My one criticism of this arc would be that it would've been way cooler had the show established Mr Saxon earlier, and not just by name, but by already casting John Simm as a government official who occasionally got in the way of the TARDIS team without them knowing about it. Like, had he been around from Series 2 or even Series 1, it would've been fucking amazing to reveal him as the Master.

Well Stuart, we don’t have a cure yet. But we we do have expensive treatments that will only moderately assist and we’ll insist you’re being self destructive if you don’t go broke using them. It’s called progress.

Big finish spin off "Saxons Britain"

The war master audios have 100 percent effected my enjoyment of Utopia. My new fear in his character that came from those stories made the 10 minutes he spent as the master in the episode terrifying. Even though I knew what happened, it scared the hell out of me because I knew what he was capable of.

Speaking as a person who had no prior experience with the master due to being too young, John Sim defined the Master for me. That crazy, mavric (somewhat cartoony) is what I thought of him until I watched some older episodes. Due to that, even though this is not anything like your classic master I will always really enjoy this 3 parter.

I think (mostly due to Jacobi) Yana being the Master is probably one of the best New Who twists ever ??

You(the monk three parter) The guy she tells you not to worry about (the master three parter)

0:11 I love how Nathaniel is trying to cure the fan hatred tumour, it seems like something she would definitely do given she’s basically Stu’s polar opposite

Someone once pointed out to me that in Mind of Evil, a giant floaty Doctor laughing at the Master is shown to be one of the Master's biggest fears. And then, years later in Last of the Time Lords, the Doctor literally becomes giant and floats towards a cowering Master for real. Not sure that was ever intentional, but it's kinda fun.

When you talked about how there should've been more episodes, I can't help but wish they'd titled one "The Saxon Master Plan"

I always loved John Simm perfomance in that trilogy. He was a daring and different incarnation of the Master, but I think he pulled it off. Really underrated.

It would be cool if the Toclafane ever come back, your video has made me realise just how dark and interesting they were.

The messiah Doctor ending gets a bit of a bad rap, but that's more to do with the way it's presented than the idea itself (Which is a very, very Seven and Ace plot). If the Doctor had been more explicit about how incredibly manipulative his plan was and the realisation of the psychically charged Doctor had been more unsettling it would have worked a lot better. Moffat definitely couldn't do high stakes finales in the same way as RTD, I think a big part of that is that Moffat wanted to raise the stakes even higher than RTD had them, but in doing so he ended up making the threats much more nebulous and what exactly would happen if the Doctor and co failed was often pretty unclear.

The best thing about The Last of the Time Lords is the commentary with David,Freema and John who maybe had a bit too much to drink before recording ?

My favourite Russell finale. Yes, the resolution is awful, but it's way more interesting than the other ones.

It's funny re-watching this and realising OH MY GOD MARTHA TEAMED UP WITH THE DEVIL TO FIGHT THE MASTER While Vivienne Rook is talking sense.

IMO, choosing this episode to have the return of Jack Harkness was also a nice decoy, so fans would think "Oh cool, this is the Return of Jack episode". We all ignored "Professor Old Man". We were excited about Jack. And suddenly......

As for the psychic-network resolution, here's an idea of how they could have tweaked it for it to work better: instead of the psychic energy magically restoring the Doctor, what if what happens is that the combined willpower of the human race manages to simply *reverse* the direction of the psychic field, such that the humans are now controlling the Master rather than the reverse - "I am the Master and I-and I-aah!-and I……will……obey……you--AAARGH WHAT IS THIS!". And rather than the psychic voodoo thing magically making the Doctor younger, it's simply that the Master is mind-controlled into using the laser screwdriver to reverse the damage he's done. This would not only avoid the terrible, ill-justified Jesus Doctor effect, but it would also put the Master's defeat back into the hands of humanity rather than the Doctor.

Honestly, filling in the blanks with a Part 2 and 4 would be a great premise for a couple of Big Finish radio dramas.

Jacobi as Yana, dragging The Doctor with him makes me think this is how The Doctor and Master were as kids

Davies was obsessed with the deus ex machina to solve his finales. Bad wolves, voids, archangel doctors. Basically he builds up apocalyptic situations then just finger snaps them away.

What if the Doctor was just turned into a steaming bone-like man? Full size, but literally just thin-as-bones and barely breathing shell. You don't even have to fully show it. It would deliver a seriously scary (yet not gratuitous) moment, but give him some gravity when he emerges at the end. I never got Yoda Doctor, not even remotely. Also to fix the world of 2007 for series 4 and onwards? I genuinely think some kind of desperate parallel-world trickery or paradox machine-TARDIS consequences would've been more welcome. Just ideas. Might share a name with him, but i'm certainly no RTD.

Great review. One of my favourite stories. The Toclafane reveal is one of Whos greatest moments.

I kinda think Turn Left was more a blueprint than this for Years and years

I was fully expecting you to tear this one apart. This - by your standards - was surprisingly positive

Also Malcom Tucker should have been there to scream at the masters. Another bigfinish spinoff????

It's like the end of "Superman" where Lois is dead, half of California is in the ocean and tons of people are dead. Then, the hero turns back time and fixes everything.

Yes vivian, we've heard of you

Great Video Stuart always like retrospective type videos like this on doctor who

Perfectly timed vid, since I'm listening to the outright amazing War Master audios

The thing I loved about Simm's Master is how he was personally out to make The Doctor fucking SUFFER: - He steals The Doctor's TARDIS and leaves him and his friends for dead at the end of the universe with bearly as much as a "I'm back, bitch!" - He takes over the UK and makes him Public Enemy No. 1 - He ages and imprisons him and his friends and makes them watch as he subjugates the Earth for a year, breaking the timeline - He weaponises the human race into the Toclafane and claims The Doctor's favourite species as "the greatest monsters of all" - He refuses to regenerate and fucking dies in his arms out of spite - He turns the human race into himself to personally get at The Doctor, aiming to do the same to the Time Lords - He manipulates his best friend and turns her into a Cyberman while he's not looking and then proceeds to bully her constantly. - He shrugs off The Doctor's plea to stay and help - He's disgusted by Missy's complete lack of a hate boner for The Doctor (pun not intended) - He refuses The Doctor's help and friendship at every turn because by this point in their relationship, they're not friendly rivals anymore. They spent the 80's actively trying to kill each other and by the time the Time War started, he had become the most vicious version of himself yet, but skipped the war out of fear, leaving The Doctor had to deal with it and ended up traumatised and alone for it. Now that The Master's back, when he hears the Time Lords are gone, he hears "No one can stop me from doing whatever the fuck I like and The Doctor's too soft to kill me now". 10 wants his friend back, but he couldn't give 2 shits. TBH I don't even mind the OTT performance, I just love this angel of it.

Doctor Dobby was a seriously missed opportunity to bring back the concept of a decaying timelord from the deadly assassin. We’ve seen the Master in that state, would’ve been amazing if the doctor was also given a decaying incarnation for that one episode. Would also be more cathartic for the master and give him more motivation for doing it as he’s been through the same

I *love* this episode a lot, but the resolution always bugged me. it's a bit silly. also I had no idea that woman was called Vivian Rooke!

I actually love this story and find it to be an underrated finale. I'll admit part of it is nostalgia and I think Last of the Time Lords is significantly weaker but I do enjoy Martha fighting desperately against a broken world being the only one left fighting and think the episode has a lot of strong elements. Even if it is far fetched I do find the Master being defeated by prayer to be a fitting ending that really works. But the Doctor turning into Dobby and having superpowers is silly as is the way time is reversed. But I love the way the Master takes over earth and becomes Prime Minister with the Doctor and his companions in an unwinnable scenario and the way he tortures Martha's family and makes them suffer is truly cruel and makes the story rather hopeless. The story has layers of intriguing mystery which I still find it interesting to discover. Its brilliant with the Master having already won and its fascinating and cunning in the way he seduces earth. I love seeing him at the centre of an evil dictatorship and the story really shows the consequences of a world living under the fear and rule of the Master. John Simm is amazing and still my favourite incarnation of the Master. Even though it's gone slightly down in my enjoyment over time it will always be a story I really like

Loved this one. Nearly at 10k woo

Stu should've made every single one of his drawings have the face of The Master.

For all of its many problems, I remember really loving Sound Of The Drums just because of its way of taking down the Doctor lower than ever. However, the next episode was… a little disappointing. I never hated it, but it just didn't live up to Sound of Drums for me

Aparently john simm wanted to play the master more like previous incarnations and even wanted the goatee, but RTD pushed for a more Joker like master instead

no matter what anybody says to me about these episodes, the Utopia reveal will always be great

I really wish Jacobi was the main master for sound of drums and last of timelords and regenerated at the end

I'd love to see a follow-up episode where there's one guy ONE FUCKING GUY who remembers the year of hell with Saxon/Master running the show.

Man, that closing line is just spectacular and I wish more people took that stance because then we'd have way less bitching and a bit more constructive criticism. I think.

Finding your video so funny can’t wait to see more

Would be sooo good if you did more reviews of Russell’s DW! Love your content 😌

Loved all these.

I've always found this trilogy easier to swallow than Tennant's finale eps, but if a few things had been tweaked and Jacobi had honestly stayed on as The Master, I think this could've been a whole lot better. Nothing against John Simm, he did as well as he could with the material and direction, but Jacobi is way more "The Master" to me.

John Simm is my favourite incarnation of The Master. For me, he’s strikes the right balance. This is what the character should be: disarmingly silly while also dangerously unstable. RTD also, in my opinion, gives The Master the best send off his character’s ever gotten. There’s no cliched sentimentality or last minute regrets. The Master just dies with a smile, knowing that he’s finally beaten The Doctor. Absolute perfection. For me anyway.

I’ll hold that time of the Doctor was amazing

‘Wandering around quarries jabbering about how important everything is’ Huh...Dr actually hasn’t changed that much over the years, has it?

I think maybe they could've rectified some of The Master's slow takeover of Earth by maybe adding more than just a curt mention of "VOTE SAXON!" throughout Series 3, by showcasing a few more scenes on Earth with Martha's family akin to how some of those Government Agents were monitoring her mother. Or failing that just a brief scene of a TV ad showing off those Vote Saxon commercials you got brief glimpses of in The Sound of Drums. The finale used to be one of my favorites, but I do agree that the ending feels very handwaved away which I've somewhat come to accept to a certain extent, but that being said I would've liked to have at least seen some fallout from The Master's takeover, but I think by this point RTD probably knew that Series 4 was gonna be his last and figured he wouldn't wanna leave The Moff with any excess baggage from his era. The Space Jesus thing I honestly kinda like in retrospect since it gave us the much needed gem Waters of Mars in terms of taking the 10th Doctor's ego down a peg and showing how dangerous he could be when left unchecked, which is a far more effective character arc than "The Doctor gets beaten up while John Simm hams it up to the sounds of Voodoo Child"

That bit at the beginning is why 4Chan calls the position "showruiner".

I think it's fair to say that the Toclafane are very similar to another entity the Master encountered in a, canonically, earlier story, the Sky Men from the first War Master boxset. In that story, the Master saves a man named Cole, who wanted to save at least one planet destined to die from the effects of the Time War, but in his earnest and noble intent to give the humans of the planet he wanted to save hope, he created something far worse. The Iso, much like the Toclafane, were presented with events that were hopeless and would have led to their extinction, but then came this outsider who promised to help them. They make suits that protect them, but they are also augmented mentally, making them remorseless and bloodthirsty, the Iso being emotionally lobotomised to stop them from feeling distress and then they later come to the conclusion that all alien life must die as it was alien life that waged the Time War and caused their planet to die, whereas the Toclafane were regressed to an infantile mentality with no concept of morality or consequence. Interest fact, the Toclafane were originally going to feature in Series 1 of the revival, with their debut being the episode that later became "Dalek". Until negotiations secured use of the Daleks from the estate of Terry Nation, whom legally own them, it was originally written that the enemy of that episode was going to be a partly cybernetic monster that had no concept of morality and killed all those around it in childlike glee.

I love doctor who when the doctor loses. Or isn't there. Nothing against the character obviously I just like bleak hopelessness. Speaking of bleak hopeless please please please do a review of "children of earth"

The first time I watched Last of the Time Lords, I had been really certain the Chameleon Arch in the Fob Watch would come into play. Between its use in Human Nature/Family of Blood and how it released the Master in Utopia, it seemed like the set-up was there for it to being the key to bringing him down. I figured the good guys use it to make the Master human (perhaps truly making him Harold Simm or Yana again) and the Doctor has to grapple with whether or destroy the innocent man he now is, or risk the potential for the Master to be unleashed given the damage he's already done. No doubt with the heartbreaking fear of John Smith's final moments in his mind and all this on top of the fact that either decision will mean the Doctor is once again the Last of the Time Lords. I don't know how well that would have actually worked and you'd still have the pat ending of time reversal to deal with, but it would have been interesting.

Okay but the reveal would have been more interesting if the master was actually... THE RANI.

Good analysis well done

I do definitely agree. There should be an episode between the sound of drums and last of the time lords. With Mather on earth looking for the weapon. Would of been very interesting to see how she got out of the situations she was in.

I bloody love this three parter, and in my opinion is some of the best stuff in the whole show. I even like the end! What's weird is that I always thought the middle episode was called "The Sound of the Drums" until last year.

I've been fairly positive about LOTL because whenever I rewatch it it seems clear to me that RTD is writing the key moments of the story as those between the Doctor and the Master. You're absolutely right to talk about how this episode is essentially the Master torturing his ex-friend for a year, which is why I think the infamous 'space jesus' moment works. It's a direct call back to The Mind of Evil where the Master's greatest fear is seeing the Doctor dominate him, and so that moment is literally his worst nightmare. Even more traumatic is that the Doctor, in all his never be cruel never be cowardly santicmoniousness, actually forgives him! That leads beautifully into the REAL climax of the story (the time reversal is a plot resolution not the climax) - the Masters death. The Master has the victort by denying the Doctor the one thing he really needs at this point, another Time Lord, a friend. Tennants acting when he begs the Master to regenerate is wonderful and the pyre scene is the real end to the story, with everything after working as coda. It's not perfect, but it's an excellent attempt to write Doctor/Master in a complex way without a mere nemesis opposition like in the Davison era.

Well you got Your wish now with the Big finish spin off being in development xD

YANA being you are not alone straight up fucked my mind

Even Simm admitted that his master under RTD was shit and that he was glad Moffat gave him a chance to play the Master properly before he died.

I personally think that this is the best Tennant finale. Doomsday, while good (in fact, being the only RTD finale that didn't have a Deus-Ex Machina), had a few flaws like the Daleks being overpowered and the 10/Rose stuff at the beach really bogged it down, and Journey's End was a absolute mess even with the Stolen Earth doing a fantastic build-up. The gripes that I have with the story are the resolution to the conflict (I argue that 10 isn't as much of a Space Jesus as much as people make him out to be, but this is definitely a case), and that Captain Jack doesn't have much to do in the story. Besides that, I do love the story for my second favourite NewWho Series, and I would argue the most consistently great series of NewWho.

There's also a short story called "The Story of Martha" which is set during The Year That Never Was. Sadly never got around to reading it, but I wonder if it bridges the gap between episodes in the way you'd like, Stuart.

The concept for Utopia was always a big draw for me: humans at the end of the universe are seeking the source of a signal with a name that can be translated as "no place." And Derek Jacobi as The Master. I'm glad Big Finish did more with this incarnation.

I never realized how cool it would be to have a whole series dedicated to the Master slowly taking power and the Doctor leading resistance against him.

I didn't have any issues with this finale when it aired, but I was 10 at the time, and spent less time on the internet in a month back then than I do in a day now, so I knew nothing of the fandom's hate of it.

When it comes to horrifying human conversions The Toclafane are like the Cybermen turned up by 11 and the Cybermen were already pretty high.

There's actually a DW novel called The story of Martha that takes place between The sound of drums and Last of the time lords

I feel like if big finish heard your idea episodes in between Utopia, the sound of drums, and the last of the time Lords, their spines with start chilling...

WHY wasnt the Deus ex Machina linked back to the Shakespeare code? We have already established that the power of words exists.... so with everyone saying the doctors name at once makes sense as to why he would have gone super sayan

15:50 “The Doctor’s basically fucking Space Jesus.” Change “fucking” from an adjective to a verb and you’ve got some kinky fan-fiction right there.

How about a list of your favourite Doctor Who writers? In any medium (books, audio, tv etc.)

Bit late but the story of Martha kinda counted as part 2.5 and finding it in a charity shop, buying and reading retroactively improved last of the timelords for me granted that could also be nostalgia talking

Wait... what if Martha had fucked with the Paradox Machine and that's how the Master was brought down? She already had a TARDIS key...

I was a kid when this came out so I had no idea who the master was and was horrified to see the doctor lose its not as good looking back but now but it's still one of my favourite stories

I'm surprised you didn't mention the reveal that Face Of Boe is Jack Harkness, that still baffles me. I guess it's gonna go down as an off-hand joke unless Big Finish somehow use it.

What's really interesting is the whole season before that point there are references to Saxon. Posters and such in the background but you don't know what it means until this story starts.

Stuff I don’t understand about this story why Russell did Years and Years since this episode proves he doesn’t know how elections work, also the US President didn’t die here, it was the president elect. overseas versions cut out Martha’s mum trying to kill the Master ? Yes it’s for time but her whole arc is just gone

Things I would've changed(aside from what you've already mentioned): 1: Make Derek Jacobi the villain of the story. Master of Callous feels like an improved version of Sound Of Drums and Last Of The Time Lords. He's far more menacing than bat-shit crazy Simms will ever be. 2: Give the Toclofane more screentime. You already mentioned this. 2.5: Remove the Toclofane entirely. Their existence is a paradox that necessitates the solution like you said. Instead, make it a political drama about the Master single-handedly turning the UK into a dictatorship and our 3 heroes are on the run. No deifying the Doctor. Sadly, this would also prevent the Doctor's capture. 3: Cut the wife. She had very little impact on the story. 4: Have the Master survive the story. This would also change End of Time. John Simms' Master would debut in End of Time, having been forced to regenerate to conceal himself from the likes of UNIT and Torchwood. Then rewrite the entirety of End of Time. His portrayal in World Enough And Time and The Doctor Falls really reminded me of the Sam Kisgart Master from Sympathy For The Devil. Make Simm's Master like that instead of bringing back the drums. 5: Instead of the Master conquring the world, he uses the Archangel Network to hypnotize the entire planet, including other politicians in power, essentially creating puppet governments.

Errrrm...Hang on...Wait... VIVIENNE FUCKING ROOK!!!!

can you do parting of the ways from season 1

If Davis could have not got the Nations estate use of the Daleks the Toclafane was going to be the new series answer to the Daleks

Hi Stubagful! Could I please humbly ask You, if you could pweety pweese consider trying to Re-Upload your: 'Doctor Who: 'Doctor Retrosepectives,'' from back on 2013, Again? I remember when I first watched them, but, at the time, your ones for the 2nd, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctors, were taken down. Soon, it was reduced to just the 1st and 7th Doctor ones, still standing. Now, all of them are down, except for your 2nd Editions of the 10th and 11th ones. Just asking, because I remember really enjoying them, and I like going back, and watching your older videos. I would really like to see them again, if it's Possible. :)

The sound of drums/last of the time lords could have worked for a regeneration story. The doctor is a wanted man. What if he hides himself by regenerating.

Oh God I'd forgotten Ann Widdecombe supported Harold Saxon for PM and OH MY GOD WE ARE SO DOOMED

For me the biggest problem was I heard Big Finish's Singularity. A lot of similar concepts, but due to it being a four parter, it paces it's self better. It wasn't the worst tenth doctor story, but there are more enjoyable ways to spend a couple of hours ie watching Midnight (modern Who's finest hour?) instead.

Maybe there could be something made by big finish to create the stories in between Utopia and Sound of the Drums and Sound of the Drums and Last of the time lords. Could be interesting

I think this is the inherent issue you come into with high stakes stories set in current day earth. Set a story 10, 000 years in the future or on some colony planet and you can get away with doing almost anything to the planet but that would be difficult to write and produce. I didn't even mind the time reversal idea (at least they didn't have a literal reset button like... *that* episode), I just felt that they could have made it that wresting of control more of a challenge for the heroes. Maybe have the Doctor going to rescue the Tardis (rather than Jack just blowing up some stuff to fix it), and the two Timelords having a desperate fight in the console room while the others try to hold off the spheres somehow. Something that where there is still actual tension.

In regards to your comment at the beginning, a bug bear of mine especially recently in the Doctor Who fandom is the belief that Politics wasn't a key element of the show before series 9. So when they announced that series 12 was going to be more like the previous two eras it meant nothing to me as Doctor Who has been stuck in a repetitive cycle since 2005. Parodies of Political figures, The Doctor being judgemental and on the nose references to topical events are both aspects of classic and New who. So anyone screaming for the return of Russell is in reality causing what they hate.

I disagree about having an episode about between Utopia and Sound of Drums, S2 and 3 and Torchwood S1 up to that point already had scenes of the master's influence. However I feel that could've been stronger instead of a namedrop or newspaper here or there.

I've maintained that this finale is a masterpiece, barring the stupid resolution to LOTL.

That missing part between The Sound of Drums and The Last of The Time Lords is called 'The Story of Martha'. It was meant to be a TV story but they didn't have time to make it, so Dan Abnett, with David Roden, Steve Lockley, Robert Shearman, Paul Lewis, and Simon Jowett, turned it into a novel for BBC Books. I'm joking, of course, but I saw the opportunity to make a joke and took it.

I despise the resolution to this. I always feel like in a way RTD writing the people of the Earth praying to the Doctor and him flying around with a halo was him saying "David Tenannt has become like a divinity for fans" (still think being the 1st Nu Doctor who stuck around makes him incredibilly overrated) and even so: they could have just destroyed the Machine and have him go young again when time reversed back instead of that Deus ex Machina scene

5:05 BuT wHaT aBoUt MaGpIe'S eLeCtRiCaLs

I can remember my first instance of franchise fatigue with Doctor Who. I think it was between series 3 and 4 that it started, and was in large part due to how I felt the Daleks were being overused and were fast becoming Mary Sue characters - Dalek was a decent enough episode that it is still enjoyable nearly 15 years later, because it touched on a concept that Classic Who never could - the idea that the Daleks were extinct, and this species, whose whole purpose is to kill to prove itself superior to all life, having to come to terms with the fact that there was nothing left to fight for. But every episode after that, they were being sold as being unstoppable, indestructible, that nothing could possibly stop them this time, but then along comes some kind of Deus Ex Machina that just felt penned in at the last moment to just resolve the problem. Also how every series became formulaic to the point where you couldn't get invested or genuinely emotional when something happened, because there were set points in the series where characters had to be introduced and when they had to depart, and the continuity department cannot keep a secret to save their lives.

So...children of Earth next???

“I… ham… the Master”

Lucifer had to help the doctor because he wouldn't have an earth to play with.

Interesting that there was no mention of the Face of Boe reveal or of Martha leaving the Tardis. Those were significant events that occurred from the results of the trilogy and of series three as a whole.