The Flesh (Doctor Who)

The Flesh is a semi-sentient human technology from the BBC television series Doctor Who, which made an appearance in the 6th series in the double-bill "The Rebel Flesh" and "The Almost People" as the primary antagonists. The Flesh is a white goopy substance that can be used to create clones of any living organism.

Physical Attributes

When they first aired on BBC 1, The Flesh took on the physical appearance of a vat of off-white, semi-clear liquid laced with red veins (this may not be their true form, as they are capable of changing their form at will), and copying the molecular structure of other beings.

Fictional History

In the "The Rebel Flesh", The Flesh is used to create doppelgängers or "gangers" as a way to safely mine acid in the 22nd century. The Flesh is considered the government's "worst kept secret," as it raises ethical questions of created consciousness. The Flesh has the ability to perfectly replicate not only the physical characteristics of any organism, but the memories and personality as well. The gangers are operated by human workers who "plug in" to an operating system which allows them to remotely control their actions. By sending out gangers to mine acid instead of human workers, the number of lives lost during mining is greatly reduced.

During a freak solar tsunami, the operating system severs the link between human worker and ganger. As a result, the gangers and humans must decided if the gangers will be allowed to continue living amongst society.

In "The Almost People", Amy Pond is revealed to be a ganger made out of The Flesh. Amy was kidnapped by Madame Kovarian and replaced by The Flesh in order to hide the fact that Amy is pregnant with her daughter, Melody Pond, who is also known as River Song (Doctor Who).