Seriously, I am deeply deeply saddened by what's been done to the Master. It isn't the gender swap that has bothered me (though, it is a bit disconcerting), it isn't even the fact that it's not John Simm who's playing him.
When Russell T Davies wrote the Master into the Tenth Doctor's story, it was beautiful. I don't often write about TV shows as beautiful, but seriously, it was. The Doctor and the Master connected - for once, after hundreds of years of fighting, we saw them in close quarters for an extended amount of time. We learned more about the Master - his motivations and his weaknesses. We learned where the madness came from, he learned where the madness came from. That final scene in The End of Time was one of the most stunning (and heartbreaking) moments on modern television. It was the perfect ending for the Master's story: he came full circle, the drumbeat stopped, and finally he could rest in peace.
What Moffat has done is taken a character whose memory is loved and appreciated by many (I've never met a 'Whovian' - of any age - who didn't have very fond memories of the Master) and dragged them back from the ending they deserved in order to boost ratings. He could have used any other Timelord - the Rani, Romana, Rassillon - but he chose to take the easy option. It honestly honestly saddens me.
That's my opinion, and you have every right to disagree, but I have to admit that I'm almost physically winded by what's been done.
Writing about these characters; getting into their heads and connecting with them (not in a crazy way. I hope) is a labour of love for me. I respect those characters: their histories, their traits, their personalities. I have a deep sympathy and love for the character of the Master, and I take excruciating care to write him as well as I possibly can. From what I've seen so far, this is more than Moffat has bothered to do.
I understand that regeneration changes someone, but that's not the point. The Master reached his journey's end; his denouement. It was time to let him go.
I was willing to give Capaldi a go (and I honestly believe he would have made a fantastic Doctor, given the right writer), but I'm afraid - for this as well as many other reasons - for me, when David Tennant's song ended, the Doctor's did, too.
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