Doctor Who & Spin-Offs A-Z Game

[Guest]

A ~ Anne Droid - In the episode 'Bad Wolf', the Anne Droid made an appearance in a parody of The Weakest Link. The robot is based on the host of The Weakest Link, Anne Robinson. The Anne Droid has also made an appearance on the real Weakest Link during a Doctor Who special.

[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 ~ Carrionite - The Carrionites, as seen in 'The Shakespeare Code' (2007), are a race of witch-like beings. The species originates from the Fourteen Stars of the Rexel Planetary Configuration. They use advanced science which appears much like magic and voodoo. Unlike humans, who use numbers, maths and science to advance and split the atom, the Carrionites use words to manipulate the universe and defy physics. The Carrionites appear to be possess some unknown ability to discover a person's true name; although Lilith was in the room when the Doctor and Martha Jones introduce themselves to Shakespeare she later remarks "there is no name" when trying to name the Doctor but being there when the Doctor introduces himself does not explain that Lilith named Rose. 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, Mother Doomfinger and Mother Bloodtide. They are defeated by Willam Shakespeare with the help of the Doctor and Martha who helped him find the right words to defeat the Carronites, ending with 'expeliamus." The Carronites were re-trapped in a crystal ball by this. According to Lilith, apparently Shakespeare accidentally released Doomfinger, Bloodtide and Lilith while he was distraught over his son Hamnet's death from the Black Plague.

[Alan]

D ~ Davros - Davros is a scientist from the planet Skaro whose people, the Kaleds, were engaged in a bitter thousand-year war of attrition with their enemies, the Thals. He is horribly scarred and crippled for reasons that have never been explained, with only one functioning arm and one cybernetic eye mounted on his forehead; for much of his existence he depends completely upon a self-designed mobile life-support chair which encloses the lower half of his body. It would become an obvious inspiration for his eventual design of the Dalek.

Davros is a megalomaniac who believes that through his creations, the Daleks, he can become the supreme being and ruler of the universe. He is a brilliant scientist who has demonstrated mastery of various sciences.

His first appearance was in the 1975 story Genesis of the Daleks. He subsequently appeared in the 1979 story Destiny of the Daleks, the 1984 story Resurrection of the Daleks, the 1985 story Revelation of the Daleks, the 1988 story Remembrance of the Daleks and the 2008 story The Stolen Earth.

Davros has been played by Michael Wisher (1975), David Gooderson (1979), Terry Molloy (1984, 1985, 1988) and Julian Bleach (2008).

[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 ~ Four to Doomsday - 1982 story starring Peter Davison as "The Doctor", Matthew Waterhouse as "Adric", Sarah Sutton as "Nyssa", and Janet Fielding as "Tegan Jovanka".

Synopsis
---------
Trying to get Tegan home, the Doctor instead lands the TARDIS on a spaceship heading towards Earth. Its owner, the frog-like Monarch, has visited Earth four times in the past, kidnapping specimens of human culture on each occasion. His true goal, however, is to find a way to travel faster than light, thereby going back to the beginning of time where he hopes to meet God, whom he believes is actually himself. In pursuit of this aim, he has exhausted the resources of his home planet, Urbanka. Now he intends to transplant the Urbankans to Earth -- and eradicate humanity to make room for his people.

[Guest]

G ~ Gelth - 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 also the first element of the new series that attracted attention for being "too scary". 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 were intelligent gaseous life-forms, blue and spectral in nature, who claimed to have lost their corporeal forms as a consequence of the Time War. They arrived on Earth via the spacetime rift at an undertaker's house in 1869 Cardiff and proceeded to take possession of recently deceased corpses. Their forms could not be maintained for long in Earth's atmosphere and they required a gaseous medium to sustain them — gas from decomposing bodies or coal gas in the gas pipes common to Victorian era households.

Claiming to be on the verge of extinction, the Gelth convinced the Doctor to aid their entrance into our plane of existence via Gwyneth, the undertaker's servant girl who had developed psychic powers due to growing up near the rift. The Gelth proved instead to number in the billions and intended to take the Earth by force and murder its population to provide vessels for themselves. Ultimately, the Gelth were thwarted when Gwyneth sacrificed herself, blowing up the building and sealing the rift. Whether all the Gelth that had entered our world perished as well is unclear.

[Alan]

H ~ Happiness Patrol, The - 1988 story starring Sylvester McCoy as "The Doctor" and Sophie Aldred as "Ace".

Synopsis
----------
The Doctor has heard stories of strange and sinister goings-on on Earth colony Terra Alpha. Citizens have disappeared without trace, and strange creatures lurk in the pipes and sewers under the capital city. Believing it is high time someone got to the bottom of the mystery, the Doctor declares to his young companion Ace that tonight will be the night...

He discovers that Terra Alpha is ruled by the tyrannical Helen A, a dictator who requires her subjects to be happy... or die. Her roving death squads - the Happiness Patrol - are empowered to kill on sight anyone displaying signs of sadness, gloom or melancholy.

However, it is not just the sadistic Happiness Patrol that the Doctor and Ace must contend with. Before they can discover the dark secret of Helen A's regime, they must face the fearsome bloodlust of her savage pet, Fifi, and the lethal surprises cooked up by her chief executioner - and confectioner supreme - the Kandy Man.

[Guest]

I ~ Isolus - The Isolus are an alien species, tiny spore-like creatures traveling through space, first appearing in the episode 'Fear Her'. In that episode, one of them was separated from the swarm and the creature wound up on Earth, inhabiting a young English girl named Chloe Webber. The Isolus was confused by Chloe's fears of her father and, acting through her, trapped neighborhood children in Chloe's crayon drawings. The Isolus released Chloe when the Doctor showed it the love the human race could produce in the events just before the 2012 Summer Olympics. An Isolus is a creature of intense emotion and it is sheer need to be together that keeps them alive.

[Alan]

J ~ Jones, Ianto - Member of Torchwood Three in Cardiff. Former member of Torchwood One in London. Ianto first appeared in Torchwood's première episode Everything Changes. Following the fall of Torchwood One in the Battle of Canary Wharf, Ianto returned to his native Cardiff and got himself employed by Torchwood Three leader Captain Jack Harkness after he impressed him with his various skills one of which was helping to catch a pteranodon (later adopted by Torchwood Three as a sort of pet and named Myfanwy). Ianto managed to sneak his half Cyber-Converted girlfriend Lisa Hallett in to Torchwood Three. Eventually the truth about Lisa came out when she got free, killed several people and threatened to turn Torchwood into a new Cyber-Conversion facility. She was eventually killed and Ianto should have been fired but wasn't.

When Jack went missing in 2008, Ianto became a more prominent member of Torchwood Three. When Jack returned, Ianto began a relationship with him.

With his friends and colleagues Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper now deceased, Ianto's role in Torchwood has increased. In 2009, Ianto and Torchwood Three helped the Doctor stop the Daleks in their attempt to make Earth part of a super weapon called Reality Bomb.

Ianto Jones is played by Gareth David-Lloyd.

[Guest]

K ~ Krynoid - The Krynoids appeared in the 1976 Fourth Doctor serial 'The Seeds of Doom'. They are a highly dangerous, sentient form of plant life which are renowned amongst galactic botanists. They spread via seed pods which travel in pairs and are violently hurled through space by frequent volcanic eruptions on their unnamed home planet. The pods when opened are attracted to flesh and are able to infect and mingle their DNA with that of the host, taking over their body and slowly transforming them into a Krynoid. The species can also exert a form of telepathic control over other plant life in the surrounding area, making it suddenly dangerous and deadly to animal-kind. In the later stages of development the Krynoid can also control the vocal cords of its victims and can make itself telepathically sympathetic to humans. Fully grown Krynoids are many meters high and can then release hordes of seed pairs for further colonisation.

Two pods arrived on Earth at the South Pole during the prehistoric Pleistocene era and remained dormant in Antarctica until discovered at the end of the twentieth century. One of them hatched after being exposed to ultra-violet light, and took control of a nearby human scientist. The Fourth Doctor intervened in the nick of time and ensured the Krynoid was destroyed in a bomb, but the second pod was stolen and taken to the home of millionaire botanist Harrison Chase in England. Chase ensured the germination of the second pod, which overtook his scientific adviser Arnold Keeler, and transformed its subject over time into a virtually full-sized Krynoid. Unable to destroy the creature by other means and with the danger of a seed release imminent from the massive plant, the Doctor orchestrated an RAF bombing raid to destroy the creature before it could germinate.

[Alan]

L ~ Last Sontaran, The - The première story to the second series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It serves as a sequel to the Series 4 Doctor Who story The Sontaran Stratagem.

Synopsis
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Reports of strange lights around the Tycho Project's radio telescope lead Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde, and Maria into a terrifying forest encounter, where Sarah Jane comes face-to-face with her oldest enemy.

Meanwhile, Maria wrestles with a huge decision when her dad is offered a new job in America.

Trivia
------
This is Sarah Jane Smith's third encounter with a Sontaran. Her first was in the 1973 Doctor Who story The Time Warrior (which not only introduced the Sontarans but was also Sarah Jane's introductory story too) alongside the 3rd Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and her second encounter was in the 1975 story The Sontaran Experiment alongside the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker) and fellow companion Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter).

[Guest]

M ~ Midnight creature - An unnamed and unseen creature, found on the surface of the planet Midnight, an environment supposedly inimical to all life. Described briefly as a "shadow" glimpsed running across the landscape, it was encountered in Shuttle Bus 50 in 'Midnight'. It violently boarded and took over the body and mind of Sky Silvestry, repeating the speech patterns of the passengers, influencing them, and then consuming the Doctor's voice. The shuttle's hostess ultimately sacrificed herself by opening a door and sucking them both out of the bus, where Silvestry's body was presumably vaporised by the deadly Xtonic sunlight. Though its hold on the Doctor and the other passengers was broken, the nature and fate of the creature itself remains uncertain. Disturbingly, even the Doctor has no idea of what the creature is.

[Alan]

N ~ Nemesis of the Daleks - 1989 comic adventure which appeared in Doctor Who Monthly. It featured the 7th Doctor.

Synopsis
----------
The Doctor materialises on the planet Hell in the 26th century, which has been conquered by the Daleks. The Doctor join forces with mercenary and Dalek Killer Abslom Daak to find out what the Daleks are doing there, why they have the native Helkans mining the poisonous helkogen gas from beneath the surface of the planet and what the purpose of the construction in orbit of the planet is and what it might mean for the rest of the universe...

[Guest]

O ~ Osiran - The Osirans are a powerful alien race who are equal to the Time Lords and appeared in the serial 'Pyramids of Mars'. Sutekh, a renegade who became evil, was one of them. He was pursued across the galaxy by his brother Horus and was finally defeated on Earth by the combined might of 740 Osirans. Sutekh was trapped in a pyramid on Mars.