History Recap / DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums

->''"And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it ...'''good.'''"''

* AssholeVictim: President Winters. He starts by berating Saxon (and the UK) for not following UN protocols for FirstContact, only to have the US seize control over the situation, then hypocritically order his aides to make sure ''his'' presidential seal (and not the UN logo) is being shown during the ceremony. The Master is naturally ''very'' relieved when he finally gets to order the Toclafane to [[PayEvilUntoEvil disintegrate him]].

->''"And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it good."''

->TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP\\
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP\\
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP\\
TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP

* AssholeVictim: President Winters. He starts by berating Saxon (and the UK) for not following UN protocols for FirstContact, only to have the US seize control over the situation, then hypocritically order his aides to make sure ''his'' presidential seal (and not the UN logo) is being shown during the ceremony. The Master is naturally ''very'' relieved when he finally gets to order the Toclafane to [[PayEvilUntoEvil disintegrate him]]. [[spoiler: As this takes place ''before'' the Master enacts his temporal paradox plan, Winters' death ends up sticking after time is reversed in the next episode.]]

** The ExpandedUniverse Big Finish audio dramas would eventually elaborate on this, revealing [[spoiler:the War Master himself actually caused the chain of events that led to the Dalek Emperor taking control of the Cruciform, having tried to use a powerful device known as the Heavenly Paradigm to rewrite the Time War, but failing and ultimately turning what had been a decisive Time Lord victory into a crushing defeat.]]

* IHaveYourWife: The Master has Martha's entire family held captive... except her brother, who she manages to warn in time because he was out of town. He was going to show up in the next episode for more than a cameo, but the actor wasn't available. Just imagine being Leo and finding [[spoiler:everyone in your family except you has suddenly lived through a year of torture.]]

* TauntingTheTransformed: The Master uses tech borrowed from Professor Lazarus to [[RapidAging painfully age the Doctor into an old man]], taking great delight in leaving him too old and weak to stop the next stage of his masterplan. [[spoiler: In "Last Of The Time Lords," the Master continues the torment by making him sleep in a makeshift kennel and gleefully pushing him around in a wheelchair.]]

'''Original air date:''' June 23, 2007

'''Production code:''' 3.12

Written by Creator/RussellTDavies.

* TauntingTheTransformed: The Master uses tech borrowed from Professor Lazarus to [[RapidAging painfully age the Doctor into an old man]], taking great delight in leaving him too old and weak to stop the next stage of his masterplan. In "Last Of The Time Lords," the Master continues the torment by making him sleep in a makeshift kennel and gleefully pushing him around in a wheelchair.

* IHaveYourWife: The Master has Martha's entire family held captive... except her brother, who she manages to warn in time because he was out of town. He was going to show up in the next episode for more than a cameo, but the actor wasn't available. Just imagine being Leo and finding everyone in your family except you has suddenly lived through a year of torture.

* AssholeVictim: President Winters. He starts by berating Saxon (and the UK) for not following UN protocols for FirstContact, only to have the US seize control over the situation, then hypocritically order his aides to make sure ''his'' presidential seal (and not the UN logo) is being shown during the ceremony. The Master is naturally ''very'' relieved when he finally gets to order the Toclafane to [[PayEvilUntoEvil disintegrate him]]. As this takes place ''before'' the Master enacts his temporal paradox plan, Winters' death ends up sticking after time is reversed in the next episode.

* ArtisticLicensePolitics:
** Winters calls himself "President-elect", which is someone who's been elected President but hasn't taken office yet. [[Creator/RussellTDavies Davies]] later admitted that he didn't know what the term actually meant, and assumed it was a longer ceremonial title of the POTUS.[[note]] He probably assumed it's just a way of emphasising that he's democratically elected rather than bureaucratically chosen or having seized power by force, which he would of course want to do when introducing himself to alien visitors.[[/note]]
** It's implied Saxon was elected Prime Minister by the public, which isn't quite how parliamentary elections work. Each constituency elects their own MP, and the leader of the party with the most seats then becomes PM (by convention; in theory the monarch can appoint anyone they like as PM).

** Winters calls himself "President-elect", which is someone who's been elected President but hasn't taken office yet. [[Creator/RussellTDavies Davies]] later admitted that he didn't know what the term actually meant, and assumed it was a longer ceremonial title of the POTUS.[[note]] He probably assumed it's a way of emphasising that he's democratically elected rather than bureaucratically chosen or having seized power by force, which he would of course want to do when introducing himself to alien visitors.[[/note]]

** Winters refers to himself as "President-elect", which would mean he's won a Presidental election but hasn't been sworn in yet, meaning the outgoing President is still in charge. [[Creator/RussellTDavies Davies]] later admitted that he didn't know what the term actually meant, and had assumed it to be a longer ceremonial title of the POTUS (presumably to emphasise that he's democratically elected rather than having seized power by force or obtained his position through a more bureaucratic process, which he would of course want to do when introducing himself to alien visitors).
** The portrayal of British politics isn't much better: It's implied Saxon was elected as prime minister by the public, which isn't how a parliamentary election works.[[labelnote:*]]Each constituency elects their own MP, and the party with the most seats then elects the Prime Minister, typically the party leader.[[/labelnote]] The reference to him being Minister of Defence a few months earlier makes it worse, since that would mean Saxon was already a member of the party that had the majority. The viewer is left to assume for themselves that he defected from the party he was a member of at the time of "[[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride The Runaway Bride]]" and formed his own party, who gained enough seats to give him a majority, which would mean at least around 320 members of his party being elected.

* AssholeVictim: President Winters. He starts by berating Saxon (and the UK) for not following UN protocols for FirstContact, only to have the US seize control over the situation, then hypocritically order his aides to make sure ''his'' presidential seal (and not the UN logo) is being shown during the ceremony. The Master is naturally ''very'' relieved when he finally gets to order the Toclafane to [[PayEvilUntoEvil disintegrate him]]. Similarly, because this takes place ''before'' the Master enacts his temporal paradox plan, Winters' death ends up sticking after time is reversed in the next episode.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

JustForFun/TheOneWith the ''[[HellIsThatNoise drumming]]'' -- and decimation set to "[[Music/JimiHendrix Voodoo Child]]". Also, a rare correct usage of the word "decimation".

JustForFun/TheOneWith the ''[[HellIsThatNoise drumming]]'' -- and decimation set to "Voodoo Child". Also, a rare correct usage of the word "decimation".

JustForFun/TheOneWith the ''[[HellIsThatNoise drumming]]'' — and decimation set to "Voodoo Child". Also, a rare correct usage of the word "decimation".

This incarnation of the Master turns out to be just as manic as Ten, combined with a real love for mocking people, dancing to catchy pop music and snogging his very hot — and [[EvilCounterpart very loyal]] — wife, Lucy. The Doctor phones him up, leading to one very ''[[FoeYayShipping special]]'' conversation:

Eventually the three sneak on board the ''Valiant'', holding TARDIS keys with perception filters. Here, the Master alleges to be arranging first contact with a race of aliens called the Toclafane. But that's a name from a Gallifreyan fairytale — whatever these creatures are, they're lying, and the Master is parading it under everyone's noses.

** The cabinet ministers being gassed to death — after the Master insults them all.
** Vivien Rook's death involves being cut up into little pieces — but we only hear her increasingly high-pitched shrieks while the Master winces and mugs.

* DeathTrap: The Master has ''finally'' become smart about this — he knows full well the Doctor will escape last episode's {{Cliffhanger}} and the IncrediblyObviousBomb, but uses these deadly distractions to put pressure on the Doctor and his companions until they fall into the ''real'' trap.

* NeckSnap: Jack suggests using the perception filter to just sneak up behind the Master and break his neck. The Doctor considers this too "Torchwood" — and it turns out it wouldn't have worked anyway.

* NewEraSpeech: "... What this country really needs — ''right now'' — is a Doctor."

* PerceptionFilter: The Doctor explains that the TARDIS has one, as it's designed to blend in — and as the TARDIS keys are pieces of the actual ship, they have the same properties. Using this and the Archangel Newtwork's own perception-altering effect, the Doctor amplifies the filter so that he, Jack and Martha are basically invisible unless they draw attention to themselves. He plans to force one of the keys on the Master, which would cancel out the brainwashing signal.

* PresidentEvil: Well, Prime Minister Evil — mass mind control, gassing the Cabinet to death and inciting an alien invasion are the Master's first acts as the PM.

* SignificantAnagram: Mister Saxon = Master No. Six [[note]]Delgado, Pratt/Beevers, Ainley, Tipple/Roberts, Jacobi and Simm[[/note]]. According to [=RTD=], this was unintentional.

* SoundOnlyDeath: Vivien Rook. Played for laughs — see OverlyLongGag.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The Master dances to pop music [[WhileRomeBurns as the Toclafane descend]] to exterminate 1/10th of the world's population.

* TerribleTicking: The Master's drumming — he even uses the rhythm for his mind control, causing people to unconsciously join him in tapping it out.

* UndeadTaxExemption: The Master has to go to some lengths for his fake backstory to be accepted — the 1% of people unaffected by his brainwashing signal note that the forgery is actually very obvious.

* SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: Justified with Torchwood's absence. As detailed under PutOnAbus, the Master's used his Ministerial authority as 'Saxon' to remove Jack's team off the board to ensure they can't help the Doctor.

* InformedAbility: The Doctor claims that he’d be able to recognise a fellow Time Lord on sight, calling it an ability they have. However, previous and later stories have had Time Lords fail to recognise their fellows in new regenerations/a PaperThinDisguise, including the Doctor himself.

* ArtisticLicensePolitics: Winters refers to himself as "President-elect", which would mean he's won a Presidental election but hasn't been sworn in yet, meaning the outgoing President is still in charge. [[Creator/RussellTDavies Davies]] later admitted that he didn't know what the term actually meant, and had assumed it to be a longer ceremonial title of the POTUS (presumably to emphasise that he's democratically elected rather than having seized power by force or obtained his position through a more bureaucratic process, which he would of course want to do when introducing himself to alien visitors).