sometimes i’m really amazed how hard they cooked with delgado!master even though technically his character concept wasn’t even that complicated. i feel like these days people really like villains with complex and tragic backstories so that’s what media lean towards, and they did it with the master in new who as well - with the drums for example, or by making missy more sympathetic. and it’s not like there’s anything wrong with that, but i really adore how they were able to set up such an interesting dynamic between the doctor and the master at the very beginning with a relatively simple concept.
like all we really knew about the master back then was that he’s the doctor’s intellectual equal and that they were former friends. and this immediately gave their relationship a specific context that set them apart from other villains in the show. like we can just see that despite them being enemies, there’s always respect for each other and it feels like they don’t truly want to kill each other, they just enjoy the challenge of the fight. we can see they are similar in many ways and the remains of their friendship are still there. the master asks the doctor to rule the galaxy together. the doctor visits the master in prison even after all the bad things he’s done purely because the doctor is worried about him and wants to see him. the master wasn’t just another random evil alien, this person meant something to the doctor and that informed all their encounters.
obv i love all the doctor/master dynamics, but there’s just something special about three and delgado that they will never be able to replicate.