The Master


The Master

(pop culture)The Master is the archnemesis of the Doctor, the hero of the British Broadcasting Company's legendary, long-running science fiction series Doctor Who (1963–1989, 1996, 2005–present). Like the Doctor, the Master (whose original name is Koschei) is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey and travels through time and space in a vehicle called a TARDIS. Yet unlike the benevolent Doctor, the Master is bent on conquering the universe. The Master debuted in the Doctor Who story arc “Terror of the Autons” (1971) and was originally portrayed by actor Roger Delgado, who had an appropriately Mephistophelean look. After Delgado died in an automobile accident, he was succeeded in the role by Peter Pratt, Geoffrey Beevers, Anthony Ainley, Gordon Tipple, and Eric Roberts. A Time Lord is able to stave off death twelve times by regenerating his body. (This is the series' way of justifying recasting the Doctor over the decades.) But the Master (in his Delgado form) had used up all his regenerations, and hence has had to find different methods of extending his existence, including taking possession of host bodies. Besides his many appearances on the television series, the Master has also been featured in Doctor Who novels and audio dramas. As of 2006 the Master's last canonical appearance was in the 1996 Doctor Who television movie, in which he was sucked into an artificial “black hole” and seemingly killed. Nevertheless, arch-villains like the Master almost always find a way to survive their apparent destruction.