The Master (First Frontier)

In one account, the Master, immediately after escaping the Cheetah Planet with his Kitling, Shadow, arranged a deal with the Tzun Confederacy. After aiding him in the retrieval of his TARDIS from the planet Antari Three, they provided him with Nanites that cured him of the Cheetah virus and supposedly gave him a new regenerative cycle. Shortly after his body was repaired, the Master was shot by Ace and regenerated into a new body.

A day to come
When poring through the Matrix using a copy of the Time Lord President's terminal, the Master became intoxicated by the knowledge of the various means by which he could extend his life beyond the limitations of a regenerative cycle. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel)

Though he believed that the powers of the Source of Traken granted him a superior control over his body, he still missed the Time Lord heritage of his former body. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel)

Alliance with the Tzun Confederacy
Shortly after being restored to his full Time Lord heritage, he was shot in the back by Ace to avenge his murder of Joe Manco, causing him to regenerate. Following the regeneration, he was able to make his escape, summoning his TARDIS using a Stattenheim remote control built from Tzun technology. After leaving a booby-trap for the Doctor in a nuclear warhead, the Master fled (PROSE: First Frontier) to the Scoundrels Club to recover from his regeneration. (PROSE: Dismemberment)

Out in the universe
Later, the Master laid a trap for the Doctor in one of the Doctor's homes using a device which would release the energy from a time fissure once the Doctor's TARDIS materialised, destroying it. The plan failed when Sarah Jane Smith, Mike Yates and K9 Mark III destroyed the device, causing the Master to flee. (PROSE: Housewarming)

Quest for invulnerability
Despite the promise of a wholly new regenerative cycle, the Master was still desperate to ensure his own longevity.

The Master steals the Loom of Rassilon's Mouse to experiment with flesh looming as part of his attempt to create an indestructible clone body from the remains of Anthony Rupert Hemmings. (PROSE: Happy Endings)

As every past attempt of prolonging his longevity eventually failed, the Master realised that the only way to stave off death was to place his life essence into another Time Lord's body. (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) Recalling the knowledge he had obtained from within the Matrix during a previous incursion, the Master set out to obtain a deathworm morphant on which to experiment. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel, The Novel of the Film)

Upon procuring a source of deathworm, the Master applied his knowledge of accelerated genetic engineering to reprogram and improve the morphant. While only one of the many he had worked upon had survived, that was enough for his scheme. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)

Trial on Skaro
The Master eventually arrived in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt and was captured to be placed on trial (AUDIO: Mastermind) by a Dalek scouting party. (PROSE: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe)

The Master was tried in the presence of the Dalek Emperor (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) and the whole Parliament of the Daleks, (PROSE: The Runes of Fenric) for his attempts to destroy them and usurp their place as "the supreme creatures of the universe", (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) specifically with regard to his failure in their mutual plot behind the Human-Draconian War. (PROSE: The Runes of Fenric) The Dalek Litigator found the Master guilty, ordering him to be exterminated as his punishment. (AUDIO: Vengeance)

The Master sent a psychic message to the Seventh Doctor before he was executed by the Dalek Prelature, asking him to retrieve his remains and return them to Gallifrey. (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) While it was said that he stayed oddly impassive as his long list of crimes was read out to him, this was all a part of his quest to find a new and better body. (AUDIO: Mastermind)

Post-mortem
Whilst he appeared to be executed, the Master's essence survived his physical death in a fluid-like form resembling a snake, described in some sources as bluish and translucent, (TV: Doctor Who) and in others as "giant" and "green". (PROSE: Meet Missy!)

The Doctor stored the Master's ashes in a casket, his essence lying dormant within, and set his TARDIS on course for Gallifrey. However, en route, the Master's consciousness escaped from the casket and interfered with the TARDIS, causing a timing malfunction that resulted in an emergency landing in San Francisco during the final days of 1999. While the Doctor lay wounded after being caught in the crossfire of a gang war and was picked up by an ambulance, the Master exited the TARDIS via its keyhole (TV: Doctor Who) and, deciding that the Doctor was too injured, and the nearby boy, Chang Lee, too young, (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) he hid inside a bag belonging to the ambulance driver, Bruce. (TV: Doctor Who)

The Master's survival beyond his execution broke the terms of the peace treaty President Romana started under the Act of Master Restitution and was one of the causes for the Last Great Time War. (PROSE; A Brief History of Time Lords)

During the last day of the Master's first regenerative cycle, the Tzun were one of the many means and methods the Master had employed to enhance his lifespan and extend his regeneration cycle recalled by the Eleven's past incarnations. (AUDIO: Planet of Dust)

Psychological profile
In contrast to his previous incarnation, this incarnation of the Master was calmer, less emotional and flustered, with a proud bearing and an inscrutable demeanour, (PROSE: First Frontier) though he would resort to a panicked state upon confronting the unexpected. (PROSE: Happy Endings) Highly manipulative, the Master would maintain control of a situation, while making others around him think he was not, (PROSE: First Frontier) though would lose this advantage when he knew he was overpowered, such as when at Bernice Summerfield and Jason Kane's wedding. (PROSE: Happy Endings)

Unlike his immediate predecessor, this incarnation of the Master was aware that his theatrical plotting could be his undoing, but found amusement in the irony rather than bitterness. (PROSE: Happy Endings)

He thought very highly of his hypnotic skills, finding it amusing when he made two guards believe he was Major Kreer. He looked down at humanity, treating them like children, and believed the concept of regeneration to be beyond them, (PROSE: First Frontier) and showed a disdain for explaining things he did not have interest in. (PROSE: Happy Endings) However, he showed some respect towards Ace, who had killed his previous incarnation, believing she would make a good enforcer and admiring her willpower. (PROSE: First Frontier) He also enjoyed fencing with Mike Yates and Sarah Jane Smith. (PROSE: Housewarming)

While he agreed with the Ice Lord Savaar that he lacked a degree of honour, the Master would only resort to harming others if he found an advantage in the act, opting to perform with "a considerable degree of leniency" when sabotaging Bernice and Jason's wedding until he was forced to take Bernice hostage at gunpoint during the ceremony. (PROSE: Happy Endings)

The "Tzun" Master was just as adept at winding the Doctor up as his predecessor was, claiming that the Seventh Doctor's pacifism was pure hypocrisy, (PROSE: First Frontier) and taking delight in his apparent inability to protect his friends from Bloom. (PROSE: Happy Endings) However, he did hold the Doctor in some regard, believing the Tzun incapable of overpowering him on their own, and insisting he was a threat to be eliminated, though he felt bittersweet about it, admitting to himself that the Doctor was an inspiring adversary, (PROSE: First Frontier) though reacted with horror when four variants of the Seventh Doctor confronted him at once. (PROSE: Happy Endings)

Nonetheless, the Master pointed out that the Doctor preferred to kill and destroy from a distance, such as with the Sea Devils. To prove this point, the Master handed the Doctor a blaster and baited him to shoot him at close range, which the Doctor refused to do. (PROSE: First Frontier)

Appearance
The Master had a high forehead, neat and glossy Van Dyke beard, an aristocratic nose, and a lean face. His voice came across as rich and cultured. (PROSE: First Frontier)

By the time of his trial, the Master's appearance had turned saturnine. (PROSE: The Novel of the Film) His eyes were reptilian in appearance and, as a result of the deathworm morphant, seemed to glow in speckles of gold and blue; as if lit by some kind of fire behind them. (TV: Doctor Who, PROSE: The Novel of the Film)

Clothing
He wore a dark Italian-designed tailcoat with wide, silver-edged lapels and a high collar. Underneath, he wore a black silk shirt, a midnight-blue waistcoat, and a jade cravat with a silver bird-of-prey tiepin. (PROSE: First Frontier, Housewarming) When put on trial by the Daleks, the Master wore a high collared black tunic with crimson lining. (TV: Doctor Who)

Behind the scenes

 * According to David A. McIntee, the regenerated Master's appearance was based on actor Basil Rathbone's portrayal of the Guy of Gisbourne in in The Adventures of Robin Hood . After Gordon Tipple was cast as an ambiguous incarnation of the Master in the 1996 TV Movie, credited as "the Old Master", the film's official novelisation confirmed the Master on trial as the version introduced in First Frontier. This was, however, contradicted by The Eight Doctors, which presented an immediately post-Survival version of Anthony Ainley's Master as the Master executed by the Daleks.
 * The Master's apparel in First Frontier and Housewarming were, according to McIntee, inspired by "the best opera-going clothes in [his] wardrobe at the time" of writing. Presented with it in 2023, McIntee endorsed an unofficial concept piece by Paul Hanley depicting this Master as "look[ing] like what was in [his] head".
 * Gordon Tipple's role in the television movie was originally a bit larger, with him delivering the prologue voice-over. It was eventually decided to have Paul McGann do the introduction from the point of view of the Eighth Doctor.
 * Tipple appeared on-screen for only a few moments and retained a billing on the closing credits despite no longer having any lines, as well as his face being obscured in the finished film — leaving it unclear what his version of the Master is meant to look like without consulting promotional stills for the film.