The first in a trilogy of stories featuring The Doctor facing off with the Master, continuing with "Vampire of the Mind" and concluding with "The Two Masters".
The Master: wanted for crimes without number, across five galaxies.
The Master: escaped his pursuers. Last known location: rural Hexford, England, Earth.
The Master: dead and buried in an unmourned grave, in a lonely churchyard.
Apparently.
And You Will Obey Me contains examples of:
- The Ageless: Colin, Helen and Janine have looked 16 years old for decades, thanks to the Master's interference.
- Auction: With the Master's TARDIS on the books!
- Body Snatcher: The Master reconstitutes himself by projecting his consciousness into Mikey's body and altering it from the inside out, changing it into an exact replica of his burned form.
- Busman's Holiday: According to the Doctor, this was Tegan's complaint about spending the day in Little Hodcombe checking out a local quarry.
- Call-Back:
- The Doctor has traveled into the events of this story from Little Hodcombe, where he, Tegan and Turlough had been spending some time after "The Awakening". Jane Hampden, featured in that story, is mentioned here as having been Mikey's third year school teacher.
- Once it is sufficiently repaired, the Master's TARDIS reverts to the form of a grandfather clock.
- One of the lots at the auction is the Cranleigh Cup, which the Doctor is sure he already has.
- The Doctor says he knows how this incarnation of the Master will eventually end up, though the listener knows the burned Master isn't necessarily pre- Anthony Ainley.
- Hexford is a recurring location in Paul Magrs' Doctor Who works. The Doctor's previous incarnation actually owns a cottage there.
- Came from the Sky: The Master's TARDIS crashes into a barn in 1984.
- Conveniently an Orphan: Mikey's parents are no longer around and he was "raised" by a brother who was suffering too much from PTSD and his injuries to really look after him, leaving Mikey with more time to spend helping the Master than his other friends.
- Cyber Ninja: The Transhuman Sisters of the Unholy Protocol.
- Distress Call: The Master sets one to go off in 2016 to lure in the Doctor, hoping to steal some of his DNA to heal himself.
- Gambit Pileup: The Master has his usual dastardly schemes in motion which collide with various efforts to find, capture or kill him by the Doctor, the KGB, the Transhuman Sisters and the Dragonhunters.
- Giant Flyer: The Dragonhunters, eight-foot-tall dragonfly assassins.
- Half-Human Hybrid: The Master's experiments on the teenagers shared part of his essence with them, giving them eternal youth and a limited version of his own Psychic Powers.
- Horrible Judge of Character: There was certainly mind control involved, but that doesn't account for Mikey starting to think of the Master as his dad. He gets better.
- Hypnotic Eyes: Thanks to the Master sharing his symbiotic nuclei with them, Colin, Helen and Janine gain these.
- Immune to Mind Control: Though Mikey was initially just as susceptible as his friends to the Master's mind tricks, being forced to kill a man in cold blood is enough to shock him out of his hypnotism, and he is completely immune to it thereafter.
- Lazy Alias: In keeping with tradition, the Master gives his "children" the surname Masterson.
- Missed Him by That Much: The Doctor was so close to finding out about the Master in 1984 from Mikey, and could have prevented all the horrors that followed. Unfortunately, he was distracted by hearing the distress call coming from the Master's TARDIS in 2016, and hurriedly sent Mikey on his way.
- The Mole: Annie.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Mikey met the Doctor in 1984 while he was in Little Hodcombe, hoping to tell his old teacher about the Master. The Doctor politely sent him on his way, unintentionally dooming Mikey and his friends to being further traumatized by the Master.
- One Degree of Separation: Mikey's third year teacher was Jane Hampden, who appeared in "The Awakening", and the Master crashlanded in nearby Hexford around the same time that story was taking place.
- Out-of-Character Alert: It isn't paid off in this story, but this version of the Master is far more camp and animated than usual. This will be explained in the trilogy's conclusion.
- Parental Substitute: Horrifyingly, the Master becomes this for a group of teenagers, particularly Mikey, who at one point even calls him "dad".
- Put on a Bus: The Doctor travels alone in this story, leaving Tegan and Turlough behind in Little Hodcombe with Jane Hampden.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Annie, one of the Transhuman Sisters.
- Shout-Out: Mikey compares the Master to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
- The Slow Path: Thanks to Mikey shooting his machine, the Master ends up trapped in his TARDIS for over 30 years.
- Would Hurt a Child: Naturally, the Master thinks nothing of manipulating four teenagers into doing his dirty work, forcing them to kill for him and carry his genetic material, stealing their childhoods from them and, ultimately, kills Mikey by stealing his body.
