By: Anton Massopust III Email: DrZaius69@aol.com

Anton Massopust

“If I can’t be the Doctor then you neither can’t either!” – The Master

In this big regeneration special, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) faces a terrifying threat – the Master (Sacha Dhawan) has survived the destruction of Gallifrey and is now out for revenge. The Master Free has a 3- part plan, as he says. The Master recruits the Cybermen and the Daleks. The Cybermen have gained the power of the Time Lords to regenerate making them invincible. The Master has disguised himself as the most infamous villain of all time – Rasputin. He takes the summer palace of the Czar using his hypnotic power and uses it as his headquarters. All this is a trap of course, to lure the Doctor to trap her, force her to regenerate and steel her body so the Master can become the Doctor. He sends a message by defacing famous works of art to send messages to the Doctor to face her. He kidnapped many of the leading vulcanologists. The Master is captured by UNIT and locked up – but that is exactly what he wants. The Daleks are using the machines in volcanos to set up volcanic eruptions all around the Earth so they can manufacture more Daleks. The Cybermen have a planet and they are using the Master’s TADIS as a power source so that they can enslave the earth turning everyone into Cybermen. 

The doctor and Yaz (Mandip Gill) team up to stop the bad guys and their nefarious plans. With UNIT are old friends Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred). Eventually Graham (Bradley Walsh). To stop them, the Master escapes UNIT Headquarters to steal the Doctor’s body in order to ruin the Doctor’s reputation as a hero. Now, it’s up to the companions using a hologram of the Doctor who appears in the forms that they remember him or her to stop the villain’s plans before the earth is completely destroyed.

There are cameos from Colin Baker, Paul McGann, Peter Davidson, Sylvester McCoy.  This season had lots and lots of ups and downs. Jody Whittaker’s Doctor has faced a lot of problems with bad writing, but these last couple of specials have made up for them. Whittaker goes out with a huge bang. You’ll have to watch for yourself what they are going to do next with the 60th Anniversary of “Doctor Who” on the horizon. There are plenty of villains, of course the Rogue Cyberman that is half human/half Cyberman. Sacha Dhawan is terrific and has all the best lines – the villains always do! I won’t tell you about the surprise at the end. It’s definitely worth watching.