List of Doctor Who universe creatures and aliens (0–9, A–G)
This is a list of fictional creatures and aliens from the universe of the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, including Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, K-9 and K-9 and Company. It covers alien races and other fictional creatures, but not specific characters. Individual characters are listed in separate articles.
Note that some information on the page is taken from spin-off media.
0–9
The 456
Torchwood alien | |
---|---|
456 | |
Type | Ambiguous |
Home planet | Unknown |
First appearance | "Children of Earth: Day Three" |
The 456 served as the main antagonists during the third series of Torchwood.
They are unnamed aliens with whom the government of the United Kingdom made a deal in 1965; the 456 extorted twelve children in return for a cure to an Earth-bound virus which was about to mutate. When asked for their species name by John Frobisher, they chose to use the frequency they were contacted with as their name. They seem to require (or at least prefer) a highly toxic atmosphere, and to be non-humanoid of form, possessing three insect like heads which appear to spew green slime whenever the creatures are aggravated or pressured. In "Day Four", parts of the 456 were briefly seen when a government operative entered its chamber with a portable video camera. It had three heads, which possessed mandibles. The rest of the body is trunklike, like a giant caterpillar. A swelling is briefly shown at the end of the creature. After the 456 return to Earth over forty years later, an ambassador of the species demanded that 10% of the world's children be given to the race as a gift, or else the entire human race would be destroyed. To ensure humanity would accept this deal, the 456 announced their arrival several days in advance by possessing and speaking through every pre-pubescent child on earth. A closer view of the visiting 456 specimen showed it had incorporated the bodies of human children into its own, the two being connected by four vine-like tentacles, because of an unnamed chemical pre-pubescents produce that the creatures use like a drug. According to the 456 themselves, such children 'feel no pain', and 'live long beyond their natural span'. The children do not appear to have physically grown, although they are wizened, perhaps mutated in some way, and appear to be aware of their surroundings and their own condition; they breathe using respirators. The 456 are responsible for the death of Ianto Jones when they release a deadly virus into a building where Ianto was present. They are eventually defeated when Jack Harkness manages to reverse the frequency of a previous transmission made by the 456 and turn it into a weapon against them, driving them away from Earth, although he is forced to sacrifice his grandson Stephen to use him as the source of the frequency broadcast in the first place.
A
The Abomination
"The Abomination" is a fifteenth-century painting by Giuseppe Di Cattivo. The painting was considered too terrifying to be seen. The paint used contained a mineral that hosted an alien organism. Once in close proximity to the Mona Lisa (painted with the same mineral paint), the Abomination and Mona Lisa came to life. The painting of the Abomination was stored in a vault that required a complex puzzle key to open it. When Mona Lisa came to life, she sought the key to release the Abomination. Luke Smith managed to trick Mona Lisa into zapping Clyde Langer's art pad, releasing a drawing of k-9, which destroyed the Abomination painting and undoing all of Mona Lisa's spells.
Abzorbaloff
Alien creatures, nicknamed "Abzorbaloffs", that can absorb any living thing into its body by touch and then digests the organism; one said Ursula Blake "tasted like chicken". The faces of its prey are visible on its body and are fully conscious of their surroundings. They are from the planet Clom, the twin planet of Raxacoricofallapatorius, the home planet of the Slitheen family. An Abzorbalovian disguised itself as "Victor Kennedy" and infiltrated LINDA - a group of people trying to track down the Doctor - although it planned to absorb the Doctor's knowledge. However Elton Pope broke its cane, which was a limitation field that kept its absorbing abilities under control. When it was broken, the Abzorbaloff was absorbed into the Earth
Adam Smith
An unnamed alien appearing in the Torchwood episode of the same name; he hints that he escaped the Void (see Army of Ghosts). "Adam" was a being that could only exist in our world by having others remember him; he had the power to alter memories, and therefore personalities (Owen and Tosh acted like each other). However, as an unintentional side-effect, this disrupts his victim's true memories; it caused Gwen to forget about her boyfriend Rhys, and dug up Jack's long-buried childhood memories. Ianto found him out through his diary, but Adam almost mentally broke him by convincing Ianto he was a murderer; however, Jack later became suspicious of Adam after discovering there was no blood sample from him like the rest of the staff and that the personnel files had been recently altered. Adam was destroyed when Jack gave everyone Retcon pills to erase the last two days of their memories.
Adipose
Doctor Who alien | |
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Adipose | |
Type | Living Fat |
Affiliated with | Matron Cofelia |
Home planet | Adipose 3 |
First appearance | "Partners in Crime" |
The Adipose are aliens composed of living fat, featured in the episode "Partners in Crime". Their breeding world, Adipose 3, was lost, causing them to turn to "Miss Foster", or Matron Cofelia of the Five Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet, Intergalactic Class, to create a new generation. She formulated a drug that would cause human fat (adipose tissue) to morph by parthenogenesis into Adipose children. The process is generally harmless to the host beyond the loss of body fat; in emergencies the process can be accelerated, converting the host's entire body, which is fatal to the host and produces ill and weak Adipose children.[1] The Shadow Proclamation.[2] forbids seeding, or breeding aliens, on a level 5 planet such as Earth. Level 5 means pre-warp capabilities, as said in "Partners in Crime." According to the "Captain Jack's Monster Files" webcast about the Adipose, the children have been made wards of the Shadow Proclamation, implying that the Adipose First Family have been sentenced for their crimes.
In the parallel universe created in "Turn Left", the Adipose incident happened in America instead of the United Kingdom, as London was destroyed when the Titanic crashed into Buckingham Palace because of the absence of the Doctor ("Voyage of the Damned"). Over 60 million Americans (roughly 20% of the total population of the United States) were killed in this timeline as a result.
In "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" it is revealed that the breeding planet, Adipose 3, was one of the 27 planets relocated to the Medusa Cascade by the New Dalek Empire. After their defeat, Adipose 3 and the other planets were returned to their original positions.
In "The End of Time", an Adipose is shown in a bar along with other aliens the Tenth Doctor had previously encountered. Five Adipose action figures were released as part of the first series 4 wave.
Aggedor
Doctor Who alien | |
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Aggedor | |
Type | Alien mammal |
Home planet | Peladon |
First appearance | The Curse of Peladon |
Aggedor is the Sacred Royal Beast of the planet Peladon, whose spirit is worshiped there. The real creature upon which the legend is based is a large, hairy beast with a single horn. Hunted to near extinction, one Aggedor beast roamed the tunnels below the citadel and, at one stage, was used to judge prisoners who were cast into a pit to face the Judgement Of Aggedor (The Monster of Peladon).
Alien Tumour
A sentient alien tumour was shown to have grown on the brain of Owen's fiancée, Katie, in flashback sequences in "Fragments". Attempting to operate on the young woman, all doctors present in the room were killed when the alien life form released a rapidly dissipating toxic nerve gas in self-defence. The effects of the "tumour" caused Katie to exhibit symptoms of early onset Alzheimer's disease. It may be because of this that Owen never sought another permanent relationship, to avoid heartbreak again.
Alien Ambassador
Alpha Centauri
Doctor Who alien | |
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Alpha Centauri | |
Type | Alien arthopod |
Affiliated with | Galactic Federation |
Home planet | Alpha Centauri |
First appearance | The Curse of Peladon |
A hermaphroditic hexapod from Alpha Centauri and, being effectively genderless is referred to as "it" as opposed to "he" or "she". It is tall, green, has one large blue eye, six arms and a high-pitched voice, wears a long yellow cape and walks with a nervous gait. It is prone to cowardice and hysterics.
Alzarian
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Alzarian | |
Type | Mutated Marshmen |
Home planet | Alzarious |
First appearance | Full Circle |
Humanoids living in a settlement on the planet Alzarious, a planet within a "pocket universe" known as E-Space. Work groups of Alzarians are constantly repairing their Starliner which crashed on the planet en route from Terradon in preparation for the day they can return to the home of their ancestors. Alzarians believe that they are descendents of the original Terradonians, but in reality they are actually a subspecies of the Marshmen, who wiped out the Starliner's original crew and then gradually evolved into human form to take their place.
Ancient Lights
The Ancient Lights were entities that controlled a universe before the Big Bang. Surviving the explosion, they endured and eventually passed their power into the human Martin Trueman, a low level middle-aged conman, in Secrets of the Stars. The Ancient Lights gave Trueman the power to control all life with an astrological sign, as well as other abilities such as energy blasts. These powers were based on ancient physics from the Light's native universe. Through Trueman, the Lights intended to enslave all life as they had done in their own universe. Luke Smith's artificial birth meant he had no astrological sign and could not be controlled by the Ancient Lights, allowing him to break Trueman's hold over the people of Earth. As the Ancient Lights began to fade, Trueman (who had long believed he would have a special destiny) refused to give up his connection and became one with the Lights.
Androgum
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Androgum | |
Type | Alien Humanoids |
Affiliated with | Sontaran |
First appearance | The Two Doctors |
An aggressive, red-haired and warted predatory humanoid species with hedonistic eating habits; the Androgums shown expressed an interest in eating young humans, regarding them as a primitive race who didn't experience pain the way they did, although they also showed a keen interest in human recipes. Jacqueline Pearce portrays Chessene, an Androgum whose intellect had been augmented to beyond genius level by the Doctor's old friend Dastari in the episode The Two Doctors. However, both the Second and Sixth Doctors realized that, despite her with pretensions to a more refined status, her fundamental nature remained the same, Chessene allying with and betraying a Sontaran squadron while trying to dissect the Second Doctor to master the secret of time-travel (As well as temporarily turning him into an Androgum so that he could be her consort). So far, this was this species' only appearances in the series.
Andromedan
Androzani Tree
Doctor Who alien | |
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Androzani Tree | |
Type | Trees |
First appearance | The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe |
The Androzani trees are a type of intelligent plant that are also one of the universe's most efficient fuel sources. They generally look like conifers, but can also reshape themselves, even forming humanoid wooden figures and entire buildings. They can separate their life-force from their body, with their life-force appearing as small balls of light. They require a host for transport, which must be an adult female of another species. They can grow bauble-like "eggs", which hatch into the humanoid wooden beings.
Anethan
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Anethan | |
Type | Alien Humanoids |
Home planet | Aneth |
First appearance | The Horns of Nimon |
Natives of the planet Aneth. Anethan youths were regularly kidnapped to be given as tribute (sacrifice) to the Nimon on the planet Skonnos; their lifeforce was to be used as the power source for the Nimon's teleporter for bringing the rest of its species to Skonnos. Anethans appear most similar to humans, perhaps being descendants of a cross-species offspring. They are among the many species that owe the Doctor a debt of gratitude for saving them.
Animus
Ankylosaurus
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Ankylosaurus | |
Type | Dinosaur |
Home planet | Earth |
First appearance | "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" |
Ankylosaurus is a genus of Ankylosaurid dinosaur, containing one species, A. Magniventris. Fossils of Ankylosaurus are found in geologic formations dating to the very end of the Cretaceous Period (between about 66.5–66 Ma ago).
An Ankylosaurus appeared on the Silurian ark in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", as part of the Silurians attempt to conserve all the life on Earth. They are the first dinosaurs the Doctor's team encountered on the ark. Jim Reddell sought to kill one in (possibly) self-defense, but was stopped by the Doctor as they were too valuable to harm.
Anti-Man
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Anti-Man | |
Type | Mutated Morestran |
Affiliated with | Anti-Matter |
Home planet | Morestra |
First appearance | Planet of Evil |
A creature capable of draining the life from others created after the Morestran Scientist, Professor Sorenson, became infected by antimatter and transformed. Anti-Man was destroyed and Professor Sorenson returned to normal after The Doctor takes him back to Malcassario in the TARDIS and throws both him and his anti-matter samples into the pit, fulfilling a bargain made with an anti-matter creature.
Anti-Matter Organism
A blob creature created by Omega to capture the Doctor so he could switch places with him to escape back into the normal universe. To fight it, one must use opposite tactics; whatever would yield a positive result normally would help the creature, so negative results were needed. The Doctor joked that they could keep it occupied by feeding it useless information, asking for a television.
Arcturus
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Arcturus | |
Type | Alien Amphibian |
Affiliated with | Galactic Federation |
Home planet | Arcturus |
First appearance | The Curse of Peladon |
A tentacled head in a glass dome mounted on a self-propelled mechanised life-support box that allows it to breathe in the atmosphere of the planet Peladon. Arcturus was the Galactic Federation representative of its race on Peladon during negotiations for Peladons entry to the Federation.
The life-support box keeping Arcturus alive is fitted with a loud piercing alarm which sounds if it is interfered with. It also contains an energy weapon, essentially for self-defence. Arcturus was killed by an Ice Warrior when he attempted to use this energy weapon to kill The Doctor.
Argolin
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Argolin | |
Type | Humanoid |
Affiliated with | The Foamasi |
Home planet | Argolis |
First appearance | The Leisure Hive |
The Argolin, who appeared in the Fourth Doctor story The Leisure Hive by David Fisher, are the inhabitants of Argolis. In 2250, the Argolin, led by Theron, fought and lost a 20-minute nuclear war with the Foamasi. As a result of this war, the Argolin became sterile. They were long-lived, but when they neared the end of their life they aged and declined very rapidly.
The Argolin who survived the war put aside their race's traditional warlike ways and remade Argolis as "the first of the leisure planets", catering to tourists from many worlds. They built a "Leisure Hive" dedicated to relaxation and cross-cultural understanding; due to radioactive fallout from the war, the Argolin planned to live in the Hive for at least three centuries. Argolis continued to struggle financially, and by 2290 faced possible bankruptcy. A rogue faction of Foamasi known as the West Lodge attempted to purchase the entire planet to use as a criminal base, sabotaging recreation facilities to encourage the Argolin to sell. The criminal nature of the offer was exposed by a Foamasi agent, aided by the Fourth Doctor and Romana.
Since the Argolin were sterile, they attempted to renew their race using cloning and tachyonics, but only one of the clones, Pangol, survived to adulthood. Pangol was mentally unstable and obsessed with the Argolin's former warrior culture. He attempted to create an army of tachyonic duplicates of himself, but was unsuccessful and was eventually restored to infancy through the same tachyonic technology that had created him.
In appearance, Argolin are humanoids with greenish skin. Their heads are covered with what appears to be elaborately coiffed hair capped with small domes covered in beads, which fall off when the Argolin become sick or die.
In Dragonfire, an alien resembling an Argolin is present in the Iceworld plaza.
Aridian
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Aridian | |
Type | Alien Amphibians |
Home planet | Aridius |
First appearance | The Chase |
Natives of the planet Aridius. There are at least two separate sub-species of the race. One is land dweling and the other is amphibious.
Arkan
The Arkan are a race mentioned and briefly glimpsed in "Cyberwoman". They are described by Jack as being incredibly boring and mostly made of liquid, hence "the cells would be a mess" if they were interrogated at Torchwood. One of their leisure ships is spotted over Cardiff Bay. They are politely asked to leave Earth's atmosphere via a message from Toshiko's computer as they are "spooking the locals."
Atraxi
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Atraxi | |
Type | Partially crystalline eyes |
Home planet | Atraxi 3 |
First appearance | The Eleventh Hour |
The Atraxi are a galactic police force, resembling eyeballs attached to crystalline structures; it is unclear whether these structures are their spaceships or the creatures themselves. These structures also appear briefly in "The Pandorica Opens".
Attention Seeker
Referred to as "the Attention Seekers" by Jack, these are aliens which are viewed as gods, appearing in a 2007 entry to the Torchwood website. Written in a pseudo-blog form, the Cardiffboyoboy blog story relays a young man's series of encounters with Jack Harkness during an alien invasion on the Cardiff gay clubbing scene.[3]
The Attention Seekers are originally a race who are accustomed to worship as deities on their home, which they feed on. They travel place to place and from time to time, masquerading as gods and being worshipped by countless societies until they "go out of fashion" there. Finding themselves in the comparatively more secular but vain 21st century Britain, Captain Jack explains to the narrator Peter that it has been forced to assume the form of a strikingly beautiful person who draws power from all the attention drawn to them. However, rather than copulate with one man every night, Jack ambiguously describes that the creature ends up in the car park where it can "get the serious devotion of a crowd", mentioning how it's "Odd how people still get on their knees to worship, isn't it?". Jack later explains though, that while it was originally relatively harmless in its activities, it has become increasingly hungry and thereby dangerous, so Jack is forced to kill it with a few clicks of his Time Agent Wrist-Strap, which he uses to trigger car alarms to clear the car park, and later a car explosion to kill the creature.
Autons
Autons are life-sized plastic dummies, automatons animated by the Nestene Consciousness. Autons conceal weapons within their hands, which can kill or vaporize their targets. Rory Williams, a companion of the 11th doctor, was turned into one after he died and was sucked into the crack in a wall which made everyone forget him completely, but by the time he reminded his fiancée Amy Pond that she was to marry him, he shot her with his hand-concealed weapon by accident and became "the last centurion".
Axons
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Axos | |
Type | Individual entity, able to change form and split into autonomous units |
Home planet | Axos |
First appearance | The Claws of Axos |
Creatures that are part of the entity knows as "Axos". From the central unit that is Axos, autonomous individual Axons are split off as required. Axos landed on Earth and offered to trade an advanced material, Axonite, in a benign manner. This was a ruse as their plans were to drain the planet Earth of its energy. With the assistance of The Master (Doctor Who) (who was captured and forced to co-operate with the Axons), The Doctor locked Axos in a perpetual time loop they could never escape from.
However, the Eleventh Doctor comic The Golden Ones showed that Axos had escaped the time-loop successfully and were back on Earth, using a new scheme to collect power. Axos created a supposed health drink called Guruda, which contained particles of it; once children had drunk enough of it, they could be hypnotised into absorbing energy for them, become Axos drones. However, the Doctor defeated Axos by draining the power it was draining from Japan by having everyone turn on every appliance they could, weakening Axos to the point of self-destruction.
B
Bacterial Arachnid
Residing in Earth's first moon (during the events of Kill the Moon), these creatures are bacteria that have taken the form of spiders and can produce webbing similar to actual ones. Sunlight will burn these creatures, so they seek darkness or remain below the moon's surface. They can be killed by ordinary cleaning supplies.
Balhoonian
One of the aliens visiting Platform One to witness the destruction of planet Earth. It is the small blue alien using a chair to get around.
Bandril
Bane
The Bane, in their natural form, are large tentacled aliens with one eye. They appear in Invasion of the Bane and Enemy of the Bane. They exhibit some level of mind-reading abilities. Bane Mothers are particularly large and are known to eat members of their young who fail them. They are able to appear human through the use of image translators. The Bane sought to enslave mankind by getting them addicted to the soft drink, Bubble Shock!, which contained organic Bane secretion, which takes control of its human host when activated. Mrs Wormwood headed the Bane's disguised human front and created the Archetype, Luke.
Bannerman
Savage warriors that attack the Chimmeron home planet, seeking to wipe out all of its inhabitants. They tracked Queen Delta to Earth, but were fought off by the Seventh Doctor.
Bees (Melissa Majoria)
A story arc in Series 4 referred to the disappearance of bees, culminating in "The Stolen Earth", where it was revealed that some bees were aliens from Melissa Majoria who created a path the Doctor could follow to find Earth and the other planets stolen by the Daleks.
For the wasp like alien species see Vespiform.
Bell Plant
The Berserker
The Berserkers were a cult of aliens that used pendants that give the wearer psychic powers, so that others are compelled to obey them. In the episode The Mark of the Berserker, one such pendant was found at Park Vale School, by a boy, Jacob. He used the pendant but discarded it, fearing its power and the mysterious tattoos it produces on the wearer. Rani picked it up, and then put it in Sarah Jane's attic. When Clyde invited his estranged father, Paul Langer, to see the alien artefacts stored in the attic, his father stole the pendant. He used it to make Clyde forget about his mother and friends, calling Clyde his soldier. Clyde's father was possessed until Clyde threw the pendant into the sea and destroyed its power.
Blathereen
The Blathereen are a family related to Slitheen, but are orange in colour and do not use skin suits. They also do not partake in criminal behaviour like the Slitheen. The Slitheen-Blathereen are an exception as they are part of both families. In the episode The Gift, a family of Slitheen-Blathereen landed on earth with a gift of friendship called rakweed. Mr Smith scans it and announces it harmless until Luke takes a high dose of rakweed spores and goes into a coma. Sarah Jane then confronts the Slitheen-Blathereen with a super soaker full of vinegar. She is captured but escapes using her sonic lipstick. Meanwhile, Rani, Clyde and K9 discover that the bell destroys the spores of rakweed by drowning out the sound they make and interfering with their communication. Sarah Jane later uses this to kill the Slitheen-Blathereen.
The Blessing
In "Torchwood: Miracle Day" The Blessing is revealed to be an antipodal geological formation connected to the Earth's morphic field running from Shanghai and Buenos Aires. Jack Harkness theorises that it may have been caused by the interaction of Racnoss Huon particles and Silurian hibernation matrixes, though its origins are unknown. The Families are unsure of whether or not to classify the Blessing as alive or not, though it is stated to have a degree of sentience. One of its features is that it has the ability to show an approaching human the content of their own soul, which has caused some to commit suicide, other's to find convinction. The Mother believed that this reaction was a result of the Blessing attempting to communicate with the human race.
In "The Blood Line" it is revealed that the worldwide immortality investigated by Torchwood was a result of Jack's blood being introduced to The Blessing's morphic field. It is implied that this was a result of the Blessing interpreting The Families interference as a threat, and the subsequent immortality being a gift of kindness to humanity. Jack and Rex (who has been infused with Jack's blood) manage to reset the Miracle through exposing it to Jack's (now mortal) blood at each end of the Blessing. However, the Blessing does not reset everything back to the way it was and, perhaps as a result of the presence of Jack's blood, brings Rex back as also immortal.
Blowfish
Blowfish | |
---|---|
Torchwood character | |
Home era | 51st century |
First appearance | "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" |
An otherwise unnamed, humanoid, bipedal alien blowfish features in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang". The blowfish, played by Paul Kasey, holds part of Captain John's puzzle box. It is possible that the Blowfish was known to John. Overcome by Earth's pleasures, the blowfish takes cocaine, steals a sports car and takes a teenage girl hostage, only to attract the attention of Torchwood and the local media,[4] thus leading to its eventual demise.
A young blowfish appears in the episode "Fragments", in flashback sequences involving Jack's first mission for the Torchwood Institute, during which Jack captures the fish for committing various crimes but is then outraged when it is shot after being captured.
A blowfish and two other fish-like creatures appear in the Torchwood Magazine short story The Book of Jahi. The blowfish has taken on the name Mr. Glee and has been operating as a crime boss in Cardiff for some time.
The blowfish appeared in "The Pandorica Opens" as part of The Alliance formed to trap the Doctor. An inanimate, stored Blowfish appears in Hedgewick's World of Wonders in the series seven episode, "Nightmare in Silver", visited by the Doctor and Clara.
Boekind
Boneless
The "Boneless" are a race of two-dimensional beings from another reality encounted by the Twelfth Doctor. They ended up trapped in the third-dimension, but lacked a way to communicate with the residents. As a result, they began sucking items and people into their dimension to study the third-dimension; they also drained the dimensional powers of the TARDIS, reducing it to toy size and trapping the Doctor inside. Materializing as attempts of third-dimension people, they attack Clara and others; however, she tricked them into repowering the TARDIS, allowing the Doctor to send them back home with a warning.
Brain Parasite
A brain parasite appears in the episode "Immortal Sins" as an intended tool of the Trickster's brigade. According to dialogue within the episode, brain parasites are a metre long with four hooked mandibles around the mouth. They implant their larvae using these hooked mandibles, travel to the brain, and eventually cause insanity.
In 1927, the Trickster's Brigade obtained a brain parasite and brought it to America, planning to infect President Roosevelt and drive him insane, which would cause him to eventually drop out of World War II and change the timeline. The Torchwood Institute learned of this and sent Jack Harkness to dispose of the parasite, which he did so with the help of Angelo Colasanto.
On some worlds, this creature is considered a delicacy; Jack had to partake of it to be nice at some point in his con artist days, saying "it taste likes oystars."
Brain of Morphoton
Butterfly People
Torchwood alien | |
---|---|
Arcateenian | |
Type | Glowing humanoid |
First appearance | "Greeks Bearing Gifts" |
A translucent humanoid who possessed the body of a 19th-century prostitute named Mary was encountered in the episode "Greeks Bearing Gifts". She was a member of a race which communicated exclusively via telepathic pendants, and claimed to be a political exile, sent to Earth by a teleporter now in Torchwood's possession. At one point, "Mary" calls herself Philoctetes, in reference to his exile on Lemnos. She gave her telepathic necklace to Toshiko, and seduced her into letting her into Torchwood to regain the teleporter.
On arriving on Earth in 1812, the alien killed her guard and possessed Mary. In this form she needed to consume human hearts to maintain the host's youth, taking one a year.[5] "Mary" threatened Tosh in order to regain the teleporter and Jack exchanged it for Tosh. However, Jack had reprogrammed the coordinates, sending "Mary" into the center of the Sun instead of back to her homeworld.
In The Sarah Jane Adventures episode "Invasion of the Bane", Sarah Jane Smith helps an alien of the same race to find its way home. It is later revealed that this alien was a "star poet", from Arcateen V, who gave Sarah Jane a device via which she promised to help her with her poetry whenever she needs it. Mr Smith's Alien Files on the official The Sarah Jane Adventures website described her race as Butterfly People.[6] The Butterfly People are also referenced in the novel Something in the Water (published March 2008) where they are called "Arcateenians". Like all Torchwood spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series remains unclear.
"Mary" possessed strength large enough to shatter human bones in a manner resembling a gunshot and could move at superhuman speeds, also possessing acute senses able to notice that there was something different about Jack. The poet alien in The Sarah Jane Adventures was able to fly home with some assistance from Sarah Jane Smith. "Mary's" opinions of her human form seemed to be mixed: she disliked watching people talk using conventional speech; which was considered archaic on her home world, but she said she liked the body which she found "so soft, so wicked". She also expressed a dim view of human nature, considering humans to be a race who inherently desired to invade others.
A letter to Doctor Who Magazine noted "Mary"'s strong resemblance to Destrii, a companion from the magazine's Eighth Doctor comic strips. The magazine's editors concurred with the observation.[7] Later, The Torchwood Archives by Gary Russell specified that Destrii and Mary are from the same system. Destrii's home planet Oblivion along with Devos, Krant and Arcateen IV, V and VI form the Arcan system.[8]
The Arcateenians are mentioned in the audio book The White Wolf, when Ben remarks that the Arcateenians could have helped them get home.
C
Canisian
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Canisian | |
Type | Humanoid |
Affiliated with | General Tannis |
Home planet | Alpha Canis One |
First appearance | Death Comes to Time |
The Canisians are a humanoid war-like race which hail from the planet Alpha Canis One. They were led by the renegade Time Lord, General Tannis. They first appeared in the story Death Comes to Time.
Carrionite
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Carrionites | |
Type | Witch-like humanoids |
Home planet | Rexel 4 |
First appearance | "The Shakespeare Code" |
The Carrionites, as seen in "The Shakespeare Code", are a race of witch-like beings. The species originates from the Fourteen Stars of the Rexel Planetary Configuration. They use advanced science that appears much like magic and voodoo. The Carrionites use words to manipulate the universe and defy physics. They possess the ability to discover a person's true name; however, when attempting to name the Doctor, the Carrionite Lilith remarked "there is no name", but then mentioned Rose's name, apparently sensing his connection to her. In the "old" times of the universe, they were banished through powerful words by the Eternals.
The three Carrionites shown in "The Shakespeare Code" were Lilith (Christina Cole), Mother Doomfinger (Amanda Lawrence), and Mother Bloodtide (Linda Clarke). They are defeated by William Shakespeare (Dean Lennox Kelly) with the help of the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), who helped him find the right words to defeat the Carrionites, ending with "expelliarmus". The Carrionites were re-trapped in a crystal ball by this. According to Lilith, Shakespeare accidentally released Doomfinger, Bloodtide, and Lilith while he was distraught over his son Hamnet's death from the plague.
According to the audio commentary of Season 3, Carrionites are all female and call each other "mother" or "sister" according to their relative ages. In the novel Forever Autumn, it is revealed that they were banished for warring with a similar race, the Hervoken, who also used a science resembling magic.
Cash Cow
Torchwood alien | |
---|---|
Cash Cow | |
Type | Large, aquatic |
Home planet | Unknown |
First appearance | "Meat" |
A gigantic space whale featured in the episode "Meat." The creature fell through the Rift, into the sea, and beached itself. In its helpless state, it was found and stored in a warehouse where it was then cut up and turned into meat to be sold to food companies. When cut up, as well as exhibiting the ability to regenerate, it also showed a visible increase in size with each regeneration. When Torchwood infiltrate the warehouse with the aim of freeing the creature, the scientists forget to inject it with sedative, causing it to flail about wildly, breaking free from its bonds. This leads Owen to ultimately inject the whale with poison, killing it out of mercy.
Castrovalvan
An articifical race created by the Master via Block Transfer Computations. He created them along with their city when the Fifth Doctor was recovering from his regeneration. The people were kind and health conscious. They perished when Adric was freed from the device holding Castrovala together.
Catkind
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Cats | |
Type | Humanoid felines |
Affiliated with | Humans |
Home planet | New Earth |
First appearance | "New Earth" |
"The Catkind" are felines in the future that have evolved into humanoids. They are capable of interbreeding with the humans of the future. The CatKind have hair-covered bodies, feline facial features and retractable claws. Their young resemble typical domestic kittens, with humanoid features emerging after ten months.[9]
In "New Earth", a group of The Catkind called the Sisters of Plenitude ran a hospital near the city of New New York. In "Gridlock", a Cat Person, Thomas Kincade Brannigan, has a human wife and a litter of kittens.
Cell 114
Torchwood alien | |
---|---|
Sleeper Agents | |
Type | Infiltrators |
First appearance | "Sleeper" |
Cell 114, their official designation, are a race of invasionary aliens. The arm of Cell 114 featured in the episode "Sleeper" are Sleeper Agents, an advance guard to the main force. The Sleeper Agents are tasked with gathering intelligence. To do so, they hide on their target planet, take on the form of the planet's dominant species, and absorb as much knowledge as they can to aid in the invasion. Sleeper Agents can be stationed in excess of 10 years to aid their integration into society.[10]
To aid their hiding, they are provided with an implant able to gather information subconsciously and protect them against potential attacks. In the case of Earth, the implant is hidden in the arm of the human shell. It provides a blade weapon for use in emergencies, an impenetrable nano-metre thick body shield and a technology mask allowing vital signs to be hidden. When the Sleeper Agents first arrive, their memory is erased and stored in part of the implant to help them maintain their disguise. When the invasion is ready to take place, their memories are reactivated, overriding their "human" personalities and motivations.
In "Sleeper," the Sleeper Agents are planning to hijack 10 nuclear bombs with the aim of devastating the planet and making it easy for their race to take over.
At the end of "Sleeper" the last Sleeper Agent left alive is asked by Jack when the others are getting to Earth; the dying Agent replies: "They're already here".
Chameleon
Cheetah People
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Cheetah People | |
Type | Humanoid feline cheetahs |
Affiliated with | The Master |
The Cheetah People were a group of aliens featured in the final episode of Doctor Who's original run, Survival. Like many more recent aliens, such as the Judoon and Hath, the Cheetah People strongly resembled a real animal, cheetahs. The Cheetah People were depicted as savages and had the ability to turn others into Cheetah People, including for a while the Master and Ace. The Cheetah People in Survival had been kidnapping people and taking them to their planet.
In the 1996 Doctor Who film that followed the episode, it was implied by his glowing eyes that the Master retained some of the Cheetah People's influence.
Chelonian
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Chelonians | |
Type | Cybernetic humanoid tortoise |
Affiliated with | The Alliance |
Home planet | Chelonia |
First appearance | The Highest Science |
The Chelonians are a race of cybernetic humanoid tortoises who have appeared in various spin-off novels. The first appearance of the Chelonians was in the Seventh Doctor Virgin New Adventures novel The Highest Science by Gareth Roberts. They returned in Zamper and also featured in the Fourth Doctor missing adventure The Well-Mannered War; as well as in the short stories The Hungry Bomb, Fegovy, and The Body Bank, all by Gareth Roberts and published in the Doctor Who Magazine Yearbook 1995, the anthology Decalog 3: Consequences, and the Doctor Who Storybook 2008 respectively. They are also mentioned in the New Adventures books Oh No It Isn't! and Beyond the Sun featuring Bernice Summerfield.
The Chelonians are mentioned as being part of The Alliance formed to trap the Doctor in "The Pandorica Opens".
The Chelonians are a war-like race from the planet Chelonia. They are hermaphroditic and lay eggs. Some of their cybernetic enhancements include X-ray vision and improved hearing. Chelonians consider humans to be parasites and often try to eliminate them. There is a pacifistic faction, however, and at some point following the Doctor's recorded encounters with them, they took control and the society began devoting its energies towards flower arrangement. River Song listed the Chelonians amongst the races with fleets orbiting Earth in "The Pandorica Opens".
Chimeron
Pronounced "Shimmer-on". A humanoid race that could hear on the same frequency as bees. The males of the species appeared completely green, while females appeared more like humans. Royal jelly could turn a recently hatched Chimeron into a new queen, while also having the ability to transform a human into a Chimeron. The Chimeron queen escaped to earth, where a boy fell in love with her and helped the Doctor and Mel fight off the Bannermen; Billy ingested royal jelly, becoming a human/Chimeron hybrid. He, Delta and her daughter later left for the Chimeron hatchery.
Chloris Humanoid
Chronovore
Chula
Chula are described in "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" two-parter as a race of aliens using nanogenes to heal their soldiers in war. Following Captain Jack's theft of a Chula medical ship, thousands of Blitz-era Londoners were converted incorrectly. Jack's ship was also a Chula war ship. From Jack's explanation, it could be guessed that the Chula are humanoid in appearance as he gave "her" as definition about who he stole his ship from.
Cowled Ghosts
Three cowled ghosts appear in the episode "Exit Wounds". The ghosts despise humanity's worship of "heathen gods" and carry large scythes. Despite being described as ghosts, they are completely pervious to bullets and are all three killed by Ianto and Tosh. Their leader is played by Paul Marc Davies, who portrayed the cowled Trickster in The Sarah Jane Adventures and the Chieftain of the Futurekind in the 2007 Doctor Who episode "Utopia".
Crespallions
Crespallions were a blue-skinned humanoid alien race. They were seen in "End of the World" working on Platform One.
Crinothian
Crooked Man
An unknown creature that appears as a horribly mangled and twisted creature of long limbs, with bad teeth as well. It ended up stuck in a pocket universe with Hila Takorian, a pioneer in time travel; after some initial confusion, it was rescued along with Hila by the Doctor.
Cryon
Cyber-Controller
The Cyber-Controller was John Lumic (the creator of the Cybermen) after being upgraded himself.
Cyberking
The Cyberking is a dreadnought class ship with powerful weapons attached to each arm as well as a cyber factory in the chest cavity. It was seen in "The Next Doctor" where it intended to convert Victorian London and then the Earth. In "Flesh and Stone", the Doctor deduces that the Cyberking fell through a crack in time, due to the lack of any historical recording of the attack on Victorian London.
Cyberman
The Cybermen were originally a race of humanoids originating on Earth's twin planet Mondas. As they implanted more and more artificial parts into their bodies, as a means of self-preservation, they became coldly logical and calculating, with emotion all but deleted from their minds. The Cybermen also have a rivalry with the Daleks.
In "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel" of the second revived series, the Cybermen originated from a parallel version of Earth and were created by John Lumic, a genius obsessed with immortality. He forcibly 'upgraded' everyone in the parallel earth.
They were created by Dr. Kit Pedler (the unofficial scientific advisor to the programme) and Gerry Davis in 1966, first appearing in the serial The Tenth Planet. They have since been featured numerous times in their efforts to conquer and convert humanity to cyborgs like themselves.
Cybermats
Cybermite
The result of Cyberman technology hundreds of years after the Cyber-Wars. "Not even a Cybermat", as described by the Doctor, they are incredibly tiny. Cybermites are used to spy on potential victims for Upgrading/Cyber-Conversion, and finding any useful components for such. A showman named Webly was partially Upgraded by the Cybermites, gaining the ability to toss them onto new victims for incorporation into the Cyberiad.
Cybershades
Cydershades were upgraded animals that served as slaves of the Cybermen.
Cyberwoman
Lisa Hallett was Ianto Jones girlfriend and co-worker at Torchwood One; when the Battle of Canary Wharf occurred, she was taken by the Cybermen for conversion; however, she was only partially converted, leaving her in immense pain. Ianto rescued and hid her in Torchwood Three, using the conversion machine as lifesupport to keep her alive. Unfortunately, Lisa's personality eventually became overtaken by the Cyberman components; she was killed by Ianto.
D
Dæmon
A race of demonic humanoids from the planet Dæmos.
Dal
Dalek
A warlike race of mutant creatures who live within mobile battle armor. They are lifelong enemies of The Doctor, and he is the only being whom they fear. They are bent on destroying all life forms in the universe other than themselves. The creatures themselves somewhat resemble squid, with a single eye and many tentacles. They first appeared in the 1963 serial The Daleks, the second Doctor Who serial.
Dalek Humans
The Dalek Human race were created by the Cult of Skaro in New York in the year 1930 in "Evolution of the Daleks". They were human bodies, with Dalek minds inside. The Cult was relying on a gamma strike from the sun to release the energy needed to splice the human and Dalek genomes together. However, Dalek Sec, with the Doctor's help, wanted to change the process to give them emotions. The other members of the Cult of Skaro believed that Sec was no longer a true Dalek and turned on him. The Doctor held onto the spire of the Empire State Building as the gamma strike occurred, resulting in his Time Lord DNA mixing with the Dalek Humans' DNA, giving the Dalek Humans the potential for free will. Dalek Caan deemed the experiment a failure, and put all of the Dalek Humans to death.
Dalek Puppet
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Dalek puppet | |
Type | Partially converted Daleks |
Affiliated with | Daleks |
First appearance | Asylum of the Daleks |
A Dalek puppet is a living or dead creature that has been partially converted by Dalek nanogenes into a Dalek. When activated, a miniature Dalek eyestalk and gunstick emerge from them—in humanoids, the eyestalk comes from the forehead and the gunstick from the hand. When needed, the subject's memories can be reactivated. Time Lords cannot be converted into Dalek puppets. The victim can be brought back to their senses by repeated insults to their character, such as what the Doctor did to Tasha Lem.
Data Ghost
A data ghost is an echo of a dead human's last few moments alive. Data ghosts are the result of an imprint of a person's consciousness at the moment of their death, stored on a neural relay incorporated in Commander Lux suits. In "Silence in the Library", Data Ghosts appear at the death of Miss Evangelista and Proper Dave. Data Ghosts typically only last up to a few minutes. The Data Ghost of Miss Evangelista was "saved" onto the Library's hard-drive as a result of mixed wireless signals. As a result of data corruption, the version of Miss Evangelista saved in the library's computer appeared deformed and possessed superior intelligence. Later in the episode, the Doctor preserves River Song's consciousness using his sonic screwdriver.
The Dead
The Dead are an alien species appearing in the Torchwood episode Lost Souls, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 to celebrate the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider. In the episode, The Dead managed to enter our universe during a test run of the machine, and fed off the neutrons of the humans it came in contact with. It had psychic abilities, allowing it to impersonate people's deceased friends, which it used to deceive Ianto Jones and Dr Harrington. It was destroyed when Torchwood, working with Martha Jones and the staff at CERN, fired an anti-proton beam into the Large Hadron Collider.
Death
A being described only as "Death" appears in the episode "Dead Man Walking". An entity connected to the second Resurrection Gauntlet, it manifests by using Owen Harper as a host after Jack Harkness brings him back to life. A strange energy the Torchwood team is unable to explain gradually overtakes him before releasing itself and taking a physical form: a skeleton shrouded in black vapour. Death then proceeds to undertake a cycle it had attempted once before in the middle ages when a young girl, Faith, was resurrected by the glove and brought Death into the world in a similar fashion. If Death can kill 13 people, it will "walk the world forever," taking victims at random to feed its rapacious hunger. However, before it can reach its 13th victim, the already-dead Owen stalls Death for long enough that it weakens and dissipates: the same way in which Faith defeated Death in the Middle Ages. Owen then re-absorbs the energy so that he may continue living in his undead state.
Death was first mentioned as "something in the darkness" by Suzie Costello in "They Keep Killing Suzie".
Delta Magnan
Demon
Demons have appeared in Doctor Who several times. Originally in Third Doctor serial The Dæmons, in which they were specifically aliens from the planet Dæmos who had come to Earth in the distant past and ingrained their existence as myth, with "demon" Azal summoned at the Master's will.
In 2006, both the Tenth Doctor series of Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood expanded upon a notion of actual malicious supernatural entities existing in the Doctor Who universe. "The Impossible Planet" introduced the Beast, a Satan-like demon remaining from the universe before our own, sealed in planet Krop Tor by the "Disciples of Light". Later, in the Torchwood episode "End of Days"', the mysterious Bilis Manger frees "Abaddon, son of the great Beast" from within the Rift, where he, like the Beast, had been imprisoned since "before time".
Abaddon, a demon sealed away "before time" appears in "End of Days", and is revealed to have been sealed beneath the Rift. The villainous Bilis Manger had schemed to ensure his freedom, manipulating the Torchwood Three crew. Bilis refers to Abaddon as his "god". Abaddon killed all those who fell in his shadow; he devoured life. Captain Jack attempted to sacrifice himself by using his immortality to destroy the demon when it tried to absorb too much, leaving Jack dead for days but causing the monster to choke to death. It is also referred to in Series 2 of Doctor Who by the Ood in the episode "The Impossible Planet" in terms of Beast's various aliases: "Some may call it Abaddon."
Earlier in the first series of Torchwood, demonic supernatural entities, referred to by humans as "fairies", were established in "Small Worlds" as a non-alien presence on Earth since before mankind came to exist.
Destroyer
A demon from Hell itself, summoned by Morgaine to threaten Ace into giving her King Arthur's blade. The Destroyer took the form of blue-skinned humanoid with large black horns. He wore armor and was bound in silver chains so as to be manageable. His powers were much greater the Morgaine's, but were limited due to his weakness to silver. Craftier than the sorceress, the Destroyer lead the Seventh Doctor to her hideout, forcing her to undo his shackles to destroy the Doctor. However, the Brigadier killed it using silver bullets he had procured on the Doctor's advice.
In Battlefield's original script, the Destroyer was intended to originally be a human businessman, who fell under Morgaine's spell and became more demonic as time went on. However, because it would have been too costly to keep changing him throughout the story, he was kept in one form and his back story rewritten.
Didonian
Diplosian
Dogon
The Dogon are an extraterrestrial species referred to in "Random Shoes". They are a reptilian race with thirteen eyes, each of which grants them especially enhanced perceptions in various respects; the sixth of which is swallowed by Eugene Jones in Random Shoes and after being fatally hit by a car he is able to return as a ghost to look over his life with a fresh perspective. A few years prior to these events a Dogon ship crashed in the Humber and Dogons were subsequently dissected and investigated by Dr. Rajesh Singh under director Yvonne Hartman.
A Dogon Eye was mentioned as having been purchased by Henry Parker in "A Day in the Death".
Dominator
Doovari
The Doovari are a race of aliens, mentioned on the Torchwood website, who power their spacecraft on sexual energy provided by their incredibly potent crew.[11]
Draconian
The Draconians (also called Dragons, a derogatory term) are a humanoid race encountered in the 26th century. They have tall, pointed heads with prominent brows, pointed ears and patches of scaly skin. Common interstellar travel and attempts at colonization have brought them into frequent and occasionally hostile contact with humans, leading to a treaty establishing a frontier between the two empires. The Draconians are very intelligent and at least as advanced as their human counterparts. They have appeared only in the Third Doctor serial Frontier in Space. The Doctor mentioned that he arm wrestled with one at some point.
Dragon
Despite its name, this creature is a robot with a more insectoid look to it. It was charged with keeping the Dragonfire crystal away from Kane; the Dragon wandred aimlessly through the crystal caverns beneath Ice World for centuries. It was badly damaged by Kane's henchmen, and the Dragonfire, which doubled as its power source, was taken.
Drahvin
Almost-entirely female humanoid warrior race from the planet Drahva in Galaxy 4.
Drashig
Drashigs are gigantic worm-like creatures. They appear to have eye-stalks on the top of their heads, but have poor eyesight. Their bodies are covered in rough, scaly hide. They are omnivores, known to eat even the thrusters of spacecraft, but prefer to eat flesh. They hunt by scent, and will almost never abandon prey once they have found it.
Drornidian
Dulcian
E
Eight Legs
A race of giant, telepathic spiders from the planet Metebelis III, appearing only in Planet of the Spiders.
Their leader, the Great One sought use the Metabelis crystals to increase her telepathic abilities beyond normal levels. However, the resulting radiation from the web holding the crystals resulted in her death and the Third Doctor's regeneration.
Eknodines
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Eknodines | |
Type | Parasitic aliens |
Affiliated with | Dream Lord |
Home planet | Eknodon (formerly Dream Earth) |
First appearance | "Amy's Choice" |
The Eknodines appear in the episode "Amy's Choice". They are a race of aliens, from the planet Eknodon, who can inhabit human bodies, keeping them alive for a long time. The Eknodines have a green eye-stalk that can look out of their host's mouth. The Eknodines attack by breathing a gas upon their victims that turns them to dust.
The Eknodines are only seen in the fictional version of Upper Leadworth created by the Dream Lord. However the Doctor recognises them, suggesting they exist in his reality, though entities within dreams ring familiar to the dreamers, as did Mrs Hamill, along with the entire elderly community of the fictional Upper Leadworth. The Doctor has described them as a "proud, ancient race" above pity alien attacks on humanity; however, the attack on them by "upstart neighbours" caused the Eknodines to " feel lonely and destroyed" and plan to enact their anger on other races. They inhabited the elderly people of Leadworth and later attacked the Doctor, Amy and later disintegrating Rory.
Elder
The Eminence
The Eminence is a gestalt entity which exists as a brown gas which suffocates humanoid life forms before possessing them and turning them into deathless footsoldiers for its army. Its first appearance was in the Sixth Doctor Audio Adventure the Seeds of War. It has since been present throughout the Dark Eyes series featuring the Eighth Doctor and has featured in the Fourth Doctor Adventures episode Destroy the Infinite.
Entity
The Entity was a gaseous form capable of 'eating' the whole of time and space. In an attempt to stop it, the Doctor had imprisoned it in a vase which he kept in the TARDIS's Drawing Room. Amy accidentally broke the vase and released it, and it consequently attempted to devour her. The Doctor warned that he would contain it once again if it did not release her; after it obliged, he let it out into space to feed on 'Chronomites', tiny krill-like creatures that, after being killed, will 'rewind' and regenerate to the moment before their demise. This allows the Entity to feed harmlessly for eternity. However, as a form of punishment, the Doctor neglected to mention that the Chronomites would make the Entity itchy.
Ergon
The Ergon was an avian/reptilian hybrid working for the Time Lord Omega.
Eternal
To summarize an Eternal, they could be described as parasitic transcendent beings of great power. They lack imagination, and can only exist by feeding off the thoughts and emotions of regular beings. They have, god-like abilities, being able to create or manipulate anything in existence at will.
Eve
Eve is a child from an unknown race of aliens most of whom were destroyed during the Time War. She is humanoid, with pointed ears and red skin, eyes and hair. Eve's race can read timelines and manipulate time and have the ability to possess and control humans. In The Mad Woman in the Attic, Eve was evacuated to Earth by her parents when their race was destroyed by the Daleks. Her sentient ship, Ship, crashed on a beach at Danemouth, where it ordered Harry, a funfair caretaker, to keep Eve away from civilisation for her to play games until Ship rebooted. She later befriends an orphaned human boy and later has a son with him; she sent him to correct the mistake to Rani Chandra's timeline that her ship made.
Exxilon
F
"Fairies"
Torchwood alien | |
---|---|
The "fairies": humanoid form (top) and "butterfly" form (bottom). | |
"Fairies" | |
Type | Supernatural entities |
Affiliated with | Chosen Ones |
Home planet | Earth |
First appearance | "Small Worlds" |
Called "fairies" by mankind, Jack Harkness notes that these creatures do not actually have a name. Fairies are not alien life-forms, but have lived alongside humanity since the dawn of time, and although mankind has ascribed positive, friendly aspects to them, Jack insists that they are dangerous. Their exact nature is unclear, although Jack vaguely describes them as part myth, part spirit world and part reality jumbled together, mixed with "old moments and emotions", all moving backwards and forwards through time and seen only out of the corner of one's eye.
Fairies and children are linked, and Jack says that fairies were once children, taken from various time periods stretching millennia into the past. These children are the Chosen Ones, who the fairies protect and avenge if harm comes to them, until the time that they claim the children for their own. The fairies require these children in order to continue their race's existence.
In "Small Worlds", fairies are seen in two forms: one a small, glowing humanoid form with butterfly-like wings and the other a much larger, more monstrous form. They are also undetectable by technology, and can appear and disappear at will. They also have control of the elements, able to create sudden gales or rainstorms and direct them with pinpoint accuracy. It is also said that they can make "great storms, wild seas, [and] turn the world to ice."
A common method of killing their victims is to "steal their breath", asphyxiating them by clogging their throats with rose petals. Their ability to move back and forth in time is demonstrated by the appearance of Jasmine, a Chosen One taken in the present, in fairy form in a 1917 photograph.
Jack speculates that fairies may be "part Mara". However, his noting of "Mara" as the origin of the word "nightmare" and their ability to steal the breath from their victims suggests that he is referring to the Mara of Germanic/Scandinavian mythology. It is unclear whether any reference was intended to the Mara of the Doctor Who stories Snakedance and Kinda. Christopher Bailey, writer of Snakedance and Kinda, was a practising Buddhist and named Doctor Who's Mara after the Buddhist demon Mara.[12]
Throughout Torchwood Declassified, they are referred to interchangeably as "maras", "shades" and "fairies".[13] In the Torchwood website's Alien Autopsy featurette, they are described as "demonic fairies".[14]
The Family of Blood
The Family of Blood was an alien race that feasted on other creatures to prolong their own lifespan and increase their powers. Shortly before World War I, a "family" of them came to Easton Boy's School, hunting the Doctor as his Time Lord essence would provide them unlimited life. The "Son" took over a local student and used animated scarecrows for henchman and to find bodies for the family in order to take them over. When they located the Doctor (who had converted his biology from Time Lord to human), they sent an army of scarecrows to hunt him. The Doctor eventually resumed his Time Lord form, giving each member of the family an eternal punishment; in a twisted way the Family of Blood got the immortality they sought, just not the way they wanted it.
Fendahl
A race that never exceeds unlucky number 13; it is composed of one Golden Core and 12 Fendahleen. The Fendahl go from world to world, leaving destruction in their wake. The skull of a Golden Core landed on earth, where it helped shape the darker side of humanity's nature. It was later found by scientists, who believed it could grant them power; the attempt unfortunately backfired in the creation of a new Golden Core. The Core began turning the scientist into Fendahleen, but one committed suicide, preventing them from reach their quota. The Fourth Doctor blew up the house the Fendahl where in and tossed the skull that caused the trouble into a supernova.
Fenric
An powerful entity of an unknown race, Fenric was an enemy of the Seventh Doctor.
Fish People
Fisher King
Flesh
- Not to be confused with Gangers
The Flesh were a group of human clones used by the Sisters of Plenitude for the development of cures for the people of New Earth. They were initially seen incarcerated in pods, but after their release by Lady Cassandra, they began infecting patients in the hospital. They developed consciousness, and wished to be held out of loneliness; however, they seemed to have not developed enough intelligence to tell that everyone was trying to stay away from them. Cured of their diseases by the Doctor, they were established as a new form of humanity.
Fleshkind
- Not to be confused with Flesh
The Fleshkind are of human appearance. Their home planet is located somewhere in the Tornado Nebula. They are currently in conflict with the Metalkind. Miss Myers, Fleshkind, grew a child in a laboratory. This child, Sky Smith, was "destined" to destroy the Metalkind as it is part of her genetic background to give off electromagnetic powers and activate as a bomb. Sarah Jane Smith, who takes dislike in Miss Myers' plan, escapes with Sky. To help carry on the plan, Miss Myers rewires a metal man of Metalkind, who had already arrived at Earth, making him swear veangance on all flesh kind, including Earth's inhabitants, and call out to the Metalkind. Sarah Jane's gang deactivates the nuclear reactor, ceasing the portal and its duty to bring the Metalkind. The metal man then uses his remaining energy from the failed portal, grabbing hold of Miss Myers as he takes them back to war.
The Flood
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
The Flood | |
Type | unknown (probably virus) |
Affiliated with | Ice Warriors |
Home planet | Mars |
First appearance | The Waters of Mars |
A nickname given by the Tenth Doctor to the aquatic infection found in the water of Mars' ice caps. When the Flood infects a human, the host's irises fade to white, their teeth blacken and cracks form around their mouth. The resulting zombie-like creature then seeks to infect everyone around it with the water that they can exude from any part of their body. The virus is intelligent, acting as a collective consciousness shared by the infected. The hosts are unable to speak although they can show emotion and emit high-pitched screams. The Flood was presumably destroyed when Bowie Base One detonated its nuclear self-destruct, blowing up the base and the glacier the Flood was trapped in.
Foamasi
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Foamasi | |
Type | Reptilian biped |
Affiliated with | The Argolin |
Home planet | Unknown |
First appearance | The Leisure Hive |
The Foamasi are an intelligent, bipedal race of reptiles resembling humanoid chameleons who appeared in the 1980 Fourth Doctor story The Leisure Hive by David Fisher. The race's name is a near-anagram of the word "mafioso". The Foamasi fought and won a 20-minute nuclear war with the Argolin. They communicate by means of chirps and clicks, translated by an interpreting device held in the mouth. Although they became mostly a peaceful race from having learned the error of their ways from the devastating war, a renegade faction called the West Lodge exists and frequently attempted to arouse hostilities between the two races.
After their victory, the Argolin's home planet of Argolis was officially owned by the Foamasi government. Two saboteurs from the West Lodge tried to force the Argolins to sell them the Leisure Hive, so they could use it as a new base. They were thwarted by a group of Foamasi, one claiming to be a member of the Foamasi government, who used a web-spewing gun to ensnare them and return them to their home planet. Some Foamasi disguise themselves as humanoids by fitting into skin-suits which are smaller than the Foamasi's own bodies.
A Foamasi assassin appears in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Placebo Effect by Gary Russell. In this novel, it is explained that the Foamasi can fit into disguises smaller than their bodies because their bones are hollow and collapsible.
Foretold
The Foretold is the mummified remains of an ancient soldier animated by faulty technology. It chooses victims based on how damaged they are, emotionally and physically. Once it appears to a victim, it takes 66 seconds for it to kill them by draining their life energy out; it remains invisible to anyone else but its victim, by taking them out of phase from the rest. The Doctor was able to deduce that the parchment that attracted the Foretold came from its body and that it was actually a military symbol; he surrendered to it moments before he could be killed, and dismissed the ancient soldier, allowing it to finally rest in peace.
Forest of Cheem
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Forest of Cheem | |
Type | Bipedal arboreals |
Affiliated with | None |
Home planet | Earth |
First appearance | "The End of the World" |
The Forest of Cheem is a race of sentient, bipedal trees that are direct descendants of the Old Earth Trees. The trees were sold to the Brotherhood from the Panjassic Asteroid field, who experimented on the trees, and, after hundreds of years the trees grew arms and started walking. Eventually, the entire race of Trees got on their Barkships after they heard the Great Calling, travelling through space for five thousand years. The word 'cheem' means 'tree' in the forest's language.[15] Members of the Forest of Cheem appear in the Ninth Doctor episode "The End of the World" by Russell T Davies. According to the Ninth Doctor, they are of huge financial importance due to their land holdings and forests on various planets; and they have "roots" everywhere.
The Forest respect all forms of life, but neither respect nor understand various technologies such as computers. They were aware of the Time Lords and their fate in the Time War. The Doctor Who Annual 2006 classifies them as one of the higher species who were aware of the course of the Time War and its history-changing effects and also states that they were mortified by the bloodshed.
The group of Trees seen on Platform One was led by Jabe Ceth Ceth Jafe (named in Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains), and also included Coffa and Lute. Coffa and Lute appear again in the comic strip story "Reunion of Fear" in Doctor Who - Battles in Time #6.
The Doctor mentioned them, saying one fancied him in "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe".
Futurekind
Futurekind | |
---|---|
Doctor Who character | |
Affiliated | Humans |
Home planet | Presumably Malcassairo |
Home era | The End of the Universe |
First appearance | "Utopia" |
The Futurekind are a barbaric humanoid race with pointed teeth and primitive language skills, who appear in the 2007 episode "Utopia", set in the year 100 trillion when the universe is coming to an end. The human survivors describe the Futurekind as what they may become if they do not reach 'Utopia', though that seems to be just a myth. The Futurekind are aggressive towards normal humans and hunt them for food.
One infiltrated the human base and allowed her kind to invade. The Futurekind try attacking Tenth Doctor, Martha and Jack; however they use Jack's vortex manipulator to escape back to the 21st century.
G
Gangers
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Gangers | |
Type | Clones |
Affiliated with | House |
Home planet | Earth |
First appearance | "The Rebel Flesh" |
The Gangers (a truncation of Doppelgänger) are made from 'fully programmable' material called the Flesh, used to hold the consciousness of a human worker. They were used as a work gang mining acid. After a solar storm caused them to fully develop personalities (in Jennifer's case, a more malignant mind), they openly rebelled against their human progenitors on the island. After they were brought to life, they developed unique abilities like being able to stretch out parts of their body, or in Jennifer's case, become a large deadly monster. They could look human with some effort, but really had smooth unnatural skin. The Silence worked to create a Ganger of companion Amy Pond, secretly replacing the original, prior to "The Impossible Astronaut" and this Ganger remained with the Doctor until "The Almost People" whilst the real Amy was imprisoned in Demon's Run. A Ganger of Amy's daughter Melody was used to trick the Doctor again in "A Good Man Goes to War".
Garm
Gastropod
The Gastropods, as seen in The Twin Dilemma, are a race of giant slugs. They kidnapped two mathematical geniuses to pilot their planet into a sun, creating an explosion that would scatter their eggs across the universe.
Gaztak
Gee-Jee Fly
An insect native to the planet Varos.
Gel Guard
Gelth
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Gelth | |
Type | Gaseous lifeform |
Affiliated with | None |
Home planet | Unknown |
First appearance | "The Unquiet Dead" |
The Gelth appeared in the Ninth Doctor episode "The Unquiet Dead". They were a new race of alien villains that the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler encountered in the 2005 series. They were the first element of the new series that attracted attention for being "too scary".[16] Following complaints, many of which were made by Mediawatch UK, the BBC stated that in future, episodes of that nature would be forewarned by a statement of "may not be suitable for under 8s".
The Gelth are blue gaseous life-forms. They claimed to have lost their corporeal forms as a consequence of the Time War, though later actions by the Gelth put the truth of this statement in doubt. They arrived on Earth via the spacetime rift at an undertaker's house in Cardiff in 1869. Their forms could not be maintained in Earth's atmosphere without suspension in a gaseous medium. They proceeded to take possession of recently deceased corpses and in gas pipes common to Victorian era households. When they are possessing these corpses, they look close to being ordinary humans (provided that the corpse has yet to enter the autolytic stage of decomposition), with only two fundamental differences: their irises vanish or turn white, and blue veins are clearly visible on their ghastly pale skin. Gelth make an unearthly shrieking noise for an unknown reason, particularly when they've possessed someone.
Claiming to be on the verge of extinction, the Gelth convinced the Doctor to aid their entrance to Earth via Gwyneth, the undertaker's servant girl who had developed psychic powers due to growing up near the rift. The Gelth actually numbered in the billions and intended to take the Earth by force, and to use its murdered population as vessels for themselves. The Gelth were thwarted when Gwyneth sacrificed herself, blowing up the building and sealing the rift. Whether all the Gelth that came through the rift perished is unclear.
In "Army of Ghosts", Rose asked whether "ghostshifting" Cybermen might have been Gelth, which the Doctor stated was not the case.
In "The Unicorn and the Wasp", Donna Noble compared Agatha Christie being surrounded by murders to meeting Charles Dickens at Christmas while he's surrounded by ghosts. The Tenth Doctor gave a "Well..." to a disbelieving Donna; Charles Dickens was with his previous incarnation and Rose when the Gelth attempted to attack at Christmas, plus the gaseous form of the Gelth could lead them to being classified as ghosts.
Giant Maggot
Regular Earth insects mutated by chemical waste.
Giant Rat
Gods of Ragnarok
Despite the name, they are not connected to Norse mythology.
Gond
Gorgon
Gorgons are a parasitic race that resemble ethereal snakes, based on the mythological Gorgon. In Eye of the Gorgon, three members of this species visited Earth through a portal that was opened by a specific talisman. Once there, they remained on the planet for three thousand years, following the loss of the talisman. In order to remain hidden, they formed a sisterhood of nuns that protected them from the human world. Two members of their kind were slain, one by a Greek hero and another by Professor Edgar Nelson-Stanley and his wife, Bea. A single Gorgon remained to look for the talisman, which Bea gave to Luke Smith, who in turn gave it to his adoptive mother Sarah Jane Smith.
Gorgons inhabit other species and move to successive hosts as each grows weak and dies in order for them to survive. Gorgons attack by means of a process resembling rapid fossilisation, which gives the appearance that the victim has been turned to stone. However, Luke and Clyde managed to avoid this by running. People who suffer this can still hear for a least for a few minutes and can even cry. It is reversible for a few hours using the talisman. The Gorgons are native to the planet Gorgos, 100 million light years from Earth.
Graske
Doctor Who alien | |
---|---|
Graske | |
Type | Changeling |
Affiliated with | The Trickster |
Home planet | Griffoth |
First appearance | "Attack of the Graske" |
A Graske is a member of a race of diminutive aliens from the planet Griffoth. They are able to transmat through time and space, abducting individuals out of their own time and replacing them with their own kind in disguise as their victims. A disguised Graske can be identified by an occasional green glow in its eyes.
An unnamed Graske appears in the interactive Doctor Who episode "Attack of the Graske" and the Proms special episode "Music of the Spheres".
Krislok is a Graske who first appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? and The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith. He became a servant of the Trickster after it saved him from dying, but later gained his freedom.
A Graske is seen the alien bar scene in The End of Time.
Great Intelligence
Great Vampire
The Great Vampire is one of the many Vampire lords. It is the last of its kind, the rest of them having been killed by being shot with large metal spears launched by spacegoing warships known as 'bowships'. The Doctor killed the last one with one of the scoutships from the lords tower, actually a grounded space vessel.
Groske
Groske look like Graske but are blue. They first appeared in Death of the Doctor, where they were seen working for UNIT. One of the Groske later saves Clyde, Rani and Santiago. They also talk like the Graske.
Groske can detect artron energy (claiming it "smells"), and dislike the Graske.
Guardian
Powerful entities in charge of keeping balance in the universe. Each may not become directly involved in the affairs of the universe, but may choose agents to carry out their bidding (the White Guardian chose the Doctor, while the Black Guardian chose the Shadow and Vislor Turlough).
Gubbage Cone
A race of carnivorous fungi.
See also
References
- ↑ Writer Russell T Davies, Director James Strong, Producer Phil Collinson (2008-04-05). "Partners in Crime". Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One.
- ↑ "The Monster Files". BBC. 5 April 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
- ↑ "Intercepted Blog - Cardiffboyoboy". Torchwood.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ↑ "www.torchwood.co.uk - News Report". BBC. 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
- ↑ "Operation Lowry: Notes from Owen". Torchwood.org.uk. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
- ↑ 10 December 2011 5:35pm - 6:25pm. "The Sarah Jane Adventures - Mr Smith". BBC. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
- ↑ Hawden, James; Clayton Hickman (editor) (2007-01-31). "DWMail". Doctor Who Magazine (378): 9. Cite uses deprecated parameter
|coauthors=
(help) - ↑ Russell, Gary (2008). The Torchwood Archives. BBC Books. ISBN 978-1-84607-459-2.
- ↑ "Gridlock commentary podcast". podcast (BBC). 14 April 2007.
- ↑ "www.torchwood.co.uk - Cell 114". BBC. 2008-01-23. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
- ↑ "www.torchwood.org.uk - Case File 2 - Sexual Energy - Doovari". BBC. 2006-10-22. Archived from the original on 2007-02-28. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
- ↑ Shannon Patrick Sullivan. "A Brief History Of Time (Travel): Kinda". Retrieved 2006-11-13.
- ↑ Torchwood cast and crew (2006-11-13). Torchwood Declassified, Episode 5, Away with the Faries (Television Series/Webcast). United Kingdom: BBC.
- ↑ BBC - Torchwood - Torchwood Declassified - Autopsy Room Archived 11 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Doctor Who Adventures, Issue 21, 17–30 January 2007
- ↑ Plunkett, John (14 April 2005). "Doctor Who 'too scary', say parents". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
External links
- The Bumper Book of Doctor Who Monsters, Villains & Alien Species
- Children of the Earth BBC Torchwood site
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