The master could do with some moisturiser or something he's looking a little crispy to me

The first appearance of Gallifrey since the Tenth Anniversary, and I'm very disappointed by this story.

The Doctor on his own was a very great concept - to show his vulnerability - and they tried that with a whole episode in the Matrix, when it should've been interweaved throughout the story. Also, the fact that he's on Gallifrey gave him some familiarity. If we take Series 4's Midnight as an example, he's on his own with complete strangers and that's what makes it so scary. But as he's in the presence of people he knows, there's not that much at stake as he knows how to convince them. I don't actually understand why the Doctor fired the gun - it was kinda stupid of him. I also didn't like that he wore barely anything in the story - I was expecting Time Lord uniforms as in the cover - where are these uniforms, aside from five minutes in part 1?

The Master's back after 3 years, and it's... eh. So the Delgado Master got crispified at some point - but why didn't they focus on that? How did he get like that? The mask was also a really bad idea, cos I couldn't understand a word he was saying - thankfully they change it later on and we get Geoffrey Beevers. He was really underused, and looking so creepy, they really should've played into that horror factor more - that scene in Part 4 where the Master turns to the guard when he's about to die is one of my favourite moments of the story. Near the end of the story, I could really see elements of Roger Delgado in Peter Pratt's performance, so props to him for managing to pull that off.
I don't really understand why Chancellor Goth was working for the Master - once he killed the President, he was in the running, so he didn't need the Master. There was also the guard that tried to kill the Doctor for no reason.

Gallifrey was... alright. It looked a bit cheap, but that's Classic Who for you. They did well with what they had, and I do really like the panopticon set, as well as the colour scheme. The scenes in the Matrix were dull, and even worse that they were just in some basic quarry. But this does get marks for its heavy expansion on Gallifreyan lore - it's impressive how many of these ideas are still relevant today.

The Time Lords weren't that impressive. They were all-powerful in the War Games, the Doctor feared them, then in this story it was just like a big Parliament. Very dull characters, but it's nice that they introduced Borusa and the relationship between him and the Doctor is a very nice one, and I wish that there were more scenes of that. Also, what was with that ending. "Look, the Master." Like, big criminal there, not even going to do anything? Okay.

Definitely the lesser of two Crispy Masters. Weird narration at the start, boring characters in the middle and a slightly stronger ending. A low point from Robert Holmes.

No companion, just the Doctor on Gallifrey. The president of the time lords has been assassinated and the Doctor has been framed. It turns out the Master is back, dying and decayed, and with the corrupted Chancellor, who actually killed the president, all so the Master could save himself from death and destroy Gallifrey. This is one of Tom Bakers best stories, if not the best, imo. The Master having run out of regenerations was a good way of explaining in universe why he's decayed and doesn't look like he used to. Great story.

• It's a beloved story I know, but I found it a little dull
• I think the best scenes occur when the Doctor is in the Matrix, they are dark and very thrilling
• This story like many others fails to get me interested in the world of Gallifrey
• It was at least refreshing to have a companionless story
• I don't think it helps that I'm not a huge master fan, so that might have a bearing on my overall engagement

It’s just not my thing unfortunately