Doctor Who & Spin-Offs A-Z Game

[Alan]

H ~ Heart of TARDIS - Novel of the Past Doctors Adventures range. It featured the 4th Doctor, Romana I, K-9 Mk. II, the 2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, & Victoria Waterfield, with Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart.

For the 4th Doctor - this book takes place between the TV stories The Stones of Blood and The Androids of Tara.

For the 2nd Doctor - this book takes place between the TV stories The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Abominable Snowmen.

Synopsis
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In the American Midwestern town of Lychburg, something is afoot. Its citizens are being killed in inexpressibly horrible and brutal ways and the police don't have a clue who's responsible. The only suspects are a mysterious and sinister stranger, who calls himself the Doctor, and his young companions Jamie and Victoria.

The 4th Doctor and Romana, meanwhile, have been summoned by the Gallifreyan High Council. A force has been unleashed into the space/time continuum... a force so unimaginably terrible that it is set to rip the universe itself apart and plunge it into primal, screaming chaos from which nothing will survive.

Of course, since something of this nature happens every other day of the week, the Doctor's really far more interested in finding out what's happened to a close personal friend, who seems to have vanished under mysterious circumstances. And quite right, too. The fate of a universe plunging into fetid and unending chaos can look out for itself for a change...

[Guest]

I ~ Info-stamps - Dalek technology stolen by the Cybermen when the escaped the void, they carry information about almost everything including the doctor but they can be corrupted, for example Jackson Lake looked into one, making the Cybermen think he is the Doctor, it even backed fired on him causing him to lose his memory. The stamps can also be used as weapons by releasing an EMP bolt out of one end.

[Alan]

J ~ Jackson, Maria - Maria Jackson was a young neighbour and ally of Sarah Jane Smith.

When Maria was thirteen, her parents Alan and Chrissie Jackson divorced. Alan and Maria moved to Bannerman Road in Ealing. That night Maria made the life-changing discovery of a neighbour, Sarah Jane Smith, conversing with a glowing winged alien. The very next day, she and a new friend from the neighourhood went to the Bubble Shock! factory, encountered other, unfriendly aliens and with Sarah, Kelsey Harper and a young artificial Human, Luke Smith (at that time known only as "the Archetype"), banded together to defeat the Bane invasion. One week later the now fourteen year old Maria met the "cool" Clyde Langer at school, who joined with the others.

When Alan got a new job offer in America, Maria and Alan made the decision that he should accept the offer. They then moved to Washington, D.C. She still stayed in contact with Luke via email. She and her dad also helped to find information on the Berserker to help Luke and new friend Rani Chandra.

Maria Jackson first appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures 2007 TV movie Invasion of the Bane. Her last regular appearance was in the Series 1 finale episode The Lost Boy. She returned to make guest appearances in the Series 2 première episode The Last Sontaran and The Mark of the Berserker.

[Spimman]

K ~ Krynoids appeared in the 1976 Fourth Doctor story The Seeds of Doom by Robert Banks Stewart. 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.

The Krynoid are also featured in the Eighth Doctor audio story for Big Finish entitled Hothouse. Also featured in BBV audios 'The Root of all Evil', and 'The Green Man'.

[Guest]

L ~ Laser Screwdriver - A weapon used by the Master in 'The Sound of Drums' which resembles the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. It can kill with a directed laser beam or artificially age a target (provided the device has a blueprint of the victim's biological data) using a smaller version of the Hypersonic Sound Wave Manipulator technology designed by Professor Richard Lazarus. It is built with isomorphic controls, preventing anyone but the Master from using it. A toy version has been produced to go alongside the toy Sonic Screwdriver. Removed from the Master by the Doctor using telekinesis and not seen again.

[Spimman]

M ~ Mentors are an amphibious race native to the planet Thoros Beta. They have two arms with a large tail in place of their lower limbs, and speak to other species through a translation device worn around their necks. The most notable of the Mentors is Sil, whom the Sixth Doctor and Peri encountered first on the planet Varos in Vengeance on Varos, and then again on Thoros Beta in Mindwarp. Both stories were written by Philip Martin. Other Mentors include Lord Kiv (portrayed by Christopher Ryan), their leader. Typical Mentor business practice includes arms dealing and slave trading. They are somewhat like the Ferengi of Star Trek, which they pre-date, in that all they care about is profit. In Mindwarp, Lord Kiv has his brain transplanted into a primitive Mentor body, which has retained the tail sting that modern Mentors no long have.

[Guest]

N ~ Nova Device - The Movellans failed to destroy the Daleks' homeworld of Skaro with this device in the serial 'Destiny of the Daleks'.

[Spimman]

O ~ Ood are a humanoid species with coleoid tentacles on the lower portions of their faces. In the distant future (circa 42nd century), the Ood are a slave race to humanity, performing menial tasks, and it is claimed that every human has an Ood servant. According to human characters in their first appearance, the Ood offer themselves for servitude willingly, having no goals of their own except to be given orders and to serve. It is also claimed that they cannot look after themselves, and if they do not receive orders, they pine away and die. However, mention is made of a group called the "Friends of the Ood" who are apparently lobbying for Ood freedom.

The Ood require a translator device, a small sphere connected to their "mouths" by a tube, to facilitate speech between them and humans. The tube was originally connecting their external brains to their body, but to use the creatures, far future humans would amputate the brain and instead fix the translator sphere where the brain used to be. There appears to be no gender differentiation among the Ood, and they say they require no names or titles as they are "one", but they do have designations such as "Ood 1 Alpha 1". The Ood are empaths, sharing among themselves a low-level telepathic communication field, rated at "Basic 5" (with "Basic 30" being the equivalent of screaming and "Basic 100" meaning brain death). When reaching out with their telepathic fields, it can be heard as singing.

According to the Official Doctor Who Annual 2007, the Ood live on a planet in the Horsehead Nebula where they were governed by a Hive Mind but it was destroyed by Human colonists. According to the monster book Creatures and Demons, published in 2007, it says they come from the "Ood Sphere", close to the "Sense Sphere" planet, home to the Sensorites, who share a similarity with the Ood. With no hive mind the Ood offered themselves to the Human colonists and became a slave race.

When encountered by the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler in "The Impossible Planet", a large number of Ood accompanied a human-led expeditionary force on the planet Krop Tor, orbiting a black hole. The empathic nature of the Ood seemed to make them susceptible to psychic possession by the Beast, who formed the Ood on the base into his "Legion". While possessed, the Ood killed two human security guards by throwing their translation spheres at them.

The Ood were defeated when Danny Bartok, the expedition member in charge of them, broadcasted a telepathic flare which reduced their field to "Basic Zero", creating a "brainstorm" which caused them to collapse. However, the telepathic field began to reassert itself after a time. When Krop Tor was sucked into the black hole, the Doctor was unable to save any of the Ood on the base, who had been freed of the Beast's control, and all of them perished. It is unknown if the Ood on Earth, which were seen in "The Impossible Planet"'s TARDISODE, and on their home planet of the Ood Sphere, were influenced by the Beast's control, or not.

On the return of the Ood in the 2008 episode "Planet of the Ood",[8] it was revealed that they are not born to serve but are an enslaved race, with the translation spheres actually replacing their hind brain which had contained their individual personalities. The Doctor aids and successfully frees the race by releasing the main Ood brain, which links all Ood with a telepathic link. Before this time, it had been sequestered from the Ood for 200 years by Ood Operations, the corporation that processed the Ood slaves. Over that time the brain adapted (assisted by the gradual lowering of its suppression field by a Friends Of The Ood activist who had infiltrated Ood Operations), allowing it to influence the Ood's actions. It made some Ood feral and vengeful (causing their eyes to glow as possession by the Beast did), while directing another to genetically reengineer the head of the slave trading company into an Ood. Once the Hive brain was freed, the Oods' song could be heard throughout the Human Empire, by Ood and Human alike. After this, all Ood were freed and sent back to the planet of the Ood. In 2008, as part of the first wave of series 4 action figures, there will be releases of a natural Ood and Ood Sigma. There has previously been a release of a normal Ood action figure.

[Guest]

P ~ Progenation Machine - A progenation machine is a device in 'The Doctor's Daughter' that artificially produces a direct descendant of a donor. By taking a sample of the subject's diploid cells, it can split the cells into haploids and rearrange them in a new configuration. The new DNA is then used to grow an adult subject within moments. The subject emerges fully-clothed, and the machine can download knowledge directly into their brain, which in the episode is used to create trained soldiers en-masse. It is through this process that Jenny, the Doctor's titular daughter, is created.

[Spimman]

Q ~ Quantum Accelerator A TARDIS component, one of the items exchanged between the Master and the Doctor in Time-Flight.

[Guest]

R ~ Recorder - The Second Doctor was often seen playing a recorder. It played a pivotal role in the serial 'The Three Doctors' as well as often being used by the Second Doctor to distract and confuse his enemies.

[Alan]

S ~ Sound of Drums, The - 2007 story starring David Tennant as "The Doctor" and Freema Agyeman in her last regular appearance as "Martha Jones".

Guest starring John Barrowman as "Captain Jack Harkness".

Synopsis
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The Doctor, Martha and Captain Jack return to the 21st century after the Master's theft of the TARDIS. A new Prime Minister has been elected: Harold Saxon. What are the Toclafane and what's at the heart of the Valiant?

[Guest]

T ~ Time Ring - Given to the Fourth Doctor in the serial 'Genesis of the Daleks' by the Time Lords so that he could escape Skaro on successful completion of his mission to avert the creation of the Daleks. The Doctor, Harry Sullivan, and Sarah Jane Smith use the Time Ring at the end of the adventure and are taken to the Nerva station where they go on to participate in the events of 'Revenge of the Cybermen'.

[Alan]

U ~ Ultimate Foe, The - Subheading for the final chapter of the 1986 story The Trial of a Time Lord. Starring Colin Baker in his last appearance as "The Doctor" and Bonnie Langford as "Mel Bush".

Synopsis
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Snatched out of time and space and brought before the Time Lords on Gallifrey, the Doctor is on trial for his life.

While the Doctor asserts that the evidence of the Matrix, the repository of all Time Lord knowledge, has been tampered with, the mysterious and vengeful prosecuting council, the Valeyard, is confident that the Doctor will be sentenced to death.
In a dramatic intervention the Valeyard’s true identity is revealed but he escapes from the courtroom into the Matrix, and it is into this nightmare world that the Doctor must follow – to face his ultimate foe …

[Guest]

V ~ Validium - A living metal created on Gallifrey that has the power of life and death. It appears in the serial 'Silver Nemesis'.