Master of the Land: Difference between revisions

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
(5.3 Factual correction)
No edit summary
 
(43 intermediate revisions by 18 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Cleanup|Should the title and the Ensign writer be on different pages?}}
{{you may|The Master|n1=the Time Lord known as the Master}}
{{Infobox Individual
|name= Unknown
|alias= The Master of the Land<br/>The Controller
|image=Master of the Land of Fiction.jpg
|species=Human
|origin= [[Earth]]
|only= The Mind Robber
|actor= Emrys Jones
}}
{{You may|The Master|n1=the Time Lord the Master}}
The '''Master of the Land''', also known as '''the Master''', '''the Writer''' and '''the Controller''', was the ruler of the [[Land of Fiction]]. He was, in turn, enslaved by the [[computer]] known as the [[Master Brain]].


== Biography ==
'''Master of the Land of Fiction''', '''Writer of the Words''', and '''Controller of all Fiction''' were all titles given to the current ruler of the [[pocket universe]] known as the [[Land of Fiction]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Conundrum (novel)|Conundrum]]'') Women who held the position were known as '''Mistress of the Land of Fiction''' or '''Queen of the Land of Fiction'''. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Legend of the Cybermen (audio story)|Legend of the Cybermen]]'', [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Wonderful Doctor of Oz (novel)|The Wonderful Doctor of Oz]]'')
The Master was originally employed in writing the adventures of ''[[Captain Jack Harkaway]]'' for a boy's magazine called ''[[The Ensign]]''. He wrote five thousand words each week for twenty-five years. In [[1926]], when he must have fallen asleep writing, the Master Brain found him and connected him to the Land of Fiction, where he became the ruler. Presumably, the Master Brain wanted to harness the writer's powers of imagination. As the Master would note later, the computer needed imaginative minds. The Master Brain enslaved the Master and intended to add the [[Second Doctor]] to the system so it could invade Earth and all humans would be adjusted to the Land, leaving Earth to be taken over. As Master, he could control the [[Clockwork Soldier]]s and manifest any fictional character he liked. He had the power to turn people from the [[universe|real universe]] into beings of fiction, though not directly: he had to trick them into it.


The Doctor, [[Zoe Heriot|Zoe]], and [[Jamie McCrimmon|Jamie]] arrived in the Land by accident. The Master planned to have the Doctor take his place. Using his power, he put the trio through tests to find if the Doctor could do it. Zoe and Jamie overloaded the Master Brain and the Doctor saved the Master from its destruction. Once the Master was disconnected, the Land dissolved. Apparently, this freed the Master to return home. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mind Robber]]'')
Each Master of the Land was connected to the [[computer]] known as the [[Master Brain]], which harnessed their powers of imagination and also controlled them to some extent. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mind Robber (TV story)|The Mind Robber]]'') Most of the people whom the Brain selected and transported to the Land were prolific or talented human writers from [[Earth]]. Within the Land, the Master could conjure fictional creations into being, control characters such as the [[clockwork soldier]]s and [[White Robot]]s, and also turn people from the [[N-Space|real universe]] into fiction.


=== Postlude ===
== Masters of the Land ==
Later, as part of an ongoing campaign of revenge against the [[Seventh Doctor]], the [[renegade Time Lord]] calling himself [[the Monk]] reactivated the Land and gave the title of Master of the Land to [[Jason (Conundrum)|Jason]], a boy from [[1993]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Conundrum (novel)|Conundrum]]'')
=== L. Frank Baum ===
{{main|L. Frank Baum}}
[[Missy]] tricked [[L. Frank Baum]] into becoming the Master of the Land of Fiction, telling him he was in a [[theme park]] based on his world of [[Land of Oz|Oz]]. Although Baum was the one actually connected to the computer, Missy considered herself the real Mistress of the Land and Baum an "under-master". Missy brought the [[Thirteenth Doctor]], [[Yasmin Khan|Yaz]], [[Graham O'Brien|Graham]], [[Ryan Sinclair|Ryan]] and their temporary companion [[Dorothy (The Wonderful Doctor of Oz)|Theodore]] to the Land of Fiction in an attempt to drain the Doctor's [[courage]], [[heart]] and [[brain]]s. The Doctor foiled Missy's plan and forced her to disconnect Baum.


== Behind the scenes ==
=== Dorothy===
* It is implied onscreen that the Master was actually writer [[Wikipedia:Charles Hamilton (writer)|Charles Hamilton]], who wrote under the pseudonym of Frank Richards, considered the most prolific author of all time. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/mindrobber/detail.shtml] (He had also created [[Wikipedia:Billy Bunter|Billy Bunter]], the basis of [[Cyril]] from ''[[The Celestial Toymaker (TV story)|The Celestial Toymaker]]''.) ''[[The Mind Robber]]'' writer [[Peter Ling]] has also said he based the character partly on himself.
{{main|Dorothy (The Wonderful Doctor of Oz)}}
[[Category:Humans with unknown names]]
With Baum unplugged, the inhabitants of Oz would soon be terrorised by the fictional villains displaced by Oz. Theodore agreed to replace him, assuming the title ("Queen of the Land of Fiction"), and was able to physically become her inner female-identifying self, renaming herself Dorothy. She remained to keep Oz intact and add to it with her knowledge of books, with [[K9 Mark V]] staying to become her librarian. Dorothy also felt some affinity for the Master Brain, which she knew only as "the bookworm", and identified with it because they both needed stories to survive. Dorothy went to live in the Emerald Palace with K9, but the Land became more varied during her reign: the Doctor sensed the [[yellow brick road]] becoming the road to [[Middle-earth]], or the river from ''[[The Wind in the Willows]]'', or the rabbit hole from ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]''. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Wonderful Doctor of Oz (novel)|The Wonderful Doctor of Oz]]'')
[[Category:Human writers]]
 
[[Category:20th century individuals]]
=== The ''Ensign'' writer ===
[[Category:Individual cyborgs]]
{{main|Writer (The Mind Robber)}}
[[Category:Humans with psychic powers]]
[[File:Master of the Land of Fiction.jpg|thumb|The Ensign writer. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mind Robber (TV story)|The Mind Robber]]'')]]
[[Category:Human slaves]]
The writer who ruled the Land when the Second Doctor arrived there was an Englishman who had previously been employed in writing the adventures of ''[[Captain Jack Harkaway]]'' for a boy's magazine called ''[[The Ensign]]''. He wrote five thousand words each week for twenty-five years. In the [[summer]] of [[1926]], when he must have fallen asleep writing, the Master Brain found him and connected him to the Land of Fiction, where he became the ruler. As the Master would note later, the computer needed imaginative minds. The Master Brain enslaved the Master and intended to add the [[Second Doctor]] to the system so it could invade Earth and all humans would be adjusted to the Land, leaving Earth to be taken over.
[[Category:Human leaders]]
 
The Doctor, [[Zoe Heriot|Zoe]], and [[Jamie McCrimmon|Jamie]] arrived in the Land by accident. The Master planned to have the Doctor take his place. Using his power, he put the trio through tests to find if the Doctor could do it. Zoe and Jamie overloaded the Master Brain and the Doctor saved the Master from its destruction. Once the Master was disconnected, the Land dissolved. The Master was presumably returned to his proper place in time and space: England of 1926. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Mind Robber (TV story)|The Mind Robber]]'')
 
He shared his name with the renegade Time Lord [[the Master]], and resembled him in that he seemed "almost omniscient" within his world. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Mind Robber (novelisation)|The Mind Robber]]'')
 
=== Jason ===
{{Main|Jason (Conundrum)}}
[[Image:Jason, the Master of the Land of Fiction in Happy Endings.jpg|thumb|[[Jason (Conundrum)|Jason]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Happy Endings (novel)|Happy Endings]]'')]]
Years later, as part of his elaborate scheme to gain revenge on the Doctor, [[Mortimus]] installed as master [[Jason (Conundrum)|Jason]], a mentally unstable 17 year old boy from [[1993]] Earth. Jason created a fictionalised version of the Doctor called "[[Dr. Who (Land of Fiction)|Dr. Who]]".
 
Jason constructed a town called [[Arandale]], inhabited by various fictional characters such as the [[White Knight]] and [[Doctor Nemesis]]. He trapped the [[Seventh Doctor]], [[Ace]], and [[Benny Summerfield|Benny]] in a scenario where the power source that gave the White Knight his powers would soon explode and destroy the town unless the Doctor either went along with the story and thus became trapped in the Land for good, or took the Master's place. By tricking Jason into introducing highly disruptive [[McAllerson's Radiation]] into the Land by claiming that it could be the source of the White Knight's powers, the Doctor escaped after the Radiation release damaged the Land long enough for him and his companions to return to the TARDIS. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Conundrum (novel)|Conundrum]]'')
 
After defeating the Monk, the Seventh Doctor contacted the [[Time Lord]]s, who returned Jason to his native time of 1993. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Head Games (novel)|Head Games]]'')
 
During Jason's time as Master of the Land, he stated that the Doctor was "more than qualified" to receive the title. The ability to manipulate plot and overwrite story was partially wielded by the Doctor, including rewriting the story to gain information, summoning characters from other fiction, and bending reality with a thought. The Doctor used these abilities to battle against Jason, giving the TARDIS crew a chance to escape from the Land of Fiction. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Conundrum (novel)|Conundrum]]'')
 
=== Zoe Heriot ===
{{main|Zoe Heriot}}
[[File:ZoeQuestioningWIS.jpg|thumb|[[Zoe Heriot]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wheel in Space (TV story)|The Wheel in Space]]'')]]
During the [[Cyberman|Cybermen]] invasion of the Land of Fiction, the Land of Fiction had a new master, but was this time was a Mistress. She was using the clockwork soldiers, and fictional characters such as [[Alice Liddell (Land of Fiction)|Alice]] and [[Dracula (fictional character)|Dracula]] to fight a failing war against the Cybermen, who had partly if not totally cyber-converted creatures and beings of the Land, such as [[giant]]s, [[ogre]]s, [[werewolf|werewolves]], [[Valkyrie]]s and [[fairy|fairies]].
 
The Mistress of the Land of Fiction was the real-life, older [[Zoe Heriot|Zoe]], who had found out she had mysteriously aged two years and was captured in a Cyberman attack on the [[Space Station W3|Wheel]]. When Zoe's memories were triggered, she sent the Cybermen into the Land of Fiction and brought the [[Sixth Doctor]] there to defeat them, creating [[Jamie McCrimmon (Land of Fiction)|Jamie]] as a friend and as a mystery to solve. After a [[Datamat]], which looked similar to a [[Cybermat]], started climbing up Jamie's kilt, the Zoes were told to work on writing the fictional Cybermen, who had been converted from fantasy creatures, out of existence. [[Captain Nemo]], finding himself with a cyber-converted Dracula, was rescued by the soon-to-be-killed [[Karkus]], sent by Zoe. The Doctor used the Datamat to erase the fictional Cybermen from existence. The fictional Zoe was killed. The Doctor insisted on disconnecting the real Zoe from the Master Brain and bringing her back to reality, though she protested that the Land would cease to exist without her. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Legend of the Cybermen (audio story)|Legend of the Cybermen]]'')
 
=== Alice Liddell ===
{{main|Alice Liddell (Land of Fiction)}}
Although the Doctor wanted the fictional Jamie to replace Zoe and become "Laird of the Land of Fiction", he declined, and suggested that the fictional Alice take over instead, as she understood the machines and knew the Land's various characters well. Alice accepted; later, she told a story in which Jamie disappeared while fighting off the White Robots. With the Cybermen defeated, the Land began to grow again, this time becoming a [[Wonderland]], with Alice as its new Mistress, its Queen of Hearts. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Legend of the Cybermen (audio story)|Legend of the Cybermen]]'')
 
[[Category:Titles and offices]]
[[Category:Land of Fiction]]

Latest revision as of 07:08, 3 April 2024

You may be looking for the Time Lord known as the Master.

Master of the Land of Fiction, Writer of the Words, and Controller of all Fiction were all titles given to the current ruler of the pocket universe known as the Land of Fiction. (PROSE: Conundrum) Women who held the position were known as Mistress of the Land of Fiction or Queen of the Land of Fiction. (AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen, PROSE: The Wonderful Doctor of Oz)

Each Master of the Land was connected to the computer known as the Master Brain, which harnessed their powers of imagination and also controlled them to some extent. (TV: The Mind Robber) Most of the people whom the Brain selected and transported to the Land were prolific or talented human writers from Earth. Within the Land, the Master could conjure fictional creations into being, control characters such as the clockwork soldiers and White Robots, and also turn people from the real universe into fiction.

Masters of the Land[[edit] | [edit source]]

L. Frank Baum[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: L. Frank Baum

Missy tricked L. Frank Baum into becoming the Master of the Land of Fiction, telling him he was in a theme park based on his world of Oz. Although Baum was the one actually connected to the computer, Missy considered herself the real Mistress of the Land and Baum an "under-master". Missy brought the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Graham, Ryan and their temporary companion Theodore to the Land of Fiction in an attempt to drain the Doctor's courage, heart and brains. The Doctor foiled Missy's plan and forced her to disconnect Baum.

Dorothy[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: Dorothy (The Wonderful Doctor of Oz)

With Baum unplugged, the inhabitants of Oz would soon be terrorised by the fictional villains displaced by Oz. Theodore agreed to replace him, assuming the title ("Queen of the Land of Fiction"), and was able to physically become her inner female-identifying self, renaming herself Dorothy. She remained to keep Oz intact and add to it with her knowledge of books, with K9 Mark V staying to become her librarian. Dorothy also felt some affinity for the Master Brain, which she knew only as "the bookworm", and identified with it because they both needed stories to survive. Dorothy went to live in the Emerald Palace with K9, but the Land became more varied during her reign: the Doctor sensed the yellow brick road becoming the road to Middle-earth, or the river from The Wind in the Willows, or the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland. (PROSE: The Wonderful Doctor of Oz)

The Ensign writer[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: Writer (The Mind Robber)
The Ensign writer. (TV: The Mind Robber)

The writer who ruled the Land when the Second Doctor arrived there was an Englishman who had previously been employed in writing the adventures of Captain Jack Harkaway for a boy's magazine called The Ensign. He wrote five thousand words each week for twenty-five years. In the summer of 1926, when he must have fallen asleep writing, the Master Brain found him and connected him to the Land of Fiction, where he became the ruler. As the Master would note later, the computer needed imaginative minds. The Master Brain enslaved the Master and intended to add the Second Doctor to the system so it could invade Earth and all humans would be adjusted to the Land, leaving Earth to be taken over.

The Doctor, Zoe, and Jamie arrived in the Land by accident. The Master planned to have the Doctor take his place. Using his power, he put the trio through tests to find if the Doctor could do it. Zoe and Jamie overloaded the Master Brain and the Doctor saved the Master from its destruction. Once the Master was disconnected, the Land dissolved. The Master was presumably returned to his proper place in time and space: England of 1926. (TV: The Mind Robber)

He shared his name with the renegade Time Lord the Master, and resembled him in that he seemed "almost omniscient" within his world. (PROSE: The Mind Robber)

Jason[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: Jason (Conundrum)

Years later, as part of his elaborate scheme to gain revenge on the Doctor, Mortimus installed as master Jason, a mentally unstable 17 year old boy from 1993 Earth. Jason created a fictionalised version of the Doctor called "Dr. Who".

Jason constructed a town called Arandale, inhabited by various fictional characters such as the White Knight and Doctor Nemesis. He trapped the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and Benny in a scenario where the power source that gave the White Knight his powers would soon explode and destroy the town unless the Doctor either went along with the story and thus became trapped in the Land for good, or took the Master's place. By tricking Jason into introducing highly disruptive McAllerson's Radiation into the Land by claiming that it could be the source of the White Knight's powers, the Doctor escaped after the Radiation release damaged the Land long enough for him and his companions to return to the TARDIS. (PROSE: Conundrum)

After defeating the Monk, the Seventh Doctor contacted the Time Lords, who returned Jason to his native time of 1993. (PROSE: Head Games)

During Jason's time as Master of the Land, he stated that the Doctor was "more than qualified" to receive the title. The ability to manipulate plot and overwrite story was partially wielded by the Doctor, including rewriting the story to gain information, summoning characters from other fiction, and bending reality with a thought. The Doctor used these abilities to battle against Jason, giving the TARDIS crew a chance to escape from the Land of Fiction. (PROSE: Conundrum)

Zoe Heriot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: Zoe Heriot

During the Cybermen invasion of the Land of Fiction, the Land of Fiction had a new master, but was this time was a Mistress. She was using the clockwork soldiers, and fictional characters such as Alice and Dracula to fight a failing war against the Cybermen, who had partly if not totally cyber-converted creatures and beings of the Land, such as giants, ogres, werewolves, Valkyries and fairies.

The Mistress of the Land of Fiction was the real-life, older Zoe, who had found out she had mysteriously aged two years and was captured in a Cyberman attack on the Wheel. When Zoe's memories were triggered, she sent the Cybermen into the Land of Fiction and brought the Sixth Doctor there to defeat them, creating Jamie as a friend and as a mystery to solve. After a Datamat, which looked similar to a Cybermat, started climbing up Jamie's kilt, the Zoes were told to work on writing the fictional Cybermen, who had been converted from fantasy creatures, out of existence. Captain Nemo, finding himself with a cyber-converted Dracula, was rescued by the soon-to-be-killed Karkus, sent by Zoe. The Doctor used the Datamat to erase the fictional Cybermen from existence. The fictional Zoe was killed. The Doctor insisted on disconnecting the real Zoe from the Master Brain and bringing her back to reality, though she protested that the Land would cease to exist without her. (AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen)

Alice Liddell[[edit] | [edit source]]

Main article: Alice Liddell (Land of Fiction)

Although the Doctor wanted the fictional Jamie to replace Zoe and become "Laird of the Land of Fiction", he declined, and suggested that the fictional Alice take over instead, as she understood the machines and knew the Land's various characters well. Alice accepted; later, she told a story in which Jamie disappeared while fighting off the White Robots. With the Cybermen defeated, the Land began to grow again, this time becoming a Wonderland, with Alice as its new Mistress, its Queen of Hearts. (AUDIO: Legend of the Cybermen)