I have to admit, I did have John Simm as first for the longest time, and even now I think he's only bettered by Geoffrey Beevers
Really I'm shocked to hear that from any Old Who fan. Not judging at all btw, it's just that Simm was so different to the others.
I think Simm is a really good actor and his performance in Utopia, Sound of Drums and the Cyberman two parters are all really good as a villain in its own right. Those are also all really good episodes. In fact they'd be classics if, the resolution to the three parter was at least passable and Missy wasn't in the Capaldi two parter. Hell even End of Time whilst there are some ott moments of his performance, Simm's sacrifice is the only good bit in it.
Last of the Time Lords meanwhile is deserving of its reputation as a stinker, but even then Simm isn't the worst bit. The Jesus bit is.
Still my problem with Simm is the retcon with the drums. It's not even a bad story in its own right, it's just not the Master and throws away his development over 20 years and makes him a totally new villain. Also the change of relationship with the Doctor is seriously awful and hypocritical and undermines both characters. Finally I don't think that kind of Joker craaaaazzzzy is a good fit for the Master. It actually reminded me, or rather was a foreshadowing of Lex Luthor in Batman vs Superman being made craaaaazzzzzy and it similarly being awkward.
I do still at least appreciate that Simm had some of the Masters defining qualities though, like his manipulative nature, his lust for power, hatred of the Doctor, hypnosis etc. However the area where he was unfaithful were too big, and that coupled with Last of the Time Lords being one of the worst episodes of all time and End of Time being RTD at his worst, I think weigh him down for me.
I'd rank Simm below all the classic era Masters., whilst I'd rank the classic era Masters in the order they appeared.
Roger, the best.
The burned Master, the most terrifying, vicious and a truly brutal enemy of the Doctor.
Ainley, a great, charismatic rogue, but let down by some really poor stories like Timeflight and The Kings Demons and Planet of Fire. Still he was always a good villain and some of his stories like Survival are among the best.
Roberts, an okay incarnation. A bit too hammy at first, but at least he seemed to be playing the Master. Had some good moments, and was probably the best thing about the 96 movie, but sadly the movie overall is kind of weak.
Out of the new lot, well Jacobi is the best despite being there for two mins, followed by Simm, Dhwan was in the worst story of all time, but overall he was a fairly lacklustre, not offensively bad, but kind of non entity of a villain. That is still leagues above Missy however who is the worst adaptation of any long running character I have ever seen in anything and a shit villain all around.
Anyone who is being honest and who has seen the other Masters would agree with my bottom ranking at least.
Meanwhile in regards to how accurate this list is among fans perceptions, well I'd say it goes like this.
Delgado is the most popular version. Burned and Ainley Master are about equal with each other in terms of popularity. Most older series fans like us LOVE them and generally praise them, but new who fans generally won't have seen them and will often just say Delgado is the best of the oldies because he gets praised the most and they think that will show that they have watched the original. (I knew one girl, who was a lovely girl, but a big New Who fan, desperate for a gender bending time lord who told me that there was a gender bending time lord in Delgado's first story. I told her there wasn't, but she kept insisting there was and eventually I gave up, as unless I was going to outright say "YOU'RE A LIAR I'VE SEEN IT YOU HAVEN'T" There was no way for me to finish that argument LOL.)
Simm meanwhile is thankfully the most popular among New Who fans because he was their first, and also because he is the only one that was a proper villain out of them. Gomez was a joke and the beginning of the end, Dhawan was a plot device for the worst retcon in the shows history, and Jacobi was there for all of two mins, so really Simm is kind of the winner by default. Still New Who fans do at least seem to genuinely like him, and he is usually at least tolerated more by classic fans, being again the only one who is a proper villain.
Dhawan is forgotten about already and Gomez whilst initially despised by older series fans has sadly shot up recently as I think a lot of the NMD crowd don't want to get the reputation as woman haters, so Missy is a gender bending time lord they can say "we liked that one, see we don't hate women." As admittedly she wasn't as disastrous for the show as Saint Jodie.
Similarly after the failure of Jodie, a lot of pro female Doctor advocates are even more desperate to beef her up as the successful example of the gender bending time lords, even though she wasn't successful. The show just didn't get canned when she was in it LOL. Still these factors push her up beyond where she should be, but I am glad that at least Simm is the most popular of the new who Masters.
