The Master arrives on Earth. He steals a dormant Nestene Energy Unit. He visits the Beacon Hill Research facility. He kills a couple scientists and leaves a trap for the Doctor.
The Doctor, accompanied by Jo Grant (his new assistant) and the Brigadier, visits the Beacon Hill Research facility. He climbs to the top of the radio telescope and receives a visit from a Time Lord who has been sent to warn him that the Master is on Earth and has left a trap for him. The Doctor disarms the trap and then disarms the super powerful bomb that the Master used to arm the trap. The Doctor suggests that UNIT search any and all nearby plastics factories.
The Master pays a visit to a local plastics factory. He identifies himself as Colonel Masters and hypnotizes Rex Farrel, the owner. Jo Grant is doing her part to aid in the search for the Master when she stumbles right into him. He hypnotizes her and sends her back to UNIT with a bomb. She is in the process of trying to detonate the bomb when the episode ends.
Captain Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton are also in this episode. This was the first story in which Captain Yates appeared. The part of Captain Yates was played by Richard Franklin. One of the other actors considered for the part was Ian Marter who a few seasons later was cast in the part of Harry Sullivan.
This was also the first story in which the Master appeared and Roger Delgado's first appearance as the Master. I have seen clips of Roger Delgado as the Master but I don't recall if I have seen any other full stories in which he appeared.
Barry Letts (producer), Katy Manning (Jo Grant), and Nicholas Courtney are on the commentary track for this episode. Katy Manning seems to have a lot of fun watching the story again and telling stories from back in the day. Nicholas Cournety died in Feb 2011 before this commentary track was released on DVD later that year. I very much like this commentary track so far, in large part because they are actually reacting to the events on the screen.
I was a little confused when they got to the part where Jo gets caught by the Master. I didn't follow how they got the two of them together so quickly until I read a synopsis of the episode that I found online.
This was a great start. There was a lot to set in motion including the introduction of three new characters. I thought they handled it quite well.
07/10/24
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