Tardis

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Tardis
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The Doctor vs the Master was a short story published in September 2020 in Doctor Who The Official Annual 2021. It was subtitled The Best of Enemies and posited one more interview, through the psychic link between the Thirteenth Doctor and the Spy Master during the events of TV: Spyfall.

Summary[]

With the Thirteenth Doctor and the Spy Master locked in their ill-advised psychic link, the two friends-turned-enemies are forced to talk through their issues. Although the Master taunts her about some of what she believes about herself being a lie, he quickly decides to make the conversation about him, and the two go over their complicated history, from two young Time Lords staring into the Untempered Schism to the relaxation of Missy's relationship with "her" Doctor, which the Master now claims to regret. When the Doctor tries to get back to the mystery he is holding out of her reach, he simply taunts her some more and leaves the conversation.

Characters[]

Worldbuilding[]

Story notes[]

  • This story suggests that the Decayed Master played by Peter Pratt was not the mouldering remains of the thirteenth incarnation of the Master's first regeneration cycle, as most other stories suggest, but instead the egregious result of the Master's attempting to regenerate beyond the twelve-regenerations limit of their original cycle. This idea had first been proposed by PROSE: Meet Missy!.
  • The story was also notable for confirming outright that Sacha Dhawan's Spy Master was a later incarnation from Missy via having him remember having been her — although this had become the prevalent interpretation by then and been confirmed behind-the-scenes by comments from Chris Chibnall[source needed].
  • The Doctor comparing Missy to "Mary Poppins" is a reference to Doctor Who: After Who Live, where someone tweeted that "heaven is run by a psycho Mary Poppins".

Continuity[]


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