Doctor Who season 14 finally introduced the perfect replacement for the Master, one of the Doctor’s worst enemies. Every actor who has played Doctor Who since Jon Pertwee has faced the Master, who is a renegade Time Lord who wants to rule the universe and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, including refusing to die at the end of his final regeneration and stealing a human body to maintain life. Although the Doctor is perpetually at odds with the Master, in the classic series they were frenemies who were close while at school.
Although the Master is one of Doctor Who’s best villains, he did not appear in season 14. Instead, the series introduced a new series of villains: the gods of the Pantheon, who are omnipotent and nearly-immortal creatures. The Fifteenth Doctor defeated two such creatures after helping his predecessor get rid of the Celestial Toymaker in “The Giggle.” The only sign of the Master during any of these stories was a mysterious hand picking up his gold tooth. While this plot point leaves the door open for the Master to return in the future, Doctor Who needs a new recurring supervillain.
Maestro Would Be A Perfect Recurring Villain To Replace The Master In Doctor Who
The God Of Music Has The Combination of Evil, Creepiness, and Charm Down Pat
Maestro is the perfect candidate to replace the Master on Doctor Who. They first appeared in episode 2, “The Devil’s Chord,” as a creepy member of the Pantheon who fed on musical energy. Maestro had stolen most of the world’s music by the time the Doctor and Ruby Sunday arrived in 1963 London to see the Beatles, and the cold open showed they had been around for centuries. Although there was a campy aspect to their character, Maestro also had some sophistication about them as well as a lot of power.
In their debut story, Maestro had several creepy moments, but one in particular demonstrated their ability to be a supervillain on par with the Master. The Maestro had become desperate for new music to feed on after destroying all the music in the world, and thought Ruby’s soul would do nicely. After using vines made out of musical notes to tie Ruby to a pole, Maestro explained Doctor Who’s Pantheon and gloated about being a child of the Toymaker. However, this triumph was short-lived, as the Maestro’s awareness of Ruby’s connection to Sutekh forced them to back off.
This type of gloating, grandiose speech when they think they’ve won was reminiscent of the Master, who nearly always wasted time on such speeches during moments of triumph, leading to his defeat. The Maestro’s entire scheme was also as ill-fated as any of the Master’s; like him, they hadn’t thought things through and were now in a situation where there was no music left for them to feed off of because they’d already stolen it all. Although they were ultimately defeated, the Maestro is immortal and could reappear later.
Doctor Who Has Tried Replacing The Master Before (But Failed)
Characters Such As The Rani Never Took Off
Doctor Who has searched for replacements for the Master many times over the years. The series first considered retiring the villain after original actor Roger Delgado’s untimely death. Delgado had played the Master in almost every one of Jon Pertwee’s stories, which often revolved around a collaboration between the Doctor and UNIT to stop the Master’s plans, so his death left a gaping hole in the canvas. Rather than recast right away, the series experimented with a corpse-like Master who was holding onto life after using up all his regenerations before Anthony Ainley took over the role in 1981.
The classic series also experimented with other Master-like characters. Professor Kettlewell in “Robot” could have been a new Master but was killed during the episode and never seen again, and the Sixth and Seventh Doctors grappled with the Rani, who was a similar character to the Master. The Rani was an amoral Time Lord who carried out grotesque experiments on humanity without regard for the consequences to her “test subjects.” She only appeared in two episodes, and in her debut, the Master forced her to work with him against the Doctor, underscoring how similar the two characters were.
The Rani may have been intended to be a female replacement for the Master, but her character was not popular enough for her to appear more than once, and so far she has not appeared in the modern series. While there is speculation that Doctor Who’s Mrs. Flood could be the Rani, it is unlikely that this character would be able to pull off the grandiose plans and narcissistic delusions associated with the Master as well as the Maestro did during their brief appearance.
Doctor Who Season 14 Teased A Second Possible Master Replacement Too
The Doctor Dropped Several Names During His Initial Monologue
It is possible Doctor Who will reintroduce the Rani, as the Fifteenth Doctor included her name on a list of Time Lords who go by titles rather than names while trying to explain his people’s culture to
Ruby during her first proper adventure. The Doctor also referenced several other Time Lords, including the Bishop, The Pedant, The Conquistador, and the Sagi-Shi. These characters were all mentioned in passing as examples of the types of titles Time Lords use rather than standard names, but they could also have been clues as to who the Doctor will encounter in future episodes.
Any of these characters could become a villain on par with the Master or could be alternate versions of the well-known villain. The Conquistador, in particular, sounds like it could be an alternate name of the Master, as it is synonymous with Master and is the type of self-aggrandizement the Master loves. It’s also possible that some of these characters are revamped versions of other villains — for example, the Bishop could be a version of the Meddling Monk.
The Rani is an interesting villain in her own right, but would likely fall victim to endless comparisons with Missy, the female version of the Master…
The Maestro would be a more interesting replacement for the Master than most of the villains on this list. The Rani is an interesting villain in her own right, but would likely fall victim to endless comparisons with Missy, the female version of the Master, and the others are either entirely new characters or retconned versions of previous villains who were not as compelling as the Master. Thus, it would make more sense for Doctor Who to make Maestro into a recurring villain than to introduce a different replacement for the Master.
Why Doctor Who Needs A New Recurring Villain
A Fresh Villain Will Help The Series Avoid Getting Stuck In A Rut
The Master was not part of the Doctor Who season 14 cast because he had been overexposed in the previous few seasons, and thus the series needed someone new. Season 14 broke the pattern of the Doctor constantly fighting the Master, Cybermen, and Daleks despite all three supposedly being destroyed in the Time War, instead building up a mystery around the Pantheon of gods and the identity of the character played by Susan Twist. This was a far more original concept than these endless battles with the same villains, but Sutekh was destroyed by the end of the season.
While the Master will undoubtedly eventually return, Doctor Who needs a bigger roster of villains to choose from. It has not introduced a completely new villain since the Weeping Angels’ debut in 2007. It is therefore beyond time to introduce new recurring villains so that the Doctor isn’t constantly fighting the same foes. The Maestro fits the bill nicely, as they have a similar personality to the Master without being an exact duplicate of what the audience has seen before.