Doctor Who & Spin-Offs A-Z Game

[Alan]

S ~ Sea Devils, The - 1972 story starring Jon Pertwee as "The Doctor" and Katy Manning as "Jo Grant".

This story introduces the aquatic cousins of the Silurians, the Sea Devils. The Silurians first appear in the 1970 story Doctor Who and the Silurians, and appear alongside the Sea Devils in the 1984 story Warriors of the Deep.

The Doctor and Jo Grant visit their old enemy the Master, who is the sole inmate of a top-security prison on a remote island off the south coast of England. Local shipping has been plagued by a series of tragic accidents and several ships have been lost. Joining forces with Captain Hart of the HMS Seaspite naval base, the Doctor learns that there have been garbled reports of sea monsters. Colonel Trenchard, Governor of the Master's prison, believes that the ships are being attacked by enemy spies. The Master himself seems to be a reformed man and claims to have turned away from his life of crime.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The Master has in fact made contact with the Sea Devils, aquatic cousins of the prehistoric Silurian race encountered by the Doctor some time ago. Having slept beneath the sea for millions of years, the Sea Devils have awoken and intend to reclaim what they consider to be their planet.

Aided and abetted by the evil Master, who will stop at nothing to take revenge on those who imprisoned him, the Sea Devils plan to eliminate the human race, a species they regard as nothing more than upstart apes...

[Guest]

T ~ 'Time and the Rani' - The Rani has taken control of the planet Lakertya and forced the peaceful Lakertyans to build a rocket silo-cum-laboratory base into a cliff face. She is aided by the Tetraps, a race of bat-like creatures, and plans to fire a rocket loaded with loyhargil, a substance with the same properties as strange matter, at an asteroid completely composed of the latter.

As a preliminary to this she has created a huge artificial brain and kidnapped a number of geniuses - including Pasteur and Einstein from Earth - to imbue it with the ability first to identify and then to calculate the correct way to create loyhargil for her in the laboratory. The newly-regenerated Doctor and Mel manage to stop her and the planet is saved. The Rani is captured by the Tetraps, who decide to take her as a prisoner back to their home world.

[Alan]

U ~ Underwater Menace, The - 1967 story starring Patrick Troughton as "The Doctor", Anneke Wills as "Polly Wright", Michael Craze as "Ben Jackson", & Frazer Hines as "Jamie McCrimmon".

When the TARDIS lands on a deserted volcanic island the Doctor and his companions find themselves kidnapped by primitive sea-people. Taken into the bowels of the earth they discover they are in the lost kingdom of Atlantis.

Offered as sacrifices to the fish-goddess, Amdo, the Doctor and his companions are rescued from the jaws of death by the famous scientist, Zaroff.

But they are still not safe and nor are the people of Atlantis. For Zaroff has a plan, a plan that will make him the greatest scientist of all time - he will raise Atlantis above the waves - even if it means destroying the world...

[Guest]

V ~ Varga Plant - The Varga plants (sometimes Vaarga) appeared in the First Doctor episode "Mission to the Unknown" and the serial "The Daleks' Master Plan".

Varga Plants grew naturally on the Daleks' homeworld, Skaro, and when the Daleks set up a base on the planet Kembel they brought some Varga plants with them to act as sentries in the jungle surrounding their base. They were suited to this as they could move around freely by dragging themselves along with their roots.

Varga plants resemble cacti; they are covered in fur and thorns. Anyone pricked by a Varga thorn will be consumed by the urge to kill, while simultaneously becoming a Varga plant themselves.

This grisly fate happened to astronauts Jeff Garvey and Gordon Lowery, and their commander, Marc Cory, was forced to kill them.

[Alan]

W ~ War Machines, The - 1966 story starring William Hartnell as "The Doctor", Jackie Lane in her final appearance as "Dodo Chaplet", and introducing Anneke Wills as "Polly Wright" & Michael Craze as "Ben Jackson".

London, 1966. The TARDIS materialises in the shadow of the newly-completed Post Office Tower in London and the Doctor senses a strange energy in the air. He instinctively knows that evil is at work nearby.

Posing as a scientist, the Doctor and his 'secretary' Dodo gain access to a suite at the top of the tower, and meet the driven Professor Brett. His life's work, the thinking computer WOTAN, is about to be linked up in a problem-solving network with many other machines around the world.

But the Doctor is concerned. How can WOTAN possibly know the meaning of the word TARDIS and about the Doctor's travels through time and space? What is the strange control that WOTAN can exert over humans via a mere telephone call? And what is the computer's link with the deadly robots being assembled in a Covent Garden warehouse? Soon, London will face an army of war machines, ruthlessly programmed to eliminate all who stand in their way...

[Guest]

X ~ Xeraphin - The Xeraphin were an ancient species encountered by the Fifth Doctor in the story 'Time-Flight'. Originating from the planet Xeriphas, they possessed immense psychokinetic and scientific powers. The Doctor believed the race to have been wiped out during the crossfire during the Vardon/Kosnax war. Instead, the entire race fled to Earth in an escaping spacecraft. The ship crashed near present day Heathrow some 140 million years ago. When the Xeraphin emerged they built a Citadel to mark their new home but the Xeraphin were so plagued with radiation that they abandoned their original humanoid bodies and transformed into a single bioplasmic gestalt intelligence within a sarcophagus at the heart of the Citadel.

The arrival of the Master coincided with their emergence from the gestalt state when the radiation effects had subsided, and his influence caused the emergence of a split personality of good and evil, each side competing for their tremendous power while yearning to become a proper species once again. The Master, who was stranded on Earth at the time too, succeeded in capturing the Xeraphin as a new power source for his TARDIS. However, the Doctor's intervention meant his nemesis' TARDIS was sent to Xeriphas where events became out of his control.

[Alan]

Y ~ Yo-Yo - The yo-yo is a toy consisting of two equally sized and weighted disks of plastic, wood, or metal, connected with an axle, with a string tied around it. First becoming popular in the 1920s, "yo-yoing" is still enjoyed by children and adults alike.

The 4th Doctor is seen playing with a yo-yo from time to time. He claims in the 1975 story The Ark in Space that he is playing with the yo-yo to judge the gravitational field present on a space station.

[Guest]

Z ~ Zygon - The Zygons first appeared in the Fourth Doctor serial 'Terror of the Zygons', where it was revealed that centuries ago, the Zygon homeworld was destroyed in a stellar explosion. A craft escaped and somehow made it to Earth, where it then crashed into Loch Ness.

When the Doctor encountered the Zygons, they were led by a warlord named Broton. Broton wished to conquer the world to allow a refugee fleet of Zygons to colonize Earth.

The Zygons have shape-shifting abilities, allowing them to replicate the appearance of another being, but they must keep the subject alive in order to use its body print. This skill was vital in their concealment and in their scheme to seize power despite their small numbers. The Zygons were also accompanied by an armoured cyborg creature called the Skarasen, the lactic fluid of which was necessary for them to feed. Broton planned to unleash the Skarasen (or Loch Ness Monster as it was known) as part of a bid to conquer the Earth.

[Alan]

A ~ Agyeman, Freema - Actress. Freema Agyman is best known for playing the 10th Doctor's former companion, Martha Jones. She reprised the role for 3 episodes of spin-off series Torchwood. Before being cast as Martha, Freema had guest starred in the 2006 Doctor Who story Army of Ghosts in which she played scientist Adeola Oshodi (later revealed to be Martha's cousin).

[Guest]

B ~ Bessie - Bessie was the name the 3rd Doctor gave to a yellow roadster which he used during his 5-year exile on Earth. Bessie had the licence plate of WHO 1 and first appeared in the 1970 story 'The Silurians'. The newly regenerated 4th Doctor used Bessie in the 1974 story 'Robot'. After that Bessie wasn't seen again until the 1983 story 'The Five Doctors' in which it was being driven by the 3rd Doctor. Bessie's next appearance after that was in the 1988 story 'Battlefield' in which it was driven by the 7th Doctor. The licence plate had been changed to WHO 7. The Doctor had made some modifications to Bessie and one of these was a Super-Fast Drive which allowed the car to move faster than a car of its type is supposed to. Presumably Bessie is being stored by UNIT.

[Kidwizz]

C ~ Cult of Skaro - (named after Skaro, the original homeworld of the Daleks) was a secret group of four Daleks - three Standard Daleks and one Black Dalek - assigned the task of furthering the Dalek cause through the development of new and unorthodox ideas and strategies. The leader of the Cult claimed that it was created primarily to further the process of Dalek evolution. Their willingness to adopt alien modes of thought was demonstrated by the fact that they had individual names, a concept most Daleks found abhorrent. Led by Sec, the Black Dalek, they answered to no one, not even the Dalek Emperor, although they still revered him.

[Guest]

D ~ Delgado, Roger - First actor to portray The Master from 1971 until his death in 1973. His first appearance was in 'Terror of the Autons'.

[Alan]

D ~ Death to the Daleks - 1974 story starring Jon Pertwee as "The Doctor" and Elisabeth Sladen as "Sarah Jane Smith".

This story is the 3rd Doctor's fourth and final encounter with the Daleks (the others being in Day of the Daleks, Frontier in Space, & Planet of the Daleks).

An inexplicable power-loss strands the TARDIS on the sinister planet Exxilon where the Doctor meets an expedition from Earth seeking a rare material that can cure the virulent space plague that threatens all human life throughout the galaxy. Nearby, Sarah discovers a mysterious, living Citadel but is captured by the savage Exxilons who prepare her for sacrifice...

The Doctor must uncover the secrets of the ancient Exxilon City, locate the source of the power-drain, save Sarah and help the Earth expedition. But his plans are threatened by new arrivals on the planet - the Doctor's oldest and deadliest enemies - The Daleks!

[Guest]

E - Eternal - Eternals, as seen in 'Enlightenment' (1983), are beings who live in the "trackless wastes of eternity", as opposed to the likes of the Doctor and his companions who are "Ephemerals". Eternals use Ephemerals for their thoughts and ideas. The Eternals have lived for so long that they are unable to think for themselves and need human minds to give them existence, and entertainment; as such, they use human crews on their ships. Eternals seek out "Enlightenment", the wisdom to know everything. They are aware of the Void, calling it "the Howling" ("Army of Ghosts" (2006)) and were responsible for banishing the Carrionites ("The Shakespeare Code" (2007)).

[Alan]

F ~ Fourth Doctor, The - The 4th Doctor came in to existence after his predecessors body was severely damaged by radiation given off from a powerful Crystal on the planet Metebelis 3 which caused him to regenerate at the conclusion of the 1974 story Planet of the Spiders.

In the following story, I]Robot[/i], after his regeneration the 4th Doctor chose his clothing which consisted of a shirt, waistcoat, wide-legged trousers, a frock coat (with pockets containing a seemingly endless array of apparently useless items that would nevertheless suit the Doctor's purposes when used), a wide-brimmed hat (on occasion) and, most famously, his impractically long, multicoloured striped scarf, which was apparently knitted for him by Madame Nostradamus (whom he refers to as a "witty little knitter"). The 4th Doctor quickly cut his ties with the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce and went on his travels.

The 4th Doctor's life came to an end in the 1981 story Logopolis after succeeding in stopping the renegade Time Lord known as the Master from destroying the universe. He is mortally wounded when he falls from the Pharos Project radio telescope control tower, where he utters his last words: "It's the end -- but the moment has been prepared for." and he regenerated into his fifth incarnation.

A past version of the 4th Doctor appeared in the 1983 story The Five Doctors when he is Time Scooped and taken out of time. Unfortunately the 4th Doctor becomes trapped in a Time Eddy which effectively puts the 5th Doctor's life in jeopardy and also makes him a walking paradox. For without the 4th Doctor doing his part in the time/space continuum he won't meet his end at the Pharos Project and won't regenerate into the 5th Doctor. However, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Doctor's win the Game of Rassilon and the 4th Doctor is freed and returned to his customary time and place with no memory of ever being taken.

The 4th Doctor was played by Tom Baker.