Why did the Daleks put the Master on trial in the 1996 TV Movie?

The Doctor Who 1996 TV Movie opens with a memorable sequence of the Master being put on trial by some distinctly squeaky-voiced Daleks, who sentence him to death but, unusually, also agree to honour his final request and seemingly allow the Seventh Doctor to transport his remains back to Gallifrey. What is the story behind this bizarre turn of events?

All footage is the property of the BBC. Music by Frank Klepacki

[ClassicDalekEmperor]

We sentenced him because he was a complete jerk!

[Jedi_Spartan]

There are two things that I find hilarious about a hypothetical depiction of the Master's trial.
1) The Daleks trying as much as possible to ignore all their natural urges to exterminate the Doctor in the version of events where they knew he was the one to pick up the Master's remains.
2) How the opening part of the Daleks reading the Master's crimes would likely be: "The Master betrayed the Daleks during Frontier In Space! Also he is not a Dalek!"

[bubbahealthy]

I always loved this point in Doctor Who history and it’s always been my head-canon that the failure to transport The Master’s remains to Gallifrey (even though he did still technically die) was the final tipping point for the relations between the Time Lords and the Daleks

[ekij]

How dare he double cross and betray us before we double crossed and betrayed him!

[zarrg]

I love that the chipmunk daleks have a lore explanation.

[Longshanks]

I was thinking about this the other week and how… weird this setup is. It feels like it was something written by a guest writer who is only vaguely aware of Who lore and didn’t really see an issue with the Daleks sentencing the Master to death as, hey, they’re things people recognise from the show, right? They won’t have an issue with it, when the amount of writing around these problems people have done with this movie since very much shows the opposite.

It doesn’t make sense the Daleks would hold him for a trial instead of exterminating him, it doesn’t make sense the Master would allow the Daleks try to hold him without trying to escape, it doesn’t make sense the Daleks would grant last requests to their prisoners and, above all else, it makes absolutely no sense that the Daleks would allow the Doctor to evade their ships, land on the sacred Skaro and desecrate it with his filthy footsteps before being allowed to leave with no questions asked.

Honestly, *that* is the scene I most want to see. Imagine the cold, dead silence and the tense awkwardness as _The Doctor_ arrives on Skaro to meet with the Daleks, collect the Master’s ashes and then depart. Especially with Sylvester McCoy playing the role at that time, that could have been such a good scene that expressed so much about the Doctor and the Daleks while saying not a word between them. But alas.

[silverdaleks]

In the novelization of the TV movie the Doctor is contacted telepathically by the Time Lord high council about the Masters death sentence and the Dalek supreme is present who tells the Master he's sentenced to extermination due to trying to destroy the dalek race several times. Also the Doctor had to sneak into the dalek court room to retrieve the Masters ashes and narrowly escapes dalek guard.

[nickthepick]

I like the implication that the Daleks executed him for betraying them in the past, showing their hypocrisy. But at the same time, it could serve as a message for anyone who knew about it in the universe. The DALEKS are the ones who screw you over, not the other way around!

[paulo]

I think the Daleks were just playing 'nice' while preparing for the eventual Time War.

[royhay]

I remember watching a great edit of this scene in 2018. It used footage from a video game and Metaltron's voice instead. It was great but has since been removed for some reason, unfortunately.

[adamcousins]

I think he was an offing from the Timelords. After the Doctor destroyed Skaro they knew that the Daleks would see it as an act of war. And the Master had dealings with the Daleks of that time.

[whoxley]

If I remember rightly, "The Doctor: His Lives and Times" (a reference book made for the 50th anniversary) had a theory that the whole thing was plan between the Master and the Daleks.

Both parties wanted to get rid of the Doctor, so they arranged a fake trial and willingly gave the Doctor the Master's remains, knowing the Master would survive. The end goal being that both parties get what they want; the death of the Doctor. But even typing this out, this feels like a massive leap in logic.

[WebofSpeedForceTS-FU]

Some people theorized that The Master ended in that cell because the video game Destiny of the Doctors (despite having being released one year after the movie), when he messes up with the first 7 incarnations of the Doctor, and end up being imprisoned, begging for the Doctor's help. Some speculate that it was a Dalek cell, right before his trial.

[GamePlayer]

Personally, I can see it being a show trial. Makes the accused beg for their life, allows the Daleks to exterminate, and puts on a show for allies/potential allies (as few as there are).

That or Daleks really love trials and wanted an excuse to put one on

[Longshanks]

Evidently, The Master did not call Saul. 💀

[Daldi]

I always thought that the Daleks granting of the Master's final wish was due to then knowing how tricky the Time Lord could be and his wanting to kill the Doctor would suit the Daleks perfectly. And bear in mind that the litigator who oversaw the trial (the Time Controller) would see itself allying with the Master during the Eminence Crisis. With it's ability to view the timelines, it undoubtedly saw that the Master would play a pivotal role in future Dalek operations.

[badwolf]

The Master was selling hooky gear at The Skaro Markets, Dalek Police found out about it and had him done for it.

[minicle]

They sentenced him for fiddling with their voice modulators. :P

[timelordvictorious]

Could we presume the master did not hypnotise the Daleks to get his whiches

[DrBagPhD]

I've always just dismissed the events of the movie as non-canon, perhaps just a story told by the Doctor to keep companions or maybe even enemies guessing, but I really like hearing people's theories about how to make it work within the series. Great vid!