The Doctor has battled all sorts of monsters over the years. But some of those monsters (ok, more than some) have had their genesis in the myths and legends of Earth. I already talked about Vampires, but today let's look at a few cryptids, starting with our featured creature, the Yeti.
The Yeti
The Yeti first appeared in the Second Doctor serial, "The Abominable Snowmen" (1967). At first, we are led to think these are actual yeti, but they are, in reality, robots controlled by The Great Intelligence, a disembodied entity trying to take over the Earth, but it needs a physical body first. The Yetis and the Great Intelligence appear again in 1968's "The Web of Fear."
This reminds of the various "Bigfoot" episodes of The Six-Million Dollar Man. Here Bigfoot was revealed to be a robot sent by aliens.
Interestingly enough, when we meet the Great Intelligence again in the new series, it is in an episode called "The Snowmen." This time the GI is using animated snowmen (as in made of snow) to do the same thing.
Patrick Troughton (the Second doctor) often said he would have liked to come back to Doctor Who and just play a monster like the Yeti. No one would know it was him under all that costume.
Reptoids
Reptoids and reptilian humanoids are an old favorite among cryptid hunters and UFOlogists. I even featured them twice in last years A to Z of Conspiracy Theories under C Cryptoterrestrial Hypothesis and E Extraterrestrials on Earth. The Silurians and the Sea Devils fit these ideas perfectly. They are reptilians, and they come not from outer space but from the inner Earth. The Draconians fit the notion of reptile-like humanoids from space.
Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness monster might be one of the most famous cryptids ever, and good old Nessie appears in Doctor Who's Season 13 opener "Terror of the Zygons" as well. In this case, as a creature controlled by the Zygons (more on them tomorrow). The Zygons are using Nessie (in reality a creature from the Zygon homeworld called a "Skarasen") to destroy oil rigs that are digging into their underwater base.
Others
Other cryptids like the Chupacabra and the Australian Yowie has appeared in prose and audio dramas of the Doctor not televises.
Like the creatures mentioned above and the Vampires there is a lot of cryptids in the world now that could be made to fit Doctor Who. Creatures from the past, future or other dimensions or planets are all great choices.
I might have to try my hand at stating a few up for the various Doctor Who RPGs.
All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.
The door at the rear of Room 28 leads to a finished room exactly like Room 23.
There are four statues in each corner of demonic women standing 7 ft tall. Each holds a sword. There is a fifth statue in the center of the room holding a staff.
The statues are really Caryatid Columns.
They will only attack people if they attempt to go throw the door straight ahead.
Whenever a character strikes a caryatid column with a weapon (magical or nonmagical), the weapon takes 3d6 points of damage. Apply the weapon’s hardness normally. Weapons that take any amount of damage in excess of their hardness gain the broken condition.
The caryatid columns do not have treasures, but their swords can be used. Each Caryatid Column has two masterwork swords they wield. These swords require an 18 strength to use but are treated as a +2 weapon that does 1d10 hp damage.
Additionally, there are two dead orcs here with no treasure or weapons.
Doctor Who: You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit the views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.
- The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil
Ok. The quote is connected to today's topic, but only tangentially. It comes from the same episode, and it is just a great quote.
If there is one thing you can pretty much guarantee in Sci-Fi, and Doctor Who is no exception, if there is a brilliant artificially intelligent computer then at some point it is going to go mad.
Such is the case with the supercomputer Xoanon from the Mordee expedition. We meet this computer centuries later when the expedition had failed and the Survey Team and Technicians are separated and evolved into different groups of primitive humans, the Sevateem and the Tesh, who both worship the god Xoanon. The trouble for the Fourth Doctor, the computer is mad and has part of the Doctor's own personality stuck inside it. So it's "Face of Evil" is that of the Fourth Doctor.
I rather enjoyed the whole idea of the insane computer. It is something that Doctor Who would come back to a few more times.
In "The Armageddon Factor," the sixth part of the Key to Time series, the computer Mentalis on the planet Zeos (not sure if the computer company was named after it) was at war with the planet Atrios. The computer is running everything and even takes over K-9.
We get another one in the semi-lost story of "Shada" on Skagra's (our bad guy) spaceship, but it is reprogrammed in end by the Doctor (you think he would have learned by now).
Our next encounter with a crazy computer comes much later on in the time of the 10th Doctor.
We meet up with the Doctor and River Song on The Library where everyone has gone missing. Here we encounter the computer CAL who just keeps repeating the same message over and over. In this case we learn the computer CAL is actually "Charlotte Abigail Lux" and she is not a computer per se but the consciousness of a girl who died early. Her father created the library so she had every book in the universe to enjoy. She downloaded all the minds of the people in the Library to "save" them (as a computer would) and it was driving her crazy.
The Doctor (ok, really River) fixed her and the Doctor uploaded River to Library computer to watch over her.
There are some others of course. These stories were popular in the 70s when computers started becoming a thing. Now if we want to scare viewers it is less about computers and more about out of control AI.
All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.
In room #25 the other exit (not the one that leads to Room #26) is a locked door. The corridor leads a square room.
Inside this room are two War Pigs. These are Orcs infected with the Devil Swine lycanthropy. When they see the party, they transform into large boars and attack the party.
They were part of a larger group coming up from the lower levels.
These creatures have 3x Treasure Type C, looted from their previous companions.
DORIUM: The asteroid, where you've made your base. Do you know why they call it Demon's Run? MANTON: How do you know the location of our base? DORIUM: You're with the Headless Monks. They're old customers of mine. KOVARIAN: It's just some old saying. DORIUM: A very old saying. The oldest. Demons run when a good man goes to war.
- Doctor Who, "A Good Man Goes to War"
Today's quote does not come from the episodes I am covering, but it sums them up very well.
When the new series of Doctor Who was released in 2005 Russel T. Davis was very smart on how much detail to give the viewers. Just enough to get the old fans like me hooked and not too much to scare off the new fans (like my wife).
Over the course of many episodes, we learned something very, very terrible. First, the Doctor was the last of the Time Lords. Then later, it was because Gallifrey had been destroyed. Then later because it had been destroyed in the Last Great Time War between Gallifrey and the Daleks.
Over the years, more details emerged. The Time War was so great that there was collateral damage across all of Time and Space. The Daleks and the Time Lords had destroyed much of the universe. Even to the point that regular humans like Cass (Night of the Doctor) knew of Time Lords and their science.
At one point, the Doctor, tired of running, tired of death, regenerated into something new. The War Doctor, played by veteran actor John Hurt. This time Lord, no longer the Doctor, was a warrior.
"No more."
- The War Doctor
The War Doctor steals a weapon so terrible even the Time Lords won't use it. Known as "The Moment," it will destroy all of Gallifrey and take all the Dalek with it.
This is all detailed in the 50th Anniversary story, "The Day of the Doctor."
The Eight Doctor - Denial. He avoids the war he knows he caused and tries to help where he can.
The War Doctor - Anger. He turns to fight against the War. Not against the Daleks or even the Time Lords, but the War itself.
The Ninth Doctor - Bargaining. He runs. He runs as far away as possible and hopes to make something good.
The Tenth Doctor - Depression. I mean, look how he acts. The silly façade is only that. Underneath, he was weighted down with guilt.
The Eleventh Doctor - Acceptance. He knows he can't change his past, no matter what. Or can he?
The Time War was something hinted at in the Doctor Who novels. No surprise, really, since some of the novel and short story writers would later come on to the show, most notably Steven Moffat.
It could be one of the more exciting pieces of Doctor Who lore created for the show.
House: Fear me! I've killed hundreds of Time Lords!
The Doctor: Fear me. I've killed all of them.
The Doctor, "The Doctor's Wife"
Rewatching old episodes, especially the old Dalek ones, you get the notion that the Daleks have been ramping up their ability to fight, particularly the Time Lords. I mean, from their point of view, the Doctor has been the center of all their most significant defeats. He was there when they were created and slowed down their progress. He was there when they finally broke out of their destroyed cities on Skaro. He was there to defeat them in their attempts to revive themselves or even against their ancient enemies the Movellans. Even the Time Lord's "weapon" (really a scientific device to harness the power of a star), The Hand of Omega, was used to destroy their homeworld of Skaro.
The Doctor may have wanted to avoid this war, but he picked this fight.
DOCTOR: Do I have the right? Simply touch one wire against the other and that's it. The Daleks cease to exist. Hundreds of millions of people, thousands of generations can live without fear, in peace, and never even know the word Dalek. SARAH: Then why wait? If it was a disease or some sort of bacteria you were destroying, you wouldn't hesitate. DOCTOR: But I kill, wipe out a whole intelligent lifeform, then I become like them. I'd be no better than the Daleks.
The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane, "Genesis of the Daleks"
The Time War, and thus the War Doctor, were always going to happen.
The idea was so pervasive that even the novels and the audio productions did their own versions before we saw details of it on TV. The two most powerful groups in the Universe were going to butt heads sooner or later.
As I mentioned before, in the language of the Gamma Forests, the word "Doctor" translates into "Great Warrior." Another tidbit from "A Good Man Goes to War."
In the time of the 12th Doctor's regeneration, we see what being "The Doctor of War" means, in a way only Capaldi's Doctor could. "Try to be nice, but always be kind." Which, in a way, influences how his 1st incarnation sees things right before his regeneration into the 2nd Doctor.
The Time War was great, but I hope it holds true to it's name as "The Last Great Time War."
All images are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.
A secret door on the far wall of Room #26 opens to a very tight tunnel (party can only go single file at 1/2 speed). It opens to a room with the same dimensions and general layout as Room #23.
The opening into this room is also a hidden door.
Once the party enters this room 1d4+1 Wraiths will appear.
The wraiths will attack. They each have treasure type E.
This room also has another secret door that leads back to Room #20.
The Doctor: Do you know, it just occurs to me there are vampire legends on almost every inhabited planet. Romana: Really? The Doctor: Yes.
- The Fourth Doctor and Romana II, "State of Decay"
Honestly, it would not be an April A to Z V-Day if I didn't do Vampires, and Doctor Who is no different. You might think a sci-fi family show would not have much to do with Vampires, but it does, and they are part of the show's history.
State of Decay
The first use of vampires was the later Tom Baker story from the Fourth Doctor era, "State of Decay." The Doctor and Romana had fallen into a CVE, or a hole in the universe into another universe (E-Space).
Here we get the background on vampires in the Doctor Who universe. Long ago in even the ancient times of Gallifrey the Time Lords, led by Rassilon, fought the great Vampires. These creatures were huge (maybe related to the Dæmons as some of the books say) and they "swarmed" across the cosmos draining entire worlds. Rassilon invented the "bow ships" to impale them on a massive spike of steel, the only way to truly kill them. The time Lord destroyed them all except for their leader, the Great Vampire. The Doctor, Romana, and Adric find them in E-Space. Here three human explorers from Earth got trapped in E-Space and began to feed the Great Vampire. It has taken thousands of years to restore him, but the Doctor manages to destroy him once and for all.
One of the vampire humans in this story, Camilla, was obviously named after Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla." Likewise, Camilla shows more than a casual interest in Romana II.
There is an implication here that Time Lords and Vampires share a long history, maybe even before their war. The various novels in the "New Adventures" series expanded on this.
The whole episode was a huge homage to Hammer Horror, much like The Brain of Morbius was.
The Curse of Fenric
This story from the 7th Doctor era is also a favorite of mine. In the far future when the Earth is a toxic dump, it is the home of the Haemovores or mutated humans that needed the blood of others to survive. They could pass on their mutation to others, turning them into vampire-like creatures. They were not undead, like the human-turned-vampires of the Great Vampires, but shared many of the same features. They were, for example, very suspectable to psychic attacks and a strong-willed human, even ones with no psychic ability, could keep them at bay.
I am uncertain if these creatures are related to the Great Vampires or not; it seems that they are not.
Smith and Jones
The first episode of David Tennant's 2nd season as the Doctor introduces us to Martha Jones and a Plasmavore, a type of vampire-like alien that feeds on blood. This creature is another variation on the vampire theme but has no relationship (as far as I know) to the Great Vampires or even the Haemovores. Though they do seem more closely related to the Haemovores in their need for the salt content in their victims' blood.
Vampires of Venice
A run with the 11th Doctor exposes Amy and Rory to the Saturnyn, another type of vampire (sexy fish vampires, according to the Doctor). They could live off of the water content in people's blood. They could make humans into their own species by replacing all their blood.
The Saturnyn lost their homeworld due to the cracks in the Universe (caused by the Doctor's exploding TARDIS in the future) and "the Silence" a major plot point for this season.
We will likely see more vampires in the future, hopefully going back to the original Great Vampires.
All images (expect for personal ones) are used with permission from the BBC and are copyrighted 2023 by the BBC.
