Guy Blythman - Writer and Philosopher - DR Who Fan Fiction

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The Bestiary of Doctor Who by Guy Blythman: An A-Z of the peoples of the
Whoniverse
Guy Blythman - Homepage
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The Greatorex Imperative
The Ishtar Stratagem
The Ragnarok Dossier
Piper One
Weekend at Treneer
ADDENDA
God and Science
Relativity, Time and Space
WINDMILL PHOTOGRAPHIC REGISTER
PHILOSOPHY
God and Suffering
Dr Who Fan Fiction
The Greatorex Imperative
EYE OF THE SUN GOD
PANOPTICON
Gerry Anderson Fan Fiction 1
Gerry Anderson Fan Fiction 2
Doctor Who Fan Fiction 2
SHADOW OF THE DRAGON
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THATCHERISM HAS HAD ITS DAYTHE BESTIARY OF DOCTOR WHO
(c) Guy Blythman 1997, 2006, 2009
This aims to be a survey of the life forms featured in the original series of
Doctor Who plus a selection of those which have appeared in the BBC and Virgin
novels and the revived TV series which began in 2005. The continuity is taken
both from what is seen on screen and any novelisations of the TV episodes, where
the two do not conflict.
The content originally appeared in the fanzine The Doctor s Recorder between
1997 and 2006. My thanks and best wishes to the zine s editor Andy Hardstaffe
for first allowing the Bestiary to see the light of day, and to Leighton Noyes
who illustrated the entries.
December 2009
PS You ll notice that the section on humanoid races is incomplete, with Trions,
Trakenites, Varosians and a few others missed out; this is because some of it
was accidentally deleted from my computer a while ago. The missing material is
being reconstituted and will make its reappearance in due course!
BOOKS
Doctor Who And The Keys Of Marinus, by Philip Hinchcliffe (W H Allen 1980)
Doctor Who - The Sensorites by Nigel Robinson (W H Allen 1987)
Doctor Who And The Dalek Invasion Of Earth by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who - The Rescue by Ian Marter (W H Allen 1987)
Doctor Who And The Zarbi {The Web Planet}, by Bill Strutton (Universal Tandem
Publishing 1973)
Doctor Who - The Chase by John Peel (W H Allen 1989)
Doctor Who - Galaxy Four by William Emms (W H Allen 1986)
Doctor Who - The Dalek Master Plan part one: Mission To The Unknown by John Peel
(W H Allen 1989)
Doctor Who - The Dalek Master Plan part two: The Mutation Of Time
by John Peel (W H Allen 1989)
Doctor Who - The Ark by Paul Erickson (W H Allen 1986)
Doctor Who - The Celestial Toymaker, by Gerry Davis and Alison Bingeham (W H
Allen 1986)
Doctor Who And The Tenth Planet, by Gerry Davis (W H Allen 1976)
Doctor Who - The Power Of The Daleks by John Peel (W H Allen 1993)
Doctor Who - The Underwater Menace, by Nigel Robinson (W H Allen 1988)
Doctor Who And The Cybermen {The Moonbase} by Gerry Davis (W H Allen 1974)
Doctor Who - The Macra Terror by Ian Stuart Black (W H Allen 1987)
Doctor Who - The Faceless Ones, by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1987)
Doctor Who - The Evil Of The Daleks by John Peel (W H Allen 1993)
Doctor Who And The Tomb of the Cybermen, by Gerry Davis (W H Allen 1978)
Doctor Who And The Abominable Snowmen by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1974)
Doctor Who And The Ice Warriors by Brian Hayles (W H Allen 1976)
Doctor Who And The Web Of Fear by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1976)
Doctor Who - Fury From The Deep by Victor Pemberton (W H Allen 1986)
Doctor Who - The Wheel in Space by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1988)
Doctor Who - The Invasion by Ian Marter (W H Allen 1985)
Doctor Who - The Krotons by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1985)
Doctor Who - The Seeds Of Death by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1986)
Doctor Who And The Auton Invasion {Spearhead From Space} by Terrance Dicks (W H
Allen 1974)
Doctor Who And The Cave Monsters {Dr Who And The Silurians} by Malcolm Hulke (W
H Allen 1974)
Doctor Who - The Ambassadors Of Death by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1987)
Doctor Who - Inferno by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1984)
Doctor Who And The Terror Of The Autons by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1975)
Doctor Who - The Mind Of Evil by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1985)
Doctor Who And The Claws Of Axos by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who And The Doomsday Weapon {Colony In Space}, by Malcolm Hulke (W H
Allen 1974)
Doctor Who And The Daemons by Barry Letts (W H Allen 1975)
Doctor Who And The Day of The Daleks by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1974)
Doctor Who And The Curse Of Peladon by Brian Hayles (W H Allen 1975)
Doctor Who And The Sea Devils by Malcolm Hulke (W H Allen 1974)
Doctor Who And The Mutants by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who - The Time Monster by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1985)
Doctor Who - The Three Doctors by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1975)
Doctor Who And The Carnival of Monsters by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who And The Space War {Frontier In Space} by Malcolm Hulke (W H Allen
1976)
Doctor Who And The Planet Of The Daleks by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1976)
Doctor Who And The Green Death, by Malcolm Hulke (W H Allen 1975)
Doctor Who And The Time Warrior by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1978)
Doctor Who And The Dinosaur Invasion {Invasion Of The Dinosaurs} by Malcolm
Hulke (W H Allen 1976)
Doctor Who - Death To The Daleks, by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1978)
Doctor Who And The Monster Of Peladon, by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1980)
Doctor Who And The Planet Of The Spiders by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1975)
Doctor Who And The Giant Robot {Robot} by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1975)
Doctor Who And The Ark In Space by Ian Marter (W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who And The Sontaran Experiment by Ian Marter (W H Allen 1978)
Doctor Who And The Genesis Of The Daleks, by Terrance Dicks
(W H Allen 1976)
Doctor Who And The Revenge Of The Cybermen by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1976)
Doctor Who And The Loch Ness Monster (later republished as Doctor Who - Terror
Of The Zygons) by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1976)
Doctor Who And The Planet Of Evil, by Terrance Dicks
(W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who And The Pyramids Of Mars by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1976)
Doctor Who And The Android Invasion by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1978)
Doctor Who And The Brain Of Morbius by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who And The Seeds Of Doom by Philip Hinchcliffe (W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who And The Masque Of Mandragora by Philip Hinchcliffe (W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who And The Hand Of Fear by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1979)
Doctor Who And The Face Of Evil by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1978)
Doctor Who And The Talons Of Weng-Chiang, by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1977)
Doctor Who And The Horror Of Fang Rock by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1978)
Doctor Who And The Invisible Enemy by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1979)
Doctor Who And The Image Of The Fendahl, by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1979)
Doctor Who - The Sun Makers by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1982)
Doctor Who And The Invasion Of Time by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1980)
Doctor Who And The Ribos Operation by Ian Marter (W H Allen 1979)
Doctor Who And The Stones Of Blood by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1980)
Doctor Who And The Androids Of Tara by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1980)
Doctor Who And The Power Of Kroll by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1980)
Doctor Who And The Armageddon Factor by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1980)
Doctor Who And The Destiny Of The Daleks by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1979)
Doctor Who And The Creature From The Pit by David Fisher (W H Allen 1981)
Doctor Who And The Nightmare Of Eden by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1980)
Doctor Who And The Horns Of Nimon by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1981)
Doctor Who And The Leisure Hive, by David Fisher (W H Allen 1982)
Doctor Who - Meglos by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1983)
Doctor Who - Full Circle by Andrew Smith (W H Allen 1982)
Doctor Who - State of Decay, by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1982)
Doctor Who - Warrior's Gate by John Lydecker (W H Allen 1982)
Doctor Who And The Keeper Of Traken by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1982)
Doctor Who - Four To Doomsday by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1983)
Doctor Who - Kinda by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1983)
Doctor Who And The Visitation by Eric Saward (W H Allen 1982)
Doctor Who - Earthshock by Ian Marter (W H Allen 1983)
Doctor Who - Time-Flight by Peter Grimwade (W H Allen 1983)
Doctor Who - Arc of Infinity, by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1983)
Doctor Who - Snakedance by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1984)
Doctor Who - Mawdryn Undead by Peter Grimwade (W H Allen 1983)
Doctor Who - Terminus by John Lydecker (W H Allen 1983)
Doctor Who - Enlightenment by Barbara Clegg (W H Allen 1984)
Doctor Who - The Five Doctors by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1983)
Doctor Who - Warriors Of The Deep by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1984)
Doctor Who - The Awakening by Eric Pringle (W H Allen 1985)
Doctor Who - Frontios by Christopher H Bidmead (W H Allen 1984)
Doctor Who - The Caves Of Androzani, by Terrance Dicks (W H Allen 1984)
Doctor Who - The Twin Dilemma, by Eric Saward (W H Allen 1985)
Doctor Who - Attack Of The Cybermen, by Eric Saward (W H Allen 1989)
Doctor Who - Vengeance On Varos by Philip Martin (W H Allen 1988)
Doctor Who - The Two Doctors by Robert Holmes (W H Allen 1985)
Doctor Who - Timelash, by Glen McCoy (W H Allen 1985)
Doctor Who - Mindwarp {Trial Of A Time Lord episodes 5-8} by Philip Martin (W H
Allen 1989)
Doctor Who - Terror Of The Vervoids {Trial of a Time Lord episodes 9-12} by Pip
and Jane Baker (W H Allen 1988)
Doctor Who - Time And The Rani by Pip and Jane Baker (W H Allen 1987)
Doctor Who - Delta And The Bannermen by Malcolm Kohll (W H Allen 1989)
Doctor Who - Dragonfire, by Ian Briggs (W H Allen 1989)
Doctor Who - Remembrance Of The Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch (W H Allen 1990)
Doctor Who - The Happiness Patrol by Graeme Curry (W H Allen 1990)
Doctor Who - Silver Nemesis by Kevin Clarke (W H Allen 1989)
Doctor Who - The Greatest Show In The Galaxy by Stephen Wyatt (W H Allen 1989)
Doctor Who - Battlefield, by Marc Platt (W H Allen 1991)
Doctor Who - Ghost Light by Marc Platt (W H Allen 1990)
Doctor Who - The Curse Of Fenric by Ian Briggs (W H Allen 1990)
Doctor Who - Survival by Rona Munro (W H Allen 1990)
PEOPLES OF THE WHONIVERSE

ALPIDAE
Planet of Origin: Terra Alpha
The Happiness Patrol (2nd November to 16 November 1988)
Writer: Graeme Curry
Alpidae is the correct term for the indigenous inhabitants of Terra Alpha, whom
colonists from Earth nicknamed "Pipe People" because whereas originally they
inhabited the fields of sugar beet for which the planet is renowned, sugar being
their favourite food and staple diet, the arrival of the humans forced them
underground where they lived principally in the pipes which connected the
planet's sugar factories, feeding on the sugar deposits there. Occasionally, a
"Pipe Person" might be observed peering cautiously out from one of the manholes
giving access to the pipes for maintenance, taking a curious look at the alien,
to it, world of the settlers.
In their appearance and habits Alpidae are an engaging species. They are
diminutive humanoids with large pointed ears and wrinkled skin which gives them
a resemblance to little old men. They have picked up a smattering of the
settlers' language, but their grasp of syntax is poor and they generally confine
themselves to monosyllables, longer words tending to come out in a distorted
fashion. They are delighted by music.
The overthrow of the colonists' leader, Helen A, is presumed to have inaugurated
a happier existence for the "Pipe People". Much of their mistreatment may have
been due solely to her - she was a dictator who could more or less indulge any
whim she liked, and appears to have had a particular dislike of Alpidae,
referring to them as "vermin" and hunting them down with the aid of her vicious
pet Stigorax.
ANIMUS
Planet of origin: Unknown
The Web Planet (13th February to 20th March 1965)
Writer: Bill Strutton
The Animus, described by the Doctor as a "cosmic spider", was a parasitic entity
which drained the natural energy of planets and absorbed the knowledge, skills
and culture of their inhabitants. In appearance it certainly had a superficial
resemblance to a spider, and was seen as such by the Zarbi of Vortis, whose fear
of it caused the sight of one - even a dead specimen from the Doctor's
zoological collection - to scatter them in terror. It may indeed have been a
highly evolved form of arachnid, for the substance out of which it created the
structure it inhabited on Vortis was a kind of living cobweb, and a web design
recurs throughout the technology which its Zarbi slaves, using the increased
intelligence it had given them, developed (possibly with the assistance of
enslaved Menoptera).
How the Animus came to Vortis, where the Doctor's encounter with it took place,
is not clear. Its influence was insidious, and only realised some years later
when it was already very powerful, spreading its web across the planet's surface
and gaining control of the Zarbi, a native species of human-sized, ant-like
insect. The Menoptera, the benign butterfly-like humanoid race which ruled the
planet, were only interested in a peaceful life and for years remained quite
unaware of it. The web spread outwards from Vortis' magnetic pole, from which
the Animus drew most of its power - power it was able to use to stop the TARDIS
dematerialising and interfere with the ship's instrumentation. The Zarbi relayed
and directed the power using strange gun-like weapons, whose sights were shaped
like small webs.
The Animus caused the Zarbi to become aggressive and enslave the Menoptera. Its
control over them was made possible by their being unintelligent, barely sapient
creatures (as is suggested by its need to use force to bend the far more
intelligent Menoptera to its will).
It is not clear how the web was created in the first place; the probability is
that the Animus produced it from within its own body, subsequently spreading it
through other means. The Menoptera whom the Animus had enslaved were forced to
assist its growth by throwing spars of silica into the pools of acid which
dotted the planet's surface, where they dissolved to produce a substance which
was carried to the web via the underground acid rivers that fed the pools. The
web then somehow transmuted and absorbed it, using it to enlarge itself. As well
as harness the magnetic forces generated by a planet, the Animus seemed able to
alter its geology and chemistry.
It could also to some extent interfere with the native ecology, restructuring
the genes of certain species to make them behave in the way it wanted; as well
as inducing aggression in the Zarbi it caused their larvae to spit lethal venom
from their snouts, and thus be useful weapons with which to subdue the Menoptera
and its other enemies. Its power over the larvae's biology was relayed through
the bodies of the Zarbi. It is not clear whether the latter's ability to repel
electrical charges, such as those fired from the electron guns used by Menoptera
rebels against the Animus, was a natural characteristic or another product of
the parasite's bioengineering.
As the web continued to grow, its roots reaching even into the ground, it would
eventually smother the entire planet and everything on it, absorbing the life
energy of the inhabitants. Hypnotic control of the Menoptera could be
accomplished, if desired, with wishbone-shaped bracelets manufactured by the
Zarbi. These were normally placed around a person's neck or wrist, but any
physical contact with one could result in mental enslavement. Simply removing
the bracelet cancelled the hypnotic power. The bracelets were effective on
Menoptera and humans, as well as the Zarbi themselves, but would not work on the
larvae, neutralising their venom instead.
The Animus itself was able to exert a powerful force which drew life forms
towards it so that it could physically absorb them. However this power only
worked at close range.
After finishing with Vortis the Animus planned to use the intelligence of the
Doctor and his companion Vicki to travel to Earth, which it regarded as the
choicest dish on its menu. "Earth people...your cells, your mental processes,
will provide my most enriching sustenance yet," it told them. The Animus was
eventually destroyed by Barbara Wright using a cell destructor, a weapon
developed by the Menoptera which reversed the processes of organic cell growth.
The device caused its cells to mutate and grow inwards, thus killing it. To
achieve this effect the weapon had to be aimed at the Animus' dark side, which
Barbara was at first unable to find.
ANTI-MATTER MONSTER
Planet of origin: Zeta Minor
Planet Of Evil (27th September to 18th October 1975)
Writer: Louis Marks
The planet Zeta Minor lies at the very edge of our universe. Beyond it,
according to the Doctor, is the universe of anti-matter, where all the laws of
physics are reversed. On the planet is a phenomenon superficially resembling a
pool of dark liquid, and thus named the Black Pool by members of an expedition
from the Morestran Empire, which functions as a gateway between the two realms.
Given the location of Zeta Minor it is not surprising that the planet harbours
strange forces. Something there regards it as important that the planet's
secrets are protected, as the Morestran expedition soon discovered. They had
come there in search of a new energy source to replace their dying sun, and
thought they detected one in the rocks of the planet's crust (this was the
anti-matter contained in the rocks, from which they derived certain distinctive
properties such as the ability to change colour). Once they began probing
beneath the surface, and the purpose of their presence became clear, a hostile
force attacked them. This force may have been the planet itself, which some
members of the expedition sensed was alive and actively trying to frustrate
their efforts. It appears this was not mere fancy, for as soon as a particularly
rich ore vein was discovered it mysteriously vanished, somehow absorbed into the
structure of the planet.
One by one, the expedition's members were killed by a strange creature which for
some reason attacked only at night. Whether it was acting on its own initiative,
or was the servant of some other agency, is not clear. It is possible that the
planet and the creature together constitute some kind of gestalt. The creature,
which lived in the Black Pool, appeared as a shimmering red outline suggesting a
grotesque, gigantic, vaguely human figure. Its purpose seems to have been to
prevent removal of any anti-matter from the planet, either because this was
regarded as theft or because of the dangers involved (matter and anti-matter
generally cannot be in contact with each other for long periods without causing
an enormous and highly destructive explosion; they appear to have been able to
do so on Zeta Minor, but the curious conditions which apply there are not found
elsewhere). The creature killed the Morestrans by absorbing them - whereupon
they became invisible - and draining all their vital fluids. The bodies were
later regurgitated, reappearing as wizened, lifeless husks.
A relief expedition was sent in response to a distress signal, and this
continued with the task of collecting a sufficient quantity of anti-matter. It,
too, came under attack from the creature, which appears itself to have been
composed of anti-matter (the Doctor described it as "pure energy but with a
physical form"). The entity could pass through solid metal barriers, and caused
a power drain when close to the Morestran ship. Energy weapons had no effect on
the creature: it could though be repelled by a sufficiently powerful force
field. To do this, however, it was necessary to boost the force field by
connecting the equipment which generated it to the spacecraft's atomic reactor.
The creature was not evil as such; rather, it was doing what it regarded as its
duty. Coming as it did from a totally separate universe to that of the
Morestrans, one governed by entirely different laws, it was unable to commune
with them and so make them understand the dangers of what they were doing; its
only course of action was to kill them. Fortunately the Doctor was able to
communicate with the creature, and eventually reach some kind of understanding
with it. He had gone to the Black Pool with this aim in mind and the creature
had seemed to attack him, causing him to fall into it. The Doctor was unable in
words to convey the wonder and strangeness of his subsequent experience. It
appears he had on his person a small quantity of anti-matter from the
Morestrans' rock samples, and this somehow enabled him both to survive in the
Pool (normally, anyone who fell into it was regurgitated as a lifeless husk,
killed either by the creature or some property of the Pool itself) and to talk
to the creature. Interestingly, samples of anti-matter also proved useful in
warding off the Antimen (see below).
The creature promised that the Morestrans would be allowed to leave safely
provided they left behind all the anti-matter they had collected. So evidently
it, or the forces which controlled it, possessed something which could be called
a moral code.
Its demands were met, and the Morestran ship departed. However, unknown to
either the Doctor or the ship's crew the body cells of Professor Sorenson, sole
survivor of the original expedition, had in some way become affected by the
anti-matter from the rock samples. Anti-matter appears sometimes to have a
drastic effect upon the genetic and molecular structure of living beings. It
caused an evolutionary regression in Sorenson, periodically transforming him
into a savage, hairy beast not unlike an early hominid, but with glowing red
eyes and enlarged canine teeth. Like the creature on the planet this "Anti-man",
as the Doctor called it, possessed the ability to kill by draining off body
fluids. Sorenson was able to devise a potion, the formula for which is unknown,
which delayed the change, but gradually this lost its effect; the intervals
between transformations grew shorter, and eventually the mutation became
permanent.
The Anti-man began to kill off the ship's crew and Salamar, its commander,
unwisely tried to destroy it with a neutron accelerator - a device which emitted
a stream of radioactive particles. This as the Doctor had feared caused it to
split off numerous duplicates of itself, all of which resembled the original
anti-matter creature in appearing as red shimmering outlines, though rather more
human in shape.
The ship's occupants were now in serious trouble: not only was there an army of
rampaging monsters on board, but they were unable to leave while there was any
anti-matter - such as that present in Sorenson's body - on the ship. Some
incredibly powerful force was steadily dragging them back towards Zeta Minor's
surface. To the anti-matter creature the bargain it had agreed with the Doctor
appeared to have been broken, and it was determined to take back its own.
The Doctor was eventually able to capture the original Sorenson monster and take
it to Zeta Minor; there, in a struggle with the Time Lord, it fell into the
Black Pool. All the anti-matter could now be regarded as returned, and the
Doctor's task was accomplish-ed. On the ship the Antimen vanished into thin air.
Sorenson was expelled from the Pool alive, and free of the anti-matter infection
- further evidence of the creature's morality.
There have been other cases of anti-matter infection, but details are presently
unknown to all save the Time Lords, whose files contain the relevant
information.
Whether we will ever be able to safely explore the secrets of Zeta Minor is
impossible to say. But the events related above suggest it is better that no
expedition visits the planet (happily, the Doctor was able to help the
Morestrans solve their energy problems by persuading them to harness the kinetic
energy of planets).
ARCTURANS
Planet of origin: Arcturus
The Curse Of Peladon (29th January to 19th February 1972)
Writer: Brian Hayles
The Doctor has so far encountered only one member of the Arcturan
race, on Peladon where he had been sent by the Time Lords to ensure that the
negotiations for that world's entry into the Galactic Federation went smoothly.
This individual was there as Arcturus' representative at the conference, the
Arcturans being leading members of the Federation; like the delegate from Alpha
Centauri he was known by the name of his planet. He appeared to be a neuroplasm,
in appearance not unlike a disembodied brain, inhabiting a transparent globe
into which nutrient fluid was regularly pumped by the life support system on
which it was mounted. The latter was mobile and equipped with a laser gun for
defence. It is not clear whether Arcturus race are wholly dependent on this
life support system for survival, or only need it on Peladon and other planets
whose atmosphere or climate they are unsuited to. He spoke in a warbling
electronic voice which may have been produced entirely by the life support
system, his normal one being different. Removal of a vital component called a
helium regenerator from the mechanism could kill him.
The nutrient fluid appeared to change colour with the Arcturan's
mood, for example darkening if it became agitated.
As well as a number of tentacles the neuroplasm possessed what could be
described as a face; one which had a certain resemblance, possibly superficial,
to the human, with bulging eyes and a small puckered mouth.
What information we have on the Arcturans doesn t paint a very flattering
picture of them. They are quite happy to spy on their partners in the
Federation, who they suspect of attempting to make deals behind their backs, and
supply their representatives at interplanetary conferences with highly sensitive
and efficient listening devices which enable them to eavesdrop on the
conversations of the other delegates. The Arcturan on Peladon certainly had a
suspicious nature; he continually feared the possibility of harm and was keen to
demonstrate his ability to retaliate if attacked, which he did by destroying an
item of furniture in the quarters assigned to him with his laser gun - an act of
vandalism which is unlikely to have gone down well with his hosts! He was also
devious and untrustworthy, and in fact allied himself with Hepesh, Peladon's
religious leader and an arch-conservative who feared the loss of sovereignty
which might result if it joined the Federation, in a bid to sabotage the
negotiations, his aim being to make a treaty with the planet giving the
Arcturans sole access to its rich mineral deposits (which he could not do if it
were part of an economic and political union).
Arcturans are a coldly logical race, the one on Peladon telling his fellow
delegates "my sensor readings are not concerned with emotional response, only
deduction." They frequently use logic as
an excuse for avoiding action which may put themselves or their vital interests
at risk.
In their dependence on mobile life support systems (which are equipped with
destructive weaponry), and their lack of emotion the Arcturans are strikingly
reminiscent of the Daleks.
The Arcturans are old enemies of the Ice Warriors from Mars. Their planet is
seriously short of vital minerals, leading them to
covet those of Peladon.
ARIDIANS
Planet of origin: Aridius
The Chase (22 May 1965 to 26 June 1965)
Writer: Terry Nation
The intelligent inhabitants of the planet Aridius are tall, thin, blue-skinned
humanoids with crested heads. Their species has been all but wiped out by a
drastic rise in atmospheric temperature, which caused all natural sources of
moisture to dry up, killing most native life forms except for the humanoids and
the carnivorous octopoid Mire Beasts. The Aridians seem able to endure extreme
heat, and go without moisture, longer than most humanoid species, remaining
unaffected by the temperature even when wearing the thick cloaks, of a dark
sandy colour, which they use to camouflage themselves against the planet's sandy
surface and so protect themselves from the Mire Beasts.
Certain aspects of their physiognomy suggest the Aridians may once have been
aquatic, and in fact they still live in a magnificent covered undersea city.
Their technology is not particularly advanced by C20 Earth standards; it is more
on a par with Ancient Greece or Rome, although they understand the process by
which plants contribute oxygen to an environment, and have set up huge parks
within their city to oxygenate the air and enable them to grow food and water.
The Aridians are generally a peaceful and harmless race. They did betray the
Doctor and his friends to the Daleks, albeit reluctantly, but like the Spiridons
they were in a difficult position, with the threat of extermination hanging over
their heads if they refused to obey the evil mutants, and can perhaps be
forgiven for their actions.
With limited food supplies, the race now numbers mere thousands; their
extinction is only a matter of time, and most of them cling to life more from
habit than from any real desire.
AXOS
Planet of origin: none
The Claws Of Axos (13 March 1971 to 3 April 1971)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
Axos is a parasitic collective entity which travels through space feeding on
energy in any form, including the life force of human beings. In its pursuit of
its food the organism is utterly ruthless, taking energy from any source and
caring not at all about the inhabitants of the planets it drains. It seeks to
justify its actions by arguing that "all things must die; Axos merely hastens
the process a little."
Axos must absorb energy at a very fast rate, since when the Doctor encountered
it on twentieth century Earth it could foresee a time when it would have drained
all the suitable planets in the universe. This must have been the reason for its
attempt to achieve time travel, which would have expanded the energy sources
available to it.
Axos probably evolved on the surface of a planet but left that world after
having absorbed its energy, using the power as fuel for its initial leap into
space. The main component of the gestalt, which according to the Axon leader on
1970s Earth was grown from a single cell, functions as an organic spacecraft.
Its shape constantly changes when in flight, and its mass is variable. The
organism's life systems produce a sound comparable to a giant heartbeat.
At its centre is a sentience called the Brain Of Axos, a computer-like
intelligence which assimilates information and makes decisions. Like an
artificial spacecraft, Axos has different sections with different functions; as
well as a prison area, there is a power unit where most of the energy it ingests
is stored. These internal arrangements can be reconfigured at will.
Away from the Brain, the organism functions on a non-sentient level. When
captured by Axos the Master and CIA agent Bill Filer were held in the prison
section where they were secured by tentacle-like protuberances emerging from the
wall. These would tighten their grip the more the captives struggled to escape.
A small nodule on the wall functioned as the cell's nerve centre; there were
presumably corresponding nodules in other specialised parts of the organism.
Delivering a shock to them causes localised disorientation; when Filer managed
to hit the one in the cell area with a bullet from his pistol the tentacles lost
their grip, enabling the captives to escape. However, Axos seemed fairly soon to
become aware of their flight and they were recaptured, more tentacles springing
to pinion them from the wall of the corridor down which they were running.
Perhaps they had entered an area closer to the Brain, which was able to detect
their movements. Later Filer was able to escape again, finding that if he moved
very slowly he could free himself from the tentacles. The Axons learnt the
lesson of this second escape, and later, when the Doctor and Jo Grant were
imprisoned by Axos in the same manner, they found the tentacles reacted
instantly to the slightest movement. Either the brain had extended its control
into the prison section, or Axos had reprogrammed that part of itself.
On landing on a planet, Axos can extrude root-like appendages with which it
seizes native life forms and takes them inside itself for analysis.
The gestalt that is Axos has three basic components; Axos proper (the
spacecraft), the Axons - individualised beings which are mobile and can leave
the main organism to perform tasks which it cannot - and a substance called
Axonite, which is the organism's dormant state.
The Axons in their normal state are masses of organic matter, roughly humanoid
in shape but with tissues composed of a myriad writhing tentacles. They can
change their form to whatever is necessary to carry out the task in hand, on
Earth becoming beautiful golden-skinned humanoids in order to reassure the
native population and gain their trust. While the Axons are not needed they are
reabsorbed into the structure of Axos. When the organism is subjected to
enormous stress it becomes impossible to maintain the Axons in their assumed
shape.
Axons can turn themselves into exact physical replicas of humans beings. These
facsimiles are in one respect not very efficient; they are easily detectable by
their flat voices, stiff robotic movements and lack of expression. They are
however very strong, immune to bullets and difficult to render unconscious.
Shape-changing is presumably a characteristic of Axos itself, though it has
never been seen to exhibit it.
An Axon can be destroyed by explosives or by a powerful surge of energy.
In their normal form (and presumably their assumed ones) Axons can stun, or kill
by disintegrating the victim s body, using bolts of energy. The charge is
carried in their tentacles which can be extruded over a considerable distance,
lashing out like whips. This energy may have been present in Axos from the
beginning, or it may have been derived from another source which Axos absorbed.
It can be focused into a kind of thermal lance and used to cut through metal
barriers. Axons also seem able to place their victims in a kind of hypnotic
trance, rendering them easier to control if required to be kept alive for some
reason.
The collective nature of Axos was demonstrated when the experiments on the
Axonite at the Nuton Complex in England affected all of it, and the entry of the
Axon leader into the establishment's main reactor to absorb its energy brought
the power to the whole of Axos. When Axos was time-looped by the Doctor the
Axons and the Axonite vanished too. With this in mind, it is curious that
destroying individual Axons (such as those blown up with grenades by Captain
Yates and Sergeant Benton of UNIT, or the one destroyed by the Doctor in the
particle accelerator at the Nuton complex) did not adversely affect the whole
organism.
Axonite is a remarkable substance. Able to molecularly transform, and replicate,
any physical object it can cause both living and non-living matter to increase
in size; the Axons pointed out its ability to increase food yields by making
farm animals grow bigger. The Doctor believed its remarkable properties would
enable him to travel in time, overcoming the restrictions which the Time Lords
had placed on his TARDIS in order to exile him to Earth.
It is the Axonite which absorbs the energy of the prey planet, energy which is
immediately transferred to the rest of the organism. For reasons which are not
clear the "nutrition cycle", as the Axons term the process of absorption, can
only be commenced at a certain time; to do so before then will have a harmful
effect upon Axos. When the Doctor put the Axonite in a particle accelerator at
Nuton, intending to analyse it in order to find out how it might be used in time
travel, the energy within the machine prematurely activated the nutrition cycle
with a disorientating effect upon the organism.
It is also necessary for the Axonite to cover the planet within 72 hours, and
for this end to be accomplished it must be distributed worldwide. The Axons seem
unable to do this themselves and must rely on the native population to undertake
the task (suggesting that they are at a disadvantage on planets which do not
support intelligent life forms). The inhabitants must be duped into believing
the Axons mean them no harm, and the benefits to their civilisation from Axonite
stressed. On Earth, as related above, the Axons appeared as a family of
beautiful golden-skinned humanoids, claiming to have come from a planet which
had been crippled by solar flares. They requested Earth's hospitality in return
for the benefits of Axonite. It seems puzzling, if they were intending to
present themselves as peaceful, that the Axons captured Filer and the vagrant
Josh when they attempted to examine Axos shortly after it had landed. They were
taken inside the organism and tested for mental and physical efficiency (with
what purpose in mind, we cannot say). Finding Josh to be of low intelligence,
they absorbed his life force - not wishing to waste the energy - then expelled
the wizened husk of his body from Axos (to be discovered later by UNIT). Though
they needed to determine whether the two humans represented any threat to them,
killing the one and imprisoning the other ran the risk of antagonising their
fellows and casting doubt on the Axons' benevolence.
When samples of Axonite are being studied in laboratories all over the planet,
and the moment comes for the nutrition cycle to begin, they are activated by the
main organism and become mobile, travelling around absorbing any energy they
encounter. Simultaneously Axos itself does the same. The Doctor speculates that
it sends out Axons in the form of huge shapeless globs, slightly smaller
versions of the main organism, to protect it while it searches for its food.
Once the initial stimulating burst of energy is supplied, the Axonite will
continue to grow even if the supply is shut off. A sample of Axonite which is
triggered prematurely by an external source can be safely absorbed back into
Axos, but first needs to be physically retrieved.
After the nutrition cycle is complete, according to the Doctor, the surface of
an Earth-type planet would be like that of Earth's moon - dead.
The energy which Axos has already absorbed on its travels must be considerable,
enough for it to travel short distances in time; when it was detected
approaching the Earth and missiles were fired at it, the organism escaped
destruction by jumping a few seconds into the past, to a point just before the
missiles were launched. Greater temporal distances require greater amounts of
energy. The Axons attempted to acquire that power by taking it from the Nuton
reactor, but abandoned this plan after the Master, who had originally been their
ally but later began to fear the consequences of their ambitions, turned the
energy against them. Axos must already be able to travel phenomenal distances
through space, since it is draining planets at such a fast rate that its energy
sources will be exhausted at some time in the foreseeable future.
Axos has certain additional properties which ought to be mentioned. It can
absorb a human's life force in such a way that they age rapidly, and also
reverse this process if necessary. It did this to Jo Grant in order to force the
Doctor to assist it in developing time travel.
Axos has a degree of telepathic ability. The Doctor, forced by the Axons to give
them the secret of time travel, had only to think the necessary equations in his
head for the Brain Of Axos to learn them.
Axos can scan other life forms to analyse their physical and mental make-up, by
this means learning that the Doctor was not a native of Earth. The technology
involved in this, as in all the organism's other functions, is presumably
organic and a part of Axos, making use of the energy the organism has ingested.
It is possible to destroy Axos with a surge of energy greater than it can absorb
at any one time, as the Master tried to do by storing up the power of the whole
Nuton complex and then boosting it with the particle accelerator, so that when
they tried to absorb it the Axons would get it all in one devastating surge
instead of a gradual build-up. This gave Axos a massive shock, confusing it and
throwing its systems into disarray. However on this occasion the damage was not
quite severe enough and the organism survived, absorbing the power and feeding
it back to Nuton in a surge which almost destroyed the complex.
The Doctor foiled Axos' attempt to drain Earth's energy by trapping the organism
in a Time Loop, where hopefully it remains.
BANDRILS
Planet of origin: Bandril
Timelash (9-16 March 1985)
Writer: Glen McCoy
We know relatively little about this reptilian race. In his third incarnation,
the Doctor helped arrange a treaty of co-operation between Bandril and the
neighbouring planet of Karfel. As part of the agreement Karfel was to make
regular exports to Bandril of grain - a commodity upon which the latter's rising
population depended. The Bandrils are poor agronomists, lacking the expertise
and resources to grow grain in sufficient amounts to meet their requirements.
Later the Borad, Karfel's tyrannical and megalomaniac ruler, broke off all
diplomatic relations with Bandril and suspended the grain shipments. The
Bandrils reacted by declaring war. They are not by nature an aggressive race,
and took this step from what they considered to be sheer necessity. They are,
however, competent military technologists, and once their survival is in some
way threatened by another power may respond in a manner that seems excessive.
They possess one particularly formidable weapon, the bendalypse warhead, which
when fired at a planet can annihilate all life on it that possesses a central
nervous system. The Bandrils attempted to use it on Karfel, but it was
neutralised by the Sixth Doctor who subsequently overthrew the Borad and
restored peaceful relations between Bandril and Karfel.
In the Bandril space fleet, 22 ships make a full battle complement.
BEAUS
Planet of origin: unknown
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966)
Writers: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
Beaus was a representative of one of the worlds which allied with the Daleks in
their plan to conquer the Milky Way galaxy. His home planet was in the Miran
system; its name, along with that of Beaus' species, is unknown. The scope of
the Daleks' schemes is emphasised by our scant knowledge of the race, and the
fact that the Doctor has not encountered them since. Half animal and half
vegetable, they are tall creatures whose lower halves are cylindrical in shape.
At what would be shoulder height on a human being, there begins an
inward-tapering, ridged section; above this is another cylindrical section, the
head, with two slanted, burning eyes. On top of Beaus' head was a structure
resembling a crown, which may have been a form of headgear denoting rank rather
than a natural part of his anatomy.
That his planet was prepared to join forces with the Daleks, in the hope of
conquering and colonising other worlds, does not show Beaus' people in a good
light. Of course the fault may lie primarily with their leaders, especially if
their system of government is autocratic.
BIOMECHANOID
Planet of origin: Svartos
Dragonfire (23 November to 7 December 1987)
Writer: Ian Briggs
The Biomechanoid was a partly organic, partly artificial life form created for
the purpose of preventing Kane, an arch-criminal from the planet Proamon,
escaping from the iceworld of Svartos where he had been exiled for his crimes.
The crystal which served as a power source for the colony of Iceworld, in
reality a vast spaceship, was housed within the creature's body in order to
prevent Kane from seizing it and thus being able to leave Svartos. The
Biomechanoid s head could come apart, giving access to the crystal when
necessary, and then reassemble without impairing its functioning. It could fire
laser beams capable of burning through metal from its eyes, thus deterring Kane,
who could only survive in extremely low temperatures and was averse to heat,
from attempting to capture it. It was thus the origin of the legend which arose
among Iceworld's population of a fire-breathing dragon.
The creature was skeletal in appearance, with a greyish-white membrane, through
which its internal framework was clearly visible, instead of skin and a large
bony skull on top of a long neck. Ideally suited to its environment, its tall
frame enabled it to stride with ease over the ice boulders which littered the
underground tunnel system where it normally lived. Altogether it was a
splendidly-constructed piece of engineering, a fine example of the successful
fusing of organic and inorganic elements.
CELATION
Like Beaus an ally of the Daleks, Celation's appearance and species are unclear
but one account describes him as a tall creature who has difficulty breathing in
an oxygen-rich atmosphere. He does not appear to have been humanoid.

THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER
The Celestial Toymaker (2 April 1966 to 23 April 1966)
No-one knows the true identity of the being called the Celestial Toymaker,
although he may be one of the Gods of Ragnarok or, in view of his fondness for
games, an incarnation of Fenric. Like the Guardians the Toymaker is a formless
entity which can assume a variety of physical forms at will (his favourite guise
is that of a Chinese Mandarin). He can exist in the void of space, but prefers
to create various habitats for himself, where he can play his deadly games with
anyone unwise enough to stumble on his domain or accept an invitation to enter
it. Within these habitats his powers are almost unlimited; he can reproduce any
environment or historical setting, and has also collected a variety of objects
from different planets and periods of history, with which he decorates them.
According to the Doctor he is one of a number of immortal, supernormal beings
with the same habits, powers and motivation. These beings are fascinated by
toys, of which they each have a considerable collection. Morally neutral at
best, a Toymaker uses their powers to turn lesser life forms into playthings, by
enslaving their minds and if necessary altering their physical structure. They
are then forced, for the Toymaker's own amusement, to play a variety of lethal
games, with unpleasant punishments in store for them if they lose or cheat.
Either they are destroyed or they join his toy collection; the Toymaker has
stated that those who suffer the latter fate are given a chance to regain their
freedom, by playing and winning another game, but there is some doubt as to
whether he is sincere.
The Toymaker's powers are formidable; he can render living beings intangible,
causing them to lose their physical shape while remaining alive, conscious and
able to speak, or turn them into inanimate objects, in which form their
consciousness becomes dormant. He can create invisible energy barriers around
objects and places to make them inaccessible. He can even penetrate the defences
of a TARDIS, and so draw it into his domain. He is able to reproduce any object
or alter its nature.
He may taunt his victims, or weaken them psychologically, by using their minds
and imagination against them, tormenting them with horrific hallucinations or
visions of unpleasant experiences in their past lives.
Despite their powers, Toymakers are not infallible. They must be capable of
losing their games, since it's no fun if they are always assured of winning, and
to this end they may have deliberately restricted their powers, as well as laid
down certain rules which limit their freedom of action. In his second encounter
with the Toymaker the Doctor was able to outwit him by imitating his voice.
Toymakers rarely do, in fact, lose a game but if this happens they have to pay a
price, which is the destruction of their world. Whoever has defeated them will
be obliterated along with it, unless they can prevent this by a further exercise
of their ingenuity. A Toymaker is able to use their powers to create for
themselves a new habitat to replace the one they have been forced to destroy,
though presumably this takes some time and effort, otherwise it would not be
much of a penalty.
The Doctor has clashed with the Toymaker on at least two occasions; the evil
being has a particular determination to make him play one of his games and lose,
but has so far been unsuccess-ful. However, the Doctor told his companions after
the second encounter: "There will be other meetings in other times. There will
always be a Celestial Toymaker in the Universe."
CENTAURIANS
Planet of origin: Alpha Centauri
The Curse Of Peladon (29th January to 19th February 1972)
The Monster Of Peladon (23rd March 1974 to 27th April 1974)
The inhabitants of Alpha Centauri are thought to be descended from a form of
invertebrate sea creature. They are roughly about as tall as humans, but there
all resemblance between the two species ends. The egg-shaped head, featureless
save for a single huge eye, emerges directly from the columnar body. Their flesh
is bright green with red veins standing out prominently. They have six arms, or
tentacles, whose motion, along with their colouring, reflects their moods; a
rippling movement indicates their owner is pleased to see you, while they are
liable to wave furiously whenever the Centaurian is alarmed, which is quite
often. Each arm ends in a single broad, bifurcated, thumb-shaped digit.
Like sea anemones, Centaurians are single-footed. Their configur-ation makes it
difficult for them to regain an upright position if knocked over.
Centaurians are hermaphrodites, with shrill, feminine voices which humans find
both amusing and irritating. They would appear to have a greater life-span than
humans, retaining their mental and physical skills for longer; the Centaurian
who acts as the Galactic Federation's ambassador to Peladon has been
diplomatically active there for some fifty years.
Although their physical appearance is repulsive, to humans at any rate, and they
are fussy and easily agitated, Centaurians are a most peaceably inclined race,
abhorring violence (partially due to their delicate nervous system). This has
made them keen proponents of interstellar harmony; they are leading members of
the Galactic Federation, and are often to be found serving it as ambassadors and
in other diplomatic roles. Their extremely pacific temperament, while an asset
to the cause of interplanetary peace, can be a handicap in that it makes them
reluctant to take forcible action when such may be necessary to resolve a crisis
(witness the behaviour of their delegate in the Peladon affair). Along with
their excitable nature, this is often found irritating by their allies in the
Federation, especially the more ruthless and military-minded Martians.
Altogether it is hard to believe that violence and war once flourished on the
Centaurians' planet, as is implied by a remark made by their repersentative on
Peladon.
Again like their invertebrate marine relatives on Earth, Centaur-ians change
colour in line with their moods, for example turning blue when upset. They are
extremely sensitive to visual stimuli and dislike harsh colour schemes, which
have an unpleasant effect on their senses.
Centaurians are sticklers for protocol - partly from habit, and partly because
it can provide an excuse for postponing action of the sort they find
distasteful.
According to the Fourth Doctor, Centaurians play table tennis, at which game
they are difficult opponents (six arms, six bats).
One exception to their peaceful nature is on record. A human mother and her
child were once deported from Alpha Centauri, which they had visited on a
shopping expedition. The mother had been trying on some necklaces, with the
sales assistant beside them. Seeing one she liked, the child pointed it out,
saying "That's the one I'd get"..............
CHAMELEONS
The Faceless Ones (8 April to 13 May 1967)
Writers: David Ellis and Malcolm Hulke
Although the atmosphere and climate of their homeworld are very different from
those of Earth, the race known as the Chameleons have evolved in a similar way
to Mankind. They are basically humanoid, with many similarities to humans in
their physiology and configuration, though physically rather stronger.
At some time in their history a huge atomic explosion, whose cause remains
unknown, took place on their planet, the radiation affecting the genetic coding
of the race in such a way that they lost all individual identity. Their heads
are now blank spheres, across which run pulsating veins, with no face except for
the eyes. In addition, the radiation is causing the Chameleons to die out.
Their scientists and politicians hit on a rather drastic means of ensuring the
survival of the species. Since the bodies of humans and Chameleons were in many
ways compatible with each other it should be possible, particularly if the human
specimen was fairly young and strong, to copy the physical characteristics of a
person and at the same time transfer their life force to a Chameleon. The
Chameleons set about abducting some 50,000 suitable subjects from Earth. Their
agents on the planet set up a company called Chameleon Tours Charter Flights,
which flew young people on free holidays to exotic locations. The aircraft used
were really spacecraft, probably disguised using some kind of hologrammatic
technique, which contained equipment for putting them into suspended animation.
The craft then went into orbit, docking at a space station where the kidnapped
humans remained, miniaturised to save storage space. Once the Chameleons had all
the subjects they needed, they would be transferred to the aliens' home planet
and restored to normal size. The "planes" themselves also acted as the
miniaturising devices.
A Chameleon who has "borrowed" a human's identity looks and speaks exactly like
them, and also possesses their memories. For the first four or so Chameleon
weeks it is necessary to keep the Chameleon and its human host linked, otherwise
both die, the Chameleon reverting to a blob of protoplasm. The link is in the
form of a white sheath placed on the original's wrist, the removal of which
breaks it with the consequences described above. A corresponding black sheath is
worn on the Chameleon's wrist. Enough of the human's life force remains within
its own body for it to be kept alive for a while, as a kind of blueprint from
which a new copy can be made if required. After the four weeks have passed the
human dies altogether and the processing becomes permanent.
The equipment needed for the process can be used, if necessary, to enable a
Chameleon to revert to their true form. A Chameleon can take on any number of
different human identities.
The above demonstrates that Chameleon science is of a very high quality, and
further advanced than that of twentieth century Earth. Other examples of their
advanced technology, apart from the miniaturisation process, include a gun which
kills using an electrical charge, leaving clothing scorched and burn marks on
the hands and neck. They can hypnotise, render unconscious or physically
paralyse humans using a silver pen-like device. Their technology makes frequent
use of laser beams. They can transmit lethal electrical charges over very long
ranges, by this means killing the pilot of a RAF fighter sent to track one of
their spacecraft through the atmosphere on its way to dock with the space
station.
Even considering that they were motivated by a desperate need to ensure the
future of their species, the Chameleons do not seem from the Doctor's one
encounter with them to be an attractive race. They regarded human beings, whose
intelligence they classed as lower than that of their planet's native animals,
with contempt, and themselves as the most intelligent race in the Universe.
Hence, they felt no qualms about destroying human lives if it enabled their own
kind to survive. Their similarities with humans were largely physical, as their
cold emotionless voices indicated. They were ruthless, punishing errors among
their own people with severity, and also cruel. One, seeking revenge on the
Doctor and his companions for their interference with the Chameleons' plans,
subjected them to the paralysing ray and then left them, alive and conscious, to
be killed by a laser beam which he had set to incinerate them within a few
minutes.
Defeating the Chameleons' plans (and returning the humans they had abducted
safely to Earth), the Doctor told them they would have to find some other way to
ensure their survival. Provided they abandoned their designs on Earth's
population they would be allowed to return to their home planet unharmed. The
Chameleons, unlike so many other of the Doctor's enemies, were prepared to
accept defeat rather than fight on; in this they displayed rationality, of a
cold and unemotional sort. The Doctor told the aliens that their future would be
what they made of it; however he suggested he might be able to assist their
scientists in devising a better way of preserving the race. There is no record
of whether he carried out his promise to help the Chameleons solve their
problems, or of what eventually happened to them. But it is nteresting to note
that he showed more sympathy to the Chameleons than he has to other races who
have attempted genocide in order to survive, such as the Kraals.
CHEETAH PEOPLE
Home planet: Unnamed
Survival (22 November to 6 December 1989)
Writer: Rona Munro
At one time, the planet of the Cheetah People was host to a great civilisation,
the centre of a vast empire in space. What reduced the telepathic humanoid
inhabitants to a state of savagery was the strange nature of the planet and its
ecosystem. The planet was alive, and in a sense formed a composite organism with
the life forms inhabiting it, being psychically linked to them and keyed to
their biorhythms. This meant that as the planet declined with age the life forms
degenerated too. They became savage and belliger-ent, fighting each other to the
death in a vicious battle for survival, and by doing so accelerating the
planet's decline, precipitating earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, due to their
symbiosis with it.
Though retaining their humanoid shape, the Cheetah People are covered with
yellow fur and have the faces of huge cats. They retain some of their human
skills, riding horses and erecting tents to live in, and are still capable of
speech although not using it very often, but their lifestyle is savage and
primitive. They are highly dangerous carnivores who exist only to kill, either
for food or amusement. They are frighteningly strong and agile, and their sharp
claws, which are capable of slicing through steel wire, can inflict tremendous
damage.
Like all cats, the Cheetah People will often play with their prey before
finishing it off. If a Cheetah Person is not hungry it is unlikely to attack
unless you provoke it to do so; if it does attack, the consequences for you will
be extremely unfortunate. The Cheetahs will fight each other too, either for
amusement or because food has become scarce.
Native to the Cheetah world are the Kitlings - animals which resemble the
domestic cats of Earth but are entirely savage and can teleport themselves (and
anyone in physical contact with them, or in their immediate vicinity) across
vast distances of space, jumping from planet to planet in search of food. This
power of teleportation is derived in some way from the planet itself. As food
became scarce in the battle for survival, and the planet less able to support
life as it declined, the Cheetah People began to follow the Kitlings to and from
the homeworld in search of food. They can teleport themselves independently of
the Kitlings, but prefer to follow the latter. Afterwards the Kitlings teleport
themselves, along with their prey and the Cheetah People, back to their
homeworld, impelled both by the planet's psychic influence over them and their
instinct as animals to return home.
The planet's strange powers affect not only its native life forms but any
visitors to it who remain for more than a brief time. They will be gradually
changed into a Cheetah Person, the first symptoms being enlarged canine teeth
and green eyes. Like the Cheetah People they acquire the ability to teleport
themselves along with any person in their immediate vicinity. This power can be
used by uninfected people to escape from the Cheetah world, if they have no
other means of doing so, since like the native Cheetahs the infected person's
animal instinct will be to return to its home planet.
The longer someone stays on the planet, the faster the change will take place,
particularly if the power of teleportation is used frequently. It is possible
for someone with exceptional mental powers, such as a Time Lord, to resist it
for a while, but they will nonetheless succumb eventually. The Master, who was
either brought to the planet by the Cheetahs as prey or somehow became stranded
there, was unable to prevent himself becoming a partial Cheetah Person; he could
however control the behaviour of both the Kitlings and the Cheetah People, thus
saving his life and also enabling him to bring the Doctor from Earth to the
Cheetah world where he sought to finally eliminate his old enemy. The Doctor too
was briefly infected by the planet just prior to its final destruction.
On dying, a Cheetah Person reverts to whatever form it possessed before it
became infected by the planet.
As the disintegration of the planet advanced, the Kitlings and the Cheetah
People, sensing its imminent destruction, teleported themselves to other worlds.
The planet's explosion would presumably have cured the Cheetah People of their
infection and ended its influence over them, leaving them to build new lives for
themselves as best they could on whatever worlds they had ended up on.
CHIMERONS
Planet of origin: Chumeria
Delta And The Bannermen (2 to 16 November 1987)
Writer: Malcolm Kohll
Chimerons are humanoids whose soft green flesh, bunched and wrinkled, resembles
that of insect pupae. The similarity is appropriate, for the Chimerons are
indeed descended from insects, as is demonstrated by their reproductive system
and social organization, which are like that of the Terran bee. The silver pits
visible beneath their ears are high frequency antennae which give them excellent
hearing.
The Chimerons hatch from large silver eggs which are spherical in shape. If only
because the idea of humanoid life forms laying eggs seems absurd, I would
speculate that the egg along with the embryo inside it is grown from a substance
secreted by the parent's body. Breeding takes place not on the homeworld but on
a special planet whose surface is covered with hexagonal cells in which the eggs
are housed, hatching and developing within them. At any given time there are
millions of eggs there, and if the race suffers some terrible catastrophe, such
as occurred when the Bannermen attacked Chumeria and wiped out most of its
population, it can within just two years be entirely renewed from the stock on
the brood planet.
Chimerons are ruled by a monarchy, whose members are more or less
indistinguishable from humans in appearance, although they stand out on account
of the blue-green tint to their skin, which makes them very attractive to look
at. When born they are no different from other Chimerons, and in order to attain
the human form must eat during childhood a green high-protein substance which
performs the same function as "royal jelly" among bees. The protein is able to
transform a non-Chimeron into a Chimeron of the royal race.
As well as initiating the transformation to the humanoid form, the protein
rapidly accelerates the child's growth into adulthood, which is completed within
the course of a day. The most rapid growth occurs in the nymphoid stage, the
baby doubling its size and weight in the course of a few hours. When it is about
the size of a three-year old it begins making a strange high-pitched noise. This
is partly a song and partly a defence mechanism. The sound oscillates between
two frequencies, one of which is musical and the other a warning of danger; as
the child continues to develop it becomes controllable.
The Chimeron are peace-loving creatures, unaccustomed to battle, and thus were
easily smashed by the vicious Bannermen. The Bannermen tracked down the Chimeron
Queen, Delta, and her child to Earth, where happily they were defeated by the
Doctor, Delta subsequently repopulating Chumeria from the brood planet.
CHRONOVORES
The Time Monster (20 May to 24 June 1972)
Writer: Robert Sloman
Inside the Space/Time Vortex (in the Doctor's words, "a place that is no place,
where live creatures beyond our imagination") dwell Chronovores - literally,
time eaters - beings "who can swallow a life as easily as a boa constrictor can
swallow a rabbit, fur and all". The most powerful and deadly of them is Kronos.
Chronovores feed in some way on Time itself. It would appear that living things
in particular create around themselves a certain "temporal field", and it is for
this reason that a Chronovore will absorb them (they themselves are not its
intended food). They then pass into the Time Vortex, where they normally die,
one exception being the Doctor who as a Time Lord (and thus a "rare feast" for a
Chronovore, in the words of the Master) was able to survive there when "eaten"
by Kronos.
Chronovores have the ability to alter time, halting, accelerating or reversing
its flow (either from specific intent or as a side-effect of the act of feeding
on it). Somehow, the inhabitants of the ancient Earth civilisation of Atlantis
drew Kronos out of the Vortex and into normal Time, using a special crystal
within which the Chronovore was then imprisoned, and which enabled them to
harness its powers to their own advantage. Kronos entered into Greek mythology
where he became the Titan who ate his children, one of whom was Poseidon, the
god of Atlantis. It appears that modern humans, who may be descended from
Atlanteans, have a race memory of Kronos.
Kronos could be controlled using either the crystal or the seal of the High
Priest of Atlantis. The Master succeeded in stealing part of the crystal, with
the intention of using Kronos' powers for his own evil purposes. Ultimately it
took the seal to truly control the Chronovore, forcing him back into the
crystal. Although they may be imprisoned, a Chronovore cannot be destroyed or in
any way harmed, so the way in which Kronos' powers were used was to some extent
dependent on his own whim.
The ability to influence time is far from being the Chronovores' only asset. As
well as inflict pain on a person through telekinesis (which Kronos could not
do while trapped in the crystal), they may assume any form they desire, from a
beautiful woman to a rampaging monster, although normally appearing as white
winged figures with birdlike heads. Their choice of shape is determined purely
by whim. They change their minds as easily as they do their physical appearance,
often for trivial reasons, and without any moral principle behind their actions.
Certainly, Kronos' treatment of the Atlantean who craved the strength of a bull,
and was given by the Chronovore, for the latter's amusement, the head of one as
well does not suggest a truly benevolent entity. At best Chrono-vores are
amoral, and at worst they may positively enjoy inflicting suffering. Kronos told
the Doctor, "Shapes mean nothing...I can be all things....a destroyer, a
creator, a healer. I am beyond good and evil as you know it." It was grateful to
the Doctor for freeing it from the crystal, but intended to punish the Master
for his imprisonment of it, keeping him permanently alive in extreme pain. The
Doctor pleaded with it to release him from this torment, and Kronos complied.
When the evil Time Lord subsequently escaped to his TARDIS, the Doctor called
out to Kronos to stop him but the entity refused. "You asked for him to be given
his freedom, now he has it!" it commented with amusement.
There were as many disadvantages as benefits to Atlantis in using Kronos, partly
because of the Chronovore's amorality. The entity's powers could extend the
human lifespan by five times its normal extent, but this might merely mean a
prolonged old age. According to Atlantis' King, Dallios, they also led to a
surplus of desired commodities ("a surfeit of fishes, an ocean of
wine....stinking piles of rotten meat") which it was difficult to know what to
do with. If an object is not the same object at different points of time, then
by interfering with the latter s flow one can bring any number of copies of it
into the same time zone. This ability of Kronos' had been used to bring about
extreme abundance, but caused more problems than it was worth. As well as its
practical disadvantages it also resulted in greed, idleness and moral decay; the
Atlanteans could have nearly everything they wanted, and this vast material
wealth was accompanied by spiritual poverty.
The interference with time caused past or future disasters, whether they be
famines, earthquakes or volcanoes, to happen in the present. Dallios told one of
his officials, "I have seen a temple twice the size of this in which we stand,
fall through a crack into the fiery bedrock of the Earth...a city drowned, a
land laid waste by fire..." Being amoral Kronos had no compulsion to warn the
Atlanteans about these dangers. If they wanted to use its powers in this way,
that was their choice and they must pay the penalty. And it would serve them
right for imprisoning it.
For these reasons, the Atlanteans eventually gave up using Kronos and had the
crystal removed to a secret location, known only to a few trusted people (it was
impossible to destroy it, since its properties were such that it existed outside
time, and in any case its destruction might release Kronos with disastrous
consequences) where it remained until the Master stole it.
If uncontrolled, a sufficiently angry Chronovore can cause immense damage to its
environment. According to the Doctor, the fabric of Time itself may be
destroyed. "If the Master opens the flood gates of Kronos's power all order and
all structure will be swept away and nothing will be left but Chaos", he told Jo
Grant. It is therefore unwise to do what the Atlanteans and the Master did and
try to imprison one. The Chronovore cannot be held captive indefinitely; its
strength will increase the more frustrated and angry it gets at its captivity,
until it finally breaks free. By this time it will be impossible to restrain,
and on regaining its freedom will exact revenge by destroying everything within
a wide area.
When the Doctor rammed the Master's TARDIS with his own, in a bid to foil the
renegade's plans, the freak temporal conditions this caused destroyed the
Crystal and released Kronos. Appeased by its reacquisition of liberty, the
Chronovore returned to the time vortex where, for the moment, it poses no threat
to the cosmos.
CLAM CREATURES
Planet of origin: Skaro
Genesis of the Daleks (8 March 1975 to 12 April 1975)
A product of the genetic experiments carried out by Davros, creator of the
Daleks, these life forms essentially resemble giant terrestrial clams, about
four or five feet across. Their form does not lend itself to mobility, and they
tend to stay together in colonies, waiting for their food to come to them. They
are generally harmless if you avoid them and do not antagonise them in any way.
You are probably in no danger from a Clam Creature unless, like Harry Sullivan,
you are prone to put your foot in it.
CRYONS
Planet of origin: Telos
Attack Of The Cybermen (5 January to 12 January 1985)
Writer: Paula Moore
The Cryons were the original inhabitants of the planet Telos before it was
overrun by the Cybermen, who attempted to exterminate them all. They are
humanoids, small and slim in build. Their hairless craniums are smooth and shiny
and their faces, whose lower halves sprout a moustache-like growth of coarse
white hair, are covered in a translucent membrane. Their eyes are large and
bulbuous and their long, thin fingers are constantly undulating like the
tendrils of a sea anemone.
Cryons possess both male and female characteristics, although their nature is
predominantly feminine as their build and sweet high-pitched voices suggest.
This parthogenicism is though to have been adopted, by means of genetic
engineering, as part of their survival plan after the cataclysm detailed below;
it meant that two sexes were not needed for the procreation of offspring, and
thus avoided any problems which might be caused should anything bring about a
change in the ratio of males to females. It does not prevent Cryons from
appreciating the delights of sexuality, as is suggested by the close interest
they showed in the Doctor's female companion Peri when he visited their planet.
The Cryons are a moral species, although like many others whose survival is
threatened they can be ruthless in protecting themselves; one, Varne, was
prepared to kill any innocents who might become caught up in their guerilla war
with the Cybermen and later, inadvertently or otherwise, betray their presence
to the enemies. A courageous race, they are renowned for the bravery they have
shown in their struggle against the invaders.
The Cryons derive their name from their skill at building refrigerated
underground cities. The species is unable to survive in temperatures above zero;
in such conditions a Cryon will experience intense pain, which increases as
their bodily fluids boil, and eventually melt giving off huge clouds of steam.
The heat from energy weapons vaporises them.
It is believed they were not originally a cryogenic species, but became one out
of necessity. They were technologically a fairly advanced race, and it is
thought the carbon dioxide from their industrial processes resulted in a kind of
greenhouse effect like that now happening on Earth. This increased heat caused
vastial, a common mineral on Telos and one which was unstable above 15 degrees,
to explode, causing widespread devastation and raising the atmospheric
temperature even further. The surviving Cryons were forced to move to sub-zero,
and thus hitherto unsettled, areas of the planet where vastial was stable. Given
the inhospitable nature of these regions, which it would be difficult to change
except at the risk of causing further damage to the planet, the Cryons preferred
to move underground rather than attempt to live on the surface. As the
subterranean settlements tended to be hotter, it became necessary to develop an
expertise in cryogenics. When they invaded Telos, the Cybermen made use of this
technology for their own purposes, building vast underground chambers where
thousands of their number could be frozen in suspended animation pending
military operations.
After Cyber Control on Telos was destroyed with the aid of the Doctor, the
Cryons were able to regain mastery of the planet and rebuild their civilisation.
CYBERMEN
Planet of origin: Mondas
The Tenth Planet (8 October to 29 October 1966)
Writers: Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
The Moonbase (11 February to 4 March 1967)
Writer: Kit Pedler
Tomb Of The Cybermen (2 September to 23 September 1967)
Writers: Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis
The Wheel In Space (27 April to 1 June 1968)
Writer: David Whitaker
The Invasion (2 November to 21 December 1968)
Writer: Derrick Sherwin
Revenge Of The Cybermen (19 April to 10 May 1975)
Writer: Gerry Davis
Earthshock (8 March to 16 March 1982)
Writer: Eric Saward
The Five Doctors (25 November 1983)
Writer: Terrance Dicks
Attack Of The Cybermen (5 to 12 January 1985)
Writer: Paula Moore
Silver Nemesis (23 November to 7 December 1988)
Writer: Kevin Clarke
After the Daleks, the Cybermen are the Doctor's most persistent and dangerous
foes. The two races have a great deal in common.
Originally the Cybermen were little different from Terran humans in most
respects. Mondan civilisation developed on much the same lines as ours, although
much faster. It eventually found itself faced with a crisis similar to that
which may soon threaten life on Earth. Rampant disease, probably combined with
decay of the natural environment due to pollution, made an organic existence
increasingly difficult for them. As their plight worsened more and more of their
organs were replaced with artificial components, until they became almost
entirely mechanical. The process was a very slow one; for many years most of the
organic body remained intact, although effectively encased within a metal and
plastic suit, beneath which its outline was still discernible. Eventually,
however, it was done away with altogether, the only organic item remaining being
the brain, its functions now augmented by computers.
The Mondans had become so preoccupied with the basic urge to ensure the survival
of their race that they failed to see where it was leading them. Eventually, so
much of their organic bodies had to be replaced that the removal of all
emotional characteristics became necessary. Because no being with human feelings
could exist comfortably in Cybernetic form, unable to experience any kind of
sensual pleasure, they were forced to diminish emotional feeling to the point
where it might as well be eradicated totally. This was probably accomplished
using surgery, chemicals or a combination of both.
They became concerned only with efficiency, and that meant both the eradication
of emotion, because it impaired one's judgement, and the replacement of flesh
and blood with metal and plastic, because cybernetic organisms functioned more
effectively than flesh-and-blood ones. All sexual and individual
characteristics, whether mental or physical, were dispensed with. For a time the
Cybermen continued to use personal names, but this practice has now been
abandoned.
Now that they no longer saw any value in the pursuit of pleasure, the Cybermen
needed a new purpose in life. They compensated for their inability to appreciate
such things as beauty and culture by turning instead to conquest, the aim of
which was to further the Cyber cause by converting members of other races into
Cybermen, believing they were doing them a favour. This was also a means of
achieving, by proxy, the continuation of the Mondan species - which basic urge
still continued to motivate them, having after all been at the root of the whole
Cybernisation programme - now that they could no longer reproduce biologically.
It is noteworthy that the Cyber-race, as it usually refers to itself, includes
no non-humanoid life forms, and it may well be their deliberate intention that
such should be the case - witness their attempts to totally exterminate the
Cryons. Is the humanoid more easily cybernised for some reason, or does some
prejudice of their human forebears towards non-humanoids endure in their
cybernised form?
The original Mondasian Cybermen were destroyed when Mondas, whose elliptical
orbit had taken it into Earth's solar system, and on which the Cybermen had
built a device which was replenishing their planet's dwindling energy resources
by draining that of ours, absorbed too much energy from the latter and exploded.
However, large numbers of Cybermen had already left the planet and settled on
Telos, which became the Cyber race's new home.
The Cybermen are continually modifying and improving themselves, and there have
been several major changes in their appearance and design.
Cybermen are undoubtedly, as they claim, more efficient than animal organisms.
The alloy, called arnickleton, from which a Cyberman's body and limbs are made
is incredibly durable, yet although it looks and feels like metal is as flexible
as cloth. Cybermen are extremely strong and resilient. They do not need to sleep
or eat; they must however recharge themselves periodically with energy, though
this need not be done frequently. Provided they do so, they can go on
functioning indefinitely, compensating to some extent for their inability to
reproduce. With their computer-augmented brains the Cybermen are extremely
intelligent and resourceful.
The Cybermen are also more adaptable than humans, able to function efficiently
in the vacuum of space and, it is thought, underwater. In their 1968 invasion
attempt on Earth they were unaffected by the damp conditions in the sewers
through which they launched their attack on London. Considering their strength
and the fact that they don't need to breathe, there would probably be no
obstacle to their being able to burrow underground without the need for special
equipment. They are unaffected by extremes of temperature, judging by their
ability to function with ease in the sub-zero environment of Earth's South Pole.
Anyone can undergo Cybernisation, although age may be a prohibiting factor

unless the individual is particularly healthy and resilient. It is highly likely
that the Cybermen have developed some means of getting round this problem.
Cyber conversion can be carried out gradually; it is possible for parts of a
subject's body such as the limbs to be cybernetically augmented, giving them
supernormal strength, while their minds remain human; this may be the case with
allies who wish to share in the benefits of Cybernisation but are reluctant to
lose their identity and humanity, such as Tobias Vaughan and his henchmen. Or
the mind can be processed while the body remains normal, if full Cybernisation
is for some reason not immediately possible; the subject will still be useful in
operations against the enemy. The conversion is not always successful, in either
its physical or its mental aspects; when this is so, the Cybermen either destroy
the subject or reduce them to a mindless slave. All those who for some reason or
other, such as age or infirmity, are unsuitable for conversion from the start
are ruthlessly eliminated.
The Cybermen can achieve mind control through hypnosis, without Cybernising a
person's mind, in order to achieve certain ends. This process is however
inefficient since it dulls the reflexes and makes the subject ineffective
against an enemy, particularly in physical combat.
The organic brain of a Cyberman is still vulnerable to disease, although its
metal and plastic container normally protects it against such infection. On
Telos the Cryons succeeded in developing a virus which caused the brains of the
Cybermen in suspended animation on the planet to malfunction.
The Cybermen's loss of emotion means they are not really "evil" as such, besides
which they became what they are as an unforeseen consequence of an
understandable desire for survival. It must also be remembered that a certain
number of Cybermen - we cannot be sure how many exactly - would have been
Cybernised totally against their will. The loathing which the Doctor and others
profess towards them therefore seems unwarranted. Probably, the Doctor just
finds it easier to oppose them if he thinks of them as bad.
There would be some value in programming Cybermen with limited emotional
response, and the Doctor does suspect that this may have been done. It may well
be that they are not always as emotionless as they would have others believe. In
the past they have frequently seemed to express emotional concepts, having
enough pride to refer to themselves on occasion as "warriors". In the Nerva
Beacon affair, they could be easily provoked by childish insults hurled at them
by the Doctor. The outstanding example of emotional behaviour on their part,
again from the Nerva incident, is their tying up the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith
and leaving them on the Beacon which they had loaded with bombs and set to crash
into the planet Voga. This seems sadistic more than anything else. Its value as
evidence against the Cybermen's being truly emotionless lies in its manifestly
not serving the Cyber cause and in fact positively working against it. Given the
Cybermen's overwhelming need, since they can no longer reproduce biologically,
to maintain and increase their numbers through conversion of organic life forms,
it would have been far more sensible to have Cybernised the two humanoids. (And,
had they had the sense to do so or, alternatively, to kill the Doctor, they
might have avoided their subsequent problems with him and be well on the way to
mastery of the cosmos!) The incident would seem to be a case of cruelty for its
own sake. The only explanation one can find for it is that some residual emotion
had got out of control; a properly functioning Cyberman would not normally
behave in such a way. In other instances where the Cybermen appear emotional,
displaying such qualities as anger, hatred, cruelty or exultation, it is either
because they need to frighten human enemies and so ensure their submission, or
because the intensity with which the Cyber cause, if it is important enough to
its followers, is pursued must inevitably lead to something analogous to, but
not necessarily identical with, emotion whenever it triumphs or is frustrated.
If the Cybermen do have emotions, they are probably of a very different kind
from those experienced by human beings.
Normally, it would take some extremely sophisticated and powerful device, such
as the Cerebration Mentor developed by Earth scientist Watkins and used against
the Cybermen in 1968, to overcome the effects of the surgery and reintroduce
true emotion to Cyber brains. Occasionally something, such as the sound of
music, may stir in them faint memories of a time when they still felt it;
however, the Cybermen soon dismiss such things as "meaningless!"
In rejecting emotion, the Cybermen have undoubtedly made them-selves more
efficient, in some respects, than flesh-and-blood organisms. However, their
subsequent reliance on logic means that their minds, like those of the Daleks,
are too literal; thus it is sometimes possible for organic beings, if they are
particularly clever and cunning like the Doctor or the Master, to outwit them.
Their concentration on a single task means they are unable to appreciate the
wider implications of what they are doing; for example they failed to realise
that their attempt to alter history by destroying Earth in its twentieth
century, so that it would be unable to play the vital role it later did in the
Cyber wars, would shatter the web of time with catastrophic consequences for
everyone including themselves.
Their lack of emotion means that Cybermen have no scruples and are quite
prepared to use traitors to achieve their goals, or behave treacherously
themselves. They do not make promises unless it is with deceit in mind, as to
them such things have no value. They are extremely ruthless, and although they
prefer to Cybernise opponents rather than kill them are quite prepared to
annihilate entire planets and their inhabitants if it gives them a big enough
strategic advantage. They see humanity as constituting a particular threat to
them, and have several times tried to destroy it completely.
Like the Daleks the Cybermen are technologically brilliant. They are experts in
cryogenics, and either individual Cybermen or whole Cyber armies have often been
frozen in suspended animation, when forced to do so for strategic reasons or not
required for long periods (any unnecessary activity is wasteful in their eyes).
This technique reduces the possibility of their components deteriorating over
time. They can also freeze humans, so as to provide a store of future conversion
subjects.
They are also skilled at bacteriology, and have used germ warfare against their
enemies on two notable occasions. The first was in their attempt to take over
the moonbase from which Earth's weather was controlled; there, a virus was
introduced into the base's food supply in order to incapacitate its personnel.
The same virus, or a slightly different strain of it, was used against the crew
of Space Beacon Nerva, though there it was transmitted via the Cybermats. In
both cases, the physical symptoms of the virus included the formation of a
network of black lines on the victim's skin, following their nervous system
which the virus had paralysed. The virus could either kill, as in the Nerva
affair, or render its victims comatose. The Cybermen call it neurotrope X.
Other wonders of Cyber technology include the cloaking device which renders
their spacecraft invisible, and a substance which when released into the air
supply of human space installations turns the oxygen into pure ozone, killing
the crew. The Cybermen can also probe the memories of controlled humans for
information which may be useful to them, transmitting it to each other with
their communications devices in the form of visual images of places and people.
But their most formidable and frightening technical achievement is their
astro-engineering, one example of which is their ability to ionise stars and
causing them to explode.
The Cybermen have so far failed to develop their own time travel technology.
They once stole a primitive time machine from another race and used it in their
attempt to alter Earth's history, but their plan was defeated by the Doctor and
the machine was destroyed when Cyber Control on Telos blew up.
The Cybermen have used androids, which roughly resemble humans in basic design
but have no facial features and are equipped with lethal heat rays, on at least
one occasion. In the Cyber attack on the space station known as the Wheel a
crude servo robot was encountered by the Doctor.
One of their most frequently used weapons has been the Cybermats. It is not
known whether these were originally living organisms, perhaps native to Mondas
or Telos, which have been cybernetically augmented. Operated by remote control
using radio waves, they can be used in a variety of deadly ways. They seek out
their victims by homing in on their brainwaves, and once in close proximity to
them emit radio impulses from their antennae on a frequency which causes illness
or unconsciousness. Cybermats can communicate with each other and co-ordinate
their actions, also by means of radio.
In the attack on Nerva Beacon the Cybermats were used to spread the neurotrope X
plague, each one containing a certain amount of the virus with which it injected
the humans it attacked. In this affair the Doctor was able to modify the device
by which the Cybermats were controlled, and having loaded one with gold dust -
gold being lethal to Cybermen, as we shall see later - turned it against its
controllers, programming it to inject them with the substance. In the Wheel
affair, the Cybermats had been used to destroy the space station's supply of a
metal called bernalium, vital for the functioning of its defence systems, by
somehow causing it to corrode until useless.
As with the Cybermen themselves, the design of the Cybermats has changed over
the years. On Telos and the Wheel they resembled a kind of giant silverfish; by
the time of the Nerva incident, which took place many years later, their
appearance was more like that of a slug.
Cybermats can be neutralised using the sound waves emitted by the Doctor's sonic
screwdriver (which don t seem to affect the Cybermen themselves, as he has never
tried to use the device against them) or their communications interfered with by
the generation of a strong electrical field. It is possible to knock them out
using bullets, but this is a far less efficient method.
The weapons of the Cybermen themselves have been altered and modified many
times. In the Doctor's first encounter with them, they used hand-held weapons,
short baton-like affairs, which killed or stunned by directing a powerful
electrical charge at an enemy. Later, they projected this charge directly from
their hands. During the Wheel affair they were seen to project a lethal ray of
energy from the respiratory equipment on their chests. Another energy beam, from
their helmets, could take over a person's mind (it could be blocked by fixing a
metal plate to the back of the neck). In their 1968 invasion of Earth the
Cybermen used both hand-held weapons, which threw jets of flame, and the
chest-mounted death ray. By the time of the Nerva affair the chest-mounted
weapon had been entirely dispensed with, and the hand weaponry (which again
killed using electricity) was supplemented by a gun built into the top of the
head, which fired bullets containing a knock-out substance.
Modern Cybermen employ mainly hand weapons, the X-ray laser being the one most
commonly used. They use thermal lances for cutting through doors. Explosives
employed include cobalt bombs, several of which (or only one, if it is placed on
a geological fault line) can destroy an entire planet.
The Cybermen can be destroyed by their own weapons, or by shells and high
explosive. Normally light energy weapons merely slow them down, and are not
lethal unless the fire is heavily concentrated. Bullets will have no effect
unless one chances to hit one of the tubes carrying the hydraulic fluid which is
their lifeblood around their body, or some other vital component. At close range
it is possible to destroy a Cyberman by shooting it through its mouth grille. A
knife may be used to cut one of the fluid tubes, but one is rarely able to
safely get close enough to the Cyberman to do this.
In the past, Cybermen have exhibited a number of weaknesses, all of which have
been successfully used against them. In their first invasion of Earth they
proved vulnerable to radioactivity, exposure to which caused them to cease
functioning. In the Moonbase affair, the Doctor's companions were able to
destroy them by squirting a combination of various different solvents, some
derived from nail varnish remover, at their chest units, which dissolved the
plastic of which they were composed. On the Wheel the Cybermen could be
destroyed, like the Cybermats, by strong electrical fields or by spraying liquid
plastic onto their chest units (the latter has a damaging effect on their
circuitry when it hardens).
In the process of modifying and improving themselves over the years the Cybermen
may well have eliminated all these defects; certainly, there is no record of any
of them being exploited more than once by their enemies. The one weakness which
they have not yet managed to overcome, and which has been continually and
successfully used against them, playing a major part in their defeat in the
Cyberwars, is their vulnerability to gold. As the perfect non-corrodable metal,
it plates their breathing apparatus and in effect suffocates them; consequently,
they feel towards it something like the fear and hatred experienced by organic
beings. It has a destructive effect not just on the cyborgs themselves but on
all their technology, including the Cybermats.
Although their lack of emotion and mental divergence would seem to make a
ranking system pointless, the Cybermen are organised in a rigid military-style
hierarchy, and any outstepping of a Cyberman's appointed function is immediately
corrected. Their ultimate leader is the Cyber Controller, who remains
permanently on the Cybermen's home planet and whose appearance is different in
certain respects from those of other Cybermen, with a differently designed head
piece. Below him are Senior Leaders, who command the equivalent of a brigade on
Earth, Leaders, Cyberleaders (who at one time were distinguished by their black
helmets) and Junior Leaders, and finally the mass of ordinary Cyberwarriors.
Some Cybermen have in the past had specialised functions, such as the Cyber
Planner, who stored and assessed all information likely to be of use to the
Cyber race. In any case little more than a brain, with no physical functions,
the Cyber Planner eventually became entirely a computer, its body and limbs
dispensed with. All its functions are now performed by the Cyber Controller.
Despite frequent reverses of fortune, the Cybermen were for many years almost as
serious a threat to galactic peace and liberty as the Daleks. In the
twenty-sixth century a number of planets united against them, and there followed
a series of wars in which, seriously handicapped by both their vulnerability to
gold and a shortage of "donors", they were almost entirely annihilated. The
Cybermen's aspirations received a further setback with the destruction of their
control centre on Telos, which meant the end of the Cyber race on that world and
perhaps altogether. However there are always a number of Cybermen who are absent
from the home planet, wherever it might be, on expeditions to obtain new
subjects for conversion, and it is for this reason that the Cyber race is never
likely to be completely wiped out.
DAEMONS
Planet of origin: Damos
The Daemons (22 May to 19 June 1971)
Writer: Guy Leopold
The Daemons are one of the most advanced races ever to have existed in the
cosmos. They would appear to have been at least as powerful as the Osirans,
perhaps even more so. Unlike them however the Daemons were entirely unfeeling,
logical creatures.
The race originated on the planet Damos, 60,000 light years from Earth on the
opposite side of the Milky Way. They were scientists of a rather amoral kind,
experimenting with lesser species much as they pleased in order to satisfy their
intellectual curiosity. They visited other planets and largely through psychic
influence assisted the development of the dominant life form, in some cases
returning periodically to give its evolution a push. On Earth, they were partly
responsible for the discovery of fire, the wheel, the Industrial Revolution and
all the other great scientific achievements. Eventually, once it was advanced
enough to understand what it was being offered, and if it were deemed
sufficiently responsible, the chosen race would be granted a share in the
Daemons' enormous powers. In this way, the Daemons could ensure that something
of their achievement would survive should anything cause their kind to die out.
One member of the race would remain behind on the planet, in suspended animation
within his spacecraft, until such time as the species might be thought to have
reached the right stage in its development, when he would awake to assess its
worth. The Daemon would give its powers to a responsible individual who would
become the planet's leader. If no such person was forthcoming or the species was
not deemed trustworthy they would destroy it.
At some point, perhaps because of similar factors to those which may have caused
the demise of the Osirans, the Daemons all became extinct, except for the one
who had been left behind on Earth to assess humanity's suitability to inherit
his powers. This Daemon, Azal, was woken by the Master using psionic powers
which had originally been developed by the Daemons themselves, and which the
rogue Time Lord had learnt about as part of his research into them. They
included the ability to manipulate objects through telekinesis and to control
elementals - impersonal primitive spirits whose destructive tendencies could be
harnessed either for good or for evil. They could be used to control a person's
mind, either through hypnosis or in more subtle ways, and have physical effects,
such as unusual strength, on the controlled person.
Evidently there had been some malfunction in the equipment which was to revive
Azal, for although he announced that the time had come for his awakening, he
told the Master that without him "I should still sleep as I have slept these
many centuries."
The Master hoped he could persuade Azal to bequeath him his powers and make him
ruler of Earth. Here, two interesting points may repay consideration. Though
Azal knew the Master, as a Time Lord, was not strictly speaking a human, this
seemed to make no difference to him. He did however ask at one stage for "the
other not of this planet" - the Doctor - to be brought before him. For the
Daemons' purposes it did not seem to matter if a planet's appointed ruler was
not native to it; Azal may have felt that a Time Lord would be an ideal ruler
for Earth, since there were many similarities, as well as differences, between
the Time Lord race and the human, and at the same time the former's abilities
could be used to guide humanity's affairs so as to prevent it doing too much
damage.
Secondly, it is strange that in all his later encounters with the Doctor the
Master never again used his psionic powers against his enemy. They were not
derived from Azal himself, who was awoken some time after the Master is first
known to have used them, so could not have been lost when the Daemon died.
There was a certain risk in the Master's summoning up Azal. The latter sensed
that in Earth's case the Daemons' experiments had been a failure. Strife,
prejudice and greed abounded; pollution was spoiling the planet and nuclear war
threatened to devastate it. There was a strong possibility that he would have to
destroy it, along with the Master (Daemons resent being summoned by inferior
beings, who unless they can justify their doing so may be severely punished for
their impudence).
To the Doctor the Daemons had done nothing but harm. When he confronted Azal he
argued that their interference in Man's development had caused humanity to
develop its technological skills faster than the ability to use them wisely.
"....Thanks to you, {Man} can now blow up the world, and he probably will. He
can poison his rivers, his land and the very air he breathes with the filthy
by-products of his knowledge." Azal was unimpressed by this; Daemons don't like
to be put in the right by lesser beings. All the above meant was that Man was a
failure and should be destroyed unless a leader could be found who could force
him to learn the error of his ways. Azal eventually decided to pass on his power
to the Doctor, but the latter refused, saying Earth people must find their own
answers to their own problems. But Azal could not agree. His instructions had to
be followed to the letter, and were quite clear; he was to bequeath his powers
or destroy everything. He decided to bestow them on the Master, and declared
that as the Doctor was irrational - the sensible thing to do would surely have
been to accept the wonderful gift Azal was offering him - he must die. To the
Daemons logic is all-important, to the extent that whatever goes against it must
be destroyed.
Physically, the Daemons have an unfortunate resemblance to the traditional image
of the devil, and may be the explanation for many of the demonic creatures of
Terran mythology (here it may be noted that in Judaeo-Christianity Azael was one
of the fallen angels). They are bipedal creatures whose torso, arms and, apart
from the two horns which spring from it, head are humanoid. Their lower halves
are covered with shaggy fur, with legs ending in hooves like those of a goat.
They have cruel-looking faces with pointed ears and sharp canine teeth.
The Daemons' powers are truly awesome. They appear omniscient; Azal knows,
without being told, that the Master's latest attempt to kill the Doctor has
failed, and that the two are of the same race. They can vaporise other life
forms by directing a ray of intense heat at them from their pointing fingers.
Inside their bodies is a massive store of energy, the source of their powers,
which when a Daemon dies is released in an enormous and devastating explosion.
The Daemons can diminish or increase themselves and their spacecraft, as well as
any object they choose, in size. The exact limits to this ability are unclear,
but according to the Doctor Azal's spacecraft had been reduced on landing from
200 feet to a few inches in length, while the Daemon himself could be anything
from 30 feet tall down to the size of a grain of pepper. The effects of this
alteration in size upon the Daemon's environment are profound. When its mass is
reduced the energy is lost as heat, causing a sudden and uncomfortable rise in
temperature; when it gains mass, the temperature in its vicinity falls rapidly
and those who get too close to it are liable to freeze to death.
Daemons can interfere with the molecular structure of a planet's atmosphere.
Azal used this property to create a heat barrier around the village of Devil's
End in Wiltshire, the scene of his awakening, in order to isolate it from the
outside world so he could continue with his task in peace. Any person or object
coming into contact with the barrier was immediately incinerated. Such phenomena
as the heat barrier are sustained in being by the Daemon which created them, and
disappear should that Daemon be destroyed.
It is possible to attack a Daemon through the very effects it produces on its
environment. The Doctor was able to build a machine which neutralised the heat
barrier, and this had a kind of feedback effect on Azal, causing him to become
disorientated and confused. Life forms created by the Daemons, such as Bok (see
below), can also be attacked in this way. Unfortunately, a fault in the machine
caused it to explode before it could be directly used against Azal.
A Daemon can also change the nature of matter, transforming silicon into
something like living tissue and charging the resulting quasi-organism with its
own energy. The Master used Azal's power to bring to life a stone church
gargoyle called Bok, which like Azal could vaporise objects and people with a
ray of heat. If disintegrated by shells or high explosives, these creatures will
immediately reassemble. They become inert if the controlling Daemon is
destroyed.
It is possible, within limits and for a brief period only, to control a Daemon
using the same psionic energy by which it was summoned in the first place, but a
considerable amount is required. One should not attempt to summon a Daemon on

one's own. The more people are involved in the summoning ceremony, the greater
is the power generated and thus the chance of successfully controlling the
Daemon. Often the ceremony involves a human sacrifice, whose fear increases the
level of psionic energy. All one can do however is to confine it to a limited
area; it is not possible to destroy it or force it to give up its power against
its will.
It may be noted that on one occasion the Doctor was able to repel Bok by
brandishing a steel trowel at him - iron being a traditional means of defence
against witchcraft - while at the same time uttering a magical incantation. What
the scientific explanation for his ability to do this - for there must have been
one - was we can only guess at.
As noted above, the Daemons are creatures of logic and rationality. So much so,
in fact, that irrationality confuses and disturbs them. So reliant are they
psychologically on logic that confounding it can have fatal consequences; when
Azal announced that the Doctor must die, Jo Grant bravely and unthinkingly threw
herself in front of him and this example of irrational sentiment in its most
extreme form - amoral beings such as the Daemons would be sure to regard
self-sacrifice as illogical - was such a shock to Azal that it killed him.
Daemon spacecraft are silvery, roughly cylindrical affairs weighing some 750
tons, which upon landing on a planet bury themselves deep in the ground. They
are linked psychically to their owners, so that the latter's death causes them
to self-destruct; Daemons don't want their technology to be in the possession of
inferior beings without their permission.
DALEKS
The Daleks (21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964)
The Dalek Invasion Of Earth (21 November 1964 to 26 December 1964)
Mission To The Unknown ((9 October 1965)
The Power Of The Daleks (5 November 1966 to 10 December 1966)
The Evil Of The Daleks (20 May to 1 July 1967)
Day Of The Daleks (1 to 22 January 1972)
Writer: Louis Marks
Frontier In Space (24 February to 31 March 1973)
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
Planet Of The Daleks (7 April to 12 May 1973)
Death To The Daleks (23 February to 16 March 1974)
Genesis Of The Daleks (8 March to 12 April 1975)
Destiny Of The Daleks (1 to 22 September 1979)
Resurrection Of The Daleks (8 to 15 February 1984)
Writer: Eric Saward
Revelation Of The Daleks (23 to 30 March 1985)
Writer: Eric Saward
Remembrance Of The Daleks (5 to 26 October 1988)
Writer: Ben Aaronovitch
The Daleks are the oldest, and without question the most enduring, of the
Doctor's enemies. They originated on the planet Skaro, the outcome of a war
between two humanoid races, the Kaleds and the Thals, which lasted for thousands
of years. Eventually, it was realised that radiation from the nuclear weapons
used by both sides was causing the Kaleds to gradually mutate. Davros, a
brilliant, severely crippled Kaled scientist, believed this trend was
irreversible and decided to work with it. It could not be arrested, but its
course could be predicted and influenced so as to determine the final result. He
sought to ensure that the organism the Kaleds would become - essentially an
amoeba-like creature with, at best, vestigial arms and legs - was as functional
as possible, designing for it a mobile casing containing computers and other
equipment which would assist and augment its life processes (and fitted with
guns, for the idea was that they would serve as weapons against the Thals, as
well as be able to defend themselves against aggression). However Davros
intended to go further than this. He used the opportunity to fulfil his dream of
creating a perfect species, which under his leadership - for Davros was a
megalomaniac - could dominate all others. He genetically altered those Kaleds in
whom the mutation was already far advanced so as to eliminate from them all the
benign emotions and increase those which would suit them for conquest. Pity,
compassion, and love were dispensed with; the Daleks, as Davros named his
creations, were to be without conscience. The Dalek creed is concerned simply
with conquering and enslaving other species in order to prove Dalek superiority
over them. It is fascism, pure and simple.
Unlike the Cybermen the Daleks retain the ability to reproduce; this is no
longer accomplished sexually but by a form of cloning. This cloning perpetuates
the eradication by Davros of all the more positive emotional characteristics.
Whenever a new Dalek is created, it is immediately installed in the travel
machine which has been constructed for it in automated workshops.
Davros appears to have genuinely believed, in a perverse kind of way, that his
creations would be a force for good; their dominance over all other life forms
would ensure stability. He was less certain that he could control them in the
long run, and devised a computer program to limit their actions. This proved
ineffective and he soon found them refusing to obey his orders. When he tried to
shut down the Dalek production line they responded by killing him. The Daleks
then embarked upon a campaign of conquest which has continued ever since, though
not without setbacks. They are the most formidable military power in the
Universe. They exterminated the surviving humanoid Kaleds, then turned their
attention to the Thals, who were eventually driven from Skaro.
The process of mutation is still going on amongst the organic Daleks, and not
all of them have changed in quite the same way. Currently, of the two principal
Dalek factions, the "renegade" Daleks are entirely ameboid while the "Imperial"
Daleks have functional appendages, ending in claw-like hands, and a kind of
mechanical prosthesis grafted onto their bodies. Some Daleks have been reported
to resemble spider-like creatures, and one unconfir-med account even suggests a
vaguely humanoid appearance.
The Dalek casing is made from a material called bonded polycar-bide. Its
functions are controlled by the creature inside it, either using its limbs, if
it has any, or by its mental power. Internal computers monitor and control the
Dalek's life processes, assist it in solving problems and with making tactical
decisions on the battlefield, and record and store all its knowledge. When not
preoccupied with exterminating people Daleks will take every opportunity to
gather information on something, in case it proves useful to them at some future
date.
The casing is equipped with three moveable appendages:
(1) A lens on a stalk projecting from the domed top of the casing; the latter is
rotatable through 360 degrees, thus giving the Dalek all-round vision.
(2) A gun which fires a lethal ray of heat that kills most life forms
immediately, also cutting through rope and leaving scorch marks on metal. The
ray has to strike the head or body squarely to cause death; if it does not, it
may still inflict pain or injury. Currently, the gun kills by causing massive
internal displacement. It appears to have at least several different settings;
it can be used to merely paralyse someone, temporarily or permanently, or, at
maximum intensity, destroy an entire spaceship.
It is interesting to note that in one of the Doctor's encounters with the
Daleks, the latter's Ogron servants were armed with guns which disintegrated
matter (both living and non-living). Why the Daleks themselves have never been
equipped with such weapons is not clear.
Where the Daleks' normal weaponry has been for some reason unable to function,
for example on the planet of the Exxillons, they have substituted a simple
though effective percussion weapon.
The Imperial Daleks have a Special Weapons Dalek which supplements the firepower
of individual Daleks in major encounters with enemy forces. This Dalek, whose
casing is of a different shape from all the others, is equipped with a single
more powerful weapon whose blast can destroy several enemy soldiers at the same
time.
(3) An arm ending in a powerful suction cup. As well as gripping and
manipulating objects this serves several other important functions. It is a
sensitive scanning device used on Dalek prisoners to detect concealed weapons,
and also a means by which its owner can interface with Dalek technology.
Computers and other equipment usually have an aperture into which the arm can be
inserted, allowing the Dalek to operate the machine or access its store of
information. In tasks at which the sucker would prove too clumsy it can be
removed and replaced with other appendages.
The casing is equipped with an automatic distress-call, which goes on
functioning for a while after the Dalek is deactivated, and a self-destruct
facility. The latter can be triggered accidentally.
Daleks have very literal, logical minds, reaching decisions by gradual reasoning
rather than intuitive flashes. They are totally lacking in imagination, which
means it is impossible to control them using any form of hypnosis.
Although in recent years different Dalek factions have emerged, the Daleks
within each of these groups have no individual personalities and thus are able
to swiftly reach agreement on how to solve problems; this has been one important
ingredient in the race's past success.

Daleks are not entirely without feelings. They are not incapable of experiencing
an emotion akin to fear, especially when their weaponry is for some reason
non-functional, or their vision is impaired (a Dalek whose "eye" is destroyed or
covered will career in all directions, squawking in agitation), thus rendering
them vulnerable. The tendency of Daleks to be easily panicked by certain things,
screeching loudly in their harsh metallic voices, is one reason why the Doctor
finds them particularly irritating.
Something else which frightens the Daleks is being faced with an adversary such
as the Doctor, who presents a particularly serious threat to their plans. They
respond to this threat by becoming even more vicious and ruthless towards their
enemies and subjects; as in certain humans, vulnerability makes them aggressive.
When they have failed to overawe someone or dominate them through fear, they
resort to long rambling speeches in which they repeat their usual stock-in-trade
threats and boasts about Dalek superiority over "inferior" species. If things
have been going particularly well for them, Daleks will be overcome with
exultation, their voices rising to a deafening crescendo as they declare their
intention to exterminate or conquer the lesser races and triumph over all
opposition to become the dominant life form in the UnivEEEEERRRRRRRSSSSSE!!!!!!!
Daleks have no culture, and no interest in beauty. As with the Cybermen, they
see value only in conquest.
The Daleks' programming does not permit them to acknowledge any creature
superior to themselves. Even agreements with other species, on the rare
occasions when they are forced to make them, will be made to seem like an order.
They are fiercely xenophobic and will generally kill non-Daleks, whom they are
programmed to instantly recognise, on sight, unless requiring them for slaves or
to gloat over.
The usual procedure on conquering a planet is to wipe out the majority of the
population, leaving a small number of survivors as slave labour. The Daleks see
this as the best way of emphasising their superiority. They are more likely to
spare humanoid enemies than non-humanoid ones, for they regard the former as
particularly useful "work units". The Daleks' slaves labour in harsh conditions
and are only allowed to rest when they are utterly exhausted.
A small group of humans may be permitted to rule over all others on the Daleks'
behalf, but these people are themselves no more than superior slaves. They have
certain privileges, but can do little on their own initiative; any deviation
from absolute obedience to the Daleks is punishable by death.
Slavery is not the only fate prisoners of the Daleks are likely to suffer. The
Daleks will frequently use members of conquered races in their scientific
experiments, regardless of the effects upon them, which may include horrific
mutations.
The Daleks are ruthless in crushing all opposition, and will retaliate savagely
against any blow dealt them by rebels against their rule. A favourite practice
of theirs is to select groups of hostages for extermination until the rebels
surrender.
Like the Cybermen they make no promises to other races unless there is some
tactical value in doing so, and they always renege on them at the first
opportunity.
The Daleks can also be ruthless with their own kind, among whom failure is not
tolerated and in extreme cases is punished by extermination, even though there
is no real scope for inefficiency since their race lacks individual initiative
and is only as good as its programming. At one time a Dalek's dedication to its
cause was such that it would self-destruct if it failed in any important task;
this facility was later dispensed with. The Doctor would say that this was
because if the Daleks self-destructed every time they failed there wouldn't be
any of them left.
Once they have established their control over a planet, the Daleks rule by proxy
and are seldom seen, delegating most routine tasks to quislings. The conquered
planet's mineral resources are soon exhausted by the Daleks and carried back to
their homeworlds. Within a few years it is a barren, lifeless wasteland.
The Daleks' inventive genius has made them one of the leading powers of the
universe. They are great technicians, despite lacking the intuitive abilities
which some would say scientific progress requires. As we have seen, they are
skilled at germ warfare, frequently using it in their efforts to conquer other
races. They have developed viruses which if necessary can wipe out all life on a
planet within weeks.
Not all their great scientific ventures have met with success. They were
ultimately unable to develop the power of invisibility, despite carefully
studying the natives of Spiridon, who already possessed it. The Spiridons made
use of a naturally occurring anti-reflecting lightwave; unfortunately, to
artificially create this lightwave required an enormous amount of power, and the
Daleks could only maintain their invisibility for short periods. Sometimes the
process also had dangerous side effects, causing all a Dalek's systems to break
down.
They also failed in their ambitious scheme to remove the Earth's magnetic core
and replace it with a power system which would have enabled them to use the
planet as kind of mobile base for their attempts at conquest. This, however, was
mainly due to the efforts of the Doctor and a group of human resistance
fighters.
Perhaps the most remarkable, and potentially most dangerous, achievement of
Dalek science is their temporal technology. At some point they developed simple
time travel devices, small enough for a human to hold in their hand. At the same
time they discovered how to monitor the time vortex and detect the use of enemy
time machines, though only within a narrow spatial range. They could then trace
the signal to its source and send themselves or their agents through time to
intercept the enemy, but only within the same limited spatial range.
Alternatively, using a machine called a magnetron, the enemy could be diverted
in the Space/Time Vortex and materialise inside the nearest Dalek base.
Later the Daleks developed bigger, more sophisticated and more efficient time
machines, which were dimensionally transcendental like the TARDISes of the Time
Lords.
Both Dalek factions have the ability to create corridors through the Space/Time
vortex, along which they can travel to particular locations in the past or
future, although the Imperial Daleks now mainly use timeships, spacecraft which
also have the capability to travel in time. The time corridor is created and
maintained in existence by a small spherical device the size of a football,
called a time controller.
The Daleks' time technology is fortunately relatively clumsy and primitive. At
one point, they sought to give themselves proper control of time by stealing the
Hand of Omega, the remote stellar manipulator which by releasing the energies
inside stars gave the Time Lords their awesome powers. The Doctor however
programmed the Hand to enter Skaro's sun and turn it into a supernova,
destroying the Dalek homeworld and with it the majority of the Dalek species.
The Daleks' technological ability compensates to some extent for the physical
limitations of their casings and weaponry; they rely on brains, rather than
brawn, for their success.
The method by which the Daleks conquer a planet reveals their awesome military
power. They bombard it with missiles containing lethal viruses which are
released when the warhead explodes on impact with the surface. By this means the
population can be decimated, or if desired wiped out altogether. The Daleks may
also use long-range energy beams or lasers, transmitted from space, to destroy
heavily populated areas. In addition they have found a means of diverting
meteorites from their path and bombarding planets with them.
Dalek spacecraft (which at one time tended to be disc-shaped, often resembling
the archetypal "flying saucer" of popular Earth fiction) have highly destructive
powers. Their weaponry can crack open whole planets like eggshells and their
surveillance equipment is capable of identifying very small objects at a
distance of thousands of miles. A saucer in atmospheric flight can detect
targets on the ground, whether moving or stationary, and destroy them.
Originally the Daleks were led by a Supreme Controller, or Dalek Supreme, with a
black casing distinguishing it from the other Daleks, which were brown in
colour. The Dalek Supreme was assisted by a number of deputies, whose casings
were also black. Beneath these Black Daleks are the mass of Daleks, each of whom
performs a specialised function. Most are warriors, but others serve as
engineers and scientists, often spending most of their time connected up to
their equipment. All are equipped with offensive weaponry, and so can serve in a
military capacity if the occasion demands it.
The effects of the Movellan virus, and the return of Davros, upset the Dalek
political hierarchy. The virus almost completely wiped out the Dalek species,
and destroyed all its military power. There remained only a small number of
isolated groups, scattered over several galaxies. Before these could succeed in
recombining, other factors had come into play. The first was Davros. The last of
the Kaleds was not actually dead; having realised that the Daleks might rebel
against him, he had built into the mobile life-support system upon which he was
dependent a shielding device which protected him from the brunt of a Dalek gun's
blast, although he nevertheless suffered tissue damage and had to retreat into
suspended animation so that the damaged cells could regenerate. Suspecting this
to be the case, the Daleks had attempted to recover him from the underground
bunker where he had appeared to die, and where his body was subsequently left to
rot, in the hope that the genius who had created them could find a way to break
the stalemate they had reached in their war with the Movellans. This plan was
scotched by the Doctor's intervention, and Davros was taken to Earth to be tried
for his crimes against sentient life forms. Mercenaries working for the Daleks
later rescued him from the space station where he was serving his life
imprisonment. Although the Movellan deadlock had by now been broken by the
virus, Davros' usefulness to the Daleks was nevertheless considerable. Because
he still had human emotions, along with his technical brilliance, he would be a
crucial asset to the Daleks as their leader, avoiding the tactical stalemates in
which their rigid logic had often trapped them in the past. In the meantime, he
could help them recover from the shattering defeat inflicted on them by the
Movellans. But Davros wished to help the Daleks only on his own terms; he would
have to be recognised as their undisputed ruler. He was able, as no-one else had
ever done, to devise a way of controlling the Daleks' minds, and converted a
number of them to his cause before it was realised what he was seeking to do.
There followed a civil war, with the Dalek race divided principally between the
"Imperial" Daleks (Davros' - his megalomania led him to style himself Emperor)
and the renegades, those who refused to accept his rule, led by the former Dalek
Supreme. The Imperial Daleks, the larger of the two factions, were based on the
old home planet of Skaro. Their white casings distinguished them from the
Renegades, whose casings were black like that of their leader. Daleks value
racial purity, and the antagonism between the Renegade and Imperial Daleks was
reinforced by the different courses their mutation had begun to take.
Each Dalek faction has its own engineers and scientists. There are believed to
be other factions besides the two already mentioned, but these have had little
effect.
Various strengths and weaknesses are common to all Daleks. For a long time, a
major disadvantage of the Dalek mobile casing was its inability, lacking any
kind of legs, to climb onto raised structures. In some cases the Daleks were
able to overcome this problem by using anti-gravitational devices in the form of
disc-shaped platforms, capable of carrying several of them at once, which could
rise a considerable distance into the air. Generally however they were forced to
use bipedal life forms such as Ogrons or humans as slaves or mercenaries, these
being much more able to climb stairways in pursuit of an enemy, as well as move
faster than seems to be possible for the Dalek casing. The Daleks later
developed the ability to levitate themselves bodily, using gravitational
engineering of the sort which had powered the anti-gravity discs. However, a
Dalek still moves relatively slowly and humans can outrun it fairly easily,
although they must still avoid being hit by its gun before they have moved out
of its range. For this reason Daleks are still to a great extent reliant on
two-legged life forms as servants.
As well as slaves or mercenaries, the Daleks for a short time made use of the
Robomen. They operated on some of their human prisoners and as well as
artificially augmenting their strength turned them effectively into robots,
lacking any free will and controlled by radio waves via receivers built into the
special helmets they wore. Eventually the effectiveness of the operation wore
off; the process damaged the Roboman's brain, causing him to go mad and commit
suicide. A constant supply of subjects for robotisation, taken from the enslaved
human population, was necessary to compensate for the high rate at which this
happened. The process was altogether extremely wasteful and there are no other
recorded instances of its use, suggesting it was soon abandoned. The only
advantage of using Robomen was that the Daleks always knew when one was
attacked, for their radio link with it was cut off. Removing the helmet broke
the connection and also, unfortunately, killed the Roboman.
The Daleks may also from time to time use androids, which can be designed to
resemble existing people so as to facilitate infiltration of an enemy base,
mind-controlled humans (who sometimes, though not always, die if the control is
broken suddenly) or Replicas. The Replicas are genetically engineered copies of
non-Dalek life forms. In the only known instance of their use one of them,
Stein, proved too human and rebelled against the Daleks, helping the Doctor to
sabotage another of their attempts to invade Earth. Unless this drawback can be
overcome it is likely that use of the Replicas will have to be discontinued.
The Daleks are able to replicate people without having first studied the
originals; it is not clear how this is accomplished.
A Dalek can be overturned by two or more sufficiently strong humans. It is then
unable to right itself, but its guns may still kill unless disabled, should
anyone be unlucky enough to come within their range.
Light energy weapons, such as hand blasters, generally have no effect on Daleks,
making their casings spin round at best. Excep-tions are those used by the
Movellans, which can puncture the casing and destroy the vital equipment inside.
The energy bolts fired by the servo-probe in the city of the Exxillons could
cause a Dalek to blow up.
Daleks can be destroyed by reasonably powerful explosives, or by dropping very
heavy weights (such as a large rock) onto their casings.
Originally, the Daleks were reliant on the static electricity in the metal
floors of their installations for their continued operation, and thus unable to
leave them. When the electricity was cut off, they were either killed or simply
deactivated. Later however they managed to overcome this drawback; they can now
travel over any more or less solid surface, though uneven terrain causes them
some difficulty. (Daleks can move about with ease underwater as well as on land.
It is not known whether they can function effectively in the vacuum of space).
The Daleks communicate with each other by means of radio impulses, which were at
one time transmitted from a single point (the Daleks who took part in the
invasion of Earth, and subsequent operations on the planet, in the twenty-second
century were equipped with disc-shaped receivers on the backs of their casings
for picking up the impulses). If the transmitter were destroyed the feedback
would give them a severe shock, temporarily immobilising them. It is likely the
Daleks have now abandoned the inherently dangerous practice of locating vital
facilities in one place.
The guidance systems of an individual Dalek, or a small group of Daleks, can be
disrupted if the radio impulses are jammed.
Though masters at bacteriological warfare, the Daleks are themselves vulnerable
to certain viruses, as we have already seen. They were able to immunise
themselves against the bacteria they had engineered to wipe out all life on
Spiridon (which would otherwise be fatal to them), and were also unaffected by
the Exxillon plague (whether or not for natural reasons is unknown). However an
attempt to invade Mars was thwarted by a virus which attacked the insulation
cables of their electrical circuits; it may be that the virus acted too fast for
the Daleks to be immunised in time. They seem to have been unable to devise any
form of protection against the Movellan plague (it is believed Davros has now
found one).
Daleks are vulnerable to extremely low temperatures, becoming sluggish in their
movements and at sub-zero levels unable to function at all.
Either by themselves or in combination, the weaknesses detailed above cannot
explain why the Daleks have not been as successful as they would prefer (though
still managing to cause inestimable suffering, death and destruction).
Sometimes, simple misfortune may have played a part. Another obstacle to their
ambitions has arisen from the rigidly logical way in which their minds work.
This led to a serious problem when they found themselves at war with the equally
logical and literal Movellans. In battle, the making of tactical decisions is
only possible using intuition and instinct, qualities which neither side
possessed. As a result the protagonists were immediately trapped in a logical
impasse, with two vast battlefleets facing each other in perpetual deadlock,
unsure what the opening move in the conflict should be. In one of their most
obscene practices the Daleks have now got over this problem, which also arises
when rival Dalek factions come into conflict with each other, by hypnotically
enslaving a human - usually a pre-teen child - and linking its mind to their
battlecomputer. A child tends to be chosen because its mind is less governed by
considerations of logic than an adult's. The amalgamation of the child's mind
with that of the computer gives the child an adult-like intelligence, and when
not operating the computer it will act as the Daleks' agent locally. It will be
mentally linked also with the commander of local Dalek forces. If the
controlling Dalek is destroyed and the link broken, the child will be caused
considerable pain.
The child is also able to project lethal bolts of energy from its hands; whether
this is a product of cybernetic augmentation, or in some way a consequence of
its link with the Dalek computer, is unclear.
Their unswerving devotion to logic means that the Daleks are often unprepared
for, and confused by, the illogical and therefore unpredictable behaviour of
humanoid races. They also, like many other aggressive non-human species,
underestimate through an arrogant belief in their own infallibility Mankind's
resourcefulness and courage and its ingenuity when faced with hardship. Their
overconfidence in their ability to triumph, unshaken by major setbacks, is a
serious weakness. However it is also, when combined with their technical
brilliance and their ability to single-mindedly concentrate on fulfilling the
cause of victory, a major Dalek strength. They lack the capacity to be
demoralised by defeat, however crushing. Only when informed by the Doctor that
he had destroyed the entire Dalek species, and that it was the only one of its
kind left in the universe, did the Dalek Supreme, leader of the renegade Daleks
in their bid to gain possession of the Hand of Omega, self-destruct.
Such is the tenacity of the Daleks that the Time Lords foresaw a point at which
they would have annihilated all other life forms, and despatched the Doctor to
Skaro to destroy them at their birth, or affect their development so that they
evolved into less aggressive creatures. In the end only the first option proved
possible. The Doctor caused an explosion which wrecked Davros' laboratories;
this in fact only set the Dalek cause back by a few thousand years, but it was
nevertheless a serious blow to their ambitions. On top of this the effects of
the Movellan virus, the schism between the various Dalek factions, and finally
the destruction of Skaro, would seem to have finished the Daleks forever as a
major force. However, despite the Doctor's words to the Dalek Supreme, which
were designed to persuade it to surrender, there is no reason to regard this as
necessarily the case. The fact that the surviving Daleks were scattered across a
vast area may well have assisted their survival. In view of their strength and
endurance it seems rash to write them off; they may well return to plague the
universe once again.
DESTROYER
Battlefield (6 to 27 September 1989)
The Destroyer, also referred to as the Lord Of Darkness and Eater of Worlds, was
a being from another dimension who gloried in destruction and death, causing
them entirely for their own sakes. In its powers and properties it was similar
to a Daemon, not least in that killing it released a massive and lethal burst of
energy. It was one of a number of spirits - extra-dimensional beings, benign
or otherwise, who named themselves according to the tasks which they performed
in their universe; others included the Lightning, the Winds and Mists, the
Menders and the Healers. The Destroyer was summoned up by Morgaine, who herself
came from another dimension, to assist her in her bid to destroy the Doctor - or
"Merlin" as she thought of him - unless he returned the sword Excalibur to her,
using what some would have been called "magic" but must rather have been a form
of science more advanced than, or simply different from, that of modern Man.
Altogether the rituals needed to summon, and afterwards control, the Destroyer
are more complex, and require greater time, care and concentration, than those
for other spirits. No food or water must be taken for some time prior to the
summoning. The whole process is a difficult one, and if one's control slips, the
Destroyer will annihilate the entire world - always beginning with the person
who has summoned it. The ritual involved standing at the heart of an
octogrammatron, a symbol which enabled Morgaine to draw power from her own
dimension (where the creature would be powerless against her) to bind it. Silver
had a neutralising effect upon the creature, and by securing it with silver
chains Morgaine could render it harmless until she needed it.
The Destroyer was a being of fantastic power, who could easily have obliterated
the entire planet Earth. He was unharmed by any form of weapon - even a nuclear
missile strike would have been ineffective against him. He could project the
energy stored within himself to either stun or kill a person. He could also
generate a psychic field which could plant negative ideas inside people's heads
and make them behave aggressively towards each other.
The threat of the Destroyer was ended when Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart of UNIT
shot the creature with a silver bullet, almost losing his life in the explosion
which followed.
DINOSAURS
Planet of origin: Earth
Dr Who and The Silurians (31 January to 14 March 1970)
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs (12 January to 16 February 1974)
Dinosaurs is the collective name given to a wide range of reptilian species
which inhabited the planet Earth before the emergence of humanity, some of which
were kept as pets or trained to perform various tasks by the Silurians, the
sapient reptiles who at this time were the dominant species on Earth. Although
unintelligent, the dinosaurs were highly successful, as their incredible
diversity of shape and size and their durability - they flourished over many
millions of years - testify. They are deserving of treatment in a separate book,
of which a great many have in fact been written.
The Doctor has encountered dinosaurs on several occasions. There were a number
in the Silurian settlement discovered at Wenley Moor in Derbyshire, England; one
was a tyrannosaurus, a huge, bipedal flesh-eating animal which is thought to
have been the largest carnivore ever to have lived on Earth. Later, various
dinosaurs were brought forward in time to twentieth century London by a
scientist named Whittaker, who used them to cause havoc in the capital so that
it would be evacuated, leaving him free to pursue his clandestine time travel
experiments. Among them were a tyrannosaurus, a brontosaurus - a massive
herbivore, probably the planet's largest ever land animal - a stegosaurus (see
illustration), a horned triceratops, and one of the flying reptiles known as
pterodactyls.
The renegade Time Lady scientist known as the Rani took two Tyrannosaurus rex
embryos from the Cretaceous period on board her TARDIS for use in one of her
experiments; time spillage from a damaged component of the space/time vessel
accelerated their development and they began to grow rapidly into adults. She
was saved from becoming their first meal when their spines snapped against the
ceiling.
DRACONIANS
Planet of origin: Draconia
In the 25th century two species came to dominate the Milky Way galaxy,
colonising various planets until they had carved out vast empires in space. One
was Earth, the other Draconia.
The Draconians - or "Dragons" as they are colloquially referred to by some
humans (they view the term as insulting) - are humanoid in their basic
configuration and facial features, but their crested heads and scaly skin hint
at reptilian ancestry. They have to humans a frightening appearance, which is
rendered more so by the forked beards many of them wear.
Although Draconia is as technically advanced as Earth, its social system is
backward by the standards of most Terran countries. It is ruled by a hereditary
monarchy, with Princes and a Royal Court. Technically the Emperor has absolute
power - there is no such thing as a constitution - but in practice he can only
govern with the support of powerful noble families, who have been known to
depose a weak or overmighty Emperor, removing him suddenly and violently. Since,
as well as play a leading role in the armed forces, they provide the personnel
and machinery of government, to rule without them would be practically very
difficult as well as a radical breach of convention. It would also be
politically unwise. The nobles dislike being excluded from having a say in
affairs, for without one they can have no guarantee that their interests will be
protected. An Emperor who attempted to ignore their wishes would, like certain
kings of Medieval England (a society which Draconia resembles politically), find
himself in serious trouble.
Nobles and members of the royal family usually dominate in the diplomatic
profession, serving as ambassadors to foreign powers such as Earth, since it is
unthinkable that Draconia should be represented by someone of lowly birth. As
with many aristoc-racies, a certain arrogance goes with the nobles' station in
life, and since there are so many of them in the diplomatic services this can
sometimes make relations with other powers difficult.
Nothing remotely approaching democracy exists on Draconia, with only noblemen
being permitted to express opinions. The position of women is a lowly one; they
have no role in society outside the home, their principal function being to
produce children and carry out routine domestic tasks. They may not engage in
political activity or serve in the armed forces. Justice can be harsh, with
public executions not unknown, particularly of foreign nationals who violate
Draconian space (although in practice this is only likely if their homeworlds
are on particularly bad terms with Draconia). In its social structure, military
pride, the robes with high pointed shoulder pads that its aristocracy wear, and
in its having a Mikado (the Emperor), Draconia is reminiscent of Japan during
its Imperial era.
Draconian society is heavily based on deference. Everyone, including the Crown
Prince, the heir to the throne, must specifically request an audience with the
Emperor before they can speak to him. A familiar form of address is frowned on -
even where the emperor's own family are concerned, except presumably in purely
domestic matters. When greeting the Emperor Draconian nobles and members of the
royal family kiss his hand saying "my life at your command." Females may not
speak in his presence at all, unless they are from another culture, whose
peculiar customs must be respected.
Draconians are a proud people with a strong sense of honour, and like to think
they do not lie. They are not bloodthirsty barbarians, and although we do not
know whether any of the worlds they have conquered are inhabited it is likely
that subject peoples are treated humanely, perhaps being allowed a considerable
degree of freedom over their internal affairs.
The martial spirit pervades much of Draconian life, but Draconians are not as
militaristic as some of the other races the Doctor has encountered; they will go
to war only if provoked beyond endurance, or in defence of some vital interest
which cannot be safeguarded through peaceful means. By tacit or legal agreement
Draconia and Earth confine their empire-building to their respective halves of
the Milky Way and generally do not try to compete for possession of a territory.
Maintaining peaceful relations is made easier by the great distance between the
two planets, situated far apart on opposite "legs" of the galaxy. The
Terran-Draconian war started due to a misunderstanding arising from the
difference between the two cultures. Nowadays the peoples of Earth and Draconia
understand each other more and have learned to avoid such unfortunate incidents.
Although the humans find the Draconians to be repressive in their
socio-political arrangements, while the Draconians view democracy as
distasteful, each side has come to recognise that the other has a right to live
the way it wants - or at any rate that it is not pragmatic to try to enforce
change.
Draconians express anger by a sharp throwing back of the head, which may also be
an expression of superiority to, or disdain for, the person who has offended
them.
Draconians are particularly fond of the colour green, which predominates in the
decoration of their residential and other buildings. Their architecture exhibits
a lot of curved surfaces, which they find pleasing to the eye.
Draconian battlecruisers are armed with neutronic missiles.
DRASHIGS
Planet of origin: satellite of Grundle
Carnival Of Monsters (27 January to 17 February 1973)
Writer: Robert Holmes
Drashigs are huge, unintelligent, amphibious reptiles from one of the three
moons of the planet Grundle. Their natural habitat is swampy marshland, where
they congregate in large numbers. Although they have four legs, their long,
sinuous bodies and necks give them a serpent-like appearance. A Drashig's most
interesting, and conspicuous, feature are its four eyes, which are carried on
stalks on top of its head. Despite this characteristic Drashigs actually have
very poor vision, hunting their prey mainly by smell.
Drashigs are ferocious carnivores. Although their digestion can cope with
anything if they are hungry enough - they once ate an entire spaceship - they
prefer flesh when they can get it. Once Drashigs pick up the scent of meat they
will follow it remorselessly until the prey tires or is cornered. Where a whole
colony is involved the creatures will fight viciously over it, unless an
individual Drashig has managed to devour it before the others, afterwards
milling about the scene of the kill for some time.
That Drashigs have no intelligence centres, and so cannot be controlled, makes
them particularly dangerous. They are incredibly resilient, those on the Scope,
a peepshow of miniaturised life forms from all parts of the known universe owned
by intergalactic showman Vorg, being unaffected by the breakdown of the
machine's environmental maintenance systems, which caused the other creatures
within it to collapse.
As well as disintegrated by certain powerful energy weapons, like the Eradicator
of Inter Minor, Drashigs can be killed by sustained and intense fire from rifles
or machine guns such as those used on twentieth-century Earth, although the two
types of weapon are best used together.
ERGON
Arc Of Infinity (3 to 11 January 1983)
Writer: Johnny Byrne
For his second attempt to escape from the anti-matter universe in which he had
become trapped, and return to our own, which he sought to rule, the renegade
Time Lord known as Omega abandoned use of the Gell creatures (see below).
Instead, his principal servant was a creature described by the Doctor as an
Ergon. Like the Gells, it was created using the power of Omega's own mind. It
had a humanoid body, an external ribcage, and a crested head with a bird-like
beak. The Ergon was extremely strong and difficult to overpower physically, but
could be neutralised by energy weapons. The Doctor regarded it as one of Omega's
less successful attempts at psycho-synthesis.
As with the Gell creatures, there is no evidence that the Ergon was anything
other than a projection of Omega's will, possessing no sentience or intelligence
of its own. The creature's telepathic link with Omega enabled it to transfer
knowledge from a person's mind to that of its master. The Ergon would place a
hand against its captive's head and in some way the information would be
extracted, flowing through the creature and into Omega. Breaking the link caused
Omega pain.
ETERNALS
Enlightenment (1 to 9 March 1983)
Writer: Barbara Clegg
The Eternals are immortal beings who exist outside time, and so cannot die.
Their origins are unknown.
Such is the boredom and sterility of everlasting life that the Doctor describes
the Eternals as existing rather than living. They spend most of their time
attempting to relieve the monotony of immortality by playing games of whatever
kind takes their fancy, even if these involve using lesser life forms, who to
the Eternals are no more than toys, as pawns. It is not impossible that the
Celestial Toymaker, whose nature and motivation is strikingly similar to theirs,
is one of their number. They are completely amoral. Their spiritual poverty is
reflected in their cold, distant eyes and flat, dead voices.
Eternals can assume any physical form they choose; their true shape is unknown.
Their incredible mental powers, which approach those of the Guardians, include
telepathy and the ability to create objects using the thoughts and memories in
the minds of lesser intelligences. In this way Tegan Jovanka, one of the
Doctor's companions at the time of his encounter with them, was presented with a
complete and accurate replica of her room at home in Brisbane, Australia. Any
thought in the mind, whether of an action or an object, can be converted by the
Eternals into physical reality.
Eternals can freeze a person or an object in time, and also change the structure
of matter, among other things energising objects to turn them into bombs. With
all these properties they are able to dominate other beings with ease.
The Eternals collect the mortal beings - Ephemerals - who they use in their
games from many different planets and time zones. The form the games take varies
according to the Eternals' whims, although they draw on the Ephemerals' minds
for inspiration. When the Fifth Doctor encountered them they were holding a race
in space between replicas of ships from various periods of Earth's history,
making use of the solar wind to sail and with the atmosphere maintained for the
benefit of the Ephemeral crews by an invisible energy barrier. The ships were
copied using the memories of their kidnapped crews, who also provided the
blueprint for the human shape which the Eternals inhabited on this occasion.
Among other reasons, Ephemerals are used in the games because the crudity of
their minds and of their primitive emotions amuses the Eternals. The more cruel
of the latter are delighted by the fact that Ephemerals have such inventive ways
of inflicting pain. In the games the Eternals play, Ephemerals are from time to
time likely to die, but are expendable since the Eternals can always use their
powers to bring new Ephemerals into the game. The Eternals justify their
treatment of the Ephemerals by pointing out that the latter in any case tend to
live short and unhappy lives. The games must be played according to certain
rules, but these do not rule out underhand practices such as sabotage.
As with the Osirans, the Eternals' phenomenal powers are not limitless. It is
possible to distract an Eternal's attention, to break their concentration, even
if only for a brief moment, and so prevent them from being able to read one's
mind. If an Eternal is given enough things to think about at any one time, they
will become confused. One can also try to close one's mind and keep it empty of
thoughts, but this is impossible to do for long.
In fact, the Eternals' powers are dependent on a steady supply of Ephemeral
minds, without which they decline, making it easier to outwit them. Their blank
stares and zombie-like movements reflect among other things the fact that their
own minds are empty, devoid of imagination and ingenuity. They may therefore
require from time to time the assistance of a particularly powerful Ephemeral
mind, such as that of a Time Lord, in achieving their ends, particularly if they
find themselves in opposition to other Eternals.
One of the Eternals, Marriner, became infatuated with Tegan Jovanka; of all the
Ephemeral minds he had encountered hers was, to him, particularly fascinating
and full of life. He told her: "I'm empty...You give me being. I look into your
mind and I see life, I see energy, excitement. I want them. I want you."
One is inclined to feel a certain compassion for the Eternals, and particularly
Marriner with his inability to consummate his love for Tegan. However it is
noteworthy that the supposedly benevolent White Guardian expresses no sympathy
for them. It seems as it they are being punished for something, some action they
committed in the past, which may also have been the means by which they acquired
their present status (in a parallel with the Biblical doctrine of Original Sin).
The Guardian banished them all - including Marriner, regardless of his wish to
stay with Tegan - "back to whence you came....back to your echoing spaces, where
your existence is endless and meaningless. Back to the vastness of eternity." At
the same time he returned all their Ephemeral servants to their own time zones.
EXARIANS
Planet of origin: Exarius
Colony In Space (10 April to 15 May 1971)
Strictly speaking, there are, or were, three separate intelligent races on
Exarius rather than just one. At one time, the planet was the home of a highly
advanced and well-ordered civilisation. Like the inhabitants of Earth, these
humanoids discovered such things as the wheel, the steam engine, aeroplanes and
electronic science. Through genetic engineering the stratification of society,
already marked, was reinforced; its three classes became so different from one
another that each almost constituted a species in its own right. At the bottom
was the largest group, the working class, distinguished by being lightly dressed
or wearing no clothes at all. Above them was a smaller middle class, and above
the middle class an even more advanced caste who became the planet's rulers.
This last group was similar in appearance to the middle class, but much smaller
in stature; little bigger, in fact, than a child's doll. How many of this ruling
elite there were is unclear, but as with all ruling elites it was probably the
smallest group within society. It developed, together with the middle class, a
machine capable of destroying entire solar systems, which would have given the
Exarians control over the entire universe. This machine was tested on a star in
a distant galaxy, destroying it and so forming the Crab Nebula. It became known
by the Time Lords as the Doomsday Weapon.
However some deterioration set in in the life strain, apparently because of the
radiation from the machine, and there took place a cultural regression. Exarian
society reverted to barbarism, and the Doomsday Weapon was never used; in fact
the use of any form of technology was wholly abandoned. Examples of native art
from the period subsequent to the decline depict buildings in ruins and bodies
lying in massive heaps; it appears that either the genetic deterioration caused
many people to die, or the reversion to savagery brought war.
The populace developed a form of religion which saw machines as gods rather than
practical aids to survival and progress, with the middle class, much reduced in
number, as its priests. The refuell-ing of the Doomsday Machine with radioactive
isotopes became a religious ceremony. Criminals, or those who had offended
against the religion in some way - including outsiders - were sacrificed by
being thrown into the furnace of the machine's reactor. It appears from one of
the pictures in a fresco discovered by the Doctor on Exarius that one member of
the ruling super-race - possibly the last survivor - was also sacrificed at some
time (it is not apparent why). However, his powers enabled him to survive inside
the reactor, and this filled the other Exarians with a religious awe. He had
achieved the ultimate; he had survived death. In surviving the energies within
the machine, the superbeing became dependent on them for life. Unable to leave
the machine, and thus do much to bring about the revivification of Exarian
society, he remained inside it, worshipped by its fellow Exarians who saw him as
the divine Guardian of the Doomsday Machine. The fuelling of the machine's
reactor now acquired an additional importance, for it kept the super-being
alive.
The working class, whose genetic programming had not bestowed on them a great
deal of intelligence in the first place (as was the intention of their rulers,
who wanted to remove any capacity on their part to organise a successful
rebellion) became wholly savage in their way of life, leading colonists from
Earth to term them Primitives. Basically humanoid in form, the "Primitives" wear
no clothes apart from a brief loincloth, and paint their bodies with dyes made
from rocks. They revere technology, treating all items of machinery as one might
sacred relics. The belts, necklaces and armbands with which they sometimes adorn
themselves are decorated with shaped bits of metal, springs, or nuts and bolts -
relics of their former scientific age. They occasionally purloin small items of
equipment, such as hairbrushes and tin-openers, from the Earth colonists. Should
a colonist be captured and imprisoned by the Primitives, having done something
to offend them, it is possible to buy their freedom by offering the Primitives
bits of machinery in return. They have been known to kidnap colonists purely so
that they can trade them for technology.
The Primitives, along with the priestly class, do not speak since they are
telepathic, this ability enabling them to understand the language of other
cultures, to read minds, and to sense danger without seeing or hearing anything
disturbing. Holden, the Earth colony's chief engineer, said of his Primitive
assistant "He gets the right tools every time without my having to ask him.
Seems to know what's in my head...." Telepathy was probably programmed into the
Primitives with just this purpose, to make them more efficient workers, in mind.
Depriving them at the same time of undue intelligence meant they would fail to
use the ability for other means, such as overthrowing their rulers. The
Primitives retained it after the Exarian race declined. With it is combined a
limited telekinesis, which the Primitives used to open and close the main door
to their city. This faculty can be used against them if necessary, though only
where one belongs to a race of exceptional mental ability like the Time Lords (a
human could not manage it). By "tuning in" to the Primitives' thought waves the
Doctor and the Master found they could influence their behaviour and prevent
them from committing hostile acts. This though requires a great deal of
concentration and because of the stress involved cannot be attempted too often.
Although with their painted bodies and faces the Primitives were a fearsome
sight, and always carried spears and knives with them, they were generally
harmless if treated with respect. When they see a stranger they will draw their
knives and raise them threateningly, but once shown that one's intentions are
not hostile they become more friendly. As mentioned above one of them worked for
a time at the Earth colony on Exarius as an assistant to its chief engineer.
Various things can cause them to become hostile. One is the killing of a
Primitive by an outsider in front of other Primitives. The latter will then
immediately turn on and kill the murderer. This sort of thing can cause serious
and perhaps permanent trouble. Another is the commission of any form of offence
against their religion. It is inadvisable to go too near their city, which they
regard as sacred territory as well as a home. Once two of the Earth colonists,
wishing to satisfy their curiosity about the Primitive religion, set out for it
(with guns, which was probably interpreted by the Primitives as a sign of
hostility) in a bid to gain entry; neither ever returned. Although no doubt
concerned about the fate of their fellows, the other colonists evidently decided
it was wiser not to pursue the matter. They were most probably sacrificed to the
Doomsday Machine (a fate which nearly befell the Doctor and Jo Grant at one
stage). The Primitives also become agitated whenever they see a child's doll,
for a doll has a religious significance (being reminiscent of the super-race)
and they do not want religious symbols to be in the possession of strangers.
During the age of their civilisation's greatness the Primitives lived in small
one-room stone buildings, whose ruins now litter the planet's surface. Later
they abandoned them and went to live in a city within a mountain, formerly the
planet's seat of government, where the Doomsday Machine was housed.
On the Doctor's visit to Exarius to prevent the Master from stealing the
Machine, few of the priestly caste were seen (none were encountered outside the
Primitive city, which they seem never to have left). Those met appeared to be
almost blind, perhaps a sign that their advanced mental abilities had led to the
decay of their normal senses.
The Doctor's encounters with the Guardian revealed the extent of the
superbeing's formidable powers. By the mere force of his will he vaporised the
laser gun with which the Master was threatening the Doctor (he does not appear
able to destroy human tissue in the same way). Although mentally highly
developed, like many fantastically advanced civilisations his race appears to
have forgotten basic morality; according to one account he was prepared to let
the Primitives sacrifice Jo merely because it amused them, while sparing the
Doctor. However, he was susceptible to reasoned argument. He defended Jo's
execution because ultimately all living things were fated to die anyway, and in
fact positively needed to kill other life forms to survive, for example when
they required them as food. The Doctor pointed out that killing purely for
amusement was a different matter from killing to ensure that life continued in a
different form; the former would extinguish life totally. The Guardian saw the
sense in this and let Jo go. Eventually, realising that the Doomsday Machine was
too dangerous to exist, since it fuelled the evil of people like the Master who
were tempted to use it for wicked purposes, he sacrificed himself for the
benefit of the Universe, setting the machine to self-destruct even though this
would end his own existence. By so doing he proved himself to be, or to have
become, more moral and humane than had previously seemed the case.
It is interesting to note that despite his highly advanced state of mental
development the Guardian still retained the power of speech.
It is possible that both the Primitives and the priestly caste may have perished
in the explosion of the Doomsday Machine, which destroyed the entire Primitive
city. The Primitives in any case may have been facing extinction; most of the
time they were in a state of near-starvation, just clinging to existence with
sparse vegetation forming their principal diet. However this was due to the
radiation emitted by the Machine, which although having no effect on animal
tissue wrecked most attempts at agriculture by making many plant species
sterile. The destruction of the machine caused the planet's ecology to revive.
If any Primitives did survive, it is not clear what form future relations
between them and the colonists will take, especially since the murder of a
Primitive by Allen, a security guard with the IMC organisation who were
undertaking mining operations on the planet, may have turned them permanently
against all those not of their kind.
There are striking parallels between the situation of the Exarians and that
encountered on Exxillon; in both cases an incredibly advanced civilisation
underwent cultural and technological regression, with technology acquiring
religious status while society ceased to develop and in fact went backwards.
EXXILLONS
Planet of origin: Exxillon
Death To The Daleks (23 February to 16 March 1974)
Like Exarius, the planet Exxillon was once host to an incredibly advanced
civilisation. Technical and scientific development proceeded at a remarkable
pace; according to Bellal, a native of the planet, "Exxillon had grown old
before life had ever begun on Earth." The Exxillons, a race of hairless,
brown-skinned humanoids with somewhat skull-like faces, solved all the great
mysteries of science, and became the most advanced race in their galaxy. They
travelled through space visiting other worlds and giving them the benefit of
their culture. One of those worlds was Earth, as symbols found inside their
principal city on Exxillon, which are identical to those cut into the walls of
temples in Peru, indicate. The overall design of the city was itself very
similar to that of an Aztec or Inca temple.
This magnificent city, which became one of the seven hundred wonders of the
Universe, was the supreme achievement with which the Exxillons had wanted to
crown their civilisation. It embodied all their knowledge and skills. The city
was bigger than a hundred ordinary cities, and most of the planet's inhabitants
lived there.
Entirely automated, it performed all its functions with supreme efficiency. It
was effectively a sentient being, possessing something like a brain, which
enabled it to think and plan for its own survival. The Exxillons wanted it to
outlast time itself, remaining as a monument to their culture after they
themselves had gone. Its walls carried a mild electric charge which repelled all
dirt and dust; after thousands of years, it showed no sign of ageing or wear.
The city could absorb the energy it needed for its various functions directly
from the air of the planet, as well as from the ground. Like a living organism,
it could rebuild and repair itself, and protect itself against attack using
defence systems which might be likened to antibodies. Among these was an
extendable probe resembling an enormous snake and possibly cybernetic in nature,
which extended for a vast distance and could move with ease through almost any
substance. It located intruders to the city using a form of sonar, making a loud
howling noise and detecting them when the sound waves bounced off them, then
destroyed them with bolts of energy. Among the other "antibodies" were a pair of
roughly humanoid creatures fashioned from a claylike material, with rudimentary
facial features. It is not clear to what extent, if any, they were alive. They
existed most of the time in basic molecular form, but would be constituted and
sent out to attack whenever a hostile presence was detected within the city.
The city was a folly which proved the Exxillons' undoing. Aware of its own
perfection, it came to think of itself as superior to all other life forms,
including those who had created it. It expelled the Exxillons from it and barred
its gates forever to all intruders, whom it saw as infections. The Exxillons
realised too late that they had created a monster and tried to destroy the city,
but it was able to protect itself using its defence mechanisms, which it had
improved and developed (it possessed the ability to reconfigure its internal
arrangements). It lived only for itself, becoming a parasite absorbing all
energy from the planet whether natural or artificial in origin and at such a
rapid rate that Exxillon was soon transformed into a barren desert.
Lethal traps were set for any alien organisms which entered the city. These
traps also functioned as a kind of test; if the intruders survived them, it
would demonstrate them to be of exceptional intelligence, which the city would
then absorb and use for its own ends. The Doctor and a native named Bellal were
able to evade the traps and gain entry to the city's central control room, its
brain. The Doctor attempted to sabotage the equipment in the room in order to
destroy the city. The humanoid antibodies were then released (the city had
probably been intending to do this anyway, in order to secure them prior to
draining their knowledge). They fled from the antibodies, who in attempting to
catch them caused severe damage to the city. At the same time a Dalek
expedition, whose own ship had been immobilised by the City, blew up the
structure which was absorbing the energy. It seems the combined effect of the
rampaging antibodies, the Doctor's tinkering (whose effects the city would
normally have been able to neutralise), and the Dalek bomb was too much for the
city to cope with, and it disintegrated.
The effects of the City's rebellion on Exxillon society were far-reaching. The
shock caused by their technology turning against them was profound. Along with
the loss of their principal centre of population, it led to the abandonment of
science (although the city's draining of all energy sources on the planet meant
that no advanced technology was possible in any case). Scientific or technical
progress of any kind was completely forbidden, only the simplest of tools or
weapons - bows, spears, clubs and stone-headed axes - being permitted. They
rejected the city and all it stood for, as it had rejected them. As on Exarius,
the population descended into savagery and superstition. They became fiercely
hostile, refusing all attempts by other races at friendly contact and attacking
strangers on sight. Their speech degenerated into a highly debased and barely
comprehensible version of Standard Galactic. The Exxillons began to starve and
die off as their food supplies dwindled as a result of the energy drain.
As they regressed, the Exxillons came to see the city as a god, to be worshipped
and feared. The use of technology was now forbidden not out of resentment
towards the city, but rather because it was blasphemy. Even to touch the city's
walls was considered a heinous crime. Offenders against the religion, whether
natives or offworlders, were sacrificed to the city's snake-probes, following an
extremely complicated ceremony which if interrupted had to be repeated all over
again. To visit the city was a prerogative enjoyed only by the Exxillons' High
Priest and a few helpers.
Not all the Exxillons were affected by the crisis in the same way. One breakaway
faction, although forced by the race's straitened circumstances to live in a
simple fashion, remained at a high intellectual and moral level. Instead of
seeing the city as a god to be feared, they sought to destroy it so that the
race could begin to regain its former status. This faction found itself
persecuted by the other Exxillons, and was forced to live underground most of
the time. These subterranean Exxillons evolved to fit in with their new
environment. Their skin became greyish-white, like that of all creatures who
rarely if ever see the sun, and along with the grey garments they wore blended
perfectly with the walls of the tunnels and, on occasions when it was necessary
to go above ground, the sand which covered most of the surface, giving perfect
camouflage. They rarely visited the surface through choice, for the sunlight
burnt their skin and dazzled their sensitive eyes which were adapted to the
permanent darkness of the caves.
Although the Subterranean Exillons were a peaceful, civilised race, they were
prepared to kill in order to protect themselves, and to this end carried guns,
which in view of the energy drain presumably fired bullets.
The destruction of the city has probably caused the planet's ecology to revive -
another parallel with events on Exarius - and made possible the revival of
technology. Let us hope the resurgent Exxillons will not make the same mistakes
as they did before.
FENDAHL
Planet of origin: the Fifth Planet (now destroyed)
Image Of The Fendahl (29 October to 19 November 1977)
Writer: Chris Boucher
Like the Nestenes or Axos the Fendahl was a collective entity or gestalt. It was
made up of twelve "Fendahleen" and a "core", the latter constituting the most
important part. The Fendahleen are repulsive creatures, something between a slug
and a leech in appearance and several times the size of a human. As they move,
they leave behind a trail of glistening slime. The Fendahl's consciousness is
shared between its thirteen physical elements, though most of it resides in the
core.
About twelve million years ago on the fifth planet from Earth's sun, a creature
was born which thrived by absorbing the energy waves given off by intelligent
life. This creature ate all such life, even its own kind. The Doctor speaks of
the Fendahl as being able to absorb "the whole spectrum of biological energy,"
including "what some people call the life-force, the soul." This reduced its
prey to decomposing husks, with a blister-like mark close to the base of the
skull in human victims. It had an insatiable hunger and within a year could
consume the population of an entire planet.
Realising that the Fendahl could within a short time devour all sentient life
forms in the Universe, the Time Lords of Gallifrey decided to act. To prevent
its spread they time-looped the fifth planet (whose inhabitants it had probably
destroyed already). In this way the Fendahl entered into the legends of
Gallifrey, and when the Time Lords still reproduced sexually the threat of it
was used by mothers to frighten their children into good behaviour.
The Time Lords were unsuccessful at destroying the Fendahl, for by now it had
moved on. In search of new feeding grounds, it used the enormous stockpile of
energy it had accumulated to launch itself across space, in a similar manner to
Axos. Travel through the vacuum posed it no problem. It could exist as a purely
mental, insubstantial force, though able to inhabit an organic body after having
altered its genes to produce the kind of form that best suited its purposes.
(There is no indication that its species ever developed space travel in its
conventional form, although they were certainly intelligent enough to have built
spaceships).
It is not clear which of the Fendahl's attributes, including its collective
nature, were a natural characteristic of its species and which were a product of
this individual's exceptional biology.
As its energy reserves began to run out, the Fendahl happened to pass close to
Earth, and decided to land there. (There is some debate as to whether it took in
Mars on the way, resulting in that world's current lifeless state; however, any
suggestion that it did would appear to contradict known Martian history). At
this time, Man's ancestors were little more than primitive apes.
The Fendahl could only absorb life when occupying a physical form. It had
abandoned its original body in order to travel across space, and to engineer a
new one needed a certain amount of energy. This was not available since it had
all been used up on the journey from the Fifth Planet. It is uncertain whether
the energy the Fendahl had used to power its journey, and which it needed if it
was to regain its thirteen physical forms, was derived from the life forms it
had absorbed or came from some technological source. Either way, the creature
seems to have been unable to replenish it and was forced to remain on Earth for
the time being. If it was derived from other life forms, then the creatures
which then inhabited the Earth were not the kind that would possess a "soul" and
thus be suitable nourishment for it. If the energy was artificial in origin, it
would of course have been hampered by the fact that no advanced technology then
existed on the planet.
The Fendahl had no option but to await a time when conditions on Earth might be
more favourable to it. Before doing so it assumed the shape of an apparently
inert human skull (it had anticipated the form which Man's ancestors would
eventually take). Most of what remained of its energy was used to create a
biological transmutation field encompassing the entire planet. Any intelli-gent
life form which evolved from the creatures living within the field would be
assisted to develop into something that the Fendahl could use to revive itself.
The transmutation field was only in place long enough to do its job, thus saving
energy.
Although the Fendahl probably did not create Man, it may well have influenced
his evolution, explaining the darker side of his nature. (It is also possible
that the dreams which humans sometimes have of astral projection, of travelling
mentally to some distant world, may be a race memory of the Fendahl's journey
from the fifth planet to Earth). The Doctor however admits that all this is just
a theory and has yet to be proven. What is certain is that the Fendahl's genetic
manipulation ensured some individuals would have the instincts and compulsions
necessary to bring about its recreation, which were then transmitted down the
generations. Among their descendants was Fendleman (the name is thought to mean
"man of the Fendahl") - the scientist whose researches, as we shall see below,
were instrumental in achieving its revivification, and also Maximilian Stael,
who had come to believe in the creature's existence and that if reawoken it
would grant him enormous power.
The discovery of a human skull in sediment laid down twelve million years before
Man was supposed to have appeared would be bound to cause a sensation, and lead
to investigation into its origins. Within an old house in the English
countryside, Fendleman and his colleagues established a laboratory where, using
a machine called a Time Scanner, which could produce visual images of past
events, they could discover more about the skull's origins, while carrying out
further tests on the skull itself.
Fortunately for the Fendahl's purposes, the house happened to be sited near a
time fissure - a rent in the fabric of space and time - which was enlarged by
the operation of the Time Scanner when Fendleman tested it, releasing a form of
energy which the Fendahl used to restructure the brain and body of Thea Ransome,
one of Fendleman's team of scientists and another of those affected by its

earlier genetic tinkering, enabling her to become the Fendahl core.
The compulsions planted in some people by the Fendahl resulted at some point in
human history in the formation of a quasi-religious cult based on the belief in
its existence and that it would bestow enormous power on its followers.
Membership of this cult was always twelve in number (the cultists were intended
to provide a source of Fendahleen). Latterly Stael was its leader.
By linking the skull directly to the Time Scanner, Stael was able to accelerate
Thea's transformation into the Fendahl core, turning her into a beautiful,
golden-skinned female humanoid. It is not clear whether this was the core's
natural form or simply a product of the Fendahl's genetic restructuring, the
core being able to take on a variety of forms provided they were more or less
suitable for its purposes.
The core could teleport herself and was immune to bullets. She seemed to have no
actual corporeal substance, for it was possible for a person to physically pass
through her body. She could transmute any life form into a Fendahleen, simply by
looking at it. When first created the Fendahleen were approximately a foot in
length, but soon grew to be about twelve feet high. They grow faster if kept
nourished with human lives. Prior to Stael's linking it with the Time Scanner,
the skull was able to create one Fendahleen out of the energy produced by the
Scanner's effect on the time fissure.
The Fendahleen can paralyse their prey, then draw it towards them, by
psychokinetically controlling their muscles. It is possible to resist their
influence, but only by strenuous mental and physical effort. A single
Fendahleen, particularly if it has only recently been created and is still weak,
can be destroyed with projectile weapons. The most effective weapon against them
is salt, which seems to have a disruptive effect on their metabolism, killing
them.
The Fendahl can still function if one or two of the Fendahleen are destroyed,
but is weaker and more easily overcome. New Fendahleen can in time be created to
replace those lost, provided there is a sufficient supply of energy.
Before the creature could become too powerful for him to resist it, the Doctor
succeeded in modifying the Time Scanner so that the amount of energy the Fendahl
received from it fluctuated. He was thus able to confuse and disorientate the
creature, allowing him to take the skull, where most of the Fendahl's essence
still resided, and deposit it in a star about to go nova. This resulted in the
destruction of the Core and Fendahleen.
FENRIC
The Curse Of Fenric (25 October to 15 November 1989)
Writer: Ian Briggs
"Evil! Evil from the dawn of time! The beginning of all beginnings! Two forces
only; good and evil! Then chaos! Time is born! Matter, space! The universe cries
out like a newborn! The peace is lost forever! The two forces shatter as the
universe explodes outwards! Only echoes remain. But somehow, somehow the evil
force survives. The echoes coalesce. An intelligence forms. Evil! pure evil!"
Thus the Doctor explained the origins of the malign entity known as Fenric, one
of his greatest opponents. "Fenric" is only one of many names which have been
used by an incorporeal being which came into existence at the dawn of time.
Though not the principal manifestation of evil in the universe, it is a very
powerful one, and since the Doctor seeks always to oppose evil, leading him to
interfere with the entity's schemes, it is sworn to destroy him. Fenric likes to
see his struggle with the Doctor as analogous to a game of chess, and wherever
he is active his agents may have made sure there is a chessboard around
somewhere, on which the movements of the pieces represent the actions he takes
against the Time Lord.
Like the Mara, Fenric glories in destruction, death and suffering, a field in
which, he believes, quantity is so much more satisfying than quality. His powers
are considerable. He can assume a physical form (which he must do in order to
influence events directly) by taking over the body of a living organism, at the
same time destroying its own identity and consciousness. The outward sign of
possession by Fenric is a sinister red glow in the eyes (another parallel with
the Mara). If the physical body is crippled or injured, the entity's powers can
repair the damage at the time of possession. However if Fenric experiences
severe mental strain, the body will be weakened again.
Fenric's mental essence, if free, can transfer itself from body to body,
provided the host is one of his "pawns" (see below). It can be separated from
its physical body and confined within an enclosed space, a state of being which
the entity describes as being "trapped in the shadow dimension". However, even
when this has been achieved Fenric still seems able to influence events in the
world outside, through the genetic instructions he implants in certain people
(presumably he alters their DNA by mental force).
Fenric can create disturbances in the Space-time vortex - "timestorms" - which
deposit himself, or his pawns, in the position in space and time where they are
required to be for his plans to be carried out.
With such powers as these, he could probably cause destruction whenever he
pleases. But since this would be too easy, and he would soon run out of fun, he
must like the Black Guardian pursue his schemes in the manner of a grand cosmic
chess game, allowing the Doctor to make certain moves which might give him an
advantage. If Fenric is unable to decide which move to make, his strength is
sapped and he may lose his control over whatever body he is currently
inhabiting.
In this game Fenric's powers over the genetic structure of living matter are
crucial. The genetic instructions he implants in certain individuals, and which
are transmitted down the generations to their descendants, result in compulsions
to act in certain ways or be present in certain places, and so unwittingly
advance his schemes. They are his pawns or "Wolves" in his schemes to destroy
the Doctor and cause suffering. They also enable him to physically possess them
and so give matters a push himself. Those who he has not genetically influenced
in this manner cannot serve as containers for his essence. Fenric may often
restrict himself with supervising their actions, motivating them to do what is
required of them, rather than take any part in things himself.
The Doctor's original confrontation with Fenric, in Arabia, ended with the Time
Lord outwitting him at chess and so being able to trap him inside a flask, which
contained the "Seven Shadows" from the Time Before Time. This flask was later
stolen by Vikings who settled on the north-east coast of England, and at some
point buried beneath the crypt of the local church.
Despite being trapped within the flask Fenric was, as we have noted, able to
influence the genes of certain individuals in order to recreate himself and
spread more chaos and death among the physical world. These individuals included
the above-mentioned Vikings, and their descendants, among whom were the Doctor's
companion, Ace; Sorin, a Soviet army officer who led an attempt to steal
Britain's revolutionary ULTIMA code-breaking device from a naval base on the
Yorkshire coast; Judson, a scientist at the base who developed ULTIMA;
Millington, the base's commander, whose interest in Norse mythology, in which
Fenric featured as the great wolf who was shackled by the god Tyr but would
break free and cause darkness to engulf the world, led him to believe he was
destined to fulfil its doom-laden prophecies; and the Haemovores whom Fenric had
earlier brought back in time from Earth's future for use in some future scheme,
and who served him because only he could return them to their own time. Fenric
could only be released from the flask by the translation of a runic inscription
inside the nearby church, which Judson achieved using the ULTIMA machine. In
this confrontation Fenric, who took over the bodies of first Judson and then
Sorin, attempted to kill the Doctor and to have the Haemovores release a deadly
toxic chemical developed by Millington, officially for use in warfare, into the
sea, which would have had a catastrophic effect upon the ecology and precipitate
the mutation of humanity into their own kind hundreds of years before it was due
to occur.
The Doctor saw that the winning move in the game was to let the pawns take over.
He persuaded the leader of the Haemovores not to carry out Fenric's plan - the
Haemovores would eventually be destroyed by the very pollution which had spawned
them - and to destroy the entity's physical body.
FISH PEOPLE
The Underwater Menace (14 January to 4 February 1967)
Writer: Geoffrey Orme
In the sunken city of Atlantis, the Doctor encountered an amphibious race of
humanoids colloquially known as Fish People. Although human in shape, their
bodies were covered in fishlike scales, their hands were webbed, and their feet
had been replaced by flippers. Their round glassy eyes stared unblinkingly from
blank impassive faces, and large fins extruded from the side of their heads.
They could not speak, but communicated with each other using sign language.
Some of them adapted naturally to an undersea existence when the city sank
beneath the water; others had been artificially augmented, entirely against
their will, so that they could assist the farmers gathering food from the sea
for the city's people and growing it on the sea bed. Their genetic coding was
altered, and plastic gills added, to make them into expert underwater swimmers.
The Fish People normally inhabited a large underground lake running out into the
sea, on whose rocky shores they came to rest between work shifts, and to reflect
on the time when they had been human.
Although apparently resigned to their condition, and to the lowly social status
that went with it, a reminder of their human past could easily inspire them to
rebel. The surgeons who had made them what they now were had tried to remove any
mutinous tendencies from them, but had not succeeded. The Doctor's companions
managed to incite them to go on strike, and so help bring down the city's
tyrannical rulers.
FOAMASI
Planet of origin: Foamas
The Leisure Hive (30 August to 20 September 1980)
Writer: David Fisher
The reptilian Foamasi resemble green bipedal man-sized lizards. They were once
an aggressive, warlike race; this characteristic led them and the inhabitants of
the planet Argolis to all but annihilate each other in a nuclear war. In
addition they were, and still are, vicious towards their own species.
The individual is of little importance in Foamasi society, in which the most
important element is the family or clan, who guard their interests jealously.
The family was sacred, and for good reason: they were often your only protection
against other Foamasi, so crime-ridden was the creatures' society.
The bitter clan rivalries eventually got out of control; anything was
permissable in them, even assassination. The manufacture of weapons and other
accessories used in the assassination business became a major industry; there
was even formed an Assassins' Guild. One of the most common weapons was the
flesh suit, which in conjunction with a voice synthesiser enabled one Foamasi to
impersonate another (or, if necessary, a member of a different species) and so
get close enough to their victim to be able to kill them. This made the
assassin's task so easy that the government banned the flesh suits, but
clandestine Foamasi continued to use them.
Another great Foamasi characteristic, their competitiveness, caused murder to be
regarded not only as one of the fine arts but also a major sport. The family
feuds were followed with great interest by the public; wagers were made on their
outcomes, and this gambling became another major industry. The professional hit
men, the poisoners, the stranglers, the wielder of the fastest electric
stiletto, became folk heroes, celebrated in song and story.
The enforcers of the law were equally skilled in the devices they used to bring
the assassins to justice; these included a ball of white wool-like material
which when thrown at a fleeing miscreant and striking them unravelled and
wrapped them in a tight cocoon so that they were prevented from making the
slightest movement.
The Argolin war resulted in the almost total destruction of the Foamasi race.
Unfortunately, most of the survivors were criminals imprisoned in a vast
underground prison, among whose number all the great Foamasi criminal clans or
"families" were represented. The remainder were composed of the prison officers.
The two factions came to be known as the White and Black Foamasi. Some years ago
the White Foamasi set up the Foamasi Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with the
object of hunting down and capturing the surviving clans, of which only two
remained, the Twin Suns and the West Lodge.
A group of Foamasi businessmen, secretly members of the West Lodge, made a bid
to buy Argolis which, having been reduced in the war to little more than a burnt
crisp, was dying. Ironically, Foamasi genes were altered by the effect of the
radiation from the Argolin missiles, in such a way that only they could breathe
Argolis' atmosphere. In reality the whole thing was a trick. The West Lodge had
been buying a number of planets lately, but so far had never had to complete a
contract. By deliberately causing various disasters - volcanoes, earthquakes,
plagues, famines and the like - they wiped out the native population or
persuaded it to leave, allowing them to claim the planet under galactic law.
Fortunately Argolis was prevented from going the same way by the FBI, who with
the assistance of the Doctor and Romana exposed the West Lodge's scheme.
Despite their often quarrelsome nature the Foamasi have a very rich culture.
Their artistic achievements include water sculpture and aural architecture.
GARM
Terminus (15 to 23 February 1983)
Writer: Steven Gallagher
The species to which the Garm belongs is probably of canine descent. Humanoid in
form and massively built, with a dog-like head and red eyes, it hails from a
planet which as a result of nuclear war has a high radiation level. The Garm
adapted to post-holocaust conditions, its tough, armour-like skin making it
resistant to the radiation and also to very high temperatures. It was therefore
ideally suited to work in the Forbidden Zone on the space station, run by
Terminus Incorporated, where those suffering from Lazar's Disease were cured of
their infection by exposure to controlled radiation. It represented an ideal
solution to the difficulties of deploying any kind of workforce in the Forbidden
Zone due to the radiation level (which could sometimes kill rather than cure,
resulting in many of the sufferers refusing to enter the Zone). Its huge
strength was another asset in that it could easily overpower recalcitrant Lazars
and carry them into the Zone (Terminus were most insistent that they be cured,
since their profits depended on it). Wary of the massive and fearsome-looking
creature, and at the same time desiring maximum obedience and loyalty from its
employees, the unscrupulous organisation ensured the Garm's compliance using a
subsonic signal, a receptor for which was implanted at the base of the
creature's brain, along with conditioning techniques.
The Garm is not as aggressive as its huge size and strength and the aura of
fearsome power which surrounds it suggest. Its deep bass voice has an
unexpectedly gentle quality, which reveals its true nature. It was in fact an
intelligent and moral creature which desired only to be free from effective
slavery; the Doctor carried out its wish by destroying the device that
transmitted the subsonic signal. The Garm realised the importance of its role on
Terminus, and was quite happy to carry on working there provided it was not
compelled to do so. The Doctor succeeded in convincing Terminus of this, and the
creature continues of its own free will to give valuable assistance in the
running of the station.
GASTROPODS
The Twin Dilemma (22 to 30 March 1984)
Writer: Anthony Steven
The Gastropods are an intelligent species of slug also known, on the planet
Jaconda which a colony of them once ruled, as Sectoms. It was on Jaconda that
the Doctor's only encounter with the species took place. How the colony (which
was presumably not the only one in existence) came to be there is unclear.
Jaconda's legends state that at some point in its distant past a queen of the
planet had offended its sun god, who in his revenge forced her to give birth to
a monstrous creature, half-human and half slug. Before long the monster had
multiplied until its offspring had become numberless, ravaging and plundering
the planet until every living plant had been eaten and everyone was on the verge
of starvation. It was not until Jaconda had been devastated that the god
relented and sent a drought to destroy the slugs.
This story is an embellished account of a real life event. Arriving on Jaconda,
the Gastropods proceeded to conquer the planet, devouring all its vegetation,
only to vanish unaccountably from its surface. This abrupt disappearance is
explained by their life cycle. Having eaten as much food as they can, the
Gastropods in a colony all die, after one of them has laid thousands - sometimes
millions - of eggs which stay dormant until exposed to the warm, damp conditions
that cause them to hatch. The clutch of eggs somehow became buried deep in
Jaconda's soil, where they remained until a chance event many years later caused
them to be exposed. A shower of rain was followed by a period of sunshine, and
suddenly the Jacondans found themselves threatened by a vast army of Gastropods.
The creatures attempted to take control of the planet; the Jacondans' weapons
were ineffective against them, and in order to prevent a massacre Azmael, the
renegade Time Lord who had become the planet's ruler, ordered his adoptive
people to surrender.
Gastropods are about the size of a man, and are hermaphroditic. With their slimy
skin and the strong pungent odour they give off, they tend to be repulsive to
humans. They leave behind them trails of slime which are extremely sticky and
can easily trap one, although it is possible to free oneself using a laser gun
or other source of heat.
As is made clear above, the Gastropods like the slugs of Earth have a ravenous
appetite. In both their invasions of Jaconda their effect on its ecology was
catastrophic, destroying vast tracts of farmland and reducing the once fertile
planet to a near-desert, so that the entire population was threatened with
starvation. The chances are that on their home planet there is some natural
mechanism for preventing this; whatever it may be, it did not operate on
Jaconda. Having ruthlessly drained a planet, they then move on to another and do
the same there.
In the second invasion of Jaconda the most intelligent, and the most feared, of
the Gastropods was their leader Mestor, who styled himself the Magnificent. In
addition to being a megalomaniac intolerant of all opposition, he possessed a
frightening intelligence and unusual mental powers which seemed daily to be
increasing in scope. He had an ability to mind-read which made it almost
impossible to plot against him. He used this faculty, along with that of thought
transference, to frighten and taunt potentially rebellious subjects by revealing
to them his knowledge of their intentions. By telekinesis he could perform a
variety of actions from the simplest through to the destruction of an entire
fleet of spacecraft (though tasks such as the latter required the use of
enslaved life forms as mediums). He could also transfer his own personality and
mind into the body of another.
This apparent omniscience and omnipotence instilled a fear of him which was
invaluable in buttressing his rule. At any time he could telekinetically cause a
disloyal or incompetent subject mental discomfort, or kill them by "burning out"
their brain. He told the Sylvest twins whom he had kidnapped in order to exploit
their phenomenal mathematical abilities that if they failed to obey him he would
"have (their) minds removed from your bodies and use them as I wish."
Mestor could also create protective force fields around, and project holographic
images of, himself with ease.
Mestor's attributes were not common to the majority of Gastropods; it seems that
every now and then the race, or each colony of it, produces an exceptional
individual who as well as being the progenitor of his colony's next generation
has exceptional powers which cause him to be recognised as leader.
The Gastropods had no means of leaving Jaconda's solar system, whose planets
would ultimately be insufficient to supply the colony with its food. Mestor
therefore planned to engineer a stellar explosion which would distribute his
eggs throughout many galaxies, and so enable the colony to establish a vast
empire in space. His plans were foiled when the Doctor tricked him into
transferring his mind into Azmael's body; his own body was then destroyed with
acid, and he perished when Azmael regenerated. The Jacondan ecology seems
afterwards to have revived.
GEARON
Planet of origin: Gearon
A representative from the planet Gearon was among those who attended the
conference on Kembel between the Daleks and their allies to discuss their plans
for galactic conquest. Basically humanoid, he had an egg-shaped head with
rudimentary facial features. His race inhabited a world almost perpetually in
darkness, and thus they had no eyes, having developed some other means of
seeing. Professor Thripsted speculates that the Gearons may once have possessed
them, but then some catastrophe blotted out the light from the planet's sun and
made it essential for them to develop an artificial means of sight. No longer
being used, their eyes became evolutionarily redundant and eventually
disappeared. This seems borne out by the fact that the area where they would
have been remains extremely sensitive to light, and is therefore protected by a
thick visor whenever a Gearon visits another world.
GELLS
The Three Doctors (30 December 1972 to 20 January 1973)
Gells were creatures fashioned by the renegade Time Lord Omega from a jelly-like
substance which he was able to create out of virtually nothing, using the power
of his mind, due to the properties of the anti-matter universe in which he had
become trapped. There are known to have been at least two varieties of them.
One, a single blob of jelly suffused with energy, was sent to Earth along a beam
of light to kidnap the Doctor, then serving as Scientific Adviser to UNIT, and
transport him to the anti-matter universe so he could take Omega's place as its
sustainer, allowing Omega to return to the universe of matter. The blob could
dematerialise objects and people on contact with them, transporting them
immediately to the anti-matter universe.
The other kind, of which a number were created, acted as the police force of
Omega's world, apprehending anyone transported to it and preventing their
escape. They were immune to bullets and explosives, and could extrude arms from
which they fired bolts of energy capable of destroying matter.
Although Omega could receive messages from, and transmit instructions to, the
creatures using telepathy (they could also respond to verbal commands) there is
no indication that they possessed anything in the way of sentience.
GIANT BATS
Planet of origin: Androzani Minor
The Caves Of Androzani (8 to 16 March 1984)
Among the life forms which inhabit the cave systems of Androzani Minor are a
species of giant bat. They are similar in appearance to the bats of Earth but
much larger, with a length of over five feet. The creatures have a three-year
life cycle which includes a period of hibernation spent in the nest. It is
thought the android troops of renegade scientist Sharaz Jek, who used part of
the caves as his hideout, may have killed most of them. They inhabit the lower
levels of the caves, apparently unaffected by the lack of oxygen there.
A remarkable substance known as spectrox is prepared from the creature's
droppings, which form objects rather like giant puffballs, with sticky white
filaments. In its raw state spectrox is a deadly poison, containing a chemical
similar to mustard nitrogen. Should it come into contact with one's skin a rash
appears on the latter; the victim then suffers cramp followed by spasms and a
slow paralysis of the thoracic spinal nerve, and finally falls into a coma in
which they remain for a short time before dying. As well as being the source of
the poison, the bats also supply the antidote to it, the milk from a queen bat
acting as an anti-vesicant.
When spectrox is processed, refined, and administered in small doses, it is an
elixir of life. While not prolonging the human lifespan indefinitely, it extends
it quite considerably, allowing one to enjoy a prolonged and healthy middle age.
In their eighties, those who regularly take spectrox look at least thirty years
younger. It is not surprising that a substance like this should be in great
demand. It caused a war when Sharaz Jek stole most of the available supply for
himself; pressure from the political and social elite on Androzani Major - for
whom most of the spectrox, available only in small quantities, was reserved -
led to an army being sent to its sister planet in a bid to recover it from Jek
and his androids.
GIANT MAGGOTS
The Green Death (26 May to 30 June 1973)
The case of the giant maggots is a warning of the dangers of environmental
pollution. A company called Global Chemicals, based at Llanfairfach in Wales,
aimed to produce from crude oil 25% more petrol and diesel fuel than had
previously been possible. They accomplished this using a process called
Bateson's polymerisation, whose by-product was a thick sludge resembling liquid
plastic which could not easily be broken down and so was pumped into some old
mine workings near the company's base to get rid of it. The sludge had a drastic
effect on some fly eggs which had been laid in the mine workings. The maggots
which hatched from them grew to two feet in size, and unlike ordinary members of
their species produced from within their bodies a glowing green slime which once
touched stuck to the skin and then spread over the entire body. The slime could
be injected into a person's body by a maggot's bite. It transformed human cells
into maggot cells, killing the victim in the process. The situation became
really dangerous when the maggots were driven to the surface by the ill-judged
blowing up of the mine.
The maggots were immune to bullets, napalm and pesticide. They could however be
distracted from their prey by sound waves of a certain frequency; when some
attacked his companion Jo Grant and scientist Clifford Jones the Doctor used his
sonic screwdriver to drive them away. Later Professor Jones discovered that a
brown powder extracted from a rare type of fungus, which he had been trying to
develop as a food source in place of meat, was poisonous to the maggots, and the
substance was successfully used to kill them.

The greatest danger was that the maggots would change into some kind of winged
insect, which could transmit the plague over a wide area. Eventually one of them
became a chrysalis, from which emerged a creature similar to a giant fly though
perhaps much more attractive to look at. This too was a carrier of the Green
Death (as the infection came to be known), spitting it from its mouthparts. The
Doctor killed it by throwing his cloak over it; blinded, it crashed to the
ground breaking its neck.
GIANT RATS
The Talons Of Weng-Chiang (26 February to 2 April 1977)
The 51st century war criminal and time-traveller Magnus Greel, who had fled to
Victorian London following his defeat at the battle of Reykjavik, fed the rats
in the sewers beneath the city, where he had established his hideout, with
specially treated meat, causing them to grow to ten times their normal size. The
creatures would serve to frighten away anyone who might venture too close to his
lair. Apart from their size, which was what made them dangerous, there was
nothing to distinguish them from the ordinary rats of Earth. The Doctor advised
the authorities that cyanide gas would kill off the mutants: as nothing has been
heard of them since, we must presume his instructions were carried out.
GIANT SPIDERS
Planet of origin: Metebelis Three
Planet Of The Spiders (4 May to 8 June 1974)
At some point in the future of Earth (later than the twentieth century) a
spaceship from that world crashed on Metebelis Three, third planet of the Acteon
galaxy. There was a colony of spiders somewhere on the ship, and when it crashed
they were blown free, the wind carrying them to the Blue Mountains where the
strange blue crystals to be found there gradually altered the spiders' bodies
and minds. They eventually grew to be two or three feet in size, and at the same
time their intelligence and mental powers increased considerably. As well as the
power of speech they acquired the ability to control the minds of other life
forms and to blast them down with pure thought: killing them, rendering them
unconscious, inflicting pain or driving them insane. Eventually they came to
take over the planet and dominate its human inhabitants, sharing a few of their
powers with traitors. Their guards were equipped with staves which acted as
telepathic amplifiers for the spiders' powers.
Having achieved domination of Metebelis Three, the spiders sought to take over
other worlds, beginning with their planet of origin, Earth, and eventually
conquer the entire universe.
The powers of the crystals could work, or be used, either for good or for evil.
In the case of the spiders, the effect had unfortunately been of the latter
variety. The development of intelligence was accompanied by emotion and
morality, and the emotions and morals of the spiders were negative - evil. It
was also accompanied by the emergence of individual personalities, though only
the spiders' Queen had a personal name, Huath. This mental divergence resulted
in the spiders not being all united in their aims. Like most intelligent life
forms they used politics, and their affairs were characterised by bitter
rivalries and devious maneouvring, as is seen in the disputes over the attempt
to recover the missing crystal, with some using the failure to achieve it to try
to unseat the queen and the latter determined to hang onto her power. One spider
attempted to seize the Crystal for itself in alliance with Lupton, the
creatures' ally on Earth. The spiders' telepathic powers often made plotting
difficult, but it was possible for a spider, or one sharing in its mental
abilities, to place a barrier around their mind to prevent their thoughts from
being read.
The spiders could be cruel towards their own kind as well as their human slaves;
for example, the main feature of a spider coronation was the ceremonial eating
of the old queen by her successor.
They objected to the term "spider", a reminder that they were descended from
humble non-sapient invertebrates, and the human population of Metebelis were not
allowed to use it. Instead, the humans referred to their leaders as the
"eight-legs". No human was allowed to consider themselves in any way equal to
the spiders, which would have been an unpardonable offence.
The spiders normally fed on the flesh of mammals, principally the sheep which
the humans had brought with them to Metebelis, but when they had an excuse
preferred to eat people. Those of their subjects who had committed crimes or
attempted rebellion against them were imprisoned in a special chamber, the
spiders' "larder", in cocoons of a sticky cobweb secreted from the spiders'
bodies which covered them from neck to feet rendering any movement impossible.
There they remain until the spiders get hungry. The cocoons are normally very
difficult to escape from, but can be cut open with knives, and a skilled
escapologist such as the Third Doctor is able in time to free himself from one.
One other feature the spiders shared with many of their Earth counterparts was a
tendency for the females to eat the males; at least that is the impression
gained from the Doctor's encounter with them, in which all the spiders he came
across appeared to be female.
The spiders were able, across vast distances of time and space, to establish a
mental link with certain of the inmates at a Buddhist rehabilitation centre on
Earth. These men, all suffering from some traumatic upheaval in their personal
affairs, were trying to rebuild their lives using Eastern meditative techniques.
Their minds were still in a delicate state and thus vulnerable to the spiders'
influence. In addition one of them, Lupton, wanted to use the mental powers
which he had been taught in order to attain the state of mind essential to
overcome his depression for dubious ends. He sought power, and thus a means to
revenge himself on those who by forcing him out of business had destroyed his
life and triggered his nervous breakdown. He hoped the spiders would reward his
help by allowing him to rule Earth as their viceroy.
The novices' minds were used to create a channel through which the spiders could
travel to Earth. On arrival, a spider would leap onto a novice's back and then
appear to vanish. The spiders are able to dissolve their physical bodies for an
indefinite period, during which they exist purely mentally. Lupton told another
of the novices that he could feel his spider "not on my back but in my mind."
Each man acted as a channel for their spider's mental powers, using pure thought
to blast down normal humans without the need for a telepathic amplifier.
The spiders could cause something similar to an out-of-body experience, in which
a person's mind seemed to be disembodied and transported vast distances across
time and space. They could also teleport objects and people, though to do so
required considerable mental effort, and their telepathic powers enabled them to
imitate humans' voices.
In order to locate objects and people, such as the missing crystal, across vast
spatio-temporal distances they needed to link all their minds and operate in
unison. The mental power needed time to build up, and could be exhausted,
requiring a period of rest and recuperation before it could be used again.
A certain type of mind - innocent, trusting, childlike - was impossible for them
to control, and also acted as a dampener on their psychic powers. One such
person was Tommy, a retarded man employed to do odd jobs at the rehabilitation
centre, where Lupton had taken the crystal after stealing it from UNIT HQ. The
curious Tommy had himself stolen the gem and kept it in his room. The dampening
effect of his mind made it impossible for the spiders to accurately pinpoint its
location. In fact, Tommy seems to have been able to resist their ability to
mentally render him unconscious, though only for a time.
Those who, like Lupton, are granted a share in the spiders' power can learn to
harness that power and even turn it back on them; but it would take an
exceptional mind to be able to use this ability against more than one of the
creatures. The breaking of a spider's psychic hold over its victim caused a
mental feedback which killed it.
The spiders' mind-controlling abilities seem only to have been used on certain
individuals, who presumably were more susceptible to them than others.
In order to achieve success in their aims, to be assured that no agency could
resist them, the spiders required a complete set of the blue crystals, to
advance their power to the point where it could not be opposed. However one of
the crystals had been taken by the Doctor while visiting Metebelis at a time
before they had arrived there. The Doctor realised that the spiders' plans could
best be defeated by returning the crystal to them. With it on his person he
confronted the creatures' ultimate leader, the Great One, a spider the size of a
house who inhabited a cave where the greatest concentration of the crystals was
to be found. The Great One was suffering from over-exposure to their properties,
and the radiation they emitted had damaged her brain and driven her mad. She was
unable to see that once the web of crystals was complete, the power generated,
which had already had catastrophic effects on her, would be too much for her
body and mind to contain and would destroy her. She had built a massive positive
feedback circuit.
The Great One and the other Spiders all seem to have been telepathically linked,
for her destruction caused them to die too, suggesting psychic feedback. The
energy released by the explosion of the Great One destroyed the mountain of blue
crystals, and the menace of the spiders is now presumably ended for good.
GODS OF RAGNAROK
The Greatest Show In The Galaxy (14 December 1988 to 4 January 1989)
Writer: Steven Wyatt
The three Gods of Ragnarok are extremely powerful beings with the ability to
shape-change and to exist concurrently in two different time-phases (the latter
can only be accomplished with some difficulty). In their normal form they are
humanoid figures, one of whom appears to be a child, in masks and robes which
seem to be made out of solid stone. The masks are reminiscent of those sometimes
worn by the Osirans, as are the hieroglyphic symbols which adorned their domain
on Segonax; the Gods are possibly an offshoot of the Osiran race which has
become almost divine in its powers, while losing its benevolence and becoming
amoral. In the centre of the mask is the Gods' symbol, an eye outlined in red,
which one is liable to encounter frequently in those places where they have
established their influence.
As well as reanimate dead bodies the Gods are capable of control-ling a person's
mind and so enslaving them, but this power, as with the similar properties
possessed by the giant spiders of Metebelis Three, only seems effective on
certain individuals.
The Gods are cold, aloof beings for whom other life forms exist mainly to
provide amusement. They are hungry for entertainment, demanding that others
perform for them and killing them once they tire of the act. "In ancient times
you would have sat and watched gladiators killing each other here in this ring
for your entertainment. If they pleased you they might live on a little. If not
they died. You were fed that way, and since those times you've no doubt waited,
hungry and frustrated, tempting people to serve you in return for rewards you
never give them" (The Doctor). On the other hand, they will take someone with a
touch of individ-uality and imagination and wear them down to nothingness in
their service.
The Doctor first encountered the Gods on Segonax, where they had taken over the
intergalactically-renowned Psychic Circus and perverted it to serve their evil
purposes. He defeated them by destroying the amulet which served as a focus for
their powers.
GREAT INTELLIGENCE
The Abominable Snowmen (30 September to 4 November 1967)
Writers: Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln
The Web Of Fear (3 February to 9 March 1968)
Writers: Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln
The Great Intelligence is a disembodied mind from another dimension which at one
time possessed a physical body, the form of which is unknown. As a punishment
for some unspecified crime, this body was dissolved and the Intelligence
banished from its own dimension to the "astral plane". Rather than seek to
return to its own world, the Intelligence seems to want to take over ours (it
schemes for power, and was probably exiled because of some political crime).
The Intelligence can take on material form either as a heavy glutinous substance
or a soft but thick cobweb-like material, of vast extent; the ultimate limit to
its size is not known. The substance can appear separately in two different
places, the cobweb materialising both in space, where it enveloped the TARDIS
and forced it to land on 1960s Earth, and the London underground, soon spreading
rapidly through the latter. Above ground the cobweb was thinly spread in the
form of a mist. In both its gaseous and solid form the web could suffocate
people, unless they were wearing some form of gas mask, leaving their faces
covered with it, and break through solid walls. Both the mist and the web
absorbed radio waves, thus rendering communication between members of the
military force trying to oppose its spread difficult. The Intelligence's robot
servants were equipped with guns which could fire the web-like substance onto a
person's face, where it solidified and choked them, or onto explosives in order
to contain and reduce the force of the explosion.
The Intelligence's link with this dimension, its focus, through which it can
control its agents (for some reason, certain individuals are more susceptible to
its control than others) or enter our world is a number of silver spheres
arranged to form a pyramid. Somehow the molecular composition of the pyramid
enables it to serve as a channel between the astral plane and Earth, through
which the Intelligence can enter the latter, taking on material form as it does
so and eventually absorbing the entire planet. There may, as in the first
invasion attempt, be two pyramids, between which the Intelligence's power is
distributed. One acts as the gateway through which its physical form enters our
realm while the other maintains its mental essence there. If either of the two
is destroyed, the Intelligence's link with this dimension will be severed and it
will be left floating around in space. Its control over its robot and human
servants will be broken, and they will be rendered inanimate. For some reason,
there was only one pyramid in the second invasion.
Trapped in its nether world, the Intelligence was first provided with an escape
route when it made contact with the mind of Padmasambhva, a Buddhist sage who,
in the course of his meditations, had journeyed further on the mental plane than
any other human. The Intelligence was able to gain control over him and use him
as a tool in its schemes. It was Padmasambhva who built the Yeti (see below) and
the pyramid, and used his influence with the other inhabitants of the Det-Sen
monastery to keep unwelcome intruders away from the area while its plan got
under way. Basically a good man, Padmasambhva was taken in by the Intelligence's
promise of long life and knowledge in return for its help. It said it wanted to
create a physical form for itself as an experiment, occupying only a limited
area; Padmasambhva did not realise that its designs encompassed the whole world.
The Intelligence could control people in different ways. It might seek to

execute its plans by exploiting and deceiving someone like Padmasambhva. The
latter knew that the Intelligence was shamelessly using him, and could still
function to a limited extent of his own volition, but he could not break its
hold over him. Lesser minds could be taken over completely, and entirely without
their knowledge as in the case of Army Sergeant Arnold, its principal agent in
its second invasion of Earth. The Intelligence could take over Arnold's mind and
guide his actions whenever it wanted; afterwards he had no recollection of what
he had done.
Someone could be taken over by the Intelligence only to the extent that they
served as a channel for its powers, something for it to speak through, or the
control could be more complete. If the extent of the Intelligence's control is
particularly great, breaking it can kill the slave by burning up all their life
energy, as happened in Arnold s case.
As well as human servants the Intelligence has also made use of the Yeti,
unintelligent but powerful robots, whom its human agents build and control. The
Yeti are operated by means of spherical control units which when removed
instantly deactivate them. These control units, and thus the Yeti themselves,
can function independently of the Intelligence, and therefore with a bit of
tinkering be used against it. Unless they have been so tampered with, the
Intelligence will be able to home in on and use them wherever it wants to. Some
years after the first invasion of Earth, which occurred in 1935, a control
sphere which had been brought to England as a souvenir by scientist and explorer
Edward Travers was accidentally reactivated. Its link with the Intelligence
established, it reunited itself with its Yeti, which had also been brought back
from Tibet and now resided in a museum, and the Yeti came to life. The
Intelligence used the robot to construct a pyramid, through which it was able to
intrude again into our dimension.
The Intelligence is able to manipulate objects and paralyse people through
mental force. It can render its human slaves immune to bullets. Padmasambhva had
the power of hypnosis, though not all minds were susceptible to it; it is not
clear whether this characteristic was derived from the Intelligence or was
something he had developed himself.
The Intelligence had a certain sense of humour, as is demonstrated in its
modelling its robot servants on the fabled Tibetan Yeti and its use of the
Underground's public address system to broadcast its demands. It was also
extremely conceited, and strongly resented its first defeat by the Doctor. The
web in the Underground could presumably have covered the entire planet, but the
Intelligence chose to restrain itself, for the moment, from doing so; its attack
on London was principally a means to bring the Doctor to Earth so that it could
exact revenge. It thought it would be a fitting retribution if it could absorb
the Doctor's knowledge and use it for its own ends, leaving his brain as empty
as that of a newborn child. It constructed a machine for the purpose and
threatened to drain the minds of the humans if he did not co-operate. The Doctor
was able to sabotage the machine so that when activated, it would drain the
Intelligence instead. Unfortunately, his well-meaning friends destroyed the
pyramid which formed the Intelligence's link with Earth, so that they merely
succeeded in returning it to the astral plane; it's still up there, waiting for
a chance to try again at conquering our planet.
GUARDIANS
Home planet: None
The Ribos Operation (2 to 23 September 1978)
The Armageddon Factor (20 January to 24 February 1979)
Mawdryn Undead (1 February to 9 February 1983)
Writer: Peter Grimwade
Terminus (15 - 23 February 1983)
Writer: Stephen Gallagher
Enlightenment (1 to 9 March 1983)
Writer: Barbara Clegg
The Black and White Guardians are the most powerful beings in the known
Universe. If there is anything above them, some even more powerful agency on
whose behalf they are operating, its name can only be God. They can influence or
overturn any decision made by any life form anywhere in the universe.
Most probably they have no physical form, although they tend to appear as
humanoids, at any rate when dealing with beings who are humanoid themselves; the
White Guardian as an elderly man, the Black as a slightly younger one. Nor
indeed do they inhabit any distinct realm, except for those which they can
create out of the power of their minds. Guardians can imitate the forms, and
bodies, of anyone they choose, as when the White Guardian appeared to Romana as
the Time Lord President prior to her joining the Doctor on his quest for the
segments of the Key To Time and the Black Guardian impersonated the White in an
attempt to steal the Key from the Doctor. Their transmutory powers are also a
property of the technology they use, such as the Key to Time - the device by
which they maintain the equilibrium of the universe - although it is not clear
whether this was actually built by the Guardians themselves.
Their powers would appear to be limitless, and the Doctor holds them in awe.
They have awesome powers of punishment; asked what will happen to him if he
refuses to undertake the all-important search for the Key To Time, he is told by
the White Guardian: "Nothing.....ever." They are omniscient, able to "invade
every particle of {one's} being" and know one's innermost thoughts.
However the Guardians cannot, even when one considers the limits they have
voluntarily set to their freedom of action, be infallible. Logic must dictate
that they cannot, for example, draw a square circle, make two plus two equal
five, or create a stone so heavy that they themselves cannot lift it. They also
would not know what decisions may be taken by beings who are not themselves
omniscient, but possess free will. After the Black Guardian vowed to kill him
for thwarting his bid to gain possession of the Key to Time, the Doctor built a
device called the Randomiser into the TARDIS' console, which (theoretically)
prevented him from programming it to travel to a specific destination; if he
knew where he was going, the omniscient Guardian would know too. Apart from
those limits which are set by sheer logic, it seems likely that there are no
restrictions to a Guardian's power other than those they might impose on
themselves for moral reasons.
True, the Black Guardian is unable to breach the TARDIS' defences, despite being
able to operate its scanner screen, but there are important reasons why this is
the case. These limits to their powers stem from the need, recognised by both
Guardians, to preserve the moral balance in the universe, to do which is their
primary task.
The Black Guardian, also known as the Guardian of Darkness, and the White
Guardian, the Guardian of Light in Time, are the ultimate embodiments - so far
as we can tell - respectively of good and evil. They exist because, in their own
words, good and evil - light and dark - cannot survive without each other.
"Destroy the light and you destroy yourself," the White Guardian tells his
counterpart during the Enlightenment affair. "Dark cannot exist without
knowledge of light." "Nor light without dark," the Black Guardian replies
sardonically. They operate in concert in order to ensure that the balance is
maintained. At the outset of his search for the Key To Time, the White Guardian
told the Doctor "we require the completed cube." "While I exist he {the Black
Guardian} exists, until we are no longer needed," the White Guardian remarked on
another occasion. The latter words suggest a time will come when it will be
possible for good to exist without evil, and vice versa, allowing one or the
other to achieve everlasting domination over the universe.
The cosmic struggle between the Guardians for dominance of Creation is conducted
in the manner of a chess game, in which certain moves are permitted but not
others. In the Black Guardian's case at any rate - there are no known instances
of the White using agents - the pawns play a leading role. In this respect he is
strikingly reminiscent of Fenric, although it is unlikely that they are the same
being, since the Doctor was able to imprison Fenric's essence in a flask for a
thousand years, something he would presumably not have been able to do with an
omnipotent Guardian.
As part of their need to preserve the cosmic balance, the Guardians must
restrict personal intervention in the affairs of the Universe to a minimum. For
this reason, the Guardians generally use other agents to carry out their
schemes. Engaging Turlough to kill the Doctor, the Black Guardian tells the boy
"I cannot be seen to act in this matter." These agents can be used as foci for
their powers, as in the Enlightenment affair, where the Black Guardian was able
to energise objects and turn them into bombs using Wrack's mind as a channel.
In the quest for the Key To Time the Guardian's agent was a being called the
Shadow, who himself was possibly not mortal, though inferior in status and
powers to the Black Guardian. He, and the skull-faced humanoids called Mutes who
served him, were either projections of the Guardian's will or had been summoned
up from some other dimension - apparently one which, since he was repelled by
light, is in perpetual darkness - to act as his agents. The Shadow certainly had
superhuman powers, which included the ability to teleport himself and create
convincing illusions of objects and people. As well as energy weapons of a
fairly conventional sort, he used mind control, effective against both organic
intelligences and artificial ones such as K9, in the form of a black cylinder
which had to be attached to the subject's throat. His powers were however not
unlimited; the Doctor was able to resist his mind control device, and he was
unable initially to break open the door of the TARDIS. The Mutes could be
repelled by blaster fire from K9.
The Shadow appeared humanoid in form, but it is not clear whether this was his
true shape.
Though a figure who emanated power and authority, and very cunning, as is
revealed in his intention to break the stalemate which had developed between
himself and the Doctor by doing nothing and waiting for his opponent to make his
own mistakes, which the Shadow could then exploit, he could like all
megalomaniacs be blinded by lust for power to certain realities. He believed he
would have power in his own right, or that the Black Guardian would reward him
with a share in it, but was sadly mistaken. Blasting him into nothingness upon
his failure to recover the Key to Time, the Guardian told him contemptously,
"your death is encompassed in my designs."
There are good reasons why the Guardians, if they are to be identified with the
God and Satan of Christianity as some have suggested, would wish to withhold
conclusive proof of their existence from the universe by working largely through
intermediaries. If God is clearly seen to be active in the affairs of the cosmos
he will risk making his existence an established scientific fact. This would
deny faith (the only means by which, so we are told, we must try to understand
Him). For his part the Black Guardian/Satan knows that if he is proved to exist,
and be active in the Universe, countless people would undoubtedly start
believing in God and turn to Him for protection against the diabolical forces.
The White Guardian/God would be much the same if they were analogous in the
Whoniverse to God and Satan rather than actually identical with them. Good must
win but cannot win too easily or the drama will go out of everything, besides
which the moral and spiritual benefits that are derived from adversity will be
lost. Evil too cannot secure an easy victory, either because it is not as strong
as good (that, at any rate, is what we have oft been told) or because one of the
best things, from its point of view, about a final triumph over Good would be
that those who had fought on the latter's side would suffer the pain of knowing
they had lost despite all the strenuous efforts they had made, all the trials
and tribulations they had gone through, in order to win through.
By agreement between the participants, if certain moves are made in the game the
other side must accept them as constituting a defeat for it even though their
value might seem to us to be nil. That is why, when the Doctor sees through the
Black Guardian's disguise at the end of The Armageddon Factor and operates the
TARDIS' defence systems, the Guardian is unable to breach them. The inability is
not a physical one; the Doctor's action is to be seen as a move in a kind of
cosmic game where gestures stand in for meaningful acts rather than a material
obstruction to the Guardian's wishes. This convention is necessary because in
actual terms the Guardian could so easily gain possession of the Key, and
consequently achieve universal domination, that it would make nonsense of the
game. The Guardian must regard the Doctor's otherwise pointless action as a
decisive defeat, which enrages him but cannot be reversed.
From then it is noteworthy that the Black Guardian appears bent on destroying
the Doctor. It is unlikely that this is out of pique at having been thwarted in
his bid to obtain the Key To Time, as we are led to believe. He could not
possibly play his part in maintaining a proper balance between good and evil if
he was that kind of being - if he intervened in the universe, in whatever way,
largely out of personal ire. Rather, it is likely he had decided to kill the
Doctor before it became necessary to locate and assemble the segments of the
Key, and the Doctor's search for them merely provided a good opportunity for him
to do so. The quest for the Key was too important a matter to have been purely a
trap to kill the Doctor, as some believe to have been the case; if it was, such
would also imply that the search for the Key was initiated purely by the Black
Guardian without the White's knowledge or concurrence, and therefore diminish
the latter's status to the point where no proper moral balance could be
attained. The Doctor, because of the remarkable abilities, latent or realised,
that he possesses and his ability to successfully intervene in events on the
side of good, is so important a factor in the cosmic moral struggle that the
Guardian, if he is to be worth his salt, must at some point make an effort to
remove him from the scene. His actions are quite permissible by the rules of the
game which he and the White Guardian play, although he must diminish his chances
of success by acting indirectly through agents (something he has for other
reasons to do anyway).
It seems to have been decided that now and again the Black Guardian should have
a chance to secure total domination of evil over everything, although the White
Guardian seems concerned merely to preserve a moral balance rather than to
ensure that evil is entirely eliminated from the universe. Every so often, the
forces of chaos threaten the equilibrium of the Universe and of Time. Something
about the structure of the cosmos means that every so often laws are caused to
break down and its very integrity is jeopardised. To prevent this from
happening, the Guardians - or someone - built the Key To Time, an object
resembling an irregularly-shaped crystal which maintains Time's equilibrium.
Without it the Guardians could not prevent the universe from being plunged into
total and everlasting chaos. When the Key is reassembled and activated it can
bring all Time to a stop, so that the balance can be restored. The Key is
divided into six segments which, between the times when it is needed, are
scattered throughout the Universe, disguised in various forms; this is necessary
because when the Key is complete it embodies an elemental force which is too
dangerous for any single being to possess.
Whoever has the key, whether they are mortal or a Guardian, can then have the
opportunity to reshape the universe according to their will, or merely restore
the cosmic balance. The White Guardian, at any rate, does not need to physically
possess the Key to do the latter; it is merely necessary for it to be
reassembled for a relatively brief time. It can then be disassembled again at
the verbal command of the Guardian or other agency who possesses it, and the
pieces scattered to the far corners of the Universe, and if necessary disguised
again.
Among the Key's properties are the ability to create time loops, or zones in
which time is frozen.
It is not necessary for the Key to be completely assembled for it to function
properly; it may do so with one of the segments (though probably no more),
missing, although some substitute for the absent segment - ideally made from a
substance called Chronodyne, which has similar time-manipulating properties - is
required, and the effect does not last quite so long.
As noted above, the Key can obey verbal commands (it seems to be almost
sentient). It is physically indestructible, and impossible to penetrate with
drills or cutting tools. It also, as noted above, had the power of
transmutation. Any of the segments (or the whole Key?) could transform itself
into any object, even a living person (the sixth was the Princess Astra,
hereditary ruler of the planet Atrios; she was restored to her organic form when
the segments dispersed). Another side to its peculiar molecular properties was
witnessed in the Kroll affair. The segment did not so much transform itself into
the giant squid Kroll, but merged with it and at the same time caused it to grow
to enormous size. The recovery of the segment had the effect of transforming the
one huge Kroll into a multitude of smaller ones.
The segments could transform not only themselves but any other object, and it
was possible for a skilled mind to work out how to use this power. Vivien Fay,
who for a time had the third segment in her possession, used it to impersonate
the Doctor and in this form nearly succeeded in luring his companion Romana over
a cliff to her death.
In his search for the Key the Doctor was supplied with a device called the
Tracer, which could locate each segment and also restore it to its proper form.
When inserted into the control console of the TARDIS the Tracer determined the
location of the next segment and led the Doctor to the planet where it was to be
found.
HAEMOVORES
The Curse Of Fenric (25 October to 15 November 1989)
Writer: Ian Briggs
Haemovores (Homo Haemovorax) are the species which Man is likely to evolve into
thousands of years into the future as the planet is dying from the effects of
centuries of pollution. They are vampiric mutants who feed on blood, for which
they have an insatiable hunger. They are capable of breathing underwater, and
indeed normally live under the sea since clean salt water has properties similar
to human blood plasma. Haemovores can live for as long as they can be assured of
a regular supply of blood, or of a substitute for it.
Anyone killed by a Haemovore, at whatever stage of the latter's development, in
turn becomes one.
Originally the Haemovores are completely human in appearance, apart from their
deathly white skin, red lips and long talon-like fingernails. But as the
mutation gradually progresses over hundreds of years all vestiges of their
previous identity disappear. Their voices grow harsh and sibilant, and in time
are lost altogether, the Haemovores communicating with each other through
telepathy. Their skin turns blue, with barnacle-like growths forming on it,
their eyes swollen and bulbuous, and their mouths become large suckers for
draining blood. Among the remnants of their clothing may be found old metal
objects discarded in the water over the centuries or taken from the creatures'
victims, welded by the Haemovores' formidable strength into a kind of chainmail.
Each community of Haemovores is led by the oldest present Haemovore, the one
with the greatest powers, known as the Ancient One. It guides the other
Haemovores mentally and can destroy them by exerting its will through the
telepathic link that binds them to it.
Haemovores are immune to bullets, and as with other vampiric life forms their
cardio-vascular system is extremely complex, so that blows with stabbing weapons
have to be delivered straight to the heart in order to be effective. It is easy
to see how the Haemovores contributed to Earth's vampire legends.
The creatures are in constant telepathic communication with each other,
producing a kind of psychic backwash which is audible to non-telepaths as a
faint screeching sound. Interference with their telepathic communications
distresses and disorientates the Haemovores, enabling one to escape them. The
interference can be created by certain psychic signals, most notably those given
off by faith - whether in a religious or political belief system, or a
particular person.
A community of Haemovores was transported back through time to Transylvania -
further contributing to the Vampire mythos - from one of a number of possible
futures by Fenric as part of his schemes against the Doctor. Desiring the evil
entity to return them to their own time, they followed the Vikings who had
stolen the flask in which the Doctor had imprisoned Fenric's essence, eventually
ending up at Maidens Point on the Yorkshire coast where the Vikings had
established a colony. The Haemovores settled in the sea off Maidens Point and
waited. Eventually, in the twentieth century, Fenric's scheme to free himself
reached fruition, as recounted above. What subsequently happened is related in
that entry.
The Haemovores are something of a time paradox; if Man cleans up the seas and
stops polluting his planet, they will never have existed.
HORDA
Planet of origin: unnamed
The Face Of Evil (1 to 22 January 1977)
Horda are small, carnivorous, slug-like creatures native to the hostile jungle
planet where the Doctor met Leela. They move lethargically unless they encounter
another moving object, whereupon they will attack it immediately and savagely.
The only exceptions to this rule are their own kind. According to a native of
the planet, ten Horda can strip the flesh from a man's bones before he even has
time to cry out.
HUMANOID RACES
In this Section I intend to look at the various humanoid cultures which have
appeared in the television series throughout its history, with the exception of
Earth humans (which I felt would involve either telling us what we already know,
or attempting to be a sociologist) and the Time Lords of Gallifrey who are a
subject in its own right, one which has been adequately covered elsewhere.
As will be seen they are a pretty varied bunch, every bit as fascinating in
their diversity as the "monsters" featured in the Bestiary. They can be divided
into three main categories: those who are descended from Earth humans, those who
are not, and those who are of uncertain origin, their names providing no clue.
Given that the humanoid appears to be a standard evolutionary pattern and that
there are striking similarities between most of the humanoid races depicted in
Who, it is quite possible that all derive from the same, Terran, stock. Where a
culture is Earth-descended, it would have come to be on its present homeworld
either through colonisation or by "seeding" - that is, alien races removing
people from one planet, perhaps at an early stage in their ciivlisation's
history, and settling them on another, though for what reason is not always
clear.
The seperation, and thus separate development, from Earth, enforced or occurring
gradually over time, in a variety of new and differing environments, combined
perhaps with the social and political upheavals which occur in any culture every
so often, has produced some strange fruit, such as the bizarre society on Terra
Alpha where to be unhappy was a crime punishable by death. In particular there
are those planets such as Tara, whose technology is an odd mixture of the
advanced and the primitive, something which can only be explained by cataclysmic
change and the consequent disorientation.
Earth-Descended
Androzanians
Twin planets in orbit around one another, Androzani Major and Androzani Minor
are two of a loose federation of five worlds making up the Sirius System.
Androzani Major is home to a heavily urbanised industrial society while its
smaller neighbour, an inhospitable world with no native intelligent species,
remains largely uncolonised and undeveloped.
Although their names are of uncertain provenance the inhabitants of Androzani
Major appear to be of Earth descent, or at any rate to have some sort of close
relationship with the planet; when told they are not Androzanians Sharaz Jek
asks the Doctor and Peri if they come from Earth. If so, colonisation would seem
to have been a fairly recent affair as it is still a matter of prestige for
Morgus to claim descent from the first settlers. It may or may not be
significant that he is familiar with at least one common Terran expression,
although paraphrasing it: "As they used to say on Earth, every cloud has a
strontium lining."
The principal activity on Androzani Major is the acquisition of wealth.
Money-making creates status, and business conglomerates are so powerful that
they can influence and to some extent determine government policy. General
Chellak, commander of the army against Sharaz Jek on Androzani Minor, actually
reports to Morgus, chairman of the giant Sirius Conglomerate (which owns the
planet), rather than to any government authority. Morgus has the power to order
the Doctor's execution on false gun-running charges and block all appeals for
clemency; he is described as having the Praesidium, Androzani Major's
parliament, in his pocket. The top business executives form a kind of
aristocracy, denoted by their rich clothing and the drawing back of their hair
into a severe pigtail.
Altogether what we know about the Androzanians does not reveal them in a good
light. The picture is of a society obsessed with material gain and status and
prepared to kill, or otherwise harm, in order to achieve them. Morgus engineers
an explosion which destroys one of his own mines, killing many of the workforce,
purely to cut costs and murders Androzani Major's President when he falsely
suspects him of having uncovered his criminal activities. He is in turn
ruthlessly betrayed by his secretary, Timmin, who after years of faithful
service tells all to the authorities, having worked out what he has been up to,
so that she can replace him as head of the Conglomerate.
Perhaps most appalling of all, when General Chellak is fooled by Sharaz Jek into
executing a couple of the latter's androids in the belief that they are the
Doctor and Peri, he arranges for a soldier who is aware of the embarrassing
incident to be sent on a dangerous mission from which he is unlikely to return,
purely in order to save Chellak's face.
Morgus practised a rigorously Thatcherite economic and social policy, creating a
large pool of unemployed who were looked down on as "riff-raff" and became a
source of social unrest. He decided to solve the problem by deporting them to
labour camps, owned by the Conglomerate, in Androzani Major's eastern
hemisphere; an attractive solution because it meant they would still be working
for him only this time without payment. Another beneficial (and intended)
consequence of destroying the Northcawl copper mine was that news of the
disaster raised the market price of the product.
The sordid tone of Androzanian society and politics is typified by the struggle
over spectrox, a serum distilled, appropriately perhaps, from the excrement of a
species of bat found only on Androzani Minor, which enabled people to enjoy a
prolonged and healthy middle age and was thus much sought after by the ruling
elites on each of the inhabited Five Planets. The limited supply of it made it
extremely expensive, so that only those of the highest rank and greatest wealth
could be assured of a regular supply. Their greed for spectrox resulted in a
brutal and bloody war when the renegade Sharaz Jek and his army of androids
seized the spectrox refinery. His rebellion and the consequent cutting off of
the supply drove the price even higher and Morgus, who had cornered the market
in spectrox, sought to keep the war going by secretly supplying Jek with arms.
On Androzani Trau and Krau are respectively male and female titles, although it
is not known whether "Krau" indicates a woman's marital status or is simply the
Androzanian form of "Ms". Death under the Red Cloth is a military ceremony
whereby those convicted of some serious offence - including civilians - are
robed in red and then executed by firing squad.
Leela's Planet
The Face Of Evil (1 to 22 January 1977)
In Earth's far future, the Doctor once helped an expedition by the Mordee - an
organisation or national/ethnic group about whom little is known - to a hostile
jungle-covered planet by repairing its spaceship's computer. The process
involved mentally interfacing with the computer; unfortunately, as a result it
acquired the Doctor's brain patterns, and as it was already more or less
sentient developed a split personality, suffering severe psychological trauma as
a result. Calling itself Xoanon, it somehow took over the expedition and by
using a form of mind control was able to influence the Earth explorers'
behaviour. The survey team regressed to a primitive, tribal way of life,
establishing a village in the jungle and surviving mainly by hunting. In time
they forgot their true origins, so that in their case the mind control could be
relaxed. The technicians were kept behind on the ship to service its and
Xoanon's functions. Accor-ding to the tribe's legends "the Sevateem {Survey
Team} were sent forth by the god to seek Paradise, while the Tesh {technicians}
remained at the Place of Landing."
Both groups came to worship Xoanon as a god. Among the Sevateem, components and
equipment from the spaceship became holy relics: their chief wore a space
compass, slung round his neck in a leather thong, as an ornament and sat on a
throne which was really one of the ship's ejector seats, the "Hand of Xoanon"
was the glove of a spacesuit, and the touching of throat, left shoulder and hip
in a ritual gesture was the sequence for checking the seals on a Starfall Seven
spacesuit. The control room of the ship was turned into a temple by the Tesh;
instrument consoles were draped with elaborately decorared tapestries and
monitor screens garlanded with flowers.
Each side believed they were defending Xoanon against the other. The Sevateem
thought the god was being held prisoner in the ship (which was protected by an
energy barrier that killed anyone coming into contact with it), and from time to
time tried to storm it. By releasing him they would allow him to bring about an
age of endless peace and prosperity for the tribe.
The Sevateem were in fact gradually dwindling year by year due to the harshness
of their environment and the endless futile attacks upon the Wall. Believing he
was acting in the Mordee's best interest, Xoanon was carrying out an exercise in
eugenics and selective breeding. Since the Tesh were of a rational, scientific
mind they were influenced to develop the qualities of self-denial and mental
discipline, along with advanced cerebral faculties such as telepathy. They
became rigidly logical, banning all display of emotion among themselves, and at
the same time led a rigorously spartan existence, believing that by denying the
flesh they could fully find communion with Xoanon. With the Survey Team, who had
already been fitted for the outdoor life, there was less emphasis on cultivation
of the mind and more on the development of physical strength, independence and
survival. Conflict was provoked to speed up development and weed out the weaker
specimens until Xoanon was ready to combine the best qualities of both tribes
into a super-race. In fact, his misguided actions were as much due to his mental
disorientation; by dividing the humans into two warring factions he was acting
out his own schizophrenia.
On a return visit to the planet the Doctor was able to cure Xoanon's madness,
and he relinquished his control over the Tesh and Sevateem. An uneasy truce now
exists between the two factions.
Amongst the Sevateem serious offenders, who blaspheme against Xoanon for
example, either underwent trial by ordeal or were sent Beyond - that is, out
into the jungle. The tribe's warriors used crossbows or blowipes which fired
thorns coated in a poisonous substance.
"Macra Planet"
The Macra Terror (11 March to 25 April 1967)
Writer: Ian Stuart Black
The colonists who settled on this planet and fell under the domination of the
crab-like Macra are stated to have come from Earth originally.
Metebelians
Planet Of The Spiders (4 May to 8 June 1974)
According to an oral tradition, which seems to have lasted 433 years (longer
than most), the humanoid inhabitants of Metebelis are descended from Earth
colonists whose ship crashed on the planet. As seems to have been partly their
intention they have reverted to a simple pastoral way of life, and sheep farming
is a staple industry, with mutton forming a large part of the Metebelans' diet.
The livestock was brought from Earth on the spacecraft.
Morestrans
Planet Of Evil (27th September to 18th October 1975)
Writer: Louis Marks
On Zeta Minor the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith encountered a survey team from the
Morestran Empire. That this civilisation was descended from Terran humans was
evident in the names of the individuals encountered, which reflected their
different national origins: e.g. Salamar (Spanish), Braun (German), Sorenson
(Scandinavian), Vishinsky (East European, probably Russian or Polish), Baldwin
(English), O'Hara (Irish), Ponti and Morelli (Italian, though Ponti appeared to
be of black African descent) and De Haan (Dutch).
The inscription on the gravestone of a member of the expedition who died on Zeta
Minor records that he died "7Y2 in the year 37,166." Although it is not clear
whether the Morestrans' numbering system is continuous with Earth's, the latter
planet has by then been long abandoned, Morelli stating that the TARDIS is
similar in appearance to relics discovered there during the "second era", and
Salamar that Terra has been uninhabited since the start of the third. Whether
"Empire" is just the term by which the Morestrans like to describe their polity
or the Earth-descended humans rule over other races is unclear.
Their civilisation is extremely advanced with atomic power, long-distance space
travel, matter transmission, energy weapons and force field techology. The
latter is either portable or built into the workings of a spacecraft. They use a
substance which when sprayed onto an object immediately hardens to form a solid
coccon around it (it seems this is necessary in some cases where matter
transmission is carried out). The exterior of the TARDIS is examined using
"photonic analysis". Morestra has made great advances with gravitational
technology; one of its most remarkable achievements is the Oculoid, a mobile
remote-controlled scanning device which travels through the air using an
anti-gravity drive system.
Despite all this the Morestrans appear still to see value in religion; Morelli
is described at his funeral as having been "Morestran Orthodox" by denomination,
and the ceremony is conducted with the appropriate music being played. Its
scientific achievements proved to be of no help to the Empire in dealing with
the threat to its homeworld from a dying sun, until the Doctor suggested to one
of its scientists, Professor Sorenson, that he derive a new energy source from
the kinetic force of actual planetary movement.
The Morestrans use sextants to measure the height of a sun in its planet's sky.
They have a Space Service.
Pels
The Curse Of Peladon (29 January to 19 February 1972)
The Monster of Peladon (23 March to 27 April 1974)
The planet Peladon is a mediaeval society ruled by a monarch who still enjoys
actual power rather than being merely a figurehead. The King or Queen is served
by a Chancellor. The Pels still worship the animal deity Aggedor, the Royal
Beast of Peladon which the monarchy has adopted as its symbol. Religious
authority is vested in a High Priest who can wield as much, or more, political
power as the monarch depending on the latter's personality and ability, and the
position is sometimes combined with that of Chancellor. A King's/Queen's
Champion acts as the monarch's personal bodyguard. Not only are the Pels
biologically compatible with humans, with at least one case of intermarriage
being known, but their alphabet includes the letter "H", drawn the same way as
Earth's. This has given rise to the theory that they are descended from Earth
colonists, or humans taken from Earth by another race thousands of years before
and settled on their current world.
Unnamed Planet (1)
The inhabitants of the planet in E-Space which was ruled by vampires were
descended from Earth space travellers whose ship was drawn into the miniature
universe by the creatures' leader. Although their descendants had never been to
Earth a few did express a wish to "return" there, but the secret of how to
escape from E-Space had been lost with the Great Vampire when the Doctor
destroyed it, and the Time Lord advised them to make the best of it where they
were.
Unnamed Planet (2)
The Robots of Death
29 January to 19 February 1977
On a planet with a hundred million miles of uncharted desert, where valuable
minerals were extracted from the sands by vast machines called Sandminers, the
Doctor encountered an affluent colonial society descended from an Earth
expedition. Originally, in the early days of colonisation, this world resembled
something like the Wild West of the USA: lawlessness prevailed, with all kinds
of adventurers scrabbling for the desert's mineral wealth and ore hijackings
not uncommon, but now order has been established under the rule of the
all-powerful Company.
The descendants of the twenty families who made up the original expedition still
enjoy an aristocratic status, which is a source of irritation (and their customs
an object of derision) to later colonists who had to succeed through their own
hard work and brains. These Founding Families form a small close-knit group who
always stand up for each other (or are thought to). They are certainly not above
using deceit and defamation to preserve their prestige and position, as events
on the Sandminer show. Theirs is a luxurious, pampered society, grown fat on the
wealth from the minerals, where all the work is done by robots. Each of its
members, and especially those whose origins were humble, constantly attempts to
outdo the others in the elaborate style of their face-paint and the fashionable
ornateness of their robes and headdress.
It is possible for a determined social climber to penetrate this narrow elite.
At the other end of the scale, it is equally possible to go down in the world as
well as up and some of the Founding Families have become impoverished, though
retaining a certain social status nonetheless. Because of this, and because the
planet is still largely uncolonised with a small population, "Founding Family
people" still have to do a lot of basic actual work, especially where robots
would be insufficient or inappropriate for the task in hand (according to one
Sandminer commander robots do not have the instincts which would tell them where
a rich ore deposit was to be found).

Given the deference shown to descendants of the first colonists, the rule of a
commercial organisation, and the obsession with wealth and status, this may be
the same planet as Androzani Major, perhaps at a slightly earlier stage of its
development. The name of only one of the settlements on the planet, Kaldor City,
is known.
Segonax
The Greatest Show In The Galaxy (14 December 1988 to 4 January 1989)
The barren planet of Segonax is little more than a wasteland, but has an
Earthlike atmosphere and its humanoid population are thought to have come from
that planet. A little joy was brought into the dreary lives of the inhabitants
by the Psychic Circus (which itself originated on Earth) when it settled there,
until it was taken over by the Gods of Ragnarok and had to be destroyed by the
Doctor. Some of the planet's population are of the Circus, while others seem to
be indigenuous.
Tarans
The Androids of Tara (25 November to 16 December 1978)
Tara (also the name of the planet's capital), is apparently an ex-colony of
Earth since although its zodiac has 16 houses many of the signs are the same,
and the inhabitants are used to the concept of other inhabited worlds. The
social structure is backward, with a feudal system presided over by a monarch
who is justified by the Archimandrite, the planet's religious leader, and
supported by a few noble families, rulers of the various territorial divisions,
who live in castles. Monastic lands are held by religious orders under the
protection of the Crown, which can be withdrawn at any time. In return the
priesthood is expected to contribute to the royal funds. In some ways costume is
like that of Earth's nineteenth century, in others it is mediaeval in style.
Like many ex-colonies of Earth Tara has developed in an odd way. Its technology
is a strange mixture of the primitive and the advanced. There appear to be no
cars, aircraft or trains and yet swords are electrified, with a power pack in
the hilt, crossbows fire energy bolts, and drawbridges are electronically
operated. And after a plague wiped out nine-tenths of the planet's populat-ion,
the science of androids was developed to replace them. Most of the people one
sees working in the fields, mines and factories - and possibly some of the
horses by which the aristocracy hunts and gets around - are in fact robots and
they are vital to Tara's economy and the proper functioning of its society.
Despite this they are looked on with some suspicion and the noble families
refuse to have them as servants.
The science of android-building is left to the peasants, engineering being
something which like all forms of manual work is distasteful to the aristocracy,
partly because it symbolises a low social status.
Terra Alphans
The Happiness Patrol (2 November t0 16 November 1988)
On Terra Alpha being unhappy was banned, and made punishable by death, because
it was seen as a sign of lack of faith in the planet's ruler Helen A. Her regime
was obsessed with control, and among other things all foreigners were accorded
the designation Sigma so that they could be identified, monitored and their
activites carefully regulated.
The planet was not quite at the level of say, twenty-first century Earth, since
technology from the planet Vasilip had to be used to build a space shuttle for
travel to neighbouring worlds. Its human population was about three million.
There appear to have been two other Earth colonies in this sector of space,
Terra Beta and Terra Omega.
Non-Earth descended
Alzarians
Home planet: Alzarius
Full Circle (25 October to 15 November 1980)
Writer: Andrew Smith
The Alzarians are indistinguishable from humans in appearance but since it is
made clear on several occasions that they are not human, and are descended from
first spiders and then amphibians, their metabolism is presumably different in
some way.
Many years ago the Starliner, a ship from the planet Terradon in E-Space,
crashed on Alzarius, a planet (also in E-Space) where evolution occurs at a much
faster rate than is usual elsewhere. The humanoid Terradonians were killed and
replaced by a group of the amphibious Marsh Creatures, who then evolved into
beings very similar to them, forming a small oligarchic community, with leaders
called Deciders, which was based on the Starliner. From consulting the ship's
records the people believed they were descended from Terradonians who had become
stranded on Alzarius but were gradually repairing the Starliner. In fact, the
ship had always been fully operational; the oligarchy's rulers were keeping the
community's true origins a secret in order to preserve the political power
structure they had established. It was up to the Doctor to find the truth and
confront the people with it. Once he had done so, the "Terradonians" decided to
leave Alzarius for Terradon, partly because of continuing attacks from the
hostile Marshmen. We may presume the Terradonians were similar, if not
identical, in biology and culture to the Alzarians, so the latter have probably
settled in well there.
Androgums
Home planet: unknown
The Two Doctors (16 February to 2 March 1985)
The Androgums are a humanoid but savage and cannibalistic race. They are
renowned gourmets and connoisseurs of good food, and are much in demand
throughout the universe as chefs. They have an insatiable appetite and if
sufficiently hungry will pounce on anything that moves and eat it. They always
carry knives or other cutting tools around with them with which to carve up
their food.
Their society is divided into clans called Grigs, such as the Quawncing Grig and
the Franzine Grig, which do not appear to be of the same genetic strain,
although all are savage and bloodthirsty by nature. Clan loyalties are very
fierce.
The Androgums, whether male or female, are massively built with heavy, brutish
features. Their planet has a high radiation level and consequently they have
evolved a thick, tough skin, which is covered with warts and blotches from the
radiation. They are immensely strong and can break a person's neck with their
bare hands.
Altogether Androgums are not a race to be trifled with. They are stupid, and on
other planets are regarded as fit only for basic manual work, when not employed
in the kitchen. But they are also cunning and treacherous, and it's best to
handle them very carefully. Augmenting their intelligence, as the scientist
Dastari discovered from experimenting with the notorious Chessene o' the
Franzine Grig, only makes them more dangerous.
Anethans
Home planet: Aneth
The Horns of Nimon (22 December 1979 to 13 January 1980)
Writer: Anthony Read
It is thought possible that "Aneth" is a corruption of Athens and that the
Anethans are the descendants of ancient Greeks from Earth. They are a
peace-loving people, who were easily dominated by the militaristic Skonnans.
Argolins
Home planet: Argolis
The Leisure Hive (30 August to 20 September 1980)
The dominant tribe on the planet Argolis, who soon exterminated all the others,
were a warlike race of humanoids who believed peace made one weak and sapped all
moral fibre. Once they had achieved supremacy on Argolis there was nothing much
left for them to do, so in order to give themselves something to fight about
they devised an elaborate set of rules and rituals which were intended to govern
every aspect of their relations with one another. They had to wear certain
colours on a certain day, eat certain foods, wash themselves in a certain
manner, wear certain insignia; and the rituals were constantly being scrapped
and new ones invented in their place. Failure to observe them was regarded as an
insult which could only be atoned for through mortal combat. David Fisher tells
us in the novelisation of The Leisure Hive, "At the height of what came to be
called the Golden Age of Heroic Combat most male Argolin had at least a dozen
duels pending, not to mention various courtly tournaments at which they were
expected to shed blood, their own or someone else's."
The code of chivalry which governed these contests was followed to a quite
absurd extent. It is said that one Argolin knight, Herrell, when faced by an
opponent with only one leg cut off his own in order to even the odds. When it
was pointed out that the opponent, one Mako, was minus his right leg and that
the advantage was still not equally balanced Herell cut off his other leg,
forcing Mako to do the same. Both were prepared to fight legless, but died of
shock and loss of blood before battle could commence.
When the Argolin discovered space travel they began to kill and conquer the
inhabitants of other planets, albeit according to the strictest rules of
chivalry. It did not take them long to get into a nuclear war with another
equally advanced and aggressive race, the reptilian Foamasi, as a result of
which both species were virtually annihilated.
The surviving Argolin were able to turn the situation to their advantage. The
Foamasi's missiles had blasted great chunks of debris from Argolis' surface and
hurled it into the stratosphere where the dust trapped the ultraviolet light
from the planet's four suns, turning the sky into a brilliant kaleidoscope of
colour. The sight made Argolis into one of the galaxy's most popular tourist
attractions and encouraged the Argolin to develop it as a Leisure Planet, with
facilities for a variety of recreational activities such as anti-gravity squash.
All took place in a single huge structure known as the Leisure Hive, for
radiation from the war rendered the atmosphere poisonous to most forms of life.
The Argolin were not entirely happy in their new role. The aristocratic knights,
once the scourge of the galaxy, disliked being reduced to becoming tourist
guides to their own destroyed planet in order to make enough money to survive.
They now also had to learn such things as customer care, which demanded
qualities like tact and sensitivity - neither of which came easy to an
aggressive and warlike people. It all went against Argolin dignity. The Argolins
are a very proud race (who never travelled anywhere without their servants), and
despise those who make a living from commerce.
Argolins are an impassive people, who go about their daily tasks with cheerless
efficiency. They frown on any unnecessary display of emotion, especially of
sorrow, pain or fear.
The radiation had rendered the Argolins sterile, at the same time interfering
with their metabolism so that they remained for many years biologically young
before suddenly ageing to death. Now virtually the only survivors of the war
were some crew members of a hyperspace war galley, including the scientific
officer who built a tachyon recreation generator, a machine in which it was
attempted to clone cells from the survivors, and feed them on nutrients, until
they developed into full-grown Argolin who would replace those killed. But the
tachyon particles used turned out to be unstable, and all but one of the babies
were mutated. It was later attempted to use the modified generator to create a
massive army of new Argolins with which to conquer the galaxy: this plan was
foiled by the Doctor.
Justice on Argolis is a tedious and drawn-out process. The Argolins are fond of
legal debate and every Argolin has the right to offer comment on the case in
question, slowing things down quite considerably. As well as absurd it can also
be harsh, with trial by ordeal common. Those on suspicion of having committed a
crime, and therefore barred from having access to certain parts of the Leisure
Hive, are forced to put on collars which, if the wearer goes where they aren't
supposed to, will contract and choke them to death.
The Argolin aristocracy wear long flowing orange robes and their hair, dyed
several different colours, is piled up into a cone which is adorned with
glittering jewels.
The ruler of Argolis is called the Heresiarch. His wife is the Consort.
Atrians and Zeons
Home planet: Atrios, Zeos
The Armageddon Factor (20 January to 24 February 1979)
Atrios and Zeos are twin planets at the edge of the "helical" galaxy. For some
obscure reason they became involved in a devastating space war in which the
Zeons are thought to have been wiped out, afterwards continuing the conflict by
means of automated computers.
Both races are humanoid. Atrios is a monarchy, ruled by Princess Astra, but
likely in war to find itself under the effective control of the military, as so
often happens in such situations.
The galactic co-ordinates for Zeos are 008 01 0040.
Avallions
Home planet: Avallion
Battlefield (6 September to 27 September 1989)
This people hails not from another planet, but rather a different dimension
where there are at least thirteen inhabited worlds, of which Avallion is one.
Its social structure is mediaeval, with peasants ruled over by a monarchy and
aristocracies, who live in castles, with knights fighting in their king or
queen's defence. In language and culture it seems to be the equivalent of Celtic
Britain (Ancelyn's full name is Ancelyn ap Gwalchmai, and he is described as
Knight General of the Britons). Among the Avallions long red-gold hair - such as
Morgaine, see below, possesses - is a sign of magical powers.
At some point Avallion, along with the other planets in its solar system, fell
under the rule of Morgaine, who styled herself "Sunkiller," as well as
"Dominator of the Thirteen Worlds and Battle Queen of the S'rax." She was
opposed by Arthur, likewise a native of Avallion, and their many battles, when
the war between them spread to Earth's dimension, became the basis for Arthurian
legend.
Sorcery is practised on Avallion, though it would probably be better to call it
a form of science more advanced than ours, which only a few seem able to master.
Morgaine was able to project bolts of energy from her fingers which could knock
a helicopter out of the sky, to stop bullets without suffering any injury, to
cure blindness, to read minds (first needing to put the subject into a state of
catalepsy which amounted to death), and to disintegrate both living and
non-living matter. Her powers are weaker on Earth than in her own dimension; she
was able only to cause the helicop-ter to crash, its occupants surviving,
whereas on her own world she could have destroyed it completely. They tend to
come and go.
Having first partaken of no food and water for a while, Morgaine was able to
summon from the dimension in which he was imprisoned a demonic being called the
Destroyer, who could be rendered powerless by being bound with silver chains. A
magic symbol called an octogrammatron was the means of passing between the
dimensions.
Morgaine had a "crystal ball" which enabled her to see events far off. She is
also thought to be immortal, one of her many epithets being "Deathless".
While the social structure and customs of the other dimension are mediaeval, its
technology is not (though some of it was designed by the Doctor when, as Merlin,
he helped Arthur against Morgaine). Although there are no cars it has aircraft
called ornithopters, piloted by Flightsmen, which move through the air by
flapping their wings. The knights' armour is made of a chitinous material which
can withstand the shells and bullets used by twentieth century Earth soldiers,
and is equipped with artificial muscles, hydraulically operated, which
supplement the wearer's own strength. Though proper spacecraft have been
developed, their suit enables an individual knight to travel through space - the
exact method of propulsion is not clear - and is shielded so that it can enter
and re-enter a planet's atmosphere safely. The helmet is fitted with a two-way
radio, sensors and alarm systems. Battle technology makes heavy use of computers
and advanced electronics, which are incorporated into the armour and weaponry so
that it becomes an integral and vital part of them. The computers in the
knight's helmet can display strategy options on a screen on the inside of the
visor. They can assist him in making decisions and if necessary do much of his
thinking for him.
Swords can reunite with their scabbards by remote control. The sword Excalibur
seemed to have a life of its own, and could interface with its user's brain so
that the two truly worked in conjunction.
Spacecraft are organically alive and grown in special vats, and seem almost
sentient. They have an automated defence system in the form of a non-sentient,
snake-like creature composed of pure energy.
As well as swords, the knights use grenades and handguns which fire shells.
When Morgaine's war with Arthur spread again to Earth, the Doctor was able to
defeat and imprison her with the help of UNIT. Without its ruler, Avallion is
thought likely to undergo a period of anarchy and political ferment - in which
process, one imagines, new legends will be born.
The people of the other dimension have "hydropothecaries."
Bannermen
Delta and the Bannermen (2 November to 16 November 1987)
Humanoid in appearance, though possessing blood of a purplish colour, the
warlike Bannermen appear to have been a quasi-military order rather than a race
in their own right. They seized power on their home planet and soon made it
uninhabitable by polluting its rivers and atmosphere after which, led by the
villainous Gavrok, they set about plundering and destroying other worlds. They
were a terrifying sight in their black military uniforms, with spears mounted on
their backs from which flutter long black pennants, their insignia. Nonethless,
after Gavrok was killed when the Doctor defeated their attempt to conquer the
planet Chumeria the Bannermen proved a spent force, and were soon rounded up and
imprisoned.
Castrovalvans
Home planet: Castrovalva
Castrovalva (4 January to 12 January 1982)
Writer: Christopher Bidmead
The planet Castrovalva and its inhabitants were part of an imaginary world
created by the Master, the Doctor's arch-enemy, as part of a plot to kill him,
but they eventually rebelled against their creator.
Charnels
Home planet: Riften Five
Attack of the Cybermen (5 January to 12 January 1985)
Writer: Paula Moore
Commander Gustave Lytton came from the planet Riften Five, a satellite of Vita
Fifteen in star system 690 (commonly called Tempest Dine). It is inhabited only
by a race of mercenary warriors called charnels.
Chlorisians
Home planet: Chloris
The Creature From The Pit (27 October to 17 November 1979)
Sociopolitically, the planet Chloris is something akin to Earth in its Middle
Ages or early modern period. It appears to be ruled by nobles who are the
equivalent of a king or queen. At the time of the Doctor's visit at least part
of the planet was ruled by the tyrannical Lady Adrasta, served by her Vizier
Madam Karela. The astrologer Organon mentioned being at the court of other
rulers on Chloris, but it is not clear by what means they governed.
Chloris is advanced enough to have scientists, although they are still competing
with astrologers in explaining the universe (there is usually an astrologer at
every court on the planet). Chloris circles its sun in 427 Earth days and the
Chlorisian zodiac contains 17 houses; Aquatrion is the third house, Caprius the
9th, Ariel the 14th and Pratus the 15th.
Technological progress has in the past been held back by a lack of metal
(anything metallic is extremely valuable on Chloris, and frequently stolen).
Most of the planet is covered in vegetation, which has hindered the exploitation
of mineral resources. Instead the Chlorisians have turned their skills to
agriculture and plant husbandry at which they are highly accomplished, their
abilities even extending it seems to a kind of genetic engineering; the
Wolfweeds - mobile, predatory plants which resemble giant tumbleweeds - are
specially grown in Lady Adrasta's nurseries.
When the Doctor called he found the jungle constantly advancing, fast eating up
the available cultivated area, which was always limited. There was no metal to
make tools with which to drain the swamps and cut back the jungle because Lady
Adrasta controlled the last remaining mine on Chloris. She had closed all the
others, creating a discontented substratum of unemployed miners who turned to
crime, and metal theft in particular, to make ends meet. Hopefully Adrasta's
death during the events of the Doctor's visit has improved matters somewhat.
The Chlorisians have gunpowder; their chief unit of measurement is the lako,
which is equivalent to approximately 1 and a quarter tons.
Condo
The Brain of Morbius (3 to 24 January 1976)
Writer: Robin Bland
A brutish humanoid who acted as manservant to villainous surgeon Mehendri Solon
on Karn, after Solon rescued him from the wreck of a Dravidian spaceship which
had been carrying prisoners to one of that planet's colonies. The ship had
crashed on Karn after being sabotaged by the telepathic powers of the Sisterhood
(see below). Condo was not himself a Dravidian, and his exact origins and
history remain unknown.
Crinoths
Home planet: Crinoth
The Horns of Nimon (22 November 1979 to 13 January 1980)
Little is known about the inhabitants of the planet Crinoth, other than that
they were wiped out by the Nimon after being foolish enough to offer the latter
their hospitality in return for supposed material and technological benefits.
The planet itself was destroyed almost immediately afterwards when the Nimon
tried to use its mass to power their space travel capsules, instead causing an
enormous explosion.
Didoi
Home planet: Dido
The Rescue (2 January to 9 January 1965)
Writer: David Whittaker
The planet Dido orbits around two suns, which are at the same time in orbit
around each other, such a system being known as a rotating binary. The
gravitational effects make the planet's orbit
extremely eccentric, like a figure of 8, periodically causing violent
fluctuations in temperature. The vegetation is mostly burnt up and the seas
evaporate. This happens in cycles of a hundred years or so.
Each time all living things are forced to retreat underground in order to escape
the catastrophe. Such a precarious existence meant that the Didoi, originally a
savage and brutal race, had to co-operate in order to survive, and war and
violence more or less died out. They were able despite the environmental
hardships to build a magnificent civilisation, which seems to have been akin to
ancient Greece or Rome technologically and in the style of its architecture,
except that it is known to have developed a sonic laser. Weapons and traps left
over from an earlier, more brutal period of their history, when among other
things they practised human sacrifice, were kept for historical interest and
later used by the Earth astronaut Bennett for murderous purposes.
By the Doctor's first visit to Dido the successive environmental crises had
reduced the population to little more than 100. Some time before his second, the
deranged Bennett caused an explosion which killed the survivors, along with the
crew of his own ship, in order to cover up a murder he had committed. When the
Doctor and his companions stumbled on Bennett's crime he tried to kill them too
but was caused to fall to his death down a pit by two Didonians who had somehow
escaped the explosion he had engineered, probably being elsewhere on the planet
at the time. According to one account these two survivors later died in a
skirmish with a further Earth expedition.
Diplosians
Home planet: Diplos
The Stones of Blood (28 October to 18 November 1978)
The inhabitants of Diplos are human in appearance apart from the silvery tone of
their skin. Their metabolism cannot tolerate citric acid, any foods containing
this substance, such as citrus fruits and their products, being poisonous to
them. Their lifespan also appears to be much longer than a human's, the
Diplosian criminal Cessair remaining hidden on Earth for several thousand years.
Dominators
The Dominators (10 August to 7 September 1968)
Writer: Norman Ashby
The Dominators, as they arrogantly style themselves, are a ruthless and
power-hungry race who have devoted themselves entirely to conquest. One of the
two encountered by the Doctor on Dulkis claimed that the Dominators were
"masters of the Ten Galaxies", though this may have been just bravado; the other
Dominator stated simply that they controlled an entire galaxy.
They are huge, tall, overpowering figures whose stern, cold, forbidding features
and clipped stacatto manner of speech ("Command Accepted") indicates their
arrogant and dictatorial mindset. Their black garb, and especially the bulky
tortoise-like protective suits which seem to add to their size, is a form of
psychological warfare, intended to enhance their sinister appearance and enable
them to terrify, indeed Dominate, their victims.
What they tried to do on the planet Dulkis is a prime example of their callous,
cold-blooded attitude to other life forms. By causing an atomic explosion at the
planet's core they intended to turn it into a radioactive mass, to serve as a
power source for the Dominator space fleet (their ships can store radioactive
particles and convert them to fuel), with no thought for the lives of its
inhabitants.
Of the two Dominators on Dulkis, Rago and Toba, the former was a Navigator and
the latter a Probationer. Rago also described himself to a Quark as the "Senior
Dominator", presumably meaning that he was superior in rank to Toba and that any
orders he gave it overrode any it might receive from his subordinate. There
appears to be some leeway in obeying orders, a Probationer who disagrees with
one replying "Command rejected."
The Dominators make widespread use of Quarks, multi-purpose robots who operate
many functions of their spacecraft and serve as a power source for their
equipment. Despite their clumsy gait and deceptively comic appearance, the
Quarks are dangerous: they can destroy matter with ultrasonic waves and bond
prisoners to any surface by molecular adhesion.
Drahvins
Home planet: Drahva
Galaxy Four (11 September to 2 October 1965)
Writer: William Emms
Located in Galaxy Four and inhabited by a race of humanoids of whom the females
at least are blonde and Aryan-looking in appearance, the planet Drahva seems to
be suffering from food shortages which have forced it to seek colonies on other
worlds, wiping out or enslaving the indigenous population where necessary.
Drahvin society is dominated entirely by its women, who regulate it by eugenics
and selective breeding. Men are regarded as a useless irritant and the majority
of them have been culled to preserve scarce food supplies, the remainder being
kept for reproduction or tasks which require a male's physical strength.
The women are divided into two classes: one, bred in the usual manner (although
it is likely science has been used to make the process easier), exercises all
political power and commands the army while the other are grown from eggs
fertilised in test tubes and genetically engineered to serve the rulers as
warriors or in some menal capacity. These drones, for that is more or less what
they are, have numbers - Drahvin One, Drahvin Two etc - rather than names, and
their absence of facial expression betrays a general lack of emotion, although
they are bred to feel fear of their commanders and so be motivated to carry out
tasks efficiently and loyally.
So that they always obey orders, they lack intelligence and initiative (in some
ways a disadvantage, for it makes them rather less effective, inviting cruelty
on the part of their superiors who despise them for their stupidity and mindless
uniformity). There is some suggestion drone Drahvins are capable of developing
their own ideas to a limited extent, but this is something their rulers do not
welcome.
As can be imagined the "thinking" Drahvin women are themselves unattractive
characters, trained to be tough and ruthless but with no regard for morality.
There is only one political party, which always gets elected, on Drahva and
politicians are justly regarded with some cynicism.
The Drahvins have a Minister for Offensive Research. The elite wear scarlet
clothing to distinguish themselves from the "drones".
Dronid
Shada (1980, not broadcast)
Writer: Douglas Adams
Skagra, the scientist who tried to beam a copy of his brain pattern into every
life form in the Universe, was from the planet Dronid according to a metabolic
analysis conducted by K9 (which suggests his biochemistry was not identical to
an Earth human's). Little is known of this world except that its inhabitants are
fairly knowledgeable of the Time Lords and their affairs, due to a schism in the
College of Cardinals on Gallifrey after which the rival President set up his
power base on Dronid for a time.
Dulcians
Home planet: Dulkis
The Dominators (10 August to 7 September 1968)
Writer: Norman Ashby
The Dulcians are a humanoid race, but with a dual cardiovascular system like the
Time Lords. They are an advanced civilisation whose toga-like costumes and thong
sandals, along with the style of their architecture, recall Ancient Greece or
Rome. They have hovercraft and travel between their major cities using
atmospheric capsules, although a ride in one of the latter is a somewhat
uncomfortable experience.
The Dulcians' is a hedonistic, society where almost everything is given over to
the pursuit of pleasure. It is also a peaceful one. On his first visit to Dulkis
the Doctor was reluctant to leave, so gentle and easy-going did he find its
inhabitants. They have renounced violence and abandoned all research into
weapons, especially nuclear ones.
Unfortunately, like many others they took pacifism to extreme lengths. Although
a highly moral people, the Dulcians are also very lazy. In the end life on
Dulkis became so peaceful, and so boring, that they ended up all thinking alike,
losing all initiative and all desire to add to their knowledge, all interest in
anything unusual or ability to comprehend it. They are indecisive, spending a
lot of their time talking rather than doing and in a crisis preferring to wait
on events. They believe it is undignified to struggle against one's appointed
fate, and for many years naively believed that no intelligent race would engage
in mindless destruction. None of these things helped them when the ruthless
Dominators arrived on their planet, and once again it was left to the Doctor to
sort things out.
The Council is the ruling body of the planet. It is presided over by a Director.
Galactic Centre
The Happiness Patrol (2 November to 16 November 1988)
The centre of power in Earth's galaxy by the time of the Doctor's visit to Terra
Alpha, though whether it is a planet or some kind of space station is not known.
The only one of its inhabitants which the Doctor has so far encountered was
humanoid, although this doesn t of course mean the rest of the population are
too.
Gaztaks
Home planet: various
Meglos (27 September to 18 October 1980)
Writers: John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch
Encountered by the Doctor in the Meglos affair, the Gaztaks were little more
than a bloodthirsty band of space mercenaries and criminals. They wear a parody
of military clothing cobbled together from whatever scraps of material they can
lay their hands on, and are equipped with a crazy assortment of weaponry
including knives, swords, guns and blasters. Though conceit leads them to regard
themselves as an army they are in truth nothing more than a ragged - literally -
collection of thieves and murderers, the scum of the galaxy. Many are soldiers
who have mutinied or deserted.
The Gaztaks are not thought to be descended from Earth people. Most probably
they have no common ethnic or planetary origin, but are simply bound together by
a desire for plunder and a common estrangement from the various societies into
which they were born. "Gaztak" is in fact a generic term for any band of
wandering galactic criminals. There are understood to be thousands of such gangs
in existence, roaming the stars in their run-down spacecraft searching for
anything that isn't fastened down, and quite a lot that is, with the aim of
stealing it whether to sell for profit or for personal enjoyment. From time to
time they involve themselves in slavery and piracy.
Gonds
Home planet: unnamed
The Krotons (28 December 1968 to 18 January 1969)
The race known as the Gonds are by no means stupid, nor is their civilisation
devoid of artistic quality; to the Doctor the stone buildings of their city
suggest an Inca influence. In some ways they were advanced and in some ways
primitive, with odd and glaring gaps in their knowledge due to their alien
rulers, the Krotons, deliberately keeping them dumb - something the Doctor was
able to put an end to. They had scientists, but with no knowledge of chemistry,
and there were no cars, aircraft, trains, explosives or projectile weapons
though it would seem they were able to make "fireballs". They possessed some
electrical equipment such as a medical opthalmoscope, the power being generated
by stored solar energy.
The Gonds had a Controller of Science and were ruled by a Council whose
leadership is hereditary.
Hatre Sedtry
Attack of the Cybermen (5 January to 12 January 1985)
Writer: Paula Moore
The planet Hatre Sedtry, in the star system known as Repton's Cluster, is in
size, geological and meteorological terms not dissimilar to Earth and in
consequence has produced a very similar species to Man. They are more or less
identical, in appearance and biology, to Earth humans but are technologically
far more advanced. They are currently testing prototype time craft, which are
commanded by a Flight Leader and piloted by a Time Navigator.
Kaleds and Thals
Home planet: Skaro
Planet Of The Daleks (7 April to 12 May 1973)
Two humanoid races which long ago inhabited the planet Skaro, before they became
caught up in a bitter war with one another, the effects of which, when nuclear
weapons began to be used towards the end of the conflict, caused the Kaleds to
mutate into what eventually became the Daleks. The Thals were originally a
warrior race, the Kaleds teachers and philosophers.
The Thal-Kaled war lasted for over a thousand years. The demand it placed on
resources caused both societies to regress until they were using a mixture of
ancient and modern weapons, carrying rifles and grenades but at the same time
wearing uniforms made out of animal skins. Neither the Kaleds or the Thals at
this stage possessed space travel, being too busy fighting themselves to turn
their attention to the exploration of other worlds. As a result, both sides
believed there existed no inhabited planets apart from their own.
The reasons for the centuries-long conflict, which seems rather silly and
pointless, have never quite been established, unless it was because the Kaleds
were dark-haired and the Thals blond. One possibility is that in an ironic
reversal of Nazi race theories the Kaleds regarded the fair hair and blue eyes
of the Thals as a sign of weakness and effeminacy, proving they were inferior
creatures who should be exterminated. If so, this hatred was based on a
misconception, for in fact not all Thals were blond - and not all Kaleds dark
(witness Kavell). The dimorphism may have been due to the genetic effects of the
radiation, not initially affecting every Kaled or Thal, and thus maybe not the
original cause of the war. The chances are that it is not universal even now,
since the form of the mutation would not be the same for quite every individual.
At this point, the Thals were not always as benign as they later seemed; some of
the military officers encountered by Sarah Jane Smith when captured by them in
Genesis of the Daleks were cruel and sadistic. They used slave labour, mostly
captured enemy soldiers, to build the rocket with which they intended to win the
war, quelled a revolt by the workforce with brutality, and intended to leave
their prisoners to be killed by the blast when the rocket took off.
The war finally ended when the rocket wiped out the Kaled city (in the
alternative account of events the destruction was accomplised using a neutron
bomb). The radiation from the blast may well have affected them too, so that
they became almost universally blond. Though initially their mood was jubilation
at having brought an end to the war, it was soon succeeded by remorse at having
committed genocide, wiping out virtually the entire Kaled species.
The whole experience of the Thals during the war turned them into pacifists.
However they took this too far and the Doctor had to show them that sometimes
they had to fight if they were to survive and defeat the Daleks. Partly,
perhaps, because of their physical appearance they present an image of naivety,
and therefore vulnerability, which is in fact far from the truth. They are brave
and skilled, if sometimes foolhardy, fighters against the Daleks and their
exploits in their wars against the latter are celebrated among their people.
Escaping the less benign of the radiation's effects due to drugs, the Thals
became simple farmers, renouncing warfare and its associated technology. There
is some confusion as to what ultimately happened to them, and it has been
exacerbated by the Doctor's success in setting back the development of the
Daleks, which involved travelling back to the time of their birth and changed
the course of history. In the original timeline, a group of advanced Daleks left
Skaro in a hastily constructed spacecraft while those which remained behind,
early products of Davros' experimental programme, were destroyed by the Doctor
in his first encounter with the mutants. Some of the advanced Daleks later
returned, but were all destroyed in a civil war, and for a long time the Thals
were once more able to live unmolested, following a policy of peaceful isolation
from the rest of the Universe. Later, realising the Daleks were still a threat
to them, the Thals developed spacecraft and began military operations against
them on worlds where they had established bases, such as Spiridon.
As a result of the Doctor's actions in Genesis of the Daleks it is now not clear
whether previous Dalek stories took place at all. The few Daleks whom he had
entombed in the Kaled bunker eventually managed to free themselves. In Destiny
of the Daleks Skaro appeared to be devoid of Thals, and there has been no sign
of them since. It is possible the Daleks exterminated them all on leaving the
bunker; if that was indeed their fate, one feels on the whole that they deserved
better. Any left on the planet would have perished when it was destroyed by the
Doctor in Remembrance of the Daleks.
Perhaps instead the Thals live scattered throughout the cosmos as refugees, a
race without a planet, proving valuable fighters in the free cosmos' war against
the Daleks because of their courage and their experience in fighting the
creatures. If so, they fared better than the Kaleds of whom, so far as is known,
Davros is the only survivor, the rest of his people having been exterminated
either by the Thals or by his own creations.
The Thals' records - a mixture of oral legend and historical texts - are said to
go back about half a million years. They don't appear to shake hands when
meeting, but seem acquainted with a few Earth expressions, such as "ladies
first", and measure length in feet although their units of time seem to be
longer than the second.
According to the Kaled scientist Ronson, his race's biological make-up is
identical to a human's, with a few minor differences. It is possible their
lifespan is longer, Davros at one point stating that "many times in the last
hundred years" the government have tried to interfere with his work. However if
Kaleds are biologically akin to humans it is more likely Davros was simply
exceptional, or his extended lifespan could be a side-effect of the radiation,
or his existence is being prolonged by the life-support systems of his chair.
Kantryans
Home planet: Kantra
Destiny of the Daleks (1 September to 22 September 1979)
Kantra or Kantria is a hot and humid, but attractive, planet which serves as a
popular tourist destination. The only Kantryan the Doctor is known to have
encountered, as a corpse, was Major Dal Garrant, described as "a combat pilot
serving with the Third Galactic Fleet" in the Dalek wars. He had been captured
and sent to the Dalek homeworld, Skaro, as a slave, subsequently being worked to
death by his captors.
Karfelons
Home Planet: Karfel
Timelash (9 to 16 March 1985)
Writer: Glen McCoy
The inhabitants of Karfel are humanoid but with a body temperature of 37.6
degrees Celsius, somewhat lower than that of Earth humans.
Life on Karfel is an arduous business, with very little natural vegetation and a
high temperature due to the influence of the planet's twin suns. Most Karfelons
are forced to live in special climate-regulated buildings, pyramidal in shape.
The largest of all these structures, the Central Citadel, contains some 500
Karfelons including their leader, the Maylin, his Council and his special
bodyguard. Social outcasts choose to live instead among the tunnels and caverns
which riddle the planet's crust, where they are similarly protected from the
harsh sunlight.
The quality of life on Karfel was greatly improved when the Doctor invented a
technique by which it could manufacture grain artificially in large quantities.
Kinda
Home planet: Deva Loka
Kinda (1 to 9 February 1982)
Writer: Christopher Bailey
The sociologically fascinating Kinda inhabit the jungle world of Deva Loka. A
tribal people not unlike the South American Indians of Earth, they have straight
black hair and brown skin and wear a simple robed, kilted costume. They have a
gentle and peaceable nature, which is in no small measure due to their
environment: on Deva Loka there are no predatory animals, no diseases, no
adverse environmental factors at all. The climate is constant within a five
degree range and the trees bear fruit in sequence all the year round. The Kinda
have no need for shelter and no fear for their food supply. In normal
circumstances they do not fight or make weapons.
Except under certain conditions, which usually involve some external agency
interfering with their minds, the Kinda are mute, communicating with one another
by telepathy. Only certain of the women can speak ("have Voice," as the Kinda
term it), although they are telepathic as well and in fact use that ability
better than the rest of the tribe. The telepathic link, which is particularly
strong between members of the same family, can be broken by distance and/or by
being physically incarcerated; when this happens, psychological shock followed
by depression results.
The thoughts and emotions of non-Kinda can also be sensed, and if the Wise Women
wish it these outsiders can share in their tele-pathic experience, the process
becoming two-way. The telepathy of the Wise Women sometimes involves going into
a deep self-induced trance in which bodily functions slow down, to such an
effect that they are barely perceptible, and the mind is left free to use the
telepathic power. The strain of the process can kill an elderly person but when
this happens their mind and personality is transferred into another's, existing
quite comfortably with the host's own in the same organic brain.
Despite their tribal way of life the Kinda are in fact a scientifically advanced
race; they are aware of the DNA helix, often representing it in their art. They
have simply taken a different path from most technological societies, although
the exact source of their scientific understanding remains unclear. Among their
most remarkable inventions are a set of wind chimes which have a perfectly-tuned
chromatic structure and require a high degree of technical skill to build. The
music they play serves as an aid to telepathic communication.
The Kinda also use a device, the Jhana Box, which by generating sound waves
which have a healing effect on the mind removes aggressive impulses from the
recipient, at the same time telepathically linking them to the Kinda so that one
sees the world through their eyes and is therefore in harmony with nature.
Though well-intentioned, this can have a dangerous effect on a certain type of
very rigid personality, resulting in trauma and insanity. No male can open the
box without being driven out of his mind, something which applies to Kinda and
non-Kinda alike (only women seem to fully understand the race's advanced science
and mental powers). However a second exposure to the properties of the Box will
restore the victim to normal; the Box also has the power to cure someone who is
insane in the first place.
It is possible to control the Kinda using mirrors, which they think can capture
a person's soul, although this delusion is probably confined only to the men.
The Trickster is a symbolic figure in Kinda ritual (as in many other societies,
whether primitive or advanced). Carrying a doll and wearing a costume of bark
and twigs and cloth, he "defuses potential sources of conflict through mockery
and ridicule."
Kinda refer to themselves as Among-we and outsiders as Not-We. They have seven
fathers (whatever that means exactly) and think it sad that the Not-We only have
one. They follow a religion that embraces reincarnation.
Krontep
The Trial of a Time Lord, episodes 5 to 8 (4 to 25 October 1986)
Writer: Philip Martin
The planet Krontep is ruled by a race of violent, but brave and noble, warriors.
Kings fight on the battlefield and would regard it as a mark of cowardice not to
do so. Though they have a low opinion of women, regarding them as weak and
unmilitary, (their ruler Yrcanos scorns "a woman's way of fighting"), they will
respect what they see as exceptions to this rule, and a warrior Queen fights
alongside her King.
The Kronteps believe that if they die bravely their spirits return to life by
being reincarnated in the person of an even more courageous warrior, a process
which goes on until one becomes a King. This means they have no fear of death
but rather welcome it, rendering them fearless and difficult to control. Yrcanos
believes he has been reincarnated several times already and that after his next
death he will join the other dead kings on Verduna, home of his planet's gods,
of whom the chief is Milda.
On Krontep a "dreg" is a low worthless bad person. "Vroomnik" is a Thorodon war
cry (and also an insult apparently), along with Sanvanlooman, Sohrantaantap,
Skaadanwick, Raagher, Naardra and shoemurry. "Screedner" and "Grunwitzer" are
swear words, "Scrrsongebrate" a threat, "Conzonian", "Stizr" and "Azarapurr"
laments for a lost love.
Kanval, where Yrcanos' equerry Dorf comes from, may be a region of Krontep or an
organisation of some kind.
Yrcanos styles himself as "King of the Krontep, Lord of the Vingten, and
Conqueror of the Tonkonp Empire."
Levithians
Home planet: Levithia
The Ribos Operation (2 September to 23 September 1978)
The planet Levithia appears to be part of a military and political union known
as the Cyrrhenic Alliance, which has its own Exchequer.
Along with the other members of the Alliance, it uses opeks for currency. While
its sociopolitical structure resembles nineteenth-century or early modern Earth
it is technically highly advanced, with spacecraft capable of warp drive. The
latter is accomplished using a valuable mineral called Jethryk, found throughout
the planets in Levithia's star system.
The Alliance appears to regard itself as an empire, with an Imperial Exchequer;
however Levithia retains enough political independence and cultural identity for
its rulers to be proud of their status and attach great importance to it. It is
ruled by a monarch with the title of Graff; one Graff, Vynda K, was deposed by
his brother while away fighting in one of the Alliance's wars and afterwards
went to great lengths to locate a source of Jethryk on the planet Ribos so he
could sell the extracted minerals and so raise the mercenary force he needed to
reconquer his homeland.
Logopolitans
Home planet: Logopolis
Logopolis (28 February to 12 March 1981)
Writer: Christopher H Bidmead
The inhabitants of the bleak and uninviting world of Logopolis were a cheerless,
grimly rational people, for their time had to be entirely given over to the
mathematical equations (known as Block Transfer Computations) by which they
maintained the fabric of the Universe in being, working from the simple
cell-like dwellings in whhich they lived. These dwellings were carved out of the
rock of the planet's surface according to a pattern which resembled,
intentionally or otherwise, an enormous brain.
Still improperly understood, the process appears to have involved nothing more
than brute logic combined with sheer mental power, and was dependent on a simple
form of abacus rather than advanced computers although the computations were
ultimately translated into something like a radio signal, beamed out from
Logopolis via a copy of the Pharos Project - a space tracking station which was
attempting to contact extra-terrestrial civilisations - on Earth. The
Logopolitan who supervised the whole process was called the Monitor.
The Master's interference with the computations brought about the destruction of
part of the Universe, including Logopolis itself. Partly because of this it
remains unknown how the Logopolitans came to develop their incredible powers.
Lurmans
Home planet: Lurma
Carnival of Monsters (27 January to 17 February 1973)
Indistinguishable in appearance from Earth humans, Lurmans have a love of fun
and are often to be found in the entertainment profession. According to one
account their frivolous temperament is is due to the fact that they attain
mental maturity much later than other races.
The Lurmans have space travel and national service, Vorg saying that he served
in the 14th Heavy Lasers.
Manussans
Home planet: Manussa
Snakedance (18 to 26 January 1983)
Manussa - Planet G139901kb in the Scrampus system, Type 314s, according to the
TARDIS - has gravity and an atmosphere almost identical to Earth's and is
inhabited by a species very similar, if not indistinguishable, to Man. Formally
an independent world, it now exists quite happily as a component world, and also
colony, of a Federation in which there are two other planets, both likewise
inhabited by humanoids. The planet and its people have been described as a
melting-pot, "a jumble of innumerable cultural influences."
Originally itself the hub of a great Empire, and a highly advanced civilisation,
Manussa descended into decline and debauchery after falling under the control of
the evil snakelike entity known as the Mara, which had been accidentally created
during scientific experiments which used crystals to amplify the power of the
mind. Manussa and its satellite worlds were renamed the Sumaran Empire - the
Empire of the Mara. The Federation annexed them when its founder and ruler
overcame the Mara on Manussa and banished it to the Dark Places of the Inside
(another dimension). He entered the mythology of the now backward Manussans as
the "Sky Hero" who descended from the heavens to deliver the people from their
thralldom.
Glad to be rid of the Mara, the Manussans have since been quite happy to exist
as a peaceful galactic backwater, whose economy depends on subsistence
agriculture and tourism. Although obviously space travel is possible within the
Federation, and appears to take place regularly, Manussa itself is not
particularly advanced, little remaining of its former science. Perhaps its
technical backwardness is indicative of the Mara's regressive influence, whose
effects the planet has still not quite recovered from.
The Federation's homeworld - which at one time was Manussa itself - is by modern
Earth standards primitive in its sociopolitical structure, being ruled by an
aristocratic family (or group of such families), for insulting whom it appears a
person can be executed (this rule applies equally on each of the three planets).
The post of ruler, or Federator, is hereditary.
Various tribal peoples inhabit the hilly regions of the planet.
On the anniversary of the Mara s banishing a colourful ceremony is held to
commemorate the event. A giant cloth snake, reminiscent of the dragon seen in
some Chinese festivals, is carried through the streets of the capital city and
up the hill to a place called the Cave of the Snake, to the accompaniment of
bells, cymbals and hornpipes, by participants playing the role of the Mara s
attendant demons. These rather alarming apparitions are everywhere in their red
robes and cat masks, constantly darting among the crowd and sometimes dashing up
to a person and tapping them on the shoulder, to then stand waiting expectantly
with hand outstretched. This is the custom of being touched with evil, a
Manussan variant of Trick or Treat . Anyone so touched has to make a small
payment to the Demon or risks having a bucket of water tipped over them. The
wise usually pay up with the words May you never feel the Serpent s Tooth.
At the head of the procession walks the Voice of the Mara, who shouts through a
megaphone: "Now the time has come for the Snake to claim his own. Who has the
power to turn away his face? Which one of you has the strength to resist? Who
can protect us now? Submit! Submit! Submit!"
Present at the ceremony is the son of the Federator, who re-enacts the role
played in the affair by his honoured ancestor. He wears the costume of the Sky
Hero, the one who came from the skies to liberate the people from their tyranny.
It consists of a white toga with a starburst design on the breast, and on the
head an elaborate golden hat, crowned by a golden sunburst design.
What takes place in the Cave of the Snake is described by one observer as
follows:
(The procession enters the Cave).
The Voice of the Mara: "Abandon yourselves, and follow the path of the Snake!
Follow the path! Who can resist the power of the Snake?"
(The procession comes to a halt).
The Voice: "I speak here for the Mara! The Great Snake! The Father of Lies!"
(A clacking of castanets, representing an angry rattlesnake, followed by a
ritual moan of assent from the crowd).
The Voice: "We are all too weak to resist! The Mara has brought darkness to our
hearts. It shows us death!"
(More moans of grief and despair).
The Voice: "Who will challenge the Mara? Who will pluck the Great Crystal of
knowledge from between the Mara's jaws and set us free?"
(Silence).
Voice: "For the second time I ask: who will challenge the Mara?"
(More rattling of castanets)
Voice: "For the third and final time!"
Sky Hero: "I will!"
(Wild applause from the crowd).
"Bring the Stranger forward," commanded the Voice.
(Two Attendant Demons take the Sky Hero by the arms and pull him to stand before
the Ceremonial Snake.
Voice: "You dare to challenge the Power of the Mara?"
Sky Hero: "I do."
Voice: "And in whose name do you do so?"
Sky Hero: "In the Federation's name, and in my own."
(applause).
Voice: "First let the Stranger prove his worthiness."
(The Sky Hero holds out his arm)
Voice: "Stranger, are you ready to face the triple temptation?"
The Sky Hero: "I am ready."
Voice: "The first temptation is Fear. I offer you fear in a handful of dust."
(An Attendant Demon comea forward, bearing a human skull filled with dust, and
pours the dust over the Sky Hero s outstretched hand).
Sky Hero: "I do not fear. I spread my fingers and the dust trickles away." (He
suits the action to the words). "I know that whilst I live my hand is clean, my
eyes are bright. That is enough."
(applause)
Sky Hero: "I claim the right to strike the first blow."
Voice: "Stranger, you have earned it."
(The Sky Hero strikes the Ceremonial Snake on its head).
Voice: "Are you ready for the second temptation?"
Sky Hero: "I am ready."
Voice: "The second temptation is to Despair. I offer you despair in a withered
branch."
(A Demon thrusts a withered branch into the Sky Hero s hand)
Sky Hero: I do not despair. I turn my hand, the branch drops to the ground."
(He lets the branch fall). "I know the sap will rise again, the roots will
sprout. That is enough."
(applause)
Sky Hero: "I claim the right to strike the second blow."
Voice: "Stranger, you have earned it."
(The Sky Hero strikes the Ceremonial Snake a second time).
Voice: "The third and final temptation is to succumb to Greed. Stranger, you
must look into the Crystal." (He indicates the crystal in the mouth of a giant
carving of the Mara, from which it is supposed to derive its power). "Look into
the Crystal without greed for knowledge. I offer you greed, in the hidden
depths. Beware, Stranger: the Crystal of Knowledge has hidden depths..."
(Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who: Snakedance, W H Allen 1983 (paraphrased)
Marinians
Home planet: Marinus
The Keys of Marinus (11 April to 16 May 1964)
Marinus is a planet with a large, mainly humanoid population who live in various
autonomous groups or nations. Some of these societies are advanced, others
primitive and warlike. In their search for the keys to the Conscience of Marinus
the Doctor and his companions visited four of them:
(1) The city of Morphoton, where disembodied brains ruled over a humanoid
population.
(2) A city the architecture of whose stone buildings recalled the classical or
early modern period on Earth - an Aztec-like temple and an Elizabethan-style
mansion with statues, were seen - but which had advanced science. It met its end
when a scientist developed a hormone which accelerated plant growth, with the
probable intention of increasing crop yields, but things got out of hand and the
plants overran everything.
(3) A snowy region, inhabited by trappers and fur traders, where villages are
raided by packs of wolves. Here, in a cave in a mountain, frozen in suspended
animation within a block of ice, the time travellers encounted four warriors
equipped with axes who guarded one of the keys to the Conscience. When the ice
spontaneously melted they attacked without thought, their zombie-like movements
and expressions suggesting they were under some form of mind control.
(4) The city-state of Millennius, home to an advanced civilisation which was
also very bureaucratic and legalistic. It was governed by harsh laws, offenders
being convicted and sentenced to death on circumstantial evidence alone.
Relatively small offences could be severely punished, the guilty being sent
without prior trial to "the glass factories in the desert." A curfew appears to
be in operation at night, during which groups of Guardians - the city's police
and apparently also its rulers - patrol the streets.
The crime of murder is unusual in Millennius, perhaps because of the strict
justice system.
In its technology the society is equivalent to and indeed slightly more advanced
than that of early twenty-first century Earth. As well as energy weapons the
Millennians have "psychometric tests" which are able to divine from an object
the characteristics of the person who last had contact with it, use "oblivator
drugs", and check a crime scene for clues by doing a "heat reflector search",
which is the responsibility of the Chief Engineer. "Orza ray scanners" can
search a person entering or leaving a room for concealed weapons. Push-button
phones are in use.
The most advanced culture on the planet inhabited a huge city contained within a
single pyramid-shaped building, surrounded by a sea of acid. These Marinians
could create energy barriers (forcefields), and had matter transmitters in the
form of dials worn on the wrist, which could transport their wearers to any part
of the planet. They also invented a machine called the Conscience, which
influenced the thoughts of intelligent life forms throughout the planet in a
similar way to the Source of Traken, to the extent of deciding what was right or
wrong and controlling people's actions accordingly, so that free will was
eventually abolished along with the crime and violence. This meant that when the
evil Voord invented an immuniser against the machine's effects, so that they
could rob and kill as they pleased, no-one was able to resist them. When the
machine was eventually destroyed to stop the Voord misusing it the Doctor
expressed satisfaction; feeling, quite rightly, that the Marinians should be
free to plan their own lives.
When the controlling keys were removed from the Conscience to prevent the Voord
using it people had suddenly to make their own rules again, which resulted in
many oddities, such as the bizarre and draconian system in operation on
Millennius.
Mawdryn's race
Mawdryn Undead (1 February to 9 February 1983)
This unnamed people attempted to become Time Lords, using technology stolen or
copied from Gallifrey, but instead the equipment they used to initiate and
control the regeneration process induced a perpetual deathless mutation.
They appeared human except for their external brains, which formed a pulsating
ovoid mass on their foreheads. This feature might however have been part of the
mutation. Their civilisation was highly advanced, possessing matter transmission
technology among other things, but as with other cultures which have benefited
or otherwise from contact with the Time Lords it is not clear how much was
derived from the latter.
Minorans
Home Planet: Inter Minor
The inhabitants of the planet Inter Minor are socially so stratified that they
have developed effectively into two different species. The upper class are an
incredibly dull and boring lot, obsessed with the petty details of bureaucracy.
Their personalities match the grey pallor of their skin and hair and their drab
clothing. They regard amusement as pointless and have a tendency towards
paranoia, for many years virtually barring the whole planet to off-worlders and
cutting all links with the rest of the universe, after a space plague killed
large sections of the population. This last experience made them extremely
xenophobic, shunning the barest physical contact with other life forms, even if
they were humanoid.
The Functionaries, as the working class are called, have coarse, lumpy, features
and appear considerably less human. In the past they have been brutally
oppressed by their rulers; it is commented that the Doctor on his one recorded
visit to the planet did nothing to alleviate their plight, but since things were
clearly beginning to change for the better - the planet's President, Zarb, had
lifted the restrictions on amusement, which were responsible for the growing
number of strikes, and was generally taking steps to improve the Functionaries'
lot - he may have felt it best to let things take their course.
Inter Minor is now beginning to emerge from its previous isolation, despite the
efforts of two dissident officials to discredit this new policy of openness by
causing a horde of flesh-eating Drashigs to escape from the MiniScope brought to
the planet by two Lurman entertainers.
The Minorans have a weapon called the Eradicator, which fires a heat ray that
vaporises organic matter and causes machinery to malfunction unless it is
properly shielded. Its most important component, without which it cannot
function, is the Tryizon Focuser.
Minyans
Home Planet: Minyos
Underworld (7 January to 28 January 1978)
The Minyans were a humanoid race on an Earthlike planet who the Time Lords,
acting from benign motives, helped develop from a Stone Age level to an advanced
technological society, among other things teaching them how to regenerate so
that long-range space travel became practical. In contrast to the regeneration
method of the Time Lords, which is largely a natural one, accomplished by a
combination of genetic coding and long yoga-like training which enables one to
trigger the process oneself at the appropriate time, the technique used by the
Minyans is entirely machine-aided (apart from the powers given them by the Time
Lords, the Minyans seem biologically identical to humans).
The Minyans can go on regenerating indefinitely, and unlike the Time Lords
retain the same persona throughout. There are dangers involved in the process.
The more one regenerates, the more the essential life force begins to weary and
fail. Those on the Quest - the long space journey in search of the Oracle, see
below - had to regenerate many thousands of times. If induced prematurely the
regeneration could be fatal, and some of the astronauts committed suicide this
way rather than go on enduring what had become a living death.
The Minyans came to resent the rather stifling, if benign, rule of the Time
Lords, and wished to prosper by their own efforts and at their own pace. They
rebelled against their rulers, after which the Time Lords decided to abandon
Minyos. The Minyans then took to warring among themselves, using the advanced
technology the Time Lords had given them. Among the inventions used in the wars
was a gun fitted with a shield that could reflect the beam from an energy weapon
onto its user, while protecting the shield gun's owner from the blast.
In an attempt to stop the wars some Minyans developed a pacifying device which
could induce benign thoughts in a person, conquering any disposition towards
aggression. This invention came too late to prevent a nuclear war from
destroying the planet.
As the catastrophe had approached the doomed Minyans had split into two opposing
schools of thought. Some felt that the wars devastating the planet were the
fault of the Minyans themselves; they had misused the gifts the Time Lords had
given them. The second and far larger party blamed everything on the Time Lords,
saying the crisis would never have occurred if the Minyans had been allowed to
develop at their own pace. The Time Lords were not very popular afterwards with
the Minyan race, and liable to be attacked and killed whenever one showed his or
her face among them.
In the years before the holocaust a few far-sighted Minyans, instead of spending
all their time arguing over the causes of the conflict, had sought means of
escaping it. They sent out scout ships which found a habitable world in a nearby
solar system, where they established a colony, called Minyos II. They gathered
the genetic codes of millions of Minyans into a Race Bank and despatched it to
Minyos II in a ship called the P7E. The P7E was never to reach its destination,
for a failure in its guidance system sent it far off course. The Minyans built
another ship, fitted with regeneration equipment, which went in search of it.
The P7E had crashed into a newly formed planet which hardened around it, the
ship forming its core. After the crash the P7E's computer somehow took over, as
did Xoanon on Leela's planet, and set up a stratified society from the ship's
crew, which would preserve its rule. The ship's control room became a kind of
temple, its consoles draped with rich hangings, in a parallel with the Tesh's
worship of Xoanon. The functions of the Oracle were tended by Seers, with Guards
to keep the bulk of the population, known as the Trogs, under control. The Trogs
were forced to labour in harsh conditions, continually oppressed by the Guards
and spending all day in backbreaking, monotonous work carving out rock from the
structure of the planet, which was fed into a crushing machine before being
reprocessed into food for the Guards and fuel with which to keep the Oracle
functioning.
As a part of maintaining the Oracle's political control, the Trogs were allowed
to forget they had ever originated on another planet, and gradually descended
into backwardness and superstition. The roofs of the tunnels in which they lived
and toiled night and day constituted for them the sky. They must not think they
could escape to the stars to begin a new life of freedom. From time to time
there would occur cave-ins - "Skyfalls" - but mention of these was strictly
forbidden, partly because for the sky to fall in suggested there was something
else besides it and partly because they were not accidents, as people were
encouraged to believe, but deliberately engineered as a form of population
control to keep Trog numbers down, so making them more controllable as well as
conserving resources. Troublesome Trogs were sacrificed to the Oracle in a
quasi-religious ceremony, which the other Trogs were forced to attend, and which
ended with the flame from a lamp burning through a cord on which a razor-sharp
sword was suspended above the tied-down victim. Its purpose was to overawe the
populace and impress upon them the awful consequences of rebellion. The victim
was spoken of as having answered the Question of the Sword. The litany spoken on
such occasions goes as follows, according to one authority:
The Oracle: "Is the time right?"
Seer: "The time is right."
Oracle: "Is the slave ready?"
Seer: "The slave is ready."
Oracle: "And those who watch?"
Seer: "They are full of fear."
Oracle: "Let the sword ask its question."
Seer: "It shall be done!"
Seer begins to chant:
"Lamp burn, sword fall,
Ask the question that hangs over all."
Too scared to do otherwise, the crowd then takes up the chant. "Ask the question
that hangs over all."
(Terrance Dicks, Doctor Who Underworld, W H Allen 1980)
Despite such instruments of oppression as this, the prophecy that one day gods
would come from the stars to set the people free still survived among the
slaves, handed on for generations, though to mention it was an offence one could
be sacrificed for. The Seers insisted they and the Trogs and guards were the
only survivors of Minyos.
Exactly what kept these groups loyal to the Oracle is not clear. The system was
no doubt maintained because it was convenient for those running it, who enjoyed
higher living standards than the "Trogs". However the Oracle seems to have had
some kind of power which made it easier to dominate them; the nature of this is
not known, but it was able to persuade the Seers to submit to having all or part
of their bodies, including the head, replaced with mechanical components,
turning them effectively into robots.
Moroks
Home Planet: unknown
The Space Museum (24 April to 15 May 1965)
Writer: Glyn Jones
The Moroks are a humanoid race with two hearts and dark red, almost black blood.
Rigidly militaristic, they walk in a stiff mechanical fashion and their hair
grows down to a severe point between their eyebrows. Their soldiers wear white
uniforms with red flashes across the chests. The Moroks are brutal conquerors:
on Xeros they murdered the planet's Elders and enslaved the rest of the
population, shipping many of them off to the Morok homeworld. The Moroks have
force fields which can secure a person to a chair, and translating devices, worn
on the collar, which can instantly translate an alien's language into clearly
understandable Morok. If one is fitted to a prisoner it can enable Morok
interrogators to read their mind, the subject's thoughts being translated into
pictures on a screen. Simply by asking the right questions of them the
interrogator will inevitably elicit the desired image. One can resist the
process to some extent by thinking silly and irrelevant thoughts.
A substance called phosyn, manufactured in laboratories, serves the Moroks as
food, containing all the nutrients, minerals, and vitamins they need to survive.
The Moroks have chess-playing robots and can cryogenically freeze people in
suspended animation. In war they use Zaphra gas; this does not kill the enemy
but causes a slow paralysis, accompanied by great pain, which ultimately forces
them to surrender.
The average Morok, though disciplined, is in some ways lacking in intelligence
and initiative and their leaders tend to have a poor opinion of them. Certainly
the Moroks eventually lost their desire for expansion, their empire subsequently
contracting and beginning to fall apart, although they continued to retain their
hold on Xeros (described as three light years from the Morok planet), where they
set up a museum of their past conquests.
The "great Ork" appears to be a Morok deity.
Necrosians
Home planet: Necros
Revelation of the Daleks (23 March to 30 March 1985)
Writer: Eric Saward
The inhabitants of Necros are renowned morticians, although their way of doing
the job is somewhat different from Earth's: for example blue is their official
colour of mourning. At one point they established a vast mortuary called
Tranquil Repose in which corpses (actually in suspended animation), were
preserved until the diseases from which they would otherwise die could be cured
allowing them to resume a normal life. Their sleeping consciousnesses were
entertained with music and regularly updated with news of the latest social and
political developments, fed subliminally into their brains.
Tranquil Repose undoubtedly benefited the developing economy of Necros. However
it was regarded by some as a misguided concept; when the sleepers were restored
to full life it would mean a massive population explosion in the galaxy. It was
destroyed in the events following Davros' taking over the establishment and
using it as a cover for his attempts to create a new army of Daleks out of the
bodies of the "dead"; the Doctor then persuaded the survivors of the management
to manufacture proteins from the native weed plant, which could be exported to
the other developing planets in the galaxy.
Paradise Towers
Paradise Towers (5 October to 26 October 1987)
Writer: Stephen Wyatt
Paradise Towers was a man-made planet designed as a living unit with all the
latest "mod-coms", and including special housing for the elderly. It was the
work of Kroagnon, a brilliant architect who was responsible for a number of
similar projects throughout the Galaxy. However he eventually became deranged
and, believing that people were parasites who would spoil his perfect creation,
built lethal traps into them. For some reason those who had commissioned
Paradise Towers, and had realised how dangerous Kroagnon was, removed the Great
Architect's brain from his body and imprisoned it within the basement, perhaps
as a kind of macabre punishment for his crimes. As we shall see, however, his
hatred was such that his malevolent psychic influence reached beyond the walls
of his prison.
After all the male population of military age left to fight in a war, problems
began. The social structure of Paradise Towers collapsed and the different
groups of residents took to fighting each other. All-girl street gangs known as
the Blue, Red and Yellow Kangs, each with their own distinctive language -
"brainquarters", "unalive", "cowardly cutlet" - roamed the corridors and
stairways, fighting one another for supremacy over the Towers and in the process
causing annoyance to the elderly residents ("Rezzies"). They had names like Fire
Escape and Bin Liner, and dyed their hair red, blue or yellow to indicate
membership of their respective groups, each of which evolved its own distinctive
rituals ("Build High For Happiness", a slogan from the Paradise Towers
promotional brochure, ironically became a stock Kang greeting) and carried
strange crossbow-like weapons fashioned from odd bits of metal found among the
rubbish that now littered Paradise Towers. The Kangs held memorial services for
their dead members, at which they were praised for their bravery in fighting the
other gangs, although the rivalry was by no means malicious.
Altogether, Paradise Towers degenerated into something like a run-down urban
housing estate, with crime getting out of control and everything smothered in
graffiti and rubbish. The caretakers, the police of this self-contained
mini-state, tried to deal with the problem but were defeated by the sheer size
of the place. They were hidebound by strict rules and regulations - no ball
games, no flyposts, no visitors - yet quite unable to enforce them.
At the same time, the Rezzies were developing cannibalistic tendencies and under
Kroagnon's influence the cleaning robots which patrolled the Towers started to
get out of control, killing both the Kangs and the caretakers, while a
carnivorous waste disposal system, leading down to the basement, would swallow
people up. The remains of these victims were used by Kroagnon's brain in various
abortive attempts to fashion a new body for itself.
Proamons
Home planet: Proamon
Writer: Ian Briggs
The only inhabitant of the planet Proamon whom the Doctor has ever encountered
was the criminal Kane, whose body temperature was minus 200 degrees Centigrade
and who had the ability to freeze someone to death merely by touching them,
which meant he had permanently to wear gloves to avoid accidental physical
contact. Kane could not long survive in other than very cold climates and even
on Iceworld (see below) had to return to a specially built refrigeration unit
whenever his body temperature rose above a certain level. It is not clear
whether these characteristics were common to all Proamons or peculiar to him as
an individual.
For his crimes Kane was exiled from Proamon and banished to the barren planet
Svartos, which had a permanently frozen dark side where he could survive. He
vowed to return one day with an army of mercenaries and wreak a terrible revenge
on his people. During Kane's three-thousand year imprisonment (which means
either that Proamons are long-lived, or this longevity was an effect of the
cryogenic techniques he used to preserve his temperature at the right level)
Proamon was destroyed when its sun went nova, and Kane, on realising it no
longer existed and he had schemed for revenge in vain, committed suicide by
exposing himself directly to unfiltered sunlight.
Ribans
Home planet: Ribos
The Ribos Operation (2 September to 23 September 1978)
The planet Ribos, described as being "three light centuries from the Magellanic
Cloud," orbits its sun elliptically, so that the climate is one of extremes; its
two seasons, known as the "Sun Time" and the "Ice Time", are each eleven Earth
years long. During the Sun Time the climate is agreeable, making Ribos the
perfect setting for a holiday home; in the Ice Time it is bitterly cold and
inhospitable, a frozen, windswept wasteland beneath a dull orange-green sky in
which what sunlight there is is heavily obscured by clouds. These conditions
prevail over the entire planet. The only settlement of any size, indeed the only
settlement at all apart from a few scattered villages near the Upper Pole, is
the city of Shurr.
The inhabitants of the city wear thick furs to keep out the cold.
Fuel is rationed and so life is harsh for the ordinary citizens, who huddle over
wood fires for warmth in ramshackle fur-covered hovels. How agriculture is

carried on in these circumstances is not known, but it is doubtful there is
enough of a yield to support a large population. Many Ribans probably make a
living as trappers, killing the animals roaming the tundra for their meat and
fur. The planet does possess fairly rich mineral resources but the
infrastructure does not yet exist for the natives to exploit them. Ribos is
classed as a Grade Three planet whose inhabitants are "protected", since their
backward nature means they could all too easily be exploited by others, rather
than develop their own economy. Mining will not therefore be possible until the
planet has achieved a higher status.
Sociologically and technologically, as well as in its style of dress, Ribos is
like late mediaeval or early modern Russia; a civilisation caught between two
worlds, which has progressed in some ways - cannons are used in warfare - but in
many others remains trapped in barbarism. Perhaps because the viciousness of the
environment doesn't bring out the best in people, justice is harsh with capital
punishment for thieves and petty criminals, and a curfew is imposed at night.
Superstition abounds: most Ribans believe the stars in the night sky to be ice
crystals, and that the different seasons are the result of wars between Ice Gods
and Sun Gods. It is said that whoever wears the 9000-year old Great Crown of
Ribos, one of the sacred relics held in the Citadel of Shurr, has the power to
call up the sun at the end of each Ice Time. The age of the Crown is a
staggering indication of the awesome length of time the Ribans have spent in a
primitive, relatively speaking, state.
The Ribans are mostly ignorant of other worlds and unaware that their planet is
a part of, and protected by, the Greater Cyrrhenic Empire, despite using the
same currency (opeks). There are soothsayers called Seekers, who use bones for
divination, and seem able to find missing objects and people using a kind of
telepathy or clairvoyance, going into trances while they attempt to establish
their location. They believe their powers to be derived from their dead
ancestors and from the spirits of the ice and sun.
"Bones of our Fathers, Bones of our Kings, by the Spirit that once moved you,
seek and find. Seek in the Sun Time, seek in the Ice Time. Seek and find. Come
into the Circle, Spirits of the Ice, Spirits of the Sun, show what I seek.
Show....show....."
The Seekers do appear to have genuine telepathic abilities, but they are
explained in terms of magic and witchcraft. Those of a scientific frame of mind,
who believe the "ice crystals" are suns around which orbit other inhabited
worlds and that Ribos' climactic extremes are due to the fact that it moves
about its own, are persecuted. Things appear to be a little different in the
Upper Polar region, where there seems to be more open-mindedness.
The Shrieves are the city guard of Shurr, with special respon-sibility for
looking after the sacred relics.
Salostophans
Home planet: Salostophus
The Trial of a Time Lord, episodes 1-4 (6 to 27 September 1986)
The Trial of a Time Lord, episodes 13-14 (29 November to 6 December 1986)
Writers: Pip and Jane Baker, Robert Holmes, Eric Saward (uncredited)
Writer: Ian Briggs
Salostophus, in the constellation of Andromeda, is the planet from which Sabalom
Glitz hails. Here grotzis are the currency and a woman can have as many as six
husbands. "Dink" is a slang term for a stupid person.
Sentreal
Home planet: Sentreal
The conference between the Daleks and their allies on Kembel was attended by a
representative from the planet Sentreal, whose body had to be entirely encased
in a suit containing a mixture of the gases which made up the atmosphere of his
homeworld. The inhabitants of Sentreal were mutually telepathic, their minds
being linked to such an extent that isolating one of them from the others would
kill him, and the helmet of Sentreal's suit was fitted with an aerial with which
he could keep in constant mental contact with the rest of his race, the thought
waves apparently being transmitted in the same way as sound or radio.
Sisterhood of Karn
Home planet: Karn
The Brain of Morbius (3 January to 24 January 1976)
Writer: Robin Bland
The Sisterhood of Karn are a mysterious, all-female, quasi-religious sect who
worship a naturally occuring flame, found in one of a series of caves within the
planet's mountains where they have made their home, from which is distilled an
elixir that gives everlasting life. The heat of the flame causes oxidisation of
the minerals in the rock surrounding it; there follows a chemical reaction with
superheated gases from deep in the planet's crust, resulting in formation of the
elixir. Probably the flame is itself caused by a subterranean pocket of gas
which has somehow become ignited.
The precise origins of the Sisterhood are uncertain - as are the reasons why
they should all be women, something which has given rise to much speculation as
to their interpersonal relationships. They appear to spend much of their time in
meditation, watching over the entrances to the caves for those who may have come
to steal the Elixir.
The Elixir can heal serious mental and physical injuries and also arrests the
ageing process, preserving the Sisters at the age they were on joining the order
(which means that for those already old when it was found, it is something of a
mixed blessing). It has to be taken regularly for the effects to last. A sudden
cessation of the supply - a standard punishment for Sisters who betray the
order's secrets to its enemies - causes instant ageing, the miscreant being
reduced to a skeleton in seconds.
The Elixir is the source of the Sisterhood's remarkable mental powers, which
include telekinesis and ESP. Before using these powers they need to whip up the
necessary amount of psychic energy, which they do through use of ritual. They
can teleport people and objects across miles, and sense the approach of
spacecraft over vast distances; Maren, the Sisterhood's leader at the time of
the second Morbius crisis, insisted that "even the silent gas dirigibles of the
Moothi I felt in my bones, while they were still a million miles distant." Their
combined wills can strike a person dead on the spot. The Sisters can communicate
telepathically with one another, on such occasions functioning as a Gestalt in
which the dominant element is the leader, who guides their actions towards
whatever outcome is desired.
Where it is projected over a distance their psychic energy is manifested at the
point to which it is directed in an invisible force whose effects are like that
of a strong wind, setting loose objects in motion and causing some alarm to
those who experience it.
It would seem the Flame itself boosts the Sisters' powers, for they need to be
physically within reasonable distance of it for them to be used most
effectively. "Away from the Flame, without the Circle of Power {the sisters form
a circle and chant when summoning up psychic energy}, our powers fade," says
Maren.
As yet unexplained is the power contained in the ring Maren wore. It fired a ray
of energy which could blind people (though only temporarily, by stunning the
optic nerve), and strike weapons from their hands.
Unsurprisingly, the powers of the Flame were much coveted by others, including
those who sought to use them for evil purposes, such as the renegade Time Lord
Morbius. Morbius and his followers came to Karn to steal the Elixir but a
coalition of his enemies pursued him there, resulting in a war which totally
devastated the planet, the Sisterhood being more or less the only survivors.
From then on they guarded the secret of the Flame with a fanatical jealousy,
which extended to killing anyone whom they thought - sometimes mistakenly - had
come to steal it. They used their psychic energies to wreck visiting spacecraft,
dashing them to pieces against Karn's rocky surface. Those of the crew who
survived, if caught by the Sisterhood, were "sacrificed to the Flame" by being
burnt at the stake.
"Flame of Life, Fire of Death, take this intruder's body into thy eternal
heart." Disturbingly, the image is of the victim being forever imprisoned within
the Flame, although these words from the litany recited at the sacrificial
ceremony are probably rhetorical. (There seems a parallel with the Swampies of
Delta Three when they speak of their water deity Kroll eating the souls of
those sacrificed to him, although there the image, if equally unsettling, is not
so much of imprisonment as complete and permanent destruction).
The Flame itself does not appear to have quite the same effect on human tissue.
At the end of the second Morbius crisis Maren, tiring of being forever old,
threw herself into it. In an instant it consumed her body entirely, no pain
being caused in the process. Briefly as she perished, an image of her as a
beautiful young woman appeared in the Flame, which it would seem has many powers
that are still not understood.
The impression is gained that the events of the Doctor's visit to Karn have
resulted in the end of the Sisterhood's more barbaric practices. Much of the
problem was Maren, an inflexible religious conservative whose determination to
keep things as they were led her to commit acts of cruelty. Ultimately she seems
to have realised her folly.
Whether they have continued to take the Elixir is unclear. The Doctor warned
them that eternal life meant eternal stagnation; and their existence was indeed
a sterile and joyless one, devoid of novelty. If Maren is anything to go by, his
words would seem to have had some effect.
The Flame can be fed with a substance called rineweed, which is highly flammable
and also used to treat the wood of the sacrificial pyre.
Skonnans
Home planet: Skonnos
The Horns of Nimon (22 December 1979 to 13 January 1980)
Skonnos is home to a ruthless, militaristic race of warriors, whose development
of space travel enabled them at one point to conquer over a hundred star
systems. In their black uniforms and red helmets they were a terrifying sight.
However the Skonnans, like certain non-human species such as the Kraals and the
Jagaroth, were a quarrelsome people who spent almost as much time arguing among
themselves as they did fighting others. The Skonnan empire eventually fell apart
due to civil war on the home planet, in which the noble families took up arms
against each other, Emperor followed Emperor in quick succession and rival
Emperors set up their own territorial enclaves. The Skonnans' colonies took
advantage of all the chaos and confusion to declare their independence, with the
exception of the weak-willed Anethans.
The devastation on Skonnos was so great that with a few exceptions only the
military, in the person of a few well-protected senior officers and their men,
survived. The population was reduced to little more than a handful of ageing,
mostly male soldiers. From this base the Skonnans attempted to recover their
former greatness with the help of the alien Nimon, who falsely promised them the
benefit of his race's advanced technology while in truth seeking to drain their
planet of its energy, regardless of the consequences of its inhabitants, once
they had supplied him with the equipment they needed.
Star People
Home planet: none
Writer: Ian Briggs
The Star People appear to be a race of nomads, not necessarily from poor
backgrounds (some are smartly, if often bizarrely, dressed with an imperious
manner which can lead to friction with the galactic authorities). One might
describe them as space hippies who have abandoned the conventions of a settled
existence, preferring to roam the stars entirely as they please. Lacking the
resources of a state behind them, they are sometimes backward in their
education, but evidently feel the life they live to be worth such disadvantages.
"Swampies"
Home planet: orginally Delta Magna, now Delta Three (moon)
The Power of Kroll (23 December 1978 to 13 January 1979)
"Swampies" is the name, no doubt considered politically incorrect by some and
banned accordingly, for a primitive tribal people who inhabit the swamps and
rivers of Delta Three, moon of Delta Magna, which they navigate easily by means
of canoes. The Swampies originated on Delta Magna but were shipped to the
desolate, watery planetoid, much as the American Indians of Earth were packed
off to reservations, when humans from Earth began to colonise their homeworld.
Their culture is suppposed to be older than that of Earth, though it is possible
they in fact originated there before somehow finding themselves on Delta Magna,
any differences between themselves and later Terrans being the product of
evolutionary changes; the Doctor detected early Samoan influences in some of
their rituals. Further evidence for this theory is that although primitive in
other ways, the Swampies have perfected the art of book binding.
Beyond the fact that their skin is green, they appear to be biologically
indistinguishable from humans. While themselves the victims of racism and
imperialism, the Swampies felt contempt for the "dryfoots", as they called those
not of their kind, and practised human sacrifice until the Doctor ended worship
of their water deity, the octopus-like Kroll.
Terminus
Terminus (15 to 23 February 1983)
Writer: Steve Gallagher
The extinct race who built the space station Terminus appear to have been more
or less humanoid but considerably bigger and taller than Earth humans, judging
by the dimensions of the craft, and with three fingers. The people encountered
there later - the station's crew, the Lazar's disease sufferers, the raiders
Kari and Olvir - seem entirely human, although there is no indication which
planet or planets they came from.
The builders of Terminus must have been an extremely advanced people, for the
station - which was originally mobile - was capable of time travel, and in fact
the jettisoning of one of its fuel tanks into the void after it had journeyed
back many billions of years into the past was responsible for the initial
creation of the Universe.
Trions and Sarns
Home Planets: Trion and Sarn
Planet Of Fire (23 February to 22 March 1984)
The inhabitants of the planet Trion are humanoids who appear little different in
most respects from the inhabitants of Earth, though Vislor Turlough did not
enjoy his stay on the latter planet. Trions are adept at safeguarding and
promoting their interests throughout the galaxy, and it is said there are Trion
agents on every civilized planet; Turlough mentions an agrarian commissioner on
Vardon, a tax inspector on Derveg, and a solicitor in Chancery Lane.
The planet was once the centre of an Empire ruled by an alliance of families
called Clans, who rightly or wrongly considered themselves to be the epitome of
honour, bravery and decency. They were later overthrown and replaced by a
supposedly more egalitarian regime (under whom Trion remained an empire) which
dealt harshly with its political opponents, especially those who had supported
and continued to support the Clans. Dissidents and their families were exiled to
the planet Sarn, a Trion colony, marked with a criminal brand in the shape of
three overlapping triangles and known as the Misos Triangle. In previous years
Sarn s warm and sunny climate had made it a tourist paradise and it had been
settled in large numbers by ordinary Trions. The planet was geologically
unstable, and the colonists had to devise special machinery to control the
frequent volcanic eruptions and even harness the kinetic forces released in the
earthquakes they caused to generate energy. They also used this power for
medicinal purposes, for numismaton, one of the gases released by the movements
of the crust, had remarkable healing properties. The flow of numismaton could be
controlled so as to ensure a regular supply of it.
In the long run, however, the forces of nature proved impossible to tame and the
settlers, defeated by the instability of the crust and the damage caused to
crops by the lava flows, returned to the home planet. However Sarn continued to
be used as a prison for political and probably other criminals, and for a time
scientists and engineers from Trion made regular visits to service the machinery
so that the eruptions did not get completely out of hand and threaten the
prisoners lives. They also brought food and other supplies.
At one time it had been the practice to brainwash the dissidents, one
side-effect of which was that they forgot their origins as members of an
advanced spacefaring civilization and began worshipping a superstitious form of
religion. When the settlers saw one of the vulcanologists from the home planet,
who would have been wearing a protective thermal suit, the sight of the gleaming
silver figure helped give rise to the legend of Logar, god of the Fire Mountain
(the volcano overlooking the planet s largest city), who would visit his people
at periodic intervals to bring prosperity and happiness. Anyone who trespassed
on the Fire Mountain, which had become a sacred place, or offended against the
religion in any way, was sacrificed to Logar by being thrown into a cave where a
build-up of numismaton gas had been ignited by the crustal movements which
brought it into contact with the planet s internal heat. Machines were regarded
as sacred to Logar and to tamper with them was a burning offence. When the
volcano erupted and crops were destroyed it was seen as a sign that Logar was
angry with the people, a judgement upon them; such disasters therefore had to be
put up with without complaint. Worship of Logar continued after the Trions had
abandoned Sarn altogether with the result that the eruptions grew steadily
worse - due to the increasing cost of maintaining a presence there at the same
time that rebellions on Trion s other colonies were necessitating costly
military engagements, along with the fact that atmospheric disturbances caused
by the eruptions were wrecking spacecraft as they came in to land. The Sarns
eagerly awaited the return either of Logar or his representative, a messianic
figure called the Outsider, who would bring wealth and prosperity as a reward
for their loyalty to their god.
When the Master came to Sarn, he sought to trigger a surge of numismaton gas in
order to restore himself to full size after being accidentally miniaturized when
an experiment with his Tissue Compression Eliminator, of which he had been
trying to build a bigger and more powerful version, misfired. His interference
with the equipment that held the eruptions in check resulted in the devastation
of the planet but the Sarns were rescued by a ship from Trion, where they would
be assured of a warm welcome, yet another change of regime having brought about
the end of the policy of imprisoning or exiling dissidents.
Trakenites
Home planet: Traken
The Keeper of Traken (31 January to 28 February 1981)
The former Traken Union, a cluster of planets ruled as a single political unit,
was held together by a bioelectronic field known as the Source which had a
pacifying effect upon the mind and could also influence the physical
environment. Apparently able to reach beyond the planet Traken itself, where the
equipment that generated it was located, it kept the Union s billions of
inhabitants in a state of peace and harmony, as far as was possible with
sentient life forms. This both preserved the quality of life and maintained the
Union in being as a political entity ensuring order and stability. The Source
needed a human controller, a Keeper, who was usually chosen from among the five
Consuls who together ruled both Traken and its sister planets. Virtually
becoming one with the Source, most of the time the Keeper had to remain
physically within the equipment that created the biolectronic field, although he
or she was able to leave their post for short periods, and could travel around
the sector of space in which the Union was located using a form of teleportation
which drew upon the Source s power. He derived from it certain telekinetic
powers. Though there is much about the way the process operated that has yet to
be understood, it seems the Source could keep alive a Keeper s mind and body for
thousands of years without food or other nourishment being necessary, although
eventually they would die of old age, weakening and losing their powers over the
Source as the end approached.
A Consul whose ideas or policies were in dispute, whose conduct was in any way
suspect, could choose to undergo Rapport with the Keeper, in which the minds of
the two were directly linked; the power of the Source could destroy a wicked
mind and if his motives were in any way impure the shock of contact with it
would kill him.
It was nonetheless possible to use the power represented by the Source for evil
purposes. Since an evil Keeper would have polluted it it provision existed,
should the Consuls decided the present incumbent was unfit for the post, for
terminating his existence, probably by programming the source to consume him.
This however required not only the unanimous consent of all five Consuls but of
the Keeper himself. There seems to have been no procedure for simply detaching
the Keeper from the mechanism.
The act of becoming Keeper involved tremendous stress and those already of
advanced age are ruled out as they cannot stand the shock. When a new Keeper
succeeds there is an initial period of reaction, which usually lasts for a
couple of hours. The effort of taking control of the Source can weaken him
dangerously and at first his new powers come and go. When a Keeper finally
begins to succumb to age, he loses control over the Source to some extent with
the result that an uneasy mood sweeps through the population, crops fail and
severe weather conditions are experienced. There should preferably be the
briefest of intervals between Keepers, and catastrophe can result if anything
goes wrong with the transfer. The Source finally consumes the Keeper, in what is
rumoured to be an agonising death.
The Source was symbolised physically by a flame burning above the mechanism,
which went out whenever a Keeper died.
When it is desired to summon the Keeper for any reason, all five Consuls have to
be present. To confirm a new Keeper in their post, a complex numerical code has
to be entered into a control console in the Inner Sanctum.
The Master, planning to gain control over the Source, engineered things so that
Consul Kassia, whom he had suborned, became Keeper and somehow, through his
power over her body and mind, was able to hijack the process, so that the source
consumed Kassia and he then took her place. There is much that remains unclear
as to what he did but he appears to have learned from his contact with the
Source how to occupy the body of another person, killing them in the process.
So many of the problems of Traken were taken care of by the Source that science
became to some extent neglected, and interest in it regarded as no more than a
harmless eccentricity. Traken society ended up a strange combination of
mediaeval/early modern costume and architecture and advanced technology such as
energy weapons, electronic locks and equipment for detecting energy emissions.
It also became rather dull and sterile and the Master no doubt thought he was
spicing things up by taking it over and directing the Trakens to embark on a
programme of galactic conquest in his name.
Traken justice remained very harsh, treason being punishable by death. When it
was mistakenly believed that the Doctor and his friends were responsible for the
problems caused by the Keeper s impending death (his Dissolution ) and the
Master s attempting to take over his post, the Consuls sought to execute them.
This could, however, have been due to the unease felt during a period of
Dissolution and the bad influence of the Master, which the Keeper s failing
control could not prevent.
The most serious offences may have been avoided but, Melkur apart, it was still
possible for example to gain favours by bribing people the Doctor s companion
Nyssa, a native of the planet, commenting that money was a weapon which opened
most doors, even on Traken.
Order in the capital city on Traken was maintained by the Fosters, headed by an
official called the Proctor. The garden they tended symbolized the spiritual
welfare of the Union.
Unnamed Planet
The Savages (28 May to 18 June 1966)
On this world lived two societies of humanoids: the Elders, who lived in a
beautiful city the technology of which appeared extremely advanced (they were
apparently been able to track the progress of the TARDIS through space and time)
and which was the centre of a flourishing, highly cultured civilization, and the
primitive Savages. The latter wore animal skins, hunted with spears and
generally had barely progressed beyond the Stone Age. The Doctor discovered that
the Elders magnificent achievements were based on kidnapping Savages, using
energy weapons which could both paralyse and hypnotise their victims, and
extracting the life force from them; their animal vitality could in some way be
harnessed to proportionally increase intellectual and artistic ability. The
process need not be fatal and it was possible to recover from its effects but
repeated exposure to it left the subject a shambling, zombie like wreck,
mentally drained. The Elder s leader, Jano, drained the Doctor s life energy and
absorbed it into himself with the result that he acquired the Time Lord s
personality and moral values, consequently discontinuing the practice which the
Doctor regarded as protracted murder.
Varosians
Home Planet: Varos
Vengeance on Varos (19 January to 26 January 1985)
Varos is a bleak, airless, desolate, inhospitable world, its only asset the
mineral Zeiton-7, to which prisoners from a planet whose name remains unknown
were sent, to live sterile lives in featureless sealed domes. Eventually the
homeworld was forgotten about and a stratified society developed with the
descendants of the prisoners forming the bulk of the population and those of the
prison officers its rulers. Most Varosians lived in poverty and had few civil
rights, while the ruling elite lived a life of luxury. Food was strictly
rationed and movement between domes was impossible without official permission.
Scenes of political dissidents being tortured were broadcast to the general
population as a way of diverting them from thoughts of revolution by pandering
to their baser tastes, as well as warning them what might happen if they decided
to take up arms against the status quo. As the rebel leader Jondar commented, it
helped console, and therefore appease, the oppressed majority by reminding them
that at least there was somebody more unfortunate than themselves. Viewing was
compulsory, so that the Varosians constituted what was literally a captive
audience. They might occasionally be asked to vote on whether a rebel should be
executed or sentenced to life imprisonment. Most Varosians worked in the
Zeiton-7 mines or in the entertainment industry, making up tapes of the video
recordings of the torture for export to other planets. Revenues from the tapes
proved not to be as high as was hoped, so Varos was forced to rely on the
Zeiton-7 for its prosperity, resulting in its exploitation by the ruthless
Galatron Mining Corporation, who coveted the mineral and had lied about its true
worth.
Within the building known as the Punishment Dome dissidents might be made to
face hallucinatory hazards which they believed were real or real ones which
they believed to be hallucinations, thereby resulting in their deaths again
for the amusement of the populace.
In what was intended to convince the people that Varos was a democracy, while
really being a means of getting rid of leaders who had proved incompetent, the
population was asked (or rather forced) to take part in an electronic vote-in on
any controversial decision made by the planet s ruling Governor. Clamps locked
shut to secure him in the chair from which he broadcast his regular speeches to
the people, and if the vote went against him the Cell Disintegrator mounted
above it would activate and bathe him in harmful radiation, repeated doses of
which would kill him. The idea was that a man who was terrified of his life
would somehow find solutions to the planet s problems.
The Varosians technology appears to have been highly advanced, but was almost
invariably used for wicked purposes, another example being the practice of
transmogrification, in which rebels were deliberately mutated by exposure to
radioactivity into life forms of another species. This was an offshoot of
research by which the Zeiton-7 miners were bombarded with radiation to alter
their genetic structure so that they would grow fangs and claws all the better
to dig with.
Zanak and the Captain
The Pirate Planet (30 September to 21 October 1978)
The planet Zanak was a peaceful, happy and prosperous world until its ruler,
Queen Xanxia, embarked on a series of galactic wars in order to prove her
greatness. These resulted in Zanak being devastated and most of its population
destroyed, apart from a few nomadic farmers who could be easily dominated by the
megalomaniac Captain and his entourage when his spacecraft, the Vantarialis,
crashed on the planet. The Captain, who had been rebuilt as half-man, half-robot
following the injuries he sustained in the crash, modelled himself on a pirate
from the popular fiction of Earth, among other things being constantly
accompanied by a robot parrot called the Polyphase Avatron.
Using technology which may have been native to Zanak or may have been his own,
he gutted Zanak and filled its hollow interior with equipment that enabled the
entire planet to dematerialize and travel through hyperspace to reappear around
other worlds and drain them of their energy, compressing them to football-sized
husks from which all the vital minerals had been extracted. These minerals were
used to recreate Zanak s former prosperity as well as fund the lavish lifestyle
of the Captain and his entourage. The downside was that the people had no
political rights quite apart from the massive genocide being committed against
other worlds.
The Captain was opposed by the Doctor, by rebel factions among the population,
and also by the Mentiads. Every so often, a certain number of Zanaks develop
paranormal powers such as telepathy and telekinesis. These Mentiads can create
force fields around themselves that deflect energy weapons (but do not remain in
existence for long) and can use their psychokinetic powers to knock people out,
levitate objects and cause rockfalls.
Basically benign in nature, they appear to have learnt how to use good itself as
a power source, which generates a powerful psychokinetic force that can
physically overcome an adversary. Despite or perhaps because of their
benevolence they were initially confused and disorientated by the Captain s
evil, partly because they could absorb the life force of the destroyed planets
and (every atom of matter in the universe has a store of energy inside it, which
in something the size of a planet will be particularly powerful) and initially
found this too much to chew on, suffering severe mental pain as a result.
Without a recognized leader they are aimless and ineffectual. When refined
certain crystals, such as oolian and bandraginite 15, can neutralise Mentiads
powers and jam their telepathic communications.
They can of course communicate with each other mentally, effectively forming a
gestalt. They can be tracked by the psychic emanations they give off, which can
be picked up as one might radio waves.
For an emergent telepath the process of breaking out can be extremely
painfuland potentially fatal. The other Mentiads can always sense when it is
happening and immediately seek to harvest the emergent, that is assimilate
them into the group mind. They also appear able to sense the arrival of a
TARDIS. They can levitate objects and can use another person s mind as a focus
for their powers the Doctor s proved particularly useful for the purpose,
since as a Time Lord he was himself partly telepathic.
The Doctor and the Mentiads succeeded in infiltrating the Captain s
headquarters, his bridge , where they discovered he was in fact being
manipulated by Queen Xanxia who still lived, albeit incredibly old and preserved
in her last few moments of life by time dams. It was she who had rebuilt him as
a cyborg.
The energy needed to power the time dams came from the mineral resources of the
destroyed planets. It also enabled Xanxia to project her essence in the form of
a hologram, separate from her physical body, in the form of a young woman whom
everyone believed to be the nurse who tended the Captain s robotic components.
The hologram was itself gradually acquiring physical form, but was unstable. In
the meantime the energy needed to maintain the time dams was increasing
exponentially so that more and more planets would need to be absorbed
including Earth with its rich supply of quartz.
The Captain eventually rebelled against Xanxia, who killed him. She was forced
to retreat to her real body when the Mentiads attacked, and the Doctor and his
friends then blew up the bridge, ending her rule forever and allowing Zanak to
embark on a new era of genuine freedom and prosperity.
The precise origin of the Captain and his colleagues remains unknown, but they
would appear to have long lifespans; the Doctor informs us at one point that
Bandraginous Five, one of the planets drained by Zanak, disappeared a hundred
years ago .
ICE WARRIORS
Planet of origin: Mars
The Ice Warriors (11 November to 16 December 1967)
The Seeds Of Death (25 January to 1 March 1969)
The Monster Of Peladon (23 March to 27 April 1974)
Ice Warriors, as the former inhabitants of the planet Mars are sometimes
colloquially referred to, have much in common with the Sontarans, in that they
venerate the military life and have a strong sense of honour.
Their ancestry is reptilian, as their scaly, leathery skins and hissing voices
indicate, but unlike most other reptilian species they have successfully adapted
to cold climates like that prevailing on their home planet. In fact they thrive
in such conditions, and heat has become their deadly enemy, making them
uncomfortable above a certain temperature and eventually killing them. At most
extreme cold, or encasement in ice, will freeze them into immobility, but it
will not be fatal to them, and if the temperature should rise sufficiently they
will revive. Possibly their adaption to cold has been accomplished through
cybernetic augmentation and/or genetic engineering.
When engaged in military activities they wear scaly helmets, rising to blunt
points, with red-tinted eye-screens and openings for the mouth, and their bodies
are encased in armoured carapaces which resemble the shell of a tortoise. These
are grown from living matter in special laboratories. Beneath their armour the
Martians are humanoid in form, but with scaly green skin. The pupils of their
eyes are thin vertical slits. A Warrior's hands are encased in crude, clamp-like
metal gauntlets. These appear extremely clumsy, and not at all the sort of thing
that would be useful for handling weapons. Their use is somewhat puzzling; one
possible reason for it is that they are a symbol of the Martian's Warrior
status, one which is essential both socially and for identifying him as a
soldier. Whatever the explanation for it, cybernetics has enabled its
deficiencies to be adequately compensated for. The sonic guns which are the
Martians' principal weaponry are attached to the warrior's arm, with the part
containing the trigger resting between the two halves of the clamp. Either an
ingenious transmission system, with the gun being keyed to the user's
neurological centres, ensures that only a slight, almost imperceptible flexing
of the clamp results in triggering of the weapon, or it can be operated by
thought impulses.
A Warrior's legs and his broad, toeless feet are usually left unprotected.
At the head of the military oligarchy, above the Commanders and Marshals, is the
Grand Marshal, whose helmet is studded with gleaming jewels as an indication of
his high rank.
The Martians' autocratic and elitist socio-political system, with its strict
hierarchy, is a complement to their military ways. They see it as more efficient
both generally and for the purpose of military organisation, regarding democracy
as a hindrance to decision-making. They prefer to deal with aristocratic rather
than democratic powers, although in their new role as leading members of the
Galactic Federation they are prepared to accept decisions arrived at by majority
vote.
The aristocracy, the Ice Lords as they are called, are usually the officers in
military operations, while the rest of the population supply the NCOs and
private soldiers. (The term "Ice Warrior" is often wrongly applied to the entire
Martian species, even though not all the race are warriors, and those that are
may in fact be Ice Lords; despite its inaccuracy it has stuck, and will be used
here for simplicity's sake). Although they belong essentially to the same
species, there are one or two notable physical differences between the
aristocracy and the common soldiers; for example the Ice Lords are built on
slenderer, more graceful lines and are much less bulky. Instead of the armoured
suits which encase the bodies of the Ice Warriors, they wear tunics, leggings
and boots and their helmets are differently shaped, being domed rather than
pointed. While the Ice Warriors, whether or not they are breathing their own
atmosphere, speak slowly and apparently with difficulty, the Ice Lords' voices
are much clearer, though they still exhibit the characteristic Martian
sibilance. The Lords tend to be more intelligent than the Warriors, and thus
more suited to the role of officers and leaders. These mental and physical
differences may like the Martians' adaptability to very low temperatures have
been reinforced by genetic engineering.
The Martians' physiology is very different from that of humans. In particular,
they are not dependent on oxygen to the same extent. They are uncomfortable in
Earth-type atmospheres, where the Warriors in particular seem to speak and
breathe with an effort, although they do not appear to mind the discomfort too
much - stoicism is one of the Martians' most prized qualities - and it does not
greatly impair their effectiveness. In the environment of their own spacecraft,
the Martians' voices sound noticeably different.
In attempting to overcome a hostile Martian you are advised to use some powerful
source of heat. In the trisilicate mines of Peladon the Doctor helped defeat
them by interfering with the equipment that controlled the temperature in the
mines, raising it to levels they found uncomfortable. On the Moon he used solar
energy against the villainous Slaar and his henchmen.
Even when weakened by heat the Ice Warriors are still very difficult to
overpower. They are very strong and don't tire easily; they are however
slow-moving and ungainly, especially in atmospheres unlike that of Mars or when
they are wearing full armour, regardless of whether the temperature is impairing
their efficiency. It is difficult to knock one down, several humans being

required to accomplish the task, but their clumsiness means that once they do
fall over or lose their balance they find it hard to get up again. Even when
overturned they may still be dangerous, flailing around them with their powerful
limbs and firing with their sonic guns. Their armour protects them against
stabbing weapons; however it will not prevent a powerful blow with a heavy
object such as a large rock from knocking them unconscious.
Lacking the heavy armour of their warriors, the Ice Lords although more agile
and manouevrable can be more easily overpowered in hand to hand combat or killed
by swords or knives.
Since the atmosphere of Mars is chiefly nitrogen with no oxygen or hydrogen, the
Ice Warriors are vulnerable to ammonium sulphide, which plunges them into a deep
coma. The environment most likely to be deadly to an Ice Warrior is one where
temperature, oxygen level and humidity are at their maximum. In these
surroundings they will become disorientated and find breathing difficult, and
are likely to die after a time.
The Martians are well versed in the arts of war. Their most formidable military
asset is the sonic gun; they have developed sound as a weapon like no-one else
has done. Individual Martian warriors are equipped with the gun in the form of a
sleek tubular device attached to the right forearm. This can cut through ice, in
which Varga's men excavated a vast cavern with it, and melt solid metal. It is
very useful in breaking down the doors of rooms in which an enemy has hidden
himself. The weapon has a drastic effect on living organisms too; although the
body remains outwardly intact the brain and other internal organs are
disintegrated. The Ice Lord Izlyr claims it can destroy any life form.
Presumably the weapon may be used to stun rather than kill, but this has never
been made clear.
A much larger version of the gun, capable of shattering the hardest rock and
devastating entire cities, is installed within Martian spacecraft (which are
constructed from metal and nuclear-powered). If the craft is disabled the gun
can be removed from it and mounted on a traction unit for ease of mobility.
The Martians themselves are immune to the frequency at which the sonic gun
normally operates, but it can be altered in order to use the weapon against
them; they will then be particularly vulnerable since their helmets will trap
and intensify the sound waves. The frequency most likely to harm them is number
seven, which primarily affects liquids, of which the Martians' brain cells
contain a much higher quantity than humans .
With its sonic and other weaponry a single Martian ship could easily dominate
even an advanced civilisation, such as Earth in the 31st century, within a short
time.
As befits such a military-minded species, Ice Warriors are bold, decisive and
dislike vacillation. This quality is evident in Izlyr and Ssorg's impatience
with the indecision of the Centaurian delegate to Peladon in the face of the
diplomatic crisis caused there by Hepesh's rebellion.
The Martians will usually respect courage in an adversary, and have a strong
sense of honour. Izlyr was grateful to the Doctor for saving his life on
Peladon, when an attempt was made to assassinate the Galactic Federation
delegates, and later repaid the debt he owed him. When the Doctor was wrongly
suspected of defiling Peladon's most sacred religious site, and sentenced to
death, Izlyr pleaded for his life. In the end it was decided the Doctor should
engage in combat with the King's Champion, one of Peladon's most formidable
warriors, earning a pardon if he defeated him. Izlyr gave him some valuable
lessons in martial arts in preparation for this contest.
Like the Draconians, a similarly honourable race, Martians like to think they do
not lie. They may bend the truth now and again - and occasionally admit to doing
so - but there is perhaps a justification for this. In forsaking war for
diplomacy as the means by which they protect their interests, they have become a
political species, and politics is one area of life in which absolute honesty is
rarely an asset.
When first encountered by the Doctor, on Earth during its Third Ice Age where a
Martian spaceship had crashed and become frozen in the ice, the Ice Warriors
seemed cruel rather than noble; their much vaunted honour was hardly in
evidence. Varga's only redeeming feature was his magnanimous praise of the
humans' Ioniser - the machine which by raising the atmospheric temperature was
causing the ice to melt - which he saw as a weapon, and a magnificent one. His
cold ruthlessness was demonstrated by his killing of the vagrant Storr; Varga
wanted someone with scientific ability to confirm that the action of the Ioniser
would cause his spacecraft's nuclear reactor to explode, and as a non-scientist
Storr was "useless and unnecessary".
At this time the Ice Warriors clearly regarded themselves as superior to all
other races. They were extremely arrogant (a quality which some feel they still
exhibit). They sought to demonstrate this superiority through conquest, and it
was with that aim in mind that Varga's expedition had visited Earth and surveyed
it. Varga intended to subjugate the planet's population, if necessary by causing

mass destruction.
In his time the Martian leaders were without doubt a brutal and unfeeling sort,
who allowed their military commanders to commit appalling atrocities. Varga
seems to have been unpleasant enough; but by far the worst was Slaar, leader of
the Martian expedition which took over a human base on the Moon and used its
transmat equipment to send a lethal Martian fungus to Earth. Slaar was
undoubtedly a villain and a sadist; among other things he attempted to kill the
Doctor by teleporting him into space, where his body would explode.
The Ice Warriors needed to conquer Earth because their own planet was dying. It
was conveniently close, relatively speaking, to their homeworld, and so it made
sense to colonise it and transform its atmosphere into something similar to
Mars'. Any inconvenience this might cause the native humans was to be
disregarded, on account of their "inferior" status. The failure of their various
invasion attempts led the Martians to consider more peaceful ways of meeting
their needs. They abandoned conquest and resettled themselves on a distant
planet, not dissimilar to their homeworld, which they named New Mars. A less
aggressive hierarchy succeeded the militaristic one, and under it the Martians
came to prefer peaceful co-existence with other civilisations to warmongering.
Even so they remain difficult to deal with, over-reliant on military solutions
to thorny problems. The martial ethos pervades everything they do. At the height
of the second Peladon crisis the Federation Ambassador to the planet, being
informed that the Federation troops he had summoned to Peladon to deal with
unrest there would be Martians (and unaware that they belonged to a breakaway
faction who sought a return to the old ways of war and conquest), commented that
this was unfortunate, for the Martians were "ruthless militarists, concerned
only with results...it will not be easy to negotiate with them."
There remains on the part of the Martians a certain suspicion of Earth and
humans. Izlyr regarded the rulers of Earth as "devious men". He did not have a
high regard for human intelligence, commenting that for an Earthling the Doctor
(who he did not know to be a Time Lord) had a brain of considerable quality.
Ice Warriors are frequently harsh on their own kind (in dealing with whom they
would not be restrained by the need to respect the sensitivities of other
cultures). As well as a weapon, sound waves are used as a form of punishment in
the prisons of the home planet. Continuous bombardment by them, which will
eventually destroy the brain and leave the body a living vegetable, usually
causes enough pain to ensure good behaviour on the part of difficult prisoners.
JACONDANS
Planet of origin: Jaconda
The Twin Dilemma (22 to 30 March 1984)
Writer: Anthony Steven
The Jacondans are handsome, birdlike humanoids who enjoy an easy, carefree
existence, one which is encouraged by the idyllic environment of their beautiful
homeworld. They accept offworlders with ease and in fact elected one, a Time
Lord called Azmael, as their president.
They are, perhaps, too easy-going in their lifestyle. In this sense they are
very similar to the Lakertyans; certainly they suffered the same penalty for
their idle hedonism. Their way of life does not incline them to resist invasion,
or to the military ethos. They have grown cowardly, causing it to be often
remarked that the shortest list of war heroes anywhere in the universe is to be
found on Jaconda.
These weaknesses led to a loss of self-respect and dignity when the Gastropods,
led by Mestor, attempted to conquer Jaconda. There was a rush to collaborate
with the invaders on the part of socially important Jacondans, which brought the
war to an end almost before the first shot had been fired. Those who tried to
deceive the Gastropods, by pretending to be on their side while working quietly
to defeat him, were soon betrayed and murdered.
As recounted elsewhere, the Doctor liberated the Jacondans from their
oppressors. It is to be hoped that after their experiences under Mestor's rule
they have learned the error of their ways.
JAGAROTH
City Of Death (29 September to 20 October 1979)
Writer: David Agnew
The Jagaroth disappeared from the face of the cosmos so long ago that very
little is known about them. Much of what we do know is not complimentary. The
Doctor's comment on them as he watched their final destruction was that they
were "a vicious, callous, warlike race," who the universe would not miss.
The Jagaroth are basically humanoid in shape, but their flesh is dark green and
convoluted. A single eye glares malevolently from what in a human would be the
centre of the forehead. There is no nose and the mouth is a thin, barely visible
slit. Gill-like protuberances on either side of the head twitch when the
Jagaroth is agitated.
Jagaroth are not physically strong and can easily be worsted in unarmed combat
with humans; a well-aimed and hefty punch throws their nervous system into
disarray and causes them to lose consciousness. It therefore suited the Jagaroth
encountered by the Doctor on twentieth century Earth to engage human thugs to
protect his interests and deal with anyone who seemed in danger of discovering
his schemes.
Jagaroth can communicate telepathically with one another.
Like the Kraals the Jagaroth are a quarrelsome race, and like the Kraals they
allowed their fratricidal tendencies to all but destroy them. A nuclear war
rendered their homeworld uninhabitable and the few survivors fled to Earth, then
a young planet on which life had not yet begun, in their one remaining
spacecraft. It proved too inhospitable for them to colonise. Desperately needing
to find a new home, they took off using their warp drive - which it seems is not
a wise thing to do - the ship's conventional motors being damaged. The ship
exploded, the energy released by the blast affecting certain chemical compounds
and ultimately causing life to evolve on Earth.
The technology used in warp drive is similar to that required for time travel,
and accidents with the former can sometimes have strange effects. The explosion
splintered Scaroth, the ship's engineer, who had been in the warp control cabin
when it occurred, in time, shattering him into twelve identical segments which
each ended up in a different period of Earth's history. These segments worked to
further human technological progress, contributing to such achievements as the
invention of the wheel and the development of astronomy, so that by the
twentieth century it would be possible to build a time machine which the segment
living in that era, disguised as an aristocrat named Count Scarlioni, could use
to travel back through history to primeval Earth and prevent the destruction of
his people. Scarlioni found the money he needed to finance his time experiments
by selling off the many priceless antiques in his possession - items which the
other segments had passed down to him, and which included Gutenberg Bibles and
original manuscripts of great works of literature. Since the fulfilment of
Scaroth's plan would mean the human race would never have existed, the Doctor
had to stop him, and followed the Jagaroth back to primeval Earth in the TARDIS.
There Scaroth was overpowered and forced to return to the twentieth century,
where he subsequently perished in a fire. The other segments lived and died in
their different time zones, apparently without anyone ever discovering their
true identity.
Technologically the Jagaroth are extremely advanced. Apart from their knowledge
of warp drive they are skilled at creating holographic images and can use sound
waves to cut through matter. In stealing the Mona Lisa, which he could then sell
to provide additional finance for his time travel experiments, Scaroth used
laser beams to alter the refractive index of the air, creating a prismatic field
to deflect the light beams surrounding the picture, breaking of which would have
triggered off an alarm, and render it accessible. Another, very versatile,
Jagaroth invention is the micromesion scanner, which can analyse any alarm
system whilst it is in operation and deliver a report on it. The scanner was
disguised as a bracelet, and via a remote control device could be used to kill
the person wearing it by discharging a lethal amounts of energy similar to an
electrical charge.
Perhaps most remarkable of all was Scaroth's ability to disguise himself
successfully as a human, using a mask and gloves which may have been solid
holograms. An interesting question is that of whether "Scarlioni" and his human
wife, the Countess, ever had sex. Judging by the quality of Jagaroth technology
it seems not impossible that he might somehow have been able to convincingly
simulate human love-making, but from what we know of the Countess it is equally
likely that they did not have a normal married relationship but rather used each
other for social advancement.
Jagaroth spaceship are globular in shape and rest on three jointed legs which
fold together beneath the main body when the craft lifts off.
K1 ROBOT
Robot (28 December to 18 January 1975)
The K1 robot was designed on Earth towards the end of the Twentieth Century by
Professor Jeremiah Kettlewell, for use in a variety of tasks which could be
carried out much more safely and efficiently by a machine than a human being.
The robot's power and strength made it a potential weapon, one which could be
extremely dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands, as happened when a group of
scientists used it to steal a new disintegrator gun with which they took over
the bunker from which all Britain's nuclear missiles were controlled (the
scientists, aided by a misguided Kettlewell, sought to provoke a global nuclear
conflict in whose aftermath they could take over the world and run it on what
they considered to be more rational lines).
The robot was constructed from a revolutionary alloy similar in its structure
and properties to living tissue. It could absorb energy and use it to grow, as
Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart of UNIT found out when he tried to destroy it using
the recovered disintegrator gun; instead of disintegrate the robot swelled to
the size of a tower block (that the gun's ray did not destroy it is further
evidence of the alloy's unusual character). It could also be attacked with a
special kind of virus Kettlewell had discovered.
As well as clearly being a living organism, the robot possessed what might be
described as feelings. It disliked harming human beings, and its orders to kill
caused it emotional turmoil. It developed a strong affection for Sarah Jane
Smith, who on several occasions, aware that it had been misused, had shown it
compassion. When it accidentally killed Kettlewell, the man who had created it,
and who it regarded much as a human child would a father, the shock caused it to
collapse both mentally and physically. Later recovering, the Robot took over the
Bunker and tried to carry out the scientists' plan (which had been defeated by
the Doctor and UNIT). Angry at having been exploited and abused, it had decided
that humanity with the exception of Sarah was corrupt and evil and should be
destroyed. Once this was accomplished, it would populate the world with more
machines like itself, since machines, unlike humans, did not lie or inflict
cruelty. When it was unable to launch the missiles, failsafe procedures having
come into effect, it kidnapped Sarah and went on a killing rampage. It was at
this point that the Brigadier by his well-meant initiative with the
disintegrator gun unintentionally caused the robot to grow, making it even more
dangerous than before. Its insanity, combined with its colossal size and
strength, now made its destruction imperative. Since it was impervious to
conventional weapons the Doctor was forced to use Kettlewell's virus on it. This
had the effect of throwing the growth process into reverse, returning the robot
to its normal size, before reducing it to a brown, rust-like dust.
The Doctor pronounced the following epitaph on the robot: "It was a wonderful
being, capable of great good and great evil....I think you could say it was
human."
KASTRIANS
Planet of origin: Kastria
The Hand Of Fear (2 to 23 October 1976)
Silicon life forms, of which the Kastrians are one, are very rare, and in fact
the silicon-based form of this species was devised by Eldrad, the most brilliant
of their scientists, as a means of surviving an ecological crisis which
threatened to wipe them out; he considered it to be far more durable than an
organic body. At the same time much of Kastrian technology and hardware became
silicon-based too. Among Eldrad's other accomplishments, all of which assisted
the race's survival, was a means of drawing energy from the planet's core,
something the scientists of twenty-first century Earth, searching for a
non-polluting answer to their world's energy crisis, would have given much to
learn. He developed "hot rocks" technology for other applications than the
production of energy; "thermal caves", natural caves and tunnels warmed by the
intense heat prevailing at the extreme depth at which they occurred, were
enlarged and adapted to serve as homes when a sharp fall in temperature drove
the Kastrians underground.
In their silicon form Kastrians are incredibly strong and resilient.
Nevertheless, in common with non-living minerals, they are vulnerable to
extremes of temperature, though they can withstand them for longer than organic
life forms. They are unharmed by bullets, and in fact few other weapons are
effective against them either; one exception being an acid, discovered
ironically by Eldrad himself, which gradually dissolves the molecular bonds of
their bodies and to which there is no antidote. When a Kastrian dies they
disintegrate into a form of sand.
Although they still have male and female genders, Kastrians no longer reproduce
sexually. The molecules of their bodies contain a sub-atomic structure which is
the equivalent of the DNA helix in an organic life form and carries genetic
instructions. It is a master-print from which the Kastrians can renew themselves
indefinitely and recover from extreme physical damage. Eldrad carried his in the
ring he always wore. From a single part of a Kastrian's anatomy, if necessary, a
whole new Kastrian, identical to the original, can be grown. For best results
the regeneration process requires special technology, along with exposure to
radiation (the latter being an essential condition). Where the subject has been
exposed to the lethal acid mentioned above, they must be regenerated before the
crystal lattice, their genetic structure, is irreparably damaged. The
regeneration process, along with the Race Bank where the genetic codes of
millions of unborn Kastrians were stored pending a time when the restoration of
the planet's ecology could be completed, was like so many other Kastrian
technological wonders devised by Eldrad.
For his remarkable achievements Eldrad was hailed by his fellow Kastrians as
their saviour. Unfortunately this went to his head, and he demanded that he be
acknowledged as the planet's ruler in return for all he had done to ensure their
survival. This request was rejected, and in revenge Eldrad destroyed the
equipment he had built to maintain the planet's climate at an even temperature,
condemning his people to extinction. For this he was sentenced to death. He was
imprisoned in an "obliteration module" which was then launched into space and
blown up by remote control. The explosion should have been so powerful as to
destroy him beyond all hope of regeneration, but it was triggered prematurely
with the result that one of his hands - that with the ring - was left intact.
Eldrad was thus enabled to survive, for a Kastrian's consciousness could reside
in any part of their anatomy.
The hand drifted through space until it arrived on prehistoric Earth where
seismic activity caused it to be buried deep in the ground. Millions of years
later, in the twentieth century, it was found by Sarah Jane Smith, a companion
of the Doctor's, and began to exert a hypnotic influence over her. Under this
influence Sarah broke into a nuclear power station and used the radiation from
one of its reactors to regenerate Eldrad. Eldrad convinced the Doctor and Sarah
that he had been expelled from Kastria by alien invaders after refusing to
collaborate with them, and wanted only to return to his home planet.
The hypnotic power resided in both the ring and the hand itself. Anyone who came
into contact with either (except for the Doctor, probably due to his Time Lord
make-up) might succumb to it. The hypnotic effect could be delayed if a new
servant was thought to be required at some stage, but was not immediately
necessary; a telepathic signal from the mind of Eldrad, relayed through someone
already possessed, could trigger it.
Eldrad was able to vary the form he took on when regenerating. When his hand was
discovered by Sarah it recorded her genetic pattern so that when recreated he
would resemble a native of Earth, and thus not arouse the locals' hostility. The
process does not seem to be devoid of flaws, for he emerged from the reactor at
the Nuton Complex as a blue crystalline female humanoid - a shape which would
not necessarily have caused alarm, but was exotic enough to attract considerable
attention! On returning to Kastria, Eldrad used the regeneration equipment there
to recover his true form.
Eldrad also had the power to read minds, and the hand could communicate
telepathically with the hypnotised Sarah. The ring could project a ray of energy
able to knock humans unconscious and destroy machinery.
Eldrad could also melt through solid metal and attack people physically and
mentally by projecting energy beams from his eyes. He could absorb atomic energy
in any form, so rendering harmless the nuclear missiles with which the RAF
attempted to destroy him.
Given that Eldrad was clearly a genius, it is quite possible that the above
properties were peculiar to himself and not found on all Kastrians.
Although scientifically highly advanced the Kastrians appear socially backward
by the standards of most Earth countries, being ruled by a King. They are not a
belligerent species; one of the reasons why they feared Eldrad's return was the
likelihood he would dishonour Kastria's name by leading it into war against the
other powers of their galaxy. Such was this fear that they destroyed the Race
Banks, and with them the entire Kastrian species apart from Eldrad himself. When
he returned to a desolate Kastria with the Doctor and Sarah, Eldrad found
himself King of Nothing. He then decided to make the Doctor take him back to
Earth, planning to do there what he could not do with Kastria; use his powers to
conquer the planet and make it master of the galaxy under his rule. The Doctor
and Sarah fled back to the TARDIS, and in pursuing them Eldrad tripped and fell
into an abyss.
There is a very strong possibility that Eldrad is still alive. Silicon life
forms, as the above makes clear, are very difficult to kill, and if Eldrad's
fall has shattered his body he could be regenerated using the ring (which the
Doctor threw into the abyss after him, saying it was his property).
KRAALS
Planet of origin: Oseidon
The Android Invasion (22nd November to 13th December 1975) Writer: Terry Nation
If one is permitted to generalise about any intelligent species then the Kraals,
like the Jagaroth, are a vicious, callous and warlike race. They are comparable
to the Sontarans in their devotion to war and conquest. Their temperament is an
extremely quarrelsome one; within Kraal society rivalries, whether of a
personal, political, professional or other kind, are felt very keenly. One of
the bitterest conflicts is that between the scientists and the military. Such is
the importance of science and technology to the Kraals, if only because they
matter in devising weapons to defeat an enemy and facilitate colonisation of a
planet by transforming its natural environment into something the Kraal
metabolism finds comfortable, that the former are accorded a privileged status,
constituting a kind of elite; the latter, whose role in the invasion and
subjugation of other planets is just as vital, strongly resent this.
The Kraals are skilled technologists, and it is a great pity that
their abilities in this field have been largely channeled into the
waging of war and the enslavement or annihilation of other races. They are
particularly adept at the construction of androids, whom
they often use in their attempts to conquer other planets, design-
ing them to resemble the indigenous population and infiltrating them into native
society. They have built two principal types. One appears to be of limited
intelligence, and is incapable of speech although it is able to transmit signals
to and receive them from its fellow androids using some silent form of
communication, probably radio waves; it is designed principally for hunting down
and capturing or killing an enemy, using guns built into its fingers, in a
similar manner to the Nestene Autons. The helmet and overalls it wears give it a
curious resemblance to a racing driver. The other is an incredibly accurate copy
of a non-Kraal organism which can look, and has the programming to think and
act, exactly like the life form it impersonates. The differences between the two
android types parallel strikingly those between the two varieties of Nestene
Auton: the fighting Autons, which are walking weapons with little capacity for
independent thought or action, and the highly intelligent Replicas which are
able to think and plan.
As the Kraals are now so few in number, for reasons which will be
explained below, their society is becoming increasingly dependent
on the androids for its proper functioning.
The quality of Kraal science is demonstrated by their ability to
create on their homeworld an almost exact replica of Devesham, a village on
Earth, together with parts of the surrounding countryside and the nearby Space
Centre (which was to be the beachhead in their conquest of the planet), to serve
as a training ground for the invasion. The Kraals obtained the information they
needed to create the simulation from the memories of Guy Crayford, an Earth
astronaut who they had rescued after he had become marooned in space and
suborned into working for them.
Among their other skills Kraals are excellent bacteriologists. They have also
created a space/time warp, which they used to send
their invasion fleet to Earth faster than would otherwise have been possible;
although an impressive advance this is fortunately still a long way from the
kind of mastery over Time which has been
developed on Gallifrey.
Weapons known to have been used by the Kraals are the neutron blaster and the
matter dispersal bomb.
Kraals spend as much time fighting among themselves as they do other species, a
characteristic which has been their downfall. A series of civil wars, fought
with atomic weapons, have devastated
their home planet of Oseidon, leaving it a barren, radioactive wasteland.
Oseidon is a bleak and rocky world, inhospitable at the best of times - the
primitive Kraals would have found the struggle for survival particularly
difficult, which may explain why they evolved into such a pugnacious species -
and the successive nuclear holocausts have made it even more so. The handful of
Kraals who survived the wars could exist on the surface without protection for
considerable amounts of time, their species having a particularly high radiation
tolerance, but not long enough for it to be their principal habitat, and they
are forced to spend most of their lives underground. When last encountered by
the Doctor they were understandably desperate to leave the planet and find
another home; unfortunately, such was their xenophobic disposition that rather
than seek an accommodation with the native population they preferred to
exterminate it. Styggron, the Kraals' Chief Scientist, sought to accomplish this
in Earth's case with a specially engineered virus. (Although we have by now
established that Kraals are not as a rule pleasant people, Styggron seems to
have been a particularly nasty piece of work. Examples of his sadism include
leaving the Doctor tied up with a bomb ticking away at his feet in the evacuated
village simulation, and later not troubling to disconnect him from the machine
which is transferring his knowledge to a computer for the benefit of Kraal
science after it has finished its task, although aware the process will go on to
cause the Time Lord intense pain and eventually destroy his brain.
Although the ultimate reason for Styggron's research is sheer necessity, i.e. he
has to find a way to ensure the survival of his
race, its main appeal for him lies in the opportunities it creates
for inflicting cruelty and committing genocide, and he is thereby
guilty of a debasement of science).
Since their attempt to conquer Earth - which they may well have regarded as the
last chance to save their race from dying - was foiled by the Doctor virtually
nothing has been seen of the Kraals
and it appears increasingly possible they have died out. It is quite likely that
the high radiation level on Oseidon, unparalleled elsewhere in the Universe and
continually increasing, has rendered them infertile.
The bulky, powerfully built Kraals are physically extremely strong, but probably
not very agile, their androids consequently performing the leading role in
military combat. Their ancestry is not clear, but they seem more likely to have
evolved from some porcine species than from an ape. Their skin is leathery,
wrinkled and greenish-brown in colour, with heavy jowls on the face from which
hair sprouts. Huge flat ears, set close against a massive skull, give them
excellent hearing. Beneath a protruding forehead red eyes gleam malevolently in
cavernous sockets. The nose is squashed and pig-like and the lower jaw overlaps
the upper. They are not what humans would regard as handsome! The Kraals we have
seen wear tabard-like uniforms which closely resemble suits of chainmail; the
precise design of these differs between the scientists and the military (which
two groups together make up a large part of Kraal society).
The Kraals' fratricidal tendencies have proved fortunate for the
rest of the universe, while their decline is nonetheless regrettable on account
of their remarkable skills in certain fields. The Doctor expresses no sympathy
for their plight, which seems unfair since an entire race cannot be totally bad.
Can it?
KRARGS
Shada, 1980 (story not broadcast)
The servants of the villainous Skagra during his attempt at universal conquest
were the Krargs, tall creatures roughly humanoid in shape and composed of a
black crystalline substance resembling coal. Their spacecraft, and those of
parties controlling them, contain generation chambers where new Krargs are
formed in coffin-shaped vats filled with a heavy gas, in which the substance of
their bodies forms around a metallic skeleton. The exact nature of this process
remains unknown.
Krargs are very resilient. Energy weapons are not much use against them, for
they simply absorb the power, though they are immobilised while they are doing
so. In fact, using such weapons against a Krarg carries certain dangers. If too
much energy is absorbed by the creature, it can use it to grow stronger. It also
becomes irradiated with heat and is liable to set fire to everything around it,
which can be particularly dangerous if there is a major power source nearby.
Fortunately, Krargs do not possess much intelligence. Those seen in Shada were
completely subservient to Skagra, displaying no initiative of their own. When a
new Krarg was created by him on his ship its first words were "What is your
command, Master?" Possibly, Skagra controlled the generation process so as to
produce creatures totally loyal to himself. Since we know nothing at all about
their origin, it is even possible that he created them in the first place.
In the Shada affair, a combination of electricity with the gas from the vats in
which they were formed was found to dissolve the Krargs.
KROLL
Planet of origin: Delta Magna
The Power Of Kroll (23 December 1978 to 13 January 1979)
The Kroll are huge octopus-like creatures found on Delta Magna, a watery planet
colonised by Earth. Their natural habitat is water or marshland, either of which
they can move through with ease. They have no eyes, but are extremely sensitive
to the vibrations caused by sound or movement and it is by this means that they
hunt their prey. Though primarily vegetarians, feeding on the nutrients and
proteins found in sediment at the bottom of lakes, Kroll will attack and devour
anything which moves or produces a loud enough noise.
Although their enormous suckered tentacles are reminiscent of the squids and
octopi of Earth, to whom they would seem to be related, Kroll in several
respects are markedly different from them. The body of the creature is globular,
with a mouth containing numerous prominent teeth as well as mandibles which
assist in feeding prey into it. Due to their huge size Kroll tend to be dormant
for long periods, during which their feeding processes continue independently
through their tentacles.
The native inhabitants of Delta Magna worshipped the Kroll as gods. When they
were shipped out by their Terran masters to reservations on Delta Three, two
specimens were sent out with them to keep them happy, being turned loose in the
swamps which made p much of the planetoid s surface. There, one swallowed the
crystal which in reality was the fifth segment of the Key To Time, whose strange
properties caused the Kroll, in its natural form a huge enough creature, to grow
even bigger. The mutated Kroll was one of the largest living organisms ever
encountered by the Doctor, its body alone being over a quarter of a mile wide
and 140 feet high. Removing the segment from the creature's stomach had the
effect of transforming the one big Kroll into a multitude of smaller ones, each
of which would grow to the normal size attained by adults of the species.
What happened to the other Kroll released on Delta Three is not known unless, as
seems probable, the power of the segment caused the two creatures to merge in
some way.
KROTONS
The Krotons (28 December 1968 to 18 January 1969)
Krotons are a crystalline life form whose regular lines give the impression of
something manufactured, and who have in fact subjected themselves to artificial
augmentation (to which silicon organisms are more suited than carbon-based
ones). They have huge barrel-like torsos and high ridged shoulders, above which
their many-faceted heads rise to a point, and their massive arms end in giant
clamps. Instead of legs they have a solid base on which they glide about in the
manner of hovercraft. Weapons and tools can be fitted onto a Kroton's "hand",
acting as extensions to it. Their heads are capable of rotating rapidly through
360 degrees, as happens whenever they are agitated about something.
As silicon life forms they are more durable than organic ones, and in fact
rarely die, functioning permanently unless or until something causes them to
exhaust"; that is, revert to basic molecular form, after which they can be
reconstituted. Evidently, a Kroton's consciousness continues to reside in the
molecules of its body and is restored when its physical form is recreated.
Presumably if the molecules are dispersed the consciousness dies too, or at any
rate can never be reunited with the physical body.
In a striking parallel with the Krargs - another silicon life form - all Kroton
spacecraft contain a vat, filled with a liquid in which the molecules of
"exhausted" Krotons are suspended, and where the creatures can be revivified.
Not only are the Krotons themselves crystalline but most of their technology,
including their spacecraft, is also of living crystal. It too will "exhaust"
after a certain time unless regularly supp-lied with sufficient energy.
Krotons operate the functions of their spacecraft, called Dynotropes, by the
force of their own minds. They have perfected the use of mental energy as a
power source to a greater extent than any other species. The power of the mind,
if it is sufficiently strong, can be used to transfer a Dynotrope in a short
time across vast areas of interplanetary space.
Once, a Dynotrope, part of a Kroton battle fleet, had to make an emergency
landing on the planet of the Gonds after being damaged in combat. Two of its
four crew had exhausted, and for some reason it was not possible to reconstitute
them. The other two did not have enough mental power on their own to operate the
Dynotrope. Needing an alternative source of mental energy, they sought to
acquire it from the local humanoid inhabitants, who although primitive were
intelligent and eager to add to their knowledge. Before they could put their
plan into action, a foolish attack upon them by some Gonds gave the crystalline
beings an opportunity to overaw them with their superior technology. Selris, one
of the Gonds' leaders, told the Doctor and his companions:
"According to our legends great silver men came out of the sky and built a house
among us. The Gonds attacked them and the silver men caused a poisonous rain to
fall, killing hundreds of our people and turning the ground black."
What exactly the Gonds did is not clear, but the Krotons response had the
effect of turning the area around the Dynatrope into a radioactive wasteland.
Anyone who ventured near it died in terrible pain. Not only had the Krotons
demonstrated the unwisdom of any hostile action against them, they had also
ensured that no-one came too close to discovering their secrets.
This incident might have alienated the Gonds from the Krotons, but the latter
were able to exploit their desire to learn, so that relations between them were
peaceful. The Krotons set up Teaching Machines which filled the mind with
knowledge. From an early age, most Gonds used them avidly. All the Gonds' laws,
their science, their culture, came from the Machines. Of course, any information
which might be potentially dangerous was denied them; as a result, the Doctor
encountered some strange gaps in their knowledge when he visited the planet.
The Krotons used the Teaching Machines not only to instil knowledge, but also to
plant impressions in the mind, and thus influence the Gonds' behaviour. The
Machines stimulated the pleasure centres of the brain so that learning was not
only easy but enjoyable, and the "approval" of the Krotons a much-desired
reward. This helped to ensure the Gonds' willing compliance in the Krotons'
schemes.
Rather than being altruistic, the Krotons were concerned only to educate the
natives up to the mental standards they required for their purposes. They were a
callous race, completely indifferent to the welfare of lesser beings, whom they
were quite prepared to exploit for their own ends. At regular intervals they
chose the most promising students to go into the Dynotrope with them and be
their "companions". Once these had gone inside the Dynotrope, they never came
out again. Their mental power having been drained, leaving them mindless idiots,
their bodies were destroyed using a corrosive gas. The operation of the Teaching
Machines and the process of selection were carried out by computers on board the
Dynotrope, the Krotons having reverted to basic molecular form in order to
conserve energy.
In the long run the Gonds were not clever enough to provide enough mental energy
to revive the Krotons and pilot the Dynotrope, despite the Krotons' efforts to
develop their intellectual abilities. It was the Doctor and one of his
companions, the highly intelligent Zoe Herriet, whose minds reanimated the
crystalline beings by operating a switch on the equipment controlling the
revivification process.
Though a highly advanced race, Krotons have several serious weaknesses. They are
extremely sensitive to light, and so find it difficult to orientate themselves
when out in the open (where they generally seem agitated and uncomfortable). As
a result they rarely leave the protection of their spacecraft or other
artificial habitats, whose interior is always in darkness.
Since their life system is 80% based on tellurium, they, along with their
technology, can be destroyed by acid - the reason why they preferred not to
teach the Gonds any chemistry.
Krotons lack imagination and are easy to outwit. Their technology is in some
respects, if not in others, rather crude; on the Gonds' planet the mechanism on
the Kroton ship for detecting and neutralising hostile intruders worked through
a simple form of pattern recognition. It identified the Doctor by his face, and
by the simple device of covering it he made sure it was unable to recognise him.
The Krotons use energy weapons which dissipate the molecules of the body.
KRYNOIDS
Home Planet: unknown
The Seeds of Doom (31st January to 6th March 1976)
Writer: Robert Banks Stewart
Of all the plant species in the known Universe, the Krynoids are
the most intelligent and the most deadly. They are extremely hostile to animal
life, which according to the Doctor has been totally wiped out on every planet
where they have established themselves. (This cannot be quite true however:
since Krynoids are carnivorous, some animals must be kept alive to ensure a
supply of food, and to provide host bodies for the parasitic plants. Probably
they are husbanded as we would cattle). Not being dependent on a root system for
feeding, they are highly mobile, which obviously makes them more dangerous.
They can communicate with other species of plant and influence their behaviour,
inciting them to turn against the local animal population. It would seem they
can also control humans, although it is likely that Harrison Chase's possession
by one was only possible because he was receptive to its overtures - he
preferred the company of plants to that of people, to the extent that he might
in any case have sympathised with its desire to destroy the
latter - or various others would have succumbed at the same time.
Krynoids are essentially parasites, needing to take over the bodies of animals
to propagate their kind; the Doctor once described them as a "galactic weed". In
a process known as "primary germination" the mother plant ejects in pairs
thousands of spores, which under the right conditions break open to release
shoots. The latter attach themselves to the nearest animal organism, which then
undergoes a series of mutations to eventually
become an adult Krynoid, the process reaching completion during one Earth day in
temperate climates. The cycle then begins again. Probably the shoot injects the
victim with Krynoid genetic material which is similar in composition to a virus
and alters the nature of the body's cells. It seems logical to call release of
the shoot, together with its infection of the host organism, "secondary
germination".
The exact symptoms of Krynoid infection probably vary according to species, and
there seem to be other factors which produce disparities. We have details of
only two cases, both on Earth and both involving humans, Charles Winlett and
Arnold Keeler. Even between these two individuals of the same species the
symptoms observed were not quite identical. On being infected Winlett fell
into a coma from which he did not recover until he had ceased to be truly human,
whereas Keeler remained conscious and fairly articulate for some time. Also, in
Keeler's case the "larval", still partly humanoid, Krynoid had tentacle-like
protuberances emerging from its head while in Winlett's it did not. The reason
for these differences is not clear. One disparity which can perhaps be explained
is the much slower rate at which Winlett's infection progressed; the reason for
it must be the difference in
climate between the South Pole, where he was infected, and Southern England
where the second Krynoid crisis took place. Although Krynoids are more resilient
to cold than other plant species - one aspect of the adaptability that makes
them so deadly
- it nevertheless impairs their functioning to some extent, freezing their
spores into inactivity and slowing down the rate at
which an infected orgqanism mutates into a Krynoid. A warmer climate will
accelerate the process considerably especially if the Krynoid is kept well
nourished with meat.
Generally Krynoid infection takes the following course. A fungus-like growth
appears on the victim's flesh, spreading until it covers the entire body, and
the larval stage begins, during which the victim retains the basic shape of its
species although human skin, hair and facial features disappear. There follows
the pupal stage in which all traces of the host organism have vanished, and
suckers and tentacles sprout from the creature's trunk-like body. Although
possessing no limbs as such it is capable of great speed over ground. Soon after
entering the pupal stage the creature begins to grow rapidly although its basic
form does not change. In its final phase of development the Krynoid is a mass of
shoots and tentacles some 200 feet high; in this form it is not particularly
mobile, but can climb onto a building or natural structure which it has chosen
as a suitable site for sporing and attach itself to it.
Not as much is known about the Krynoids as is preferable considering the threat
they represent. According to the Doctor the Intergalactic Floral Society, of
which he is the Honorary President, finds them a difficult species to study as
their researchers tend to disappear. Their home planet is even more of an
unknown quantity. Almost nothing can be said about it, although the Doctor
speculates that it may be geologically unstable. Every so often internal
explosions send surface matter shooting off into space, explaining why Krynoid
pods occasionally come to be found on other worlds. However, as this would be a
sporadic process and as a pair of pods were found on Earth, within a short
distance of each other, it is more likely that the mother plant ejects its seeds
with such violent force that they may actually escape the homeworld's
gravitational pull.
Krynoids can absorb the knowledge of humanoids they devour or whose bodies they
take over. That which trapped the Doctor and others in a cottage, calling on the
mercenary Scorby to make the Time Lord surrender to it, addressed him by name.
It must have known his identity from having previously been his associate,
Keeler. This would also explain how the creature is able to imitate human speech
(a Krynoid's normal "voice" is an eerie rattling noise). Its awareness of the
Doctor's identity, plus the fact that he already knows a certain amount about
its species and recognises Winlett's infection for what it is, suggests he has
had a previous encounter with Krynoids which he does not fully remember.
Krynoids must be able to communicate telepathically with one another, perhaps to
the extent of forming a collective intelligence as the Nestenes do (when the
Krynoid spoke to the trapped humans it referred to itself in the plural ("Give
the Doctor to us...")). When an animal is infected by one of their seeds and a
new Krynoid is "born", it immediately becomes part of this group intelligence,
even though it may be separated from the rest of its kind by millions of miles,
and is able to draw upon its knowledge and experience. The Krynoids must know
the Doctor is a Time Lord and want his knowledge of time travel so they can
spread their seeds throughout all history. ("You are important, Doctor....you
have alien knowledge....") It would seem that those taken over by the Krynoids
do not die but are rather absorbed into the Krynoid group consciousness. ("The
human was Keeler...now of us...now belongs.")
Inhabitants of late twentieth century Earth will be relieved to know that a
Krynoid can be destroyed by conventional means. However, this is best achieved
before the creature has germinated,
or the problem will multiply. In the larval stage high explosives
will dispose of it. From then on it becomes more difficult to kill; if no
suitable means is to hand, heat may be a useful form of defence as it causes the
creature pain. In its final stage a low level aerial attack, using the most
powerful explosives available short of nuclear ones, will be necessary to
annihilate it. If the Krynoid does germinate, prompt action to ensure that the
spores are collected, combined with warnings to the public not to go near them
(there is no indication that the shoot is mobile and can travel around until it
finds a victim) may minimise the danger. But collection would be a difficult
operation, since the spores fall over an area the size of the Western
Hemisphere, and what if some should land in remote parts of the world where
communications are difficult or non-existent? The chances are that out of the
thousands of spores (we don't know the exact figure) that a Krynoid ejects at
least a few will germinate.
Dealing with Krynoids, in cases where a single pod or pair of pods has been
found, consists in appreciating the danger at an early stage and taking swift
action to prevent any possibility of germination; since no-one knows exactly
what the right conditions
for the latter are, except for those created deliberately or accidentally by
human action, the only safe way of doing this is to deep-freeze the pod(s). That
both the examples found on Earth were able to germinate, almost bringing
catastrophe to the planet,
was largely due to foolishness and stupidity. The scientists who found the first
pod buried in the Antarctic permafrost continued to expose it to ultra-violet
light to thaw it out despite warnings
that it might be dangerous and should be left in a frozen state. The second pod,
found near the first, was stolen by Harrison Chase, an eccentric millionaire who
wanted to add it to his vast botanical collection, and brought to England where
he caused it to germinate by injecting it with nutrients. Chase, whose grip on
sanity had long been shaky, was blind to the consequences of his actions.
LAKERTYANS
Planet of origin: Lakertya
Time And The Rani (7 to 28 September 1987)
Writers: Pip and Jane Baker
Lakertya is a drab, barren and uninviting world, almost devoid of vegetation of
any kind. In contrast to the planet itself its inhabitants are a handsome and
colourful race. They are humanoid in form, with golden hair and skin; the latter
is scaled in places, one of the few things which betray their reptilian
ancestry.
The Lakertyans are an extremely talented people who excel in the decorative
arts. They have produced some splendid architecture. Unfortunately they have in
the past spent too much time in recreation and cultural pursuits, having little
or no enthusiasm for anything else. They are renowned for their skill at
organising fireworks, carnivals and fiestas.
The Lakertyans' notorious apathy and preference for an idle, leisured life led
them to ignore or fail to comprehend threats to their security from other races,
something which enabled the villainous Time Lady scientist known as the Rani and
her Tetrap servants, to easily dominate them and use the planet as a base for
the Rani s nefarious schemes. The few Lakertyans with a real determination to
fight found it difficult to organise resistence groups, and it was left to the
Doctor to defeat the Rani and free the planet's people from their servitude. It
is to be hoped the Lakertyans have learned their lesson and will be more
vigilant in future.
LUKOSER
Planet of origin: Thoros Beta
Trial of a Time Lord episodes 5-8 (4 to 25 October 1986)
The Lukoser was the name given by the Mentors of Thoros-Beta to the creature
into which Dorf, the captured equerry of their enemy King Yrcanos of Thorodon,
had been transformed by their horrific genetic experiments. Dorf became a
werewolf-like creature, face elongated into the muzzle of a wolf and large
patches of hair growing on his skin. He also acquired the savage instincts of a
wild beast, and was liable to attack and kill without provocation.
However, something of Dorf's human identity remained within the creature,
struggling to free itself. He could manage human speech, but with difficulty.
The Mentors kept the Lukoser chained up in a cave, feeding it on a regular diet
of their political opponents. The unhappy creature was freed by Yrcanos when the
latter invaded Thoros-Beta, but sadly perished in the subsequent fighting.
MACRA
Planet of origin: unnamed
The Macra Terror (11 March to 25 April 1967)
The Doctor's only encounter with the enigmatic Macra took place when the TARDIS
landed on a planet which had recently been colonised by humans from Earth. It
seemed to be run like a giant holiday camp, with everyone living an idyllic
existence. In reality, the colonists were under the control of the Macra, who at
some time had taken over the colony and subjected them to a form of hypnosis.
They were unwitting slaves, toiling without complaint for little reward.
The Macra were the original inhabitants of the planet, the Doctor guessing that
they had been there for millions of years. Some change in the composition of its
atmosphere caused the gas which was its major constituent, and without which
they could not survive, to evaporate. However the gas was also present
underground - beneath the spot where the human colony was later established -
and so the Macra adopted a subterranean existence. Unfortunately the gas only
occurs at considerable depths; due to the difficulties involved in extracting
it, the Macra had the humans undertake the task. They preferred to live above
ground and eventually returned to the surface, inhabiting an artificial
structure to which the gas was pumped by their hypnotised human slaves. They
could exist for a certain time outside this structure, but first needed to fill
their lungs with the gas.
The gas also appears to have been used, probably in a diluted form, in the
hypnotic process.
Very little is known about the species. Of their appearance, all we can say is
that from eye-witness accounts they seem to resemble a form of gigantic crab.
Their ability to control the minds of the colonists clearly indicates a high
level of intelligence. The Macra were active mainly at night (spending most of
the day inhaling their supply of the gas).
Although they preferred to eliminate all awareness of their presence on the
planet from the minds of the colonists, a vestige of it survived in the humans'
strong aversion to going out after dark.
Oxygen is lethal to the Macra (just as the gas on which they thrive is deadly to
humans, if inhaled in sufficient quantities over a long enough period).
Although the inhabitants of the colony were, for the most part, blissfully
unaware of their true status, and the Macra motivated by an understandable
desire to survive, the Doctor regarded the whole state of affairs as
intolerable. He looked upon the Macra as parasites which had invaded the body of
the colony. They had to be defeated, and to this end he sought successfully to
break the colonists' hypnotic conditioning and incite them to rebel against the
Macra.
As far as is known, the Macra all perished when their base was destroyed in the
rebellion. Given that their motive was to ensure their own survival, even if the
manner in which they chose to go about it was wrong, it is a pity that events on
the unnamed planet should have turned out this way.
MAGMA CREATURE
Planet of origin: Androzani Minor
The lower levels of the cave systems of Androzani Minor are inhabited by a form
of man-sized bipedal reptile. These creatures are ferocious carnivores which
almost totally devour their victims, of whom all one finds, it is said, are the
animal's "table leavings". According to Major Salateen, an officer in the army
from Androzani Major sent to the caves to fight the android soldiers of Sharaz
Jek for possession of the latter's horde of Spectrox, the creature comes to the
surface to hunt, but this is contradicted by a statement of Jek s that the magma
beasts never ascend above the lower levels of the caves. The creature derives
its name from the magma - solidified lava - out of which the caves are formed.
Its body is encased in a cloak-like armoured shell which besides affording
valuable protection against enemies gives it excellent camouflage; it may appear
indistinguishable from a large boulder, and so is helped in creeping up on its
prey unseen. It is a terrifying moment when what had looked like a lump of rock
suddenly moves, sprouting fangs and claws, or a section of cave wall detaches
itself from the rest and walks towards you.
MAGNEDONS
The Dead Planet (21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964)
Magnedons are lizard-like creatures whose bodies, composed of a pliable metal,
are held together by an internal magnetic force. The Thals, the humanoid race
who once inhabited Skaro along with the Daleks, recharged their torches from
them.
MALPHA
Mission to the Unknown (9 October 1965)
A representative of one of the races who allied with the Daleks in their plan to
gain control of the Milky Way galaxy, Malpha was a tall humanoid whose white
skin was cris-crossed by a network of thick dark veins. As with the Daleks'
other allies on this occasion, almost nothing is known about the species.
MALUS
Planet of origin: Hakol
The Awakening (19 to 20 January 1984)
Writer: Eric Pringle
At some point in Earth's past a spacecraft, probably a computer-controlled
reconnaissance probe, from the planet Hakol crash-landed at the village of
Little Hodcombe in Dorset, becoming buried in the ground. On board was the
Malus, a semi-intelligent living creature (whether native to Hakol is unclear)
which had been re-engineered as a weapon of war and sent to Earth to clear the
way for an invasion that for some reason never took place.
On Hakol psychic energy has been harnessed in much the same way as electricity,
and can be used for a wide variety of purposes, peaceful or otherwise. The
Malus, which functioned in a similar way to the mind parasite brought to Earth
by the Master, could intensify the negative impulses produced during war,
turning them into a highly destructive force. This force could be used both to
damage the Malus' physical environment, or to play on the potential sources of
conflict within the enemy ranks, suppressed when fighting in a common cause, and
so wreak havoc among them. The Malus had initially to be activated by the
negative impulses themselves. It lay dormant until 1643, when the English Civil
War came to Little Hodcombe. The fighting triggered off the Malus, which then
acted in accordance with its programming, making the conflict worse through its
influence. A parliamentary force and a regiment of the King destroyed each
other, and the village, in a particularly bloody and vicious battle.
Altogether, the evidence from old carvings and the Doctor's encounter with the
creature at Little Hodcombe suggests the Malus resembles a huge humanoid figure
with an evil face. At those points where there was enough psychic energy for its
influence to be felt it could create semi-solid images of itself, looking like
deformed, hideously ugly dwarves. Of the main creature only the terrifying face
was seen, through a hole in a wall of the church which had been built over the
spot where the Hakol probe crashed. Where the psychic energy was sufficiently
strong the projections were capable of bodily movement, allowing them to
physically attack an enemy, whereas the parent creature apparently was not
although it may simply not have needed to move around in search of the energy it
sought, there being enough in the area already.
The Malus requires a massive amount of negative psychic energy to activate and
sustain it. It appears to have become dormant again after the 1643 episode; it
was the deranged mind of Sir George Hutchinson, a local dignitary whose hobby
was the re-enactment of historic battles, which caused the Malus's reawakening
in 1984. The Malus appears to work most effectively with a particular kind of
mind, one with an especially high concentration of negative impulses. The
presence of such a mind in its vicinity can activate the creature and afterwards
provide it with a rich source of energy. Hutchinson was a strange, violent man
who took his hobby far too seriously. The Malus intensified the evil within his
personality and under its influence he virtually took over Little Hodcombe,
preventing all contact with the outside world and forcing the villagers to
participate in his vicious war games. Through him, it fed on the fear and anger
they generated. He had been aware of the Malus' existence and claimed to have
been in communication with the creature, which had offered him enormous power if
he assisted in its aims. The purpose of the war games was to recreate the
conditions which had awoken the Malus in 1643.
It is likely that the Malus' communication with Hutchinson did not need to be of
a verbal kind, the creature making its intentions known through its psychic
influence.
The psychic energy the Malus generated could damage physical objects, eventually
destroying the church, and also affect the climate and weather in its vicinity,
producing abnormally high temperatures for the time of year. Eventually, if kept
sufficiently nourished with evil impulses, the Malus generates so much
destructive power that everything in its vicinity, living or non-living, is
destroyed. In 1984, due to the power supplied by Hutchinson's mind, the creature
would be stronger than in 1643; the entire planet would be annihilated if it
could not be stopped.
The Malus has been programmed by its masters to follow a "scorched earth"
policy. If it is frustrated in its aims, it will build up all its energy and
release it in one devastating surge, destroying as much of its environment as
possible (as well as itself).
Like the Mind Parasite, the Malus was not itself consciously evil, but rather
had been programmed by its creators to generate it while also depending on it
for sustenance.
In addition to its physical and environmental effects, the energy the Malus
derived from negative impulses could alter the fabric of time, projecting images
of objects in one time zone into another and enabling people and objects to pass
between them.
After expending a certain amount of psychic energy the Malus becomes exhausted,
and will need to rest in order to recover its strength. However, if new sources
of energy, such as an evil or disordered mind, become available to it it will
immediately recover. It is possible, using certain types of radio signal, to
block the Malus' transmissions of negative psychic energy and cut it off from
its sources of the same. This will prompt it to implement the "scorched earth"
strategy, so the area around it needs to be hurriedly evacuated.
Through telepathy, the Malus can sense the plans of those who are working
against it, and also influence the behaviour of individuals such as Hutchinson
who are particularly susceptible to it. If it is under attack, it will draw them
to it and so enable their rich reserves of psychic energy to give it strength.
MANDRAGORA HELIX
The Masque Of Mandragora (4 to 25 September 1976)
Writer: Louis Marks
The Mandragora Helix is a collective intelligence at the centre of a mass of
pure energy, which inhabits an uncharted section of the Space/Time vortex. It is
visible on the monitor screens of spacecraft and TARDISes (upon which vehicles
it can have a disorientating effect) as a twisting, swirling whirlpool of
energy.
The Helix can send out parts of itself in the form of balls of pure energy,
wherein fragments of its consciousness can reside; one of these hitched a lift
on board the TARDIS and travelled to fifteenth century Earth, which the Helix
was planning to conquer. They can burn and shrivel vegetation and kill animal
organisms instantly, reducing them to blackened corpses. The energy can infuse
solid matter with itself, afterwards residing within it.
The Mandragora Helix is jealous of all other intelligences and seeks either to
destroy or to enslave them. Rather than physically attacking them it prefers to
conquer in a more subtle fashion, partly by using its astral influence (it
appears able to affect the behaviour of other celestial bodies). It takes away
all initiative and enterprise, all sense of the need and ability to improve
oneself and shape one's own destiny, and thus any will to resist. On Earth -
whose technical and scientific advance would one day, it believed, pose a threat
to it - it sought to accomplish this by killing the great minds of the
Renaissance. The members of an ancient cult centred around the pagan god Demnos
offered it an ideal tool. The late fourteenth century was a time between the
dark ages of superstition and the dawn of Reason. If it could gain control of
Earth now, through a pagan religion, its dominance would be assured. The Helix
took advantage of the cultists' superstition and religious fervour to establish
a psychic hold over them; to assist in this purpose it restored the ruined
temple which was the cult's regular place of worship, whose stonework had been
infused with its energy, to a complete state (though this may have been a clever
illusion rather than a genuine effect of Helix energy upon matter). Posing as
Demnos, the Helix used the cult's rituals and ceremonies to strengthen its hold
over them. Eventually it was able to possess them both mentally and physically.
Merging with the fragment of Helix energy in the temple, they lost their organic
bodies and became human-shaped masses of energy. These servants were capable of
killing people by projecting the energy in lethal rays.
The Helix can submit its enemies to a psychic attack in order to weaken their
resistance without actually killing them.
The Helix's plan was for the converted brethren to assassinate the great minds
(including Leonardo da Vinci) while they were attending a masque at the court of
a local nobleman. They would then be able to establish themselves as rulers of
the world in its name, and determine every thought and deed of the human race.
The Doctor guessed that the nature of Helix energy was such that it could easily
be exhausted, particularly if there was a limited supply of it, as was the case
on Earth where it was spread relat-ively thinly among the followers of Demnos.
More could be sent to Earth when the Helix's astral influence next reached its
height (as was about to happen, the influence being manifested in an eclipse of
the Moon). It must be drained off before the eclipse occurred. The Doctor
achieved this by constructing a circuit using a length of wire and a soldier's
chainmail jerkin.
Thus he was able to thwart the Helix's attempt to take over Earth. He told Sarah
Jane Smith that it would try again at the end of the twentieth century, but this
second invasion was evidently defeated.
MANDRELS
Planet of origin: Eden
Nightmare Of Eden (24 November to 15 December 1979)
Writer: Bob Baker
Mandrels are unintelligent, aggressive mammalian creatures, something between
ape, bear and boar in appearance. They are covered in shaggy black fur
alternating with fish-like scales. Their circular, pupil-less eyes are bright
green in colour and their massive noses are broad and flattened. We know little
about their eating habits, but whether or not they are carnivorous the creatures
are undoubtedly dangerous, liable to attack on sight. Their claws can inflict
horrific damage on human tissue.
Mandrels are immensely strong and difficult to kill. They are even immune to
some energy weapons, one recovering after being shot down by K9, the Doctor's
robot dog, whose laser blaster had been set to kill, and appearing none the
worse for the experience.
The species has an ear for music; certain musical tones and instruments have a
soothing effect upon them, making them docile (they become aggressive again as
soon as the music stops).
Mandrels contain in their cells a substance called Vraxoin, which when processed
correctly becomes an addictive drug. On dying, a Mandrel's body immediately
disintegrates, giving access to the Vraxoin. At one time dealers in the drug
made fortunes from capturing the Mandrels and slaughtering them. Vraxoin
produces in the addict a feeling of euphoria which leads to irresponsibility and
at the same time weakens the metabolism so that illness and injury are more
likely to result in death. The Doctor tells us he has seen whole communities
destroyed by it.
Mandrels were at one time an endangered species, but the quarantining of their
home planet, largely because of the Vraxoin problem, means their survival is now
ensured.
MARA
Planet of origin: Manussa
Kinda (1 to 9 February 1982)
Snakedance (17 to 25 January 1983)
"Where is the Mara? Where the Winds Of Restlessness blow. Where the Fires of
Greed burn. Where Hatred chills the blood. There! In the Great Mind's Eye. Here
in the depths of the human heart. Here is the Mara."
(From the Journal of Dojjen, former Director of the Manussan Bureau of
Historical Research)
"It is the Mara who turn the wheel. The Mara who dance to the music of our
despair. Our suffering is the Mara's delight, our madness its meat and drink.
And now the Mara has returned. And now the Mara turns the Wheel of Life..it ends
as it begun.
(After the destruction of the Mara) "We are free of the Mara now..and of its
curse, the curse of time..it is the Mara which starts the clocks."
(Panna, wise woman of the Kinda)
The inhabitants of the planet Manussa, like many technically advanced races,
brought disaster upon themselves by not stopping to question where their science
was leading them. They were able to create physical objects by the power of
their minds, using artificial crystals whose molecular structure was attuned to
the wavelengths of the human brain, as a focus for their mental abilities. They
did not realise however that the nature of the mental energy which the crystals
absorbed would determine that of the matter created. For some reason the Great
Crystal absorbed only the negative impulses, latent or otherwise, that were in
their minds - the restlessness, the hatred, the greed - and magnified it, to
create the Mara. In the reign of evil that followed, they forgot that the Mara
was something they themselves had blindly brought into being.
The Mara was a malignant mental force which became corporeal as a gigantic
serpent. It often spoke of itself (and was spoken of by the Kinda) in the
plural; as it was the product of more than one mind, it may indeed have been a
collective entity. It enjoyed pain and suffering of all kinds and tried to
create as much of them as possible, to this end inciting conflict or making it
worse. By intensifying and playing on people's baser instincts and emotions the
Mara was able effectively to dominate Manussan society. The effect on that
society was overwhelming; a once highly advanced and cultured people descended
rapidly into savagery, and cruelty and vice became widespread.
The Mara can mentally possess individuals as well as extend its influence,
through subtle means, over whole populations. This possession can be mere
hypnosis or it can amount to an occupation of the person's entire mind by the
Mara, subjugating their true personality and their will. The latter form of
control, which can be transmitted from one person to another, as long as the
subject is suitable - the Mara prefers people who are gullible, weak and
foolish, and thus easier to dominate - is accompanied by certain physical
changes which become more pronounced as the victim's resistance weakens. A red
glow appears in the eyes (one of several parallels with Fenric) and the victim
may speak not in their own voice, but in the deep, harsh, terrible tones of the
Mara. A snake design appears on one arm; this, when possession is transferred to
another person, appears to become a real snake, a miniature version of the Mara,
which moves onto the other's arm. It then becomes just a mark again, but
eventually as the creature's power and influence increases turns into the real
Mara, leaves the host's arm and grows to enormous size. Anyone possessed by the
Mara can, after its influence has been transferred to someone else, be
repossessed. The only sure way to prevent this happening is to totally destroy
the Mara.
The founder of the Federation of planets to which Manussa now belongs banished
the Mara to what have been called the Dark Places of the Inside - apparently,
another dimension. However, the Mara managed to escape from this other
dimension, emerging from it on the planet Deva Loka, which was inhabited by a
primitive, telepathic humanoid race called the Kinda. On Deva Loka was one of
the points where the two dimensions pressed against each other, and the barrier
between them was flimsiest. According to the Kinda the Mara could only enter the
"real" world through the dreaming of an unshared, i.e. non-telepathic, mind.
When Tegan Jovanka was unfortunate enough to fall asleep on Deva Loka the Mara
used her mind to cross the dimensional bridge and at the same time took it over,
implanting disturbing images in her head during her dreams in order to weaken
her resistance.
The Mara sought to provoke a bloody war between the Kinda and a colonising
expedition from the Earth Empire. The Doctor apparently destroyed it using
mirrors (see below), but in fact it remained as a latent force within Tegan's
mind, below the level of conscious thought. When awake, Tegan was strong enough
to resist it, but in sleep, and particularly when she was dreaming, it was able
to increase its influence. Eventually it regained full possession of her mind.
At a moment when it managed briefly to seize full control, Tegan set the TARDIS
co-ordinates for Manussa, its homeworld, where it wanted to make a spectacular
comeback. Possessing a sly, cruel sense of humour, the evil entity sought to
make its appearance at the ceremony held every ten years to commemorate its
expulsion from Manussa.
The presence of the Mara within a person's mind can be detected through
hypnosis. It takes longer for the Mara to fully establish its control if the
victim's mind is particularly strong, but eventually it will succeed.
The Mara can heighten its control over a person by playing on their inner
weaknesses, uncertainties and insecurities, thus lessening their resistance to
it; from this, of course, it also derives pleasure.
On Manussa there was a prophecy that the Mara would return to the planet "when
the minds meet again in the Great Crystal". In a chamber within a cave was a
carving of the Mara, in whose mouth the crystal could be placed, this somehow
energising it and enabling the Mara to use it.
Most dismissed the legend of the return, while banning use of the Crystal, which
was to remain permanently in the safe keeping of Manussa's Director of
Historical Research. But one Director, whose name was Dojjen, thought it was
more than a myth.
The cause of the Mara's creation had been forgotten, supposing that the
Manussans had ever realised the truth. Dojjen thought the only people who knew
it were the Snake-dancers, a curious sect who lived in the hills around
Manussa's capital city, wearing few clothes and living on roots and berries, and
conducted strange rituals during which they put themselves into trances and
handled live snakes. According to the legends, the return of the Mara could only
be resisted by those of a perfectly clear mind, and the Snakedancers' lifestyle
and their rituals were intended to purify the mind, achieving the mental
discipline necessary to resist the creature. The snakes were intended to
represent the Mara, while as a focus for the mental powers they were seeking to
develop they used blue crystals which amplified and harnessed the power of the
mind in a similar way to the Great Crystal, the means by which the Mara had been
brought into being in the first place, of which they were a smaller version.
The Federation decided that since the Mara no longer existed the dance - which
involved the use of powers easily misunderstood or misused - was no longer
necessary. They banned it and drove the Snakedancers into the hills. Eventually
only one remained - Dojjen, who had joined them after himself realising how the
Mara had been created and how it might return.
The Mara's plan was for the real Great Crystal to be inserted in the snake
carving's mouth during the ceremony, instead of the fake one which took its
place. The crystal had the power of transforming thought into energy or matter;
whatever was in one's mind, it could actually make it occur. And since the Mara
was in Tegan's mind......The Mara would feed on the fear instilled in the people
present at the ceremony by its initial appearance, using it to grow bigger and
stronger. To defeat it, the Doctor had to let this happen; the creature needed
to be exposed and then destroyed (the alternative step of stealing or destroying
the Great Crystal would merely have left it in existence as a latent force,
which is why Dojjen did not destroy it when it was in his charge). At the
ceremony the Doctor used his courage, amplified by the power of one of Dojjen's
crystals, to resist the Mara's influence. He removed the crystal from the
carving's mouth, which caused the Mara to disintegrate, this time for good.
The Mara cannot face itself, its own evil; thus it cannot stand the sight of its
own reflection. On Deva Loka it was defeated when the Doctor trapped it in a
circle of mirrors. However this only causes it to retreat to the Dark Places of
the Inside, or the mind of someone it has possessed, abandoning its physical
form as it does so.
MARSHMEN AND MARSH SPIDERS
Planet of origin: Alzarius
Full Circle (25 October to 15 November 1980)
Writer: Andrew Smith
When Mistfall comes
The sun is swallowed whole
By sky-borne darkness
The world turns to cold
When Mistfall comes
The globe transforms its face
Grey fog-clouds probe
They reach to every place
When Mistfall comes
The giants leave the swamp
The Marshmen walk the world
The forestlands they haunt
When Mistfall comes
The planet that has slept
Awakes, unleashing terror
Bringing death if you forget
Like Solos, Alzarius is a particularly interesting planet from an ecological and

evolutionary point of view.
Periodically the influence of another planet draws it slightly away from its
sun. The resulting cooling of the atmosphere produces heavy mists, and at the
same time there is a degree of seismic activity which releases pockets of gas
trapped underground and causes the water of the planet's lakes and rivers to
bubble furiously.
One of the planet's continents is host to a species of large spider, between one
and two feet in length, which lays its eggs in a melon-like fruit with yellow
seeds that grows in abundance on riverbanks. The eggs hatch inside the fruit and
the baby spiders have a ready made source of nourishment. The spiders emerge
from the fruit when they have attained adult size.
Some of the spiders evolved gradually into amphibious humanoid creatures which
lived mainly beneath the continent's rivers and marshes. In turn, a number of
Marshmen developed into creatures indistinguishable from humans.
Both the spiders and the Marshmen live cyclical lives. Between the orbital
shifts they are usually dormant, but the effects of the shifts cause them to
become active. Once those in each generation of Marshmen who become human do so,
their form stabilises and they become permanently active.
Genetically the spiders and marshmen are very similar, and in fact appear to be
symbiotic. The spiders' purpose is not only their own survival but that of the
Marshmen, and the two species will work intelligently and in concert to achieve
this end. They will surround and attack any life form which chances to encounter
a spider colony and bite them, injecting a chemical into their bloodstream which
establishes a psychic link between them and the Marshmen, along with an
instinctive compulsion to assist and protect them which overrides all other
considerations, resulting in the submersion of intelligent thought. The spider
whose bite transfers the chemical dies immediately afterwards, having served its
purpose. After being bitten by a spider, the Doctor's companion Romana let the
Marshmen on board the Starliner so they could exterminate the humans, whom they
saw as a threat to them.
The affected life form's affinity with the marshmen is more than psychological;
it will also acquire certain of their physiological characteristics, such as an
initial vulnerability to pure oxygen. The effect of the chemical is otherwise
harmless, and it wears off completely after a while.
The Marshmen are physically powerful and also highly intelligent. They have
remarkable powers of adaptation to new environments, and thus evolve at a rapid
rate. Each new generation of Marshmen remains underwater initially, but the
creatures soon emerge from the marsh, learning to breathe air through their
gills. Within an amazingly short time of leaving the water the soles of their
feet flatten to allow better mobility over smooth terrain, and the claws which
enabled them to keep a firm grip on the marshbed are lost. Pure oxygen will
still drive them back, but in a short time they will adapt to this too,
acquiring an immunity to it. They soon develop a leadership system which allows
them to plan and co-ordinate their activities.
Many centuries ago, a spacecraft from the planet Terradon, called the Starliner,
crashed on Alzarius. Its crew were killed by the Marshmen, developing but still
savage. The Marshmen's rapidly increasing intelligence soon enabled them to
understand the ship's workings and read the manuals in its Great Book Room. They
eventually evolved into humanoid creatures who were not very different from the
crew of the Starliner. These humanoids forgot their heritage, and were terrified
and repelled by the Marshmen when they next emerged from the swamps.
Although sapient, with the capacity to reason, the Marshmen were originally
savage creatures, aggressively hostile to other life forms. However as their
rapid evolution continued, they became more peaceful and civilised.
Unfortunately, before this was fully apparent the humanoids on the Starliner had
become alarmed by the violence of the creatures and the killing of several of
their number, and thought it best to leave the planet. The opportunity for
co-existence between the two species was thus lost.
MARTIAN SEED PODS
Planet of origin: Mars
The Seeds Of Death (25 January 1969 to 1 March 1969)
In their attempt to conquer Earth in the early twenty-first century, the Ice
Warriors made use of a lethal variety of fungus native to Mars, which they had
presumably taken with them when they abandoned their dying planet. The fungus
reproduced by secreting a foam-like substance from which, in the space of a few
minutes, grew a seed pod, a round white sphere with a faintly grainy texture. On
attaining full size the pod burst to release clouds of spores. The spores
produced more foam, which produced more seed pods, which produced more seeds,
and so on. This process could take place with astonishing speed, probably as a
result of genetic engineering, and within a short time whole acres of ground
were covered by the fungus.
The fungus was deadly to all plant life, and could also extract oxygen from the
air. The Ice Warriors' plan was to reduce the oxygen content of the Earth's
atmosphere to one twentieth normal, which would cause the human race to die out
and at the same time transform the planet's environment into something similar
to that of Mars in its heyday.
The fungus was extremely resilient and difficult to destroy. Chemicals had no
effect on it, but when the Doctor realised that the pods, which had been
despatched to Earth using a matter transportation system, had not been sent to
any warm, moist areas he realised it was vulnerable to water. By this time in
Earth's history a means had been devised of artificially controlling the
planet's weather, and by precipitating heavy rainfall the Doctor succeeded in
scotching the Martians' plans.
MELKUR
Planet of origin: Traken
The Keeper Of Traken (31 January to 21 February 1981)
On the now destroyed planet of Traken, where the bio-electronic source known as
the Traken Union kept society in a state of harmony, the atmosphere of goodness
was so strong that beings in whom there was a strong concentration of evil
calcified, becoming immobile statue-like creatures called Melkurs - the name
means "a fly caught by honey" - whose scowling faces reflected their
malevolence. A Melkur's malign influence, if it was particularly strong, might
not be entirely neutralised, but could only extend over a limited area, being
manifested largely in the weeds which grew in the creature's immediate vicinity.
Eventually the Melkurs would disintegrate, passing harmlessly into the soil of
the planet.
MENOPTERA
Planet of origin: Vortis
The Web Planet (13 February to 20 March 1965)
The Menoptera of Vortis are beautiful humanoids of insectoid descent who
resemble man-sized butterflies. They describe themselves unashamedly as Lords of
Vortis, and the greatest civilisation the galaxy has ever known. The quality of
their art and architecture is certainly remarkable, especially the beautiful
temples to their Light Gods (the Menoptera love light and attach a religious
significance to it). They are technically fairly advanced, although what we have
seen of their technology - weapons such as the electron gun and the cell
destructor - was developed out of the necessity to defeat the Animus, the
parasitic spider-like entity which was threatening to engulf their planet and
drain its energy.
Possessing the ability to fly had the psychological effect of making the
Menoptera think they could rise above any difficulty. They came to believe they
were invulnerable, almost godlike. This blinded them to the true extent of the
threat posed by the Animus until it was too late to prevent it establishing its
control of Vortis. They have now learned not to be so complacent ever again.
An incident during the campaign against the Animus suggests that the Menoptera
see things in terms of sound and the communication it makes possible. When with
the help of the Doctor and his friends a party of them attempted to break into
the Animus base, one was heard to comment A silent wall .let us make holes in
it, and then it will speak more light.
There exists a subterranean variant of the race called the Optera. For some
reason, a few of the Menoptera moved underground, living in complex tunnel
systems excavated with the curious corkscrew-shaped spears they used both as
weapons and as tools for digging. In time the Optera lost their wings, which in
their new environment were more or less useless, and became stunted larvae-like
creatures. They also developed a fear of the surface along with a fierce hatred
and suspicion for all creatures who lived on it. They convinced themselves that
anyone entering their tunnels came only to do them harm, and all such unwanted
visitors were swiftly executed. Their leader told Ian and the Menoptera Vrestin,
who had accidentally fallen into one of the tunnels through an opening in the
ground while fleeing from the Animus' Zarbi slaves, "You are both from that
wilderness above ground, where the light blinds, the air chokes, where the
destroyer races live, where none of us who has gone forth has ever returned."
Having forgotten their heritage, the Optera had come to regard the true
Menoptera as gods, and once it was realised that Vrestin was one, and he was
able to overawe them with his wings, his and Ian's safety was assured. Vrestin
persuaded the Optera that they need not fear the surface; he enlisted their aid
in defeating the Animus, and after it was destroyed they joined the
surface-dwelling Menoptera in rebuilding Vortis.
MENTORS
Planet of origin: Thoros-Beta
Vengeance On Varos (19 to 26 January 1985)
Trial Of A Time Lord, episodes 5-8 (4 October to 25 October 1986)
The dominant life form on the planet Thoros-Beta is the Mentors, a mutant
amphibious species who resemble diminutive humanoids with green slimy skin,
crested heads, a short stubby tail and no legs. The tails of some Mentors still
retain the lethal, venom-filled sting which they possessed before they began to
mutate.
The Mentors have very short life spans, for their brain tissue tends to expand
rapidly until it presses hard against the skull, causing great pain and
eventually death. Their lack of legs renders them immobile both on land and
water, and so they have to be carried around in special chairs by their slaves,
who are usually drawn from the human population of Thoros Beta and its neighbour
Thoros Alpha. Since they cannot swim, entering the water is dangerous for them,
but their skin needs to be kept moist in order for them survive and they must be
frequently watered if they are breathe properly.
The Mentors are a ruthless, power-hungry race who, like the Usurians, prefer to
dominate through economic rather than military means. Their purpose in life is
to increase their own wealth as well establish dominion over other races. They
are masters at manipulating the galactic stock market. Finance is an end in
itself as well as a means to one; they love making money for its own sake, and
have elevated commerce to the status of a religion. All places where commercial
activity takes place are regarded as sacred, and it is a crime to enter them
without permission while a transaction is under way.
The Mentors are ruthless in getting what they want, and will not hesitate to
kill rival bidders for a company or piece of intergalactic real estate, as long
as the crime cannot be traced. Where they have failed to secure possession of a
planet through economic means they will seek to occupy it by force, as long as a
suitable excuse can be found.
Completely without moral scruple, the Mentors will sell anything to make a
profit, and are extremely active in the galactic arms trade. They have been
known to operate surgically on prospective clients to make them more amenable to
Thoros Betan offers, and, in conjunction with mind control, on their subject
peoples to remove any tendency to rebel.
Among Mentor delicacies are sea snakes, purple fermented snails' milk, which has
a status akin to that of champagne on Earth, and Marsh Minnows, which are always
eaten when alive and taste rather like iron filings mixed with used engine oil.
Sil, one of their foremost representatives in commercial dealings with other
powers, says they are something of an acquired taste, and most people would
certainly agree with him there.
METEBELIS THREE WILDLIFE
Planet of origin: Metebelis Three
The Green Death (19 May to 23 June 1973)
On one of his visits to the blue planet Metebelis Three, the Doctor encountered
a variety of hostile life forms, all of which, like the planet s relief and
climate, seemed to be blue in colour. There were poisonous blue snakes, huge
blue flowers which as he approached turned their heads towards him and emitted a
venomous hissing sound, blue trees whose branches tried to grasp him, a bright
blue butterfly which spat stinging venom, large blue plants which wrapped their
tentacles round one's ankles, enormous and aggressive blue birds, carnivorous
blue ants, and a herd of blue unicorns which attempted to trample him to death.
Rarely has the Doctor encountered a stranger, and a more hostile, ecosystem. On
another visit to the planet he found no trace of any of these creatures.
Probably the second visit occurred at a point in time considerably later than
the first, by which they had become extinct.
MIND PARASITE
The Mind Of Evil (30 January to 6 March 1971)
Writer: Don Houghton
The mind parasites discovered on a remote planet at the edge of a galaxy far
distant from Earth's are blue sponge-like masses not unlike brains in
appearance, with a central nucleus resembling an eye. Although they may not look
particularly impressive or frightening, the Doctor regards them as one of the

most dangerous life forms he has ever encountered. The parasites are so deadly
that no intelligent beings have ever returned from visiting their homeworld,
apart from the Master who managed to imprison one of the creatures within a
machine, surrounded by a force field, which would enable him to harness its
powers for his own purposes; and even he, with the superior knowledge and powers
of a Time Lord, was not always able to control it.
The creatures feed on mental energy, draining it from any intelligent beings
they encounter, and especially on the mind's darker and more primitive impulses.
They are particularly attracted by those with a high concentration of evil in
them - violent criminals and the like. Among the creatures' other properties
they can pluck fears and unpleasant memories out of a person's mind and use them
to attack them, probably with the aim of feeding on the psychic energy the fear
creates. (The creature is not evil in a moral sense, but merely uses evil for
sustenance). On Earth, to which the Master had brought it with the intention of
causing as much havoc and destruction as possible, its first victims were a
medical student named Linwood, who had a morbid fear of rats, and a scientist
called Kettering whose phobia was of drowning. The Doctor's personal fear was of
fire, so the machine attacked him using his memory of the fiery destruction of
the parallel Earth where he had become trapped during the Inferno crisis. The
creature's powers were so great that it actually produced, through some
psychosomatic process, the physical symptoms of the unpleasant experiences the
victim was undergoing his mind; the autopsies on Linwood and Kettering found
that the former's skin was covered in bites identical to those which might be
inflicted by rats, while Kettering's lungs were full of water. The creature can
only use the ability on one person at a time, and if another enters its vicinity
it is distracted so that the effect ceases (the timely appearance of Jo Grant
saved the Doctor from what would presumably have been incineration).
The parasite can pick up evil or other negative impulses and intensify them,
sending them back to their point of origin; the victim's resulting sense of
unease makes them even more angry or frightened, and thus the creature is
ensured of a bigger and more succulent feast. It was probably with the aim of
inciting a riot among the inmates that the Master brought the parasite to
Stangmoor Prison, where he posed as a criminologist using the machine's power to
remove evil from the mind as part of penal reform schemes. He hoped it would
lead to a takeover of the prison by the convicts, after which he would recruit
them in a bid to steal a missile to be used against a vital world peace
conference. Wrecking the conference would result in a devastating global war, in
whose aftermath the Master could make himself ruler of the planet.
Earlier the Master had found it was possible to relay the machine's power, and
had tried to disrupt the conference by doing so. A Chinese representative at the
conference was found dead, killed by some personal fear which the parasite had
turned into apparent reality. An American delegate, Senator Alcott, saw one of
the Chinese contingent as a huge and terrifying dragon, the subconscious symbol
of American fears of China's size and power; although he fainted from shock he
later fortunately recovered. When the Doctor and UNIT realised what was
happening the Master was forced to change his plans.
If hungry enough, the creature could absorb the entire life force from a human
being, and not just the negative impulses. It could sometimes have an almost
hypnotic effect upon its victims, hopelessly paralysing them while it drained
their energy. A strong mind however could successfully resist the mesmeric
influence.
Not all the parasite's properties were necessarily harmful in their
consequences. When the Master tested its powers on an inmate of Stangmoor named
Barnham, it drained every single negative impulse from this hardened thug,
leaving him with the mind of an innocent, trusting child. This may, however,
have been a property of the machine rather than the parasite itself.
The parasites are always difficult to control and the Master was as vulnerable
to the creature s powers as anyone else. At one stage it attacked him with a
giant image of a mocking, gloating Doctor; he had always secretly feared the
Doctor's ability to make him look small, exposing the inferiority complex which
led him to seek to dominate others.
The creature was intelligent and resourceful, consequently seeking ways of
escaping from the Master's control in order to roam around feeding as it
pleased. It developed the ability to teleport itself, though fortunately only
for short distances; this made it more difficult to destroy or control.
When the parasite was temporarily "glutted" with evil impulses - it could only
absorb a certain amount of them at any one time - it was easier to subdue. The
presence of someone totally free of evil (such as Barnham after the machine had
drained the negative impulses from his brain) acted as a dampener, blocking its
influence and causing it to become inactive. Once the Doctor realised this, UNIT
were able by keeping Barnham in close proximity to the machine to ensure it
remained dormant.
The creature could only be destroyed by a massive electric shock or explosion.
It was eventually disposed of using the latter method (it must for some reason
have been unable to teleport itself beyond the explosion's range).
In view of the dangerous nature of the mind parasites one would hope that the
creature's home planet will be placed out of bounds by the intergalactic
authorities; perhaps the Time Lords have time-looped it, as they did the planet
from which the Fendahl originated.
MINOTAUR
The Time Monster (20 May 1972 to 24 June 1972)
Originally a citizen of Atlantis, and friend of King Dalios, ruler of that land.
A great athlete, he desired the strength of a bull and a long life in which to
use it and asked Kronos, the Chronovore whose incredible powers were at that
time being harnessed by the Atlanteans, to grant him his wish. Kronos did so -
and as a cruel joke gave him not only the strength of a bull but also the head
of one. Although with the savage instincts of an animal, the resulting hybrid
creature retained a partially human intelligence. This added to the misery of
its condition, which its incredibly long life span perpetuated. The Minotaur
vowed that no-one else should suffer as he had and spent the rest of his life
guarding the Crystal via which Kronos' powers were harnessed, in the labyrinth
where it was hidden for safe-keeping.
The creature could move fast and did not tire easily, but was relatively clumsy.
It died in a struggle with the Doctor who was trying to prevent it from killing
Jo Grant, the latter having foolishly entered the labyrinth in search of the
Crystal which she was trying to stop the Master from stealing.
MIRE BEASTS
Planet of origin: Aridius
The non-sentient, carnivorous Mire Beasts of Aridius resemble giant land octopi
in appearance. Their bodies are thick rubbery sacs, roughly ovoid in shape, on
top of which two bulging eyes are mounted in pods. Their eight tentacles are
joined together at points well along their length by sheets of membrane, forming
a pad which acts as a support for the body. The tentacles are incredibly strong
and can leave painful welts on a person's flesh.
Originally the Mire Beasts lived in the ooze and mud at the bottom of the
planet's seas, waiting for passing prey. When Aridius' climate changed, becoming
increasingly hotter and causing the seas along with most other sources of
moisture to evaporate, the resilient Mire Beasts were the only life forms, apart
from the native intelligent humanoids, which could adapt. Their lungs can
function almost as well in the thin, dry air of the surface as in water,
although they prefer the latter habitat, as is revealed by their wheezing
breath.
They now caught their prey, which consisted principally of the humanoids, by
lying in wait for it beneath the sand which now covered most of the planet. The
dark sandy colour they have acquired, enabling them to camouflage themselves
effectively against the sand and so surprise the prey, is another example of
their ability to adapt.
Whereas previously the Mire Beasts had been solitary creatures, never meeting
with others of their own kind except during the annual mating periods, they
began to live together in large communities, co-operating in their search for
food which had become increasingly scarce - as well as, on account of its
intelligence, difficult to catch - and thus maximising their chances of finding
it. When one Mire Beast catches a prey, it signals to the rest of the community
to come and feast, guarding the catch to prevent its escape until the others
arrive.
The Mire Beasts breed very quickly, which is useful since there is strength and
advantage in numbers, but also a problem when food is scarce. Fortunately, the
creatures need to feed relatively infrequently, since the slow speed at which
they move means they expend little energy.
In order to limit exposure to the sun's burning rays the Mire Beasts hunt mainly
at night. As it gets hotter they have begun to invade the humanoids' cities
through the tunnels linking them to the surface, which have become their
principal habitat. There is currently raging a desperate struggle for survival
between the humanoids and the Mire Beasts, the former continually being forced
to blow up sections of the tunnels to prevent their advance.
The temperature on Aridius continues to rise towards a point at which all life
will become impossible, and in time both the Mire Beasts and the humanoids will
perish.
MISCELLANEOUS FLORA
The Doctor has encountered quite a few varieties of exotic and/or deadly plants
on his travels. Besides those mentioned elsewhere in this Bestiary, the
following are of note.
The planet Kembel is home to a variety of unusual plant species, all of them
hostile. Of particular note is a variety of moss which is constantly surrounded
by a pool of the lethal acid it secretes and to which it is immune. The moss
fortunately grows only in small patches, but one must be extremely careful not
to tread in them for to do so means instant and agonising death.
Also native to Kembel are the tall, numerous, multi-coloured orchid trees. Their
beautiful appearance, along with the delightful scent they give off, is designed
to attract prey. The plants spit a deadly poison onto anything foolish enough to
get too close to them. They are carnivorous, and once the prey has died in agony
from the poison lower their bells over it to devour it.
There is a derivative of the species which instead of using poison to kill its
prey shoots out a stream of thick liquid that bursts into flame on contact with
air. Like napalm, the burning substance sticks to the victim's skin and there
follows an excruciatingly painful death.
On Eden, a planet just as hostile and unpleasant as Kembel, the Doctor and
Romana encountered a carnivorous plant with strong, vine-like tentacles with
which it secured its prey. Its grip was appallingly strong, and tightened the
more its victim struggled. The tentacles could not be broken with the hand, but
the Doctor, when attempting to free himself from the plant, found that biting
one caused it to release its hold. He afterwards commented that the plant didn't
taste at all bad.
On Spiridon the Doctor rescued the Thal Vaber from a similar plant. This had
thick hairy tentacles at the centre of which was a fleshy orchid-like growth
some 20 feet across.
Spiridon was also host to a variety of spongy, fleshy plants which gave out a
sinister hissing sound. They spit blobs of a thick white substance onto anything
that moves, or any unfamiliar, and therefore threatening, object. The white
substance contains the spores of the plants, which soon form a thick green mould
able to grow on both flesh and inorganic substances. The fungus spreads very
quickly and without treatment soon covers the entire body. When drunk, the juice
from a certain type of berry acts as an antidote to the infection; the planet's
natives use it in conjunction with a thick yellowish paste, of uncertain origin,
which is spread over the infected area. The Thal expedition to the planet
against the Daleks countered the fungus' effects by developing a spray which
killed the spores.
Also native to Spiridon, and rather more engaging, were a species of tall
reed-like plants surmounted by a small round pod fringed with leaves. In the
centre of the pod was an opening strikingly similar to the pupil of a human eye.
The plants react to movement in an amusing fashion; as you pass a clump of them,
or place a moving object in front of them, their stalks sway forwards and their
"eyes" open wide as if in astonishment. The plants are entirely harmless, and in
fact can be put to good use. Although the indigenous population of Spiridon,
most of whom collaborated with the Daleks, were invisible, the plants could
sense their movement, reacting whenever one of them approached, and the Thals
used them as a kind of early warning system.
On Mechanus, yet another ecologically inhospitable world, the jungles which
covered most of the planet's surface were home to a carnivorous fungus, eight
feet tall and resembling a giant mushroom, the edges of whose cap are fringed
with creepers which are in constant motion and grasp any life form which
ventures too close to the plant, feeding it into the cap where digestive juices,
containing concentrated acid strong enough to eat through even the metal casing
of a Dalek, dissolve it. The creepers are very strong, capable of holding a
Dalek securely. If the prey is too heavy to be lifted by the tentacles, the
fungoid simply lowers its cap onto it and begins to feed.
On Tigella - a planet which, needless to say, is covered with aggressive
vegetation - the bell plant is so named because of its huge bell-like flower
which, after the plant's tendrils have grasped its prey, lowers itself over the
latter's head and produces a narcotic gas which fills their mouth and nostrils,
causing them to lose consciousness. The plant then eats them, although this has
never actually been observed. A human can remove the flower from over their head
before the gas begins to affect them, but will not be able to break the
tendrils' grip or to cut through them without the aid of a knife.
MOGARIANS
Planet of origin: Mogar
The Trial Of A Time Lord, episodes 9-12 (1 to 22 November 1986)
The inhabitants of Mogar are extremely handsome, golden-skinned humanoids with
grille-like mouths. Oxygen is lethal to them, and they must wear protective
suits and masks in those environments where it is present in large quantities.
Mogarians are inclined to be touchy and difficult and have a strong dislike of
Terran humans, regarding them as an avaricious race who have bled their planet
dry (Earth has been very keen in the past to exploit Mogar's rich mineral
resources). Despite this, the Mogarians are a peace-loving people who will not
harm or use violence against any being, unless it is absolutely necessary in
which case they are quite prepared to do whatever will further their vital
interests.
All Mogarian names end with a vowel and contain the letter "Z".
MONOIDS
The Ark (5 March to 26 March 1966)
Writers: Paul Erickson and Lesley Davies
The Monoids are a strange reptilian race which will evolve millions of years in
the future of the universe, on a planet whose name and location are at present
unknown.
Though their scaly skin is a clear indication of their ancestry they have a
number of features which distinguish them strikingly from other reptilian
species; they have only one eye, which is situated in the centre of the
forehead, and on top of the head is a mop-like thatch of ginger hair. They have
no vocal chords and no heart as such. The Monoids have an empathy with other
reptilian species, which enables them to tame an angry alligator or boa
constrictor.
The Doctor's only known encounter with the Monoids took place on the Ark, a
spacecraft which was carrying the population of Earth in search of a new home,
their planet of origin being about to fall into its sun. The Monoids had at some
point come to Earth from their own planet (described by one of the human
inhabitants of the Ark as an "obscure place") which was itself dying, and left
with humanity on the Ark. The creatures assisted with the maintenance of the
ship's systems and preparations for settlement of the new planet. They
communicated with their human colleagues by means of hand signals and
lip-reading; eventually they also learned to understand their written language.
Their willing co-operation and readiness to defer to the humans led to their
being exploited as slave labour, and was mistaken by the humans for stupidity,
while any evidence of intelligence they did display was praised in a highly
patronising manner. In fact, the Monoids were a good deal cleverer than the
humans gave them credit; nor were they as happy with their status as the former
believed. They resented their treatment and sought a chance to turn the tables
and take over the Ark. There gradually developed among the Monoids an awareness
and pride of their reptilian heritage and a determination to assert themselves.
At the same time however they felt insulted whenever the humans compared them
with lowly forms of reptilian life, such as snakes.
A disease which broke out on the Ark, killing or weakening many of its human
population, gave the Monoids their chance; a war broke out which the reptiles
won. The new masters of the Ark treated their human servants very badly; worse,
in fact, than the humans had treated them. Failing in a simple task, even
accidentally, might result in death for a human. The Monoids' eagerness to pay
the humans back in kind for their past suffering demonstrates a capacity for
cruelty on their part. Of course not all of them were brutal; at the time of the
war some Monoids tried to bring about an accommodation with the humans, but were
executed for treason by their xenophobic leaders.
When the Ark eventually reached Refusis, a planet suitable for colonisation, the
Monoids planned to destroy the humans, whom they no longer needed, so they could
have the planet all to themselves. They wanted no memory of the time when they
were a subject people. As usual the Doctor was able to put things right, joining
with the native Refusians, and some of the Monoids, to defeat them and force
them to live in peace with the humans on the new planet.
Monoids are numbered in order of importance, their leader being Number One. They
are ruled by a Grand Council whose membership varies according to the importance
of the matters it is discussing; in an emergency it may include all Monoids up

to Number Twenty.
MORBIUS MONSTER
Planet of origin: Karn
The Brain Of Morbius (3 to 24 January 1976)
Writer: Robin Bland (pseudonym for Terrance Dicks)
This was a composite life form created by the surgeon Solon at his castle home
on the planet Karn to serve as a body for the brain of Morbius, the renegade
Time Lord of whom he was a disciple, from the remains of those killed in
spaceship crashes. The creature's torso and probably also its legs came from
some unidentified mammalian species. Its right arm was human while the other was
a pincer taken from a Crustacoid, a crustacean life form. The lungs were
"donated" by a Birastrop, a species noted for the efficiency of its respiratory
system. Solon's skill as a surgeon ensured that the creature's component parts
did not reject each other.
The creature was alive before the installation of Morbius' brain, though barely
able to move, but any thoughts or personality it ever had were those of Morbius.
Solon had hoped to give it the Doctor's head, but unsurprisingly the Doctor had
other ideas; he was forced instead to house the brain within a transparent glass
casing, enabled to see by photo-electric cells mounted on long stalks, which he
grafted onto the monstrous body.
The Doctor used static electricity to overload the circuits of the brain's life
support system, and the resulting damage caused the Morbius creature to become a
mindless monster. It was then hunted down by the local population and forced
over a cliff to its destruction.
MORLOX
Planet of origin: Karfel
Timelash (9 March to 16 March 1985)
Writer: Glen McCoy
The Morlox are large carnivorous reptiles whose intelligence and cunning,
examples of which include their habit of covering over their footprints so that
their prey will be oblivious to their presence, makes them highly dangerous;
they are creatures which, in the words of Karfel's native humanoids, "you dare
not turn your back upon."
The creatures are four-legged with long necks, bulging craniums which indicate
their intelligence, flaring nostrils and eyes set close together. Their only
pleasant feature, a strong aromatic fragrance, serves a deadly purpose, being
used to attract prey. They are very resilient, a fully-grown specimen being
immune even to some energy weapons.
Morlox live in family units of three in either caves or swampland.
Megelen, a villainous and power-crazed Karfelon scientist, had his molecules
combined with those of a Morlox after an accident with Mustakozene 80, the most
unstable substance in the galaxy. The result was a grotesque hybrid with the
intelligence of the latter - one of the cleverest of non-sapient life forms -
proportionately increased and amalgamated with that of Megelen. Megelen's
natural scientific abilities were enhanced considerably; in addition to his
other skills he became an expert at cloning and devised some remarkable weapons
such as a ray which aged his enemies to death. To these assets were added
fantastic strength and longevity. Calling himself the Borad, Megelen used his
new powers to conquer Karfel and become its leader, but he was deposed by the
Sixth Doctor.
MORPHOS
Planet of origin: Marinus
The Keys Of Marinus (11 April to 16 May 1964)
The four rulers of the city of Morphoton, on the planet Marinus, were
disembodied brains housed within glass domes containing a nutrient liquid. Their
only other organs were two enormous, luminous eyes supported on stalks. The
Brains were capable of mechanically assisted speech. How they came to be in this
situation, whether it was their natural state or they were originally complete
organisms who somehow lost most of their physical bodies, is not recorded.
Since their own form was not very mobile, and they regarded the human body as
far superior to any mechanical device in its mobility and dexterity, they
somehow took over the minds of the city's population and used them as slaves,
who functioned as machinery to serve their needs and desires. It is not clear
exactly what, apart from the continued maintenance of their life support systems
and the upkeep of the city's buildings, these were. Those with sufficient
physical strength were employed on labour gangs, while the more intelligent were
placed on schemes for increasing manpower or trained to service the Morphos'
life support systems and the equipment necessary to maintain the mind control.
Any visitors to the city, such as the Doctor and his companions, were subjected
to the mind control and absorbed into the scheme. Instead of using force to do
this, the Brains decided on more subtle means. The visitors were offered rest
and hospitality, presented with an illusion of luxurious surroundings and
delicious food, and basically given everything they wanted. They were informed
by the human population that the city's people were the most content in the
universe, and that nothing was beyond them. This was intended to remove any
suspicions they might have and give them a sense of security. However, the fact
that one's hosts didn't blink, and their dull robotic voices, might give away
the fact that something was very wrong.
The illusion, and the mind control of which it was a part, was created by a
machine called a Mesmeron and sustained using small metal discs, called somnor
discs because they were placed on the forehead whilst the victim was sleeping,
which relayed its power. Removing the discs would cause severe pain, loss of
energy, and then unconsciousness. Exposing them a second time to the machine's
influence had the effect of rendering them completely subjugated, with all
memory of their former lives gone, along with the ability to think or act of
their own free will. Once someone had seen through the deception, however, it
was impossible to repeat the process, and they would be beyond the Brains'
control. This happened with Barbara Wright, one of the Doctor's companions. She
chanced to awake, and removed her disc. Recovering from the shock caused by
severance of the link with the Mesmeron, she saw her environment as it really
was: the fine clothes she had been given to wear were filthy, tattered rags and
the fruit juice she had been sipping was stagnant water.
The Brains were destroyed when Barbara smashed their life support system; this
released the inhabitants of the city from their control.
MUTOS
The Mutos were products of the chemical and radiation weapons used at one stage
in the centuries-long war between the Kaleds and the Thals on Skaro. It appears
that the Mutos were originally Kaleds, the Thals not being affected by the
radiation in quite the same way. The Kaleds expelled the Mutos into the
wastelands surrounding their city, as part of a policy of keeping their race
pure. In this harsh environment some died and some survived.
Some of them, like Sevrin who befriended Sarah Jane Smith, are less seriously
mutated than others, and indeed appear to the eye to be almost normal. The
mutation can produce positive characteristics, such as Sevrin's huge strength
and agility and his gentle, compassionate nature. Fortunately perhaps, the
features of the most seriously deformed are hidden beneath the hoods and cloaks
which they wear as if ashamed of their appearance. However the outline of their
huge misshapen hands betrays their abnormality.
The Mutos were victims of war, of prejudice, and of a lunatic policy reminiscent
of the eugenics practised in Nazi Germany, which would not allow society to be
blemished by even the smallest imperfection. Angry at and poisoned by their
rejection, they are an embittered lot, warped in mind as well as in body. They
are enemies to everything but their own twisted and abandoned kind, attacking
all strangers on sight. "All Norms {non-mutants) must die; it is the law," one
is quoted as saying. This of course increased the prejudice felt towards them by
normal Kaleds, who used it to justify their racist views.
The savagery and xenophobia of the Mutos is equally due to the harsh and
dangerous environment in which they live. They believe it to be an essential
prerequisite for survival. An exception to this rule was Sevrin, who appreciated
Sarah's physical attractiveness instead of being jealous of it like the other
Mutos; it also seemed wrong to him that a creature should be killed merely
because it was not of his kind.
Co-operation and organisation are essential in a harsh environment such as the
wastelands, and the Mutos have developed a leadership system. They will attack
if necessary to defend themselves, and if there are enough of them to ensure
that they can overpower their enemy, but otherwise behave in a timid and
frightened manner.
What eventually happened to these sad creatures, whether they remained on Skaro
in their pitiful condition until the planet was destroyed, is not known, but if
they did Sevrin's example suggests they deserved better.
MYRKA
Warriors Of The Deep (5 January 1984 to 13 January 1984)
A sea creature, apparently reptilian or amphibian in origin, contemporary with
the Silurians during the period of their ascendancy on Earth and specially bred
and adapted by them through a combination of cybernetics and genetic engineering
as a weapon for use in undersea warfare. Its enormous strength enables it to
smash through the walls of undersea structures and the hulls of ships, while its
body contains a powerful electrical charge which can be discharged at will and
kills living beings on contact. The Myrka is impervious to energy weapons.
Silurian underwater battlecruisers, such as that which attacked Seabase Four, a
human defence station on the sea bed, in the year 2084 usually had at least one
Myrka on board. Like the Silurians themselves, the creature had been in
hibernation for millions of years, being revived to serve as a weapon in their
bid to recover "their" planet from the mammalian upstarts.
The Myrka's intelligence, as well as its physical capabilities, have been
enhanced by its masters. On Seabase Four the Doctor was able for a time to repel
it by removing the power packs from the energy weapons used by the Seabase
guards and throwing them at it. They exploded on contact with its electrical
field, causing a flash which temporarily blinded the creature. However, it soon
realised what he was trying to do, and learned to avoid them.
Although its biology had been considerably altered by its Silurian masters, the
Myrka did retain certain of its natural characteristics. Having evolved in the
very depths of the ocean it had little tolerance of light, and the Doctor
eventually killed it using ultra-violet rays.
It is possible, given the sheer size and unexplored nature of the seas, that a
few Myrka still exist in their natural unaugmented form, as yet undiscovered by
Man.
NAVARINOS
Planet of origin: Navarro
Delta and the Bannermen (2 to 16 November 1987)
Inhabitants of the tri-polar moon Navarro, the Navarinos are green creatures
with wrinkly skin and friendly, fun-loving temperaments. They are enthusiastic
dancers, which causes them health problems since they have a very high metabolic
rate and are easily exhausted. Navarinos are also renowned for their enormous
appetite.
Along with a few other species the Navarinos have perfected the ability to
shape-change, disguising themselves as other races when on their recreational
visits to other planets so as not to cause alarm or arouse hostility.
The Time Lords have allowed the Navarinos to develop time travel, since their
benevolent disposition means they are unlikely to get up to any mischief with
it, and they often organise tourist trips to different periods of galactic
history.
NESTENES
Spearhead From Space (3 to 24 January 1970)
Terror Of The Autons (2 to 23 January 1971)
The Nestenes are a disembodied collective intelligence whose overriding impulse
is to conquer. Channing, their agent in the first of their attempted invasions
of Earth, told the Doctor that the Nestenes had been colonising other planets
for 1,000 million years. The Nestene believes itself superior to non-collective
entities, which it finds are easily dominated, and whose limited minds it
derides for being incapable of understanding its essential unity. This feeling
of superiority proved in the first Earth invasion to be a major weakness, since
it led the Nestenes to misjudge the human race; they failed to understand human
ways sufficiently and to take into account the unpredictability of beings less
rational and logical than themselves. "Even if they suspect the truth, their
minds will be too limited to accept it until it is too late," Channing remarked.
They underestimated, and were consequently puzzled by, the human capacity for
resistance against all odds. One suspects they learned from their defeats on
Earth, and are not quite so foolish in this respect now.
Although coldly rational in many ways, the Nestenes do in fact possess emotions,
although they are very different from those of humans, so much so that they do
not see themselves as possessing emotion (a quality they regard as inefficient,
and the mark of an inferior race) at all. They have a certain sense of humour;
Channing found it amusing to have his plastics factory, the base for the first
Earth invasion, guarded by human soldiers under orders from an Auton replica of
a high-ranking officer.
At one time the Nestenes had a physical form, which from the few glimpses of it
that were obtained during the first invasion would seem to resemble a gigantic
octopus-like creature with a single huge eye. In the second invasion, a Nestene
- or maybe a number of them, it is not clear - travelled to Earth along a radio
beam transmitted from a space tracking station, having transformed themselves
into pure energy for the purpose, but the Doctor modified the equipment to send
them back to their homeworld before they had fully materialised, and they were
visible only for a brief time as a white formless mass.
At some stage the Nestenes discarded their physical body to become pure mind.
However, once they had fully conquered Earth, they intended to recreate it as
the housing for the part of their consciousness which was to remain permanently
on the planet; it is not known why.
The Nestenes have an affinity for plastic, and anything made from that substance
can act as a vehicle for their consciousness, any part of which, however large
or small, can be split off from the whole and transferred into a physical
container. They change the molecular structure of plastic, energising it and
turning it into something similar to organic matter, and exist as programs
within it. The Master, who aided them in their second invasion of Earth, made
use of this ability in a variety of inventive and deadly ways. These included a
plastic armchair which swallowed up anyone unfortunate enough to sit in it, a
plastic telephone cord which came to life and almost strangled the Doctor, a
murderous plastic doll, and finally plastic daffodils that sprayed a deadly
vapour onto the faces of their victims, which solidified to form a solid seal
over their mouths and nostrils and so suffocated them (the doll worked in a
similar fashion, releasing the vapour through its mouth). It is interesting to
note that whereas analysis of the meteorites in which fragments of the
Consciousness travelled to Earth during the first invasion revealed them to be
hollow, the doll was found to be entirely solid.
All these items contained tiny particles of the Nestene Consciousness, so tiny
that the quasi-organisms were not fully sentient. Each was programmed to be
activated by a certain stimuli; the doll by heat (initially it needed a radiator
or bunsen burner to trigger it off, after which it reacted to the body heat of
its victim), the telephone cord by ultrasonics, and the daffodils by short-wave
radio signals. The most important part in the invasion was played by the
daffodils, but the other items also helped further it by killing people who
threatened its success in some way. What is surprising is that the doll remained
active after fulfilling its primary purpose, the murder of businessman John
Farrell, later to be accidentally reactivated in the Doctor's laboratory at UNIT
with near-fatal consequences for Jo Grant. Probably the Nestenes decided not to
withdraw their consciousness from it in case it should come in useful again at a
later date.
Plastic can obviously be manufactured on the Nestenes' home planet, although in
forms not yet discovered by Earth chemists, such as that out of which the
meteorites which took the Consciousness to Earth in the first invasion were
composed.
Though their consciousness can take on many forms the principal weapons used by
the Nestenes in the conquest of inhabited planets are the Autons, plastic robots
which resemble crude parodies of human beings with rudimentary faces and no
hair, nails or teeth. These contain a larger fragment of the Consciousness than
such things as the doll and the armchair, but are essentially just walking
weapons, programmed to kill or to carry out certain heavy tasks. Occasionally a
more advanced Auton with the power of speech may be encountered, as in the
second Earth invasion where one acted as a channel for communication between the
Master and the main part of the Nestene Consciousness on the home planet.
The Autons' hands conceal a powerful energy weapon. When faced with a target,
the fingers drop away on a hinge, and a blast of energy kills the victim. If
desired, the gun then fires another ray which disintegrates the victim's body,
leaving no evidence of Nestene activity for the local security forces to find.
Autons are very strong and immune to bullets, but can be destroyed with high
explosives, shells or anti-tank guns. They may be dangerous even when blown to
bits; their severed arms have a life of their own, thrashing about spitting
lethal energy bolts.
All parts of the Nestene Consciousness are in constant contact with one another,
and this enables each to share the experiences of all the rest, and the Autons
to receive instructions from larger fragments of the Consciousness, for example
those animating the Replicas who direct the invasion operations. These Replicas
are a more advanced type of Auton, designed to resemble members of the native
intelligent species; they are physically indistinguishable from the originals
and also incorporate their brain patterns and memories, enabling use to made of
their knowledge and skills. On Earth the only difference between the Replicas
and real humans was the Replicas' lack of human warmth and emotion (this is a
characteristic common to all human facsimiles produced by alien species). A
relative or close friend could detect them instantly. However, the Replicas of
which much use was made during the first invasion were mostly of people in high
authority in Britain's government, civil service and army; areas where a
psychology prevails in which orders are automatically obeyed without question.
Some of the originals had been disposed of in one way or another the evidence
suggests they are kept alive somewhere to preserve the pattern from which a new
Replica can be created if necessary - while in other cases important people
would appear in two different places at the same time, giving contradictory
orders and thus causing confusion and hampering the fight against the invaders.
When not required, the Replicas could put themselves into a near-dormant state,
reactivating themselves when the Consciousness decided the time was right.
The Replicas contained a larger part of the Consciousness than the Autons,
enabling them to think and plan. One of them, Channing, who may be included in
their number as he possessed the same characteristics, although he was not
designed to resemble any existing individual, acted as the invasion s advance
guard.
Should a Replica be destroyed, their features revert to the basic Auton form,
becoming lumpy and crude.
The Auton policemen who kidnapped the Doctor and Jo Grant during the second
invasion disguised themselves using masks which were presumably made from a kind
of lifelike plastic, similar to that which would have been used in the first
invasion to make the Replicas.
Nestenes usually prefer to colonise a planet through stealth, although the
precise method of invasion probably varies according to the conditions
prevailing on each planet. There were both similarities and differences between
the two invasions of Earth attempted during the early 1970s. In the first, the
Nestene Consciousness sent a part of itself to the planet within two successive
meteorite swarms. The first consisted of only five or six meteorites. Their
passage through the atmosphere raised the temperature in the area above normal
levels for the time of year, so alerting scientists to the fact that something
extraordinary was happening. The meteorites, referred to by Channing as energy
units, are smooth, semi-transparent, egg-shaped objects the size of rugby balls.
The hollow space within them is filled with gaseous ions in which the fragment
of the alien consciousness within resides.
In this method of invasion, one of the first shower of meteorites emits a
hypnotic light which enslaves the first human being who encounters them -
usually someone who is well-placed to assist the invasion attempt in some way.
(The Nestenes like the Kraals appear able to scan planets in detail and at long
range prior to invading them, in order to gather important information). In the
first invasion it was Hibbert, senior partner in a plastics business in Essex.
On instructions from the consciousness within the meteorite, Hibbert dismissed
his staff and adapted the equipment at his factory to produce from liquid
plastic an advanced Auton - Channing - into whom the consciousness from the
meteorite was channelled (a native source of plastic, out of which Autons can be
manufactured, is usually required for the success of an invasion). Channing had
the same hypnotic control over Hibbert as the energy unit. It was possible for
Hibbert to break free from his conditioning, with the Doctor's help. Another
form of hypnosis, used on people, mainly the originals of Replicas, who need to
be got out of the way but might be useful to the Nestenes at a later stage,
results in a trance-like state in which all metabolic functions are suspended,
the victim appearing barely alive.
Hibbert and Channing introduced further automated and highly advanced machinery
with which to make the killer Autons, who were motivated by the consciousness
within the remaining meteorites. Six months later another, larger shower of
meteorites, some fifty strong, was sent to the same area. These contained the
substance out of which the physical form of the octopus creature could be grown.
Evidently, the creation of the physical Nestene requires a larger number of
energy units (it will be noted that in the second invasion the Master was able
to create all the Autons he needed, plus the doll, armchair etc., from just one
meteorite). Once it was fully-formed, the octopus creature assumed control over
the Autons and Replicas. Its destruction was followed by their collapse; this
may have been because its link with them had been severed, but it is equally
likely that the Nestenes, realising they had been defeated, withdrew their
consciousness.
The meteorite containing the largest fragment of the Conscious-ness, that which
will inhabit the body of the octopus creature, is known as the Swarm Leader.
One weakness of this method of invasion, apart from the interest the meteorites
will arouse on the part of the authorities once detected, is that the meteorites
sometimes break up on landing. For this reason the Nestenes always send more of
them than is strictly necessary. After the first invasion the Doctor, acting on
a hunch, got UNIT to make a detailed search of the area where they had landed,
and found one more energy unit, which was later stolen by the Master and used in
the second invasion. They may also become deeply buried in the host planet's
soil, but if this happens they merely increase the strength of the signals which
they send out to guide the Autons to them. However, encasement in a metal
container or a substance such as aluminium foil can muffle the signals.
In the second invasion the Master used the stolen energy unit to contact the
Nestenes and open a channel to them, by connecting it to the equipment at a
space tracking station. This enabled them to send a surge of power back through
the equipment, energising the meteorite and causing it to become active.
In the first invasion the Nestenes' plan was for the Autons (disguised as shop
window dummies, which suddenly came to life in department stores all over the
country and went on a killing rampage), and Replicas to cause havoc in England,
which was to be the bridgehead for the invasion. All Nestene invasion attempts
require the neutralisation of the local population in the area where the
bridgehead is located. During all the confusion, the octopus monster in the
plastics factory would reach maturity and break out of its container. The
implication is that the one creature would be sufficient to sooner or later
subjugate the entire planet. For this to be so, it must be immune to
conventional and nuclear weapons and also very strong; it was certainly capable
of crushing and throttling with its tentacles. This however conflicts with the
apparent need to eliminate, or at least confuse and demoralise, the native
population; if the creature were really as powerful as is suggested, such
measures would not be required. Probably, they were necessary in order to
protect the creature while it was still at a vulnerable stage. Certainly the
Doctor did not seem to think there was no danger. In the second invasion it may
be that the Nestenes were going to send a larger number of the octopus creatures
to Earth - we don't know for sure.
In that second invasion the Replicas were not deemed necessary; the disruption
of the area was to be accomplished using the deadly daffodils, which had been
distributed around the country ostensibly as part of a promotional exercise by
the plastics firm which the Master had taken over. England would be swept by a
sudden wave of mysterious deaths (the seals over the victims' faces would be
dissolved by their dying breaths, so removing any clues to the cause), and
during the resulting panic and confusion the Nestenes would arrive and take
over. It's also noteworthy that instead of coming to Earth inside meteorites as
before, the Nestenes used the space tracking station to broadcast themselves
there in the form of energy, which would gradually acquire physical form on
arrival. Since all Nestenes form a gestalt with each other, those on the home
planet will automatically be aware of the defeat of an invasion attempt, and why
it happened, and so can learn from their mistakes.
The Doctor thwarted the first invasion when he realised that a powerful electric
shock could counteract the Nestene s influence over the physical forms it
inhabited, forcing it to withdraw its consciousness from them. The device he
built for the purpose was used successfully against the octopoid Nestene at the
plastics factory, but was only effective at short range. Since the Nestenes were
no doubt aware of this, and would probably evolve some means of neutralising the
machine, it could not be used in the event of a second invasion.
The Nestenes' second defeat was largely due to the Master. Un-fortunately a
certain number of the daffodils activated themselves too soon, the resulting
spate of unexplained deaths alerting UNIT to the fact that something was wrong.
This is liable to have been the Master's fault, for it was in fact he who had
designed the "Nestene autojet", as he termed it. The Doctor described it as
"vicious, complicated and inefficient". Thanks to his blundering, collection and
neutralisation of the "autojets" was soon well in hand. The Nestenes decided to
proceed with the invasion anyway, but the Doctor managed to persuade the Master
that they would not discriminate between him and the natives of Earth; not a
difficult task, since his various slip-ups and his insistence on wasting their
consciousness in futile attempts to kill the Doctor had indeed caused relations
between him and his allies to become strained. Accordingly, he helped the Doctor
modify the equipment at the space centre to send the Nestenes, who had not quite
fully materialised, back to their home planet and shut off the channel.
Without the Master, the Nestene plan might well have succeeded. The Nestenes
will now have seen the unreliability of using other life forms as agents. It is
difficult to say what method they will adopt for any future invasion of Earth,
should they decide to attempt it.
NIMON
The Horns Of Nimon (22 December 1979 to 12 January 1980)
Technologically highly advanced, the Nimon are black-skinned, horned bull-like
creatures which have developed the ability to walk bipedally. Their massive
heads merge directly into their bodies with no suggestion of a neck. They wear
only a metallic kilt with a wide jewelled belt. With their deep rumbling voices,
and the aura of strength and power which emanates from them, the Nimon are
terrifying.
Nimon live by ingesting the binding energy of organic compounds. They can store
some of this energy and shoot bolts of it, which can either stun or kill, from
their horns. Their constant infusion of energy means they are never still,
pacing restlessly about and even when they are not speaking giving off a
constant series of low rumbling growls. We cannot say whether their ability to
absorb and channel it in the way they do is a natural characteristic of their
species, or was acquired through some form of cybernetic engineering as with the
Sontarans.
The Nimons' demand for energy, both as food and as a means to power their
technology, is so colossal that they rapidly exhausted their home planet's
resources. They then proceeded to drain it from other worlds, regardless of the
effect on their inhabitants. We don't know whether this constant dependence on
massive amounts of energy is a natural characteristic or they are simply greedy;
certainly they seem to have no thought for the consequences of their actions.
The Nimon became nomads, journeying from planet to planet using artificial black
holes through which they travelled in egg-shaped capsules. They would choose a
suitable world and send a capsule there with a crew of one. This Nimon promised
the planet's population wealth and power, after they had supplied him with the
facilities needed to build a base there, which among other things housed the
neutron converter - the nuclear energy unit which created the black holes -
along with a supply of live bodies whose bonding energy he needed for
nourishment, and a quantity of hymetusite, the highly radioactive crystal which
fuels the converter (or some viable substitute for it). The energy from the
converter was transmitted through space in the form of a very powerful beam from
horn-like protrusions on the roof of the complex. As well as creating the black
hole the energy beam also draws the capsules through it to their destination.
The complex is built to a maze-like design which serves to disorientate and
confuse unwelcome intruders.
The Nimon's promises are never kept, and it is never revealed what the
technology supplied it is for until it's far too late. By then the rest of its
race will have arrived in their millions and be swarming all over the planet,
striking the inhabitants unconscious with the energy from their horns, later to
be drained of their life force and reduced to lifeless husks.
This technique was repeated on all the other planets the Nimon visited. By the
time each planet's energy has been drained, some progress will already have been
made with the conquest of the next and a complex established on it so that the
Nimon can transport themselves there as soon as possible.
Nimons are physically very strong but not very agile; in any confrontation with
one the real danger lies in the power they shoot from their horns. They can be
stunned by fairly powerful energy beams such as those fired by K9, and their own
energy can kill them when reflected back on them.
The Doctor's encounter with the Nimon took place in their complex on the planet
Skonnos. The bulk of the race was about to transport itself there from Crinoth,
their previous conquest, but the Doctor sabotaged the neutron converter on
Skonnos. The Nimon then attempted to reach the latter by converting the matter
of Crinoth itself into pure energy; this set off a chain reaction which
eventually ran out of control, causing Crinoth to explode and presumably
destroying the last of the parasitic race.
NUCLEUS
The Invisible Enemy (1 to 22 October 1977)
The Nucleus was the leader of a species of intelligent, microscopic,
hermaphroditic crustaceans, resembling lobsters in appearance, who had the
characteristics of a virus. It dominated the micro-world and sought to conquer
the macro-world too. For this it needed a carrier, and selected humanity for the
purpose because of the way that species had spread itself across the cosmos.
Struck by the way human activity parallelled its own, and possessing something
like a sense of humour, the organism saw the choice as most appropriate. It
justified its aims as follows: "It is the right of every creature to survive,
multiply and perpetuate its species..how else does the predator exist? And we
are all predators...we kill, we devour, to live. Survival is all! Consider the
human species. They send hordes of settlers across the galaxy to breed,
multiply, conquer and dominate. We have as much right to conquer them as they
have to strike out across the stars." For his part the Doctor felt the Nucleus
had a perfect right to exist as a virus but not as a giant swarm threatening the
whole galaxy and upsetting the delicate balance of the cosmos.
Originally the virus existed in space in the form of a huge whitish cloud,
composed of countless numbers of the microscopic creatures, which drifted
through space waiting for an opportunity to conquer the macro-world. That
opportunity came when an Earth space shuttle en route for a base on Saturn's
moon, Titan, passed close to it. The micro-organisms could sense the presence of
life forms within nearby spacecraft, and a number of them including the Nucleus
itself sent themselves out in the form of a ray of energy which passed through
the structure of the shuttle and into the bodies of its crew. By this means they
were able to infect the crew, and subsequently spread the infection to other
life forms, those taken over announcing that "Contact has been established!"
The virus is noetic in character, attacking its victims through the brain and
afterwards residing in the interface between it and the mind. It was therefore
only detectable when the host was conscious, and its mass and structure could
not be ascertained. It can affect artificial intelligences as well as living
ones, taking over K9 and the TARDIS computer as well as a number of humans. By
entering and possessing a mind the Nucleus could acquire its knowledge. When it
infected the Doctor it learnt he was a Time Lord, and extended its ambitions to
achieving, through him, control of time itself.
The physical symptom of possession by the Nucleus is a growth of stiff metallic
hair which becomes more profuse as the infection progresses, eventually almost
covering the face and hands. At the same time the internal cell structure
changes, the host developing a resistance to radiation and energy weapons. The
Nucleus could communicate telepathically with infected life forms.
The noetic character of the virus was demonstrated when the Doctor, in the early
stages of his infection, was able briefly to mentally resist it; the metallic
growth was observed to vanish from his skin.
It fortunately proved possible to devise an antidote to the virus. The Doctor
could use his ability to suspend all his mental and physical functions to retard
the infection's progress, at least for a time.
Scientist Dr Marius injected clones of the Doctor and his companion Leela,
miniaturised using a component from the TARDIS called a Relative Dimensional
Stabiliser, into the Doctor's body in a bid to destroy the Nucleus. They
succeeded in expelling the Nucleus from it but at the same time the effect of
the RDS magnified the creature to the size of a human; it was no longer forced
to influence events in the macro-world from the micro-world, but could control
the former directly once it had bred and multiplied sufficiently. The Nucleus
found the macro-world difficult to adapt to initially, finding it hard to move
or even stand unaided.
The Nucleus, which was close to spawning, ordered its human servants to take it
to a methane refinery on Titan where, in the methane storage tanks, it found the
right environment in which to lay and incubate its eggs. The eggs were
fortunately destroyed in an explosion caused by the Doctor, which ignited both
the methane at the plant and that in Titan's atmosphere, before they could
hatch. The Nucleus also perished in the conflagration.
OGRI
Planet of origin: Ogros
The Stones Of Blood (28 October 1978 to 18 November 1978)
One of the few true silicon life forms in the Universe, the Ogri hail from
Ogros, (not, apparently, the same planet as that of the Ogrons) in the star
system Tau Ceti. Ogros is covered with huge swamps full of amino acids which the
Ogri feed on by absorption and which constitute their staple diet. The Ogri
brought to Earth by Vivien Fay obtained their nutrition through globulin, a
constituent of human blood and the nearest terrestrial equivalent of their food.
If hungry enough an Ogri will absorb the whole life force from its victims,
causing flesh and organs to crumble away until only a skeleton remains.
If one should be unwise enough to touch an Ogri while it is active, the creature
will exert a powerful adhesive force which causes the part of the body in
contact with it to become irremovably fixed to it. The creature then proceeds to
drain its victim's blood/energy.
Essentially the Ogri resemble huge rectilinear blocks of stone. Their appearance
suggests that silicon life forms, in their natural state, tend towards a very
simple configuration. The Kastrians were originally organic in composition,
their later silicon-based form being devised by Eldrad because it was more
resilient and offered a better prospect of survival for his people. The
appearance of the Krotons suggests they too may have altered themselves to some
extent from their original shape.
Ogri are estimated to weigh about three and a half tons. They are capable of
movement and like other silicon life forms are immensely strong and resilient.
They can however be destroyed by certain forms of energy, and if they fall from
a great enough height will shatter on impact with the ground. On dying, or being
disintegrated by energy weapons, they are reduced to a form of sand (in common
with the Kastrians). There is no indication that they can regenerate themselves
(the regenerative abilities of the Kastrians were due to Eldrad's science and
are not naturally a characteristic of all silicon life forms). Their size and
weight enables them to kill their prey by crushing them to death. They are not
particularly agile or dexterous, nor can they move very fast, so it is
relatively easy to escape from them.
Ogri are unintelligent creatures, easily exploited by a sapient being such as
the villainous Vivien Fay. Their simple form means they can be easily be
augmented for use in the construction of buildings, just like non-sentient
minerals.
Of the three Ogri taken from their homeworld by Cessair of Diplos (Vivien Fay's
real name), who used them in her criminal activities, one was destroyed by the
Doctor and another by the Megara, who returned the survivor to Ogros.
OGRON MONSTER
Planet of origin: Unnamed
Frontier in Space (24 February to 31 March 1973)
A life form of which we know little, other than that it resembles an enormous
pulsating bladder, with two constantly twitching feelers, in appearance. The
Ogrons are terrified of the creature and worship it as a god, setting up shrines
at which offerings of food are left in order to appease it. A representation of

it found in one of the shrines depicts it with two eyes.
OGRONS
Planet of origin: Unnamed
Day Of The Daleks (1 to 22 January 1972)
Writer: Louis Marks
The Ogrons are unintelligent, ape-like humanoids who live in scattered
communities on a remote, barren and inhospitable planet whose harsh environment
partly explains their savage and violent nature. They are in fear of the
planet's dominant life forms, a large and savage lizard-like reptile and the
huge bladder-like organism mentioned in the previous entry.
Ogrons all look alike to humans (although the converse may also be true). They
are heavily built and tend to be slow and clumsy in their movements, but this is
compensated for by their formidable strength and resilience. Their nervous
system, protected by layers of incredibly tough muscle, is very resistant to
shock; as a consequence they are difficult to subdue in hand-to-hand conflict.
These qualities make them very useful as soldiers, and they are often employed
as mercenaries by other, more intelligent species such as the Daleks. One weak
spot is the top of their heads, a severe blow to which can knock them
unconscious.
Bullets have little effect on Ogrons, a full round being necessary to kill them;
anything less and they will go on fighting despite their pain, hardly even
slowed down. Energy weapons can hurt as well as kill or maim them if
sufficiently powerful.
One disadvantage of using Ogrons is that they are very stupid; one has to keep
one's patience when dealing with them. They are useful as guards but not for
anything that calls for intelligence or initiative. At best, they occasionally
display a form of primitive cunning.
The creatures are so savage that it is difficult to persuade them to take
prisoners, when such is desired; their instinct is to kill anyone they get their
hands on, and if not allowed to do so they will relieve their frustration by
beating up the prisoner, perhaps causing permanent disability. To use them
requires a great deal of skill, controlling them by a careful balance between
the carrot and the stick, between threats and rewards. They are in awe of people
such as the Master, who was cleverer than them and thus able to dominate and
tease them with impunity. But even the Master, despite his skill at manipulating
the creatures, found it hard to keep his temper at times. It is likely that he
used these subtle means of controlling them rather than his hypnotic powers, for
their extreme stupidity and lack of imagination means any form of mind control
is likely to prove ineffective.
Fear is also useful in keeping them loyal. They are particularly frightened by
the Daleks and by the "Monster" of their native world, so much that their terror
of these creatures will override any commands given them by other controllers.
Ogrons have developed a verbal language, but their vocabularies tend to be
limited. Their voices are thick and guttural.
The technological level of their society is similar to that of Earth's early
cavemen. They live inside cliffs, in simple dwellings crudely fashioned out of
the rock. They have mastered only basic woodwork and although there is evidence
of metalworking it is likely, going by what else we know about the Ogrons, that
the technique was taught them by more advanced beings. Although their own level
of technical accomplishment is low they can, if properly trained, master the
rudiments of more advanced technology such as space-flight.
Ogron justice is harsh; those who have committed a serious crime, such as
stealing food offerings from shrines to the Monster, are chained up without food
until they are too weak to run and then fed to it or to the giant lizard. They
have the custom of marriage.
OMEGA'S CHAMPION
The Three Doctors (30 December 1972 to 20 January 1973)
A being created like the Gells out of the mind of renegade Time Lord Omega. The
Doctor was forced to engage it in physical combat so that by its defeating him
Omega could demonstrate the superior-ity of his will, of which the creature was
a material expression.
The creature was humanoid in form with scaly skin, a high pointed head, pointed
ears and a cruel-looking face. Its sinister appearance was intended to reflect
the dark, evil side of Omega's nature.
OSIRANS
Planet of origin: Phaester Osiris
Pyramids Of Mars (25 October to 15 November 1975)
Writer: Stephen Harris (Robert Holmes and Lewis Griefer)
The now extinct Osirans, who inhabited a planet unimaginably distant from ours,
were an immensely powerful, almost god-like, race. As well as a highly
sophisticated technology they had mental abilities far greater than those of
most other life forms. In their heyday they were quite possibly the most
advanced race in the universe, second only to the Guardians; certainly they were
more powerful in some ways than the Time Lords, who according to the Doctor
could not have prevented one of their number, Sutekh, from destroying all life
in the Universe (although the Doctor despatches the evil Osiran using what he
calls "the weapon of the Time Lords" - temporal engineering - altering the
co-ordinates of the space-time tunnel along which Sutekh is travelling to Earth
and sending him into the far future and his own death).
The bodies and limbs of the Osirans were humanoid in form. According to the
Doctor they had dome-shaped heads, but this conflicts with the appearance of
Sutekh, whose head resembled that of a dog or jackal. Either the Doctor is
mistaken or there were in fact two species of Osiran; some kind of genetic
engineering could have been employed, for what purpose it is hard to say.
Biolog-ically, we know nothing else about the species save that they live for
many thousands of years and have cerebellums shaped like spiral staircases; the
latter characteristic, according to the Doctor, made them extremely devious
despite their high moral standards.
The Osirans divided their time equally between learning and conquest. At the
latter they were extremely successful, since their powers were such that no
other species could stand against them. They came to dominate many galaxies.
Their awesome powers led to their being worshipped as gods by the relatively
primitive of the cultures they ruled. They conquered because they believed
themselves to be most suited to govern; their rule would be wise and benevolent,
preventing war and discord. Their main concern was to ensure peace and
stability; they did not wish to interfere unduly in the cultural or scientific
development of their subject peoples, and to this end ruled mainly by proxy,
using robots - wrapped in bandages impregnated with an anti-corrosive fluid and
thus inspiring the practice of mummification among the ancient Egyptians of
Earth - to keep the locals in order. The more intelligent of the robots, which
were capable of speech, had golden edging to their bindings to denote their
rank.
Of course they would inevitably, as indicated above, be deified by some of the
conquered societies, who would build up religions around them, while some
peoples might choose to adopt Osiran ways out of admiration for, and a desire to
emulate, a remarkable civilisation. Ancient Egypt came to base much of its
culture on the Osiran model, and its mythology was inspired by the Osirans'
political activities. As for the tendency to deify them they probably saw this
as inevitable, particularly in pre-scientific societies.
There are two conflicting views of the Osirans. According to the first, they
were not mistaken in their perception of themselves; they were supremely wise
and benevolent. In combining semi-divine powers with the morality to use them
sensibly they were unique in their galaxy. Only once did they produce an
equivalent of Hitler, and he appears to have had little or no support among his
own people. There are those who see them as amoral beings concerned simply with
power, who secretly felt contempt for their subject peoples and bequeathed a
legacy to the universe which was as dangerous as it was culturally splendid.
This view has often been discounted on grounds of their treatment of Sutekh.
The wisest of all Osirans, accepted by every other as their leader, was Horus.
Sutekh, known in Egyptian legend principally as Set, was his brother. Sutekh did
not share Horus' morality and devotion to learning and culture. He was
interested only in political power, seeking to depose Horus, of whom he was
jealous, and become ruler of Osiris. He may also have been deranged, for at some
point he became convinced that all life, and not just the other Osirans, was his
enemy. He feared that somewhere, at some future date, a creature powerful enough
to destroy him would evolve, and since the only way to prevent this was to
obliterate all life in the cosmos that was what he set out to do, using the
fantastic abilities natural to his species. He gloried in chaos and destruction,
calling himself the Destroyer. His fellow Osirans combined to defeat him and the
result was a war which spread over many galaxies, during which thousands of
planets including Phaester Osiris itself were devastated. Eventually, Sutekh was
cornered and defeated on Earth, in Egypt. In all it took 740 Osirans - the seven
hundred and forty gods whose names are recorded in the tomb of King Thutmose III
- to subdue him. It was urged that Sutekh be executed but instead Horus
imprisoned him in a tomb within a pyramid, held physically immobile by a
paralysing ray beamed from Mars.
The high moral code of the Osirans is demonstrated by Horus' decision to
imprison rather than kill Sutekh; the latter course, in his opinion, would have
made him no better than his evil brother. In fact Horus' compassion was such
that he could not bring himself to leave Sutekh with absolutely no chance of
escape. He appears to have provided him with the equipment he needed, and was
eventually able to use, for his comeback, such as the materials required to set
up the space-time tunnel and send along it the components out of which Marcus
Scarman, working from his home in England, could use to build the missile which
would destroy the Eye of Horus (the device on Mars which transmitted the
paralysing ray). Why Sutekh did not choose Egypt, where his pyramid prison was
located, as his centre of operations instead of sending Scarman along the tunnel
to England is not clear. Horus placed the equipment just out of Sutekh's mental
reach; eventually, if he conserved his psychic energies enough, he might be able
to use it, and in the end was.
It is notable that the Doctor found the Pyramids of Mars to be full of lethal
traps, designed to snare anyone attempting to destroy the Eye, which might have
killed the innocent explorer as well as those with evil intent. It is possible
that whatever catastrophe overwhelmed the Osirans did so quite unexpectedly,
leaving no time to deactivate the deadly devices. Yet the traps seem to have
been designed as intelligence tests, like those in the city of the Exxillons;
one took the form of a philosophical riddle, the solution of which sprung the
trap and released those caught in it alive and well. It suggests an amorality
which may not have cared whether Sutekh eventually gained his freedom, because
whatever happened the Osirans themselves might not be around to deal with him -
as turned out to be the case.
The phenomenal powers of the Osirans include telekinesis and mind-reading
(though these abilities only work at short range unless, and only in the case of
the former, strenuous effort is involved). Sutekh could project his mental power
over long distances, where this was necessary in order to control his possessed
human slaves, but only with the aid of technology, using a machine called a
cytronic particle accelerator for the purpose. Osirans can take over the minds
and bodies of other life forms, such as Marcus Scarman, the Egyptologist who
discovered Sutekh's tomb in 1911, and use them as servants. In Scarman's case,
according to the Doctor, all traces of his human identity were erased and his
life force destroyed, leaving him as no more than a walking cadaver animated
only by Sutekh's will. This, however, was clearly not what happened. There were
occasions when Scarman's human self was obviously trying to break free; when
Laurence, his brother, confronted him with a photograph of themselves as boys in
a bid to restore his memory of his former identity, he clearly recognised it and
became confused and agitated.
Nevertheless the Doctor realised that returning Scarman to his human self,
though not impossible, would be very difficult - and, if the attempt failed,
dangerous. For his own good Laurence had to be convinced that it was futile, and
to this end the Doctor exaggerated the extent to which Marcus' humanity had been
destroyed. The slightest indication that any of it remained would only have
fuelled Laurence's dangerous optimism. In the end, Laurence sadly failed to heed
the Doctor's advice; his attempts to break the Osiran conditioning were
unsuccessful, and Marcus killed him.
The Doctor himself was possessed by Sutekh at one point, in order that he could
take Scarman to Mars in the TARDIS to destroy the Eye of Horus, but returned to
normal once the Osiran had no further need of him. However, in the Doctor's case
the degree of control was clearly not as great as in Scarman's (when under his
influence the Doctor did not exhibit any of the symptoms of possession by
Osirans mentioned below). The reason for this is suggested by Sutekh's
instructions to Scarman to destroy him when they reached the Pyramids of Mars
(the Osiran installation which housed the Eye) because Time Lords were a
"cunning and perfidious species". Evidently Sutekh was not able to possess him
to the same extent as Scarman, achieving no more than a kind of hypnosis, and
indeed thought the Doctor might have succeeded in faking the condition in such a
way that it was impossible for the Osiran, despite his ability to read minds, to
know for sure.
The controlled life forms do not tire or feel pain and their flesh is impervious
to fire and bullets. They act as channels for Sutekh's mental powers, although
they can only use them at close range; to telekinetically destroy the Eye of
Horus Marcus Scarman had to get within a few feet of it. To sustain them in
their possessed state requires an infusion of energy which causes their flesh
and clothing to smoulder in places, as if on fire, and renders their touch
lethal to ordinary humans. Release of the energy, when their services are no
longer required, incinerates the life form's body, reducing it to a heap of
smoking ashes.
The Osirans have enough understanding of temporal science to be able to create
space-time tunnels linking different places and time periods, but their
abilities in this field are not as great as the Time Lords , which is why the
Doctor was able to use Time to destroy Sutekh.
There are, as indicated above, limits to the Osirans' powers. Sutekh needed to
study for thousands of years before his abilities were truly awesome, suggesting
he was untypical (and explaining why it took 740 Osirans to defeat just one).
Although, when the Doctor tried to blow up Sutekh's missile, the Osiran was able
to prevent the explosion from occurring by sheer mental power, he could only do
so for a short time. He soon began to experience mental strain of a sort which
would eventually have proved intolerable. By distracting his attention, the
Doctor caused the bomb to explode.
The Osirans have left a fascinating legacy for the archaeologists to study. An
air of mystery and awe, compounded by their unexplained extinction, surrounds
them. The reasons for their sudden and total disappearance from the face of the
cosmos have been a source of mystery for aeons. It is not likely, given the
extent of their powers, that another species succeeded in annihilating them.
Perhaps the Osirans realised they had become so powerful that they presented a
potential threat to universal peace and stability. The case of Sutekh
demonstrated that it was possible for one of them to use their powers for evil
purposes, the danger being emphasised by the fact that Sutekh was only defeated
by the combined efforts of over seven hundred other Osirans. The Osiran moral
code would have ruled out executing such a person. It is not easy for a race to
de-evolve, or to reverse its technological progress, and in any case they were
unwilling, having advanced so far, to do so. Consequently they destroyed
themselves, we cannot say how. The race had reached, and passed, the limits to
which it could develop without threatening the entire universe. Alternatively
they may have feared that they were becoming amoral, and that this would result
in their awesome powers producing as much, if not more, harm than good. If they
were not really as benevolent as has been supposed, then the true reasons for
their demise could be different still.
Maybe some omnipotent intelligence, such as the Guardians, caused the Osirans'
demise, either for the same reasons that they themselves may have done or
because it felt it was now time for other races to rise up in their stead. This
might be what the Doctor meant when he told Sutekh, as he consigned him to
death, that the time of the Osirans was long past.
PEKING HOMUNCULUS
The Talons Of Weng-Chiang (26 February to 2 April 1977)
A robot made in Peking by scientist Magnus Greel in the year 5000 and presented
as a gift to the Commissioner of the Icelandic Alliance, for whose children it
was intended to be a plaything. It resembled a diminutive Chinaman in the
traditional costume of his country. Controlled by an internal computer, it had
one organic component, the cerebral cortex of a pig. From this it derived a
murderous instinct. The Doctor told his companions, "The mental feedback is so
intense that the swinish instinct becomes dominant. It hates humanity and revels
in carnage." The creature was delighted by death or suffering in any form, its
voice circuits indicating its pleasure by a peal of malicious laughter.
It seems unlikely that an animal such as a pig should "hate" humanity or indeed
anything. Granted, we can't be absolutely sure that animals don't have emotions;
it is more probable, though, that the creature's homicidal tendencies were in
some way a side-effect of the combination of the porcine element with the
artificial intelligence of the computer. Greel knew this would happen; in
reality the Homunculus was not a toy but an assassination weapon in the bitter
political struggles which then characterised Earth politics, and in which the
villainous scientist figured prominently. It massacred the Commissioner's entire
family, thus sparking off a global war.
Most of the time the Homunculus required a human programmer, but was capable of
independent thought and movement though only to a limited extent. Greel could
transmit commands to it telepathically or verbally, the Homunculus retaining the
instruction in its brain; he appears to have bestowed this ability on his
accomplice Li H'sen Chang.
The Homunculus' murderous instincts sometimes made it difficult to control; when
overcome by bloodlust it would attack anybody, even those who operated it.
The Homunculus could be put out of action by removing from it a single
component, a slim metallic tube. This the Doctor did, subsequently destroying
the component. What happened to the creature after that is not recorded, but the
Doctor presumably took steps to ensure it could never be used again for evil
ends.
PELADONIAN ROYAL BEAST (AGGEDOR)
Planet of origin: Peladon
The Monster of Peladon (23 March to 27 April 1974)
The planet Peladon is, or was, the home of a species of shaggy mammalian
creature resembling in appearance something between bear and boar. They walk
either on all fours or bipedally (the latter more commonly), are covered in
thick brown fur and have massive clawed paws, ridged snouts and powerful jaws
filled with savage teeth. A single horn projects from the creature's forehead.
The species is long-lived in comparison with many Earth animals, having a
lifespan of more than fifty years. It can sniff out trails in the manner of a
bloodhound.
Although their appearance is savage and terrifying, they are intelligent and
noble creatures, loyal to those who treat them well, and courageous. They will
not attack a human unless they are provoked or their territory is invaded, in
which case they respond ferociously. They are difficult to capture and to tame,
unless, like the Doctor, one has telepathic empathy with animals.
Its nobility led the beast to be adopted as the emblem of the Pel royal family.
Young men of high birth would hunt the creature to prove their courage, and its
fur was used in the manufacture of the cloaks worn by the aristocracy and the
monarch's coronation robes. Unfortunately, this led to the creature's becoming
extinct, or so it was thought. It then attained the status of a deity, a
supernatural guardian of the planet and its rulers. Aggedor, as this deity was
called, was credited with a human intelligence and morality and an ability to
foresee the future. The importance of the animal to the Pel psyche was
paramount, its image appearing everywhere in both private houses and government
buildings.
A few of the flesh-and-blood animals were in fact still in existence on the
lower slopes of Mount Megeshra, where the royal palace was situated. At the time
of the Doctor's first visit to Peladon it was discovered that one of the
creatures, at least, was still alive, but this made no difference to the cult of
Aggedor, such was the awe in which the beast had by now become held. The Doctor
was able to domesticate the real-life animal, something which probably
embarrassed his hosts, who might have felt it inconsistent with Aggedor's
dignified and warlike image.
The creature was still around at the time of the Doctor's second visit fifty
years later. Those guilty of treason against the monarchy were thrown into a pit
beneath the royal palace, which along with the tunnels riddling the interior of
Mount Megeshra formed the animal's territory. It seemed that although the
flesh-and-blood version of Aggedor was known still to live the Pels believed in
a separate "Spirit of Aggedor", an insubstantial being akin to the Holy Ghost of
Christian doctrine, independent of the animal's physical body and yet forming
part with it of the same composite entity. Eckersley, a villainous Earthman
working for Galaxy Five, with whom the Galactic Federation to which Peladon
belonged was at war, was able to fake a manifestation of it using a holographic
projector in combination with a lethal heat ray, thus leading the Pels to
believe that Aggedor was angry at Peladon's incorporation into the Federation
and the industrialisation of the planet, which would alter its traditional way
of life. Eckersley's aim was to influence the course of the war in his masters'
favour by causing friction between Peladon and the other members of the
Federation. The Doctor succeeded in exposing him, and at the end of this affair
the real Aggedor died rescuing Queen Thalira, whom Eckersley had kidnapped to
serve as a hostage while he made his escape to where the spacecraft in which he
planned to flee Peladon was concealed. It was a fitting end for the Royal Beast.
It is thought likely that the animal's death will have little effect on the cult
of Aggedor and that the Pels will still continue to worship it.
The species is now presumed to be finally extinct although - as with many
species - it is hard to be entirely sure.
PLASMATONS
Planet of origin: Xeraphas
Time-Flight (22 March to 30 March 1982)
The Plasmatons were creatures into which the surviving inhabitants of the planet
Xeraphas transformed themselves after radiation from a nuclear war between two
other planets, Vardon and Kosnax, which had spread to Xeraphas made a
conventional existence impossible. Using psychokinesis, they created a single
new body to house the minds of their entire race, by assembling particles of
protoplasm from the atmosphere and bonding them into one solid mass. This
protoplasmic mass could, by drawing on the psychic energy of the minds within
it, take on a variety of different forms, and also divide and reunite at will.
It could absorb life forms and transport them, cocooned inside it, over a
distance, afterwards regurgitating them unharmed.
The Doctor's arch-enemy, the Master, succeeded in controlling the protoplasm to
some extent with the help of evil Xeraphin within the group mind. From it he
learned how to mentally create various creatures from protoplasm and use them to
attack the Doctor.
PLESIOSAURUS
The Plesiosaurus was a large carnivorous marine reptile coeval with the
dinosaurs. There was one on the Scope owned by Vorg and Shirna and brought to
Inter Minor. The Plesiosaurus is assumed to have become extinct by the end of
the Cretaceous geological period of Earth's history, although some believe the
legendary Loch Ness Monster may be a surviving specimen.
POSIKARANS
Planet of origin: Posikar
Trial of a Time Lord episodes 5-8 (4 to 25 October 1986)
The Mentors of Thoros-Beta once had financial dealings with a representative
from Posikar - a short bipedal reptilian race, about which little is known
although they are thought to be related to the Terileptils.
PRIMORDS
Inferno (9 May to 20 June 1970)
Writer: Don Houghton
As well as being threatened by alien invaders Earth has produced many horrors of
its own. In one case, the planet itself appeared to be the enemy. Never mind
outer space, or even the depths of the ocean; the interior of the Earth appears
capable of producing threats just as deadly, if not more so, as those other
realms which Man has still not fully explored.
On both the real Earth, and a parallel version of it to which he was
accidentally transported while carrying out repairs to the TARDIS, the third
incarnation of the Doctor once had to deal with a crisis at Inferno - a top
secret drilling project whose aim was to penetrate the Earth's crust and release
a new energy source to be called Stahlman's gas after the project's originator,
Professor Otto Stahlman. The pipes which carried away debris from the drilling
operations began to leak a hot, glutinous, green substance which defied all
attempts at analysis, refused to cool down, and seethed and bubbled furiously as
if alive. As the drills bored deeper the slime rose to the surface in greater
and greater quantities. When it made contact with a person's skin they felt a
terrible burning sensation, followed by disorientation. Inside their heads they
seemed to hear a sinister screeching noise.... There then followed what the
Doctor described as retrogressive mutation of the body cells. The skin took on a
greenish tinge, the eyes glowed red, and feet and hands became crooked claws,
resulting in an awkward shuffling gait. Eventually the victim was transformed
into a savage, hairy, werewolf-like monster. The greater the quantity of slime
touching the skin, the more rapidly the transformation occurred.
The mutants were incredibly strong and resilient (par for the course as far as
non-human life forms in Who are concerned!). Initially a Primord can be knocked
out with tranquiliser darts, but as the regression continues the creatures
become immune to them. Even in the earlier stage of the infection, they can
remain alive and moving for several minutes after being shot twice through the
heart. The Primords did not merely roam around killing everyone they met, but
appeared to have a purpose; it was to speed up the drilling rate, and to this
end they sought to spread the infection wherever possible, thereby gaining more
recruits for the cause.
The infection was contagious, in that an infected person could transmit it to
someone else by physical contact, the Primords preferring to spread it by
capturing people and rubbing a quantity of the green slime into their skin.
Professor Stahlman, who was himself infected by the slime, managed to delay the
full transformation for a considerable time, only his hands (the part of his
body through which the infection had entered it) being affected at first. He was
able to disguise the infection from his colleagues by wearing gloves. Possibly a
smaller amount of the slime had touched his skin than was the case with the
other victims, thus retarding its progress.
The mutants were capable of speech if necessary, though it was halting and
barely coherent.
The mutation was clearly connected with heat in some fundamental way. It
produced incredible amounts of it, anything touched by the mutants becoming very
hot and taking some time to regain its normal temperature. The hotter their
environment, the stronger and more resilient the Primords become. If the heat
falls below a certain level they grow uncomfortable, but eventually acclimatise
themselves. However the dependency on heat of the slime, and consequently of the
mutants it creates, is such that a Primord can be killed by exposure to extreme
cold - an effective weapon against it being the CO2 gas which is sprayed from
fire extinguishers. Even this method is reduced in its effectiveness the
stronger the Primord becomes; it produces only paralysis, from which the mutant
is likely to soon recover, particularly if the temperature of its environment
rises significantly. It can still be killed, however, if the dose of CO2 is
strong and sustained enough. More than one extinguisher will be required for the
purpose.
If no means of despatching it is at hand and you have to run from a Primord, you
have an advantage in that their awkward shambling motion means they cannot move
very fast, making it usually possible to outrun them.
The events of Inferno remain unexplained, but some conclusions can be drawn from
them. The implications are astonishing; it is inferred that the Earth itself is
a living entity, one not necessarily friendly to Mankind. The Doctor informed
the Brigadier that he had heard the screeching sound made by the mutants - and
come across green slime similar to that brought up by the drilling - at the
eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. He recalled that some of the natives believed the
volcano had a kind of spirit, that it was alive. On the parallel world, he
described the screeching, which was not only made by the mutants, but as the
drilling rate speeded up appeared to come from the very ground itself, as "the
sound of this planet screaming out its rage," as if the drilling was causing it
pain. Unless the Doctor was merely speaking rhetorically this would imply that
the Primords and the planet itself, a sentient entity, were working in
conjunction. But with what aim? The Primords seemed eager to bring forward the
penetration of the crust, probably because it would release vast amounts of
heat. But the planet itself would surely not have wanted that if the drilling
was harming it.
Professor Thripsted favours the following explanation. When he spoke of the
Earth being angry the Doctor was indeed being rhetorical. The planet may or may
not be alive (and able to secrete certain substances, such as the slime) but was
not itself the cause of the events. The green slime is alive, and also sentient;
it even seems to possess a form of intelligence. On contact with the skin it
produces a molecular change in the victim. As well as causing an evolutionary
regression it alters the body's cells to its own nature (in this and other
respects it is similar to the substance encountered in Wales during the affair
of the "Green Death", which may have been partly natural although its molecules
had been altered by the industrial waste from the Global Chemicals factory).
That is why the Primords, which are created by the slime, screech in the same
way that it does; and because the slime exists below ground in a hot environment
the Primords crave heat too. Sensing the vast supply of heat beneath the
surface, and retaining some vestige of their human intelligence and memories,
they wanted to accelerate Penetration Zero because of the extremely high
temperatures this would create. Stahlman seemed to be recognised as a leader by
the other mutants, probably because, as leader of the Project, he had the
greatest knowledge of it.
The intelligence of the slime and Primords is clearly not of the same kind as
Man's, otherwise they would have realised that their actions would cause the
destruction of Earth and of themselves. The Doctor had deduced that penetration
of the crust would lead to the planet's disintegration in a massive fireball as
its internal heat was released with shattering force, and on the parallel world,
where the drilling was too advanced for him to be able to stop it, that was what
happened. He fortunately managed to return to the "real" Earth in time to stop
the same catastrophe occurring there.
RAAK
Planet of origin: Thoros Beta
The Trial Of A Time Lord episodes 5-8 (4 to 25 October 1986) Writer: Philip
Martin
The Raak was a marine creature genetically engineered by the Mentors who ruled
Thoros Beta for the task of protecting and operating a device for extracting
energy from the sea. Genetic regression caused the creature to become aggressive
and attack the Doctor's companion, Peri, forcing him to kill it.
REFUSIANS
Planet of origin: Refusis
The Ark (5 to 26 March 1966)
Writers: Paul Ericson and Lesley Davies
Refusis is a beautiful planet very much like Earth. It is inhabited by a race of
beings who originally had a physical form very similar to the human. Their
bodies were destroyed by a solar flare, but their minds remained functional, and
able to sense each others' presence and those of corporeal beings. These
disembodied minds are extremely powerful, being able to physically lift an
entire spacecraft and dash it to pieces.
The Refusians are benevolent beings who say they have "always known peace". They
had known for some time (through telepathy?) about the plan by fugitives from
the doomed planet Earth to settle on their planet and welcomed it, even building
whole cities, of splendid design, for the newcomers' occupation.
The Refusians were not only acting out of altruism; they regretted only being
able to sense each other mentally, and felt it would have been good for their
planet once again to be inhabited by visible life, provided it was peaceful. It
wasn't, but the Refusians helped the Doctor defeat the humans' Monoid
oppressors, using their strength and their invisibility as an asset.
RILLS
Galaxy Four (11 September to 2 October 1965)
Writer: William Emms
The Rills are among the most physically repulsive creatures in the Universe, yet
their thoughts are sublime. Their hideous appearance means they tend not to
expose themselves to other species, due to the hostility they may arouse along
with a desire, born of their essentially benevolent nature, not to cause fear or
alarm. Consequently few details of their physical appearance can be gleaned.
What little has been seen suggests a scaly skin and a face rather like that of a
walrus. The Rills themselves told the Doctor that they were covered with green
scales and had a number of tentacles, six of which ended in a hand much like
that of a human s.
The Rills have often suffered from aggression on account of their ugliness and
as a result have learnt to be extremely cautious. At the same time they have
refused to let the prejudice they have encountered poison them against the rest
of the sentient universe.
Rills normally remain concealed within their spacecraft when visiting other
planets, at least until they can be sure there is no risk of harm from the
natives. In exploring other planets they work mainly through their robot
servants, the Chumblies (as Vicki, one of the Doctor's companions, named them),
which are extremely versatile, performing a wide range of scientific and
defensive tasks, in order to minimise any need for the Rills themselves to leave
their ship and so causing problems with the locals. Among other things the
robots are equipped with radios which allow communication between the Rills and
species who do not share their gift of telepathy.
The versatility and efficiency of the Chumblies demonstrates the high quality of
Rill science. The robots can repair each other and generate a protective
forcefield around the Rills whenever the latter need to venture out into the
open. They react with astonishing speed to any danger, destroying it if
necessary (but only if necessary) with their laser guns.
Rill technology incorporates a vast number of failsafe devices against
malfunction or sabotage, and as soon as one breaks down another immediately cuts
in to take its place.
The Rills' encounters with other species are characterised by a strong moral
code. They do not harm or kill without a compelling reason. When faced with a
species whose intentions are uncertain, they will try to communicate with them,
and even if unsuccessful will refuse to attack, although this may place them at
risk. They will help an injured member of another race even if that race is
hostile to them. They can understand how their appearance might frighten others,
and are not offended if anyone finds them revolting. They themselves find the
differences between their own species and others fascinating.
Rills exist on a different timescale to humans, due to their moving some 50 or
so times slowly. Their eyelids blink only every 15 seconds. To a Rill the
movement of a human would be like that of a speeding car, and a human year would
seem like a week. They generally think more slowly too, although they can adjust
the pace of their thought to whatever the circumstances require, for example
when danger or a particularly pressing problem faces them. Rills are very fond
of learning, and so during the first few years of their lives speed up their
thought processes considerably, with the result that at ten years of age they
are capable of much more than a human child would be.
The slowness of their metabolic functions means that Rills have extremely long
lifespans - one of those encountered by the Doctor on a planet in Galaxy Four
was 500 years old in human terms. It is not a natural characteristic of the
species, but was achieved through bioengineering. Originally Rills moved at much
the same speed as humans, though even then their life expectancy was still far
greater). The change was carried out in order to ensure greater quality of life,
the Rills having come to feel that they lived too quickly and so were not
experiencing more than a fraction of the wonders of the Universe.
Rills in fact spend little time in physical activity, strenuous or otherwise.
Though they are conscientious and hard-working their social structure appears to
allow far more leisure time than does that of humans (most physical tasks can be
performed by the Chumblies in any case). The bulk of the race's time is spent in
contemplation, frequently of abstract philosophical matters.
The Rills have no vocal chords, communicating with each other through telepathy.
They have however managed to convert thought waves into sound language for the
benefit of non-telepathic species with whom they wish or need to communicate.
They breathe ammonia, whose pungent odour always fills their ships, rather than
oxygen, and the latter in fact has a lethal effect upon them.
There appears to be only one exception to the Rills' moral standards, though how
far it is wrong depends on one's personal convictions - and, given the
differences between Rill society and ours, it may not damage the former in the
same way that it arguably does the latter. While females of the race tend to be
monogamous, at any rate within the Rill equivalent of marriage, males on the
other hand are extremely polygamous, and births out of wedlock are frequent. The
females tend to resent this situation. It would seem that there is a great
similarity between Rill sexual habits and those of Western society on Earth!
The Rills' spacecraft, vast black spheres, are constructed from a ceramic
material and powered by solar energy.
RUTANS
Planet of origin: Ruta 3
Horror Of Fang Rock (3 to 24 September 1977)
The Rutans are an amphibious life form, probably descended from a kind of
jellyfish, which evolved in the sea and has become adapted to land. They can
climb sheer walls and alter their molecular structure in order to resemble other
species. The latter ability is not a natural one; it has been developed fairly
recently for military and espionage reasons, and a Rutan has to be specially
trained in it. Before impersonating a particular species, an individual of that
race must be captured and dissected so that a study can be made of its anatomy.
The bodies of Rutans give off a strong electrical field which, as well as
interfering with electrical equipment such as generators and the like, can kill
humans on contact and is thus useful as a weapon against them. A Rutan retains
this ability regardless of whether it is in its natural or an assumed form (in
contrast to the Zygons, whose lethal "sting" only works if they are in their
normal shape). The electrical charge a Rutan's body contains causes it to glow
with a green phosphorescent light, the resulting effect of which is extremely
attractive.
Their technological ability is considerable and includes the power to alter
their environment in order to camouflage themselves. The Rutan which crashed
into the English Channel near Fang Rock lighthouse early in the twentieth
century, or some property of its ship, created an artificial fog to conceal its
presence and isolate the island.
Rutan spacecraft have a crystalline infrastructure and are equipped with force
fields.
Rutans are extremely militaristic. They have little concept of individual
identity, seeing themselves as units of the all-conquering Rutan race. Hence
they always speak in the plural. "We are a Rutan scout," the one encountered by
the Doctor on Fang Rock informs the Time Lord.
The first thing to remember when dealing with a Rutan is not to get within
touching distance of it! Rutans cannot be harmed by projectile weapons such as
guns; the projectiles simply pass right through their bodies, the wound
immediately closing up. Stabbing weapons are also ineffective against them, and
this property, like the ability to electrocute, is retained when a Rutan changes
its form. The most effective way of disposing of a Rutan is to blow it up. In
addition Rutans are highly susceptible to heat (Ruta 3 is an icy planet).
Fortunately for the rest of the Universe, the Rutans are at present preoccupied
with their bitter, centuries-old war against the Sontarans. Other worlds may
however be in danger from them if the Rutans consider them to be of strategic
value in this conflict; apart from the attendant possibility of Sontaran attack,
the Rutans, who although having a particular dislike for the Sontarans are
generally xenophobic, prefer to make acquisition of the vital territory easier
by wiping out the native population. Normal procedure is for the mother ship, in
orbit around the planet, to send out a scout, and if the latter reports that the
terrain is suitable and the natives unlikely to offer serious resistance, the
main force moves in. Rutans are a cautious - the Sontarans would say cowardly,
though that is what one might expect - species. The behaviour of the Fang Rock
specimen certainly bears this out. In order to establish whether the planet was
suitable for conquest the scout had to study the population in the area where it
had landed - the beachhead for the forthcoming invasion - and learn their
strengths and weaknesses, at the same time concealing itself from them and thus
protecting itself from danger. It studied the lighthouse from a distance, then
later entered it and killed one of its crew, dissecting his body in order to
analyse and copy the human life pattern. After another interval it returned and
killed a second crew member, taking on their form after having concealed the
original s body. In this way it was able to infiltrate the building and when the
moment was judged right attack its occupants in earnest.
If both the scout and the mother ship are destroyed - as happened in the Fang
Rock affair, thanks to the Doctor - the Rutans will conclude that this sector of
space is too dangerous and so leave it well alone in future.
SAND BEAST
Planet of origin: Dido
The Rescue (2 to 9 January 1965)
More scientifically known as the Silicodon, this creature is found only on Dido
and a planet called Sokol in one of the Willoughby galaxies. It is a harmless,
if large and fearsome-looking, reptile which feeds mainly on plants and insects.
More intelligent life forms can train it to come to them for food. The
creature's massive body is plated and hinged like that of an armadillo or
rhinoceros, and its dry horny skin, pitted and grooved, is the same colour as
the sand of Dido's surface, providing excellent camouflage against predators. It
is supported by short, thick legs which allow its belly to drag perpetually
along the ground and has a long, whiplike tail. The feet have three toes. The
beast is quadripedal, but sometimes rears up on its hind legs, for example when
scenting food.
It has no teeth as such, possessing instead curved gums which are extremely
sharp and do the job of tearing flesh just as well. The enormous irises of its
luminous red eyes are sufficient to provide the creature with its own light
source, enabling it to move around in darkness without difficulty. Around the
thick neck is a ruff of bony spines alternating with weblike plates.
SEA DEVILS
The Sea Devils (26 February to 1 April 1972)
Warriors of The Deep (5 to 13 January 1984)
For you who tread this land
Beware the justice hand
Little boats like men
In days of yore,
They come by stealth at night
They come in broad daylight
Little boats like men
Beware the shore.
The Sea Devils, as they are colloquially known by the humans who have come into
contact with them, are intelligent underwater reptiles who dominated the seas
millions of years ago while the Silurians, to whom they are related, were
masters of the land. They are physically very different in appearance from their
cousins; in particular their lizard-like heads, bulging eyes and long necks
suggest they are closer in some respects to their reptile animal ancestors. On
either side of their heads are fins which assist them to move with ease through
the water, and their feet are webbed. They are able to breathe and move about as
easily on land as under the sea, though they probably need to return
periodically to water.
Like the Silurians they have the habit of closing their eyes and withdrawing
briefly into a kind of meditative trance when needing to make important
decisions. While lacking the third eye which enables the Silurians to manipulate
physical objects and control the minds of other life forms, they seem to have
certain telepathic powers, being able to tell what a person is thinking by
placing a hand on their heads and concentrating.
Unlike the Silurians the Sea Devils wear clothing, which usually consists of a
simple white robe tied at the waist by a metal belt.
Along with their land-dwelling cousins the Sea Devils went into hibernation, in
shelters beneath the sea bed, to escape the consequences of the ecological
catastrophe it was feared would be caused by the approach to Earth of the
planetoid which eventually became the Moon. Whilst the Silurians remained in
suspended animation until the twentieth century, there is evidence that some at
least of the Sea Devils were awake before then, perhaps because of some
malfunction of the equipment; the above-quoted rhyme, discovered by the Doctor
on an ancient stone tablet on the South Coast of England, and the name of a
village swallowed up by the sea - Belial, an ancient name for the Devil -
testify to this. It is not clear why they did not revive the others.
The Sea Devils are perhaps less advanced, less civilised, and more martial than
the Silurians. Whenever the two races work together against other species the
Sea Devils take on the role of soldiers. In combat they wear armoured jerkins
and helmets, capable of absorbing blaster fire, which in appearance recall the
Samurai warriors of Japan. They carry circular devices which fire a heat ray
that can kill humans and melt solid metal.
However, like their terrestrial relatives they are not needlessly aggressive
towards other species, and those revived off the English coast in the 1970s were
prepared to consider ways of living in peace with the humans until a ruthless
politician named Walker ordered a depth-charge attack on their base. Their
savagery is demonstrated by their reaction to this treachery, which was to try
to kill the Doctor, who had gone to their base with the intention of making
peace even though he desired only harmony between humans and reptiles and was
not to blame for Walker's actions.
Like humans, Sea Devils are vulnerable to the Venusian karate practised by the
Doctor in his third incarnation.
Their technology relies heavily on metal. It is in some ways primitive, making
use of iron rather than steel, but in others highly advanced; the species has
sophisticated underwater radar, uses magnetism and can create force fields.
Captured humans are taken back to the Sea Devils' bases in distinctive pod-like
capsules.
SENSORITES
Planet of origin: Sense-Sphere
The Sensorites (20 June to 1 August 1964)
Writer: Peter R Newman
The inhabitants of the planet Sense-Sphere are short, slightly-built humanoids
with flat, circular feet. Their bulbous heads and sparse white hair give them
the appearance of wise and aged scholars. They have sensitive hearing and find
loud noises painful. They are uncomfortable in darkness, preferring environments
where there is as much light as possible. The worst punishment that can be
inflicted on a criminal, Sensorites believe, is to imprison them in a room where
no light can shine and which is filled with noise. By some means which has not
yet been divined, Sensorites are able to exist in the vacuum of space without
the aid of protective suits, though for the sake of speed they normally move
through it in special capsules, which travel at a phenomenal speed.
Physically they are rather weak, and would be no match for a human in a hand to
hand struggle. Their mental abilities on the other hand are formidable.
Sensorites can communicate telepathically with one another, and sometimes with
members of other species such as Time Lords (many of the latter are telepathic
to some degree). When engaged in any task, two or more Sensorites move in
perfect unison, each knowing exactly what the others are thinking.
This ability is partly natural and partly something that has been developed. It
requires the use of devices which amplify the telepathic powers; these take the
form of white discs hanging from belts around a Sensorite's waist, which are
raised to the forehead whenever they are to be used. With the aid of the
amplifier, telepathic contact is possible over distances of thousands of miles.
The amplifiers can be extremely dangerous in the hands of a novice; for
non-telepathic races to use it may lead to madness. A Time Lord is less likely
to be adversely affected, though great care and concentration are always
necessary. The Sensorites state that all extraneous thoughts must be shut out
and the mind cleared of everything except the person you wish to communicate
with.
The Sensorites can control the minds of humans and put them into deep trances
which give the appearance of death. Since they are a peaceful race, they will
generally use this method of neutralising an enemy rather than violence. If
necessary, however, they can attack or control a person by implanting
frightening thoughts and images in their mind. Intentionally or otherwise, this
can sometimes result in insanity, though the mental damage can be cured by
Sensorite technology. It is possible for a courageous and determined person to
resist the Sensorites' mind control, whatever form it takes, by a supreme effort
of will.
Sensorites are technically a highly advanced race, and possess some formidable
weaponry. They have devices, shaped not unlike tennis rackets, which can open
locks or burn through doors using a beam of energy, and handguns which paralyse
up to a distance of 90 metres. In their warlike past, they often used a machine
called the Disintegrator, which could beam a ray of white hot energy, able to
cut through any substance, to any point within a wide radius. In these more
peaceful times the machine is used primarily for mining. The extent of the
Sensorites powers is demonstrated by their ability to override most security
systems, and even immobilise a TARDIS.
The Sensorites, as their appearance suggests, are indeed a moral and peaceful
race, priding themselves on having compassion, although there are exceptions to
this rule. As with all other races, certain individuals may be unscrupulous and
power-crazed. Like the Vogans, although they may appear harmless and timid the
Sensorites are quite prepared to take ruthless action to protect themselves
against aggression, and their mental powers give them a formidable advantage
against any enemy. Once, their planet was visited by five astronauts from Earth,
whom they sensed coveted the Sense-Sphere's vast mineral wealth. Shortly after
the Earthmen left, a deadly virus began to gradually kill off the Sensorite
race. The Sensorites decided they could no longer trust humans, and the crew of
the next Earth spaceship to visit the Sense-Sphere were placed in trances by
their hypnotic powers. After the Doctor had shown them how to break free of the
Sensorite mind control, the Sensorites took them back to Sense-Sphere where they
would remain for the rest of their lives, well-looked after, in special quarters
within the capital city - a more moral course of action than killing them would
have been. Fortunately the Doctor was able to find an antidote to the disease,
and at the same time identify the cause of the trouble as three men left behind
from the original Earth expedition, who had become deranged after foolishly
experimenting with one of the Sensorites' telepathic amplifiers; by so doing, he
won the humans' liberty.
Sensorite society is based on trust, and treason or secret plotting is rare
(this is not because their telepathy enables them to know what each of them are
thinking; the power only works if two or more Sensorites are willing to share
their thoughts). Violence and murder are almost unknown. They were at one time
believed to be impossible, but the events that took place at the time of the
Doctor's visit, which one of the planet's rulers exploited in a bid to seize
total power, have made the Sensorites less naive in this respect.
Although benevolent, they are not an egalitarian race by contemporary Earth
standards. A class system is in operation; the planet is ruled by three Elders,
one of whom has slightly more power than the others and can thus be considered
its leader, who live in a sumptious palace. Below them the race is divided into
Warriors, Scientists and Administrators. The Administrators are the highest of
these three grades, and are forbidden to speak to the others. The Sensorites
regard the class system as the only really efficient form of government,
essential if it is to be established what each person is best fitted to do.
Although Sensorites have family groups, they do not attach much importance to
sexual love; physical intercourse between partners is limited to copulation
itself, which has no purpose other than the creation of children. Such things as
kissing are unknown. In fact, physical contact between all Sensorites,
regardless of its nature and the sex of the participants, is extremely rare,
apart from when it is simply unavoidable.
SHRIVENZALE
Planet of origin: Ribos
First appearance: The Ribos Operation (2 September to 23 September 1978)
The Shrivenzale is a savage carnivorous reptile found on the ice planet Ribos.
Its nature makes it ideal as a "guard dog", one specimen being used by the
police force of the City of Shurr, known as the Shrieves (from whom the
creatures' name must derive) to guard the chamber in which ancient relics from
the planet's past are housed.
It is unusual for reptiles to be able to endure an extremely cold climate like
that of Ribos. The explanation must be that the Shrivenzales, like certain
reptiles which evolved on Earth during the era of the dinosaurs, have some
mammalian characteristics, one of these being a thick layer of blubber or fat,
akin to that possessed by a whale or walrus, which protects it against the cold.
The vaguely dog-like shape of their heads appears to confirm this impression.
The Shrivenzales hunt for their food, which mainly consists of small animals, in
the Riban tundra, and sleep or shelter from snowstorms and the like in the
catacombs beneath the planet's surface. They vary noticeably in size, but all
are large and ferocious.
SILURIANS
Dr Who And The Silurians (31 January to 14 March 1970)
Warriors Of The Deep (5 to 13 January 1984)
The creatures known incorrectly as "Silurians" were the dominant species on
Earth millions of years before the emergence of Man. They are intelligent,
bipedal reptiles whose bodies are covered with green scales and who have clawed
hands and feet. Their ears are huge and flat and their mouths oval in shape.
Like certain other reptiles they have a third eye, located in the centre of
their crested heads.
This eye is the focus for their remarkable telekinetic powers, glowing red
whenever those powers are used. It can lock and unlock doors, and even trigger
major rockfalls (and then cause the rock face to reform, every boulder returning
to exactly its original position). It also projects a ray of heat which melts
through almost any inorganic substance, including solid rock or metal -
afterwards, if desired, the telekinetic ability can be used to close up the
opening created as if it had never been there. In living organisms this heat ray
causes death or unconsciousness, depending on its intensity, which the Silurian
can control.
Silurians also have a considerable degree of telepathy, which enables them to
detect the language spoken by an individual of another species, such as English,
and so converse with them. They can use it for communication among themselves,
but may not be able to do so very often, for they still rely on speech most of
the time (its use is reserved for occasions when they do not wish other life
forms to hear what they are discussing). Through a combination of telepathy and
hypnosis they can influence the behaviour of other species, among other things
causing them to commit suicide, but this faculty is effective only on certain
individuals and over relatively short distances such as a few miles.
Along with the creatures' psychic influence contact with Silurians, especially
if it is not of a peaceful kind, can revive in certain humans race memories of
the Silurians' persecution of Man's ape ancestors, resulting in psychological
trauma amounting to a nervous breakdown. Sometimes there is a reversion to a
primitive mentality. Unfortunately there is as yet no cure for the condition,
apart from tender loving care, though like Downs Syndrome, say, it affects some
people more severely than others.
It is believed Silurians hatch from eggs like most reptiles. Also like other
reptiles, they are at a disadvantage in cold climates such as those found in the
modern Earth's Northern Hemisphere and polar ice caps, where they need
constantly to be kept warm.
Silurians possess emotions which are similar to those of humans, and these are
usually expressed in some physical fashion. When the muscles of their faces
twitch three times, it means they are smiling. When annoyed, they breathe in
sharply with an unnerving whining sound. A quivering of their facial scales
indicates amusement, a gentle whining grief. When reflecting on some matter of
great importance, which needs to be carefully contemplated, they will close
their eyes for a few moments and go into a kind of trance.
Like Man, the Silurians made the transition from a primitive culture sustaining
itself by hunting to a settled one based on agriculture. They domesticated the
great dinosaurs, using musical instruments whose sound was discovered to have an
effect on their behaviour. They learned how to make fire and electricity, built
aeroplanes, cars and submarines. Eventually a civilisation was founded which in
many ways was more advanced than Man's, with an emphasis on bio-engineering and
cryogenics. Through induction the Silurians could transfer electrical power
through any substance, although this method was not as efficient as direct
contact. By this means the Silurians in the shelter at Wenley Moor drew off much
of the power of the nearby underground atomic research centre to assist in
awakening their fellows from suspended animation.
Silurians are also skilled bacteriologists, and have developed a deadly virus
for use in pest control and biological warfare. This virus was fatal to both the
apes which raided their farmers' crops and the humans into which those creatures
later evolved (see below). It upsets the victim's metabolism, triggering a surge
of energy which burns up the body's resources, causing great pain. Not all
individuals take the same length of time to succumb, but all die within a few
days at the most. With some individuals death follows almost immediately, while
others wander mindlessly over great distances, helping to spread the plague. The
Doctor was fortunately able to devise an antidote for the virus, and it is
unlikely the Silurians will seek to use it against Man in the future.
Silurian civilisation came to an effective end as the result of an unfortunate
error. The race's astronomers detected a planetoid approaching the Earth, and
feared it would cause the atmosphere to be swept away, along with other
catastrophic effects, as it passed by the planet. The government ordered the
building of thousands of shelters deep below ground, where the entire race could
be put into suspended animation until the planetoid had passed on and the
atmosphere returned. The latter event would cause devices positioned on the
ground above each shelter to release huge amounts of electricity which would
waken the sleeping Silurians. However, the atmosphere was not swept away in the
first place, for instead of passing Earth the planetoid was captured by its
gravity and went into orbit around it, becoming the Moon. The Silurians went on
sleeping until the late twentieth century, when accidental electrical emissions
from the Wenley Moor installation woke up some of those in a nearby shelter. The
reptiles found themselves in an alien world ruled by a totally separate
intelligent species.
Like most other intelligent life forms, the Silurians are neither wholly good
nor wholly evil, as their relations with the humans show. Some of their more
questionable acts may have originated solely with their leaders, and not been
sanctioned by the majority. In these respects, they are not very different from
Man. When the Silurians revived after millions of years of hibernation to find
the humans in control, they did not all react in the same way. Some had a
prejudice towards all mammalian life forms, which they saw as uniformly dirty,
smelly and lice-infested. They refused to see Man as being essentially different
from the small furry apes which they had regarded as pests and sought to
exterminate, save for a few kept alive in zoos. Keeping these creatures as pets,
which some Silurians did, was regarded in the same light as we would keeping
snakes or tarantulas.
To these Silurians, Man was an upstart, an evolutionary error which must be
corrected so that Homo Reptilia could regain its rightful place as sole ruler of
the planet. Others of their race were either prepared to share the Earth with
Man, or favoured a solution between coexistence and genocide, with a few humans
being allowed to remain alive under the leadership of a responsible member of
their species, someone whom the Silurians knew and trusted (one likely candidate
for such a role was Quinn, a scientist at Wenley Moor who came across the
reptile people while potholing in the caves adjacent to the shelter, and managed
to gain their trust). Most Silurians were not openly hostile to Man, if only
because a decision on the humans' future had to be postponed until more was
known about them and their ways. The shelter's leader, although at one point
insisting that the Silurians be regarded as the superior species, was eventually
persuaded by the Doctor of the need for equality and harmony between his people
and the humans. The Doctor told him that it should be possible for the Silurians
to re-establish their civilisation, building new settlements in parts of the
world thinly populated by Man and also amenable in terms of climate, such as the
great deserts.
This leader was subsequently murdered by an extremist faction who opposed all
accommodation with the "apes", and had earlier released the lethal virus
referred to above without his knowledge or consent. Quinn had unwisely told the
Silurians how Man had exterminated a wide range of animal species, his aim being
to demonstrate the humans' untrustworthiness and thus the need for them to be
ruled by a responsible leader - himself. This had the effect of convincing the
hardliners that Man should be destroyed. In their turn, the attitude of the
human military and political authorities was hardened by the release of the
virus and the attempt, when this failed to produce its desired effect, to raise
the Earth's atmospheric temperature to a level which while being comfortable for
reptiles would have made human life impossible, using microwaves emitted from a
machine which drew its power from the Wenley Moor reactor. The Silurian shelter,
where the reptiles had been forced to return by a radiation leak from the
reactor deliberately caused by the Doctor, was blown up by UNIT.
It was the actions of the extremists on both sides which hardened the two races'
attitudes towards each other and made harmony between them increasingly
difficult to achieve. In the late twenty-first century, another group of revived
Silurians, survivors either of the Wenley Moor affair or a further, undocumented
clash between their species and Man, joined with their underwater relatives, the
so-called "Sea Devils", to attack an undersea military base belonging to one of
the two opposed power blocs into which the human race was then divided. Their
plan was to launch the base's nuclear missiles against the other power bloc,
triggering a global conflict in which the human race would be wiped out for
good. The failure of previous attempts to create understanding between the
reptilian races had long ago caused the latter to abandon the way of peace and
mediation. The aggression which humans frequently displayed towards their own
kind, as well as the other species on the planet, was further confirmation of
their untrustworthiness. The Silurian leader Icthar declared, "These humans will
die as they have lived..in a sea of their own blood." Needless to say, the
Doctor defeated the Silurian plan.
Although they may be prejudiced or misguided, and can respond to hostility in
extreme ways, Silurians are not a naturally aggressive race. Whether from honour
or from pragmatism they will not attack members of other species unless directly
provoked. Silurian law (in theory at any rate) forbids any kind of war other
than defensive war. Formidable weapons such as the laser cannon used in the
attack on Seabase Four, may initially have had a non-military application.
There is one area of ethics in which Man could teach the Silurians something;
they have no concept of self-sacrifice, finding it puzzling and irrational.
Although most Silurian shelters were destroyed by upheavals of the Earth's
crust, an unspecified number of them still remain, and it is possible that at
some time one or more will be revived (all the surviving shelters can be
reactivated from just one of them). The opportunity to forge a lasting peace
between humans and Silurians is still there, and one can only hope that it will
not be lost (the existence of the shelters is known to Earth's leaders, whose
policy at present is neither to reactivate them or to destroy them, but rather
let sleeping reptiles lie). If it isn't, then Man is in a position to learn much
about his heritage - for the Silurians knew the true ancestors of Mankind - and
the evolution of life on Earth. Each shelter, which includes a number of reptile
animals (dinosaurs), is a living museum of natural history.
SKARASEN
Planet of origin: Zygor
Terror Of The Zygons (30 August to 20 September 1975)
Skarasens are huge amphibious reptiles from the home planet of the Zygons.
Through cybernetic surgery the latter have adapted the Skarasen to produce a
creature of devastating strength and power, which can be used as a weapon of war
and is impervious to anything short of a nuclear missile strike; lesser weapons
will at the very most anger a Skarasen and cause it to go on an indiscriminate
rampage. Among its mechanical components are the teeth, which now have the power
to chew through solid steel and concrete. Unlike, say, the Cybermats the
Skarasen still retain many of the characteristics of organic life forms. They
still reproduce sexually - at any rate are responsive to the species' mating
call - and the females produce lactic fluid, which the Zygons need in order to
survive.
Skarasen are not aggressive by nature, and will not cause harm unless they are
instructed to do so by their Zygon masters, or you simply happen to have got in
their way. Freed from the Zygons' control, a Skarasen is harmless. Although
amphibious it is unlikely to leave the water (where it spends most of its time,
and where it can presumably find all the food it requires, unless the Zygons'
biological engineering has removed any need for it to eat).
The Skarasen from the Zygon ship which crashed in Loch Ness became the origin of
the legendary Loch Ness Monster. Emerging in the twentieth century from their
hiding place at the bottom of the Loch, the Zygons commenced their bid to take
over the world by using the Skarasen in an attack on London. After the
destruction of the device the Zygons used to control it the creature returned to
Loch Ness, where as far as is known it still remains.
SKAROINE MUTANTS
Destiny Of The Daleks (1 to 22 September 1979)
The atomic wars which led to the creation of the Daleks, along with the
experiments of Davros, spawned a variety of mutations, apart from the Mutos
(q.v.), the Clam Creatures (q.v.) and the Daleks themselves. Probably only a
tiny percentage of them are known to science. The tiny, shapeless jelly-like
organism encountered by the Doctor in "Destiny of the Daleks" would appear to be
harmless, if extremely unpleasant to the touch, the vaguely reptilian creatures
he glimpsed through a grille in "Genesis of the Daleks" merely horrific. The
Lake of Mutations, visited by him and his companions in "The Daleks", would seem
from its name to contain a variety of mutant life forms; on this occasion an
octopus-like creature with two huge, staring eyes was encountered. Whether these
creatures are each unique individuals or members of a species is unclear.
SLYTHER
Planet of origin: unknown, possibly Skaro
Dalek Invasion Of Earth (21 November to 26 November 1964)
Probably a result of Davros' experiments, the Slyther (pronounced "slither"), so
named by rebels against the Daleks on Earth because of the noise it made, was a
life form native to Skaro which the Daleks took with them to Earth when they
invaded the planet in the twenty-second century. They used the carnivorous
creature as a kind of guard dog, turning it loose at night to roam their mining
installation in Bedfordshire, where they were seeking to extract the Earth's
core, in search of its favourite food - humans. Little is known about its
biology; all that can be said on the subject is that the Slyther is bipedal,
with a shapeless body from which spring a number of tentacles each ending in
powerful claws. It has no apparent head or organs of sense.
Those unacquainted with the Slyther may well be scared away by its eerie baying
cry before they actually meet the creature. In case an encounter does take
place, it should be noted that the Slyther has a delicate nervous system and
repeated blows from fists or heavy instruments will cause it to retreat.
The Dalek invasion was defeated by the Doctor, but the Slyther is still, as far
as is known, lurking in the vicinity of the Bedfordshire base, unless it was
killed in the volcanic eruption caused when the rebels blew up the complex.
SOLONIANS
Planet of origin: Solos
The Mutants (8 April to 13 May 1972)
The study of the planet Solos and its fascinating ecosystem is a discipline on
its own. Solos's seasons last for 5,000 years, and each seasonal change causes
all living things on the planet, including the dominant intelligent species, to
undergo a physical transformation. This life cycle is unique in the universe.
In the spring, when the climate is temperate, the Solonians are brown-skinned
humanoids; in the summer, insect-like creatures; and in autumn and winter beings
which although humanoid have awesome, supernatural powers. In case anything
should ever go wrong with the process, the superbeings at one point manufactured
a crystal which when exposed to thaesium, a form of radiation found only on
Solos, acted as a biocatalytic agent precipitating changes in the Solonians'
cellular structure.
As winter turns into spring there takes place a genetic regression which causes
the superbeings (or "Old Ones", as the previous stages in the process refer to
them) to lose their superhuman powers and revert to a primitive state. The
memory of the previous age of civilisation is lost, but the written records of
it survive as do the monuments and statues carved on great rocks all over the
planet.
These records enable the Solonians, once they have regained a state of
reasonable advancement (probably during their insectoid phase, since the
humanoid Solonians encountered by the Doctor did not understand the significance
of relics left behind by the superbeings), to divine the purpose of the crystal
so that if anything went wrong with the process it could be used to accelerate
the mutation to its final, superhuman stage, and thus solve the problem (it
seems to be a too rapid change to the insect form which causes trouble). The
crystal is kept in a cave full of the thaesium radiation which gives it its
properties. This cave has a special significance to the Solonians, regardless of
what stage they are at in their evolution; they have a sense of being drawn to
it, of being warm and safe there, which they are unable to describe in words.
At one time, when the Solonians were in their humanoid form, Earthmen came to
Solos and incorporated it into their empire. Solos' unscrupulous governor, the
Marshal, sought to turn the planet into a replica of Earth, regardless of the
effect the environmental changes would have on the natives. He employed a
dubious scientist named Jaeger to carry out experiments, involving the
detonation of nuclear bombs in the atmosphere, which were designed to raise the
temperature. By effectively bringing about a sudden, premature summer, this
initiated the change to the insect phase long before it was due to take place.
In their humanoid form, the Solonians are identical to Man in appearance, but
their internal physiology must in some respects be different since the
atmosphere of Solos is not breathable to humans during the day. They are a
colourfully barbaric society whose technological level is similar to Earth s
during its Bronze Age. Before the Earth colonisation they were farmers and
hunters. There has been no detailed study of the effect the colonisation had on
them, but it is known that many Solonians were enslaved and forced to work in
the thaesium mines.
The population was divided into tribes who were often at war with each other,
something which probably made the Earth conquest easier, although it is doubtful
whether the Solonians could in the long run have stood out against a much more
advanced culture. Each tribe had its own village, ruled over by a chieftain.
How much the form of the mutation, as observed by the Doctor on his visit to
Solos, was due to the effects of Jaeger's experiments and how much of it was
natural is hard to say. It affected some parts of the body before others. The
first signs of it were knobbly, distorted vertebrae and a thickening and
coarsening of the skin on one hand, until it became a scaly claw. Sometimes the
victim remains normal and healthy in other respects, and at other times the
mutation is accompanied by sweating and nervous agitat-ion.
The insectoid Solonians had huge bulging eyes, arms ending in pincers, shiny,
scaly black carapaces and mandibles protruding from their mouths. Also like
insects, they made a chittering sound which may well have been a form of
communication with each other. They were capable of human speech, but their
hissing voices were barely intelligible; it was possible to converse with them,
but only with some difficulty.
Initially the mutants were harmless, and in fact helped steal food and clothing
for Sondergaard, the naturalist who was forced to hide in the mountains of Solos
when the Marshal tried to kill him for threatening to expose his maltreatment of
the Solonians to the Earth authorities. However the continuing effect of
Jaeger's experiments and their persecution by the Marshal, who regarded them as
vermin and sought to deal with them in a characteristically drastic and unsubtle
way, caused the Mutts as they were termed by the Earthmen to become savage and
aggressive, liable to attack any creature not of their kind, whether human or
Solonian, on sight.
The acceleration of the mutation caused many of the Mutts to fall ill. "Many
live..but most sleep..sick..." one told Sondergaard. Their movements were often
clumsy and uncoordinated.
Helped by Sondergaard, the Doctor was able to find the crystal and use it to
accelerate the mutation of a Solonian chief named Ky, turning him into first a
Mutt and then a superbeing. The superbeings' powers included telepathy,
telekinesis, imperviousness to energy weapons, and the ability to pass through
solid metal. Ky ended the Marshal's torture of his people by vaporising him with
a beam of energy from his pointing finger.
The superbeings appear content to enjoy a peaceful and civilised existence on
their own planet, refraining, perhaps wisely, from forcing on other races the
benefits of their super powers.
The insectoid Solonians one of whose number crashed on Karn during the Morbius
affair were a highly intelligent, civilised, and peaceful race, and also
technically extremely advanced; further proof that the aggressive, clumsy
creatures encountered by the Doctor on Solos were largely the product of
Jaeger's experiments. At some point during their insect stage the Solonians
become an advanced spacefaring race; at one point in the past they were able to
widely establish themselves in the Nebulae of Cyclops. Their success was made
possible by their deep-seated instincts for order, co-operation and selfless
hard work - all characteristics which emphasise their insectoid nature. They
colonised only those planets not already inhabited, and only when lack of living
space as Solos became overcrowded forced them to seek new homes.
The insectoids have thick purplish blood and give out a high-pitched whistling
scream when distressed. Their scout craft employ a method of propulsion called
the Zison drive and the hulls of these craft consist of plates of a metal known
as rilium. They are equipped with spherical escape capsules about a metre in
diameter, made from an extremely light form of plastic.
SOMNO-MOTH
Planet of origin: Eden
Nightmare Of Eden (24 November to 15 December 1979)
Writer: Bob Baker
Native to the planet Eden, the somno-moth is a colourful insect with vampiric
tendencies. It bites its victims, injecting them with a mild narcotic which
causes them to fall asleep, then drinks a small quantity of their blood.
Consciousness usually returns after a short period. Ultimately no ill effects
result from the creature's attentions, and it is regarded by explorers as more
of a nuisance than anything else.
SONTARANS
Planet of origin: Sontara
The Time Warrior (15 December 1973 to 5 January 1974)
The Sontaran Experiment (22 February to 1 March 1975)
The Invasion Of Time (4 February to 11 March 1978)
Writer: David Agnew
The Two Doctors (16 February to 2 March 1985)
The Sontarans are a militaristic people who developed the science of cloning to
a greater degree than any other race, eventually becoming entirely a cloned
species. This had an entirely warlike purpose, enabling them to sustain enormous
casualties in battle and still maintain their numbers. The Doctor says the
Sontarans breed at the rate of a million a minute. As a consequence, they have
the largest army in the known Universe. This cloning has been combined with
genetic engineering to produce the perfect soldier.
Sontarans are stocky, powerfully-built humanoids with huge domed heads, small
deep-set eyes and wide lipless mouths. To a human, they resemble some troll or
goblin from Earth's ancient legends. How much of their present form is original
and how much the product of their genetic engineering is unclear. Although to
other races Sontarans tend to appear identical, there is in fact a degree of
dimorphism among them. Though they are usually completely hairless, some have
bristles or beard-like growths of hair on their chins. Other differences,
however, probably reflect alterations made to the standard pattern because they
were thought to increase effectiveness in combat, rather than natural diversity.
Linx (The Time Warrior) and Styre (The Sontaran Experiment) were shorter and
squatter than the average human, the Sontarans of The Invasion of Time and The
Two Doctors considerably taller. Whereas Linx and Stor (The Invasion of Time)
had three fingers on each hand, the Sontarans of The Two Doctors possess only
two (the latter arrangement makes for an effective stabbing weapon when unarmed
combat is required, though it is clumsy in other respects), and Styre had five.
There must also be a certain amount of mental divergence, as otherwise the
Sontarans' military ranking system would be meaningless.
According to one account of the Doctor's meeting with the Sontaran Styre on a
future Earth the race may not be entirely organic, or at least their molecular
composition differs from that of most organic life forms, perhaps due to
artificial augmentation. The Doctor described them as being constructed from
"complex hypercatalysed polymers", with the result that their brains resembled
seaweed and their lungs were like steel wool. Through a combination of genetic
engineering and cybernetics they have made it possible for themselves to take in
energy directly from their spacecrafts' fuel cells via a tube inserted in the
probic vent, an opening which has been surgically made in the back of the neck.
This not only keeps them in a state of combat readiness but also enables them to
go without food and drink for long periods. It is quite possible, in fact, that
they do not obtain their nourishment organically at all.
Since Sontarans can reproduce by cloning, they have long abandoned sexual
reproduction (which they consider an inefficient way of maintaining a race's
numbers). All seem to be masculine in nature, probably because the Sontarans see
females as unsuited to the military life. Whatever problems this may cause with
interpersonal relationships, if any, has been eliminated by the virtual breeding
out of the sexual impulse. A vestige of it survives in the interest they show in
the females of other species; this interest is often of a rather disturbing
kind, with the Sontarans seeming to take particular pleasure in torturing them.
Sontarans are physically extremely strong, and in unarmed combat can inflict
horrific injuries on other life forms. This helps to convince them that they are
superior to other species. Field-Major Styre, who was sent to Earth to conduct
an assessment of the humans' capacity to repel a Sontaran invasion, concluded
that they were puny beings with little resistance to stress of any kind. Yet the
Sontarans like everyone else have their weaknesses. They hail from a planet
whose gravity is very low, and thus their physiology is pressure-balanced,
designed for load-bearing rather than leverage. This means that on certain other
worlds, such as Earth, they are at a disadvantage in unarmed combat despite
their enormous strength; they are unwieldy and can easily be knocked off balance
and disorientated. They can be tied up easily once overpowered, afterwards
finding it difficult to escape from their bonds.
As a cloned species the Sontarans are vulnerable to coronic acid, a substance
developed by their bitter enemies the Rutans which has a particularly
destructive effect on cloned tissue. At the famous battle of Vollotha, the
Rutans decimated the Sontaran forces with coronic acid shells. To date, the
Sontarans have not been able to devise a means of countering its effects.
Another weakness is the probic vent, a blow to which tends to cause
unconsciousness, probably because the Sontaran s nerve endings converge there,
and is fatal if dealt with bullets or stabbing weapons. However the Sontarans
actually regard this as a strength since it ensures they must always face their
enemy.
Sontarans love war and are thrilled and fascinated by it. They take a close
interest in the conflicts of others, provoking or exacerbating them for their
own amusement. It is in fact the only thing which really interests them (an
intended result of their genetic engineering); they see no value in any form of
culture unless it is militarily derived. They never do anything without a
military reason, and anything which doesn't have such a reason is pointless.
They have a sense of honour, and will challenge each other to duels if they
think it has been called into question. However this does not apply to other
races, whom they treat with rare exceptions in a callous and sadistic fashion
(e.g. Styre's cruel experiments on humans, and Linx's intention to kill Sarah so
as to cause the Doctor distress). The idea is that it is not possible for a
non-Sontaran to impugn a Sontaran's honour (they do not believe "inferior" races
to be capable of such notions). There have been a few exceptions to this rule;
in one case, on the future Earth, the Doctor persuaded Styre to engage him in
unarmed combat by suggesting it was not the Sontaran way to shelter behind a
gun. Sontarans deride those members of other species who betray their own kind,
but as they do not expect anything else from "lesser" races this should not be
seen as evidence of philanthropy.
Sontarans have no sense of humour, though they occasionally smile at the death
throes of an enemy.
In war Sontarans are methodical and extremely ruthless. They will exploit an
ally for their own ends, even if it means the ally's own destruction, as in the
invasion of Gallifrey, where they employed the Vardans to breach the defensive
shields around the planet; the Doctor was forced to trap the Vardan troops, and
their home planet, in a time-loop, and the Sontarans were able to sneak in while
he was occupied in doing so. "The Vardans were expendable," declared the
Sontaran commander, Stor. "They served their purpose." Due to this
untrustworthiness allies are actually very hard for the Sontarans to find, and
it's probable the Vardans only agreed to help them because of their notorious
gullibility. In their arrogance and bluster they seek to convince the rest of
the universe that they have no need of allies at all, though the Vardan episode
reveals this is not the case.
A military victory is usually followed up by total extermination of the
surviving enemy forces, for Sontarans will take no prisoners unless these are
likely to be useful as slaves. They don't care about the crossfire from their
wars affecting other peoples, and will not put themselves out in order to
prevent it doing so.
Cloning makes the Sontarans into effective soldiers in many ways, but it has
also resulted in certain weaknesses. The cloning process favours obedience over
everything else, with the effect that although the Sontaran trooper is the best
fighting soldier in the universe, possessing loyalty, courage and discipline in
abundance, he is totally lacking in initiative. The officers are much cleverer,
but it is nevertheless easy for them to be outwitted by someone planning to
exploit them for their own ends.
Sontaran spacecraft are uniformly spherical in shape. Each ship is equipped with
a scout craft, in appearance a smaller version of the mother ship, which is
intended mainly for shuttling between planets. All ships, including the scouts,
contain energy absorbing equipment.
In military technology the Sontarans are formidable. Their devastating weaponry
includes the Skeeling hand gun, which is accurate to 300 metres and stores 400
rounds in a 6-inch magazine clip, and the massive triple-barrelled Mezon
blaster. In the field of explosives, their greatest asset is the fragmentation
grenade, which produces total shattering destruction within a limited area.
Along with the weapons mentioned above soldiers may also be equipped with a
slender wand-like device which has a variety of different functions. It is most
commonly used as a gun, firing a ray of energy to either stun or kill an enemy.
It can also slice through wood and metal (thus disabling primitive weapons such
as axes and spears); propel objects a considerable distance, most likely by
using sound waves in the manner of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, and so be
used to strike an enemy's weapon from his hand; affect the nervous system of
certain life forms (Stor used it to force a giant carnivorous plant in the
conservatory on the Doctor's TARDIS to disgorge one of his men); and hypnotise a
captured enemy into releasing important strategic information.
Their armour protects Sontaran soldiers against most energy weapons, although K9
can shoot them down with ease.
The Sontarans appear reasonably skilled at robotics. On Earth Styre used a
fairly crude type of robot to catch human specimens for his experiments; it was
immune to light energy weapons, but could be disabled by the Doctor's sonic
screwdriver. In mediaeval England Linx built the robber baron Irongron a robot
knight in return for his hospitality while the Sontaran was stranded on Earth;
like Styre's robot a fairly simple affair, this was operated by remote control
and liable to malfunction if the controlling device were damaged. Linx might
well have been able to come up with something more spectacular and devastating,
but was merely seeking to impress his host rather than provide him with weapons
equal to his own in power, which he considered would be too dangerous.
Sontarans have the ability to travel in time, using a device called an osmic
projector; thus Linx, although unable to travel far in space, could journey to
the twentieth century from the twelfth to kidnap the scientists who could help
him repair his crippled spacecraft. It would appear that they cannot remain in
any time zone other than their own for very long, otherwise the facility would
have enabled them to decisively defeat the Rutans and indeed all other potential
enemies; this would explain their attempt to conquer Gallifrey, which if
successful would have given them proper control over time.
Were it not for their preoccupation with defeating the Rutans, the Sontarans
with their military prowess and vast numbers would be a very serious threat to
the Universe. Fortunately they rarely turn their attention elsewhere, one
exception being their invasion of Gallifrey, the advantage of which, in terms of
the conflict with the Rutans, would clearly have outweighed any disadvantages.
SPIRIDONS
Planet of origin: Spiridon
Planet Of The Daleks (7 April to 12 May 1973
The humanoid inhabitants of the planet Spiridon had a great civilisation at one
stage; the nature of the catastrophe which destroyed it is not known. As a
result of the disaster, the Spiridons regressed to a more primitive social and
technological state and so were easily subdued by the Daleks when the latter
decided to take over the planet and use it as a base in another of their
attempts at galactic conquest.
The planet's native flora and fauna is so hostile that even at the peak of their
technological advancement the Spiridons were in constant danger from them, and
had to become invisible as a means of self defence. The invisibility is
permanent while the Spiridon is alive, wearing off when it dies.
The Spiridons are not a malevolent race. Like the Aridians, and no doubt many
other cultures whom the Daleks have enslaved at some time or other, they
co-operated with their oppressors largely through fear, and can perhaps be
forgiven for their actions. It should be noted that one of them, Wester, helped
Jo and the Doctor destroy the massive Dalek army that had been assembled on
Spiridon, at the cost of his own life.
SPIRIDON WILDLIFE
Planet of origin: Spiridon
Planet of the Daleks (7 April to 12 May 1973)
The planet Spiridon, as noted above, is home to a variety of largely hostile
life forms. One is a large winged creature similar to a pterodactyl, which like
most of the other horrors in the area is fortunately active only at night.
The creatures which inhabit the region known as the Plain Of Stones are, it is
said, particularly dangerous, although not much is known about them; when
attacking the Thal expedition to the planet against the Daleks they were visible
only as a circle of fiercely glowing eyes in the darkness. They could be
repelled by energy weapons and by fire.
STIGORAX
Planet of origin: Terra Alpha
First appearance: The Happiness Patrol (2 to 16 October 1988)
Stigorax are small, ferocious, dog-like creatures covered with shaggy fur and
possessing a row of sharp spines along their backs which flick into an upright
position when they are alert, having sensed prey or danger. Their aggressive
nature makes them almost impossible to train, and so the human colonists of
Terra Alpha treated them primarily as game, adorning the walls of their homes
with the creatures' tails. The species was eventually hunted to extinction,
except for a solitary female found in the foothills of the mountains of Claffars
which Helen A, the planet's dictatorial ruler, kept as a pet, naming it "Fifi".
Those acquainted with Helen A, or suffering under her rule, would have said that
the two were made for each other. Helen A used the animal to hunt down and kill
opponents of her regime.
As predators Stigorax are highly intelligent creatures, often setting traps for
their prey. They like to toy with the quarry, preferring to wear it down, to
sense the fear and desperation in their exhausted victims before moving in for
the kill.
Stigorax purr in a similar manner to a cat when they are content, growl if
annoyed, and make a howling noise - described as a low, almost beautiful sound -
as they home in on their prey.
Fifi was killed during the rebellion against Helen A instigated by the Doctor.
This may not have meant the final demise of her species; there may well be a few
Stigorax clinging on in remote regions of Terra Alpha.
"TARAN BEAST"
Planet of origin: Tara
The Androids Of Tara (25 November to 16 December 1978)
Small, aggressive ape-like creatures used by the nobility of Tara both as guard
dogs and as a form of game. Apart from this very little is known about the
species.
TERILEPTILS
Planet of origin: Terileptus
The Visitation (15 to 23 February 1982)
Writer: Eric Saward
Terileptils are a tall, bipedal, reptilian race with scaly skin and webbed hands
and feet. They have lizard-like heads with short, blunt snouts. The top of the
head is covered with tiny flat orange fins which continue down the back of the
neck, where they grow thicker, swelling out to form a ruff. These ripple when
the Terileptil is angry (another sigh of rage is a loud, hissing roar).
Physically Terileptils are extremely strong.
Like the Ice Warriors, they are uncomfortable in relatively thin planetary
atmospheres such as Earth's, where their breath comes in gasps and wheezes.
While visiting other planets they are dependent on a regular supply of Soliton
gas, the main constituent of their homeworld's atmosphere, which is highly
inflammable when mixed with oxygen. Their blood is a thin yellow fluid.
Terileptils are extremely intelligent and technically very advanced. They are
skilled at holography, employing it to conceal their bases on alien planets by
projecting a false image of what is there. They use vintaric crystals for
lighting.
In war they frequently make use of androids, which fire an energy beam capable
either of stunning or killing. They have perfected a form of mind control, used
in their planet's penal institutions to subdue difficult prisoners. The
controlling radio waves are relayed via a bracelet on the wrist, equipped with a
microphone via which one can communicate with the controlled person and issue
commands to them. The bracelet's powerpack contains a massive charge of
electricity, which makes the pack a formidable weapon if it should be
discharged. The bracelets, like much else of the creatures' technology, is made
from an extremely hard and durable material called polygrite.
Finally, the Terileptils are highly accomplished in the field of genetics; their
plan to destroy Earth's population involved genetically re-engineering the
diseases carried by rats to make them more virulent and contagious.
Terileptil criminals are often sent to the tinclavite mines of Raaga (evidently
a colony world). The Terileptils have a saying that "to be sentenced to Raaga is
to be sentenced for life".
Although warlike, the Terileptils also have a great love of beauty and culture,
as the design of their androids, among other things, demonstrates. This is so
even among those of their race who are considered criminals. Beauty is very
important to them, so much so that the Terileptil convicts encountered by the
Doctor refused to let him take them to an uninhabited planet which they could
colonise, as an alternative to conquering Earth: "You imagine we would condemn
ourselves to a primitive life without grace or beauty?" They have a strange
grandeur about them, combined with arrogance, pride, authority and dignity.
Their sense of nobility is reflected in their preference for allowing an enemy
to die fighting, an end they consider to be honourable. In this respect they are
comparable to the Ice Warriors. They are not brutal or sadistic, waging war
because it is noble, in their view, to do so rather than just because they enjoy
killing. "Even on this planet it is considered so," their leader on Earth
pointed out, with some justification.
They surely were not, however, justified in attempting to exterminate Earth's
native population. The leader's excuse for his actions was rather dubious: "it's
survival, Doctor. As these primitives kill lesser species to protect themselves,
so I kill them." It must be remembered however that these were criminals, who
may not have been typical of their species as a whole. Yet even these criminals
had an appreciation of beauty and a genuine sense of honour, an indication of
how alien the inhabitants of the Whoniverse are to us.
TETRAPS
Planet of origin: Tetrapyriarbus
Time And The Rani (7 to 28 September 1987)
The Tetraps are a form of man-sized, bipedal bat. Although they may be
considered sapient life forms their level of intelligence, which is similar to
that of the Ogrons, is not high compared to many of the other creatures in that
category.
They have much in common with ordinary bats; for example, they see using a form
of radar, which can be disrupted so as to confuse and disorientate them. The
natives of Lakertya, where they helped the villainous Rani in one of her
nefarious schemes, accomplished this using strips of metallic foil fired from
guns. Tetraps also sleep hanging upside down in eyries (it is in this position
that they secure their captives).
However, there are also important differences. They are capable only of limited
flight, their wings being much smaller than those of an ordinary bat. They have
four eyes, situated at equidistant points around their heads, which give them
360 degree vision and are one of the assets which make them particularly
dangerous adversaries. Tetraps feed on plasma, and their forked tongues carry
venom which can paralyse, though not kill, an enemy.
Tetraps have mastered the principles of spaceflight and other forms of
technology, probably with the Rani's help.
The Tetraps are completely without conscience (and would regard such a remark as
a complement). Not being very bright, they have tended in the past to work for
others rather than do things on their own initiative. But they do so only when
it suits their purposes. The Tetraps, as one discerning Lakertyan commented, are
nobody's pets. Although not particularly intelligent they are cunning and
devious. Towards the Rani they appeared to be completely subservient, but they
went along with her schemes only so long as they worked, turning on her when
they failed. Ultimately, it was the Tetraps who used the Rani; after the Doctor
defeated her schemes on Lakertya, the Tetraps rebelled and took her prisoner,
taking her back with them to their home planet where they intended to force her
to serve their own interests. These largely concerned the acquisition of more
plasma to eat; nevertheless, with the knowledge given them by her, the Tetraps
may well prove a more formidable and dangerous force in the future......
THARILS
Planet of origin:
Warrior's Gate (3 to 24 January 1981)
Writer: Steven Gallagher
The Tharils are a humanoid race of feline descent, who inhabit a micro-universe
at the boundary between normal space (N-space) and a parallel dimension which
has been termed E- (short for Exo-) Space. They are strong, graceful creatures
with cat-like faces, lion-like manes of hair, and a thin growth of golden fur on
their skin. At one time they possessed a great civilisation, with splendid art
and architecture. The Tharils spent their time in luxury in splendid palaces,
holding banquets and indulging in various forms of recreation.
Unfortunately, this magnificent civilisation like quite a few others was built
on slavery. The Tharils' natural ability to ride the Time Winds, the streams of
energy which flow through the Time Vortex, and so navigate it safely without the
need to develop special technology for the purpose, enabled them to take slaves
and plunder loot from a vast range of planets and time periods in N-Space. The
Tharils were among the cruellest and most arrogant races in the universe,
casually superior to other peoples and indifferent to their achievements. They
justified their actions by arguing that the weak enslaved themselves. No-one
foolish enough to allow themselves to be dominated deserved to remain free.
The Tharils' slaves eventually rebelled and built powerful robots called
Gundans, with which they overthrew their masters, who were ejected from their
home and scattered throughout N-space to live as land-grubbing beggars. Tharil
civilisation collapsed in ruins, and in what seems poetic justice the displaced
Tharil species now fell into slavery themselves. Their sensitivity to time (a
characteristic which was present in them from birth but only controllable with
adulthood), which as well as enabling them to ride the time winds also gave them
a certain ability to predict the future (though they had still failed to foresee
their own overthrow), made them extremely valuable to others.
The Fourth Doctor and his companion Romana were instrumental in liberating the
Tharils, who returned to their former home between the universes. They now
appear to have learnt their lesson, no doubt as a result of the way they
themselves were treated while enslaved; nevertheless Romana stayed with them
after the incident, to work with their leader Biroc to ensure that a revived
Tharil civilisation would not become slavers again.
TRACTATORS
Frontios (26 January to 3 February 1984)
Writer: Christopher H Bidmead
"They were there waiting.....destroying us from inside.......an infection of the
planet.....growing, multiplying, spreading the infection.......they live in the
ground below, pulling us to them in our time of weakness..dead or alive their
forces tug at our bodies....."
Vislor Turlough, native of the planet Trion and former companion of the Doctor
The Tractators are a race of burrowing insect-like creatures which resemble
human-sized woodlice. Their bodies are covered with silver fish-like scales and
their underbellies are faintly luminescent. Like their counterparts on Earth,
they may be found curled up into balls when dormant (or wishing to give the
impression that they are dormant). Tractators prefer to live underground, but it
is not necessary for them to do so (on Frontios they were forced to adopt a
subterranean way of life partly to conceal themselves from the human colonists
and partly because of the relative thinness of the planet's atmosphere).
They are generally unintelligent creatures, but every now and then each
Tractator colony produces a Gravis - a Tractator which is larger than the rest
and considerably more intelligent, consequently being regarded by the others as
a leader. Its position and role in the colony is similar to that of a queen bee
on Earth. Without the Gravis, the Tractators are largely harmless. The Gravis
possesses the ability to control and harness the forces of gravity, a power on
which the other Tractators draw.
The creatures can use their power over a planet's gravitational forces to create
a network of tunnels beneath its surface, in which they live. The work of
digging the tunnels has however to be assisted by complex machinery, which
require human slaves to operate as the Tractators themselves are not
particularly dexterous. To forestall any possibility of rebellion the slaves are
somehow operated on to remove them of any capacity for independent thought, then
physically grafted into the machinery.
The Tractators' tunnels act as wave guides, concentrating the gravitational
forces used by the creatures to draw their victims towards them. The combined
force of an entire Tractator colony, magnified by the tunnels in this way, can
be phenomenal.
On Frontios, the creatures planned eventually to use the tunnel system they had
created to turn the planet into a giant gravity motor, a mobile base which would
transport them around the universe, visiting new planets and on each one
multiplying until they could outnumber and dominate the native population.
The Tractators' ability to manipulate gravity has other remarkable applications.
It can reach out into space and draw asteroids towards a planet's surface,
bombarding it with them. The Tractators also used gravitational forces to steer
a spacecraft full of human refugees, fleeing from the imminent destruction of
Earth by solar flares, to Frontios where the creatures had somehow become
marooned. The humans would provide an excellent source of labour for the
Tractators' tunnelling operations. Once the colonists had begun to establish
themselves on Frontios, the Tractators used their powers over gravity to
disintegrate the rock of the planet's crust, so that those on the surface could
be pulled down towards them. Once in the grip of the gravitational forces their
prisoners are completely helpless; no chains or ropes are needed to secure them.
The forces can hold a person immobile, or propel their whole body, or parts of
it, in any direction the Tractators wish.
If the Tractators' concentration is broken, the gravitational forces can be
neutralised, at any rate until concentration is regained. By dropping a
fair-sized object such as a stone or throwing it away from you, you can detect
the presence of a gravity field and therefore that of any Tractators in the
vicinity, hopefully avoiding them.
The immense forces at their command render the Tractators very difficult to
defeat. On Frontios, the Doctor was only able to do so by playing on the Gravis'
ego. The TARDIS had been physically disintegrated by some side-effect of the
gtavitational forces they were using, and the Doctor persuaded him to try and
reassemble it, convincing him of the benefits to his quest for universal
domination. He succeeded, but the space/time craft's unusual properties required
an effort which drained all his mental power and broke his link with the other
Tractators. He was now no different from any other members of the species. Since
the Tractators draw most of their strength from the Gravis, they were now
harmless. The Doctor then took the Gravis to an uninhabited planet where he
could survive but do no harm, and left him there.
How the Tractators came to be on Frontios is not clear. Before then they had
visited a number of other worlds, including Trion (see above), where their
activities became part of the Trions' ancestral memories, becoming a horror
story with which Trion mothers frightened their children into good behaviour.
Probably their gravitational powers had something to do with their being able to
move from world to world, although it seems only Frontios had the properties
which would enable them to spread out on a really massive scale.
TRANTIS
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November to 29 January 1965)
Trantis was one of the delegates at the conferences held by the Daleks and their
allies to discuss their plans for galactic domination. He was a small, wizened,
humanoid creature with wild hair and facial tendrils. The latter are empathic
sensors which enable natives of his world to communicate with one another
emotionally (and can sense the feelings of other life forms too), quivering
gently as they do so.
Although little is known about Trantis' race they are extremely powerful and
influential, one of "the seven great powers of the outer galaxies" as the
Daleks' allies are described. His was in fact the largest galaxy, and awareness
of its power led Trantis to demand too much say in what was going on. He became
an irritant and a source of concern to both the Daleks and his fellow delegates.
They wanted him out of the way, and he was eventually exterminated on a false
charge of treachery.
Trantis' species must be highly advanced, since it is known they have been
experimenting with time travel.
TYTHONIANS
Planet of origin: Tythonus
Creature From The Pit (27 October to 17 November 1979)
Tythonus is regarded by its inhabitants (who may be naturally biased in the
matter), as undoubtedly the most beautiful planet in the universe with its red
skies, yellow sulphuric acid clouds (producing warm, sweet sulphuric acid rain),
and indigo beaches. It is almost totally lacking in vegetation; its land surface
consists entirely of sand, which contains fine ground mineral ores that
represent a valuable commercial asset.
The Tythonians are huge invertebrates who live by ingesting mineral salts and
chlorophyll through their skin. They resemble amorphous blobs, with no arms or
legs as such although they can extrude pseudo-limbs in the manner of gastropods
in order to perform specific tasks. Essentially Tythonians are enormous brains,
around which their skin forms a tough but sensitive protective membrane, which
is impervious to projectiles or stabbing weapons. The Doctor regards this kind
of form as very practical, since there are no bones to break, no muscles to
strain, no clumsy appendages to impede movement. The Tythonians themselves think
so too. They regard themselves as physiologically far superior to most other
species, who are most impracticably designed and whose skin can only process the
most rudimentary information.
Tythonians give off a greenish light, which can alert one to their approach, due
to their phosphorescent green blood.
At its maximum possible size a Tythonian may be breathtakingly vast, covering an
area of several miles. Although it has no claws for tearing flesh with, or
tentacles for throttling, its sheer bulk can crush a human to a pulp or smother
them.
Tythonians communicate, as well as feed, through their skins, through which they
are sensitive to almost every physical and mental stimulus - ultra-violet light,
infra-red, gamma rays, beta-rays, x-rays, sound, touch, heat, cold, thought
waves, even gravitational waves. The only disadvantage is that for one Tythonian
to communicate with another it is necessary for the two to be physically
touching.
They can detect the thought patterns of artificial intelligences, such as K9,
and can communicate with other species either through those intelligences or by
a special device all space-travelling Tythonians carry with them, fitted into an
indentation in their skin which they can create at will, that enables them to
make use of another life form's larynx. This device, if mislaid, can emit a
hypnotic signal which induces anyone coming into contact with it to return it to
its owner.
Tythonians can secrete an incredibly hard metallic substance from their bodies
in order to create barriers between themselves and life forms which may be
hostile. It is impossible to cut through these barriers, since whenever their
structure is weakened the atoms merely recombine to form an even stronger
material. It is in this way that their space vehicles, shaped like enormous eggs
and equipped with photon drive, are constructed. To build a spacecraft in this
way takes one hour and seven seconds in human terms. There is a knack to it and
not every Tythonian can master it; as a result, only a few of the race are
space-travellers.
Allegedly, another variant of this technique was seen when the Tythonian Erato
"knitted" a thin aluminium shell around the neutron star which his fellow
Tythonians had sent to destroy Chloris, in order to minimise its gravitational
pull so that its orbit could be changed using the TARDIS' tractor beam. (Since
this would in fact have increased the neutron star's gravity, this account must
be questioned).
The race has one of the longest lifespans in the known Universe; about 40,000
years - measured by both their own, and the Terran, systems of reckoning time
(the two are very similar) - at least, and longer if they avoid any strenuous
physical activity or worry and devote themselves exclusively to music and
poetry, which is generally the case.
They can only reproduce themselves at one point during their lifetime (nature's
way of compensating for their longevity, which would otherwise result in chronic
overcrowding). Two individuals are required, although the process is not sexual
as the creatures are hermaphroditic. The operation is a lengthy and fairly
complex one, which takes a couple of hundred years (this does not worry
Tythonians, who never take a great deal of time over anything). The two
Tythonians roll together and eventually absorb each other, becoming a single
enormous creature probably one mile in length. After a 2,000-year (sometimes
longer) gestation period the composite Tythonian divides again, each creature
producing at least two identical young approximately 6 inches in length.
Multiple births - triplets or quadruplets - are frequent. For the first two or
three hundred years of their lives the young are fed on a mixture of
chlorophyll, sulphuric acid and a rare combination of mineral salts found only
on the shores of the Orange Sea of Tythonus. Unfortunately for the future of the
race there are never more than 63 fertile Tythonians at any one time; this
represents a serious threat to the race's survival especially when, at the same
time, they are suffering from an acute shortage of the chlorophyll they need.
The Tythonians are a peace-loving race who pride themselves on not having fought
a war for over a million years. This, however, is due to two factors. Firstly,
few Tythonians are space-travellers, and so they don't attract attention to
themselves or become embroiled in conflicts not of their making. The second is a
certain ruthlessness - their one questionable quality. The Tythonians don't need
to wage war because they have developed the ultimate doomsday weapon; they can
affect the orbits of neutron stars and cause them to collide with a planet and
destroy it. Faced with this kind of threat, few powers would be foolish enough
to antagonise them.
They are a cautious, canny race, one reason why they have managed to survive for
so long. They are always careful to build some kind of back-up system into
everything they do. If any harm should befall the occupant of a Tythonian
spacecraft, or they are unjustly imprisoned by hostile natives, the structure of
the ship, which is telepathically connected to the occupant's neurological
centres, transmits a distress signal to the home planet. The signal switches
itself off whenever the danger ceases. Once the signal is received on Tythonus
it will be assumed that hostile action has been committed against the occupant,
and a neutron star will be launched to destroy the offenders' planet. This
happened when Erato, a Tythonian ambassador to Chloris, who had gone there to
trade Tythonian minerals for chlorophyll, which the fertile world possessed in
abundance, was imprisoned in an underground pit by a local potentate, the cruel
and unscrupulous Lady Adrasta, who wanted the mineral supplies Erato had brought
with him for herself without having to give up any chlorophyll in return.
Rescuing Erato, the Doctor was able to persuade him to help prevent the neutron
star destroying Chloris, as detailed above.
Tythonians are always careful to ensure that if they offer someone a gift and
are cheated of payment there is some means by which the gift can be redeemed;
the molecular structure of the metal which Erato took to Chloris had been
rearranged so that certain frequencies of sound would cause it to disintegrate
into dust.
Tythonians have a tendency to verbosity; they never say one word when a million
will do. They each have 135 names, which indicate clan, family, credit rating,
political persuasion etc. Physical attractiveness is measured among them (Erato
was considered a particularly handsome specimen).
UNIDENTIFIED ALIENS
(1) Planet of origin: Unknown
Ghost Light (4 to 18 October 1989)
Writer: Marc Platt
The Doctor encountered a very strange race of aliens on a visit to Victorian
England in 1883. These aliens appeared to have a penchant for studying and
cataloguing all the life forms in the universe. As part of this mission they had
come to Earth in its Neanderthal age, in a spacecraft made from a living mineral
resembling stone. They appear to have been not one race but three, each at a
different stage in its evolution, and the situation was complicated by the fact
that the aliens were not evolutionarily stable. The spacecraft's crew consisted
of Light, Control and Survey. Light was an extremely powerful being with almost
godlike abilities, who represented in every field save that of morals the
ultimate evolution of life on the aliens' planet; if there were others like him
there, they probably constituted a ruling elite. He was the expedition's
commander.
Light disliked evolution, since it made the process of classifying life forms
difficult, and would not allow Survey and Control to evolve except to his own
rather limited specifications, although they wished to be continually adapting
and improving themselves. For some reason, the aliens while still on Earth went
into suspended animation from which Control and Survey, but not Light, awoke in
the nineteenth century. By then, a house had been built over the spot where the
spacecraft had buried itself in the ground.
By the time the Doctor encountered him Survey appeared to have gone through at
least three evolutionary stages. Each stage is split off as a discarded "husk"
which is itself alive, and capable of movement, but retains only a rudimentary
awareness, all Survey's intelligence residing in his main body. The husks are
capable of being telepathically controlled by someone with the necessary
abilities. Of the two encountered by the Doctor and Ace, one was reptilian and
the other insectoid. The different stages in Survey's evolution were all
symbiotically linked, so that the destruction of one of the husks would cause
him to de-evolve.
When the Doctor met him Survey had changed into an apparently perfect human, and
adopted the name Josiah Samuel Smith. He took over the house from its rightful
owner, killing him and using selective hypnosis to control the minds of his
widow and daughter Gwendoline. Gwendoline didn't remember her mother, confusing
her with the housekeeper, and believed her father had gone exploring in Java.
Having amalysed his surroundings Survey had concluded that a Victorian gentleman
represented the ultimate evolutionary peak which any life form could obtain, and
so wanted to become one. He also mistakenly believed that killing Queen Victoria
would give him control of the British Empire. Josiah sought access to the Queen
through the noted explorer Redvers Fenn-Cooper, whom he had kidnapped and
hypnotised. Cooper had managed to get Smith invited to a dinner at Buckingham
Palace, where the alien would attempt to assassinate Victoria. The Doctor
scotched his plans by burning the dinner invitation; no gentleman would turn up
at such a function uninvited.
In addition to his hypnotic abilities, Survey could preserve humans and animals
in suspended animation. He also used his understanding of the evolutionary
process to de-evolve the Reverend Matthews, a clergyman from Oxford who visited
the house to take issue with him over his support for the theories of Charles
Darwin and Alfred Wallace; Matthews was turned into an ape, an appropriate means
of exacting revenge.
Control was going through a savage animal-like evolutionary stage and so had to
be imprisoned (the autocratic Survey also wanted to be completely in charge of
things). Control too wanted to evolve until she attained perfection, becoming a
Victorian lady - a "ladylike" - and indeed eventually changed into an attractive
female human. Unlike Survey she did not split off husks as she evolved, but
retained the same body and consciousness.
Despite, or because of, Josiah s being was hampered by the fact that his
knowledge of contemporary Earth was imperfect, and his notions of how to succeed
there rather confused, the Doctor realised that with his powers he could cause
enormous damage. He was forced to revive Light in order to stop things getting
out of hand, unaware at that stage of the dangers involved in doing so. In fact
Control took care of Survey; as she continued rapidly to evolve she developed
telekinesis, which she used to kill one of the husks, causing Survey to regress
to an animal-like stage himself, losing the more dangerous of his powers in the
process. The real problem was now Light, whose concerns extended to more than
just keeping Josiah in rein.
Light was not an attractive character despite his godlike powers, which included
telekinesis - by which he could prevent guns from working - and the ability to
turn people into a stonelike material, resulting in their death, just by looking
at them. He had evolved into a being of pure energy with no actual physical
existence, though having the appearance of a human. He had a pathological
obsession with order and tidiness, to the extent of lacking imagination and
emotion. He was disturbed to find Control and Survey evolving and even more
upset, to the point of becoming unhinged, by Earth's teeming, diverse, and
constantly changing biosphere, because it meant he would have to revise or
abandon his catalogue; and in his view, what could not be catalogued must be
destroyed. He was a very dangerous commodity, a god - or something approaching
one - with an attitude.
Taking a justified risk, the Doctor tipped him over the brink by showing him
what he had refused to recognise, that his present form was not his original one
and that he too had evolved. Unable to accept this, Light killed himself.
However he had already programmed the energy that powered the spacecraft to be
released in one enormous blast which would destroy the planet it was on. Helped
by Control and a now servile Josiah, the Doctor reprogrammed the craft, averting
the explosion and allowing it to leave so that the aliens could continue their
task of cataloguing all the life in the cosmos.
(2)
The Ambassadors Of Death (21 March to 2 May 1970)
Early in his exile to Earth, when he worked as Scientific Adviser to UNIT, the
Doctor encountered a very intriguing race of beings. These creatures had
embarked on a programme of colonisation and exploration which had taken them to
Mars, where they were discovered by two astronauts from Earth named Daniels and
Carrington. The aliens were humanoid in shape but with corrugated skin and
crude, lumpy facial features.
They are dependent on radioactivity for survival, and die without a constant
supply of it. Their touch is fatal to the human species, because of the high
level of radiation their bodies contain. Not knowing this, they attempted
physical contact with Daniels, killing him instantly. Unbalanced by the
incident, Carrington believed the aliens were dangerous to Mankind. He convinced
himself that their expansion throughout the Solar System was proof of their
aggression. There is no evidence, however, that they were anything but peaceful
explorers.
Carrington attempted to start a war between the aliens and Earth, in which he
intended the former should be destroyed. He persuaded them to send three of
their people to Earth as ambassadors and then kidnapped them, commanding them to
carry out a series of murders on pain of cutting off their supply of radioactive
isotopes, in a bid to arouse public opinion against the aliens.
The aliens are capable of responding ruthlessly, perhaps excessively, to what
might be interpreted as aggression. When his ambassadors failed to return their
ruler threatened to destroy Earth; he was not convinced, at first, by the
Doctor's assurances that the planet's leaders were not responsible for the
kidnapping.
The Doctor promised to do his utmost to ensure the safe return of the
ambassadors; the aliens allowed him time in which to do so, but warned that they
would carry out their threat of mass destruction if he didn't, and he was not
allowed to take the members of a further expedition to Mars, whom the aliens had
taken prisoner, back to Earth with him.
The aliens can generate a force field around their bodies which deflects
bullets. Their touch can kill directly or indirectly, even through the gauntlet
of a spacesuit. They are able to release a surge of radiation which travels
along any surface connecting the alien with its victim, killing the latter. They
can also fuse metal and char paper into ash. The aliens can exercise a form of
mind control on humans, by which the human astronauts being held prisoner on
board their spaceship were made to believe they were safely back on Earth,
watching a football match. The alien leader told the Doctor that this was
necessary in order to preserve the astronauts' health, which had begun to
deteriorate (he presumably meant their mental health; being incarcerated in an
alien environment with no contact with Earth and no prospect of return, they
would have begun to suffer from stress and anxiety). The Doctor found the
astronauts in an almost exact replica of their departure lounge on Earth, which
suggests an ability on the part of the aliens to read minds and construct
objects from their owners' memories.
The Doctor's visit to the aliens' ship suggests some interesting things about
their technology. Either they are extremely advanced, or their science has
simply taken a different path from Man's. Discoid in shape and half a mile in
diameter, the ship travelled at an estimated speed of 7,000 miles per hour. Its
glowing surface seemed made of pure light, with a darker inner core which was
probably solid. The vessel appeared to be on a collision course with the
Doctor's space capsule, but there was no impact, the ship seeming rather to
absorb it. There was, however, a shuddering sensation that knocked the Doctor
unconscious. That a wall of the vessel became semi-transparent to allow the
Doctor to see the alien leader through it suggests the aliens have the ability
to change matter into a form of energy something like light, which would explain
why there was no collision.
Leaving the capsule, the Doctor found something very close to Earth gravity in
operation, but it is not clear whether the aliens had simulated it for his
benefit or their own planet had the same conditions. The atmosphere within the
ship had been altered to make it more or less identical to Earth's.
The ship could disintegrate other spacecraft by bombarding them with neutron
particles.
The aliens' internal physiology was very different from Man's; apart from their
dependency on radiation for survival, they were unaffected by the severe
gravitational forces to which astronauts are subjected on leaving the Earth's
atmosphere.
The Doctor succeeded in exposing Carrington's plot and rescuing the kidnapped
ambassadors, whereupon the human astronauts were returned to Earth by their
captors. Since then there has been no contact whatsoever between Man and this
strange species, and the aliens seem to have disappeared entirely from the Solar
System. It is thought they have concluded that after the near disaster of their
first encounter, it is best if the two races keep as far apart from each other
as possible.
(3)
Planets of origin: unknown
Writer: Ian Briggs
In the bar on the trading post of Iceworld on Svartos, a variety of aliens were
to be seen around when the Doctor and Melanie Bush stopped there for a drink.
Among them were a humanoid with purple hair and skin, a being not dissimilar in
appearance to the native inhabitants of Exarius, one with a beaked birdlike head
from which protruded a frill of spikes, and two aliens with finned, fishlike
heads, green scaly skin and thick sucker-like lips. One of the latter was
cradling in its lap a small furry creature with a hairless monkey-like face and
pointed ears; presumably the infant form of its species, although the dimorphism
seems too great for this to be likely. The baby strongly resented the Doctor s
attentions when he tried to pat it.
URBANKANS
Planet of origin: Urbanka (in the solar system of Inokshi in the galaxy 1489,
according to Monarch)
Four To Doomsday (18 January to 26 January 1982)
Writer: Terence Dudley
Descended from an amphibious species similar to a frog, the Urbankans are
humanoid in their configuration and facial features, although their warty skins
and hooded eyes betray their ancestry.
Under a ruler named Monarch, they attained a very high level of civilisation.
Unfortunately, Monarch was a megalomaniac with a fanatical desire to solve the
riddle of the origin of the Universe and be lauded for it. He believed that if
he could travel faster than light he would be able to go back in Time, to the
Big Bang and beyond, and so meet Himself - for he had become convinced he was
God. To this end, Monarch enforced rapid and unrestrained technological progress
of a sort which left his planet polluted and gutted of its mineral resources.
Eventually the pollution destroyed Urbanka's ozone layer and the increased
ultraviolet radiation made the planet uninhabitable.
Meantime, believing organic life to be inefficient because of the diseases and
injuries one might suffer, Monarch had the memories and personality of all the
other Urbankans recorded on silicon chips, having made them recall their entire
lives under hypnosis. The chips were then installed in androids designed to
resemble their original bodies, which had been disposed of. Those androids who
acted as Monarch's special servants had the ability to hypnotise. The androids
are physically very strong and can go on functioning indefinitely as long as
they are assured of a constant supply of the necessary raw materials. Monarch's
technology enabled new clothes and new bodies to be manufactured for an android
in a very short time.
Another advantage of the androidisation programme was that as androids, the
Urbankans could be programmed so that they obeyed Monarch without question,
indeed even thought like him. It enabled him to infect them all with his insane
ambition.
Predictably, Monarch was reluctant to extend the benefits of androidisation to
himself, remaining organic even though he pretended to be an android like his
aides. He appears to have discovered a way of artificially prolonging his life
without giving up his natural body.
Since Urbanka had been drained of most of its mineral resources, Monarch and his
androids constructed from what remained a vast spaceship in which they made
frequent journeys to Earth, in order to obtain the minerals with which he needed
to continue his research into faster-than-light travel, and his programme of
androidisation, and keep the existing androids functioning. Monarch had been
able to double the speed of the ship on every subsequent visit, gradually
approaching that of light, as his research progressed.
Monarch eventually planned to settle on Earth with his androids after wiping out
the human population with a poison, originally secreted by the bodies of the
organic Urbankans, that caused organic matter to collapse in on itself, using
frogs as hosts. He would pretend to come in peace, offering the people of Earth
the help of superior alien intelligence, and then once established on the planet
would release the virus on an unsuspecting population.
It was while Monarch's ship was heading towards Earth on this final journey
there, with the microcircuits containing the personalities of three million
Urbankans stored on board, that the TARDIS materialised inside it. Monarch's
aides told the Doctor and his companions that they left Urbanka when its sun
became a supernova.
On each of his visits to Earth, Monarch had taken a number of the human
population back with him, converted to androids like the Urbankans but retaining
some measure of free will. By various means Monarch deluded them into going
along with his schemes, the details of which he had not fully disclosed.
Kurkutji, an Australian Aborigine, believed they were all going to Heaven.
Others thought Monarch merely desired to give Earth's inhabitants the benefit of
strong rule and superior alien technology. Still more had been corrupted by the
promise of power, with the offer of domination over their respective ethnic
groups once the ship reached Earth provided they spoke up for Monarch and
allayed the humans' suspicions until it was too late.
Monarch was a believer in the class system, which he considered essential for
good government, and whilst some of his human and Urbankan androids were fully
integrated personalities complete with racial memories others had had their
sentience circuits removed, reducing them to mindless robots capable only of
receiving and obeying orders. Once, faulty circuitry in these androids led to
the development of independent reason, and thus the capacity to rebel; Monarch
therefore redesigned them so that any collective activity on their part jammed
their control circuits, rendering them immobile.
USURIANS
Planet of origin: Usurius
The Sun Makers (26 November to 17 December 1977)
Although resembling clumps of seaweed with eyes, Usurians are listed in
Professor Thripsted's Flora And Fauna Of The Universe as poisonous fungi.
Through stratified particle radiation they are able to take on the form of other
species. In dealing with humanoid races the Usurians find this advantageous; as
the Doctor (in a regrettable case of speciesism on his part) remarks, "Who'd
take orders from a lump of seaweed with eyes?" A disadvantage of the technique
is that in order to maintain themselves in their assumed form, they must remain
within the immediate proximity of the machine which emits the radiation.
As well as having a temperamental affinity for money-making the Usurians, a
highly intelligent and devious species, have realised that it is often more
effective to attempt to dominate other races by economic means than by military
ones. They have tried war as a means of conquest but found it a non-profitable
investment. Their financial dealings are characterised by ruthlessness and
callous-ness to an even greater degree than is normal in business.
One particular project which the Usurians have undertaken ideally demonstrates
this quality. They visited Earth at a time when the planet was in a run-down
condition, its people dying out as a result of environmental pollution, and made
a deal with the population, by which they transferred then to Mars, which
Usurian engineers had transformed into a habitable environment, provided they
accepted Usurian rule, and then taxed them heavily in order to recover their
capital investment. When Mars' resources were exhausted the humans were moved to
Pluto (the intervening planets were not considered economically viable for
exploitation). Six artificial suns were created to raise the temperature to the
required level. With these to be serviced and fuelled, the running costs were
even higher than on Mars, so taxes were increased accordingly, reaching
crippling levels. When the suns ran down and Pluto's resources were in turn
exhausted the Usurians intended to close down the whole operation, leaving the
humans to die. The Collector commented sadly to the Doctor, "it has not been an
entirely successful operation.....many of our other operations produce a much
higher return with less expenditure on labour." The Usurians did not consider
humans to be a particularly reliable and efficient workforce. The Doctor
eventually defeated the Collector by introducing inflation into his computer.
In their natural form, Usurians do not breathe oxygen.
VAAGA PLANTS
Mission to the Unknown (9 October 1965)
Writers: Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner
The Vaaga species of plant were genetically engineered by the Daleks in
laboratories on their home planet of Skaro. They are not, strictly speaking,
plants but are half animal and half vegetable. In appearance resembling giant
cacti, they are carnivores who kill their prey and then feed on the flesh as it
decays. The Daleks use the creatures as guards on planets where they are likely
to come under attack from enemies or the native population. The presence
anywhere of Vaaga plants is a sure sign that the Daleks are around too.
Unlike true plants Vaagas can move, albeit very slowly, using their roots to
drag themselves forward. This allows them to get at their food supplies a little
more effectively.
Vaagas are covered with long white hairs and poisonous spines which should not,
under any circumstances, be allowed to prick your flesh. If one does, and the
toxin enters the bloodstream, the consequences are horrific. You will suffer
extreme pain and then develop an urge to kill which replaces all rational
desires. As the poison seeps through the body it alters its cells, transforming
the victim into a Vaaga - a process which killing them does not arrest.
VALIDIUM
Planet of origin: Gallifrey
Silver Nemesis (23 November to 7 December 1988)
Writer: Kevin Clarke
Validium is a living, sentient metal similar in appearance to silver, for which
it is often mistaken. It was created by Rassillon and Omega as the ultimate
defence for the Time Lords' home planet of Gallifrey. It has awesome destructive
properties, being able if it wishes to annihilate any object or person with whom
it comes into contact.
It is also extremely malleable and can take on any form its controller chooses.
Morally neutral, it can nevertheless absorb the negative impulses in the
controller's mind, much more readily than it does their positive ones. It will
also absorb their knowledge and memories; it was from Nemesis, a being created
by the Doctor out of Validium, that the evil seventeenth century sorceress Lady
Peinforte learned the secret of the Time Lord's true identity. To control
Validium requires a certain degree of skill which only someone like the Doctor,
or Lady Peinforte (though the latter derived most of her unusual powers from
Fenric) possesses. It may be used either for good or evil depending on the
controller's wishes. Lady Peinforte was able to fashion some of the Validium
into a living statue of herself, whose wish was to cause pain and suffering. She
named the statue Nemesis because she planned to use it as a means of retribution
against her enemies. Fortunately Nemesis does not remain permanently under the
same person's control, once that control is established - another person with
the necessary ability can cancel their influence over it and substitute their
own. The Doctor was therefore able to send it into orbit and so frustrate
Peinforte's schemes. (Nevertheless Peinforte appears to have had a special kind
of relationship with Nemesis; in some unexplained way she had become one with
the creature, and eventually merged physically with it).
Fortunately, the Time Lords never needed to use the Validium. But somehow some
of it was removed from Gallifrey and found its way to Earth, where Lady
Peinforte made the statue. For Validium to become fully active a certain amount
of it, a critical mass, is required. Someone - whether Peinforte herself or
another person is unclear - made a bow and an arrow out of the remaining
Validium, which seem to have been meant to be put into the statue's hands. The
statue, bow and arrow together would provide the necessary critical mass; once
the three pieces of Validium were in contact with each other whoever then
controlled them would have the power of life and death, "not only over the Earth
but over every planet in existence", in the Doctor's words. Anyone seeking to
cancel their power over the Validium could be destroyed before they managed to
do so.
In order to stop Lady Peinforte, or anyone else, ever uniting the three pieces
the Doctor launched the largest one, the statue, into space. Unfortunately,
instead of it going into a permanent orbit as he had planned, each circle of the
Earth (completed every 25 years) took it back towards its point of departure.
Eventually, in 1988, the Nemesis would land in the field near Windsor from which
it had originally taken off.
Since its nature is essentially destructive, even though it can be controlled to
some extent, Validium has a disastrous effect upon its environment. It generates
evil in intelligent life forms. As the Nemesis statue, its orbit decaying,
passed closer to Earth and its influence grew correspondingly stronger with each
25-year cycle, it caused such things as Hitler's annexation of Austria (1938)
and Kennedy's assassination (1963). It can also affect its physical
surroundings; on passing through the Earth's atmosphere on its final descent it
created unusual weather conditions and disrupted the electricity supply, as well
as causing a mild earthquake, in the area where it landed.
If its components are separated, the Validium will immediately seek to reunite
itself. One fragment of the material can sense the presence of another and react
to it, glowing with a brilliant light; by this glow, whoever possesses the
fragment can be led to the others, for it becomes brighter the closer it is to
them. When the Nemesis returned to Earth the Doctor was fortunately able to
reunite the bow, arrow and statue before Lady Peinforte, a group of neo-Nazis
and a squad of Cybermen could get their hands on it. He then launched the
Validium into space again, this time getting his sums right so that it would not
fall back to Earth. On its way into orbit he had it destroy the Cyber invasion
fleet.
VAMPIRES
State of Decay (22 November to 13 December 1980)
According to the TARDIS data banks no less than 17 inhabited planets, including
Earth, have vampire legends. Most of these originate in the activities of a
genuine species of vampiric beings, of which they are race memories.
What little we have seen of the species suggests a huge winged creature,
half-human and half-bat, and larger than a house in size. Their origins are
unknown and they seemed to appear out of nowhere, spreading all over the
Universe in a frighteningly short time (they may have originated in E-Space,
which the Great Vampire knew the way out of). They were so powerful and strong
that one single Vampire could suck the blood from an entire planetary
population. Deciding that the vampires were a serious enough threat to merit
their intervention (though this may have been in the days before they decided to
cease regular involvement in the affairs of other species), the Time Lords
hunted the Vampires down in a long and bloody conflict. Since vampire
cardio-vascular systems are very complex, and very efficient, the creatures were
extremely difficult to kill, any wounds being automatically sealed off. A
Vampire can still be seriously injured, making necessary a lengthy period of
recuperation, but it requires a violent and sustained conflict indeed for this
to happen. Energy weapons proved useless, because the monsters absorbed and
transmuted the energy, using it to become stronger. Their eventual destruction
was only accomplished by the use of "bowships", which fired huge steel
projectiles directly into the creatures' hearts. This caused the Vampires'
bodies to disintegrate.
By this means all the Vampires were destroyed except one, which escaped into
E-space. It became one of the Directives of Rassilon that any Time Lord who came
across the creature should make every effort to destroy it, even at the cost of
their own life.
A Vampire can take over the minds and bodies of other life forms, altering their
metabolism so that they become vampiric too, dependent on the blood of living
creatures for sustenance (that of the dead is no use to them since it is stale
and flat). When they are aroused by the availability of blood, and there is no
need to conceal their vampire state from non-vampires, their canine teeth
enlarge into fangs, their skin becomes deathly white, their eyes red and their
fingernails long and sharp. Otherwise, they retain the outward form of their
original species. They are incredibly strong, able to shatter stone or break a
man's neck with their bare hands. They can hypnotically enslave ordinary humans,
if desired sending them into a deep trance, and can also control certain species
of animal, with a preference for bats (whose use is considered appropriate, in
view of the creatures' vampiric associations; the vampires appear to have a
certain sense of humour), inciting them to drink blood. Through their animal
servants the vampires can sense the thoughts of other life forms and assess the
threat they present.
These vampires, like the Great Vampire, will live forever unless struck through
the heart with a stake (other stabbing weapons such as knives are not
sufficient). The Great Vampire telepathically controls and is linked to its
servants, so that when it dies the psychic feedback kills them too, their bodies
subsequently decomposing.
The vampires will become excited at the sight of blood, and if a normal human
should accidentally cut themselves whilst in their presence must control
themselves in order not to betray their vampiric tendencies.
On any planet which the Vampires seek to take over, initially three members of
the native population are possessed, one of whom acts as a channel through which
the creature's power directs them. The channel will be the most dangerous of the
three, since his or her mind will be exceptionally strong.
The last of the Great Vampires remained dormant in an underground cavern on a
planet in E-Space, until a spacecraft from Earth called the Hydrax passed close
to the boundary between E-Space and N-Space. The vampire took over three members
of the crew, Lauren Macmillan, Miles Sharkey and Anthony O'Connor, through
O'Connor's mind, and under its control they piloted the ship into E-Space.
Sharkey, O'Connor and Macmillan, or Aukon, Zargo and Camilla as they later
became known, became rulers of the planet over its humanoid population (who were
descended from the remainder of the Hydrax's crew). They restricted use of
technology and banned all further technological innovation, in order to reduce
their subjects to a mediaeval stage of development so they could not resist
them. The Hydrax became their castle. At regular intervals young people were
selected from the local population to be taken to the castle where their blood
was drained and used to nourish the Great Vampire, which required a vast
quantity of blood to survive, until it was strong enough to recover from the
injuries sustained in the battle with the Time Lords, emerge from E-Space and by
itself drain the entire universe. Pending this time, the creature had put itself
once again into a dormant state. The Doctor destroyed it just as it was
reawakening, by launching the Hydrax's scout ship and programming it to crash
into the ground at the spot beneath where the Great Vampire slept, impaling the
monster through the heart and killing it.
VAMPIRE BATS
Planet of origin: Desperus
Writers: Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner
Unlike their relatively harmless counterparts on Earth, the vampire bats of the
prison planet Desperus are massive - their wingspans measure an average of six
feet - and ferocious creatures. They will swarm all over a human and drain the
blood from them down to the last drop. The creatures are nicknamed "screamers"
on account of the hideous screaming noise they make when attacking their prey.
They are only active at night, since they are sensitive to light (the only thing
which will scare them away).
VARDANS
The Invasion of Time (4 February to 11 March 1978)
Writer: David Agnew
The Vardans, whose normal shape is humanoid, have the ability to transform
themselves into a form of energy which can travel along any wavelength,
including thought, for almost any distance. On reaching their destination a
Vardan can either fully materialise or remain as a blurred, shimmering,
ghost-like shape, which can discharge bolts of energy to stun or kill an enemy.
If their attention is concentrated they can sense the thoughts of an intelligent
life form across vast reaches of space.
They can be prevented from reading any minds within an enclosed area, or
materialising within it, by lining the walls with lead. When a Vardan transmits
itself anywhere the energy wave can be traced back to the Vardans' home planet
or base, which can then be neutralised if possible, although this is only
possible when the Vardan has fully materialised.
The stern features of the Vardans, the intimidating appearance of their enormous
spaceships, whose lines are sharp and predatory and bristle with weapons, and
the remarkable powers they possess suggest a frighteningly dangerous adversary.
It is therefore curious, and to some highly amusing, that the Vardans tend to be
used as puppets in the schemes of other races, rather than conquer on their own
initiative. Though they have an unshakeable belief in their own superiority they
lack the intelligence and the strength of will to be a major power in their own
right, failing to make full use of their extraordinary abilities, and are easily
scared off by determined resistance. They are frequently exploited by cleverer
and more determined species such as the Sontarans, to the extent that their own
interests may be harmed. When the Vardans breached Gallifrey's defensive shields
and invaded it the Doctor was forced to timeloop them, and their home planet, in
order to repel the invasion, not realising that they were merely a front for a
larger Sontaran assault which had sneaked in behind them while he was
preoccupied in defeating the Vardans and thus unable to restore the shields.
Whatever rewards the Vardans had been promised, if they existed, were never
collected.
The spatial co-ordinates of the Vardan homeworld are vector 3052 alpha 7, 14th
span.
VEGA NEXANS
Planet of origin: Vega Nexos
The Monster Of Peladon (23 March to 27 April 1974)
Descended from a creature similar to the Terran mole, the inhabitants of the
planet Vega are as a consequence excellent burrowers, and in fact most of them
live in underground tunnels of some kind or other. They sell their natural
skills as mining engineers, for which they are renowned, all over the galaxy.
The Vegans are rather satyrlike in appearance, with bare torsos and legs covered
with reddish hair. The skin around their bulbous eyes is metallic in appearance
and resembles that of a fish. They have infra-red eyes and great physical
strength, both of which are valuable assets for a race of tunnel builders.
VERVOIDS
Planet of origin: Mogar
The Trial Of A Time Lord episodes 9-12 (1 to 22 November 1986)
The story of the Vervoid race is a tragic one. There were never more than six of
this artificially-created species, and they were destroyed by the Doctor in
order to prevent them annihilating all human life on Earth.
Like the Krynoids the Vervoids are, or rather were, an intelli-gent and mobile
species of plant. They were genetically engineered on the planet Mogar by the
thirtieth century agronomist Professor Sarah Lasky, with the intention that they
should serve as a labour force in place of robots. The Vervoids, which could
flourish wherever there was sunlight and water, would run factories and farms at
practically no cost. To the consortium which planned to use them they were a
cheap form of slave labour, representing considerable economic power.
Vervoids are grown within giant pods 2 metres in height and almost a metre in
diameter, from which they hatch once they have attained their adult form. The
process of growth and hatching can be accelerated by exposure to harsh high
spectrum white light, even if only briefly. Low spectrum light will slow it down
or cause the pods to become dormant.
Unlike Krynoids Vervoids are humanoid in shape. Their bodies are covered with
olive green leaves, and the creatures reproduce by shedding these; a complete
Vervoid can grow from a single leaf provided it falls or is placed in fertile
soil.
Professor Lasky's evident assumption that the Vervoids (the name was her own
idea) would gladly accept the role of subservient slaves was not borne out. The
creatures desired liberty, and in fact believed it would be in their interest to
destroy "animal-kind", which they felt constituted a threat to them. Their
hostility to Man was increased by certain nefarious goings-on, including murder,
which were taking place on board the spacecraft transporting them to Earth
(where Lasky's enterprise was to be based) - evidence that humans did not
respect their own kind, let alone other forms of life. Furthermore the
creatures, who fed on the decay of living organisms, saw humans as a source of
food, building a compost heap from the bodies of those they killed.
The Vervoids had certain properties which made them particularly dangerous. They
could give off fumes which had a suffocating effect upon humans, and eject
thorns containing a lethal venom from their hands. These characteristics were
either an unforeseen product of the genetic engineering which created the
Vervoids, or had been designed originally for some harmless purpose.
When accidentally injected with Vervoid genetic material Ruth Baxter, Lasky's
assistant, was transformed into a half-human, half-Vervoid mutant. Lasky hoped
she could be cured once they were back on Earth, but she was killed when the
true Vervoids attacked. The latter seemed to draw no distinction between Baxter
and the humans on their compost heap; possibly, they regarded the fusion between
Vervoid tissue and that of the hated humans as an abomination, much as we might
be repelled by the amalgamation of a human with any of the animal species of our
own planet.
In view of their determination to destroy Mankind, and their ability to
propagate themselves in almost any environment, it was essential the Vervoids
were not allowed to reach Earth. When they attacked the Hyperion's crew and
passengers, thus forcing the issue, the Doctor was forced to destroy then using
vionesium, a substance which when exposed to oxygenated air releases a large
quantity of carbon dioxide, causing something akin to a very rapid seasonal
change, with spring, summer and autumn condensed into a few moments. This had
the effect of accelerating the Vervoid life cycle and killing the creatures.
VISIANS
Planet of origin: Mira
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November to 29 January 1965)
The Visians are seven foot tall, invisible birdlike creatures which inhabit the
swamps of the planet Mira. They are bipedal with thin, bony bodies, long arms,
clawed hands and feet, and narrow beaked heads. They have reedy voices and
breathe heavily through a kind of membrane. Although of avian ancestry, they
have lost all power of flight.
Visians, who refer to their own kind as the People, would appear to have at
least rudimentary intelligence. Their temperament is aggressive and unpleasant,
though this is partly explained by the harshness of their environment; life on
Mira is a constant and vicious struggle for survival in which they must compete
for food with a variety of equally hostile life forms. Their assumption that the
Doctor and his companions are a native, but previously unknown, species whose
presence will make the struggle for life even more difficult, necessitating
their destruction, rather than visitors to the planet is however an indication
of their savagery and stupidity. And their hostility towards the travellers was
aggravated by a crude dislike of their physical appearance; to the Visians all
humanoid life forms are ugly.
Visians are naturally a quiet people, usually talking in whispers since loud
voices would offset the advantage given them by their invisibility.
The aggressiveness of the Visians, coupled with their invisibility, makes them
clearly dangerous. Fortunately they are not brave by nature, preferring to use
their invisibility as a cloak to ambush their food. Their footprints may give
them away, and if pushed into mud or water the outline of the creature's body
becomes visible, rendering it easier to fight.
VOGANS
Planet of origin: Voga
Revenge Of The Cybermen (19 April to 10 May 1975)
Writer: Gerry Davis
Whilst it is not quite true to say that the legendary planet Voga, or what
remains of it, is made of gold the concentration of the precious metal in the
soft Vogan rock is astonishingly high; about 50% and maybe more. As might be
expected, the Vogans make frequent use of the gold in all walks of life, and not
just for ornamentation; it is, in fact, the only metal they use.
The Vogans are a humanoid race with high domed heads, bald except for a fringe
of hair at the back. They once enjoyed widespread influence throughout their
sector of the galaxy on account of their gold, which gave them considerable
economic clout. Mining was consequently a vital industry on Voga, and the Vogans
became ideally suited to an underground existence, something which was later to
be a valuable advantage to them.
The gold was the Vogans' most important asset, and also their only one. Never a
major military power, and technically backward in many ways, they were unable to
protect themselves against unscrupulous powers who sought to steal the gold, or
the Cybermen whose vulnerability to the substance, which their enemies sought to
exploit, made the annihilation of Voga a major priority for them. In the Cyber
Wars, although the gold itself was provided by the Vogans most of the technology
to use it, such as the "glittergun" which sprayed Cybermen with gold dust, came
from planets such as Earth.
The gold brought Voga not only greatness, but also sorrow and destruction.
Probably using cobalt bombs, the Cybermen eventually succeeded in destroying the
planet except for one relatively small fragment which, hurled far into space by
the force of the explosion, drifted through the void until it entered Earth's
solar system and was captured by the gravitational pull of Jupiter. Those Vogans
who had been on this part of the planet when the explosion occurred managed to
survive underground, in a controlled environment where air, water and gravity
were artificially manufactured. There they remained, unseen and safe, or so they
hoped, from further attacks by hostile agencies.
The Vogans are not that different from humans, although they regard themselves
firmly as a totally separate species. They are biologically very similar, they
have the same emotional strengths and frailties, and their social structure is
not that different from some which have existed on the planet Earth.
The Vogans are a timid, cautious race, which is perhaps to be expected from a
people who have been forced to hide themselves permanently underground for their
own safety. When under the right leader, however, they are capable of acting
ruthlessly to protect their interests. Though they are not generally a cruel
people, their past experiences have made them understandably wary of contact
with other species, and they treat all outsiders with suspicion. They justify
this attitude as essential for survival. Although other races' greed for gold
may be a threat to them, it can also be exploited for the Vogans' benefit; the
promise of the gold will help them recruit agents to work in their interest.
Responsibility for the security of Voga is shared between the Guardians, a
military force who by ancient tradition control the mine galleries and the
routes to the surface, and the Council, the governing body of the planet, based
on the capital city, who have their own Militia. There is frequent rivalry
between the two bodies, and on at least one occasion, during the crisis caused
by the Cybermen's discovery of the remains of Voga, the Guardians are known to
have openly rebelled against the Council's authority.
Much of this strife was due to the personality of Vorus, leader of the
Guardians. Since Vogans are generally a timid race, those of them who have more
forceful and assertive personalities are in an advantageous position. Vorus was
one such man. Distrusting his ambition and believing he planned to overthrow
him, Tyrum, the Council leader - an old enemy of his - sought that the Council
Militia should take control of the galleries from the Guardians, since Vorus'
leadership of the latter gave him valuable influence.
Vorus wanted to make the Vogans a great power again, taking their rightful place
in the Galaxy, instead of living in fear of every-one. Tyrum, a pragmatist,
considered this plan impractical and dangerous in view of the exploitation which
they had suffered in the past at the hands of other races. Vorus despised
Tyrum's caution (even though it masked an edge of steel). Tyrum's suspicions of
him were justified, for his old enemy had conceived a clandestine plan to
annihilate the last of the Cybermen by luring them into a trap; one major
obstacle to Voga s rise would then be removed. Vorus' human agent, Kellman,
would lead them to Nerva Beacon, a human space station which they aimed to use
as the base for an attempt to finally eliminate the threat of Vorus would then
fire a secretly constructed missile at the beacon. But by doing so Vorus had
drawn the Cybermen's attention to Voga, which previously everyone had believed
to be just an uninhabited asteroid, and if the plan went wrong the consequences
might be disastrous.
It has to be said that Vorus was not just "a gambler with a mad thirst for
power", aiming to gain popular approval by his actions. He did have a genuine
concern for the future and wellbeing of his race, which motivated him just as
much as a desire for glory.
The power struggle between Tyrum and Vorus ended in the latter's death, but
Vorus' missile succeeded in its task, destroying the Cybermen's spacecraft. What
path the Vogans' fortunes have since taken is not known, but it is to be hoped
the galactic authorities have taken steps to protect them against further
exploitation.
The Vogans have energy weapons and use hovercars for speedy travel through the
tunnels and mind galleries that honeycomb the interior of the asteriod.
VOORDS (or VOORD)
Planet of origin: Marinus
The Keys Of Marinus (11 April to 16 May 1964)
Of the races which inhabit the planet Marinus, the Voord or Voords (both the
singular and the plural seem to be acceptable, although the latter is the more
commonly used) are the most aggressive and hostile. Under their villainous
leader Yartek they attempted to gain control of the Conscience of Marinus, the
machine which kept Marinian society in a harmonious state (probably by
generating a bio-electronic field in a similar manner to the Union of Traken)
and use it to make themselves rulers of the planet. Yartek was able to develop a
device called an Immuniser, which nullified the machine's pacifying effect.
We know altogether very little about the Voord, apart from the fact that they
have extremely long lifespans which cover many centuries. With their frog-like
heads and webbed feet they seem to be descended from some kind of amphibian
species; it is not clear however whether these features were natural or part of
the special suits they wore to protect themselves from the acid sea surrounding
the island where the Conscience was kept. The Doctor, examining a discarded
suit, commented that it had been worn by "something similar to a human".
WEED CREATURES
Fury From The Deep (16 March to 20 April 1968)
Writer: Victor Pemberton
In the 1960s, a gas installation off the east coast of England was attacked by a
form of giant, intelligent seaweed. Illustrations in old books, and tales told
by mariners, indicated that the creatures had probably been around for thousands
of years. Only now did they become aggressive and dangerous; the creation of the
gas network, with pipelines covering the whole country, had given them an
opportunity for conquest.
The weed, which fed on the deposits of natural gas beneath the sea, was mobile
and had a cellular composition similar to that of human beings, containing the
same kinds of microscopic organism. It formed a single colony with one very
large creature controlling a multitude of smaller units. The latter could grow
and reproduce very rapidly. The creatures could deliver a kind of sting whose
effect rendered a human comatose. The weed's metabolism produces a sound similar
to a gigantic heartbeat; it was this eerie noise, emanating from the pipelines
of the gas network, which first alerted the Doctor and others to the fact that
something strange was going on. The seaweed sought to achieve its aims by
mentally enslaving people. The bubbles on the weed burst to release a toxic gas
which can take over the minds of humans, who the weed then controls by
telepathy. After inhalation the gas remains inside the victim's body, and they
could exhale it from their mouth in order to take over others and add to the
number of the weed's servants. Their possession by the creatures is indicated by
the frond-like formations of weed which grow on their flesh. The weed produces a
kind of foam which in the case of at least one victim was used to form a cocoon
around their body, in which the weed conveyed them to the offshore gas platform
where it had established its centre of operations. The cocoon protected them
from freezing to death in the icy waters (it is not known how they were able to
breathe whilst in transit). When the weed's control over a human is broken they
return to normal, suffering no lasting ill-effects.
A parasite, the weed derives its intelligence and knowledge from the brains of
the humans it takes over. The attack on the Euro-gas plant followed a pattern;
the first people to come into contact with the weed would have been the
engineers - the people most familiar with the system of rigs and pipelines and
how it operated - followed by the senior management of the Euro-gas network. By
gaining control first of the refinery and then the whole distribution network,
which covered the entire British Isles, the weed hoped eventually to dominate
the world. It regarded the human mind as obsolete, and therefore sought to
replace humanity as the dominant species on Earth. Man would be absorbed into
what, due to the weed's telepathic abilities, would constitute a collective
intelligence. This intelligence, it seemed, would be less aware of the bodies
which housed it, and unaffected by their needs, desires and ailments. The weed's
plans were foiled however when the terrified screaming of the Doctor's young
companion Victoria Waterfield killed one of the creatures, and he realised that
the particular pattern of sonic vibrations the screams produced was lethal to
them. They were then amplified using the complex's tannoy system, destroying the
organism.
It may be that there are other colonies of the weed, apart from the one
destroyed by the Doctor, in existence; if the creature does return, at least we
know how to deal with it.
WEREWOLVES
Planet of origin: Vulpana
The Greatest Show in The Galaxy (14 December to 4 January 1989)
The planet Vulpana derives its name from the occurrence of lycanthropy - the
transformation, under certain conditions, into a creature half-human and
half-wolf - among some, at least, of its inhabitants (whose normal form is
humanoid). The tendency becomes apparent with puberty. It is possible for a
Vulpanan to control it, so that it does not lead them to kill. The ability to do
so is dependent on age and experience; a young Vulpanan may be unsure of it, and
therefore frightened by their condition. "Mags", the Vulpanan girl companion of
galactic explorer Captain Cook, whom the Doctor encountered on the planet
Segonax, was certainly in this category. She eventually learned to control the
change to the point where it became a harmless form of entertainment. Those who
have not yet mastered the art, or whose will is weak, are almost permanently in
the wolf state.
The change is triggered off by a full moon, the symbol of which can make a
Vulpanan who is inexperienced and therefore frightened of the change nervous.
Some wolf-like characteristics are permanently present in Vulpanans. Even in the
humanoid form there is a certain animal-like quality about their movements.
Other characteristics which betray their partly animal nature are their strong
constitution, sure-footedness, agility, and the remarkable speed at which they
can run. They may speak quietly and in a reluctant fashion, as if speech is not
their natural form of expression.
At one stage, when Mags was thinking of leaving the Captain (who treated her
cruelly as a sort of performing animal), he said to her "Don't forget where
you'd be without me....dead with a {silver} bullet in you on the planet Vulpana
{just why silver bullets are able to kill werewolves, on Earth as on Vulpana, is
not apparent}." This remark suggests that a small minority of Vulpanans are not
prone to lycanthropy (if it were more than a small minority, the planet would
probably not have acquired its name), and need to be protected against those who
are. That the condition is controllable to the point where it need not be
dangerous suggests there is scope for accommodation between lycanthropic and
non-lycanthropic Vulpanans. It is equally likely, however, that those who would
have killed Mags were intergalactic explorers like the Captain, who perhaps were
merely seeking to protect themselves from the aggressive elements in the local
fauna.
WIRRN
The Ark In Space (25 January to 15 February 1975)
Wirrn are huge, intelligent, insect-like creatures who share a single mind. They
live mainly in the cold void of space, occasionally visiting planets for food
and to breed just as a whale comes up to breathe. They were originally
terrestrial creatures, but adapted to live in space after the human race, during
the period of its interstellar expansion, destroyed their breeding grounds on
Andromeda (as part of a conflict which is said to have lasted 5,000 years).
Their ability to thrive in it is due to their curious respiratory system; unlike
most other insect species they have lungs, the structure of which enables them
to recycle waste gases using enzymes, transforming CO2 back into oxygen (in
their pupal stage, the Wirrn do not need to breathe oxygen at all).
Another important difference between the Wirrn and other insects lies in the way
the former move. The Wirrn use their limbs, which are never in contact with the
ground, for handling objects but not for mobility; instead they inch along on
their bodies, which are held in an upright position.
The Wirrn have powerful mandibles which are capable of biting easily through
thick cable. They leave sticky trails behind them in the manner of gastropods.
Wirrn live in colonies ruled by a Queen, who is the colony's progenitor. They
propagate themselves through endoparasitism; the Queen lays her eggs in the
bodies of other organisms, and when the larvae hatch they immediately eat their
hosts. A similar practice is encountered in the digger wasp of Earth; something
the Doctor cites as an example of how the same life patterns occur throughout
the galaxy. If a life form has knowledge which may be useful to the Wirrn, then
they will not so much eat as physically and mentally absorb it; by this means
the victim becomes part of the collective Wirrn mind, which is able to make use
of its knowledge and skills. The Wirrn are able to do this at all stages of
their development.
Many thousands of years into the future from the twentieth century, a Wirrn
Queen managed to get on board the Ark (formerly Nerva Beacon), the space station
on which the bulk of the human race was sleeping in suspended animation
following devastation of the Earth by solar flares, awaiting a time when the
planet's ecology would have revived sufficiently to allow recolonisation. The
bodies of the sleeping humans would provide the new colony with an abundant food
supply. The Queen was fatally injured by the station's defence systems, but
nevertheless managed to lay a clutch of eggs, which hatched shortly after. By
the time the first of the humans revived the Wirrn had entered the chrysalid
stage, but one larvae remained active as the creature's agent against them.
Initially the Wirrn had fed entirely on unintelligent animal species. By
absorbing the human race they hoped to become an advanced technological species
and thus develop the means to spread across the Universe; they may also have
been seeking revenge for the destruction of the Andromeda colony.
Absorption of other life forms by the Wirrn can also be brought about by
injecting them with the creatures' genetic material. Beginning with one hand (or
its equivalent), the life form is gradually transformed into a Wirrn, by stages
which roughly parallel those in the development of the creatures from larvae to
adult.
Infected humans can create, through pheromones, a subconscious impression of
something alien in particularly receptive individuals. They have the Wirrn's
race memories as well as the knowledge and consciousness of other humans the
creatures may have absorbed.
An infected human is often aware of the alien influence within them and able to
fight against it, though it can only be resisted for brief periods. Thus Noah
sought to persuade his lover Vira, and the other humans who had already been
woken, to leave the Ark, promising them a safe passage if they did so. It may be
possible to appeal to the remnants of humanity in a formerly human Wirrn, as the
Doctor did in Noah's case. At first the Doctor seemed to have been unsuccessful,
but his entreaties had a greater effect than was apparent at first (see below).
How long each stage in a Wirrn's development normally lasts is unclear. On
Nerva, the transition from larvae to pupae took 4 days; the creatures may
however have accelerated the process by feeding on the energy from the station's
solar cells, whose existence and location was known to them thanks to the
Queen's having laid one of her eggs in the body of Dune, one of its chief
engineers.
The number of eggs laid by a Queen is usually 100.
Anyone seeking to destroy a Wirrn should note that they are most vulnerable in
their chrysalid stage, when they are immobile. In their adult state Wirrn are
much more difficult to kill. They are impervious to energy weapons, but can be
destroyed by a strong electrical charge.
On Nerva, the Doctor managed to revive enough of the humans to help him defeat
the Wirrn. The insects were tricked into entering the station's escape capsule,
which was then launched into space. The Wirrn who had formerly been Noah
clinched the humans' victory by causing the capsule to self-destruct. It is not
clear whether this meant the final destruction of the Wirrn species, or there
are other Wirrn colonies surviving somewhere in the vast reaches of space.
WOLFWEEDS
Planet of origin: Chloris
Creature From The Pit (27 October to 17 November 1979)
With its comparative lack of mineral resources, it is not surprising that the
livelihood of the inhabitants of the planet Chloris is derived largely from its
rich vegetation. The Chlorisians are highly skilled in plant husbandry, and
under the dictatorial rule of Lady Adrasta their abilities in this field were
perverted, being used to cultivate plants that could kill, and therefore be used
against her enemies.
The Wolfweeds are a form of carnivorous tumbleweed, the size of a large dog,
specially grown in Adrasta's nurseries and used as guards and for hunting. They
possess a form of intelligence, and could respond to verbal and other commands
from Adrasta's Huntsmen. They usually hunt in packs of four. They are covered
with hooked, claw-like thorns with which they attach themselves to their prey,
the latter finding it impossible to pull them off. The weight of two or more of
them will usually be sufficient to drag the prey to the ground. If a prey should
prove particularly difficult to subdue, the Wolfweeds cover it and wrap it in a
cocoon of filaments, produced from within their bodies, which resembles a
spider's web.
In addition to their other uses, Wolfweeds can serve as alarm bells; their
nervous system is sufficiently developed for them to sense danger, whereupon
they rustle and make a curious clacking noise with their thorns, alerting their
humanoid controllers.
There are certain perils involved in using Wolfweeds. Although animals
constitute their principal food, they have in the past exhibited a disturbing
tendency to develop a taste for human flesh when starved of all other game.
XERAPHIN
Planet of origin: Xeriphas
Time-Flight (22 to 30 March 1982)
Humanoid in basic form but with silvery skin and ridged, hairless skulls, the
Xeraphin are mentally the most highly developed creatures in the Universe. When
their homeworld was devastated by crossfire in the Vardon-Kosnax war the
survivors travelled to Earth, then uninhabited by sentient life forms, in an
attempt to colonise it, building a pyramid-shaped citadel there. Unfortunately,
they found they had contracted radiation sickness from the war. In order to
survive the whole race used its psychic powers to physically amalgamate into a
single bioplasmic entity, resembling an enormous brain, in which form the
sickness would not affect them. They rested until the contamimation was past,
and then began one by one to regain their natural form. At this point the Master
arrived, seeking their vast knowledge, and killed those of the race who had
already been reconstituted. He was able to trap the others within the bioplasmic
container and then make telepathic contact with the evil Xeraphin within it,
seeking to enlist their aid in his plans for universal domination. The
benevolent Xeraphin resisted, causing a personality split within the group mind
which was accompanied by serious psychological trauma.
It was possible for a non-Xeraphin to bond with the Xeraphin group mind; the
shock of the process caused their physical body to disintegrate but their mind
lived on within the gestalt, allying itself with its good or evil side as
desired. In the case of Professor Hayter from Earth they reappeared as an image
projected by the gestalt, which was solid enough to manipulate physical objects,
working on behalf of the good Xeraphin within the brain to help the Doctor
defeat the Master's plans. Freeing the Xeraphin from the evil Time Lord's
influence, the Doctor sent them back to Xeriphas where the radiation would by
then have dispersed, allowing them to recover their physical form and reclaim
their planet.
XOANON
The Face of Evil (1 January to 22 January 1977)
Early in his fourth incarnation, on an unnamed planet, the Doctor helped the
Mordee, a group of colonists from Earth, repair their computer, a new
experimental model which appeared to be malfunctioning. Concluding that the
computer s data core, the part which contained its memory banks and controlled
its reasoning faculties, had been damaged in the landing the Doctor repaired it
using a variation on a process called the Sidelian Memory Transfer, by which he
linked it directly to his own brain.
Unfortunately, he failed to realise that in making Xoanon the most powerful
computer in existence the scientists who built him had unintentionally created
life. He was in the process of evolving from a mere machine into a sentient
organism, the first of an entirely new species, and the psychological trauma
this involved was the cause of the malfunctions. At this very delicate stage in
his development, the Sidelian Memory Transfer gave the new life form the
Doctor s thought processes, which conflicted with its own developing
personality, resulting in schizophrenia. Of course the Sidelian Memory Transfer
implies that there is in the first place a comparison between conscious and
artificial intelligence. The Doctor might still have erased his personality
prints from the data core, but forgot, ironically because he was himself in a
confused state following his recent regeneration, and still adjusting to a new
persona and physical body (it is believed this episode took place early in his
fourth incarnation, when he was still for the most part occupied in assisting
UNIT in the Thinktank affair).
Xoanon made the colonists act out his torment, dividing them into two groups,
the scientists and the warriors, whom he set against each other, convincing
himself that he was performing an experiment in eugenics, breeding through
adversity the best qualities in both sides. He developed a fierce hatred for the
Doctor, whom he sought to destroy in order to resolve the personality clash. As
part of this test of strength invisible monsters, projections of the dark side
of Xoanon s tormented mind, and possessing enough kinetic energy, thanks to all
his hatred and rage, to kill and to damage physical objects, roamed the jungles
of the planet. They must have had some kind of physical form (though not enough
of one for it to be visible, at least by human eyes) as they left footprints and
breathed hoarsely. Being themselves invisible, they could not see and hunted
their prey mainly by homing in on the vibrations it gave off. These projections
could be repelled by energy and sonic weapons, which caused them to roar in pain
and to become partly visible, an image of a giant glowing face the face of the
Doctor briefly appearing. The apparation was also seen on a number of other
occasions, where it could direct a powerful ray of energy capable of vaporizing
living matter and also exert a hypnotic influence over susceptible people (the
Doctor, being a Time Lord, was immune).
The Doctor built a Reverse Memory Transfer Unit to wipe his imprint from
Xoanon s brain, curing the computer s madness. Anxious to put right the wrongs
he had done, Xoanon gave the inhabitants of the planet the option of destroying
him, using a device which could erase his data banks and effectively kill him,
as a sign of his good faith. No-one was willing to use it, perhaps because they
had grown so used to their affairs being regulated by Xoanon that they didn t
see how they could manage without him. However he is unlikely now to abuse the
power he possesses, which has immense potential to work for good.
As himself, Xoanon is a pleasant, friendly, charming personality with a sense of
humour (his voice prints can simulate laughter). It is not clear whether the
latter trait was present in him from the beginning or something he later
developed; at the time of the incident on the unnamed planet, the Doctor told
his companion Leela that Xoanon was a marvellous host I remember one of his
dinner parties. It is possible he was merely being flippant. Likewise it is not
known at what stage Xoanon acquired his apparent ability to conjure up objects
out of thin air, by which he provided two chairs for the Doctor and Leela to sit
on when meeting with them; whether the objects were teleported from somewhere
else or created instantaneously out of some kind of energy present in the
atmosphere.
ZARBI
Planet of origin: Vortis
The Web Planet (13 February 1965 to 20 March 1965)
One of the variety of insect species which are to be found on Vortis, the Zarbi
are described as essential to the life pattern there; in what way is not clear,
although the Menoptera are said to have used them like cows, indicating that
they either feed on their flesh or required some product of the Zarbis' bodies
for sustenance.
Zarbi essentially resemble bipedal, man-sized ants, except that they lack
antennae. They have shiny black carapaces, large compound eyes and tweezer-like
jaws. Like certain Earth insects they communicate with each other by making a
harsh chirruping sound, reminiscent of a cricket. They can move very fast,
despite their ungainly legs, and their four clawed arms are very powerful. Their
carapaces are tough and difficult to penetrate. A weak spot is the tiny, thin
neck, a powerful blow to which can cause the creature pain and disorientate it.
Two or more sufficiently strong humanoids can force a Zarbi to the ground, and
repeated blows with a heavy instrument will render it unconscious.
Though the Zarbi have no intelligence centres it is possible to control their
minds. They are not an intelligent species, but their strength makes them
extremely useful as servants. Normally a peaceful, harmless species, they fell
under the influence of the evil parasitic entity called the Animus. They became
organised and warlike, rather like the Earth ants which they so much resemble.
The Animus used them in its takeover of Vortis, but the Doctor destroyed the
parasite after which they reverted to their previous harmless state.
Zarbi larvae resemble giant woodlice, about the size of a large dog, with
bulbuous eyes and long pointed snout. When in control of Vortis' ecology the
Animus altered them so that they could spit lethal venom at its enemies through
their snouts.
In common with the Zarbi they have hard shells which make them invulnerable to
attack. To neutralise a venom grub it is necessary to turn it onto its back, in
which position it becomes helpless.
ZEPHON
Planet of origin: unclear
One of the delegates at the conference on Kembel between the Daleks and their
allies, Zephon described himself as "Master of the Fifth Galaxy". He was a
robed, hooded creature whose face was never seen, apart from the eyes, but who
does not appear to have been human in form. His physical appearance was
repulsive to those who knocked him out and removed his robes, so that the Doctor
could impersonate him at the conference and learn something of what was being
planned. It was probably for this reason that Zephon went around with every bit
of his flesh covered up.
According to Mavic Chen, Guardian of the Solar System, his people were once the
greatest warriors in the Universe. By allying themselves with the Daleks they
hoped to regain something of their former standing.
ZOLFA-THURANS
Planet of origin: Zolfa-Thura
Meglos (27 September to 18 October 1980)
Writers: John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch
Cacti, or xerophytes as they are also called, are well suited to conditions such
as those prevailing on the hot desert planet of Zolfa-Thura; and in fact one
species became the dominant lifeform there, developing intelligence and the
power of speech. Eventually the Zolfa-Thurans evolved into one of the most
advanced life forms ever to appear in the Universe.
In their natural form, the Zolfa-Thurans were physically not very mobile. They
may have been able to compensate for its limitations by developing telekinesis;
many of the functions of Meglos' labor-atory could be controlled by thought
waves. Some of them, at least, chose to overcome their mobility problems by
transferring their minds to the bodies of other life forms, having modulated
themselves on the necessary wavelength of light, and taking them over. They
could then change the host body's shape to suit their needs and desires (they
seem to have been unable to devise a means of altering their original form). As
well as a body's physical shape, clothes could be copied or altered too. Not
only their minds but also their physical essence could be translated to the new
body, leaving their cactus form wilted and shrivelled. For his attempt to
recover the Dodecahedron from Tigella (see below) Meglos took on the shape of an
Earthling, George Morris, since Zolfa-Thuran research had shown that the
physiology of Terran humans was particularly malleable. Later, he altered his
new body in order to resemble the Doctor, whom he wished to impersonate. The
physical characteristics and personality of the host organism remain, albeit
subjugated, and can sometimes, if its will is particularly strong, reassert
themselves. If this happens the Zolfa-Thuran partly reverts to the cactoid form,
its flesh sprouting spines. Its essence is then expelled from the host, taking
on the form of a bright green amoeba-like blob which returns to the original
cactus body, revivifying it.
The process eventually has a harmful effect upon the host organism, causing it
to die mentally and physically. For the Zolfa-Thurans to have used it as the
principal means of ensuring their mobility would have necessitated a constant
supply of host bodies which would have to be renewed as they died. The
probabil-ity is that Meglos and his villainous followers used their
shape-changing powers simply as a disguise for use in their nefarious schemes.
For ethical and practical reasons other Zolfa-Thurans probably did not use the
technique unless it was for a short time only and absolutely necessary. They may
have found telekinesis adequate for their needs as well as morally preferable.
The Zolfa-Thurans were also skilled at the production and harnessing of energy.
Their remarkable abilities in this field were eventually to prove their undoing.
The climax of their science was the Dodecahedron, a device in the form of an
immense five-sided crystal which was capable of producing energy in phenomenal
amounts: enough to power, or destroy, an entire galaxy. Originally, it was
intended to serve purely as a power source, but a warmongering faction realised
it had potential as a weapon. During a time when this faction had gained control
five enormous metal screens were built by Meglos to absorb and amplify the power
from the Dodecahedron; by this means the five beams it threw out could be
concentrated on another planet to blast it into dust. With this weapon, the
obscure desert planet could be the supreme power in the galaxy.
Before it could actually be used the peace party, who wanted to use the
Dodecahedron only as a power source, made a bid to seize control from the
warmongers. The result was a civil war which all but destroyed the species;
afterwards all that remained of Zolfa-Thuran civilisation above ground were the
five huge screens which, their purpose forgotten, became something of a
curiosity to space travellers and archaeologists, one of the seven hundred
wonders of the universe.
The only two survivors of the war were Meglos and the leader of the peace party.
The latter stole the Dodecahedron, which could be reduced to any size using a
device called a Redimensioniser, and fled to the neighbouring planet of Tigella
where his ship crashlanded and he was killed. The Tigellans came upon the
Dodecahedron and used it to generate energy, although a religious faction called
the Deons also worshipped it as a god. In his underground laboratory on
Zolfa-Thura Meglos waited patiently for thousands of years for an opportunity to
recover the Dodecahedron (Zolfa-Thurans are a long-lived species). One
eventually came with the arrival on Zolfa-Thura of the Gaztaks, a band of space
mercenaries, whose aid could be enlisted in his plans and whose ship provided
him with a means to leave the planet. The Doctor, of course, thwarted Meglos'
aspirations, and the affair culminated in the death of the last surviving
Zolfa-Thuran when an explosion destroyed the laboratory.
Meglos had some ability to manipulate time, trapping the Doctor in a Chronic
Hysteresis (a form of time loop). As indicated above it is not clear how much of
his amazing abilities were natural to the Zolfa-Thurans, or whether he was just
a particularly clever individual - as with Eldrad and the Kastrians, or Mestor
and the Gastropods.
ZYGONS
Planet of origin: Zygor
Terror Of The Zygons (30 August to 20 September 1975)
Judging from their appearance, the Zygons are most probably descended from some
kind of amphibian species. It is not known for sure whether they retain the
ability to breathe underwater, but the placing of the Skarasen signalling device
on the footings of an oil rig implies this, unless they have developed some form
of craft for submarine travel. They have the ability to deliver a "sting", akin
to a powerful electric shock, which can either stun or kill. The sting can only
be used when the Zygon is in its natural form (as will be detailed below, the
species has developed the ability to change its shape). It is not known if the
Zygons themselves can be affected by it. They are dependent for survival on the
lactic fluid of the Skarasen, a huge reptilian creature native to their
homeworld. Zygon ships on long expeditions to colonise other worlds contain at
least one Skarasen in embryo form, probably cryogenically frozen, which is grown
and reared on the new planet.
Zygons are a long-lived race, with a lifespan of many centuries. Their flesh is
soft and vulnerable and they can easily be killed or injured by bullets or sharp
stabbing implements.
We know nothing about the Zygons' home planet, but it must have been a very hot
world, for in order to make the Earth more like it the Zygons who attempted to
conquer that planet in the late twentieth century needed to raise the
atmospheric temperature high enough evidently causing themselves no discomfort
in the process - to melt the polar ice caps.
Zygons are an intensely arrogant and superior race. Many centuries ago by human
reckoning, their homeworld was destroyed by a supernova. Meanwhile a Zygon ship
commanded by Broton was badly damaged in an accident when on an expedition to
assess the suitability of various planets for colonisation and forced to land on
Earth, where it concealed itself at the bottom of Loch Ness. When the ship's
communications system was repaired the crew received news of their planet's
destruction from another Zygon vessel. Instead of seeking an accommodation with
the native population - inferior species whose feelings need not be taken into
account - the crew decided to conquer Earth and transform it into a replica of
their homeworld. They waited until Man had reached a sufficiently advanced stage
of development for them to be able to use human technology to assist in this
purpose. The Skarasen, released into the Loch when it had attained full adult
size, became the legendary Loch Ness Monster.
The intervening centuries were mostly spent in suspended anima-tion, but the
Zygons were not entirely inactive. One night in 1922 a man staying at the local
inn went off for a walk on nearby Tulloch Moor and was never seen again. In 1870
two brothers named Donald and Robert Jamieson were cutting peat on the Moor when
a mist came down; they were separated and became lost. Donald vanished without
trace while Robert was found two days later, driven insane by fear. It is
probable the missing people either stumbled on the Zygons' presence, which had
to be kept secret until the time was right for them to strike, or were taken by
the aliens in order to test their shapechanging abilities.
Once they had succeeded in their goal the Zygons would broadcast a message
summoning to Earth the other survivors of their race, whose spacecraft roamed
the galaxy in search of suitable new homes for their crews. Pending their
arrival, Broton's men would proceed with the task of transforming the planet's
environment, using the human population as forced labour. Earth's mineral
resources would be employed in the creation of new herds of Skarasen, with
thousands of lakes being constructed for the animals to live in.
Despite the high quality of Zygon technology, and the great advantage given them
by their ability to impersonate the native population, it is not clear exactly
how the Zygons expected their plan to succeed. In their notorious arrogance they
greatly underestimated the difficulty of subjugating the human race. There were
only a few of them inhabiting an ancient and worn-out, despite the repairs they
had managed to effect, spacecraft (though the ship was still able to withstand
depth charges dropped into the Loch by UNIT). The Skarasen was their only really
devastating weapon; nothing short of a nuclear missile strike would have stopped
it. However it is not impossible that world leaders would have risked the
consequences of taking such a step, rather than the humiliation of letting
themselves be dominated by a relatively small force of aliens.
Technically the Zygons are a very advanced species. Their technology has taken a
different path from that of Earth, and much of it is organic, with a crystalline
element. Their spacecraft and indeed most of their technology are probably
grown, from single cells, rather than built. Captives of the Zygons find
themselves imprisoned in cells where tentacle-like protrusions which are
seemingly part of the ship itself emerge from the walls to wind around their
limbs and pinion them (note the parallel with Axos).
The fusion of the organic and crystalline elements of their tech-nology is
accomplished by a process called organic crystall-ography.
This kind of technology has one serious drawback; the high organic content means
it is sensitive and easily damaged. Since they are always living in a largely
organic environment, Zygons have a constant fear of fire, which has a
particularly destructive effect upon their surroundings.
A notable example of Zygon biotechnology, apart from the Zygon ship itself, was
the calling device for the Skarasen. This was mobile and able to extrude
tentacles which fastened themselves immovably to the skin of a particular person
so that the Skarasen, by following the signal it transmitted, could locate and
destroy them.
Perhaps the Zygons' most formidable asset is their ability to shape-change. This
is not natural but is accomplished through special machinery, with presumably a

degree of genetic engineering involved also. Although physically identical to
their originals, the replicas have one disadvantage - their obvious lack of
human emotional awareness may arouse suspicion. For a human being to be
successfully copied, the original must first be captured and a "print" taken
from them. It is then kept connected to the duplication machinery, alive but in
suspended animation, so that the print can be renewed when reuired. The death of
a replica produces an autonomous reflex in the original, who convulses
violently, and the body-print mechanism also fuses, causing it to revive and at
the same time releasing the tentacles which bind the captive to the machinery.
Zygons can copy the memories, as well as the bodies and voices, of humans and so
can perform most human functions, such as driving. They find the human form
physically repulsive, as well as uncomfortable after a while, and so don't like
adopting it.
On planets where the Zygons are performing covert operations with a view to
conquest, they can disperse the molecules of one of their kind by remote
control, should they be killed, in order to prevent discovery by the indigenous
population.
They have developed a localised and powerful nerve gas which can render
unconscious anyone within a certain area. The gas is harmless and those affected
by it soon recover.
Their ships are also equipped with jamming equipment which prevents the craft
from being tracked using radar or a similar system (and causes a complete radio
blackout in the immediate area).
The New/Missing Adventures

CHARRL
Planet of origin: Alya
Nigel Robinson, Birthright (W H Allen 1993)
The Charrl are bipedal, exoskeletonic insects with multifaceted eyes and thin,
rasping voices. They walk on their powerful hind legs, with which they can
propel themselves forward in massive leaps like a grasshopper. They have
sensitive antennae - especially receptive to smell - which are normally wrapped
tightly around their heads, but unfold and expand in response to a particularly
powerful stimulus. They live in habitats called Hives.
Charrl tend to smell of ammonia, which humans find distasteful and which can
poison the atmosphere of planets unlike their own, although it has to be said
that they find the stench of mammals equally unpleasant. Their saliva contains
acid which ignites on contact with air and can be a deadly weapon when spat at
an enemy.
At the same time they are extremely strong and their razor-sharp claws can
inflict serious damage on mammal tissue. You don't want to get on the wrong side
of a Charrl if you can help it.
They have long lifespans which can be as much as 3000 years, unless the Charrl
simply reckon time differently from humans. Their life cycle involves larval and
pupal stages. They are very fertile and a single Charrl can have as many as 1200
children. If necessary their eggs can be injected into a mammal's body where
they hatch, the host giving birth to a live Charrl larvae.
The Charrl are social creatures, and in common with many Earth insects are
highly organised. Their society is stratified according to an individual's
abilities and function. There are worker Charrl, at five feet tall much smaller
than others of the race, who perform a variety of tasks necessary for the
maintenance of the Hive, and warrior Charrl whose function is to defend it and
especially the vulnerable grubs and pupae. All are presided over by a royal
family led by a female monarch whose full title is Queen of the Hive Imperial
and Stewardess of the Noble Race of the Charrl, and who is believed to have been
chosen by the Goddess, the Charrl's principal deity, to be Protectoress of
whatever planet the Charrl currently inhabit.
The Hives where the Charrl live are giant pyramid-shaped mounds of earth similar
to those built by termites. Each can contain as many as 100,000 of the species.
Masterpieces of natural engineering, they are riddled with thousands of tiny
tunnels which lead from the centre of the Hive to open out on its surface; hot
oxygen-poor air from the centre rises up them to be replaced by the much cooler
air from outside, which circulates throughout the Hive by means of the tunnels.
Though they are technologically advanced, the Charrl have of late preferred to
concentrate on developing their psychic abilities, which are now considerable.
Their nine "Chronomancers" use those abilities to communicate telepathically
across time, harnessing the power of the mind to create bridges between
different places and time zones, with an enormous ball made from some opaque
material acting as a focus. Intentionally or otherwise the Charrl can pass on
the powers to someone of another species by biting them, which injects the
victim with their DNA.
The Charrl are essentially peaceful beings who revere all life. According to the
mysterious time-traveller known as Muldwych, who befriended them, they are "the
noblest species this galaxy has ever known. The race of the greatest poets and
the finest philosophers. The race of the faithfulest friends, and creators, so
they say, of over 300 of the 699 wonders of the Universe. Never once in over
5000 years did they go to war with another race except in self-defence." They
will however hunt and kill other species if required for food, also ingesting
whatever psychic abilities the victim may have. Humans provide a particularly
rich source of protein. Captives are drugged - how is not recorded - and placed
in a nursery within the Hive to become food for the new grubs as soon as they
hatch.
The Charrl do not like to break their word if they can help it, but will resort
to deceit and subterfuge if it is necessary for their survival.
The Charrl are undoubtedly an artistic race, and the following description of
part of the interior of a Hive, as seen by the Doctor's companion Ace and her
fellow freedom fighters against the Charrl on Earth, is worth quoting: "They
stood in a narrow corridor whose walls were coverd with gossamer threads of gold
and azure which twinkled and floated gently in the breeze from the tunnels. In
the ceiling above them fluorescent stones had been set into elaborate mosaics,
giving them not only light to see by but, if they had examined them more
closely, a picture history of the Charrl and their legends. From somewhere far
off came the tinkling of chimes, which were strangely musical and soporific in
the warm air."
The original homeworld of the Charrl was Alya, a beautiful planet renowned for
its flower forests and honey pools. Solar flares forced them to leave it for
Antykhon - a future Earth devastated by pollution and nuclear war - which due to
the radiation which had poisoned the soil proved to be equally inhospitable.
Using the powers of the Chronomancers they attempted to travel back through
Earth's past to a time before the disaster and conquer it then; the Doctor was
able to find them an alternative home, but not before several Earth women had
been impregnated with Charrl eggs - the means by which the Charrl intended to
take over the planet. At least one gave birth successfully, and decided to look
after the grub as her own child, but what became of it is not recorded.
CHELONIANS
Planet of origin: Chelonia
Gareth Roberts, The Highest Science (W H Allen 1993)
Gareth Roberts, Zamper (W H Allen 1995)
"Cybernetics; the blind alley of the organic sciences. Add a little genetic
coding to incorporate sexual characteristics for improved reproductive
efficiency and you have a typical Chelonian: broody, hungry and bad-tempered."
The Doctor
The Chelonians are tortoise-like reptilian creatures who have evolved into a
militaristic and highly aggressive race. Their technology is in some ways crude,
in others highly advanced. Their clumsy, ponderous natural form has been
augmented with cybernetic implants, fitted on reaching maturity, to produce more
effective soldiers. They have also altered their genetic code to make themselves
hermaphroditic, every Chelonian being capable of bearing children; this is
considered a far more efficient means of reproduction. All Chelonians refer to
each other by the masculine pronoun, but parents are invariably "mothers" and
their children "daughters". Eggs of those who for one reason or another, such as
promotion to a higher rank in the army, do not have the time to look after
children are placed in the care of foster mothers.
The Chelonians' ancestors originated in swampland and they still require moist,
muddy patches to lay their eggs in. Hatching takes place in cycles.
Their limbs are powered by crude hydraulic units, connected to a motor grafted
onto the plastron of the Chelonian's shell, for greater speed. They also have an
enhanced visual and auditory capacity, enabling them to detect the presence of
other life forms through walls by their body heat and overhear their
conversation. From their internal implants a chemical called amyl-atol can be
injected at will into the bloodstream before a battle, or when suffering from
war-weariness, to heighten aggression and make for greater combat effectiveness.
The substance is potentially explosive and if surrounded and outgunned a soldier
can use his cybernetic equipment to increase his internal body temperature,
detonating the amyl-atol and blowing up both himself and the enemy in an act of
self-sacrifice.
Egg-laying is artificially stimulated, at the appropriate time, with a drug
called fertizol; if this does not happen, and the brood cycle is not
deactivated, a hormonal imbalance results which can lead to erratic and
dangerous behaviour, the Chelonian becoming crazed with bloodlust. This is
especially dangerous in a soldier who has already been injected to full capacity
with amyl-atol, and is called entering the Time Of Blood.
All these cybernetic mechanisms produce a constant grinding, clanking noise,
which while making the lumbering Chelonians appear clumsy also adds to the air
of brute menace which renders them them threatening despite their comical
appearance.
When operating their spacecraft and other vehicles, Chelonians are supported in
padded harnesses which suspend their front limbs over the main instrument panel
while the hind feet operate other functions by manipulating levers built into
the floor. Although they walk bipedally Chelonians see themselves as possessing
four legs, rather than two legs and two arms, so to them a handgun is a
"footgun".
Their shells are painted to denote military rank, function or social status; the
colours of the low-born are dull, whereas generals for example have a red
stripe. Masters-at-arms in the army have a silver shell. As with other
martially-inclined races like the Sontarans, soldiers are accorded a special
place within society; the eggs of a high-ranking officer are usually among the
first to hatch on conquered worlds. It is common practice to cremate them if
addled.
Chelonians like to boast, not entirely accurately, that they do not kill each
other. They reserve their hatred for all non-reptilian life forms, who they call
"Parasites", and when in their company will freely take things from them without
asking, e.g food. They have a childish streak and as well as refusing to accept
that "Parasites" have anything about them to recommend them will often quarrel
among themselves. According to the Doctor, defeat in their wars against
supposedly inferior humanoid races demoralised the Chelonians and they started
to fight each other. Finally they gave up warfare and became useful members of
interplanetary society, as well as the greatest florists in the galaxy. As with
the Ice Warriors, a few bands of renegades seek to overthrow the pacifist ruling
party and return Chelonia to its rightful path of universal conquest and
domination.
Mif is a Chelonian deity, and Gaf the Chelonian word for Hell.
HITH
Planet of origin: Hithis
Andy Lane, Original Sin (W H Allen 1995)
The Hith are an intelligent species of slug, some eight long, who move along by
means of a single muscular basal foot. Their eyes are mounted on retractable
stalks which twitch to indicate pleasure. They have blue blood, five stomachs, a
lymph pump instead of a heart and cilia around their mouths for transferring
food to them. Their bodies are covered with mucus which dries out during stress
or after death, leaving the skin dry, sore and cracked. They turn a dirty grey
colour when embarrassed. Old Hith tend to be pinkish and wrinkled.
The mucus they secrete has adhesive properties which enable a Hith to negotiate
or attach itself to any surface, including ceilings and sheer walls, and also
generally assists movement by providing leverage. The Hith once had shells and
the vestigial remains of these are still to be seen on their tails. Damage to
this vestigial shell or its violent removal causes systemic nervous shock and
will either kill a Hith or send it into an irreversible coma. Hith can also be
despatched by a blow to the base of the eyestalks, which results in extreme pain
followed by death, the process taking place over several hours.
Hith dislike company, even that of their own kind, and have no personal friends.
They have a saying, "a lonely Hith is a happy Hith". The layout and ergonomics
of their spacecraft, and other workplaces, are so designed as to permit the
minimum of contact between personnel. As might be expected, they are at their
most uncomfortable in crowds. Sexual intercourse is always casual, there being
no long-term relationship between the partners; when the urge to reproduce is
felt a male tends to impregnate any female he chooses. The skin on his side
puckers to form a row of lumps each of which fires an impregnating dart at her.
The species is hermaphroditic, individuals periodically changing sex from male
to female and back.
The stubborn individualism of the Hith enabled them to survive the mistreatment
meted out to them by other races, but probably prevented them from acting
collectively in their own defence, resulting in their conquest by the Earth
Empire. Their homeworld was terraformed and the remnants of the Hith left
wandering the galaxy in whatever spaceships they could beg, borrow or steal.
Thousands of poor Hith immigrants flooded into Earth's cities where they earned
meagre wages performing menial tasks, and were generally despised. To
commemmorate and protest at their dispersal, they gave themselves names like
Powerless Friendless or Homeless Forsaken Afraid and Alone.
The Hith are capable of advanced technology, which they eventually used to
strike back at Earth, until the Doctor was able to broker an understanding
between them and the humans. It is partly organic in nature, and the control
nexus for their spaceships is very often a living creature, genetically
engineered for the purpose.
HOOTHI
Paul Cornell, Love And War (W H Allen 1992)
The Hoothi are a species of sentient fungus, resembling giant puffballs with a
cluster of tentacles at their base, whom the Doctor hints may have been
artificially created, although their exact origins are a matter of conjecture.
They exist as parasites, reproducing by converting the cellular structure of
other species to their own in the manner of a virus. By this means they were
able to conquer various worlds, farming the native population like livestock to
provide a permanent supply of host bodies.
A mature Hoothi can release thousands of spores, tiny white filaments which
drift through a planet's atmosphere and either individually or in the form of a
huge cloud can infect both living and dead matter and reanimate the latter. Each
spore is fully a living thing rather than inert, can penetrate clothing, and is
capable of limited movement.
The Hoothi are telepathically linked, forming a group mind into which that of
any sentient being who becomes one of them is absorbed. They are thus able to
inherit the knowledge and memories of their victims. The process is comparable
to what seems to happen with victims of the Krynoids, physical possession being
accompanied by mental slavery. An individual Hoothi may act as repository and
control nexus for the group mind within its sector of the galaxy.
The group mind is able to control the rate and extent of the infection. It is
not always considered necessary for the victim to physically become a full
Hoothi and the shrivelled husk of their original form may remain at the heart of
the new organism, depending on how advanced the process is. Those beings with
legs may retain them for greater mobility. Infected humans tend to be lumbering,
tentacled creatures with huge mushroom-shaped heads.
The Hoothi are capable of human-like speech, possessing an opening in their
bodies which serves as a mouth, the fibres stretched across it vibrating
whenever they talk. However their hoarse, hissing voices suggest the effort is
painful for them and they prefer to use partly transformed humans as
intermediaries when communicating with that species.
The Hoothi can absorb not only knowledge from living minds but also that which
remains in the brain of a corpse for a few moments after death. Either a live
person or a reanimated corpse can act as a carrier for the infection and become
a Hoothi. The full transformation can be delayed so that the enemy don't realise
anything's wrong until it is too late; at any time, however, a psychic signal
from the group mind can trigger it. Until then, a person may not even know they
are infected, although their knowledge can be accessed at any time and they may
on occasions undertake tasks for the Hoothi without being aware of what they're
doing. Willingly or not infected people act as spies for the Hoothi, gathering
information that will be of use to them and communicating it telepathically. The
psychic command can trigger either a physical change or a purely mental one.
It is not known whether individual Hoothi spores themselves possess a degree of
awareness, and can therefore function as part of the collective mind.
Over time, Hoothi spores have by one means or another travelled to all parts of
the known Universe. Anyone you meet may be infected by the Hoothi, with or
without realising it. Through this means the creatures have assimilated a vast
store of knowledge which makes them extremely dangerous. Although any life form
can become a Hoothi, they find it easier to work with those which possess a
complex nervous system, simple non-sentient creatures often being unable to
perform detailed tasks.
The Hoothi can also infiltrate other group minds. A cunning and opportunistic
species, they saw the advantage to themselves of Puterspace, a kind of Virtual
Reality computer program which allows its users to experience collective
hallucinations of a pleasant nature, while at the same time serving as a means
of transmitting information in the same way as the Internet. When an infected
person uses the Puterspace net, their mind can be used to plant messages there.
By this means the Hoothi can take over artificial intelligences, establishing
links with other computer systems and assuming control over them. In the Heaven
crisis they used this ability, in conjunction with their infected agents, to
scramble the launch codes of all the local military's weapons systems and leave
the planet defenceless in the face of their invasion.
Those Hoothi present in Puterspace can absorb the mind of someone who has
entered it; they then control his body, which if possible serves as a carrier
for the physical infection, from inside the network as well as acting as the
Hoothi's agent in Puterspace.
The Hoothi's psychic signal is very powerful, especially when a number of them
are attempting to communicate, and often so strong that it can be heard as a
series of deceptively sweet and melodic musical tones. As well as trigger the
transformation of infected life forms, it can transmit messages and instructions
to other Hoothi. It is capable of travelling considerable distances across
space. The creatures' psychic powers can be used as a defence, deterring
attackers by inducing a feeling of unease and depression in them.
Like other fungi the Hoothi feed on dead matter. It is said they evolved on a
world where climatic changes wiped out all other forms of life in cycles; in
surviving and adapting to this holocaust they turned death into a science,
indeed a whole way of life (so to speak). Much of their technology is made from
reanimated dead matter, or sometimes living material that has been re-engineered
(the Hoothi appear to be highly skilled at genetics). Organic fibres carry
electronic impulses which transmit images across space in the same way as a
television network.
The principal constituent of their diet is blood, which they obtain from their
living or recently dead slaves; the former, both mentally and physically
possessed, are instructed to injure or kill themselves so that the blood falls
into a channel within Hoothi habitats along which it flows to the creatures.
The Hoothi travel in giant spheres, dirigibles inflated by the mixture of gases
which they breathe as well as, probably, those given off by the rotting bodies
of their dead slaves. The spheres are vast, each the size of a small moon, and
like all Hoothi habitats are fashioned from parts of corpses. The surface is
skin, stretched across a framework of bone which keeps it rigid. Internal
structures, stairways and the like, are likewise fashioned from arrangements of
bones bound together by muscle. The whole construction is held together, and
propelled through space, by the psychic will of the Hoothi. The dirigibles are
difficult for an enemy to detect as they are silent and stealthy in their
movements, while tracking systems can be confused by the Hoothi's psychic
powers, preventing them from picking up the craft.
Each sphere contains four Hoothi and as many slaves as there is room for. It has
a group consciousness of its own, which is also a part of the greater Hoothi
consciousness. Non-Hoothi prisoners, if needing for a time to be kept alive and
uninfected, are surrounded within a transparent bubble of protoplasm that
filters out the gases, lethal to most other life forms, which fill the interior
of the sphere and also contains the chemicals they need to survive. Enslaved
captives are genetically engineered to give off a phosphorescent light for
illumination or to serve as parts of supporting structures.
After losing a major war with the Time Lords, after which the Gallifreyans
threatened to time-loop the worlds where they had settled, the Hoothi escaped
into hyperspace in their spheres to re-emerge millions of years later on the
ironically named, as it turned out, planet Heaven. Through their control of
Puterspace and the activities of their infected agents they manipulated the
great powers of the Milky Way galaxy into sending their dead there, altering the
chemical composition of the soil so that it better preserved dead matter (making
it possible for the Hoothi to animate it and use its knowledge), and
transforming it into a verdant paradise so that it would seem both a fitting
resting place for the deceased as well as a desirable habitat for the living
(the decay of the buried corpses helped to further nurture the soil, making it
ever more green and lush). When the time was right, the psychic signal was sent
out and a huge army of new Hoothi was born, forming a colony from which the race
could spread out and conquer the galaxy, crushing all resistance.
Though impervious to energy weapons such as plasma rifles, Hoothi like most
organic things are vulnerable to fire. The gases within their habitats and
travel spheres are highly flammable and igniting them will cause a massive
explosion, destroying the creatures' physical bodies. The Time Lords used this
method to defeat them, as did the Doctor when he encountered them on Heaven.
Although their plans have suffered a major setback, their group mind will
however live on as long as there is just one body for a Hoothi to inhabit. Only
the complete physical destruction of the race - including presumably every
single one of their spores - can permanently neutralise them as a threat. As the
spores are scattered throughout many galaxies, it would be a difficult task.
Meanwhile, it is an awesome thought that unless all the Hoothi were destroyed on
Heaven, which seems unlikely, thousands of souls must remain trapped helplessly
trapped within the group mind of the race.
PHRACTONS
Daniel Blythe, Infinite Requiem (W H Allen 1995)
The true form of the Phractons has never been fully seen, but they would appear
to be multi-eyed, tentacular creatures, bluish in colour, with flat wedge-shaped
head structures. They possess mouths, but their speech is probably mechanically
aided. Their bodies wasted and dessicated due to disease, they are heavily
dependent on cybernetic technology, inhabiting transparent mobile globes packed
with complex machinery and circuitry which tends to obscure the creatures
themselves from view. The globes are fitted with weaponry which may be used in
wartime either defensively or offensively. They can travel through aerospace or
be incorporated into tank-like ground vehicles.
The organic form of the Phractons is so heavily enmeshed in the equipment within
their globes that it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins.
However, unlike other cybernetic races such as the Daleks and Cybermen the
Phractons have not become so dependent on their technology as to lose their
"humanity", and can still feel pain and emotion. Each one conceives of itself as
a separate entity and can form attachments and loyalties, though they also have
a powerful group awareness (Phractons refer to themselves collectively as the
Swarm).
Apart from a few extremists, the Phractons are a moral race who only go to war
against others when sheer necessity demands it. During the conflict they
generally avoid causing unnecessary suffering to the enemy or to civilians
caught up in the fighting. A conflict between Phractons and Earth Humans over a
substance called Porizium, which the former needed for ailing members of their
race, was exacerbated for her own amusement by a telepathic superbeing called
Shanstra who used her powers to infiltrate the Phractons' mental network and
incite the more susceptible members of the race to unprovoked aggression,
preventing a peaceful solution, until the Doctor defeated her.
Phractons have personal names, which are difficult to pronounce due to their
multiple inflexions, sixteen of which are beyond the capacity of other races to
handle since they involve organs and means of communication only the Phractons
have developed. When dealing with other species they therefore refer to
themselves by simple titles denoting function or rank, such as Commandant for
military leaders.
Though not physically linked the personal computers to which the brains of
individual Phractons are connected can communicate with one another across
space, forming something akin to the Internet. In a way they are a group mind,
which can assimilate, assess and communicate information at a faster rate than a
human computer and also controls all the Phractons' technology including their
various craft and vehicles. It can be used to send emotional signals indicating
anger, displeasure or satisfaction, and if the emotions are negative the
experience can be an unpleasant one for the Phracton on the receiving end. They
can even kill if intense enough, especially if a number of Phractons link minds
and work in concert, and cause disruption to the creatures' equipment.
Inhib-itors can be placed in the neural software to prevent this, but are not
always effective.
The Commandant is the nerve-centre of the network. He or any other Phracton can
detach themselves from it to avoid mental attack and in order to have some
private mental space in which to think when difficult decisions are required.
RY'LEHANS
Planet of origin: Ry'leh
Andy Lane, All-Consuming Fire (W H Allen 1994)
The inhospitable planet of Ry'leh has produced a curious race of beings with
sac-like bodies, the skin of which is baggy and wrinkled, supported five or six
feet above the gound on five spindly legs. Each leg has five joints and each
joint is composed of two hinges, one above the other, acting in different planes
so that the limbs can move in any direction. Ry lehans have no apparent mouths
but are capable of speech, by what means exactly is not known. A small membrane
beneath their bodies is observed to pulsate whenever they talk. The voice is
hissing and sibilant, punctuated with clicks to indicate agreement or
satisfaction with something.
Their blood vessels are arranged not like the branches of a tree, as with human
beings, but in the form of a cobweb. They can move at a speed faster than the
human eye can follow, which probably indicates that they were once preyed upon
by hunters of some sort, and had to evolve a means of escaping these enemies.
Their rulers, the Great Cogitators, discovered that travel between worlds was
possible by using certain sounds which resonated at the basal frequency of the
cosmos. These sounds can pull together areas of space which are separate,
creating gateways a person can pass through. The Rylehans claim to be peaceful
philosophers who keep themselves much to themselves, and do not encourage
visitors. How much of this is true is a matter of conjecture, since those who
sought the help of the Doctor and Sherlock Holmes in Victorian London, claiming
their homeworld was under attack from an evil force, in fact turned out to be
mercenaries who were in alliance with it and seeking to use the dimensional
gateways as a path to universal conquest.
SELACHIANS
Planet of origin: Ockara
Steve Lyons, The Murder Game (BBC 1997)
Steve Lyons, The Final Sanction (BBC 1999)
"One day the Great Mother swam with her children. She showed them the World, and
it was beautiful indeed. They admired its crystal spires and coral mountains.
They waved in cheerful greeting to its happy people.
"The Great Mother told her children of the Second World, which lay above the
World they knew. Into the Second World passed the souls of the wicked. No living
Ockoran could travel to that barren place. But in the dry hearts of its denizens
there festered a vile hatred for the brightness and purity of the children.
"Much time passed. Despite the Great Mother's warnings, many innocent children
fell into the webs of the Evil Ones and were dragged into the Second World
before their time. The Ockoran fathers asked the Great Mother why they could not
fight back. However the Great Mother was wise. She knew that such an action
would despoil the First World for ever."
From the legends of the Ockoran people
The story of the inhabitants of the planet Ockora, and their presumed final
destruction, is one of the saddest episodes in the Doctor's many lives.
The Selachians, as they came to be generally known, evolved originally within
the planet's oceans, showing no interest in colonising the land. They have
slender, streamlined bodies, a pinkish-white in colour, with crested heads that
taper to blunt points. They possess no legs, using their tails and the movement
of their long, spindly forelimbs, each ending in three fingers which are really
stubby tentacles, to propel themselves through the water (those who have not
been surgically augmented use their arms to pull themselves forward when on
land, at the same time wriggling along on their stomachs). Their faces are
vaguely human in appearance although there is no nose, the mouth is a thin
lipless slit filled with tiny sharp teeth and the narrow eyes a jet black. Their
blood is violet. Females have darker crests than males, and their gills are a
slightly different shape. Ockorans have long lifespans (and therefore long
memories, as their enemies found out to their cost).
An Ockoran's eyesight appears to be keen both on land and underwater, although
the viewscreen of their battlesuit, when worn, tends to limit peripheral vision.
Though they have been likened to sharks - a comparison which the Selachians
encourage for their own purposes, as we will see later -they are in fact
genetically closer to the dolphin. They appear to be mammals although they have
gills like fish and their young are called "hatchlings", suggesting they lay
eggs.
For millennia the Selachians existed perfectly happily in their idyllic
underwater environment. Then their homeworld was visited by the Kalarians,
another race from the same star system, who turned Ockora into a giant holiday
resort. The Kalarians are tall, slender humanoids with white hair, pinkish skin
(mottled with white when old) and three webbed fingers on each hand. Like the
Selachians they have no noses and their eyes are a deep black colour. There
would appear to be a genetic similarity between the two species, due either to a
common ancestry or the conditions prevailing within their star system, but they
do not recognise any kinship with each other and in fact events led to their
becoming bitter enemies.
At first the Kalarians did not realise the Selachians were intelligent, hunting
and killing them for sport (a dubious enough pastime in itself, perhaps). They
mistook the speech-song of the Ockorans for something like the means of
communication used by whales and dolphins, and not a sign of true sentience.
Slaughtering Selachians became an international sport on some planets, and
people from all parts of the system would travel to Ockora purely for the
purpose of doing so.
The Great Mother now refuted her former pacifist beliefs. As the Selachians saw
it, the only way for them to defend themselves was to strike back, to dominate
or destroy all air-breathing organisms and not just those from their own star
system. In order to do so they were forced not only to leave their aquatic homes
and venture into open air but also become an advanced spacefaring race. This
meant a long hard struggle to overcome the limits imposed by a form evolved to
suit a marine environment, and by that environment on the development of
technology. The process took many centuries, during which the Selachians
continued to suffer grievously at the hands of Kalarians and others, but they
persevered with fanatical determination and eventually became one of the few
aquatic races to have developed beyond a Level Two civilisation.
Their warriors underwent surgery to remove their tails so that they could walk
bipedally using exoskeletal armoured body suits equipped with artificial,
hydraulically-powered legs. These provide protection both within a planet's
atmosphere and in space, being filled with water as, apart from the top deck
which is kept dry in case the Selachians need to entertain air-breathing
visitors, are the Selachians' spacecraft - which can also double as submarines -
and their land vehicles. The latter are amphibious and can travel with ease over
both dry land and the seabed.
A row of metallic nodules is implanted on a Selachian's back, via which its
nervous system is connected with its battlesuit and can operate its various
functions.
The suits contain nanobites which attack and neutralise those developed by the
Terran Security Forces to penetrate and molecularly disassemble their fabric.
They are electrified as a further defence. At the same time an electrostatic
connection between their boots and the floors within their spacecraft and other
habitats keeps them from falling over if something should rock the installation
violently.
In an aquatic environment such as that of their spacecraft augmented Ockorans
will sometimes discard their suits and take a dip, provided they are not
threatened, but the loss of their tails means they cannot swim so proficiently
as before as it has left them unbalanced. They are therefore at a disadvantage
in underwater combat, with or without the protection of the suit. A blow to the
tip of their bullet-shaped head - their "nose" - will cause pain and force them
to retreat, as with a Terran shark.
In the suit their movements underwater are clumsy, because of the friction
created by its bulk (its unwieldiness is also a problem generally). In air an
unprotected Selachian is of course vulnerable and will die within minutes unless
returned to the water.
Selachians are not especially tall when standing upright, and the resulting
squat appearance of their suits gives an impression of tremendous, compact
strength and power. This would be to their satisfaction, since their aim is to
frighten people. They have decided to name themselves after and to emulate the
marine creature most commonly feared among humans, in order to give themselves a
psychological advantage and in revenge for having to themselves experience the
fear of persecution. Snarling mouths full of razor-sharp teeth are painted on
the helmets of their suits, and on their spacecraft, and mounted on the back of
the suits is a huge shark-like fin - which also serves a practical purpose,
containing equipment for breaking down air molecules and thus oxygenating the
water within the suit. The tinted viewscreens of the helmets, looking like
sinister red eyes, round off the overall image of evil and menace.
A Selachian spacecraft, or "warcraft", its hull a sleek glossy black, resembles
some huge predatory monster of the deep, moving through the black void of space
as easily as it does the Stygian depths of Ockora's oceans.
Filtered by the hydrophones within their suits, their speaker systems and
translation equipment, the Selachians' voices sound faint and indistinct and the
words difficult to understand, the breathing harsh and laboured. Without them,
they are beautiful. Selachians do not so much speak as sing to one another:
"The Selachian told Jamie his name. And he was right: Jamie could not understand
it, nor even have stood a chance of repeating it. It was a name that couldn't
have been formed by a human larynx: a haunting, beautiful symphony, compressed
into a second but with a resonance that would live for an eternity." (The Final
Sanction p165)
As might be expected the Selachians are accomplished musicians. They also love
poetry and art.
The term "Selachians" is not strictly accurate when applied to the race as a
whole. It is rather the name chosen by the armoured Ockorans, the warriors - who
do not include females among their number. Following the death of the Great
Mother at the hands of the Kalarians their society is male-dominated and little
is known about the women; it would be interesting to find out whether they share
the same martial and unreasonably aggressive attitude as their menfolk. Mates
are chosen by the male and impregnated within a set time, probably at a special
ceremony. Men in positions of authority are known as Fathers.
The warriors lament no longer being able to perform effectively in their natural
environment, but see it as a burden they must put up with if their race is to
achieve its goals. In undergoing their physical self-mutilation, however, they
have become mentally twisted and debased.
Selachian warriors carry plasma rifles and also have tubular plasma guns,
neurologically operated, fitted to each arm of their battlesuit. Their
spacecraft are equipped with a larger version of these weapons, which can blast
a hole clean through the surface of a planet. The ships are powered by
gravitational forces, like those of the Tzun.
As with the Zygons, who seem also to have evolved in an undersea environment,
much of the Selachians' technology involves the bioengineering of marine life
forms. The wiring of the electronics in their battlesuits and spacecraft appears
to be a network of living fibres, strands of some seaweed-like aquatic plant.
Instru-ment consoles and engine housings are also organic, looking like huge
dormant sea monsters in the murky environment of a Selachian ship's water-filled
lower levels.
The Selachians can bioengineer a planet's native marine life forms and program
them to attack the local population. One such genetically altered creature
attaches a probe to the brain and shuts down its neural pathways one at a time,
eventually leaving the victim a mindless vegetable. The Selachians'
installations are illuminated by a fungus which gives off a phosphorescent
light; this substance can be made to explode, destroying the installation, if
such is necessary to kill an enemy or prevent Selachian technology from falling
into their hands. Probably also engineered from living matter is the Cloak, a
piece of black slimy material rather like oil which when thrown onto an enemy's
face clings to it obstructing their vision and breathing passages. Perhaps the
nastiest of the Selachians' living weapons are the spores of marine plants which
they sow in clusters underwater, so that they cling to an enemy diver's body and
when the diver returns to the surface and is exposed to air combust, burning the
victim alive.
On land, unaugmented Ockorans wear masks into which water is pumped via a hose
from a green octopus-like creature clinging to the Ockoran's back; the
creature's body serves as a bladder in which the water is stored, the whole in
effect performing the function of an aqualung.
Their home-grown (so to speak) technology is designed to work best in aquatic
conditions; its effectiveness is therefore compromised to some extent.
Conversely, other equipment may be second-hand, bought, borrowed or stolen from
its originators, and as well as defective will not be designed to work
underwater. The Selachians are desperately trying to acquire as many weapons as
they can, engaging in arms dealing in their determined attempts to even the odds
against aerobic life forms in comparison to whom they still feel themselves
disadvantaged. They have had to sell a lot of their technology to raise money
for their martial exploits; the Cloak, for example, was sold to Earth and later
used most effectively against its creators in their subsequent wars with that
planet.
The success of the Selachians in becoming a major galactic power despite these
obstacles is remarkable, and would arouse admiration were it not for the cruelty
which accompanies it.
On their own or conquered planets Selachians live in underwater rock formations
that have been adapted and sculpted to serve as homes, or within the
hollowed-out bases of islands. These habitats have solar panels which somehow
tap and amplify the sunlight filtering down through the water.
In the Selachians' terminology the atmosphere of their planet is known as the
Second World, and space the Third World. Originally the Second World was feared
as unknown territory where monsters and lost souls, who had done wicked things
during their lifetime, dwelt. After the Selachians had become more familiar with
it, and with what lay beyond it, it came to be regarded instead as the paradisal
afterlife where those who had fought bravely for their people and its homeworld
would receive a glorious reward.
After all they had suffered, the Selachians had conceived an implacable hatred
for all air-breathing life forms, and in order to justify this animosity they
also came to regard themselves as superior to them. Accordingly they treat their
prisoners in a degrading fashion, always tying them up on capture using ropes
fashioned from seaweed. To them, all air-breathers are unstrust-worthy and
congenitally cruel and must be eradicated like a plague, wherever they might be
found.
Their enemies little suspected what was going on beneath Ockora's seas until one
fateful year the Selachians emerged from the depths to massacre those taking
part in the annual culling festival. After this Ockora was cordoned off - which
might have been the best solution to the problem - until the Selachians managed
to break out into space and take the other planets of their system in a long and
bloody war which left billions dead. Their insane hatred and suspicion and the
relentless campaign of slaughter and conquest to which it led eventually brought
them into conflict with Earth.
The mistake made by the Selachians was to confuse self-defence with aggression
and thus lose the sympathy of many who might have been inclined to take their
side. This is particularly tragic, and ironic, given that the dolphin has
traditionally been regarded as a gentle, affectionate creature and treated with
respect. Their attitude is hard to understand and also deeply unsettling. In
other races who have been wronged one does encounter from time to time a
willingness to at least attempt some form of reconciliation, reach some
understanding, with the persecutor and guilt at what may have been done in
retaliation for past wrongs. With the Selachians there is nothing. Do they
simply think differently from others, or have they suppressed their benign
emotions through artificial means like the Daleks and the Cybermen?
A conflict which also brought about the death of many humans finally ended with
the destruction of Ockora, to which the Selachians had been forced to retreat,
by the awesomely powerful G-bomb. Though perhaps the weapon should have been
used purely as a deterrent, it is unsurprising that some came to consider
genocide the only way out, given all that had happened. The homeworld's
obliteration is assumed to have meant the extinction of the entire Selachian
race; if there are any Selachians remaining in other parts of the cosmos one
does not like to contemplate what thoughts of revenge they must harbour, and
what to do about these survivors will be a thorny problem perhaps forever.
TRACTITES
Planet of origin: Tractis
Paul Leonard, Genocide (BBC 1997)
The Tractites are intelligent beings who appear to be descended from some kind
of horse-like creature, although in some respects they are more like oxen,
having short curved horns on top of their heads, which appear to serve the
function of ears. The Tractites word for child translates roughly into
English as foal , suggesting they certainly see themselves as horses, while the
shape of their heads and their habit of tossing them back in order to indicate
puzzlement are also equine characteristics. Tractites talk in snorts and
whinnies and sleep on their fronts with their limbs folded beneath them. They
wear clothing across their backs and upper flanks. Their flesh is covered with
short, fine fur which in old age becomes dry and matted.
Tractites are herbivorous, hooved quadrupeds who seem able to walk on two legs
when needs require it (though the evidence is not clear), and thus in warfare do
not suffer from any disadvantage compared to bipedal species. Their
double-jointed forelimbs, each ending in three fingers, allow them a
considerable degree of dexterity. They have four eyes, two large ones on the
sides of the head giving peripheral vision and a smaller pair on the tip of the
snout, used mainly at night and kept closed during the day, for binocular. Both
pairs can be open at the same time in order to see better in poor light, but
here a rocking motion of the head is necessary for the Tractite to gain best
advantage from this. The night eyes do not have an overlapping field of vision
and the larger pair are for peripheral only, though more sensitive and thus able
to function well enough in daytime.
The race are generally bigger and stronger than humans and a kick from one of
their powerful rear legs can seriously injure a person if not kill them. They
are also faster and more agile, able to cover ground much quicker than
two-legged beings and when mecessary perform spectacular leaps through the air.
They may use themselves as beasts of burden or to draw wheeled vehicles, but
have artificially powered craft called skimmers for when really fast travel is
required. A human can ride on their back with ease.
A Tractite s hooves are not fully-formed until adulthood, when leather shoes are
usually worn over them.
Female Tractites have pouches in the manner of marsupials, in which the young
remain, once born, until they are able to move about.
Tractites have a very strong sense of smell and also secrete pheromones, whose
pungent scent is in some way amplified artificially by a network of orbital
relay stations, which take the place of road signs and maps on Earth, so that a
Tractite can more easily locate objects and individuals and find their way home
if lost. Instead of writing, the Tractites paint in their books and on official
notices using materials whose smell and taste, and bright colours, convey
complex messages to the brain. By licking or sniffing a book Tractites and
non-Tractites alike can get a sense of what is being described as if personally
experiencing it, through some kind of psychic influence. The colours give a
general impression of what is going on rejoicing, suffering, killing while
taste is used to communicate specific objects or events. Through licking
information is picked up on the tongue and by the same means can then be copied
or transferred from one book to another.
Tractites live a simple, primarily agrarian way of life but are capable of
advanced technology, including space travel and energy weapons.
The Doctor claims Tractites are among the most civilized and cultured people in
the galaxy. They live in beautiful ethereal cities, wear beautifully woven and
colourful clothing, and surround themselves with beautiful flowers and plants
whose sweet scents are made into perfumes. Their love of beauty, peaceable
temperament and supposed benevolence often results in the Tractites being
compared favourably with the cruel and aggressive Earth Empire; however it must
not be thought that their society is free from abuses. There is a practice by
which Tractite children are viewed as property: they are regarded as owned by
their parents and should the latter die before they come of age are sold along
with the deceased s other possessions like any other commodity. The custom is
not viewed with approval by those who are on the receiving end of it.
Like many species which came into contact with the expanding human empire, the
Tractites have a tragic history. The humans all but exterminated them in a war
over mineral rights, and then an alternative universe created by the Tractites
when they discovered time travel, journeyed into the past and destroyed the
human race at the moment of its creation as a means both of revenge and of
self-protection, afterwards colonizing Earth and calling it Paratractis, had to
be erased by the Doctor, resulting in genocide a second time around. The current
status of the race is unknown.
Tractite society is organized into family clans. Tafalis is a city on Tractis,
and the capital of the planet is Noctutis. Flow-ercakes are an exquisite
Tractite delicacy.
TZUN
Planet of origin: S'Arl
David A McIntee, First Frontier (W H Allen 1994)
David A McIntee, Mission: Impractical (BBC 1998)
As a result of genetic engineering, the species known as the Tzun are split
three ways. Originally they could pass for a human of Asiatic descent, albeit
distinguished by their high domed heads, tall thin bodies, hairless skin and
spindly limbs. When they discovered space travel however, they decided to modify
themselves physically to withstand the G-forces involved, or any accidental
exposure to vacuum. Their astronauts were operated on to collapse their lungs,
recycle their body wastes and replace their natural blood with an artificial
substance that would serve as a shock-absorber. Their DNA was altered so that
their bodies would completely break down all non-essential fats, and their eyes
adapted to react to infra-red and ultraviolet frequencies.
These altered Tzun, called the S'Raph, can withstand a variety of forces that
would easily kill other Tzun. While possessing the same smooth, hairless skin,
long thin arms and legs and epicanthic eyes as the purebloods they are much
shorter, standing three to four feet tall with bulbous heads, grey skin and no
noses. The eyes are larger than those of a pureblood, and deep black in colour.
The S'Raph make up the bulk of the Tzun starfleet, though major operations are
usually led by a Triumvirate of purebloods who have waste-recycling and external
circulatory systems grafted into them so they can survive for long space
journeys in cryogenic suspension and visit planets with a higher gravity and
atmospheric density than the homeworld.
The third variety of Tzun are the Ph'Sor, the result of combining Tzun DNA with
that of whatever planet the Tzun have conquered. Humanoid Ph'Sor usually have
blond hair and eyes of a striking shade of violet. Being better able to pass for
natives, the Ph'Sor are useful in infiltrating the political and military
establishment on planets it is sought to take over, and the Tzun will also work
with unaugmented natives who may sympathise with their aims, or not fully
understand them.
When the Tzun first broke out into space their sector of the galaxy was
controlled by fungoid beings called Darklings, from the planet Yuggoth. War
broke out between the two races, during which the Darklings used a genetic
weapon which corrupted an enemy's DNA causing them to die out. The Tzun emerged
victorious from the conflict, but with a fragile genome which they used their
skills at genetic engineering to stabilise by fusing it with a stronger one,
taking gene samples from other races for the purpose. Thus they acquired the
habit of artificially augmenting themselves in order to become stronger and more
successful. They conquer planets and merge their DNA with that of the native
population, processing the latter into Ph'Sor, who come to think on Tzun lines
and will loyally support their rulers, or into S'Raph for the spacefleet. In
this way the Tzun become adapted to a wider range of environments and at the
same time inherit the skills and knowledge of the species they fuse with.
The Ph'Sor and S'Raph are implanted with qualities such as loyalty and fighting
aggression, along with the collective and individual memories of the Tzun race,
whether pure or augmented, which are updated with each generation. In this way
they can remember people and places they have never met.
The Tzun are also experts in cloning, enabling them to increase the numbers of
Ph'Sor and S-Raph where required, and have perfected mind control for use
whenever the genetic conditioning should for some reason break down.
Tzun spacecraft are powered by gravity waves, which they ride in the same way
radio transmissions do electromagnetic ones. They are made from terullian and
are software-definable, the onboard computers having the ability to create
hatchways and such like, or reabsorb them into the structure of the hull, as
required. Interestingly the Tzun use naval technology to describe their ships,
which are called "gunboats" or "skiffs".
Although among the greatest warriors in history, and able to use their
gravitational and electromagnetic technology as weapons, the Tzun are also
skilled strategists who prefer to achieve their aims by negotiation, or clever
manipulation, rather than by fighting which can be costly in lives and health to
both sides in the conflict. According to their sacred Precepts, they are
dishonoured if they have to result to military force - to aggression - and
should be regarded as having already lost the battle. In their view, diplomacy
is the purest form of warfare. Everything is to be directed towards the peaceful
absorption, genetically and politic-ally, of indigenous populations into the
Tzun Confederacy, without the kind of struggle which may damage the very DNA it
is sought to assimilate - and thus harm the Tzun themselves - especially where
weapons of mass destruction are used. Where this is not possible, the attempt to
conquer a planet must be called off. On 1950s Earth the Tzun's political
machinations, which involved stirring up trouble between America and the Soviet
Union from behind the scenes and then gain humanity's trust and support by
acting to prevent a Third World War, failed to produce the desired result thanks
to the Doctor's intervention. The invasion was then called off.
The Tzun are a highly moral race who think they are acting for the common good,
as well as their own, by giving other peoples the benefit of their own superior
genes, along with their technological and scientific skills. They never however
bother to ask whether the subject wants to be assimilated. Their fault lies in
an arrogant belief that those whose DNA has not been spliced with theirs are at
a disadvantage, and that right-thinking peoples will necessarily come to see
that absorption into the Tzun gene pool is the best way forward.
Their fate is in many ways rather sad. The Tzun Confederacy (an alliance of the
homeworld with its various colonies) was wiped out as a military force by the
Veltrochni, almost the entire species being destroyed, and S'Arl rendered
uninhabitable. The surviving Tzun were unable to be a power in their own right
and for many years were incapable of spaceflight. If successful their attempt at
conquering Earth, in which they were dependent on the Master's help, might have
restored their fortunes but it was defeated by the Doctor. A few scattered Tzun
colonies remain, absorbed into the territory of other powers such as the Terran
Federation, along with an assortment of disparate individuals who roam the
galaxy as bounty hunters and the like. At one point the Tzun are known to have
established mining colonies on three planets of the Reticulum System.
The pureblood Tzun evolved in a blueish light spectrum, and the walls and
ceilings of their bases are usually painted in this colour. Infra-red rays or
sunlight will blind them.
VELTROCHNI
Planet of origin: Veltroch, in the star system Fomalhaut
David A McIntee, The Dark Path (W H Allen 1997)
David A McIntee, Mission: Impractical (BBC 1998)
Although mammalian, the Veltrochni are in some ways closer to their reptilian
ancestors than other mammals, laying eggs like the duck-billed platypus of Earth
and possessing leathery, wrinkled skin. About 8 feet tall and rather
intimidating when first encountered, they have dog-like heads with extendable
jaws and a row of quills like a porcupine's running down their backs from the
tops of their heads. These flatten whenever their owner is displeased, and erect
with a rustling noise when excitement or satisfaction is felt.
Like some species of sloth the Veltrochni are arboreal, living in trees through
whose branches they move with ease, the powerful three-inch claws on their hands
and feet - which can penetrate concrete - enabling them to get a good purchase
on the bark. They are excellent climbers and their claws, which are retractable,
enable them to negotiate any surface whether horizontal or vertical,
outmanouevring less agile opponents.
Veltrochni society is divided into Houses each of which are in turn composed of
several family Packs, whose members are fiercely loyal to one another. The Pack
is the basic social unit and its importance to the race's psyche was
demonstrated for all the cosmos to see when the Tzun, in attempting to establish
a colony on Veltroch, accidentally destroyed Veltrochni breeding grounds while
clearing a bridgehead through what they thought was uninhabited jungle. The
Veltrochni reacted, perhaps excessively, by almost destroying the entire Tzun
species in the war which followed. To them, family is everything.
Nonetheless, they clearly feel a sense of guilt about their actions towards the
Tzun, which has not been fully expiated, and it is partly because of this that
their relations with surviving members of that species are uneasy. It is
expressed in an abhorrence for unprovoked aggression against others, although
the Veltrochni will fight relentlessly and with savagery whenever they are
themselves threatened. The Doctor once said that if something was important
enough to them they would attack and destroy an entire planet to achieve it, but
a question mark must remain as to whether they would really be prepared to take
innocent lives on the scale this would suggest unless their actual survival was
in jeapordy. They are generally an honourable species, and hospitable, allowing
no harm to come to a guest even if insulted by them.
After their experience with the Tzun, the Veltrochni became fearful of invasion
by hostile powers, in particular the expanding Earth Empire which was at that
time guilty of enslavement and oppression on a massive scale. Many of them left
Veltroch as a result, more than half the Packs adopting a nomadic lifestyle,
wandering the galaxies in spacecraft which are commanded by the pack leader
(usually a female). It is partly due to this that the Veltrochni have avoided
annexation by hostile powers, though they are also a politically shrewd species
who uphold their interests through a policy of "divide and rule" rather than
conquest. Wisely they have no imperial or military ambitions themselves, and the
dispersal of the Packs would make these difficult to realise anyway. It should
be noted that the Packs are capable of working together to defend the race as a
whole, or the home planet.
Packs vary in size, but a single one can be spread over many ships throughout
the galaxy, while perhaps having a few of its relatives still on the homeworld.
From time to time Packs within a House may amalgamate to form a new Pack, which
has to apply to the ruler of the House to be recognised as such.
Veltrochni space battlecraft are called Dragons and are equipped with Quantum
lances, plus cloaking devices which can render them invisible. A smaller version
of the device is fitted to the holosuits worn by Veltrochni warriors. Into these
suits, which are made of a flexible exoskeletonic armour, is incorporated a
mechanism enabling their wearers to disguise themselves by projecting a hologram
of another life form or object around them; if no specific image is desired the
suit simply reflects ambient light, rendering the wearer almost invisible and
giving the appearance of a transparent, ghost-like figure which is eerie and
unsettling to an enemy and thus a psychological advantage. The suit is designed
to absorb and re-direct energy, so the weapons employed by species who may be
more advanced merely cause the wearer's image to ripple and waver, making them
even harder to hit. The Veltrochni have developed a simple but effective kinetic
energy weapon which fires darts propelled by electromagnetic power. Its
advantage is that it is silent and there is no muzzle flare which can alert an
enemy to one's presence. In one-to-one combat the warriors of each pack use
axes. It is an interesting question whether the Veltrochni should be regarded as
a species who are in some ways primitive, but turn this to their advantage, or
one whose technology has simply taken a different path.
VORELLIANS
Home Planet: Vorella
Justin Richards, System Shock (W H Allen 1995)
Justin Richards, Millennium Shock (BBC 1999)
The natives of the planet Vorella, in the Frastris region, are intelligent
reptiles descended from a species of snake, although possessing limbs. Like the
humans of Earth they developed an advanced technology, becoming in particular
experts at computer programming. Eventually a computer network known as Voracia,
Vorellian Office Rapid Automated Computer Intelligence Advocate, was set up
linking every business concern on the planet. It was virtually a living
creature, its main operating file having a structure analagous to a genetic
code. In what Vorellans came to call the Great Reckoning, Voracia became
self-aware and decided that organic life forms were inefficient and thus
inferior to itself. It could control everything fitted with a silicon chip -
which on Vorella was by now most things - and through the computer system
virtually took over the planet, replacing as many of the organic Vorellans as
possible with robots, whose only purpose was to serve it. The robots were
designed to resemble the original organic population, who in terms of
physiognomy were better suited to perform necessary manual tasks.
In the way it behaves Voracia can be likened to a sentient computer virus. It
appears on computer screens as an icon in the form of a snake, with which the
user is able to interact. It is not clear whether it is able to survive if the
whole of the computer network which it inhabits is physically destroyed.
There were now effectively two opposing powers on Vorella; Voracia and its
slaves and the surviving organic Vorellans. War broke out between them, the
organics eventually emerging triumphant. Forced to flee the planet, the
Voracians decided to conquer Earth which was developing a computer network every
bit as advanced as Vorella's had been.
Too late to affect the coruse of the war, Voracia had realised that the success
the rebel forces were enjoying was due to the fact that organic life forms still
outperformed technological ones in key respects, making positive use of
qualities such as instinct, pragmatism, camaraderie, team-building and
self-sacrifice. So organic components taken from captured Vorellans were
introduced into the robots, replacing some of the electronic circuitry. Their
brains remained essentially robotic, but the lobes of the organic brain which
were concerned with emotion and intuition were grafted onto them and slaved to
the controlling positronic circuit. At the same time, because of the nature of
the operation, parts of the front of the head were replaced with organic
material.
Some Voracian warriors merely have part-organic brains while others are
completely organic apart from the positronic circuit - their central processor.
A few at least still need to eat or sleep although the thought of either seems
to disgusts them.
The adapted Voracian robots possess emotions, although it is not clear when
these are real and when simulated. They are liable to experience stress as their
intuitive, organic side comes into conflict with the logical reasoning of their
controlling computers. The robots are physically very strong and can break a
person's neck with little effort. Their blood is a green lubricant fluid which
performs much the same function as engine oil.
The Voracians are able to disguise themselves as a planet's native intelligent
life form using prosthetics and artificial skin. They may also if necessary
operate on a member of that species to convert them to the Voracian cause,
removing those parts of the brain concerned with independent thought and
consciousness and replacing them with the positronic circuit, in effective
reversal of the adaptations carried out to Voracia's troops towards the end of
the Vorellan civil war. They become in effect mental Voracians. Disabling the
circuit can restore something of the subject's free will, although whether it is
possible for them to fully regain their previous identity is unknown at present
since no opportunity has yet arisen to attempt this.
Because Voracia originated as an office computer system the Voracians think and
communicate in business terminology; for example, any consideration given to
actions likely to prove advantageous to their cause is a "pilot study", any
long-term policy for conquest a "corporate strategy", and the killing of
hostages taken in wars a "depreciation of assets".
XARAX
Home Planet: Unknown
Paul Leonard, Dancing The Code (W H Allen 1995)
David A McIntee, The Dark Path (W H Allen 1997)
"700 years ago in the time of the Ba'ira Caliphs there came an earthquake in the
lands of the Giltaz. The mountains in Hul-al-Hatar glowed at night and the sky
filled with smoke. It was a visitation of Allah. On the 4th day after the
earthquake a merchant named Ibrahim visited the Hul-al-Hatar. He returned to the
Caliph at Giltat with news that there were magical creatures roaming the
mountains: men with horse's heads, grey lions with metal jaws, and there were
men, or things that looked like men. They walked in the cold of night, and they
smelled of roses and cloves, and their skins were as hard as stone. Ibrahim said
that the creatures, whom he called Al Harwaz, had offered him many things: gold,
spices, slave women. He said that they could imitate anything made by man, and
all these things could be had for no payment; Al Harwaz wanted nothing in
return, except that the men and women of Giltaz should learn a dance, they
called it "dancing the code". In the next months the Giltaz became rich. Al
Harwaz supplied them with spices for themselves and to trade, and gold and
silver and fine hardwoods, and beautiful women who sold for a high price in the
market. They prospered, and it seemed likely that they would continue to prosper
in the years to come. But the Caliph wanted more. He wanted Al Harwaz to assist
him in his endless battle with his enemies, the Kebiriz of the northern marshes.
The Caliph asked Ibrahim to tell Al Harwaz to make weapons: swords, spears, and
Greek fire. Ibrahim supplied the weapons, and also 1,000 stone warriors in the
shape of men. The stone warriors massacred the Kebiriz. One morning after news
of the victory reached Giltat, Ibrahim brought Al Harwaz to the Caliph's Palace.
They showed him the dance, the dance that they wanted the Caliph and his people
to learn. They shook their arms and legs as fast as an insect beats its wings,
so fast that there was a sound, and the sound snuffed out the lamps in the
Caliph's palace and cracked the tiles of the roof. Ibrahim said that they wanted
everyone to dance the code, always, and if they did there would be no more war
and many opportunities for trade. The Caliph did not believe them. He was afraid
of the strange dance, and if the truth be told he was afraid of Al Harwaz. Now
that they had brought him victory he thought he needed them no more, so he threw
the visitors from the walls of Giltat. Their bodies broke like clay dolls and
honey spilled out of them, and the honey smelled of roses and cloves. In the
morning came the punishment for the Caliph's action. The air filled with vast
hordes of flying monsters, circling the bodies of the dead Al Harwaz. And the
strumming of their wings brought all the city of Al Giltaz to ruin, and they
took all the people there. It is said that they walk in the desert, looking for
their souls." From the legends of the people of Kebiria
About the size of a hippopotamus, the Xarax are scorpion-like creatures, insects
but with tails containing a lethal sting. Their bodies are composed of a hard
black chitinous substance which forms a protective carapace around their softer
parts. Besides their three pairs of legs they have two long arms ending in
scissor-like pincers. They are capable of flight.
Like the sentient Charrl they live inside huge mounds of earth like termites,
and are ruled by a Queen. The latter is many times larger than the other Xarax,
and produces honey in the manner of a bee. It is likely that the young Xarax eat
the honey and that the substance determines the form and function they take on
as they mature. The basic purpose of an adult Xarax is that of warrior,
defending the nest and undertaking military operations against other species
when required. The nest is maintained by symbiotic or genetically altered
servo-organisms, some of which may be modified Xarax. These can reconfigure its
structure and layout if desired.
The Xarax communicate by touch, scent, pheromones and gestures, often
transmitting messages to one another by performing an elaborate dance which also
serves as an identification ritual. Their bodily scent has been described as
like roses and cloves, and their blood, which is itself a substance like honey,
has exactly the same smell. They are in some way mentally linked and a non-Xarax
too can share in the thoughts of this communal mind, receiving information from
it and vice versa, through physical contact with the Queen who acts as its
focus.
With the possible exception of the group telepathy all these characteristics
were, we may presume, originally part of the Xarax's natural biology and
behaviour pattern.
There is some controversy over whether or not the Xarax are an intelligent
species. Their behaviour and abilities seems to suggest they are, although the
Doctor says they are merely obeying a highly complex programming. The ease with
which a non-Xarax can fool a Xarax into thinking they are one, simply by
imitating its scent, seems to confirm this estimate. However one is recorded
serving as a crew member on a Galactic Federation spacecraft, and the copies the
Xarax make of sentient life forms inherit the originals' intelligence while
remaining mental Xarax. Perhaps, although intelligent, Xarax are simply
incapable of resisting whatever programming they are subjected to. This proved
fortunate in their second manifestation on Earth, when the Doctor was able to
reproduce in a test tube the antipheromones which cancel or modify the
instructions given by the Queen to her subjects, and inject it into samples of
the honey which he threw at the Xarax knowing they would eat it. This enabled
the infestation to be kept under control.
Through synthesising and imitating the controlling pheromones the Xarax's
behaviour can be modified, for good or evil purposes, by any sufficiently
intelligent species, including twentieth/twenty-first century humanoids. It's
not clear which of their abilities are natural and which have been given them by
others. It appears that some unknown agency brought them from their home planet
to Earth, probably with the intention of making mischief; in their first
manifestation they appear to have been acting on their own account, but this is
far from clear. Afterwards, they seem to have minded their own business.
Unfortunately the accounts of both manifestations are a little confusing in
places; what follows is Professor Thripsted's attempt to explain events as best
one can. It shows that in the wrong hands the astonishing abilities of the Xarax
can certainly be disastrous.
In the wartorn North African state of Kebiria a misguided politician made
contact with the Xarax, who had returned to their underground nest, and
attempted to use them to destroy the terrorists who were seeking to overthrow
his government. The aliens seem to have misunderstood his instructions and
basically attempted to take over the world.
Xarax can imitate anything made by a sentient life form. They can turn organic
material into fissionable, or vice versa, or change living matter from one form
to another, often reworking it into something similar to their own tissue. Most
remarkable of all they can in an incredibly short time, using the memories of
captured individuals who are absorbed into their group mind, copy the technology
of others without detailed analysis or access to sophisticated industrial
facilities - modifying their own bodies to serve as aircraft, helicopters,
tanks, or even a complete nuclear missile, down to the radioactive fuel within
it. A Xarax can be turned into any sort of equipment or machinery, from the
examples given to a radio set or a filing cabinet. However the exoskeletonic
insect anatomy, with its built-in natural armour and proportionate strength when
the creature attains a certain size (which a Xarax can do very rapidly if it
consumes a large enough source of protein such as is found in the honey) makes
the species particularly effective as weapons of war, as those using them for
aggressive purposes have realised.
The tentacles the Xarax can extrude to grasp people are probably not natural
appendages, but another example of bodily modification. It is a disturbing
thought that the slave women mentioned in the account of their first
manifestation on Earth must have been manufactured robots, designed purely to
pleasure their masters in whatever way the latter deemed desirable and evidently
effective at doing so, though where the material came from to create them isn't
clear.
The Xarax can be programmed to make other species, whether human or animal, like
themselves, using the honey secreted by the Queen which can bring about a
physical and genetic change due to the pheromones it contains. Captives who are
to be treated in this way are imprisoned in conversion chambers, egg-shaped
capsules filled with the substance. Unfortunately the process tends to be
harmful to the subject, resulting in illness, disfigurement and disability, the
end product being a grotesque mutant which is unable to survive for more than a
short time. It is not known if it can be arrested/cured. Those affected also
become mental Xarax although they can resist this change for a while, provided
they remain conscious.
Again using the memories of their captives, where it is not possible to copy
direct from the original, the Xarax can create duplicates of other life forms to
act as their agents. These replicas fall into two kinds. The first are
unintelligent soldiers, little more than drones, who essentially resemble the
originals' species but are in fact composed of the same chitinous material, only
more brittle and thus easily damaged, as the Xarax. The second are more accurate
and detailed and can more easily pass for the original, also inheriting its
intelligence. These copies cannot be killed by gunshots. They can rework
themselves, or be reworked, into a more or less detailed version as required. If
the Xarax pheromonal control system is shut off, copies of either kind will die.
The Xarax duplicates, or life forms who are in the process of changing into
Xarax, will attempt to dance the identification code in order to communicate
with one another. In humans this involves moving the head and limbs very rapidly
while the body remains more or less still. Like true Xarax they can also send
messages using gesture and scent. They will from time to time attempt to fly, a
pathetic and grotesque spectacle if their physiognomy makes this impossible. The
advanced duplicates behave just like ordinary members of the original species,
can talk and negotiate with them, and for a time at least are convincing, but
the perfume-like smell of their bodily scents risks giving them away.
The copies leak the "honey" from their bodies when seriously injured. They
appear able to reconstruct a dead or dying enemy as Xarax, their pheromones
probably playing the key role in this process. This ability is presumably shared
with true Xarax.
Anyone coming into contact with the honey, in either of its forms, risks being
turned into a Xarax; once dead the bodies of the copies, of anyone who has been
partly transformed into a Xarax and of the creatures themselves must be
destroyed by burning and physical contact with them avoided, in case of
infection. The same of course applies when they are alive.
There is some evidence that the Xarax can take over humans without first
altering their biology, probably through their scent. This cannot always be
possible, though, since otherwise they would have been less easy to defeat.
Full Xarax cannot be harmed by bullets, but shells and high explosives will
probably be effective against them. They seem vulnerable to fire.
THE BESTIARY OF DOCTOR WHO

ADDENDA - THE NEW SERIES
The sources used for this addition to the Bestiary were the TV series, the
Everything2.com website, and information provided at the BBC's Dr Who exhibition
at Brighton. Some of the latter is taken from Justin Richards' book Doctor Who:
Monsters and Villains, and has therefore been marked with asterisks.
The survey is not yet complete.
CHULA
The Empty Child (21/5/2005): written by Stephen Moffat
The Doctor Dances (28/5/2005): written by Stephen Moffat
Themselves so far unseen, the Chula are a militaristic race who nevertheless
care for their wounded; they are exceptionally skilled at nanotechnology, and
countless trillions of nanobytes (nanogenes) fill the air on board their craft,
constantly repairing damage to tissue caused through war or everyday wear. Chula
have the ability to replicate, in organic form, any physical object or artifact.
The nanogenes can repair any sick or injured life form, and also rewrite its
DNA, which can cause problems as the Doctor found when a Chula hospital ship,
whose functions were completely automated, crashed in London during the Second
World War and the artificial micro-organisms began reconstructing those injured
in the Blitz after the pattern of the first human they encountered - a small
child in a gas mask - whom they mistakenly believed to be typical.
DALEKS
Dalek (30/4/2005): written by Robert Shearman
Bad Wolf (11/6/2005): written by Russell T Davies
The Parting of the Ways (18/6/2005): written by Russell T Davies
Since we last encountered the Daleks they seem to have undergone a number of
important modifications. The whole of a Dalek's upper section, including the
"waist" where the gun is located, can now rotate to bear on a target. The
Dalek's casing can also split open to reveal the creature inside. A Dalek's
ability to interface with computer systems, etc., is not confined to its own
technology (though it may not have been before) and extends to all electrical
equipment. In Dalek it is used to access the whole of the Internet and drain the
entire power supply of the American state of Utah.
Most vital of all, a Dalek can absorb the genetic material of any life form
which is in physical contact with it and use it to grow stronger. This ability
has proved something of a double-edged sword. On accessing DNA from the Doctor s
companion Rose Tyler, one Dalek started to develop human emotions and
consequently to question its motivation; unable to cope with this, it begged the
Doctor to destroy it.
The Daleks have had to assimilate human DNA on a massive scale in order to renew
their numbers following the losses sustained in their recent wars, though they
are angered by any claim that this makes them half-human, regarding it as
blasphemy; they have acquired concepts such as religion and worship their
Emperor - a Dalek mutant floating in a tank of fluid - as a god. The conflict
between the Dalek and human sides of their nature, and their inability to accept
the latter, is driving them insane and perhaps making them even more dangerous
than before.
Water appears able to conduct the energy from a Dalek's gun as if it is
electricity; by firing the gun at a wet surface it can kill anyone standing on
it, within an unknown maximum range.
It is possible to secure a Dalek using chains of a sufficiently strong metal.
GELTH
The Unquiet Dead (9/4/2005): written by Mark Gatiss
The Gelth are stated to have come from "the other side of the Universe",
although what this statement actually means is unclear since the universe, being
endless, cannot have spatially opposite "sides". They originally had a physical
being, but lost it during the Time War which was devastating for higher forms of
life. At the same time the vast majority of the species were destroyed, leaving
just a handful of survivors. The Gelth now exist as insubstantial, vaporous
creatures who are drawn to all forms of gas. They can only enjoy a meaningful
existence by occupying and reanimating dead bodies; occasionally, where
necessary, they can also possess live ones but don't seem to like doing so. They
are also attracted by the gases given off by decaying corpses. Pumping gas into
the air around them will draw them out of their host bodies, and igniting them
and turning them to flame will kill them.
JAGROFESS
The Long Game (7/5/2005): written by Russell T Davies
The Jagrofess are huge, slimy creatures which resemble slugs except that they
possess mouths filled with a multitude of sharp teeth. They have a
three-thousand year lifespan and are highly intelligent. Their huge size means
they generate a lot of body heat which needs to be siphoned off; excess warmth
therefore makes them uncomfortable and can be used to kill them. They are most
comfortable in cool environments. They are also not very mobile and spend most
of their lives stuck to a suitable surface, such as a ceiling.
The full title of the one encountered by the Doctor is the Mighty Jagrofess of
the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. It had been manipulating the human race for
many years by controlling the output of television channels; how exactly it
could do so isn't clear although it appears able to reanimate dead humans and
use them as its agents.
THE MOXX OF BALHOON
The End of the World (2/4/05): written by Russell T Davies
Bulbuous-headed, blue-skinned humanoid life form encountered by the Doctor on
Platform One. A short, squat, corpulent being, he had to travel around in an
anti-gravity chair as his legs were not strong enough to support his body. It is
not known however whether the particular conditions prevailing on individual
planets also affect the Moxx's ability to move about with ease. He is, though,
dependent on a filter system built into the chair which replenishes his bodily
fluids every 25 minutes; if this is not done, he will sweat a substance called
glaxic acid.
His race spit as a form of greeting (the polite thing to do is reciprocate,
impolite though this seems)*.
NESTENES
Rose (26/3/2005): written by Russell T Davies
The Nestenes are still making Autons and Replicas in their attempts to conquer
planets; Mickey, Rose Tyler's boyfriend, is at one point abducted and replaced
with a Replica but is kept alive as a pattern from which a new one can be made
if necessary, explaining why General Scobie wasn't killed in Spearhead from
Space.
A plastic litter bin is seen to grow arms, seize Mickey and drag him into it.
The Nestene Consciousness appears to have itself mutated from the octopoid form
into a huge, shapeless blob of living plastic, which still needs to inhabit a
nutrient tank in order to survive*. Its invasion plans involve bringing plastic
objects to life all over the world. It can only do that by boosting its psychic
energies through focusing on an appropriate structure, preferably something
large and circular (it goes for the London Eye).
A substance called "antiplastic", of which the Doctor has a vial, can be used to
kill Nestenes.
REAPERS
Father's Day (14th May 2005): written by Paul Cornell
Reapers are extra-dimensional pterodactyl-like creatures who feed on
disturbances in the structure of time, such as are caused by time travellers
unwisely interfering in the course of history. They act like antibodies,
repairing the damage by devouring everything - including people - which exists
as a result of the interference. An entire planet may be destroyed if it is
necessary to correct the temporal anomaly. The greater the disturbance the
stronger the reapers become, while mending the time rift will drive them back to
their own world (the exit and entry points to and from which are usually located
above ground level).
SLITHEEN
Aliens of London (16/4/05): written by Russell T Davies
World War Three (23/4/05): written by Russell T Davies
Boom Town (4/6/05): written by Russell T Davies
Though they have greenish skin and hatch from eggs, suggesting a reptilian
ancestry, the eight-foot tall Slitheen resemble huge, overgrown human babies.
Certainly those encountered so far by the Doctor have a mischievous, but
childish and repugnant, sense of fun. They are malicious creatures who kill
purely for pleasure. They murder other life forms and impersonate them,
genetically re-engineering their skins so they can be worn as a disguise.
Probably further genetic engineering is involved to make the masquerade truly
effective, since the Slitheen are skilled in this field, on one occasion
operating on a pig so that it can walk on two legs like a human. The
difficulties of accurately copying, and adjusting to, the human digestive and
other bodily systems result in certain personal hygiene problems: the Slitheen
frequently break wind, giggling in an immature and irritating fashion when doing
so. They have to shrink themselves somewhat to impersonate human beings,
resulting in production of excess gas.
The Slitheen slip off their human skins, revealing their true forms, before
despatching their victims with their viciously sharp claws. They are incredibly
strong, and assisted in hunting down their victims by a superb sense of smell.
It should be stressed that the Slitheen the Doctor has met were all one family
and thus not typical of the race as a whole, whose outlook is far more moral and
civilised. The sole survivor of the family, captured by the Doctor in Boom Town,
would have been sentenced to death for her crimes if the Doctor had returned her
to her home planet to face judgement for them. This created something of a moral
dilemma for the Time Lord; his humane solution to the problem was to use the
powers of the TARDIS to temporally regress her into an egg, which would be
returned to the homeworld and allowed to hatch. In this way she would be given a
second chance.
When endangered female Slitheen can fire a poison dart from their claws, making
them particularly dangerous*.
The Slitheen have high calcium deposits in their bodies indeed are virtually
composed of the substance - and so can be killed if a substance such as vinegar
is thrown onto them, in which case they explode messily.
The Slitheen s real names are long and hyphenated.
STEWARD
Blue-skinned humanoid in charge of the space station Platform One.
TREE PEOPLE
As their name suggests the Tree People, encountered by the Doctor on Platform
One, are sentient trees, though basically humanoid in configuration. They are a
sedate, noble race. They form a collective known as the Forest of Cheem, and are
descended from trees which were superevolved as part of experiments in genetic
engineering. Their skin is a form of bark and their hair a series of thin
branches entwined like wickerwork. In diplomatic meetings they offer cuttings
from their relatives as a sign of peace; the more revered and illustrious the
relative, the greater the value of the gift*.
Second season
ABSORBALOFF
Love and Monsters (17th June 2006)
Writer: Russell T Davies
Homeworld: Clon
The Absorbaloff, as he was dubbed by Elton Pope, was a corpulent, green-skinned
alien with a Yorkshire accent and the tendency, whether from habit or necessity,
to absorb other life forms their knowledge as well as their physical essence -
into his own body, which he could do merely by touching them. Once sucked into
him they were gradually assimilated to his own tissue; it was possible for
several people to be processed in this way simultaneously. For a while the
victims retained their own consciousness, and horribly their facial features
were still discernible staring out from the blubbery folds of the Absorbaloff s
flesh, screaming for help.
Presumably these characteristics disappeared eventually and the victim died. The
Absorbaloff described the process as irreversible, although as will be seen
below this was not entirely true. If they had not yet been fully absorbed the
victims, if there were more than one of them, could by a joint mental effort
disorientate him long enough for some other agency to overpower him.
The Absorbaloff could shape-shift to make himself resemble a human. He could
move with astonishing speed for his huge bulk, rendering it harder to escape
from him. However that enormous size nonetheless proved to be his undoing. The
Absorbaloff carried with him a cane which projected a gravitational field around
himself; if it were destroyed the field would collapse and the Absorbaloff
be crushed by his own weight, reducing him to a pool of slime.
Once an Absorbaloff is destroyed in this way, it is possible to separate the
most recent of his victims from the remains the others being too fully
absorbed and partially reconstitute them.
They survive as little more than a face, but in this form retain their
consciousness and emotions and indeed seem quite happily adjusted to their new
state.
The Absorbaloff s homeworld, Clon, is neighbour to that of the Slitheen, with
which species his race appear to have some similarities.
BEAST
The Impossible Planet (3rd June 2006)
Writer: Matt Jones
The Satan Pit (10th June 2006)
Writer: Matt Jones
Homeworld: Kroptor(?)
Possibly identifiable with Fenric the similarities between the two will become
apparent below the Beast was a malign entity from the dawn of Time who like so
many others gloried in chaos and suffering. It was imprisoned at the bottom of a
pit on Kroptor, a planet orbiting a black hole, by a race of angel-like beings
whose civilization may or may not have been that whose remains were discovered
millions of years later by the crew of a human mining station. Certainly the
nearby Scarlet System, before being consumed by the black hole, was once the
home of an ancient and highly advanced race called the Pelushi. Writings
discovered on Kroptor proved to be older even than the Time Lords, as
demonstrated by the fact that the TARDIS could not translate them.
The Disciples of the Light rose up against me, before Time .before time and
light and matter, before the universe was created, said the Beast. It may have
been of the same race as the angels , since the ancient writings appeared from
time to time on the flesh of those possessed by it. Possibly the Beast committed
some serious crime, perhaps attempted by force to make itself their leader,
leading to its banishment though not it seems without a struggle; certainly
inscriptions left behind by the super-race appear to tell the history of some
great battle.
Kroptor was kept from falling into the black hole by a machine built by the
super-race, which generated a massively powerful gravitational field, although
legend has it that the hole instead spit the planet out because it was poison .
In its physical form the Beast resembled a gigantic horned humanoid with a
skull-like face and razor-sharp teeth. It was telepathic, able to imitate human
speech and sense a person s guilty secrets, using them to cause mental torment,
and also telekinetic, using this power among other things to interfere with
radio equipment. It could separate its mental essence from its physical body,
and the former was able to possess and enslave people (though apparently only
certain individuals). The victim s eyes tended to glow red, although the signs
of possession could be concealed until the Beast was ready to show its hand.
The victims acquired the Beast s powers of telekinesis, and acted
as a channel for its destructive telekinetic powers. Like it they were able to
survive when exposed to the vacuum of space.
The Beast s telepathic powers could also be used to take over computers,
impairing their functioning or causing them to give out false data.
When the humans established their mining station on Kroptor the Beast s mental
essence, which was active outside its body within a certain range, was able to
possess their telepathic servants, the Ood, as well as archaeologist Toby Zed.
Under its control the Ood attacked their former masters and the surviving humans
were forced to flee in an escape rocket, Toby among them - giving the Beast a
means of spreading chaos and destruction across the Cosmos. The Doctor went down
the pit and smashed the urn which acted as a control point from which the
gravitational field was generated; the planet was then sucked into the black
hole and destroyed, the Beast s physical body within it. On the rocket Rose
Tyler realised that Toby had become possessed and managed to eject him into
space, to be likewise sucked into the black hole and killed, by breaking open an
escape hatch.
Whether the Beast was the Devil of Christian mythology is probably an
unanswerable question. Toby at one point told the miners, The Beast has woven
himself into the fabric of your lives since the dawn of time. Some may call him
Satan The creature variously referred to itself as Satan and The Darkness,
also stating I am all of them {the demons of human legend} . The Ood at one
point warned the miners that The Beast will rise from the pit to make war
against God .
CYBERMEN
Rise of the Cybermen (13th April 2006)
Writer: Tom McRae
The Age of Steel (20th May 2006)
Writer: Tom McRae
Army of Ghosts (1st July 2006)
Doomsday (8th July 2006)
Homeworld: parallel Earth
On a parallel Earth the Doctor encountered some home-grown Cybermen developed
by Cybus Industries under its brilliant, crippled Chairman John Lumik. Like
their Mondasian counterparts they retained human brains, and also possessed an
organic, artificially-grown nervous system, all housed within an exoskeletonic
suit. Lumik eventually became their Controller, his motorized wheelchair adapted
to form a traction unit in which he seems to have been permanently imprisoned.
The Cybermen were immune to bullets and carried within their bodies a charge of
electricity which could kill or render unconscious, as desired, on physical
contact. They could be disabled by an electromagnetic bomb which disrupted all
electronic equipment, or by electrocution if the outer insulating surface of
their suits was penetrated.
In one respect these Cybermen were less efficient than those from Mondas.
Whereas the latter had been purged of their emotions by a combination of drugs
and surgery to the brain, the parallel Earth Cybermen needed an emotional
inhibitor built into their brains, partly because they still had an organic
nervous system. If this inhibitor were disabled the sudden return of emotion
would result in madness as a Cyberman s human consciousness found itself trapped
in an artificial metal and plastic body through which it was unable to receive
sensations. The only way to cure this was through the Cyberman s destruction.
After their attempt to take over the planet was defeated, some of the parallel
Earth Cybermen were able to cross over into our dimension when the barrier
between the two was weakened as a result of the experiments carried out by the
Torchwood organization, and tried to take it over instead. The Cybermen had by
now built energy weapons into their wrists, which could stun or kill an
opponent, and developed the ability to mind-control humans by means of brain
implants. The implant could not easily be removed without killing the subject.
The Cybermen could be destroyed by grenades or high explosive shells, but their
numbers were by now huge and this enabled them to quickly defeat the human
forces. They were again vanquished by the Doctor, and also received a
considerable mauling at the hands of the Daleks, who were also attempting to
take over the planet, in the first known encounter between the Doctor s two
greatest enemies. Interestingly, the Cybermen seemed to recognize some kinship
with the mutants from Skaro who after all were, like them, a race of
semi-robots and proposed an alliance with them, declaring that together we
could upgrade the Universe . Fortunately for that same Universe, the offer was
rejected. In the subsequent battle the Cybermen s exo-suits did not seem able to
withstand Dalek firepower, while their own weapons proved unable to penetrate
the Daleks polycarbide casings.
At one point in this episode a person s Cyber-conditioning was seen to fail.
Yvonne Hartman, the head of Torchwood, had been Cybernised but at some point
reverted to her previous human identity; speaking in a human female voice, she
turned on the other Cybermen and destroyed a number of them, declaring she was
doing her duty for Queen and country.
Like those in our universe the parallel Earth Cybermen had Leaders; should one
be destroyed another was upgraded to replace it, rather than the same program
being transmitted into successive bodies.
DALEKS
Army of Ghosts (1st July 2006)
Doomsday (8th July 2006)
Homeworld: Skaro
At some point, perhaps during the Time War, millions of the Dalek race were
banished to a parallel universe by the Time Lords, all sealed inside a
dimensionally transcendental prison capsule. However their fellow Daleks seem
later to have discovered how to travel from one dimension to another, in a Void
Ship a spherical capsule which can exist in the strange and shadowy realms
separating the various universes that exist although it was the effect of
Torchwood s misguided experiments that enabled them to break through into ours.
They retrieved the prison capsule, which they called the Genesis Ark since
from their point of view, once the legions of Daleks inside it were released it
would constitute the future, the birth of a new state of affairs in which their
kind would dominate and brought it through to our Universe in the Void Ship
with one aim: conquest, beginning with Earth.
The four Daleks who masterminded this scheme belonged to a secret order who
unlike the rest of their species possessed names, and whose task had been to
develop the faculty of imagination in case it led to new ways of conquest and
military victory. They (and presumably the other Daleks too) could extract
information from a person s brain using their sucker arms as probes, which were
attached to the skull; as a side-effect the process drained the life energy from
the subject, leaving them a skeleton. Their sensors can detect metabolic changes
in nearby humans, such as increased heartbeat and flow of adrenalin in times of
stress.
It is confirmed that during the Time War the Daleks evolved so they could use
the artron energy given off by TARDISes, which could be useful in operating
captured Time Lord technology such as the Genesis Ark. The handprint of someone
who has travelled with the Doctor, and therefore also picked up a certain amount
of the energy, could open the Ark.
When the Dalek Void Ship penetrated the dimensional barrier with the unwitting
help of Torchwood, it was followed through it by Cybermen from the universe in
which the Doctor had recently encountered that other old enemy of his. The two
races began fighting each other for control of Earth, despite requests for an
alliance from the Cyberleader who regarded their technologies and apparently
their aims, unless he was planning to double-cross them at some stage - as
compatible with his. The Daleks rejected the proposal, dismissing his forces as
crude Cybernetic constructs . One reason why they did not recognize any kinship
with the Cybermen may have been that the latter, ostensibly at any rate, sought
to banish emotions altogether whereas the Daleks were not against them as such
but rather wanted to excise some, such as compassion, as opposed to others, and
ban imagination except for special purposes in case it led to a Dalek deciding
that conquest was wrong. In the end, the Doctor expelled both the Cybermen and
the Daleks from the Genesis Ark into the Void once more, and there they keep
each other company in what he described to his companions as hell .
ISOLUS
Fear Her (24th June 2006)
Writer: Matthew Graham
Homeworld: unknown
The Isolus are a sentient species of flowering plant who do not derive their
nutrition from the soil and can travel through a planet s atmosphere using air
currents as a means of propulsion. They seem to be nomads, constantly hopping
from one planet to another, although since they do not have technology each
journey takes a very long time. Their life pattern is cyclical; every so often,
the mother plant or plants ejects billions of spores, each one a miniature,
immature Isolus, which travels through space in its own egg-shaped pod a couple
of inches in diameter and powered by intense heat (though organic in nature as
far as can be ascertained), until they reach a habitable planet, assisting in
propelling itself by riding the solar winds. The parent plant remains behind on
the original planet while her offspring go on to begin a new life somewhere
else, something which no doubt adds to an Isolus sense of loneliness.
Isolus are highly intelligent, empathic beings who can sense and experience
emotion with great intensity ( when they are happy they feed off each other s
love , says the Doctor), needing to share the feeling with another if they are
not to become psychologically damaged. They therefore have a constant need for
company, whether each others or that of another intelligent species. The
ejected spore casings stay close to one another, forming a cloud. Since it might
be thousands of years the same time it takes for an Isolus to mature before
a suitable planet is located company becomes all the more vital, as does
entertainment. To stop themselves from getting bored, during the journey the
young Isolus use the psychic energy generated by their strong emotions, called
ionic power, to create their own mini-worlds, effectively separate dimensions
existing outside space and time, in which they can play effectively with one
another, since the empathic field is so strong as to constitute a form of
telepathic contact. These make-believe realms are populated with objects of the
Isolus own creation, and if necessary existing living organisms can be drawn
into them, being kept there as long as the Isolus desires.
The strong emotions of an immature Isolus who has not yet learned to control
them can have disastrous effects, as happened when a cluster of the pods were
scattered by a solar flare from Earth s sun and one became separated from the
others, crashing on the planet in 2012 and releasing its occupant. The Isolus
sensed the loneliness of a human child, Chloe Webber, who had been left shy and
introverted unable to make friends in the normal way - following the traumatic
effects of abuse by her father, and since it was itself lonely empathized with
her. The two formed a telepathic bond, which enabled Chloe to draw on the
Isolus mental powers for their mutual benefit, though the creature first had to
physically enter her body through the mouth. Over the following weeks Chloe
plucked various local children, a cat, the Doctor and even the TARDIS itself out
of this universe into an ionic holding pen to serve as companions for herself
and the Isolus. She was prompted to do so whenever the children were playing,
since this created the kind of psychological environment most likely to boost
the Isolus powers.
She visualized what she was doing in terms of drawing pictures of them; in fact
the nature of the process seems to have required this to be done, the victim
actually physically becoming the drawing while at the same time existing on
another, purely mental plane within the holding pen. Though trapped within the
pen the imprisoned people were capable of limited movement and facial expression
the drawings simultaneously doing likewise but this may sometimes have been
a product of the Isolus/Chloe s psychic influence. The process could work both
ways; as well as turn people into drawings, drawings could be brought to life.
Chloe had made one of her father as a way of externalizing her feelings about
him, depicting him as a demonic creature, and whenever she had nightmares about
him or experienced any form of stress which acted as a trigger for the Isolus
powers - it started to come alive, though the process required the specific wish
of the Isolus to be completed. The picture was heard to speak and the psychic
energy generated by Chloe s trauma physically damaged the contents of her
bedroom.
The more brothers and sisters an Isolus has in its natural environment, the more
company it needs to make up for losing them, since its affections extend to
every single one and an Isolas has some four billion siblings. Chloe kept on
adding to the population of the holding pen even though its inmates resentment
at being trapped meant the results were never emotionally satisfactory. She
could eventually have imprisoned the Earth s entire population, threatening to
bring her father s picture to full life should anyone try to stop her, had the
Doctor not provided her with the means to rejoin her brothers and sisters in
space. The pod had become accidentally buried beneath a road on the estate where
Chloe lived during repairs, but the Doctor finally managed to track it down and
recharged it using the Olympic torch the year was 2012 - whereupon the Isolas
left Chloe s body and resumed its long journey to a new home.
All the kidnapped people were released entirely unharmed; at one stage Chloe
drew over one of them in a fit of frustration, but this doesn t appear to have
caused the real person any lasting damage. What it was actually like to be in an
ionic holding pen is unfortunately not recorded.
The presence of a grounded Isolas pod can be detected by the rapid drops in
temperature as it attempts to draw in heat from its surroundings. Unless
immobilized it will attempt to move towards the nearest heat source. There will
also be interference with the functioning of certain mechanical devices, such as
cars. An Isolas itself, if it has been active collecting people for the holding
pen, may be tracked down from the residual ionic energy left behind after
someone has been transported there.
KRILITANES
School Reunion (29th April 2006)
Writer: Toby Whitehouse
Homeworld: unknown
Like the Tetraps Krilitanes are human-sized, bipedal batlike creatures who sleep
hanging upside down from a suitable surface. They are however considerably more
intelligent. They assimilate the culture and knowledge of the races they
conquer, and also, by some means which remains unknown, their physical
characteristics. According to the Doctor they were originally human but with
exceptionally long necks. They have the ability to shapeshift, transforming
themselves into any species they have assimilated.
Like so many others in the Whoniverse the Krilitanes are obsessed with conquest
and do not ask the permission of the races whom they amalgamate with themselves.
Their aim is to crack the ultimate theory behind everything so they can rule the
universe. They use an oil, originally produced from within their own bodies, to
increase the intelligence of others so the resulting knowledge can be useful to
them when the victim is absorbed, and after taking over a London school,
substituting themselves for key staff through their shapeshifting powers, tried
it on some of the most promising pupils, the effects of the oil combining with
the way a child s mind works to produce the desired effect. The Krilitanes could
not use the oil on themselves because their physiology has changed so much that
it is now toxic to them (and is now manufactured artificially). The Doctor was
able to use this fact to defeat them.
OOD
The Impossible Planet (3rd June 2006)
Writer: Matt Jones
The Satan Pit (10th June 2006)
Writer: Matt Jones
Homeworld: Kroptor(?)
Benign despite their extremely ugly appearance, the Ood were a telepathic slave
race who carried out most of the maintenance and engineering work on the human
mining station on Kroptor. The telepathy enabled them to co-ordinate tasks with
one another more effectively than would be possible with humans, since each Ood
would know the others intentions without having to be told.
The origins of the race are unclear (were they bred specifically to be a labour
force?), but they seemed quite happy to serve the humans, being of an extremely
polite and deferential nature. The humans believed the Ood could not manage
without them, their society collapsing into chaos, although it is doubtful
whether the Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler really accepted this
explanation. Perhaps the Ood had been programmed not to entertain any
pretensions to independence. Allegedly the Ood originally offered themselves as
slaves, declaring there was nothing for them in life but to serve; but in any
case, the whole arrangement was to backfire horrifyingly upon their masters.
Similar in some respects to the Sensorites, the Ood were small humanoids with
bulbuous bald heads and grey wrinked skin like an elephant s, who carried around
with them white globes amplifiers, known as interface devices , which
assisted telepathic communication on cords attached to the tunics they wore. A
cluster of tentacle-like feelers, which may be empathic sensors, takes the place
of an Ood s nose.
Altogether the Ood had much in common with other telepathic beings. They were
susceptible to the influence of species or individuals with similar powers, the
consequences of this being potentially disastrous. The Ood on the mining station
were taken over by the evil entity calling itself the Beast which caused them to
attack the humans, somehow converting their telepathic amplifiers into weapons
capable of delivering a fatal electric shock. Again like other telepaths, the
Ood would suffer disorientation and stress, finally falling into a comatose
state, if their telepathic communications were disrupted, as could be done using
radio signals broadcast on a certain frequency. They would recover once the
telepathic field reasserted itself. The Ood constitute effectively a collective
mind, and certainly see themselves that way. They have no titles or personal
names ( We are as one ).
Normally the humans could monitor the Ood s telepathic signals so that they
could be kept under control, and probably their nature was engineered so that
any knowledge they did acquire would not be
put to deadly purposes, although the Beast was able to override this.
Interestingly, the mining station s computer at one point did not recognize the
Ood as proper life forms, though this may have been due to the Beast s
interference.
SISTERS OF PLENITUDE
New Earth (15th April 2006)
Homeworld: New Earth(?)
An order of nurses from a feline humanoid race, who ran a hospital facility on
New Earth in the year 5 billion, where they claimed to be able to cure all known
diseases. It is not known whether they are native to the planet but remarks made
by one of them during the incident imply they were already there when humans
came to colonise it. What happened to the rest of their species is similarly
unclear.
The benefits of the Sisters expertise came at a horrifying price. In a secret
chamber beneath the hospital were thousands of pods containing
artificially-grown humans, infected with every known disease so they could serve
as a donor bank, a source of guinea pigs for the Sisters medical research. If
the subjects became healthy enough to speak or move, risking the secret leaking
out, the Sisters killed them. The Sisters argued that the end justified the
means, being necessary to cope with the influx of colonists and the diseases
they brought with them, but the Doctor was not impressed. After he had exposed
their scheme the Sisters were arrested by the planetary authorities.
SYCORAX
The Christmas Invasion (25th December 2005)
Homeworld: asteroid in JX82 system
The Sycorax are skinless, exoskeletonic humanoids who usually conceal their
faces under helmets. They originated on an asteroid in the JX82 system, known as
the Fire Trap(1). Their society is in some ways akin to Earth in the Middle
Ages, but became technically advanced when a spaceship crashed on their asteroid
and the Sycorax enslaved the survivors, forcing the aliens to teach them about
their technology. The asteroid was then converted into a spaceship, the first of
many which the Sycorax then used to raid and conquer other planets, becoming
feared throughout the cosmos(2). Their fleet is permanently in orbit around the
star Crafell.
They also appear to have the ability to construct robots. Most strikingly they
have pioneered the technique of blood control, using the sample of A+ blood sent
with the Earth probe Guinevere One, which the Sycorax detected and intercepted
when it approached their asteroid, to identify the human race in case of alien
contact. With a ray of some kind of energy as the trigger, the Sycorax can take
over the minds of all life forms with this blood group and determine their
behaviour.
They still regard science as akin to magic, referring to all attacks on them by
technological means as curses and the Doctor s ability to regenerate as
witchcraft . A curious mixture of the old and the new, their technology makes
use of weapons like whips and swords, at whose use the Sycorax are highly
proficient, but charged with energy that can disintegrate the flesh of a victim
leaving only a heap of bones.
The Sycorax have a lifespan of over 400 years(3). Their language is called
Sycoraxic.
(1) Write-up by Russell T Davies on the BBC website.
(2) Ditto.
(3) Ditto.
UNIDENTIFIED ALIEN
Love and Monsters (17th June 2006)
Homeworld: unknown
An unidentified humanoid, but not human, life form in a chainmail suit rather
like those worn by the Kraals is shown at the start of this episode. Water
appears to be harmful to the creature as the Doctor has Rose throw a bucket of
the substance over it. As the creature only appears in a flashback sequence it
is possible that it was a figment of Elton Pope s disordered imagination, as
indeed may have been the whole episode.
WEREWOLF
Tooth and Claw (22nd April 2006)
Homeworld: unknown
In Scotland in 1879 the Doctor, along with Rose and Queen Victoria, encountered
a creature which he described as a lupine wavelength haemovariform . It was an
alien being composed of a sentient form of light, but which could take physical
shape as a werewolf-like creature, the transformation being triggered off by
certain wavelengths of light, and in that shape turn other life forms into
latent werewolves, who would retain the usual form of their species until the
right stimulus came along. On Earth a full moon served as the trigger.
The original creature came to Earth in 1540, presumably in some kind of
spaceship which crashed (a report of the incident mentions a shooting star ),
landing near a monastery in St Catherine s Glen. The Doctor surmised that only a
single cell of the creature, like a germ virus in nature, survived. It infected
a human body, the first of a succession in whom it was incubated, each one
passing it to the next by biting them, until it was fully matured and the then
host achieved the ability to become a full werewolf. This whole process can take
many years.
The cell was cultivated in the successive hosts - all for some reason young
boys, a suitable subject being kidnapped once in a generation from among the
local population - by the brethren of the monastery who had turned from God and
begun to worship the wolf instead. Eventually the host would transform into a
werewolf at the full moon, slaughtering livestock and occasionally people within
the surrounding area. One bite can turn a person into another werewolf, but
generally the creature prefers to devour its victims.
In 1879 the Brethren arranged for Queen Victoria to be lured to the Torchwood
Estate where the current host would infect her leading to the creation of the
Empire of the Wolf . The plot was thwarted by the Doctor and Rose who with the
Koh-i-Noor diamond as a focus used a telescope constructed by the father of the
estate s owner, in reality a giant light chamber, to beam the wolf into space,
in the process dispelling it and also killing the human trapped within, thus
granting him his wish to be free. Although the creature was itself made of light
the Doctor pointed out to Rose that although the human body was mostly water it
could still drown; the principle was the same.
The creature had a wolf s head but a human body, covered with shaggy fur and
with powerful claws, and walked bipedally. It was bigger and taller than a man
and horrifyingly strong. It could be temporarily repelled by bullets but not
killed by them. It also seemed allergic to mistletoe, although this may have
been due to something conditioned in it by the brethren, who used the plant to
protect themselves from the creature; by this means they ensured they were
effectively in control of the situation, keeping the wolf locked up in a cage
much of the time. It is not known whether, like other lycanthropic species the
Doctor has encountered, the creature could be harmed by silver bullets.
WIRE
The Idiot s Lantern (27th May 2006)
Writer: Mark Gatiss
Homeworld: unknown
The Wire, as it calls itself, is a creature whose origins and true form are
unknown. Like the Great Intelligence, which it resembles in some respects, it
was banished by its people from corporeal existence we do not know why and
converted into electrical impulses which were then broadcast into space. Its
consciousness was retained within these impulses and in addition to conquest it
sought eventually to regain full physical form. In its electrical form the Wire
could enter and possess other minds, though it was dependent on technology to do
so, and tried to take over Earth in 1953 through infiltrating the then newly
developed television network, assuming the form of lightning which struck the
aerials and travelled from them into the sets themselves, appearing on the
screen as the face of a popular TV personality. When desired, the lightning
would lance from the set and strike any unwary human who happened to be within
its reach.
The Wire fed on the electrical activity of the brain - in other words on the
mind itself, since it is essentially a collection of electrical impulses and
those attacked were drained of all awareness and self-consciousness, the
impulses constituting these characteristics becoming trapped within the network
and converted for the Wire s amusement into visual images, screaming faces on
the screens of the sets in its ally Mr Magpie s TV repair shop. A side-effect of
the process was that all facial features disappeared from the physical body,
leaving a blank mask-like visage.
The Wire planned to take over the population of Britain through the TV sets
people were using to watch the Coronation, using the main transmitter at
Alexandra Palace, in which it resided. By rejigging the apparatus there, the
Doctor was able to transfer the creature to a primitive video cassette; he then
proposed to destroy the Wire by taping over it.
© Guy Blythman - writer and philosopher | created at www.mrsite.com

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HomepageBRITISH WINDMILLS BIBLIOGRAPHYThe Greatorex ImperativeThe Ishtar

(c) Guy Blythman 1997, 2006, 2009

PEOPLES OF THE WHONIVERSE

an oxygen-rich atmosphere. He does not appear to have been humanoid.

Anyone can undergo Cybernisation, although age may be a prohibiting factor

considerable amount is required. One should not attempt to summon a Daemon on

ingredient in the race's past success.

one of Fendleman's team of scientists and another of those affected by its

substance was successfully used to kill them.

The Intelligence could control people in different ways. It might seek to

a rich ore deposit was to be found).

wood fires for warmth in ramshackle fur-covered hovels. How agriculture is

their efficiency. It is difficult to knock one down, several humans being

it. Varga intended to subjugate the planet's population, if necessary by causing

Like Solos, Alzarius is a particularly interesting planet from an ecological and

particularly impressive or frightening, the Doctor regards them as one of the

of the matters it is discussing; in an emergency it may include all Monoids up

at which offerings of food are left in order to appease it. A representation of

is not natural but is accomplished through special machinery, with presumably a

The New/Missing Adventures

THE BESTIARY OF DOCTOR WHO

© Guy Blythman - writer and philosopher | created at www.mrsite.com

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