109-621: The Time War , also called the Last Great Time War , is a conflict within the fictional universe of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who . The war occurs between the events of the 1996 film and the 2005 revived series , with the Time Lords fighting the Daleks until the apparent mutual destruction of both races. The war was frequently mentioned when the show returned, but
218-775: A portmanteau of the words "who" and "universe", was originally used to describe Doctor Who 's production and fanbase . In 2023, the year of the show's sixtieth anniversary, the BBC adopted the name in an official capacity, making the Whoniverse the umbrella brand for all programmes connected to Doctor Who , including documentaries. The majority of the Whoniverse's programmes have been commercially successful and generally received positive reviews. They have also inspired an extensive collection of book , comic and magazine publications, audio plays , films, video games , exhibitions, and stage plays. The earliest official usage of "Whoniverse"
327-560: A Cyberman army, stabbing her past self causing the Master to regenerate. Enraged at Missy becoming the Doctor's ally, the Master shoots Missy with his laser screwdriver, ostensibly disabling her ability to regenerate and killing her. During " Spyfall " the Thirteenth Doctor seeks out a former MI6 agent known as 'O' ( Sacha Dhawan ) who reveals himself as a new incarnation of the Master during
436-577: A Qurunx to forcibly regenerate the Doctor into him. The Master, now possessing the Doctor's body and TARDIS, intends to tarnish her name by using it as a force for terror, and begins to enact his plan. However, companion Yasmin "Yaz" Khan shoves him out of the TARDIS, and uses a failsafe holographic AI of the Doctor to help former companions Tegan Jovanka and Ace stop the Cybermen and the Daleks while she recaptures
545-489: A TARDIS before leaving Gallifrey but burnt out its dematerialisation circuit while attempting to get away from a black hole too fast. His future incarnation Missy provides him with a spare, and the Master can fix his TARDIS and depart. In " Spyfall, Part 1 ", the disguised Master lives in an outback shack which he later reveals to be his TARDIS. In Part 2, he is shown flying this TARDIS to London in 1834 and Paris in 1943. The Thirteenth Doctor later steals it from him to return to
654-623: A beard and moustache. This version of the Master, like his opponent the Third Doctor, possessed considerable fighting skills; at one point in the episode The Sea Devils , the Master and the Doctor engage in a swordfight. Also like the Doctor, the Master enjoyed using various scientific gadgets, devices, and weapons in his schemes, with the most prominent being a weapon called the Tissue Compression Eliminator (or TCE for short), that kills anyone it's used on by compressing their body to
763-400: A character to the afterlife. This mystery woman, and the fact that she is the "woman in the shop", is not revealed to be the Doctor's childhood friend until " Dark Water ", when she formally introduces herself to the Doctor as a new female incarnation called "Missy", which is short for "Mistress". She reveals that she has created an "afterlife" from a Gallifreyan Matrix Data Slice , which stores
872-623: A convenient in-story explanation for any contradictions in series continuity: for example, writer Paul Cornell has suggested that Earth's destruction by an expanding sun in "The End of the World" five billion years hence, as opposed to the original depiction of its demise around the year 10,000,000 AD in The Ark (1966), can be attributed to changes in history due to the war. Steven Moffat , writer and later executive producer for Doctor Who , has gone further, arguing that "a television series which embraces both
981-615: A device that can manipulate biology. The War Master series was released in December 2017. The release features Derek Jacobi reprising his role as The Master from the 2007 episode " Utopia " and follows the character during the Time War. Whoniverse The Whoniverse is a British media franchise and shared universe centring on the BBC television series Doctor Who , its spin-offs and other associated media. The shared universe nature
1090-416: A doomsday scenario. It included sacrificing all of time itself, thereby destroying the Daleks and all life in the universe. The Time Lords themselves would have transcended into a non-corporeal collective consciousness that would be the only sentient form of life in existence. The Time Lords, apparently hardened by the horrors of war, give near-unanimous support for this plan – only two Time Lords dissented when
1199-453: A four-note drumbeat into the Master's brain as a child and cause his descent into madness. From there, once the signal is made tangible enough, a Whitepoint Star, a diamond only found on Gallifrey, is used to create a link between the final day of the Time War and Earth so the Master could release Gallifrey from the Time Lock. The plan ultimately fails, as the Doctor destroyed the diamond link and
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#17328516164631308-575: A funny sort of way they were partners in crime." An unrelated character also known as the Master , who ruled over the Land of Fiction, had previously appeared in the 1968 serial The Mind Robber opposite the Second Doctor . A would-be universal conqueror, the Master wants to control the universe. In The Deadly Assassin (1976), his ambitions are described as becoming "the master of all matter". He also had
1417-492: A high voltage electric cable, the Master tells Chantho who he really is just before murdering her. Even after being shot by the dying Chantho, the Master snarls that he was killed by "an insect...a girl" before deciding to regenerate into a "young and strong" body like that of the Doctor's. Aspects of Simm's portrayal of the Master parallel David Tennant's Doctor, primarily in his ability to make light of tense situations and his rather quirky and hyperactive personality. According to
1526-417: A new subsidiary company, run by former Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner and former BBC head of drama Jane Tranter , called "Whoniverse1 LTD". On 17 January 2023, outlets reported that a new sign at Bad Wolf Studios possessed the tagline "Home of the Whoniverse". On 30 October 2023, the BBC announced it would be using the term "Whoniverse" in an official capacity to describe all shows within
1635-413: A pair of them which were linked to one another, to transport herself and Clara Oswald to the Doctor's 'farewell party' in medieval Essex ("The Magician's Apprentice"). They are destroyed in " The Witch's Familiar " when, to avoid being killed by Daleks , they channel energy from the Daleks' weapons to teleport them away, looking as if they were exterminated. In The Doctor Falls , the Master acquired
1744-434: A pinball game. Many games have been released that feature the Daleks. Master (Doctor Who) The Master , or " Missy " (short for " Mistress ") in their female incarnation, is a recurring character and one of the main antagonists of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its associated spin-off works. They are a renegade alien Time Lord and the childhood friend turned archenemy of
1853-482: A resurrection ritual using a surviving piece of the Master's body. However, Lucy sabotages the ritual, bringing the Master back as an unstable creature, hungry for human flesh and leaking electrical energy. The Master proceeds with a plot to transform the entire human race into his own clones. The Master is sent back to Gallifrey when the Time Lords are sealed away in the Time War, trapped once more. The Master influences
1962-612: A secondary objective: to make the Doctor suffer. In The Sea Devils (1972), the Master mentions that the "pleasure" of seeing the destruction of the human race, of which the Doctor is fond, would be "a reward in itself." The Master, as played by Roger Delgado , makes his first appearance in Terror of the Autons (1971), where he allies with the Nestene Consciousness to help them invade Earth. The Third Doctor ( Jon Pertwee ) convinces
2071-631: A teleporter powered by the energy of the Cyberman laser weapon that shot her. In the tenth series episode " Extremis ", it is revealed that the Doctor is keeping Missy in the well appointed Vault, having spared her from execution but vowing to keep her locked away for one thousand years. In " The Lie of the Land ", the Doctor's crew visits Missy in the Vault to gain intelligence on the Monks. Her demeanour seems little changed, and she has low regard for human life, but in
2180-518: A triangular column. Of the Master's TARDISes seen in The Keeper of Traken , one appears as the calcified, statue-like Melkur , able to move and even walk; the other appears as a grandfather clock. The Melkur TARDIS is destroyed. At one point in Logopolis , the Master's TARDIS even appears as a police box , like the Doctor's. Missy uses a vortex manipulator rather than a TARDIS in series nine. She used
2289-409: A twisted attraction to the Doctor, Dhawan's Master destroys Gallifrey simply because he cannot bring himself to accept a discovery that suggests Time Lord society owes regeneration and other secrets of its past to the child that became the Doctor. He perceives this as creating a twisted link between the Doctor and himself. Both the Doctor and the Master have been shown to be skilled hypnotists, although
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#17328516164632398-475: A vault and monitored by the Doctor after an averted execution, Missy actually comes to show signs of remorse for what she had done in the past, to the point that she prepares to side with the Doctor over her own past incarnation (" The Doctor Falls "). Dhawan's Master returns to the Master's love of evil for the sake of being evil, proclaiming at one point that he kills because he's good at it and asking why he should ever stop. Where Missy's actions were based around
2507-529: A war will be fought between the Time Lords and an unnamed enemy. Russell T Davies commented that there is no connection between the war of the books and the Time War of the television series, comparing the wars with Earth's two World Wars. He also said that he was "usually happy for old and new fans to invent the Complete History of the Doctor in their heads, completely free of the production team's hot and heavy hands". The sixth series of Gallifrey features
2616-450: A year working to save her family and to thwart the Master's plan to wage war against the universe. The Master himself mentions that looking into the vortex as a child made "the drumming" choose him as a "call to war" in his head. When fatally shot by his human wife, Lucy Saxon ( Alexandra Moen ), the Master refuses to regenerate, knowing it will haunt the Doctor. The Master returns in " The End of Time " (2009–2010) when his disciples attempt
2725-527: Is haunted with the false knowledge of his home planet's demise, with even some of his enemies using that guilt against him. Throughout series 5 , the Eleventh Doctor encounters cracks in "the skin of the universe". The Doctor learns that the cracks, which erase those they consume from history, are a result of the Silence causing the Doctor's TARDIS to explode on 26 June 2010. During the events of " The Time of
2834-440: Is less difficult but, with their demise, the paths between worlds are now closed. The Time Lords could also prevent or repair paradoxes such as the one created by Rose in an attempt to save her father's life in a traffic accident. Dalek survivors of the war appeared regularly across many episodes, until the Daleks trick the Eleventh Doctor into activating a Progenitor device which creates a new "Paradigm" of Daleks that destroy
2943-450: Is reunited with the Master's consciousness. The Master is shot and regenerates into a new body ( John Simm ) and steals the Doctor's TARDIS . In " The Sound of Drums ," the Doctor makes his way back to Earth to find the Master has become Prime Minister of the UK under the alias of Harold Saxon. The Master kidnaps Martha's family and conquers Earth. In " Last of the Time Lords ", Martha spends
3052-484: Is seemingly destroyed. Unbeknownst to the Doctor, who had tried to save him, Davros is rescued by Dalek Caan , via an emergency temporal shift. The war results in countless millions dying endless deaths, as time travel is used by both sides to reverse battles that caused massive fatalities on both sides. These excesses of temporal warfare eventually leads to the whole of the conflict becoming "time-locked", so that no time traveller could go back into it. The Doctor describes
3161-581: Is seen again in another incursion on Earth in The Claws of Axos , and then fails to hold the galaxy to ransom using a doomsday weapon on the planet Uxarieus in the year 2472 in Colony in Space . In The Dæmons , The Master is finally captured on Earth by the organization UNIT after Jo Grant ( Katy Manning ) prevents the alien Azal ( Stephen Thorne ) from giving The Master his powers. In The Sea Devils (1972),
3270-463: Is shown to still retain his scientific intelligence and deviousness despite being in a extreme state of physical decay. However, the trauma his body has been put through has driven him insane as he obsessively attempts to find a way to obtain a new cycle of regenerations without regard to what the cost might be. When Anthony Ainley takes over as the Master (in The Keeper of Traken , the Master possesses
3379-542: Is sucked into it and supposedly killed. In " Utopia ", a scientist called Professor Yana ( Derek Jacobi ) is revealed to be the Master, disguised in biological human form to hide from the Time War. Yana overhears a conversation between the Doctor and Jack Harkness about the time vortex and time travel in general. He used the Chameleon Arch to temporarily place his Time Lord identity within a Fob Watch . This makes Yana curious about his own fob watch and when he opens it he
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3488-566: The Doctor Who Magazine comic strip story The Fallen , which states that the morphant was a shape-shifting animal native to Skaro . Using his morphant body to break free from the container holding his remains, the Master sabotages the Doctor's TARDIS console to force it to crash land in San Francisco in December, 1999. From there, the Master, as the morphant, enters the body of a paramedic named Bruce to take control of him. However,
3597-551: The Dalek and Ogron races to provoke a war between the Human and Draconian Empires. The scheme fails, and the Master escapes after he shoots at the Doctor. Delgado was slated to return in a serial called The Final Game , which would have been the season 11 finale. However, he died in a car crash in June 1973, and the story was never produced. Played by Peter Pratt in his next appearance,
3706-565: The Dalek Emperor gained control of the Cruciform, the Master deserted his post. Leadership among the Time Lords remained vague during the earlier phase of the war. Ultimately, Rassilon , founder of the Time Lord society and its time travel technology, is resurrected to assume leadership as Lord President. Refusing the possibility of his civilisation being destroyed by the Daleks, Rassilon prepares
3815-561: The Eighth Doctor during the early days of the conflict, later expanded into a four-volume series. Paul McGann reprised his role with Rakhee Thakrar playing Bliss, his new companion. The third volume also features the return of the Valeyard , who is recruited by the Time Lords attempt to be a soldier in the War after he is 'recreated' through an accident when the Doctor uses a transmat while carrying
3924-463: The Seventh Doctor ( Sylvester McCoy ). The Master was the primary antagonist of the 1996 Doctor Who television movie . He was played by American actor Eric Roberts . In the prologue, the Master (portrayed briefly by Gordon Tipple) is executed by the Daleks as a punishment for his "evil crimes". But before his apparent death, the Master requests his remains to be brought back to Gallifrey by
4033-584: The Daleks (1984), followed by an open declaration of hostilities by one of the Dalek Emperors in Remembrance of the Daleks (1988). The Time War officially began with the extinction of several time-traveling powers allied with the Time Lords known as the Temporal Powers. With the Temporal Powers being wiped out one-by-one, the Time Lords formally declared war with the Daleks. The 'duration' and extent of
4142-558: The Daleks firing upon and subsequently annihilating themselves, while the Time Lords remained; albeit powerless and forgotten. As the War Doctor regenerates into the Ninth Doctor , his memory of saving Gallifrey is wiped as a means for his timeline to correct itself, leaving the Doctor with the belief he had in fact used the Moment to destroy Gallifrey, the Time Lords, and the Daleks. The Doctor
4251-491: The Daleks invading Gallifrey, but this invasion is undone thanks to Lord President Romana, Leela, K9 and Narvin, aided by Romana's future self. The ninth series more directly featured the Time War with Romana and Leela playing key roles, including Leela being sent on a mission with the Derek Jacobi Master, and the resurrection of Rassilon through a complex Time Lord project that allowed Rassilon's consciousness to take over
4360-476: The Daleks launched what is said to be their biggest attack ever on Gallifrey. Dalek forces captured the city of Arcadia, then laid siege to the capital itself. The War Doctor stole an ancient Gallifreyan weapon known as the Moment, and intended to reduce Gallifrey into "rocks and dust" with the inferno wiping out the Dalek fleet. Rassilon and his fellow councillors attempt to escape the Time Lock by retroactively planting
4469-513: The Doctor ", the Doctor discovers one remaining crack on the planet Trenzalore, through which the Time Lords transmit the First Question: "Doctor Who?". The intention is for the Doctor to give his true name, which will verify to the Time Lords it is safe for them to return to the universe. Fleets of various races, some being former War participants, gathered in Trenzalore's orbit to either prevent
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4578-564: The Doctor from speaking his name, or resume the War if the Time Lords return. The Church of the Papal Mainframe undergoes a faith change into the Church of the Silence as a dedication to keeping the peace, with a rogue chapter led by Madame Kovarian unknowingly causing the events in series 5 and 6 and leading to the Doctor's arrival on Trenzalore. In the end, the Time Lords remain in exile and close
4687-412: The Doctor to hear the constant 'drumming' inside the Master's mind. In the original series, the Master's TARDISes have had fully functioning chameleon circuits , having appeared as various things, including a horsebox , a spaceship, a fir tree, a computer bank , a grandfather clock , a fluted architectural column , an iron maiden , a fireplace , a British Airways jet, a cottage and
4796-405: The Doctor's life in the seventh series episode " The Bells of Saint John ", when an unseen "woman in the shop" gives Clara Oswald the phone number to the TARDIS, initiating Clara's time as a companion . Independent of any connection to the "woman in the shop", an unidentified woman ( Michelle Gomez ) appears briefly in the eighth series episodes " Deep Breath " and “ Into the Dalek ”, welcoming
4905-533: The Doctor, but the Master is left behind on the imploding planet, seemingly perishing along with it. In the 2023 special " The Giggle ," the Toymaker tells the Fourteenth Doctor that the Master is one of several beings that he has won games against. The Toymaker reveals that having won a game against the Master as he was "begging for his life", he had trapped him inside a golden tooth for all eternity. Later, when
5014-401: The Doctor, it was a title conferred by an academic degree . A sketch of three "new characters" for 1971 (the other two being Jo Grant and Mike Yates ) suggested he was conceived to be of "equal, perhaps even superior rank, to the Doctor." Letts only had one man in mind for the role: Roger Delgado , who had a long history of playing villains and had already made three attempts to be cast in
5123-421: The Doctor, only revealing his presence at the key moment. In The Deadly Assassin , the Master was able to send a false premonition as a telepathic message to the Doctor, but it is unclear whether he performed this through innate psychic ability, or was aided technologically. In "The End of Time," the Master uses a kind of psychic technique, previously used by the Doctor to read the minds of others, allowing
5232-627: The Doctor. Ainley's portrayal of the Master is notable for being the only incarnation of the character to have met and interacted with every one of the Doctor's incarnations during the show's run in the 1980s, having met the First, Second and Third Doctors during " The Five Doctors ", as well as being one of the primary antagonists of the Fifth Doctor throughout his run (starting with Castrovalva and last encountering him in Planet of Fire ), and having encountered
5341-523: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors banish the Toymaker from existence, the tooth is left on the floor and picked up by someone unknown. The Master and the Doctor are shown to have similar levels of intelligence, and were classmates at the Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey, where the Master outperformed the Doctor. A similar connection between the two was also referenced in " The End of Time " in which
5450-553: The Fourth Doctor ( Logopolis ), Sixth Doctor ( The Mark of the Rani , as well as turning up during the events of The Trial of a Time Lord ), and Seventh Doctor ( Survival , which was the final time Ainley played the Master during the original series' run, as well as the final story of the original series overall). Though only appearing onscreen as the Master for a brief time during the events of " Utopia ", Derek Jacobi's portrayal of
5559-560: The Lone Cyberman and persuades the Cyberium, an AI containing all Cyberman knowledge and history, to use his body as a host. Using the Cyberium, the Master creates a new Cyberman race with regenerative abilities from dead Time Lords. The Doctor fails to defeat the Master using the "Death Particle", which can destroy all organic life on a planet. Ko Sharmus, the Boundary guardian, blames himself for
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#17328516164635668-420: The Master apparently sacrificed his life to take revenge on Rassilon, sending the Time Lords back to their apparent doom. However, as "the Moment" had a will of its own, it showed the War Doctor an alternative solution and ultimately enabled the first thirteen incarnations of the Doctor, to gather to save Gallifrey by freezing it in time and removing it from the universe. The sudden disappearance of Gallifrey left
5777-425: The Master could be more if he would just give up his desire for domination. The Twelfth Doctor states that Missy is "the one person almost as smart as me" (" The Lie of the Land "). Delgado's portrayal of the Master was that of a suave and charming psychopathic individual, able to be polite and murderous at almost the same time. His design is an homage to the classic Svengali character: a black Nehru outfit with
5886-449: The Master finds his human host to be unsustainable as the body slowly begins to degenerate, although the Master has the added abilities to spit an acid -like bile, both as a weapon and to mentally control victims as an alternative to his usual hypnotic abilities. The Master attempts to access the Eye of Harmony to steal the remaining regenerations of the Eighth Doctor ( Paul McGann ), but instead
5995-442: The Master is shown to be imprisoned on an island off the coast of England. He convinces the governor of the prison, Colonel Trenchard ( Clive Morton ), to help him steal electronics from HMS Seaspite, the nearby naval base. This allows the Master to contact the reptilian Sea Devils, the former rulers of Earth, so he can help them retake the planet from humanity. The Master convinces the Doctor to help him build machinery that would bring
6104-592: The Master reminisces with the Tenth Doctor about his father's estates on Gallifrey and his childhood with the Doctor before saying "look at us now". In the 2007 episode " Utopia ", the Tenth Doctor calls the transformed and disguised Master a genius and shows admiration for his intellect before discovering his true identity. The Tenth Doctor further expresses admiration for the Master's intellect in "The End of Time" by calling him "stone cold brilliant" and yet states that
6213-526: The Master returns in The Deadly Assassin (1976), opposite the Fourth Doctor ( Tom Baker ). Special effects makeup was applied to Pratt to give the Master a corpse-like appearance. Found by Chancellor Goth ( Bernard Horsfall ) on the planet Tersurus, the Master is revealed to be in his final regeneration and near the end of his final life. The Master attempts to gain a new regeneration cycle by using
6322-502: The Master shows him as still possessing the evil nature of his predecessors (just prior to opening the fob watch that was secretly his biodata module, the Master heard voices of his past selves, including dialogue from Roger Delgado as well as Anthony Ainley's sinister chuckle). Transformed from the kindly Professor Yana after opening the fob watch, the Master rages at Chantho for not ever asking him about his fob watch, angrily blaming her for leaving him trapped in his secret identity; wielding
6431-508: The Master to stop this plan at the last minute, and the Master subsequently escapes, albeit with his TARDIS left non-functioning after the Doctor confiscates the ship's dematerialisation circuit. Having become a main character in the show's eighth season , the Master reappears in The Mind of Evil , where he regains his TARDIS's circuit from the Doctor after attempting to launch a nerve gas missile that would initiate World War III . The Master
6540-703: The Master's ambiguous bond with the Doctor (as previously explored by Simm's incarnation in "The Sound of Drums"). While determined to torment and corrupt the Doctor with moral temptation while inflicting pain and death to humanity, she frequently referred to him as her "boyfriend" or "friend" and appeared to desire his acquiescence and company ultimately. She is also well aware that she is even more dangerously psychopathic than before, describing herself as "bananas" to UNIT agent Osgood right before killing her (" Death in Heaven "). However, when circumstances result in Missy being kept in
6649-419: The Master's capacity to dominate—even by stare and voice alone—has been shown to be far more pronounced. In Logopolis , the Doctor said of the Master, "He's a Time Lord. In many ways, we have the same mind." The Master is often able to anticipate the Doctor's moves, as seen in stories such as Castrovalva , The Keeper of Traken , Time-Flight , and The King's Demons , where he plans elaborate traps for
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#17328516164636758-608: The Master, using the Master's own equipment and the energies of the Time Lord/Cyberman hybrids to reverse the regeneration, returning the Doctor to her thirteenth body. After the restored Doctor and her various allies stop the Cybermen and Daleks, she frees the Qurunx and has it destroy the Master's planet with an energy beam. In his weakened, original body, the Master aims the beam at the Doctor (triggering her next regeneration ) before collapsing near his own TARDIS. Yaz manages to rescue
6867-446: The Rani , the Master is shown to be hiding out in a field disguised as a scarecrow, for no apparent reason other than to wait for the Doctor to show up. During the same story, the Rani (a fellow villainous Time Lord that the Master strongarms into assisting him) remarked that the Master would "get dizzy if he tried to walk in a straight line", a reference to the Master's often convoluted and complicated schemes he devised in order to trap
6976-595: The Sea Devils out of their millions of years of hibernation. Still, the Doctor sabotages the device by overloading it, destroying the Sea Devil base, and preventing war between humanity and reptiles. The Master subsequently escapes in a hovercraft. The Doctor reveals in this serial that the Master was once a "very good friend" of his. Delgado's last appearance as the Master is in Frontier in Space (1973), where he works alongside
7085-528: The Seventh Doctor. However, as posited in the novelisation of the movie by Gary Russell , the Master's self-alterations to extend his lifespan allow him to survive his execution by transferring his mind into a snake-like entity called a "morphant." This interpretation is made explicit in the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels, The Eight Doctors by Terrance Dicks , and also used in
7194-565: The Time Lords offer the Master a new regeneration cycle in exchange for his help. The Master's final appearance in the classic series is in Survival (1989, the final story of the series' original 26-year run), trapped on the planet of the Cheetah People and under its influence, which drives its victims to savagery. Though the Master manages to escape the doomed planet, he ends up back on the planet prior to its destruction when he attempts to kill
7303-482: The Time War. During the novel, the War Doctor and his new companion Cinder discover that the Daleks intend to use the temporal anomalies of a rift in time in the Moldox system, to develop a weapon that could completely erase Gallifrey and the Time Lords from history, with Rassilon's plan to stop the Dalek plot involving the destruction of the rift and all inhabited planets around it. The Doctor sabotages Rassilon's plan and uses
7412-450: The War Doctor on missions to give the Time Lords the upper hand over the Daleks . Following Hurt's death, the series ended after four volumes in February 2017. A follow-up series was subsequently launched featuring the Eighth Doctor and set during the early years of the Time War. With the announcement of The War Doctor , Big Finish Productions also announced a prequel box set featuring
7521-449: The War has been unclear, with the Daleks vanishing out of time and space to fight the War, would indicate that it is not waged in normal space-time . Nonetheless, there was fighting in a sufficient bulk of the cosmos, including on the planet Gallifrey. The Doctor claims to have fought on the front lines and was present at the Fall of Arcadia, Gallifrey's second city. The Eighth Doctor at first
7630-804: The Whoniverse appear in The Inheritance Cycle fantasy novels by Christopher Paolini . Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies cast John MacKay as John Logie Baird for the episode " The Giggle " (2023), reprising the role he played in Davies' ITV series Nolly earlier in 2023. Davies joked that this casting meant that all the television series he has written are set in the same universe. Doctor Who has had 19 video games ranging from computer and browser games, console and mobile. Doctor Who characters have appeared in other games such as Fall Guys , Minecraft , Lego Dimensions , PlayStation Home and LittleBigPlanet 3 . The 1992 Doctor Who pinball machine
7739-437: The artefacts of Rassilon , the symbols of the President of the Council of Time Lords, to manipulate the Eye of Harmony at the cost of Gallifrey . But the Doctor stops the Master, who escapes after his assumed death. The Master later returns in The Keeper of Traken , the role taken over by Geoffrey Beevers . Still dying, the Master came to the Traken Union to renew his life by using the empire's technological Source. Though
7848-457: The body of another Time Lord. The Dark Eyes audio series is also in effect a lead up to the Last Great Time War from the Doctor's perspective, the first series being a complex plan by the Daleks to erase the Time Lords from existence. Dark Eyes 2 also sees the resurrection of the Master in preparation for the war. Written by George Mann , this novel features the War Doctor and is set in
7957-496: The body of the noble Tremas, who was played by Ainley throughout the story), his portrayal showed the Master as almost singularly obsessed with humiliating and destroying the Doctor; while possessing the same level of intelligence and cunning that his previous incarnations had, the Ainley version of the character often had a much shorter temper, flying into a rage more often than the cool, suave version that Delgado portrayed. Ainley's Master
8066-426: The character, specifically the psychopathic behaviour and inappropriate emotional responses to certain situations. She also portrayed the original traditions of ruthless, murderous behaviour and grandiose, Machiavellian criminal intelligence that have been consistent throughout all incarnations. However, she also displayed a much more coquettish manner, with her new female identity allowing her to fully express aspects of
8175-536: The cliffhanger, having killed the real O and assumed his identity. In " The Timeless Children ", the Master takes the Doctor into the ruins of Gallifrey, and reveals how the Time Lords secretly acquired the power to regenerate by harvesting the DNA of the Timeless Child, who is revealed to be the Doctor, who lived throughout Gallifrey's civilisation and had her memory wiped on at least one occasion. The Master attempts to kill
8284-474: The consciousness of dead people so they can eventually be made into Cybermen . In " Death in Heaven ", Missy offers the Doctor control of her Cybermen army in the hopes of compromising his morality. She is defeated when her Cyber army is destroyed, and appears vaporised when shot by the posthumously cyber-converted Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart . Missy returns in " The Magician's Apprentice "/" The Witch's Familiar " (2015), revealed to have faked her demise using
8393-400: The destruction of both the Time Lords and the Daleks. By taking human form, he avoided detection by the Doctor, who was apparently unaware of his nemesis' resurrection during the Time War. The Master had remained ignorant of the latter phase and outcome of the war until he emerged from hiding, when he is told by the Doctor many years later. The timelines of other races and planets shift without
8502-543: The energy of the rift to erase the Daleks' scheme, but the actions of a Time Lord agent result in Cinder's death, leaving the War Doctor resolved to end the war once and for all as he recognises how far his people have fallen in the name of victory. The War Doctor series was produced by Big Finish Productions following John Hurt 's role as the War Doctor in “ The Day of the Doctor ”. Hurt reprised his role alongside Jacqueline Pearce as Cardinal Ollistra, who frequently sends
8611-412: The episode's coda , she sheds remorseful tears for all the millions of deaths she has caused. In " Empress of Mars ," she returns the Doctor's TARDIS to Mars to rescue the Doctor and Bill. In " The Eaters of Light ," she has been released from her cage by the Doctor to run repairs on his TARDIS, which is isomorphically locked so that she cannot pilot it. The Doctor attempts to test Missy's reformation in
8720-504: The episode, the Master, having survived the Death Particle, becomes Grigori Rasputin in 1916 Russia and allies with his Cybermasters and the Daleks . After baiting UNIT by defacing famous paintings, he and his allies capture the Doctor, whom he takes back to 1916. He reveals his plan to turn the Earth into a foundry for the Cybermen and Daleks, and uses the energy of a captured being called
8829-451: The episodes to date, but also gave information about fan clubs and ancillary entertainments related to the programme. Thus, the term Whoniverse referred to everything connected with the programme behind-the-scenes. In this meaning, standing exhibitions, discussions about the filming of episodes and even the fandom itself were considered part of the "Whoniverse". The term Whoniverse is still used with this definition today, including as
8938-462: The final battle and the Time Lords' fate. The Last Great Time War pitted the Time Lords of Gallifrey against the Daleks of Skaro . The specific incident that sparked the conflict remains unclear, but according to executive producer Russell T Davies , the origins dated back to conflicts between the Doctor and the Daleks. In Genesis of the Daleks (1975), the Time Lords—having foreseen
9047-481: The final days of the war as "hell". As the war progresses, the Time Lords become increasingly aggressive and unscrupulous. Growing in desperation, they access and use a cache of forbidden doomsday weapons known as the Omega Arsenal, save one: "the Moment". Moreover, they resurrect the Master , a renegade Time Lord and nemesis to the Doctor, as they believe him to be the "perfect warrior for a time war". However, after
9156-455: The ideas of parallel universes and the concept of changing time can't have a continuity error—it's impossible for Doctor Who to get it wrong, because we can just say 'he changed time—it's a time ripple from the Time War ' ". The Last Great Time War also features in various Doctor Who spin-off media. In a story arc stretching through several of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels, the Doctor learns that, at some point in his personal future,
9265-623: The inhabitants of the worlds affected being aware of the changes in history , as they were a part of them. Most affected were the Zygons , who lost their home planet, Zygor, and attempted to conquer Earth for its resources; the Eternals , and the Gelth , who lost their physical form and were reduced to gaseous beings, who attempted to possess human corpses in 1869 using a Time Rift in Cardiff . The Time War provides
9374-517: The issue is put to a full vote. While the High Council continues to lead Time Lord society during the war, a separate War Council is tasked with overseeing the war itself, as well as Gallifrey's defences. The War Council is led by an unknown Time Lord general. During the last days of the Time War, the War Council apparently becomes disillusioned with the High Council. On the last day of the Time War,
9483-471: The name of a Doctor Who convention in Australia . The term began to appear in mainstream press coverage, placing greater emphasis on it as a fictional universe, following the popular success of the 2005 Doctor Who revival and the establishment of its spin-offs Torchwood (2006–2011) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011). In October 2022, it was reported that Bad Wolf Studios had filed for
9592-459: The new Cyberman race as he was responsible for hiding the Cyberium and failed. As the Doctor escapes, Ko Sharmus sacrifices himself by detonating the Death Particle, ostensibly killing the Master and his army of Cyber Masters. After a hint in " The Vanquishers " (2021), Dhawan's Master returned in " The Power of the Doctor " (2022), Jodie Whittaker's final episode as the Thirteenth Doctor. In
9701-495: The orbit of Doctor Who , and specifically their home on BBC iPlayer , including documentary programming. It had previously been announced that over eight hundred previous episodes would be available to stream on BBC iPlayer. A Whoniverse ident was also adopted to unify content within the Whoniverse collection. The Whoniverse version of Earth is referred to as Earth-5556 in the Marvel Multiverse . References to
9810-471: The plot fails, the Master manages to cheat death by transferring his essence into the body of a Traken scientist named Tremas ( Anthony Ainley ) and overwriting his host's mind. The Master (Ainley, in a total of 31 episodes as the character) confronted the next three regenerations of the Doctor on and off for the rest of the classic series, still seeking to extend his life – preferably with a new set of regenerations. Subsequently, in " The Five Doctors " (1983),
9919-541: The possibility of the Daleks conquering the universe—send the Fourth Doctor into the past in an attempt to avert the Daleks' creation, to affect their development to make them less aggressive, or discover an inherent weakness they could exploit. In retaliation for this ultimately unsuccessful mission, the Daleks attempt to infiltrate the High Council of the Time Lords with duplicates of the Fifth Doctor in Resurrection of
10028-407: The present after being trapped in the past without her TARDIS. This is the first time since the show's revival that the Master's TARDIS interior is shown on screen and is noted to be the same size on the inside. The Master's weapon of choice in the original show's run was the "tissue compression eliminator," which shrinks its target to doll-like proportions, killing them in the process. Its appearance
10137-422: The previous Daleks and escap through time, forming a new race of Daleks. After the Time War, the Doctor is convinced that he is the only surviving Time Lord, saying that he would know of any others if they had survived. The Doctor later encounters a man named Professor Yana who is revealed to be the Master . The Master had been hiding in human form at the end of the universe using a Chameleon Arch , having escaped
10246-450: The producers, this was done to make the Master more threatening to the Doctor by having him take one of his opponent's greatest strengths, as well as making the parallels between the two characters more distinctive. This rationale is written into dialogue by the Master in " Utopia ," in which he explicitly states, as he is regenerating, that if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can he. Michelle Gomez maintained Simm's portrayal of
10355-439: The remaining crack, but not before granting the Doctor, old and weary from his years protecting Trenzalore, a new cycle of regenerations, which allow him to destroy the Dalek fleet surrounding the planet. In the 2006 episode " Rise of the Cybermen " when the Tenth Doctor , Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith are trapped in an alternate reality, the Doctor explains that, when the Time Lords were around, travel between parallel universes
10464-446: The role in audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions . At the same time, Alex Macqueen , Gina McKee , Mark Gatiss , James Dreyfus , and Milo Parker portrayed incarnations unique to Big Finish. The creative team conceived of the Master as a recurring villain , first appearing in Terror of the Autons (1971). The Master's title was deliberately chosen by producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks because, like
10573-408: The sake of the universe. They further offer an elixir that would control his regeneration. The Doctor accepts, remarking that there was no need for a Doctor in a universe consumed by war, and regenerates into the War Doctor . Davros , the creator of the Daleks, also fights during the war after his creations rehabilitated him to a leadership position. In the first year of the War, Davros' command ship
10682-475: The series. He had worked previously with Letts and was a good friend of Jon Pertwee . Malcolm Hulke spoke of the character and his relationship with the Doctor: "There was a peculiar relationship between the Master and the Doctor: one felt that the Master wouldn't really have liked to eliminate the Doctor...you see the Doctor was the only person like him at the time in the whole universe, a renegade Time Lord and in
10791-567: The size of a toy doll. In The Mind of Evil , he not only creates the "Keller machine" to drain evil impulses from the minds of anyone subjected to it, but also makes use of a mind control device (that can also be used to amplify the effects of the Keller machine, as he demonstrates on the Doctor). In the portrayals of the Master on his last regeneration (first by Peter Pratt in The Deadly Assassin , then by Geoffrey Beevers in The Keeper of Traken ), he
10900-444: The tenth series finale " World Enough and Time "/" The Doctor Falls " by sending Missy, Bill, and Nardole ( Matt Lucas ) on a rescue mission aboard a spaceship experiencing time dilation near a black hole. However, the Master (John Simm) is aboard the ship and has initiated the Cybermen's genesis. Missy's loyalties are torn between the Doctor and her old self. After initially betraying the Doctor, she later stands alongside him against
11009-449: The title character, the Doctor . Multiple actors have played the Master since the character's introduction in 1971. Within the show's narrative, the change in actors and subsequent change of the character's appearance is sometimes explained as the Master taking possession of other characters' bodies or as a consequence of regeneration , which is a biological attribute that allows Time Lords to survive fatal injuries or old age. The Master
11118-484: Was a conscientious objector , instead working to help where he could. His attempt to save a woman from a spaceship crashing towards the planet Karn fails, when she refuses his aid because he is a Time Lord, apparently believing that the Time Lords had become just as destructive as the Daleks. The Doctor is killed in the crash, but is temporarily restored to life by the Sisterhood of Karn, who finally convince him to fight for
11227-428: Was also much more outwardly villainous, at times murdering people (usually with his familiar TCE) not because they jeopardized his schemes, but simply because he enjoyed killing (often accompanying these deaths with his trademark sinister low and throaty chuckle). Nearly all of the schemes of this particular incarnation revolve around setting a trap to lure the Doctor into; as an example, near the beginning of The Mark of
11336-510: Was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters, usually deriving from the main programme. Doctor Who depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor , an extraterrestrial being with a human appearance. The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travelling space ship called the TARDIS . With various companions , they combat foes , work to save civilisations, and help people in need. Doctor Who
11445-509: Was first broadcast in 1963 and ran for 26 seasons until 1989, briefly returning in the form of a TV film in 1996. It was later revived in 2005, when the show's newfound success led to the commissioning of several spin-offs – Torchwood (2006–2011), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011) and Class (2016). Other spin-offs include the pilot K-9 and Company (1981) and non-BBC produced series K9 (2009–2010) while several new spin-offs are currently in production. The franchise name,
11554-486: Was in the introduction to the appendices of The Doctor Who Programme Guide Volume 2 by Jean-Marc Lofficier published May 1981 in its hardcover edition. The publicity blurb on the back of The Second Doctor Who Quiz Book by Nigel Robinson published in December 1983 also used the term. In his 1983 book Doctor Who: A Celebration; Two Decades Through Time and Space , Peter Haining called his final chapter "The Whoniverse". The section assembled factual information about all
11663-497: Was included in the 2012 pinball video game The Pinball Arcade . There have been various Doctor Who –related exhibitions in the United Kingdom, including the now-closed exhibitions at: Since its beginnings, Doctor Who has generated hundreds of products related to the show, from toys and games to collectible picture cards and postage stamps. These include board games, card games, gamebooks, roleplaying games, action figures and
11772-404: Was not directly seen until the show's 50th anniversary special. Over the course of several episodes, the conflict is only implied by short clues and comments, particularly the discussion in the 2007 episode " The Sound of Drums ", and part two of the 2010 episode " The End of Time ". The Time War is finally depicted in the 50th anniversary special " The Day of the Doctor ", featuring the climax of
11881-531: Was originally played by Roger Delgado from 1971 until his death in 1973. The role was subsequently played by Peter Pratt , Geoffrey Beevers , and Anthony Ainley , with Ainley reprising the role regularly through the 1980s until the series’s cancellation in 1989. Eric Roberts took on the role for the 1996 Doctor Who TV film . Since the show's revival in 2005, the Master has been portrayed by Derek Jacobi , John Simm , Michelle Gomez , and Sacha Dhawan . Beevers, Roberts, Jacobi, Simm, and Gomez have reprised
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