Keeper of Traken / Logopolis / Castrovalva)
Doctor Who – The Mark of the Rani (Episode 140)
Doctor Who – Survival (Episode 159)
Doctor Who: The Rapture (Feel the Music in Your Soul)
Doctor Who: At the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Vol. 1
