Doctor Who “Utopia”

1000/10 … holy cow … two Masters for the price of one …

OK, so I missed a few weeks … and they were good weeks, but I can’t go back. Looking back now as we teeter on the edge of the massive trilogy that ends this season is pointless. We are fully launched and I can’t go back to something like “Blink” (which was another Doctor-Lite story … meaning they didn’t have time to get David and Freema for most of the episode and made up another story around nothing … though it was better than “Love and Monsters” from last season.) I can sort of look back at “The Family of Blood” the conclusion of “Human Nature” … but there isn’t much to add apart from more of the same. The story was great.

But, this is “Utopia.” Yes, say it like you mean it, because in more ways than one this was a Doctor Who fan’s Utopia! Forget that Spiderman vs Superman ending of last season with the Cybermen and Daleks (the war that never should be seen) … this is the reinvention of the Master. Arguably 3rd (certainly chronologically) of the Doctor’s enemies, The Master is also a Time Lord. But, how? The time war? Yes, yes … I’m sure we’ll get to skirting around those issues in the future. Or is it the past? You see how that works? But most importantly to the series itself, a humanoid not a robot, which allows for the possibility of a real sense of uncertainty. Even though The Master is a cliché mustache (or goatee) twirling villain, if pitched right by the right actor, there can be real menace in knowing that the Doctor’s “tricks” could be out-matched.

Basically, if you heard anything about Utopia, you heard something that is a spoiler. Though it was kept a fairly unconfirmed secret for quite awhile … the cat is out of the bag after Saturday. Captain Jack is back from his purgatory in the dreadful Torchwood and is very much a good spike of adrenaline with his “yes sirs” and coat holding thing. Whatever, he’s good fun and has a great entrance.







And then there is The Professor or Professor Yana played by Sir Derek Jacobi.



Well, there is a reason they gave this guy a knighthood. He plays the befuddled Professor with such incredible skill and talent that you feel, what with the high production values, that this might be a major motion picture you are looking at instead of the legendary “cheap sets” Doctor Who.




What we discover … in quick succession is that he has a watch like the Doctor’s from “Human Nature” and that he doesn’t really recognize what it is or means. He was discovered with it as a naked child on the edge of the Silver Devastation (which is where the Face of Boe is from.) This all connects up as the Professor opens the watch and becomes The Master. The turn from befuddled friendly genius to sad old man to pure evil is just astonishing acting for 44 minutes. Everything from the previous episodes comes into play (the watch from the chameleon arch explains why the Doctor couldn’t sense another Time Lord and even his name, Yana, is an anagram for “You Are Not Alone”.) During the Master’s transformation (or “ascendance to his majesty”) the Doctor realizes who he is … even though he isn’t in the same room.





The Master is shot by his assistant as he enters (and steals) the Doctor’s TARDIS … and regenerates into John Simms (“Life on Mars”).



Simms has a moment of insane glory at the end, yelling to his old foe the Doctor from inside his stolen TARDIS, “Why don’t we have a nice chat where I tell you all my plans so you can work out a way to stop me. I think not!” (Very Austin Powers, but still … to the point.)







This is the first of a 3-part ending to the series. Next week we see the Master’s assume his new identity as the oft mentioned Harold Saxon, the new Prime Minister … in all his insane glory.