Not as the weird snake goop thing that was ‘90s VFX gone wild. But…y’know, just Eric Roberts going to town on a scenery buffet in the way all great Master performances do.
Roberts, who played The Master as seen in the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie starring Paul McGann, has reprised his role for Big Finish before, teaming up with fellow incarnations played by Michelle Gomez, Geoffery Beevers, and Derek Jacobi back in 2019. But now he’s back in his own spinoff series, set after his incarnation was lost to the Time Vortex at the climax of the movie.
Flung back into reality and face-first into an encounter with the Daleks, in Master!, the three-part series sees him freed from captivity by genius scientist Lila Kreeg (Laura Aikman), chased by intergalactic assassin Vienna Salvatore (Deep Space Nine’s Chase Masteron). He also attempts to become Earth’s savior as he enacts revenge against the Daleks for having attempted to exterminate him in the run-up to the events of the 1996 movie. Hear a snippet of Roberts in action below:
Well, it’s mostly a cackle, really. But that’s what you want out of a good Master, isn’t it? And it’s a solid cackle. Good 9/10 for evilness.
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You’ll be able to hear more than a cackle by heading over to the Big Finish website, where Master! is available now.
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