Which story should've been the Master's last hurrah?

What story or moment would've been the best farewell to the Master at his prime?

Should he have remained captured at the end of The Daemons? Should he have been last scene escaping in his hovercraft at the end of The Sea Devils? Should the character have just been stopped after Pertwee left? Should Planet of Fire have been the end of him?

Was there any good to come out of his New Who appearances? Was The Doctor Falls actually a fine enough finale to the character as it was? Or would he have been better left in the past?

Survival arguably was his last hurrah.

I went for Survival.

The 96 movie is a not bad ending to his character. Roberts is fine in the role, and they write him well, but Survival is the better story so I ultimately voted for Survival.

The Master was a great character. There is a lot that can be done with him, but sadly in the Davison era he was often just forced into stories simply to elevate them. Still I think it was worth it in the end, because Survival used him in such a good way. Survival really shows what a good idea a rival to the Doctor is in its final moments.

Certainly there is absolutely nothing of value in the characters appearances in New Who.

All of his new who stories have been dreadful. Utopia is the only decent one, but since it leads into the Jesus Doctor, then its tainted.

John Simm is a Joker knock off, whilst Missy is some horrid combination of Moff's wank fantasy repackaged for the 4th time, and him chopping off his balls to pander to his regressive critics. Missy doesn't even deserve to be included among proper versions of the character.

A strict coin's toss for me between The Deadly Assassin and Castrovalva.

For the most part I don't think the character was really designed to last that long or even really survive the Pertwee era. The Deadly Assassin would've been a good 'cake and eat it' blaze of glory finale for the Master, whilst still ending with him ostensibly surviving and winning.

I think going as far as they did with the Master Returns trilogy (Keeper of Traken/Logopolis/Castrovalva) would've only really been worth it if it had a definite final resolution. I like the idea of Davison starting his reign by avenging his predecessor and if that'd been it for the Master, it would've freed up Davison's era to explore new territory.

Keeping the character going after that I just thought made the entire trilogy pointless, meant that Davison spend most of his era plagued with unresolved business that made his victories in Kinda and Enlightenment seem kind of pointless whilst the Master remained on the loose to commit more atrocities like Logopolis.

Whilst I liked The Five Doctors, it never really made sense to me why the Time Lords trusted in the help of the Master when he nearly destroyed their planet. It's also why I was always dubious of the idea that he should've been revived by them to help them fight the Time War. Frankly I always thought New Who should've left him in the past.

The Deadly Assassin.
The only really successful Master story after the loss of Delgado.
I do think that Geoffrey Beevers was a more than acceptable Master, but The Keeper of Traken as a story can't compare to the Deadly Assassin, and then they ruined it by casting a 3rd rate Delgado impersonation.

Ronnie wrote:The Keeper of Traken as a story can't compare to the Deadly Assassin, and then they ruined it by casting a 3rd rate Delgado impersonation.

I have to say though, when I finally saw Keeper of Traken I was very impressed with Ainley's performance as Tremas, and realized he was a far better actor and far more capable of bringing a character to life than the limited, pantomime role he was largely stuck with gave me reason to believe.

But I'd very much agree with you. The show just seemed to want to recreate the wheel and drag the character of the Master backwards after that. Not forwards.

Agreed. Ainley was fine as Tremas, which only makes his Master portrayal all the more disappointing.

I thought in light of tonight's episode, this poll might be worth a bump.

The TV Movie which i quite enjoyed.

I have not enjoyed his incarnations since 2005.