Thursday, September 20, 2007

Is The Master the War Chief?

After going to all the trouble to work out whether or not a roguish Time Agent with more exes than the Paris Hilton sex video was destined to become a giant severed head, it's time to tackle the biggie.

The War Chief, a dark, bearded, cunning Time Lord with a history with the Doctor, sides with an alien menace to take over the universe, but intends to take over for himself. However, the plan goes tits up and the War Chief is executed. A season later we meet the Master, a dark, bearded, cunning Time Lord with a history with the Doctor, siding up with alien menaces to take over the universe, but intends to take over himself.

Are they one and the same?

Nowadays of course, the answer would be "no." Why? Frankly, it's too much hassle. David A McIntee's Master trilogy (The Dark Path, Face of the Enemy and First Frontier) make it quite clear he's a different person. But this trilogy was written only after Terrance Dicks wrote Timewyrm: Exodus. The book is his first sequel to The War Games, wherein the Seventh Doctor and Ace stumble across a second campaign by the unnamed aliens and that same renegade Time Lord the War Chief (who is killed off at the end for good). Even the most rabid of fans would have to jump through hoops to connect the two renegades now.

Leaving aside the ludicrous idea of any sequel to the first nine episodes of The War Games (since everyone involved was either mind wiped or erased from history), it has to be said the War Chief isn't used particularly differently to the Master. Considering their very common origin, Exodus reveals the War Chief also uses ridiculous alias (in this case "Krieglieter", which is German for "War Chief"), requires the Doctor's body for its regenerations since he lost his own, and also is desperate to kill the Doctor for revenge. In short, he might as well have been the Master, and it's a trut face that the first four New Adventures originally featured the Master as the major enemy.

Terrance Dicks co-wrote The War Games and co-created the War Chief, so it's unsurprising that many fans decided that he probably knew what he was talking about. But then, this was before the endless palimpsest novel he churns out using Find And Replace, and the horror of Warmonger which totally contradicts itself five times a page.

There's some real evidence that Dicks didn't do much research on The War Games. While the events of episode ten are still debated thanks to Season 6B, the first nine episodes are pretty clear cut. Dicks seems to believe that if a man is removed from history, his son will not just survive but also have his memories intact, and he remembers a completely different ending to the War Chief.

On TV, the Doctor announces he intends to summon the Time Lords no matter the consequences to himself. The War Chief runs off to try and escape and is caught in the SIDRAT bay by the War Lord and his guards. The War Chief tries and fails to bluff his way out of things and is gunned down. By the time the Doctor and his gang arrive, the War Chief's body has been dragged into a corner. The scene then has the Doctor, Jamie, Zoe and Carstairs fleeing when the Time Lords arrive. All it seems to happen in real time.

In Exodus, however, the War Chief describes something totally different to what we saw on screen...

"The War Lord's troopers were about to dispose of my body when they realized I was still alive. Just barely, but alive. You know how amazingly tough we Time Lords are... They called one of their scientists, and he was so amazed he ordered me sent back to their home planet - they were starting to retreat by then. I was on the last ship to leave... There was no thought of curing me; they just wanted to see how long it would take me to die. They threw me in the ship's hold and on the journey back to their planet, I started to regenerate."

So, either we assume that the entire end of episode nine was some kind of forgery (though there's no explanation for why anyone would want that forged), and the aliens were really using space ships rather than SIDRATs to get from the planet, and that despite a massive Time Lord containment crew attacking both planets simultaneously, they forgot to look for the War Chief? Exodus reveals that, despite all the claims made by the War Chief on TV, he only left Gallifrey because Borusa was after his blood (unlikely, since the Cardinal has no real interest in politics until The Deadly Assassin, centuries after The War Games).

It's worth noting Malcolm Hulke also co-wrote The War Games and his novelization has the Time Lord announce that the War Chief has been found dead. So, at least one of the authors believed that the War Chief was dead, so why should we trust Dicks' baffling rewrite of events instead? However, Hulke's novelization of The Doomsday Weapon, where the Keeper of the Matrix reminisces about The War Games does not contradict the idea that the Time Lord helping the aliens is the same Time Lord who just nicked the Doomsday Weapon files.

It's worth noting that before 1992, it was widely assumed that the War Chief and the Master were one and the same. Certainly, the idea that two so similar Time Lords encountering the Doctor in quick succession was considered unlikely, though the idea that the War Chief is a later regeneration of the Monk doesn't work (the Doctor and the Monk had not met each other before The Time Meddler, whereas the Doctor and the War Chief clearly recognize each other more than just as fellow Time Lords, and it's stated they have not encountered each other since leaving Gallifrey).

The early nineties are also worthy of the concept of Magnus. Oft mentioned in The Missing Adventures, Magnus is part of the old gang on Gallifrey, an arrogant and foolish Time Lord who recklessly used up regenerations. Sound familiar? In 1992, there was a special comic strip depicting the First Doctor and Magnus back on Gallifrey, and ending their friendship when Magnus callously used a harmless lifeform as a fuel source for his experiments. The bearded Magnus was immediately identified by readers as a younger version of the Master... or the War Chief. DWM refused to comment either way.

Gary Russell's Divided Loyalties contains the infamous Gallifrey 90210 sequence where we discover every renegade Time Lord we ever met just happened to be in a gang called the Deca, lead unofficially by the Doctor. Notable among them was Magnus - clearly the War Chief since all he ever talked about was the Aliens in The War Games and how he'd like to work with them when he grew up. This left Koschei (the Master) wandering around looking and acting in exactly the same sort of fashion, at one point wistfully wishing he could be as cool and badass as Magnus. It's difficult enough to tell them apart.

But that bit of Divided Loyalties is categorically a dream sequence, and it's fair to say that had Dicks not shot his mouth off all those years ago Magnus and Koschei would have been one and the same. Similarly, McIntee's The Dark Parth is a very good origin story for the Master... but is only needed if we assume that the Master wasn't the War Chief in The War Games.

It's interesting to note that the War Chief was never mentioned on TV again. Or in the Big Finish audios. And Season 7 and 8 had something of a cavalier attitude to continuity. Jamie and Zoe were not mentioned in Spearhead from Space despite the fact they should have been, and the Brigadier clearly didn't think the Second Doctor trustworthy after saving all their lives in The Invasion. Terror of the Autons doesn't, for example, have a scene where the Doctor explains that the Nestenes were the ones responsible for window dummies coming to life and slaughtering thousands. So, a scene along the lines of "He used to be called the War Chief" not being screened is hardly out of keeping. Especially as the Doctor admits his memory has been tampered with to a significant degree.

What's also worth noting is that the very scene which introduces the Master was heavily edited. On screen, we learn that the Master is an old enemy of the Doctor, a cleverclogs from Gallifrey. The original scene not only notes that "the Master" is a recent alias, but the Time Lord escaped custody by stealing his TARDIS thanks to some unexplained alien interference. Later, the Third Doctor gets a phone call from the Master and does not recognize the voice at all. "Who is this?" he demands.

So, the Master is just the latest name for a Time Lord the Doctor has encountered before, a Time Lord who has recently regenerated, and a Time Lord last seen at the mercy of his own people. As the penultimate scene in The War Games clearly shows the Time Lords arriving in the alien base while the War Chief's body is still warm, it's not hard to assume that, like Dicks says, the War Chief survived by regenerating, only to be taken prisoner by his own people. Also, the edited scene with the Third Doctor and the Time Lord makes it clear they want the Doctor to kill the Master to save Gallifrey from further embarassment over letting him escape.

Another question about the Master is... why does he hate the Doctor so much? There's no doubt that they were once the best of friends during their childhood, and even after the Time War they are still reluctant to actually kill each other. What crime did the Doctor do to make the Master want to kill him? It's not simply a matter of spoiling a few plans. So what was it?

If we assume that the Master is the War Chief, a lot of things fall into place. For a start, there is the explanation for the two bearded traitorous Time Lords. The War Chief put a lot of effort into the War Games, moreso than the Master ever did, and it's reasonable this screw up taught him not to put his eggs into one basket. The War Chief also, is not really upset when the Doctor ruins everything - it is only when the Doctor announces he is breaking cover and calling in the Time Lords than the unshakeable War Chief snaps. Despite all the War Chief's protests, the Doctor not only gave himself up, but also the War Chief - and it's quite clear the Time Lords would be more lenient with the Doctor, since he wasn't the one selling Gallifreyan technology to an alien empire. Effectively, the Doctor sold out the War Chief.

It's a good as reason as any to explain why the Master would hate the Doctor. Even The Dark Path doesn't really give a good reason as to why Koschei hates the Doctor (though he is betrayed by the Time Lords, the Doctor has nothing to do with it) though it explains his desire to conquer the universe, showing that morally, the Master was on a slippery slope LONG before he could be classed as "evil".

Another interesting note is that in The Deadly Assassin, the Master blames his decayed appearance and lack of regenerative ability on the Doctor. While on TV it looks a bit like Delgado's Master may have been dumped in a vat of acid or set on fire, the scripts merely note that it is because the Master cannot regenerate, he's withering away slowly but surely. (It's also worth noticing the scripts do not mention a 'thirteen' limit to regeneration, and it's stated that the Master's LOST his ability to renew his body, not that he's used up all his lives - he's still a relatively young man. Also, the Doctor is notably cagey when Borusa asks exactly HOW the Master got into this state... so was the Doctor responsible?)

In Exodus, the nasty injuries inflicted on the War Chief are so bad his regeneration fails - and in The War Games, the War Lord is probably going to use ammo that can do some serious harm to a Time Lord, cause he's not basically stupid. In Exodus, the Doctor notes that the Time Lords have 'regenerative therapy' that could help a Time Lord. So, we can now see a pattern forming.

The Time Lords arrive to stop the War Games, find the half-dead War Chief and (knowing he's responsible thanks to the Doctor) isolate him. The War Chief manages a partial regeneration and the Time Lords finish it, but in doing so, the War Chief loses his ability to regenerate any more. He's effectively been doomed to die thanks to the Doctor - and the new War Chief understandably vows revenge. The Doctor is exiled to Earth, but we do not know what happens to the War Chief.

We know from The Five Doctors and Sound of the Drums that the Time Lords wanted the Master to be an agent for them, and would it be put past for them to offer the War Chief a chance at a new set of regenerations in return for cooperation? The War Chief probably agreed, bided his time, before scarpering. No wonder the Time Lords were embarassed. They realize he'll go after the Doctor and warn him. It seems no coincidence that soon after it's the Doctor they're using to travel time and space doing their dirty work, so presumably the War Chief/Master was the one lined up for Solos and Peladon until the relative last minute.

So, is the Master the War Chief? Assuming we disregard the spin off materials, there is strong evidence - certainly Robert Holmes thought so, and Robert Holmes created more of Doctor Who than is often acknowledged. Ultimately, it comes down to Ockham's Razor - either we have two ludicrously similar Time Lords, one of which is never, ever, ever mentioned again, or we have the same Time Lord.

I believe it. And not only is there no real evidence against it, it makes a lot of sense of everything from The World Distributor Annuals to the DWM Comic strip to the latest episodes of RTD. As was said all those years ago by the War Chief himself:

You may have changed your appearance, but I know who you are.

29 comments:

CMM said...

Thank you for this excellent analysis. I have believed for a long time that the Master was the War Chief, and in light of the Master (in Last of the Time Lords) making total war his priority, this theory seems very plauisble, in fact more than ever. I also see more comments in the internet in support of the idea these days.

So, congratulations for the wonderful content and I hope more comes it. In fact, if you check on YouTube under The Master-A Life of Evil, it looks as if something already has. :)

Youth of Australia said...

Well, we can only hope so. This blog has few visitors and even fewer of those are prepared to comment in such a way.

And I'll be sure to check out that youtube vid.

CMM said...

I understand. I think part of the reason few comment, in fact probably a big part, is that to many fans Roger Delgado IS the Master, to the point that Pratt/Beevers, Ainley etc. are just Delgado gone mad. Not many want to think of the Master before Delgado at all. Personally I feel this is at the least close-minded to the other actors who have added to the role, but it's also narrow-minded to fictional possibilities.

But as I said, with the most recent RTD episodes, the Simm Master is clearly war-oriented and his comment on the human race being monstrous is almost exactly Bryahsaw's comment in War Games ep. 8.

By the way, if you check the video, please be sure to comment; it might attract some more attention. :)

Youth of Australia said...

I think part of the reason few comment, in fact probably a big part, is that to many fans Roger Delgado IS the Master, to the point that Pratt/Beevers, Ainley etc. are just Delgado gone mad.
I'd never thought of it that way. Odd how accepting that Jon Pertwee was playing the same character as Patrick Troughton did not give fans the same difficulty...

Not many want to think of the Master before Delgado at all.
Well... fair enough.

Personally I feel this is at the least close-minded to the other actors who have added to the role, but it's also narrow-minded to fictional possibilities.
Indeed.

Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to write about the John Dearth Master, when the character was written out of The Green Death and Planet of the Spiders and replaced by new characters played by John Dearth...

But as I said, with the most recent RTD episodes, the Simm Master is clearly war-oriented and his comment on the human race being monstrous is almost exactly Bryahsaw's comment in War Games ep. 8.
It DOES give the Master a nice bookended feel, I agree...

By the way, if you check the video, please be sure to comment; it might attract some more attention. :)
Just waiting for it to upload.

Good luck with Time's Champions by the way. It's a tragedy he died so soon.

CMM said...

Yes, it was so sad when Craig died, and thanks for the encouragement. I didn't realize you knew I was the co-author. :)

Oh, by the way, this video is one I made, I don't think I mentioned that. But the comments I mentioned about others feeling the same are ones I've seen posted on the War Games segments.

I didn't realize the Master was written out of the Green Death. How did you find that out?

One quick thing: Yes, some fans I've known try to find ways that Delgado is the Master still after Pertwee's era. But, here's a small bit of info. for you, if all goes well Time's Champion will slip in the Master was the War Chief. :)

Youth of Australia said...

Yes, it was so sad when Craig died, and thanks for the encouragement. I didn't realize you knew I was the co-author. :)
[evil Master voice] I know many things... [/evil Master voice]

I didn't realize the Master was written out of the Green Death. How did you find that out?
Oh, it was in archive or another. But this would have been at a meeting or somesuch, I doubt there was ever a script with him in it or anything...

One quick thing: Yes, some fans I've known try to find ways that Delgado is the Master still after Pertwee's era.
Well, I'm easy on the idea that the Pratt Master is a very badly burnt Delgado... but there's a suggestion that Beevers is not.


But, here's a small bit of info. for you, if all goes well Time's Champion will slip in the Master was the War Chief. :)
Aw, thanks man.
:)

Zadillo said...

Definitely interesting; I'm one of those fans who saw classic Dr. Who episodes at the whim of my local public TV station, so I only saw "The War Games" well after seeing a few of the Pertwee-era Master episodes.

Based on that, the first time I saw the episode, I basically just assumed the War Chief was just an earlier incarnation of the Master, since he did have a sort of similar appearance, and as noted, his modus operandi seemed really similar.

So, at least from my viewpoint as a casual viewer with just a handful of Dr. Who episodes to go on at the time, I got a strong impression they were the same character.

Definitely interesting to read the detailed analysis here which seems to lend a lot of credence to this. I hadn't even thought about the John Simm Master and the war drums and all that, but it definitely seems to further the notion of the War Chief having been the Master.

Youth of Australia said...

Ta very much. Jared linking this post to wikipedia does wonders for the traffic on this blog. And I'm glad other people see the same things that I do...

Matthew Blanchette said...

A bit sad this has fallen so far; it actually makes some great points.

Let's hope Stephen Moffatt solidifies the War Chief connection in Series 5 and beyond...

Youth of Australia said...

I doubt the Grand Moff will bring back the Master any time soon, but RTD has all but confirmed my theory. After all, in their "final battle" in The End of Time, it's a deliberate parallel to The War Games, with the Master (now controlling the human race who he intends to use an army) being the one to summon the Time Lords while the Doctor does everything to stop him...

Even the 'swapping sides every few seconds' scene is there, as the Master pleads for his life in front of a deadly calm Lord who prepares to execute him.

Matthew Blanchette said...

True, but it also calls back to the unproduced Third Doctor story "The Final Game", where the Delgado Master dies to save the Doctor; unfortunately, before it could be filmed, Roger Delgado died in a car crash... so, by your own statement, the story was rewritten with a character played by John Dearth taking his place.

Youth of Australia said...

True, but it also calls back to the unproduced Third Doctor story "The Final Game", where the Delgado Master dies to save the Doctor;
Yes, that's true. Hadn't considered that.

unfortunately, before it could be filmed, Roger Delgado died in a car crash... so, by your own statement, the story was rewritten with a character played by John Dearth taking his place.
Gosh, it's almost as if there was some kind of pattern... ;)

Matthew Blanchette said...

Hmmmm...

Well, I sort of wish there'd be a confirmation, already; outside of the novels (and their canonicity is dubious, at best...), there's nothing disproving the theory of the Master being a regenerated War Chief.

Youth of Australia said...

Well, I sort of wish there'd be a confirmation, already; outside of the novels (and their canonicity is dubious, at best...), there's nothing disproving the theory of the Master being a regenerated War Chief.
Well, definitely not in Big Finish, the DWM comics, the annuals or even the novelizations.

Matthew Blanchette said...

So... you don't count them as canon in your argument, then?

Youth of Australia said...

No, I do. I mean there's no evidence in them AGAINST the War Chief being the Master.

Indeed, the novelization of Terror of the Autons all but agrees with it...

Matthew Blanchette said...

Speaking of "Who", what did you think of Matt Smith's debut? I thought it was an excellent way to start off his era; sort of like Tom Baker in "Robot", where his personality after regeneration is completely different and hyperactive.

Youth of Australia said...

I did enjoy the few seconds we saw of him, but the sound quality was a bit poor. I was baffled at his claim "I'm a doll!" before he cleared his throat and told us what he really meant.

Matthew Blanchette said...

He didn't say he was a "doll"; he said he was a "girl"... or, at least, he thought he was when he first felt the length of his hair. ;-)

Also, why would you say the sound quality was poor? Did you watch it online, by any chance?

Youth of Australia said...

Yeah, I phrased that badly. The point is Smith raises his voice (in shock) at the exact moment there's a bit chunk of TARDIS exploding, so it was...

"I'm a..." (unable to hear word)

Me trying to lipread: A doll?

"No, no, NO! I'm not a GIRL!!"

Me: Oh. Right. A girl. Heh.

Matthew Blanchette said...

Heh-heh...

Funny, though; we haven't had a long-haired Doctor since McGann in '96. You think they'll have a multiple Doctor story with Smith and McGann... perhaps showing the change into Eccleston? ;-)

John Christopher said...

I know i'm a bit late, but i totally agree, and for the War Lords to have the technology to hypnotise people with glasses, it just has to come from the Master

Youth of Australia said...

Another convert. Bwahahah.

Unknown said...

The Target novel of Terror of the Autons (ironically written by Terrance Dicks) indicates they are one and the same...
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Theory:Doctor_Who_television_discontinuity_and_plot_holes/Terror_of_the_Autons

Youth of Australia said...

Quite so, especially as it transcribes the cut scene written by Rob Holmes all-but-dammit saying the War Chief has returned.

Unknown said...

maybe you chaps could shed some light on this debate eh?
http://forums.bigfinish.com/threads/1000-What-is-BF-s-stance-on-the-Master-amp-War-Chief-being-not-being-the-same-Time-Lord/page2

Youth of Australia said...

I had a look at that forum, but I doubt I'd be able to make a difference. The latest BF, The Rani Elite, mentions the Deca and Magnus from Divided Loyalties in the most gratuitous way possible (amusingly, the Rani is as sickened by the reference as I am), so it's all up in the air again.

But, seriously, what does DW gain from them being different people? Doesn't it make The War Games more awesome to have the Master's first appearance, introducing him and giving him better motivation than a random dude in a bowler hat saying "He's evil, get used to it?"

Is the series a sorrier place without Magnus the carbon-copy Koschei as a separate individual?

John Harley said...

I never used to believe that the War Chief was the Master! I was probably swayed by the current arguments and swept along in the river but after a new viewing of The War Games last year I've changed my mind! I mean he has an Anthony Ainley sneer to his features and Roger Delgado style of Nehru jacket (not exact mind you but similar) plus his knowing the Troughton Doctor and the fact that he has regenerated from when he knew him years back on their planet (Gallifrey but not named in 1969) And the fact that Terrance Dicks himself originally believed the Master was the War Chief renewed in various books of the 70s! He's da Master no doubts anymore!
JB

John Harley said...

Plus the idea of regenerating a new body due to injuries wasn't a thing until Planet of The Spiders in 1974!!!!
JB