This is where I will present the haunting, toon related questions that pester me night and day. You know, the kind of stuff you ask your family and get replies such as “It’s just a cartoon!” or “Who cares?”
And if you’re going to answer these questions that way, leave. Now! I don’t want to hear it.
OK. Now that the narrow-minded know-it-alls have left, we can continue.
June, 2008
How many times had The Master regenerated when we met him the first time?
As Captain Chaotica!! pointed out, the young Master we see in "The Sound of Drums" has alarmingly blue eyes, so it is probable that Delgado wasn't the original model. Of course, eyes do change colour, but it is much more common for brown eyes to fade to blue with age than the other way round. And besides, if he was completely out of lives by the time he showed back up in "The Deadly Assassin," chances ae good that he had used several befoe we ever met him. At the same time, Delgado-Master didn't seem too terribly jaded, so I somehow suspect he hadn't been through TOO many regenerations yet.
It is of course entirely possible that many, MANY years had gone by in his personal timeline between when he left The Doctor in "Frontier in Space" and when they met back up again in "The Deadly Assassin." It is even possible (maybe) that the events of S3/29 happened for The Master before "The Deadly Assassin." That may actually even explain an inconsistency or two. Maybe. But, see, knowing what we do about The Master, I find it difficult to imagine him going too terribly long without pestering The Doctor*. I also have a hard time imagining Delgado-Master being careless enough to lose his life easily. But then, once he regenerates, he's no longer Delgado-Master, and, as we well know, not all Masters are so understated and calculating as Delgado.
So, taking conversations with the good captain into consideration, I'm going to guess that Delgado-Master was probably number three or four or so. He or one of his next couple of incarnations get caught in the act of doing something...shall we say, naughty?, and, unable to weasel his way out of a death sentence. When his executioners discover that death doesn't really stick, they keep trying until he's out of lives. Or, possibly, he had some sort of accident that couldn't be survived**. But, either way, he went through all of his remaining lives very quickly, then somehow managed to crawl off in the condition we see Pratt-Master.
Either that, or he was busy terrorising Ten through Thriteen during those intervening years.
* Well, some incarnations... Delgado-Master just seemed to like annoying him in a antagonistically friendly sort of way, Roberts-Master wasn't imaginative enough to come up with anything else to do with his time, and Pratt/Beevers-Master was obviously out for a bit of revenge. But Ainley- and Simm-Master probably only bother with The Doctor when they run across him, once that initial vengeance thing is gotten out of the way.
** If a Time Lord were somehow trapped in a lava floe or swallowed alive by some extremely large beastie or something, I assume he would keep regenerating and dying over and over until he was out of lives. The Doctor would not have survived what Jack just recently went through.
If you have an answer, a question, or another side to add to make me even more confused, send it to me.