The Master, following his execution by the Daleks, manifested as a snake-like entity. In this form, he possessed a 20th century human named Bruce.
Biography
Preparations
- The incarnation before this Master is hard to discern. One account suggests that it was the Tremas incarnation, (GAME: Destiny of the Doctors) while others suggest that it was the following decaying incarnation to have come before.
The Master had earlier prepared for his execution on the Dalek homeworld Skaro by transferring his consciousness to a new host. Though both accounts credit him with having done so deliberately, one claims that he absorbed a deathworm (PROSE: The Eight Doctors), another that he used a Skarosian life form called a morphant (COMIC: The Fallen). Having made these arrangements, the Master's last request was that the Doctor take his remains back to Gallifrey.
The Seventh Doctor stored the ashes in a casket and set the TARDIS on course for Gallifrey. En route, the Master, whose consciousness had survived the death of his physical body, escaped from the casket and interfered with the TARDIS, causing a timing malfunction. The ship materialised in San Francisco during the final days of 1999.
On exiting the TARDIS, the Doctor got caught in the crossfire of a gang war and was picked up by an ambulance. As he lay wounded, he saw the Master's form exiting the TARDIS via its keyhole, but he was unable to communicate this information to the humans nearby. Bruce tended to the Doctor, but while he was loading him into the ambulance, the Master hid inside a bag. Later, after Bruce had gone home and to bed, the Master forced his way into Bruce's body through his mouth, killing him and taking over his body. (TV: Doctor Who)
Bruce
The next morning, the Master awoke, now inhabiting Bruce's body. He realised the decaying form would not last long, launched his scheme to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations. His first act was to kill Bruce's wife Miranda.
The transformation into Bruce involved some complications. His eyes retained the "cat's eye" appearance, a holdover from his experiences on the Cheetah World (TV: Survival), forcing him to wear sunglasses to remain inconspicuous. Also, Bruce's body began to decay rapidly.
The Master befriended Chang Lee, a young gang member who had been present when the Doctor was shot, and who had stolen the TARDIS key. With Chang Lee's help, he entered the Doctor's TARDIS and regaled Chang Lee with stories of the Doctor's supposed villainy (claiming, among other things, the Doctor had stolen the Master's regenerations). As part of his plan to take the Doctor's lives, he intended to open the Eye of Harmony, destroying the Earth in the process. With Chang Lee's further help, he was able to open the Eye. He discovered that the Doctor had regenerated into a new form, and that the Doctor was half-human. This answered a few of the Master's longstanding questions about his foe.
After fully regaining his memory, the Doctor and his companion, Dr. Grace Holloway, made their way back to the TARDIS where the Master, now dressed in Gallifreyan robes, greeted his enemy. In the ensuing battle, the Master used mind control on Grace. He also killed Chang Lee by snapping his neck when Lee realised the truth about the Master after the Master accidentally revealed that he had wasted all of his lives in fighting the Doctor, rather than the Doctor having stolen them.
Although the Master was able to initiate the transfer process that would give him access to the Doctor's remaining lives, Grace was able to prevent this by rerouting the TARDIS's power and sending the ship into a temporal orbit. With the Master's body dying as the Doctor's regenerations were returned to him, the two Time Lords fought near the Eye of Harmony, culminating in the Master falling into it when he leapt at the Doctor and misjudged the angle. The Doctor said he had been "eaten" by the TARDIS. (TV: Doctor Who)
Revenge and Imprisonment
Shortly after his defeat, the Master laid a final trap for the Doctor, leaving a crystalline structure on the Eye that would give the Doctor amnesia. (PROSE: The Eight Doctors)
Imprisoned inside the Doctor's TARDIS, the Master offered the Eighth Doctor advice through a portrait, a mirror and later the Eye of Harmony. (PROSE: Sometime Never..., The Deadstone Memorial, The Gallifrey Chronicles)
Whilst exploring the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS, River Song thought she heard an american screaming from within the walls. (GAME: The Eternity Clock)
Edward Grainger's Dreams
The Master escaped the Doctor's TARDIS through the Eye of Harmony by influencing the dreams of Edward Grainger in order to be freed from the sealed Eye. The Master was now a being of energy that could travel through the air. (PROSE: Forgotten)
Escaping into London in 1906, the Master possessed the body of George Steer and tried to kill the newly born Edward Grainger to unravel the Doctor's timeline. The Master was stopped by the First Doctor and Violet after being hit with a rolling pin and being removed from the body he possessed. (PROSE: Prologue)
The Master evaded the Eighth Doctor and possessed the body of a man called Richard. (PROSE: Forgotten)
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Another account suggests that he was rescued from the Eye of Harmony by Esterath. (COMIC: The Glorious Dead. See separate entry for more details.
Personality
The "Bruce" incarnation of the Master retained his propensity for "camp" villainy, but was also capable of terrifying rage. When preparing to steal the Doctor's body, he donned a flamboyant Time Lord robe for no apparent reason. This Master spoke with an American accent (presumably because Bruce had), but his personality was otherwise mostly consistent. (TV: Doctor Who)
Behind the scenes
- Though the script to Doctor Who referred to the Master in this form as a "morphant", this name does not appear on-screen.
- Gordon Tipple played the Master's previous incarnation, who appears only in a cameo and does not speak. It is unclear whether Tipple was portraying the same incarnation played by Anthony Ainley or another version of the Master.
- Bruce's surname is never revealed on-screen, though he is known as "Bruce Gerhardt" in the novelisation.