Doctor Who & Spin-Offs A-Z Game

[Alan]

O ~ Original Sin - Book that was part of the New Adventures range. It featured the 7th Doctor and Professor Bernice "Benny" Summerfield and introduced new companions Roslyn "Roz" Forrester and Christopher "Chris" Cwej who are Adjudicators (form of police officers) from the 30th century. It also sees the return of Cyberman collaborator Tobias Vaughn who appeared in the 1968 TV story The Invasion.

Cover Blurb:
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‘I’m playing with a fire so dangerous I could scorch eternity.’

The last words of a dying alien send the Doctor and Bernice to thirtieth-century Earth in an attempt to avert an unspecified disaster. Before they can even unpack they’ve been arrested by the Adjudicators and sentenced to death by the Imperial army. Their attempts to prove their innocence take them from the mosaic planet Purgatory to a prison inside a star.

Meanwhile, Adjudicators "Roz" Forrester and "Chris" Cwej have their own problems. Investigating a series of apparently motiveless murders, they have stumbled upon a conspiracy with sinister overtones. On the run and out of luck, the only people they can turn to are their chief suspects: the Doctor and Bernice.

And as they run, someone is watching them. Someone who knows the Doctor of old...

[Guest]

P ~ Polly - Polly first appears in the First Doctor serial, 'The War Machines', where she is working as a secretary to Professor Brett. Brett develops the artificial intelligence known as WOTAN, and Polly meets the Doctor and Dodo when they come to investigate it. Polly befriends Dodo and takes her to a London nightclub called the Inferno, where they meet Ben Jackson and try to cheer up the merchant seaman. When Polly is accosted by another patron in the Inferno, Ben comes to her rescue. Eventually, Ben and Polly aid the Doctor in his fight against WOTAN when the computer tries to take over the world. They are the bearers of the news of Dodo's decision to stay in 1966 to the Doctor, and accidentally get carried away in the TARDIS when they try to return Dodo's key to the time machine.

Polly, in contrast to Dodo, is a more sophisticated and hip young woman of the 1960s — vivacious, attractive, and alternately shy and aggressive. She and Ben make an odd couple, but she is receptive to Ben's protective urges, and he in turn finds her elegant and posh, giving her the nickname "Duchess". Polly is present with Ben when the First Doctor regenerates into the Second, and continues to travel with the Second Doctor.

Eventually, the TARDIS finds its way back to 1966 London (in 'The Faceless Ones') on the very day Ben and Polly had left (although about a year had passed for them). They decide to remain behind to resume their lives without disruption as the Doctor and Jamie travel on.

Polly was never given a last name in the series. According to production notes, she was meant to be Polly Wright, but this was not used in case it would be confused with previous companion Barbara Wright.

What happens to Polly after her return to Earth is not known. The Doctor seems to think that Ben will become an Admiral and that Polly will look after Ben, but it is unclear if this is a prediction or simply wishing them well.

[Alan]

Q ~ Question Marks - Starting from the 1980 story The Leisure Hive, the 4th Doctor started wearing shirts with Question Marks on the collar. The 5th Doctor and the 6th Doctor also wore shirts with Question Marks on the collar and also wore trouser braces displaying them too.

The 7th Doctor wore a pullover with Question Marks on and from the 1987 story Delta and the Bannermen, he started carrying a Question Mark-handled umbrella too.

[Guest]

R ~ Romana - short for Romanadvoratrelundar...

The White Guardian originally assigns Romana to assist the Doctor during the quest for the Key to Time, a series of linked serials which constitute the whole of Season 16 (1978-79). Romana first appears in 'The Ribos Operation', and was intended as a contrast to her predecessor, the savage Leela. Romana is initially haughty and somewhat arrogant, looking down on the Doctor (whom she considers to be her academic inferior; she obtained a triple first at the Academy, while the Doctor passed with only 51 percent, on his second attempt) and responding to his initial resentment at her presence with icy put-downs. However, she soon gains an appreciation for the Doctor's experience and sense of adventure, and begins to respect him as a teacher.

Over the course of Season 16, Romana begins to take some of the characteristics of the screaming "damsel in distress", which reinforced Tamm's decision not to remain in the role as she felt the character had been taken as far as she could go. As a result, Romana regenerates at the start of Season 17, emerging with a different physical appearance and a lighter personality.

The suddenness of the regeneration scene was also dictated by real life events. Although Tamm had left the show on relatively good terms, by the start of Season 17, she was very visibly pregnant, making her return even for a regeneration scene impractical.

The introduction of Romana's second incarnation in 'Destiny of the Daleks' treats the concept of regeneration humorously. At the beginning of the serial, Romana changes bodily forms several times, rather like someone casually trying on different outfits, before deciding to take the form of Princess Astra, who had been played by Lalla Ward in the final serial of Season 16, 'The Armageddon Factor'. This regeneration scene is controversial with some fans; see "Romana's Regeneration".

Romana II enjoys a more intimate relationship with the Doctor than her predecessor, to the point that some fans have assumed a romantic relationship with the Doctor. Although a relationship was never explicitly shown or intended by the writers, many fans have found the signs of a romantic relationship particularly evident in the story 'City of Death', perhaps reflecting the real-life romance between Tom Baker and Lalla Ward which reportedly blossomed during the production of that story, leading to their brief marriage. In many ways, she is the companion most alike her Doctor - besides being of the same race and comparable intelligence, she occasionally mimics his sense of style, wields her own sonic screwdriver and can occasionally get the better of him in moments of banter and more practical situations. As her practical experience develops, she also becomes more assured and capable in the situations she finds herself in.

Her final television appearance was in 'Warriors' Gate', where she leaves the Doctor with the robot dog K-9 to forge her own path in the parallel universe of E-space. She also appears briefly in the 20th Anniversary special The Five Doctors through the reuse of footage from the uncompleted story 'Shada', and in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time.

However she is mentioned in the Fifth Doctor episode 'Arc of Infinity' in which the Doctor returns to Gallifrey. When the Council of the Time Lords reprimands him for "leaving Romana behind," he retorts that she "chose to remain in E-Space".

[Alan]

S ~ Saxon, Harold - Alias used by the renegade Time Lord known as the Master during his time as British Prime Minister.

[Guest]

T ~ Turlough, Vislor - When Turlough first appears in the serial 'Mawdryn Undead', he is a student at the Brendon Public School, but it becomes apparent that he is not what he seems. He is contacted by the malevolent Black Guardian, who offers to take him home if he kills the Doctor. He also appears familiar with concepts of time travel and matter transmission. At the end of the serial, Turlough asks to accompany the Doctor. Despite Tegan and Nyssa's suspicions, the Doctor accepts Turlough as part of the TARDIS crew.

During the course of the next two serials, 'Terminus' and 'Enlightenment' (collectively known, together with 'Mawdryn Undead', as the 'Black Guardian Trilogy'), Turlough finds himself unable to decide whether or not to carry out his assignment from the Black Guardian, but eventually rejects him in favour of loyalty to the Doctor. Although always slightly cowardly, with excellent instincts of self-preservation and a streak of ruthlessness, his relationship with the Doctor and Tegan improves with time (Nyssa having departed at the end of 'Terminus'). He is one of the few companions capable of operating many of the TARDIS's systems, being able to run a diagnostic in The Five Doctors and program the TARDIS to retrieve the Doctor in Planet of Fire. Initially expressing a desire to return home, he continues travelling with the Doctor and Tegan until Tegan leaves at the end of 'Resurrection of the Daleks'.

In the very next serial, 'Planet of Fire', it is revealed that Turlough is a native of the planet Trion, having become a political exile to Earth following a civil war. Also revealed for the first time in this serial is Turlough's first name, Vislor. At the end of the serial, Turlough discovers that political prisoners are no longer mistreated on Trion and decides it is time to return home.

An image of Turlough appears during the Fifth Doctor's regeneration scene in 'The Caves of Androzani'.

Turlough was the Doctor's last male on-screen companion until Adam Mitchell in the 2005 series.

[Alan]

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

Synopsis
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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 ~ Vicki - first appears in the serial 'The Rescue', a survivor of a spaceship crash on the planet Dido and menaced by the monstrous Koquillion when she meets the Doctor and his companions Ian and Barbara. Still coping with his recent parting from his granddaughter Susan at the end of The Dalek Invasion of Earth, the Doctor invites the teenage girl to join the TARDIS crew.

Vicki is in many respects an ordinary teenage girl. She is a surrogate granddaughter to the Doctor and takes care of him like her own grandfather. She rarely takes the initiative, relying instead first on Ian and Barbara and then Steven Taylor, whom she treats like an older brother. Like many, however, her travels with the Doctor change and mature her. She is the one who persuades the Doctor to let Ian and Barbara use a Dalek time machine to return to their own time in 'The Chase'.

Vicki eventually falls in love with the warrior Troilus when the TARDIS landed during the siege of Troy ('The Myth Makers'). After making sure that Steven and the Doctor will be all right without her, she decides to remain with Troilus, eventually passing into legend as Cressida, the name given to her by King Priam.

[Alan]

W ~ War of the Daleks - Book which was part of the Eighth Doctor Adventures range of books. It features the 8th Doctor and Samantha "Sam" Jones.

The book acts as a sequel to the 1988 story Remembrance of the Daleks in which it reveals the fate of Davros and the Dalek home world of Skaro.

Cover Blurb
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The Doctor is repairing the TARDIS systems once again when it is swept up by a garbage ship roving through space, the Quetzel.

When another ship approaches and takes the Quetzel by force, the Doctor discovers that he and Sam are not the only unwitting travellers on board -- there is a strangely familiar survival pod in the hold. Delani, the captain of the second ship, orders the pod to be opened. The Doctor is powerless to intervene as Davros is awakened once again.

But this is no out-and-out rescue of Davros. Delani and his crew are Thals, the sworn enemies of the Daleks. They intend to use Davros as a means to wipe out the Daleks, finally ridding the universe of the most aggressive, deadly race ever to exist. But the Doctor is still worried. For there is a signal beacon inside the pod, and even now a Dalek ship is closing in...

[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 ~ Yates, Mike - Captain Mike Yates was adjutant of the British contingent of UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce), an international organisation that defends the Earth from alien threats.

Yates first appeared in the 1971 story Terror of the Autons, the latest in a line of Captains assisting Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Together with the Doctor and his companions, Yates fought off alien invasions, the machinations of the renegade Time Lord known as the Master, rogue computers and mutated maggots.

Yates' fall from grace started when he was brainwashed by the artificial intelligence BOSS in the 1973 story The Green Death. The brush with ecological disaster apparently made Yates very concerned about the future of the planet, and he was easily recruited by Sir Charles Grover into a conspiracy to reverse time and return Earth to a "golden age" (Invasion of the Dinosaurs). The conspiracy was thwarted by the Doctor, and in return for his past service to UNIT, the Brigadier allowed Yates to take medical leave and then quietly resign.

Trying to recover, Yates attended a meditation centre but uncovered strange goings-on, which he reported to Sarah Jane Smith, since he felt that UNIT would find him untrustworthy. Sarah communicated this back to the Doctor, leading into the rest of the events of the 3rd Doctor's last story, Planet of the Spiders.

The 1974 story Planet of the Spiders was the last regular appearance of Mike Yates and it is unknown what became of him afterwards.

In the book Happy Endings (part of the New Adventures range), it was revealed that in the year 2010, Mike is alive and well and living with a man named Tom.

Mike Yates was played by Richard Franklin.

[Guest]

Z ~ Zarbi - The Zarbi appeared in the 1965 First Doctor story 'The Web Planet', and are an (ant-like) insectoid species, with some characteristics associated with beetles, from the planet Vortis, which were controlled by the power of the Animus. They are roughly eight feet long, and the Menoptra claim, perhaps a little callously, that they are "little more than cattle".

They possess little intelligence but were not at all aggressive until the Animus arrived. They were enslaved to the alien consciousness and considered the butterfly-like Menoptra (with which they once lived peacefully) their mortal enemies. Only they could control the woodlouse-like venom grubs (also known as larvae guns).

They returned to their normal ways after the Animus was defeated by the First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Vicki. It is presumed that the various species on Vortis are now living peacefully together.

[Alan]

B ~ Brain of Morbius, The - 1976 story starring Tom Baker as "The Doctor" and Elisabeth Sladen as "Sarah Jane Smith".

Synopsis
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The Doctor and Sarah arrive on the desolate planet of Karn amid a graveyard of crashed space-ships. As they explore they come to a ruin and are welcomed by Professor Solon and his strange servant Condo. Solon is seemingly the perfect host but his underground laboratory holds a hideous secret... Morbius, exiled Time Lord, greatest criminal mind in the galaxy and long presumed dead, is not entirely dead, and Solon is in the process of bringing him back to life.

The only other inhabitants are the ancient sect of the Sisterhood of Karn who are out to avenge themselves against the Time Lords. Can the Doctor prevent the evil Morbius from regaining absolute power or will he be sacrificed by the Sisterhood?

[Guest]

C ~ 'Castrovalva' - The freshly regenerated Doctor is in a vulnerable state, and the Master has escaped after the events of Logopolis. His regeneration failing, the Doctor and his companions go to the city of Castrovalva to let him recover, but a trap waits for them there.

First broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from January 4 to January 12, 1982

It was the first full serial to feature Peter Davison in the starring role.

[Alan]

D ~ Deadly Assassin, The - 1976 story starring Tom Baker as "The Doctor".

Synopsis
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A mysterious evil is at work on Gallifrey. The President of the Time Lords has been assassinated and the Doctor caught red-handed. An inexorable master plan has been set in motion. There can be no escape.

In order to prove his innocence the Doctor must pursue his enemy into the Matrix, a dream-like repository of knowledge formed from the minds of dead Time Lords. However, he quickly discovers that in the Matrix the real assassin rules and behind this enemy lurks the even more deadlier menace of his old adversary - the Master.