I've been reading quite a few Doctor/Master fics lately (angsty, smutty, or both, mostly Tensimm and Saxteen), so it looks like I'm ready to start another rec list :)
1000 Ways To Yesterday by DannyAD
Summary:
It's a perfectly wonderful day on the TARDIS, until the exact moment that it isn't. The whole universe appears to be going out of its way to kill the Doctor, and the Master is the only one who knows how to stop it.
And then the Earth Blew Up by codswallop
Summary:
The Master's scheme to destroy the Earth succeeds. The Doctor is not best pleased. For the hc_bingo prompt "Earth blowing up, escaping to space."
Cocoa, Cuddles, and Coyotes by inkspot_fox
Summary:
In which the Doctor and Master cuddle on the couch with cocoa and compare one another to cartoon characters.
NEW Come to Utopia by aralias
Summary:
In which the Doctor, having saved the Master's life at the end of LotTL, returns to Utopia to rescue the human spheres he was forced to trap there, the Master gets sick of the sound of his own voice, and the universe nearly ends twice.
The Company of Clouds by nostalgia
Summary:
"The Doctor has been spending an awful lot of time wondering how he’s going to explain things to Martha. How to tell her, for instance, that with his bones aching from the added years, and with his ego raging at living in a tent, he’s surprisingly content? That if nothing else he isn’t lonely?"
Life and death on the Valiant.
The Courtship and Marriage Rituals of Time Lords by Lyaka
Summary:
(Or, how the Doctor and the Master finally stopped courting and got married, to the relief of most of the known galaxy and the confusion of the humans in attendance.)
Some would have said that it was a little elaborate and over-the-top, even for Time Lords. But the Master would have responded that the two of them had never been like anyone else, and even if (traditionally speaking) a small continent or a minor threatening would have been quite enough for Society, the Master was just that kind of thoughtful, devoted suitor who went above and beyond.
And besides, the Master would tell these would-be detractors, the Doctor certainly wasn’t telling him to stop.
Eclipsing Binary by AstroGirl
Summary:
The Doctor and the Master in a psychological power play, with smut.
Ever-Fixed Mark by x_los
Summary:
"...there it is. Neat, looking fresh-drawn. It apparently came with the Master’s assumption of the body, with his transformation of the flesh into a shape that suited him. It is so deeply a part of the Master that any shell he occupies must bear its testament. Isn’t love grand."
False Start by Verayne
Summary:
After one of their confrontations goes too far and they regenerate at the same moment, turns out that getting hit with two blasts of regeneration sickness can have some interesting side effects. They know they're the Doctor and the Master, they're just... not entirely sure which one of them is which. (TenSimm AU)
Fire for an Enemy by MemoryDragon
Summary:
The Master has escaped from the TARDIS again, and the Doctor is surprised to find him in ancient China.
Ghazal by Snowgrouse, versaphile
Summary:
The Doctor runs away once again, but he cannot escape himself. He and the Master find each other in a distant province of medieval Persia, where the Master has sown the seeds of his ambitions. There, they must learn both rebirth and victory can only come through surrender and sacrifice.
The time has come to turn your heart into a temple of fire.
Your essence is gold hidden in dust.
To reveal its splendor you need to burn in the fire of love.
NEW good kitty by TheQuietWings
Summary:
The Master gets rewarded for his good behavior.
Human Again by aralias
Summary:
Life on Mars andDoctor Who crossover/Sam Tyler is the Master/AU for LotTL/Christmas fic. Sam finds a garishly wrapped box with an iPod in it outside his door on Christmas morning, 1973. What's especially mad is that the iPod isn't even his - it's filled with rubbish like The Scissor Sisters and McFly.
Hurt by Verayne
Summary:
Something awful happens between them, sometimes. Bad timing, bad chemistry. Times when the Doctor's guilt grows rabid in his chest, black and vicious and masochistic, demanding answer. Times when the Master's gleeful sadism rises to meet it in force.
It's the worst of both of them.
NEW I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) by bluestalking, feverbeats
Summary:
“That’s what you have in mind,” the Master says. “Take wonderful Donna and her boyfriend on a tour of the stars, and I’ll tag along too and not do anything nasty. You’ll fix me, will you? Doctor, you are funny.”
The Doctor is supposed to die, or so say the Ood. But maybe there’s another way, a way to save everyone including himself. Or: the story of when the tenth Doctor saved the Master and Donna but accidentally gave them a psychic link, and they all went to space with the world’s best fiancé (that’s Shaun).
it's always back to you again by bloopdydooooo
Summary:
When they physically fight, it's always something special. A physical manifestation of their impossible dance. Practiced attacks, choreographed punches. Like a stage fight, but they both come out of it bloodied. Their fights are part of the routine, every step predicted, but the routine would fall apart were it not for the thread of pure violence and cloying intimacy keeping it together.
Isolation by Sidonie
Summary:
Locked in the TARDIS, the Master is left to himself.
Kilesa by Snowgrouse
Summary:
Now that the Doctor is alone, he has more time to himself, more time to wander around the TARDIS. A reflective piece on the (in)transience of things.
Like Old Times by Tierfal
Summary:
The Master breaks things in the TARDIS until the Doctor almost goes insane, then they end up in the Vivarium, and then all hell breaks loose. The Doctor is not liking any of this – and while he's at it, the dream-flashback-things really, really need to stop.
The Loop by Lis_zimoy
Summary:
The Master travels with the Doctor. AU after “Last of the Time Lords”.
The Master got up and went to look for another place in the TARDIS.
The Doctor's voice caught up with him on the threshold.
“Are you really not going to kill me?”
The Master stopped, turned to the Doctor and looked at him in surprise.
“What for? Doctor, we died and went to hell. Don't you notice?”
NEW Love and Sex in the Matrix by Kantayra
Summary:
The Master, freshly murdered by Missy, arrives at his afterlife in the Matrix. Fortunately for him, the Tenth Doctor is already there waiting for him (along with all the other Doctors and Masters, to help guide him on his way).
The Love Island AU by imbackintime, Verayne
Summary:
A story told through DMs. No, literally. The authors were having a very innocent discussion about recent photos of lockdown!Ten and somehow it evolved into telling each other a fun story about domestic and dating ridiculousness between the Doctor, the Master, and a very long-suffering Donna...
Mean Mister Master shaves in the dark… by Roxanne_Police
Summary:
Just a silly homage to the goatee look on John Simm. Fourteenth Doctor is NOT letting it go to ruin!
Need by Lamiel
Summary:
It isn't about what they want.
new gods by sariane
Summary:
The line of salt had drawn new rules into the edges of the universe.
No Exit (Everybody Lives) by Bagheera
Summary:
"So. You'd spend eternity with me."
The Master shrugs again. "It's not eternity. We both know the universe is finite. Been there, done that, remember? Besides, you have an interesting mind."
Of Three Headed Dogs and Fridges by Roxanne_Police
Summary:
The Doctor's exploration of domestic bliss leads him to strange places, Donna has a busy day at work, the Master needs more butter and Shaun is confused.
Out Of His Sight ; Out Of His Mind by SilhouettedBowTie
Summary:
The Doctor, with the Master in tow, walk down a corridor of the afterlife.
'... [they] continued their trek further down into the impossible hallway- which the Doctor found to be quite fitting, really, since just about everything about his present situation was impossible. Now that he thought about it, almost all of the situations he found himself to be in throughout his entire life were those of the impossible sort.'
--
An AU inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Parallax by violetisblue and jonquil
Summary:
The Doctor and the Master travel to a planet full of bunnies, and then proceed to screw like them. (Not with them, though, that'd be darkfic.)
A Polished Silver Link in the Chain by Zabbers
Summary:
The Doctor keeps Yana, or tries to. But of course, he fails.
Praxis by versaphile
Summary:
The Year That Wasn't. All of it, from The Sound of Drums to The Last of the Time Lords and beyond.
(This fic ends abruptly, but there are over 195,000 words of plot and BDSM-ish smut - and it's totally worth reading anyway.)
Properly Indecent by lasersonicked (songoshen)
Summary:
"You were jealous," the Master says, holding the Doctor's gaze, unwavering and impassive. Not a question but a statement, clipped and sure.
Heat flashes in the Doctor's cheeks again, rushing to his ears and neck. "You were causing a scene," he deflects, finding it difficult to maintain eye contact with the Master, the other's amber stare as if piercing easily through him.
A slow, confident grin creeps up the Master's face. "I was not. I only danced."
---
Post-EoT AU. Tumbling into a broom closet isn't quite what the Doctor envisioned when he wheedled the Master into attending a ball in Victorian England, but he should've never underestimated the Master's propensity for trouble. (Or more accurately, the strength of his own jealousy.)
red like blood and just as sweet by thesecondbeatitude
Summary:
It’s never easy with the Master. It’s never as straightforward as a knife and a watermelon and a picnic blanket spread beneath a slowly burning sky.
to regret the past, to hope in the future, and never to be satisfied with the present by ProdigalPragmatist
Summary:
It’s a familiar feeling, the Doctor falling apart in his arms. The Master covets it each time he feels the degradation of his posture, the rattle of his breaths. He’s well used to being the only thing keeping the Doctor together — shoving the puzzle pieces of his fragile sense of self back with the edges frayed and overlapping. They both sacrifice parts of themselves in the process, but it’s never felt like a loss.
“Please,” the Doctor mouths against his throat.
The Master swallows tightly and yanks him away by the collar of his jacket. “I won’t be gentle,” he says, but they both know nothing else is possible between them. “I won’t stop,” he warns, but they both know neither of them want that.
The Confession Dial was unexpected. The Doctor's reaction to it flying through the TARDIS doors was not. He wanders the halls of the closest thing he has to home, and he falls into the brutal arms of the closest person he has to home. The person who is his home, built on a foundation of grief and thorns.
Remastering by Kantayra
Summary:
A second: HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE MASTER!
The Master recovers from his battle with Rassilon, with a little (okay, a lot) of TLC from the Doctor. Complete with skimpy outfit.
Rewards by crystalsoulslayer
Summary:
In which the Master has some fun with a very submissive and sentimental Ten in the bondage chair.
Sam Tyler Doesn’t Exist by CSG_Comics
Summary:
It's 1980. The night before a big rain storm. The night before Sam's car skids into the canal.
...Except Sam opens a fob watch.
A fan comic. (Doctor Who/Life on Mars crossover)
Saxon and Jones by ellbie
Summary:
The Doctor has vanished, and according to whatever “Emergency Program One” is, he’s presumed dead. Not only does this leave the Master trapped aboard the TARDIS on some no-name planet, but he’s also stuck with his second-least-favorite doctor: Martha Jones.
The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords as told through Twitter dot com by AFunDuck, SilverTheArcher
Summary:
A reimagining of beloved Doctor Who episodes Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords where all the characters have Twitter accounts.
Stockholm Syndrome is Based on a Lie by NebbyAxolotl
Summary:
Lucy Saxon doesn't shoot the Master. Unfortunately, it's hard to get someone to let you save the man who ended the world when you're very in love and been tortured for a year by him.
OR
The Doctor saves the Master from U.N.I.T..
Theseus' Paradox by Lis_zimoy
Summary:
The Master did not die on a Mondasian colony ship. He meets the Fourteenth Doctor and they start playing.
"Do you know what I was thinking when I came to your room at the Academy? I was thinking about how lazy and sloppy you are. What a dump of things I've always found at your place. Scattered books. Bundles of wires. All the stuff you dragged out of the Dead Zone. Things filled the room like thoughts clogged your brain. There was chaos all around you. That's why you studied terribly. You couldn't concentrate. There were no windows in our lecture halls so that we would not be distracted. You looked at the bare walls as if there were windows."
The Doctor listened to him with bated breath, his face sharpened, his eyes were greedy. The shadows under his eyelashes are deep, like wells. Oh yes, he needs a break from running.
The Master nodded.
"Now you understand why you can't find dirt? You're just being sloppy."
He put his face down and spat on the floor.
"See," he said. "You missed a spot."
NEW Unspoken History (We Don't Want) by vamp_bunny
Summary:
Tensimm EoT!AU. After pulling the Master back from the portal to Gallifrey, the two make a bitter attempt at a truce as the Doctor tries to heal the Master—but things get more complex then coexistence when their childhood history is brought up once more.
vainglorious by onetrueobligation
Summary:
Glorious. Vainglorious. It was so easy. So, so easy, when the Master was at his side, gazing with a newfound sort of respect the Doctor had never seen from him.
The Doctor indulges in a little vanity.
The Volatile Nature of Binary Stars by OneOfThoseThings
Summary:
A dark(er) AU in which the Master happens upon a mind-wiped Donna and gives her a little boost the rest of the way to full Time Lord status. Then they both return to the TARDIS and an unsuspecting Doctor.
Life aboard the TARDIS is suddenly much less lonely and much more hostile.
Spoiler: Unlike most fix-its, in this one Donna is Not pleased that she was abandoned and does Not magically just get over that.
To Wither by inckpot
Summary:
The Doctor and the Master attempt domesticity.
yeah the whole shack shimmies by trinityofone
Summary:
The real reason the Fourteenth Doctor won't be coming to help with the latest crisis.
yes, the tiger is out by TheQuietWings
Summary:
As the Master has learned to, when he wakes, he gives no sign of it.
yet there's still this appeal that we've kept through our lives by nostalgia
Summary:
They make a pact to visit every star that they can see in the night sky – together, of course, because why would they ever choose to part? The two of them are soulmates, after all, destinies twisted around each other, literally inseparable on a deep, innate (and rather poorly-understood) cosmic level.
The Doctor (who still isn’t) picks a star at random and points up at it. “That one first,” he announces.
The Master (who also isn’t) shakes his head and points to a different star on the other of the sky. “That one,” he counters.
They glare at each other for a moment and then they begin to laugh (of course together, at exactly the same time). It doesn’t matter if they disagree on the details, because their names are sunk into each other’s skin, bold and unmistakable, and everyone knows what that means.
(It doesn’t occur to either of them that every rule has an exception, even though both of them tend to thrive on that very fact.)
And you can also read my fics 😉
And Silence Afterwards (human AU, asexual Doctor, mostly angst with a bit of BDSM)
Vicious Games (non-con + not-things)
So Much More (Victorian rentboy!Master AU)
Happy Now (Simm!Master retrieved from the gold tooth)
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Well, it took me a year, but I watched a billion 50+ Conrad Veidt films. Some good, some great, some so bad that I hope I never have to see them again.
This post is a stand in for the entire second half of this filmic journey -- I'll link the original 5 posts that make up the first part below. But instead of reposting all of my reviews for all of these titles (the original posts for these are on Pillowfort), I'll just share some highlights below the cut.
Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4 // Part 5
Bleaker and darker than I expected, but that makes sense if it's based on a WWI memoir. What happened to Martha was legitimately awful and hard to watch. Stilted performances aside, I would have also liked a whole separate movie about the lesbian spy aunt. But Commandant Oberaertz... [redacted]. He's so hot, despite the character being absolutely awful and creepy and intimidating. I actually said "wow" out loud about his body shape in that costume. That jacket is fitted within a millimeter of its life. How many other films did Connie use this lower register in? Not many, right? It's too much, TOO MUCH. I think this movie took ten years off my life.
I Was a Spy, 1933
Dir. Victor Saville
⭐3/5
Watched Feb 18, Snowgrouse's masterpost
Connie's performance in this is more sympathetic than it has any right to be. The movie very easily could have been sensationalist garbage, and I'm so glad it was handled with relative care and humanity. I liked his whole vibe, I am not immune to party boy Rasputin's charms; "he's got the kavorca, the lure of the animal!" He looks like he stinks, which in this case may not necessarily be a bad thing. I don't even know what to make of all the cooing and baby talk he does with Alexei, or for that matter Drunk!Rasputin dancing and climbing over furniture to get at his ladies. I wish we got to see more scenes with Rasputin and the royal family, how those relationships formed and affected matters of state. We only really get to know about any of that through dialogue among other court officials. And so the emotional turn at the ending was unexpected. The way he cried out after being shot, I've never heard a sound like that come from a human being. Needless to say I did not feel great when the movie ended, but I liked it way more than I thought I would.
Rasputin, Dämon der Frauen, 1932
Dir. Adolf Trotz
⭐3/5
Watched Mar 23, Archive.org
Almost all the performances in this are pretty excellent. The stripped back, realistic style with handheld, newsreel camerawork really suits these actors and the story. Apparently this is a remake of an English film which is based on a play, and it definitely feels like a play. I'm fascinated by this little movie, it's basically an anti-war film about British soldiers in WWI produced in Germany in the early 30s… how did this even get made?? Messages about the horrors of war aside, the homoerotic undertones (overtones?) alone make this a truly unique piece of storytelling for the time and place it was filmed. And those under/overtones are treated pretty respectfully, none of these men are the butt of a joke, how they are with one another is handled with a naturalism that isn't really seen again until maybe the 1950s. And Connie. The range. Can we talk about Stanhope? He's a gruff, messy drunk, a traumatized, hollowed out husk of a man. When Osbourne says something like "you'll be alright when this is over," NO HE WOULDN'T, HE'D BE WORSE. His relationship with Raleigh is interesting too, clearly they were more than casual friends. I didn't believe for a second that the tension between Stanhope and Raleigh was about the sister/fiancée, it's weak, weak I tell you. It's one of Connie's most underrated performances.
Die andere Seite, 1931
Dir. Heinz Paul
⭐3.75/5
Watched Apr 27, Snowgrouse's masterpost
Everyone in this movie looks like a Rankin Bass stop motion character. The ending was abrupt as fuck, Werner Krauss' Jack the Ripper got a lot less screen time and I wonder if they just tacked that onto the end after they realized they spent too much time on Emil Jannings' and Connie's characters. There's a lot of fondling going on in this movie, there's the guy with the bread in the first part, then Connie going all glassy-eyed caressing his globes. Ivan the Terrible is a certified DIVA in that diaphanous, white robe, even with the hard middle part and scraggly beard. What is he doing with his tongue the whole time, though?? Love that he crashes some random girl's wedding, lets her father get murdered by assassins, kidnaps her AND her husband, and brings them both home to his sex dungeon. Connie is doing the most -- the eyes, the gestures, all the greatest hits from his silent film acting tool box, he's whipping them out for this role.
Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (Waxworks), 1924
Dir. Paul Leni, Leo Birinski
⭐2/5
Watched May 29, Archive.org
I didn't like this movie, I just wanted an excuse to post this screenshot. But it actually is a very silly little movie, with what must have been an enormous budget for costumes and sets, and it has some cute physical comedy. Sadly, Connie's in too little of the film to save it from being obnoxious. I did like the Czar's body double who just wanted to work on his needlepoint, and the Court Spanker who was clearly really into his job. And of course Metternich, that sly dog, that velvet-clad scamp. Between the all the foxy, gap-toothed grinning he does and the way he's going to town on that dialogue, he is as always a pleasure to watch. The English version is on Youtube somewhere, so I may go through that and pick out the time stamps for Connie's scenes because I don't think I could sit through this whole movie again, especially not that stupid fucking "Wien und der Wein" song, jesus christ.
Der Kongress tanzt, 1931
Dir. Erik Charell
⭐2/5
Watched Jun 23, Snowgrouse's masterpost
Apparently this movie was considered a flop, and Connie wasn't super happy with this role and others around this time. I think I must have had that info in the back of my mind somewhere going into this movie, because my expectations were pretty low. So, as usual, I actually wound up liking it more than I thought I would. It's a lot sillier than it has any right to be, but yeah it's ultimately a piece of fluff compared to some of the other heavy-hitting films on this list. I love when Connie has a comedic foil like the Marius character, but it could have been a lot better if the dialogue was snappier and the timing tighter. And Connie's character promises to be this bad bitch at the top of the movie, but all we get is one quick, poorly choreographed sword fight and a whole bunch of nothing after that. There's all this build up, I mean, the character is nicknamed The Black Death, and the movie never really lets the character live up to the name. It's a missed opportunity for sure. That said, the Puffy Shirt with the open collar "ensconced in velvet" (to risk yet more Seinfeld references), jaunty hat, knee-high boots with spurs look is really doing it for me. And THERE ARE PUPPIES. Perhaps the most delightful thing that has ever happened in cinematic history. I couldn’t believe it. Connie picked up the first puppy and said, "You big boy, you!" and I hate him, like full Madeline Kahn Mrs. White "flames… on the side of my face." I hate him so much.
Under the Red Robe, 1937
Dir. Victor Seastrom
⭐2.5/5
Watched Jul 17, Youtube
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Obvious question from me, but I'd love to hear your thoughts (for the public, not just our private gushings) on why you personally think Conrad Veidt is so great and why more folks should check him out beyond just the silent horrors or Casablanca & ToB. It took us way too long, considering the sort of stuff we've always been into, didn't it?! Why is he worth it? Which films do you recommend for that (acting, aura, type of role most wouldn't expect to see him play AND doing it really well, etc)?
Oh, Connie... OK.
He’s one of those rare folks who covers a bunch of different sub-media in film, for starters. He’s got the visible dance training and devotion to pushing his art as far as it will go to make him able to act with whatever part of him is visible on the screen in a silent film - the face for close-ups, the whole body for long shots and wider framing, every part for characterisation or emphasis... But then he also has an interesting voice - capable of lightness and sinister timbre - for the talkies. And of course with the talkies he also still has the body acting skill-set from before, which he can now use in concert with the voice acting, often in deifferent ways than he did in the silents (obviously, because he doesn’t have the voice there), and so he kind of reinvents himself more successfully than others do, while still being very much the actor he was in the silents.
But wait; then he reinvents himself repeatedly when he becomes a part of wider European cinema, especially British cinema, and then goes to Hollywood (though sadly the material doesn’t always give him the best opportunities to use his talents.) Because Connie knows visual artistry as well as performance; he can tell impressionism from expressionism, and so adjusts to fit with the performance styles of those different cultures and fashions, while still be recognisably Connie. Which sound sobvious, because you’d think it’s something all actors should be doing, but most of them couldn’t. And he’s always doing something interesting when he’s on screen, whether it be movement or stillness. (Clint Eastwood had the reputation for being able to convey the most by doing nothing, but Connie got there way before, and differently - with Connie it’s part of the performance, whereas with Eastwood it was being smart enough to know when not to, and is all in the eyes - and became, oddly, overdone. And Christopher Lee is somewhere in between)
Movies I’d recommend... The usual ones, obviously- Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Student Of Prague, Hands Of Orlac, Spy In Black, Casablanca, Thief Of Bagdad...
Casablanca’s the first one- people should go and watch that, cos it’s a classic, and they’ve definitely seen him in it, but this time watch out for him. Especially when he first talks to Rick about his papers, and any scene with Captain Renault. Once you’ve seen that, go and find his other movies, and you’ll be amazed at how this is nothing compared to his overall range.
Next I’d go with Passing Of The Third Floor Back, because it’s one of my favourite performances of his - it mixes the charm, the implied darkness that he can fuck you up, the compassion, the stillness, and the movement.
If you like a bit of Bogie, All Through The Night is good fun, though Connie’s role isn’t really that big or noteworthy, but he’s fun in it.
A Woman’s Face is a must- his best talkie role, and if you liked the TV show Feud: Bette And Joan, it’s also got Joan Crawford at her best. Again, mix of charm, darkness, and that physical control. Just ignore the last five minutes or so.
For a change of pace, there’s always The Men In Her Life, where he’s a dance teacher opposite Loretta Young from The Bishop’s Wife, or Ich Und Die Kaiserin, which is a romantic comedy (I think the English release is titled The Only Girl now)
FP1 is a bit of a guilty pleasure, but it’s rare sci fi for him, and you get to see how he can still act while totally off his skull on drugs and alcohol, to a degree that Nic Cage could only dream of.
Letzte Kompagnie is worth it for some of the framing and cinematography, which goes very well with his style.
If you want to directly compare Silent and Talkie Veidt, try for Wilhelm Tell (1923) and William Tell (1934), which both have Hans Marr as Tell and Connie as Gessler.
Lucrezia Borgia has a good barking spidery Cesare from Connie.
And obviously Anders vom die Anderen, 1919′s first LGBT rights movie.
I mean, I could go on, but there’s lots I have seen yet either... And sadly some of his very early ones are lost forever.
I still think he’d be a great wingman on a night out in Weimar Berlin, or anywhere else...
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