Master of the Land
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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
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 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 Soldiers and manifest any fictional character he liked. He had the power to turn people from the real universe into beings of fiction, though not directly: he had to trick them into it.
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. Apparently, this freed the Master to return home. (TV: The Mind Robber)
Postlude
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, a boy from 1993. (PROSE: Conundrum)
Behind the scenes
- It is implied onscreen that the Master was actually writer Charles Hamilton, who wrote under the pseudonym of Frank Richards, considered the most prolific author of all time. [1] (He had also created Billy Bunter, the basis of Cyril from The Celestial Toymaker.) The Mind Robber writer Peter Ling has also said he based the character partly on himself.
