Doctor Who S08E11

[EvilSpaceAlien]

The episode has just aired in the UK so might as well start a thread.

Spoilers for the true identity of Missy

Spoiler

So there we have it, like people have speculated Missy is in fact short for Mistress and she is a female version of The Master. I at one point thought that she was in fact a future regeneration of the Doctor's daughter Jenny (last and only seen in the season 4 episode), especially when she said that she's the time lady that The Doctor abandoned. In a way I wish that they would've kept The Master/Mistress away from the show for a few more seasons, but it certainly wasn't a bad episode and I'm interested in seeing there they take this going forward. Michelle Gomez is certainly fantastic in her portrayal of the character and I really enjoyed watching her chew scenery along with Capaldi during the episode.

 

[Joelist]

Actually this is Episode 12.

Pretty clever episode. They do have some things to explain of course like:

a) Why is the Master now a female, to say nothing of how can he even exist after the events of The End of Time.

b) How did she set up the whole nethersphere thing, and indeed how does it work?

c) How did she gain control over the Cybermen?

All in all enjoyable. The master plan is very Pertwee-ish in nature.

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

Actually this is Episode 12.

Pretty clever episode. They do have some things to explain of course like:

a) Why is the Master now a female, to say nothing of how can he even exist after the events of The End of Time.

b) How did she set up the whole nethersphere thing, and indeed how does it work?

c) How did she gain control over the Cybermen?

All in all enjoyable. The master plan is very Pertwee-ish in nature.

Nope, not according to official episode listings or BBC iPlayer.

And as for why The Master is female, considering that it's been established that Time Lords can regenerate into a body of a different gender so I guess he/she just happened to do so when he last regenerated. As for why he still exists, IIRC the last time we saw him was when he fell back into the Time War along with Rassilon so he must've found a way out of the pocket universe Gallifrey is locked in somehow (guessing through one of those cracks...).

 

[Bluce Ree]

Cybermen harvest the brain from a live subject. Why do we see entire skeletons now?

 

[Joelist]

Actually the harvesting the brain was an invention of RTD. This is more like the way it worked in Classic Who

 

[Bluce Ree]

There's nothing in Classic Who that suggests they were complete humans beneath. The only real clarification of what is preserved of the organic host was in "Rise of the Cybermen". Classic Who's Cybermen were wildly inconsistent. Their first appearance in the very first classic series showed them having preserved their hands. The following iterations were all metallic, sometimes saying they have human brains and sometimes saying they were all electronic.

The newest iteration makes the most sense, keeping essential organic components (i.e. the brain). A cyborg with human arms and legs makes it weak vs the upgraded perfection the Cybermen sought.

 

[Joelist]

The notion that Cybermen were humanoids who encased themselves in cybernetic "enhancements" goes all the way back to the beginning of Who.

Oh, and the Master as a woman DOES need to be explained properly. First there is nothing in real Who (not fanfic) canon that suggests such a possibility and second he was completely destroyed in The End of Time. So some sort of explanation is warranted.

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

Time Lords being capable of changing genders during their regenerations is something that has actually been established as part of TV canon in The Doctor's Wife, when The Doctor mentioned a Time Lord called the Corsair who have had both male and female incarnations.

One can also bring up Romana's regeneration in Destiny of the Daleks from Classic Who when she's shown trying out several different bodies, although that one has compatibility problems with the rest of the established canon.

 

[Bluce Ree]

The notion that Cybermen were humanoids who encased themselves in cybernetic "enhancements" goes all the way back to the beginning of Who.

First time we saw Cybermen during William Hartnell's Doctor they had flesh hands. The original Cybermen are from Earth's twin spun out of orbit, where the humans had to become cybernetic organisms to survive. However, we know their mission objective is survival by growing their numbers and striving for perfection with constant upgrade. Every iteration from there on totes them as not having any non-essential organic components except for hints that they had organic brains. I can dig up the references from every one of their appearances for you, if you'd like.

Oh, and the Master as a woman DOES need to be explained properly. First there is nothing in real Who (not fanfic) canon that suggests such a possibility and second he was completely destroyed in The End of Time. So some sort of explanation is warranted.

I hope they do. I dislike convenient plot devices serving as nothing more than shock factor.