We’re trekking back to 1996 today when I was a young, sprightly 16 year old trying to get every girl in my class to look my way and enjoy my rapid fire witticism with poor results.
And while I watched a lot of movies both on the big and rather small one back then including classics like Lawnmower Man and Independence Day, I had no idea a Doctor Who TV movie had been released featuring two Doctors and more leather than a Gucci handbag factory. (I’ll get to that in a sec.)
But I’ve come across that 90’s snap shop of leather and aviator shades now in 2024 and having made myself comfy for my very first viewing last night, I’m wondering about Eric Roberts in the role of the master. With the question of top of the list being: what the hell?
I’m not a qualified Whovian nor do I play one on the internet.
Look I’m far from an expert in Galafraisms, regenerations and sonic screwdrivers. I watched Tom Baker repeats as a kid, vaguely recall Peter Davison and his stick of celery and a couple of eps with Colin Baker and then much later on in the piece got into the new Whos like Tennant, Smith, Eccleston, Capaldi, Whittaker and the newest and funky groove of Gatwa (who is doing a great job if he’s reading this!).
Asking me my favourite would be quite the tough question too because I flat out thought Tennant rocked but Matt Smith brought such cool quirkiness to the role and Peter Capaldi absolutely stole the show on more than one occasion. Decisions, decisions..
And with more than a slight passing interest in the series and the good Doctor, I figured a look back at the 1996 telemovie might be a laugh even with two Doctors I’m completely unfamiliar with (McCoy and McCann – I had no idea this was the only time McCann got to wield the sonic screwdriver full time) and Eric Roberts taking on the role of the good Doc’s arch nemesis, the Master.
The trouble from the outset though is that the Masters I’ve watched so far were nothing short of brilliant, both in their own right. Twisted, conniving deep and flawed brilliant characters played to absolute perfection. John Simm’s version turned the entire world into a version of him (practically eliminating every idiot on Facebook Classifieds in an instant, so that’s a Bravo! from me.) Michelle Gomez’s amazing take literally turned the dead into a Cyberman army.
With these two alone in the Master role, I have been spoilt.
In this film though Eric Roberts as the Master spits acid like a Warhammer 40k Astartes, gives deep glares and swans about in more dead cow than an abattoir on overtime with enough cheese for everyone on board. Sigh. I suppose not every Master is going to be masterful are they?
Eric Roberts, leather worker and possibly part snake.
Taking a leaf out of both the Top Gun and Terminator costume handbook, it’s all about big shades for our man Eric and an even bigger leather jacket that hopefully he’ll grow into?
Look I get the love of all things black leather in the 90’s but its like they literally took something Arnie was supposed to wear in the Terminator franchise and forced it onto Eric, deciding not to check his measurements first. But there’s a point to the shades you see, it’s to hide the fact that he has radioactive eyes. Or snake eyes. Or got attacked by a gang of students with green highlighters. I’m not sure what’s going on here.
Considering he starts off as goo in a box after being executed and somehow becomes a cobra ghost, I think it’s probably better I don’t know why he has to hide away his green ocular tinge.
Luckily those aviators do a bang up job of hiding Eric Robert’s now green glowing orbs. Unluckily though I can’t help but feel like some scenes feel like they’re from an Aliexpress version of Terminator 2. The way he moves and talks in this particular hospital scene ‘I had a bad night’ makes you wonder if he’s actually a renegade Time Lord or really a T-800 doing the bidding of Skynet.
Later on when he ditches the 23 acres of cured cow for something far more fitting, Eric Roberts emerges as Count Dracula looking for a blood bank drive through to pick up a quick combo meal. No wait, I mean in the classic Galafrayan garb:
All I seen is undersized Terminator has now become part of the undead. I’m even more convinced of this when he turns the Doctor’s loving companion into a zombie.
Of course what doesn’t help Eric’s portrayal at all here is that the script gives him as much depth as a half full thimble of water. Nowadays we’re used to Master’s who are scheming geniuses with grand designs, cunning plans and brief glimpses of humanity if they absolutely have to. Eric’s Master is slimy, cheesy and lacks less dimension than a stick man drawing on a sketch pad.
However in a super rare moment of how good the character could have been, Eric Robert’s Master unleashes a very powerful attack with his inner…English teacher:
Doctor Grace Holloway: ‘Did you know Marie Curie?
Doctor: Intimately!
Grace: Did she kiss as good as me?’
The Master: ‘As well as me.’
Brutal.
And then to remind you that this is not the mastermind Master you should admire, out comes the acid. Or snake venom. Or a rather violent sneeze. Either way, that fleeting moment of genius has now been slimed.
The man who could have sold the world. Or maybe this movie.
Amusing there were a few other names as the possible Master in this movie and even though Eric scored a big pay day for this one, I would have liked to have seen any of the other possibilities:
Christopher Llyod – yes, Doc Emmett Brown was considered!
Dan Ackroyd – Popular, but I can’t really see him as The Master, can you?
Or the greatest possibility and someone who I feel would have relished the role of the Master and really brought it to life even in just 90 or so minutes…
Yes indeedy, David Bowie was one of the many names considered for the role of the Master in the 1996 Doctor Who movie. And even though they passed on Bowie and thought Christopher Lloyd might be too expensive, they ended up casting Eric Roberts…who was more expensive that Christopher Lloyd in the end go figure.
But then if we didn’t have Eric Roberts…. who would be big enough to fill this jacket??
