Anthony Ainley Puns

Today marks 40 years since Anthony Ainley took over the role of the Master. Collectively, Ainley featured in the most stories featuring the Master (though due to the differing length of stories actually comes in second for most appearances, with 6 less than Roger Delgado). He first appeared in Tom Baker’s penultimate story, The Keeper of Traken and made frequent reappearances throughout the run of the classic series. He was, among other things, known for having a plethora of disguises. What are your thoughts on this incarnation of the Master?

If you aren't familiar with Pop-bitch - it's long-standing newsletter of celebrity gossip, smut and libel and this week there is a story about Anthony Ainley...

But fear not! It's a nice story:

TL writes:

"Back in the early 80s I was a massive Doctor Who fan. I didn't write letters to the Doctors though. I wrote to Anthony Ainley, who played the Doctor's arch-nemesis, the Master. The letter said how, even though I liked the Doctor, I thought The Master was better and I didn't understand why the BBC couldn't let him win occasionally.

"I was utterly gobsmacked when I received not only a signed photo, but also a lengthy letter, written in character by Ainley, on how I was utterly correct and that the BBC were indeed the true enemy for not letting him win.

"Years later, when working for a West London Theatre in 1999, I had the opportunity to meet Ainley. This was almost 20 years on from my letter and I mentioned it in passing in the bar. Ainley lit up and explained in great depth that he'd always remembered it, as 'many children weren't allowed by their parents to write to the bad guy.'"

Yes, all three of them were born on August 20th.

I love The Master. They are one of my favorite things about Doctor Who.

They're camp and crazy and fun and suave and fascinating and devious. They're the ultimate evil villain. So, I wanna rank my favorite Masters from worst to best.

I'm excluding the Lumiat, cause I haven't heard anything with her, and Milo Parker, cause he was only in Masterful and he didn't have that much time in the spotlight (he was good though).

Here we go:

12. James Dreyfus: Beyond the transphobia, I just don't think he's very good. He's a very generic version of the Master with none of the flair of other incarnations. It's like... You could do anything with this character, why are you making the most boring choices possible?

11. Peter Pratt: The better James Dreyfus, in the sense that he's still very baseline but he's at least playing it up. He got some good lines, he's got a voice that stands out and he's in one of the finest stories of the show. He's only here cause he didn't get to do that much and there's not a lot of detailed personality there.

10. Michelle Gomez: I'm going to get a lot of shit for this, aren't I? Listen, I think Michelle Gomez is a great actress and I think she could play a cracking fucking Master if given the chance. My problem with Missy, really, is threefold: She's a bit too Harley Quinn-ish for my taste, I don't like the idea of the Master turning good and I wish she had a proper evil Master scheme. That last one especially would've really solidified her in my eyes, just seeing her do a big, crazy Master scheme. Honestly, if they ever bring her back, I kinda hope it's pre-development and we get to see her try some kind of scheme or something. Feel free to debate me all you like in the comments.

9. Sacha Dhawan: Much like Dreyfus and Pratt, the characterization for Dhawan's Master is a little too simplistic and too baseline to stand out in comparison with some of the others, but what makes him work is how much he is willing to play it up. The Master, let's face it, is a bit camp and if you get the right actor, they can really chew the scenery with the character. Dhawan just seems to enjoy playing The Master with every bone in his body and he really gives his all to try and liven up some mediocre scripts. You couple that with an actually kind of fun plan in Spyfall and it's hard not to at least enjoy his antics (hell, I still love his show off-y reveal). I'm excited to see someone else tackle his M

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

Mission to the Unknown", featuring none of the regular cast[67]); almost an entire season of seven-episode serials (season 7); the ten-episode serial The War Games;[68] and The Trial of a Time Lord, which ran for fourteen episodes (albeit divided into three production codes and four narrative segments) during season 23.[69] Occasionally serials were loosely connected by a story-line, such as season 8 focusing on the Doctor battling a rogue Time Lord called the Master,[70][71] season 16's quest for the Key to Time,[72] season 18's journey through E-Space and the theme of entropy,[73] and season 20's Black Guardian trilogy.[74] The programme was intended to be educational and for family viewing on the early Saturday evening schedule.[75] It initially alternated stories set in the past, which taught younger audience members about history, and with those in the future or outer space, focusing on science.[75] This was also reflected in the Doctor's original companions, one of whom was a science teacher and another a history teacher.[75] However, science fiction stories came to dominate the programme, and the history-orientated episodes, which were not popular with the production team,[75] were dropped after The Highlanders (1967). While the show continued to use historical settings, they were generally used as a backdrop for science fiction tales, with one exception: Black Orchid (1982), set in 1920s England.[76] The early stories were serialised in nature, with the narrative of one story flowing into the next, and each episode having its own title, although produced as distinct stories with their own production codes.[77] Following The Gunfighters (1966), however, each serial was given its own title, and the individual parts were simply assigned episode numbers.[77] Of the programme's many writers, Robert Holmes was the most prolific,[78] while Douglas Adams became the most well known outside Doctor Who itself, due to the popularity of his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy works.[79][80] The serial format changed for the 2005 revival, with what was now called a series usually consisting of thirteen 45-minute, self-contained episodes (60 minutes with adverts, on overseas commercial channels), and an extended 60-minute episode broadcast on Christmas Day. This system was shortened to twelve episodes and one Christmas special following the revival's eighth series, and ten episodes from the eleventh series. Each series includ

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

They’re on standbi

Pilot on me!!

Nothing, he was gladiator.

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

When I got home, they were still there.

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "

I won't be doing that today!

[Removed]

This morning, my 4 year old daughter.

Daughter: I'm hungry

Me: nerves building, smile widening

Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.

She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.

Thank you all for listening.

There hasn't been a post all year!

You take away their little brooms

Why

After all his first name is No-vac

I am biased, because I’ve heard many of these incarnations on Big Finish, but not all of them, so here goes:

1. Derek Jacobi

2. Anthony Ainley

3. Sacha Dhawan

4. Roger Delgado

5. Eric Roberts

6. Michelle Gomez

7. Geoffrey Beevers

8. John Simm

9. Mark Gatiss

10. James Dreyfus

11. Peter Pratt

My ranking of The Masters would love to see everyone else's lists.

1. Roger Delgado
2. Anthony Ainley
3. Derek Jacobi
4. Sacha Dhawan
5. Geoffrey Beevers
6. Michelle Gomez
7. Peter Pratt
8. Alex Macqueen
9. John Simm
10. James Dreyfus
11. Eric Roberts

It’s pronounced “Noel.”