Why does no one ask, Master Who?: (#3 - Oh No, He’s Crispy!)
Why does no one ask, Master Who?: A Character Study Series Masterlist
Our next topic to cover in the subject of the Master is his Anakin Skywalker---er, I mean, sudden change in appearance and re-appearance when he surprises us all in the Fourth Doctor’s era. I think this is where his now signature long running gag for ‘coming back from the dead’ without any explanation truly began.
So, because of the tragedy that happened to Roger Delgado, the Master as a character was kept out of stories for quite awhile until the 4th Doctor’s era in 1976′s episode, “The Deadly Assassin.” An episode not only remarkable for bringing back the Master in a MUCH darker state, nearing the end of his regeneration cycle, but the fact this episode began a lot of the mythos of the Time Lords and Gallifrey as we know it. Played by two different actors for two different episodes years apart, the fandom has dubbed the Peter Pratt and Geoffrey Beevers Master’s as the Crispy Master or Decayed Master, due to his decaying form looking like he was fighting with a Jedi for control of the high ground and lost (Still too soon? Okay.)
In ‘The Deadly Assassin,’ the Master’s disappearance is explained to us when he comes up with a clever plot, sending the Doctor back home to Gallifrey in order to uncover a mystery into the future premotionions of the Lord President’s death (and of course he’s behind it.) This Master is FAR more dark than his previous self, hell-bent on only his survival, even if it means taking the rest of Gallifrey with him to achieve it. Only his hate and need for revenge keeps him going. Although it may seem the Master has finally lost, this is only when we start to realize how great of a survivor he can be when it comes to death.
Making a return in ‘The Keeper of Traken,’ he’s still focused on attaining a body that can handle the presence of a Time Lord. Although he isn’t able to obtain the Doctor’s, using his cunning, the Master ends up stealing the body of Tremas of Traken, finding a way to extend his life a little longer.
Important Character Traits for Crispy!Master:
High sense of Self-Preservation. He doesn’t care what it takes to stay alive. This is the first time we see it with the Master, even if he’s going completely against the Doctor to do so.
Known for being the most ruthless of the Master’s incarnations (and that’s saying something.)
His physical state of being rotten and decayed can be used as a metaphor for how evil he is as an individual. As Geoffrey Beevers remarked; this is what the Master is like without his smooth looks and charm: as he put it, "the essence of the creature.”
However, in Big Finish, thanks to Beevers himself, and the writers, Crispy gets more of a development. Despite being just ruthless because of his current situation, ‘being faced with his own mortality also gives him plenty of poetic and calm moments.’
The Many Explanations for his Crispy State:
Geoffrey Beevers remarked that this is what the Master is like without his smooth looks and charm: as he put it, "the essence of the creature". This seems to be a running theme with this Master. The first Crispy Master is the ugliest and cruellest of all, while the second Crispy seems to have "healed" a little and is a step back towards Delgado behaviour (how much of the "healed" appearance is intentional and how much of it is due to the limitations of Beevers' makeup compared to Pratt's mask is unknown).
There are also many more explanations of how the Master became decayed on the TARDIS Wiki.
