The Bestiary of Doctor Who by Guy Blythman: An A-Z of the peoples of the Whoniverse

THE 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
Planet of origin: unknown
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966)
Writers: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
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
Planet of origin: none
The Celestial Toymaker (2 April 1966 to 23 April 1966)
Writer: Brian Hayles
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)
Writer: Brian Hayles
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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
Planet of origin: none
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 telekin- esis (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)
Writer: Terry Nation
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
Planet of origin: Skaro
The Daleks (21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964)
Writer: Terry Nation
The Dalek Invasion Of Earth (21 November 1964 to 26 December 1964)
Writer: Terry Nation
The Chase (22 May 1965 to 26 June 1965)
Writer: Terry Nation
Mission To The Unknown ((9 October 1965)
Writer: Terry Nation
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966)
Writers: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
The Power Of The Daleks (5 November 1966 to 10 December 1966)
Writer: David Whitaker
The Evil Of The Daleks (20 May to 1 July 1967)
Writer: David Whitaker
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)
Writer: Terry Nation
Death To The Daleks (23 February to 16 March 1974)
Writer: Terry Nation
Genesis Of The Daleks (8 March to 12 April 1975)
Writer: Terry Nation
Destiny Of The Daleks (1 to 22 September 1979)
Writer: Terry Nation
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)
Writer: Ben Aaronovitch
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)
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs (12 January to 16 February 1974)
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
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
Frontier In Space (24 February to 31 March 1973)
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
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
Planet of origin: none
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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)
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
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)
Writer: Terry Nation
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
Planet of origin: none
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
Planet of origin: Earth
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966)
Writers: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
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
Planet of origin: none
The Three Doctors (30 December 1972 to 20 January 1973)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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
Planet of origin: Earth
The Green Death (26 May to 30 June 1973)
Writer: Robert Sloman
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
Planet of origin: Earth
The Talons Of Weng-Chiang (26 February to 2 April 1977)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writer: Robert Sloman
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
The Armageddon Factor (20 January to 24 February 1979)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
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
Planet of origin: Earth
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)
Writer: Chris Boucher
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
The Caves Of Androzani (8 to 16 March 1984)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writer: Chris Boucher
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)
Writer: Robert Sloman
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)
Writer: Brian Hayles
The Monster of Peladon (23 March to 27 April 1974)
Writer: Brian Hayles
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
Writer: Chris Boucher
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)
Writer: Steven Wyatt
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)
Writer: David Fisher
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)
Writer: Graeme Curry
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writer: David Fisher
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)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
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)
Writer: Ben Aaronovitch
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
Home planet: unknown
Delta and the Bannermen (2 November to 16 November 1987)
Writer: Malcolm Kohll
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)
Writer: David Fisher
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
Home planet: unknown
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)
Writer: Anthony Read
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)
Writer: David Fisher
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
Home planet: unknown
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)
Writer: Graeme Curry
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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
The Daleks (21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964)
Writer: Terry Nation
Planet Of The Daleks (7 April to 12 May 1973)
Writer: Terry Nation
Genesis Of The Daleks (8 March to 12 April 1975)
Writer: Terry Nation
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)
Writer: Terry Nation
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writer: Christopher Bailey
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)
Writer: Terry Nation
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
Home planet: unknown
Mawdryn Undead (1 February to 9 February 1983)
Writer: Peter Grimwade
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
Carnival of Monsters (27 January to 17 February 1973)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
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
Dragonfire (23 November to 7 December 1987)
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Dragonfire (23 November to 7 December 1987)
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 Dalek Master Plan (13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966)
Writers: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
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)
Writer: Anthony Read
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
Dragonfire (23 November to 7 December 1987)
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
"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)
Writer: Peter Grimwade
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)
Writer: Johnny Byrne
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)
Writer: Ian Stuart Black
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)
Writer: Philip Martin
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)
Writer: Douglas Adams
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)
Writer: Brian Hayles
The Seeds Of Death (25 January to 1 March 1969)
Writer: Brian Hayles
The Curse Of Peladon (29 January to 19 February 1972)
Writer: Brian Hayles
The Monster Of Peladon (23 March to 27 April 1974)
Writer: Brian Hayles
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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
Planet of origin: Earth
Robot (28 December to 18 January 1975)
Writer: Terrance Dicks
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)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
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
Planet of origin: unknown
Shada, 1980 (story not broadcast)
Writer: Douglas Adams
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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
Planet of origin: unknown
The Krotons (28 December 1968 to 18 January 1969)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writer: Philip Martin
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)
Writer: Ian Stuart Black
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 Caves Of Androzani (8 to 16 March 1984)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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
Planet of origin: Skaro
The Dead Planet (21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964)
Writer: Terry Nation
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
Planet of origin: Unknown
Mission to the Unknown (9 October 1965)
Writer: Terry Nation
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966)
Writers: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
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
Planet of origin: none
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)
Writer: Christopher Bailey
Snakedance (17 to 25 January 1983)
Writer: Christopher Bailey

"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, tele- pathic 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)
Writer: Brian Hayles
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)
Writer: Johnny Byrne
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)
Writer: Bill Strutton
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)
Writer: Philip Martin
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)
Writer: Robert Sloman
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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
Planet of origin: Earth
The Time Monster (20 May 1972 to 24 June 1972)
Writer: Robert Sloman
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 Chase (22 May 1965 to 26 June 1965)
Writer: Terry Nation
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)
Writers: Pip and Jane Baker
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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)
Writer: Terry Nation
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
Planet of origin: Skaro
Genesis Of The Daleks (8 March to 12 April 1975)
Writer: Terry Nation
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
Planet of origin: Earth
Warriors Of The Deep (5 January 1984 to 13 January 1984)
Writer: Johnny Byrne
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)
Writer: Malcolm Kohll
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
Planet of origin: unknown
Spearhead From Space (3 to 24 January 1970)
Writer: Robert Holmes
Terror Of The Autons (2 to 23 January 1971)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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
Planet of origin: unknown
The Horns Of Nimon (22 December 1979 to 12 January 1980)
Writer: Anthony Read
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
Planet of origin: none
The Invisible Enemy (1 to 22 October 1977)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
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)
Writer: David Fisher
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)
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
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
Frontier In Space (24 February to 31 March 1973)
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
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
Planet of origin: none
The Three Doctors (30 December 1972 to 20 January 1973)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
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
Planet of origin: Earth
The Talons Of Weng-Chiang (26 February to 2 April 1977)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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 Curse Of Peladon (29 January to 19 February 1972)
Writer: Brian Hayles
The Monster of Peladon (23 March to 27 April 1974)
Writer: Brian Hayles
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)
Writer: Peter Grimwade
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
Planet of origin: Earth
Carnival of Monsters (27 January to 17 February 1973)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writer: Philip Martin
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
Planet of origin: Earth
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
Planet of origin: Unknown
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)
Writer: Terrance Dicks
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)
Writer: David Whitaker
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
Planet of origin: Earth
The Sea Devils (26 February to 1 April 1972)
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
Warriors of The Deep (5 to 13 January 1984)
Writer: Johnny Byrne

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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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
Planet of origin: Earth
Dr Who And The Silurians (31 January to 14 March 1970)
Writer: Malcolm Hulke
Warriors Of The Deep (5 to 13 January 1984)
Writer: Johnny Byrne
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)
Writer: Robert Banks Stewart
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
Planet of origin: Skaro
The Daleks (21 December 1963 to 1 February 1964)
Writer: Terry Nation
Genesis Of The Daleks (8 March to 12 April 1975)
Writer: Terry Nation
Destiny Of The Daleks (1 to 22 September 1979)
Writer: Terry Nation
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)
Writer: Terry Nation
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)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
The Sontaran Experiment (22 February to 1 March 1975)
Writers: Bob Baker and Dave Martin
The Invasion Of Time (4 February to 11 March 1978)
Writer: David Agnew
The Two Doctors (16 February to 2 March 1985)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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
Writer: Terry Nation
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)
Writer: Terry Nation
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)
Writer: Graeme Curry
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)
Writer: David Fisher
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)
Writers: Pip and Jane Baker
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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
Planet of origin: unknown
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November to 29 January 1965)
Writers: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
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)
Writer: David Fisher
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)
Planet of origin: unknown
The Ambassadors Of Death (21 March to 2 May 1970)
Writer: David Whitaker
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
Dragonfire (23 November to 7 December 1987)
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)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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
Planet of origin: Skaro
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
Planet of origin: unknown
State of Decay (22 November to 13 December 1980)
Writer: Terrance Dicks
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
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966)
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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)
Writer: Brian Hayles
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)
Writers: Pip and Jane Baker
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)
Writers: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
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)
Writer: Terry Nation
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
Planet of origin: Earth
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)
Writer: Steven Wyatt
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
Planet of origin: none
The Ark In Space (25 January to 15 February 1975)
Writer: Robert Holmes
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)
Writer: David Fisher
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)
Writer: Peter Grimwade
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
Planet of origin: Earth
The Face of Evil (1 January to 22 January 1977)
Writer: Chris Boucher
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)
Writer: Bill Strutton
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
The Dalek Master Plan (13 November 1965 to 29 January 1966)
Writers: Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner
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)
Writer: Robert Banks Stewart
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
Planet of origin: unknown
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
The End of the World (2/4/05): written by Russell T Davies
Blue-skinned humanoid in charge of the space station Platform One.

TREE PEOPLE
The End of the World (2/4/05): written by Russell T Davies
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)
Writer: Russell T Davies
Doomsday (8th July 2006)
Writer: Russell T Davies
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)
Writer: Russell T Davies
Doomsday (8th July 2006)
Writer: Russell T Davies
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)
Writer: Russell T Davies
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)
Writer: Russell T Davies
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)
Writer: Russell T Davies
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)
Writer: Russell T Davies
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.