I do like the big three, and if the story is good, I’d be fine seeing them again, but I’d prefer the return of other Classic villains first, or seeing the ramifications of the Doctor’s visit somewhere. The thing is…sure, a certain number of days/years have passed between appearances, but how many stories/episodes/onscreen minutes has it been? Five years, two dozen multi-part stories comprising thousands of minutes of televised content is vastly different than five years, 2-3 short seasons likely totaling fewer than a thousand minutes of screentime.
But again - make the story good enough and you can bring them back a la Season 8 for all I care
If Ncuti leaves at the end of this season, I wouldn’t mind Daleks or whatever next season. If he stays, I would. It’s all about percieved separation. If we get the Daleks with 15 next season, it feels like 2 short seasons since we saw them last. If we get a regeneration, then it’ll be two whole doctors since we saw them last, which feels longer. I’m not against 15 meeting the daleks, I’d quite like it to happen at some point, just not for a few more seasons
I want 15 to face the Daleks at some point, but I honestly have no burning desire to see the Daleks or Cybermen again unless they’re used in a new way. I’d love to see the Master on screen more, but I want them to have more varied motivations than “take over the world.” I agree that the Doctor meeting the Master in a non-linear order could be interesting.
Whilst it’d be a shame if 15 never met a Dalek, it wouldn’t really bother me. It feels like a rite of passage but 8 and 14 never met Daleks on screen either.
9, 11 and 14 never met the Master on screen.
3 never had his own Cyberman story, and 9/14 never met them either.
These things happen. Not every Doctor should have to meet the “big three” in my opinion. But it would be nice if every Doctor could face off against one of them at least.
I’m fairly ambivalent. I do miss the novelty of the Daleks appearing but I’m also not bothered if they’re gone a while longer. It’ll make their next reappearance much more impactful (hopefully). I just hope they don’t get screwed up.
If RTD2 is to continue a while longer, I can see Russell wanting to round off his Pantheon arc before going back to the more traditional big bads.
Yes. This is why I’d like to see Sacha Darwin return rather than any potential Master recast. It seems like for the most part Nu Who gives each Doctor their own Master. It would be cool to see one meeting different Doctors.
Imagine, Spy Master meeting 15, looking at his new face & attire “You’ve redecorated. I like it!”
I think it’d be quite interesting if he didn’t battle any of the big three on screen, and it was left to the EU. I think giving us a break on TV is quite good tbh!
That being said I won’t be overly sad if Fifteen never faces off against any of these enemies, whilst they’re iconic that just means it becomes harder to actually write good stories featuring them (but if it’s an interesting story I would love to see it)
It’s a fine line to balance but I liked that we had our first ever multi-Master TV story during Capaldi’s era, and I would be open to seeing more of them if they had good story and character ideas.
I also like that we seem to have at least 2 of the actors willing to find time for the show, if they’re ever asked back - the door feels more open than ever before for a ‘previous’ Master to return. More out-of-sequence meetings could be fun, and keep the Master fresh as a character.
Doesn’t even need to be a returning one either. Just introduce the next one as an earlier incarnation. Would also resolve the issue of every Master seemingly being killed for real for real then returning anyway
I’ve always read him as post Lumiat personally but I love the ambiguity, and I’m glad that CMM leaves it as ambiguous if the betrayal was between Missy and Saxon, or between Missy and Lumiat
