List of Doctor Who universe creatures and aliens (Q–Z)

For the parent article, see List of Doctor Who universe creatures and aliens.

This is a list of fictional creatures and aliens from the universe of the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, including Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, K-9 and K-9 and Company. It covers alien races and other fictional creatures, but not specific characters. Individual characters are listed in separate articles.

Note that some information on the page is taken from spin-off media.

R

Raak

The Raak was a sea monster experimented on by Crozier in Mindwarp (1986).

Racnoss

The Racnoss appeared in the Tenth Doctor story "The Runaway Bride" in 2006.

The Racnoss were an ancient race of aliens from the Dark Times of the universe. Half-humanoid, half-arachnid in appearance, they were an invasion force who consumed everything on the planets they conquered. Their race was wiped out by the Fledgling Empires, including the Time Lords, over 4.6 billion years ago. Nearly all of the survivors of the race escaped in their ship to where the Earth would later form, serving in place of a planetesimal as its core, hibernating for billions of years, with the exception of their Empress. She would later come to Earth in her ship, the Webstar, seeking to use the Huon particles which had been recreated by the Torchwood Institute as a means of resurrecting her "children" before feasting on the human population of Earth. The last Racnoss were presumed wiped out when the Doctor drained the waters of the Thames down the shaft leading to their ship; the Empress was killed when her own ship was destroyed by the British army at the order of Mr. Saxon (actually the Master).

The Empress appears briefly in a flashback in "Turn Left". In the parallel universe created by Donna Noble, she has still been defeated, but the Doctor, taking too long to escape without Donna's assistance, was drowned and died with her, the water killing him too quickly for him to regenerate; without his protection, the Earth became a dystopia over the next few years.

Raxacoricofallapatorians

Main article: Slitheen

Native to Raxacoricofallapatorius, Raxacoricofallapatorians are grouped by extended family names which are sometimes used to refer to their species generically. They hatch from eggs and are composed of living calcium. Capital punishment is practised on the home world, which involves immersion of convicted criminals in acid that slowly dissolves them while still alive.

The Slitheen family are a ruthless criminal sect motivated by profit. Convicted for their crimes on Raxacoricofallapatorius, they have been exiled from their homeworld and face execution if they return.

The Blathereen family are sworn enemies of the Slitheen, and have infiltrated the prison on the planet Justicia.

A Raxacoricofallapatorian appears in an alien bar in The End of Time.

See also: Aliens of London, World War Three, Boom Town, Attack of the Graske, Revenge of the Slitheen, and The Lost Boy (The Sarah Jane Adventures)

Reaper

Template:Doctor Who race Reapers appeared in the Ninth Doctor episode "Father's Day", written by Paul Cornell. Although not named on screen, they were referred to as "Reapers" in the publicity material for the episode. The production team based their design on the Grim Reaper, with their tails shaped like scythes.

Reapers are multi-limbed, flying creatures similar to pterosaurs, with a large wingspan, sharp teeth both in the form of a beak and a secondary mouth in their torsos, coupled with a rapacious attitude. The Reapers are apparently extradimensional, materialising and dematerialising out of the spacetime vortex. They are attracted to temporal paradoxes that damage time, like bacteria swarming around a wound. They then proceed to "sterilise" the wound by consuming everyone in sight. The older the thing they devour the more it satisfies them.

Once in this dimension, however, they can be blocked by material barriers. The older the barriers, the more effective they are, but even the oldest of barriers cannot stop them forever. Paradoxes can also allow them to directly materialise at the spot of the paradox. If the timeline is restored, they vanish, with their actions reversed as if they had never happened.

In "Father's Day", the Doctor explained that when the Time Lords were still around, there were laws to prevent the spread of paradoxes and that such paradoxes could be repaired. This implies that the Reapers are a natural phenomenon whose manifestation could be prevented if the paradox was resolved quickly. However, with the elimination of the other Time Lords in the Time War, there was no longer any agency that could repair time.

Red Leech

Main article: The Crimson Horror

A parasite native to the Jurassic, the Red Leech secreted a deadly venom. It was considered a menace by the Silurians. One survived until near the end of the 19th century, where it was found by Mrs. Gillyflower, who named it "Mr. Sweet". Mr. Sweet shared a symbiotic relationship with Gillyflower, giving her his venom in exchange for his simple needs. It abandoned Gillyflower when she fell to her death, but was killed by her daughter Ada.

Refusian

Main article: The Ark

Rill

Main article: Galaxy 4

Rutan

Main article: Rutan Host

See also: Horror of Fang Rock

An alien species in an endless war with the Sontarans, the Rutans appear as jellyfish-like glowing green spheres. Like the Zygons, Rutans can shapeshift at will. They are also vulnerable to certain sound frequencies.

S

The Sanctified

The Sanctified are a race of bipedal aliens who appear in the serialised Torchwood Magazine comic Rift War. They exhibit a crimson mane and no facial flesh - just muscles and tendons. Their primary objective upon Earth is to stop Torchwood from using the Rift to destroy the Sanctified - an event which is yet to occur.

Sand beast

Main article: The Rescue

Saturnyn

Template:Doctor Who race Saturnyn are vampiric, lobster-like aliens that battled the Eleventh Doctor in 16th-century Venice in "The Vampires of Venice". There appearance is quite obviously fear-inducing due to many sharp protrusions and fangs. They were able to breathe underwater and had vampire-like qualities such as a vulnerability to sunlight, no reflections and a thirst for human blood. However, these are easily explainable; as "fish from space", they are used to living in the dark depths; anyone's mind cannot deal with conflicting information of a perception filter and a Saturnyn's true reflection; Rosanna and Fracseco drank the blood of the girls attending the school so they could replace it with their own. Their leader, Signora Rosanna Calvierri used a perception filter to appear as a human woman, who started a school for girls; it was a guise for seeking victims to be transformed into mates for Franceso's brothers. They planned to flood Venice in an attempt to continue their civilisation since their own planet Saturnyne was destroyed by cracks in the universe. When the Doctor foiled their plan, Rosanna committed suicide by allowing her brood to devour her. However, when the Doctor rewrote time in The Big Bang by preventing the cracks' existence, it is highly likely Saturnyne was not destroyed by the cracks and the Calvierrri family didn't end.

The Doctor, at least in his eleventh incarnation, considered his adventure battling the Saturnyns to be memorable. In A Good Man Goes to War, he said his adventures were "running about, sexy, fish vampires, and blowing up stuff", and even asked Melody Pond if Amy told her about the "Vampires in Venice" during Let's Kill Hitler.

Savage

Main article: The Savages

Scarecrow

Main articles: Human Nature and The Family of Blood

Straw-filled foot soldiers created by Son of Mine, using molecular fringe animation. They were relentless and untiring, with rudimentary intelligence. Even after being cut down by machine-gun fire, they could be reanimated.

Another type of scarecrow which came alive were set to appear in the unmade movie Doctor Who Meets Scratchman.

Screamer

Main article: The Dalek's Master Plan

Sea Devil

Main article: Sea Devil

See also: The Sea Devils and Warriors of the Deep

Sea Devils were turtle-like humanoids that lived in Earth's oceans millions of years before humans evolved. They believed that a small planet would crash into Earth, which instead became Earth's moon. Like the Silurians, they went into hibernation and wanted to take the planet back from humans when they awoke.

Seaweed creature

Main article: Fury from the Deep

Seed Pod

{Main|The Seeds of Death}}

Selachian

Main articles: The Murder Game and The Final Sanction

The Selachain are a marine race that physically resemble salmon but have developed armour that allows them to breathe on land and wear helmets carved to resemble sharks as psychological warfare tactic.

Sensorite

Main article: The Sensorites

Serfian

Giant insect or beetle type species. First mentioned in Pest Control (audio book). Dr Lanovia said that she found the eggs laying in a ditch. She placed the eggs in the militaries inoculations. The eggs began to incubate in the human body, eventually the insects destroyed their human host.

Sex gas

Template:Infobox Doctor Who race An unnamed gaseous alien parasite that comes to Earth to feed on orgasmic energy in "Day One", claiming that there's no other energy in the universe like it; it's possible that orgasmic energy is like a drug to the gas, and that it's addicted. Composed of vorax and ceranium gases, Earth's atmosphere is poisonous to the alien, so it needs to take a human host to survive for prolonged periods; interestingly, it doesn't show up on cameras. It vies for control with its host, causing physiological changes that will eventually cause the host's internal organs to explode.

The alien also makes its host secrete a blend of ultra-powerful pheromones that cause tremendous sexual attraction in those around it for the purposes of feeding; those with stronger wills might be able to resist the pheromones. Coupling with the host is fatal, causing the host's partner to disintegrate into a pile of dust at climax and allowing the alien to absorb the energy from the orgasm. It appeared to know human biology well (or at least just enough), knowing it needed the opposite gender in order to get the energy. It was tricked out of its host and left in a portable energy prison until it expired from being poisoned by the earth's air.

The BBC Torchwood website lists it as the "Sex gas". Producer Russell T Davies, in the documentary series Torchwood Declassified, refers to it as a "sex monster".

This creature served as a way of showing that Torchwood's stories could go places that Doctor Who's children-friendly stories couldn't.

Shakri

Template:Doctor Who race The Shakri are a species spoken of in Gallifreyan myths, said to be the "pest controllers of the universe"; Amy Pond found it a "strange choice for a bed-time story". They attack any species that they believe will pose a threat to the universe, hence why they tried eliminating humanity in the 21st century, years before they could colonise space in the future. A hologram of a winkled humanoid in a black robe was seen on the Shakri ship; however, it is not known if this is actually what the Shakri look like. The Shakri consider seven an important number, given they used that amount of portals, ships, cube activation time, and for a countdown. They follow something known as "the Tally"; the Doctor has implied that the Shakri compare a species' failures and successes to decide whether or not they will be subjected to "pest control".

Shalka

Template:Infobox Doctor Who race The Shalka appear to be a serpentine alien race made of living rock and magma, but they are actually bioplasmic entities, living plasma, their physical appearance merely a "crust" concealing their true forms. They breathe volcanic air and prefer high temperatures, being most comfortable underground where lava meets metamorphic rock. They communicate through high-pitched screaming, which they can use for a variety of effects, like tunnelling through rock or mentally controlling other life forms. They also use sound as a part of their technology.

In an alternate timeline, the Shalka arrived on Earth via meteorite, initially landing near Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand, subsequently establishing a beachhead for their planned invasion of Earth beneath the Lancashire town of Lannet. They also created a stable wormhole for landing their invasion force, which could also be converted into a black hole to dispose of their enemies, as they tried to do with the Doctor.

As they claimed to have done to billions of planets before, they intended to implant Shalka larvae into key segments of the population, mind controlling them into emitting a scream that would destroy the ozone layer. In this way, the Shalka intended to raise the surface temperature of the planet to the point where the human race would perish but the Shalka could thrive. The Shalka would then live beneath the surface, with the rest of the universe believing that Earth's inhabitants had died of self-inflicted ecological damage. The Doctor defeated their plans with the help of the British military and a Lannet barmaid named Alison. They are not technically Doctor Who monsters since they appeared in a failed attempt to restart the series before it was permanently revived.

Shambonie

Main article: Midnight

An alien race said to have large foreheads.

Shansheeth

The Shansheeth are a race of vulture-like aliens which appear in Death of the Doctor by Russell T Davies. A fleet of Shansheeth announce to Sarah Jane via UNIT the death of the Doctor, and take charge of the funeral procession; Mr Smith confirms their status as the undertakers of the universe, finding fallen heroes on battlefields. However, the band of Shansheeth Sarah Jane and former companion Jo Jones (Katy Manning) encounter want to use the companions' memories of the Doctor, in conjunction with their Memory Weave device to create a TARDIS key with which they can steal the TARDIS and prevent death across the timeline. Sarah and Jo, instead, overload the device, which blows up and destroys the Shansheeth along with their UNIT accomplice. The main branch of the Shansheeth later apologise to Sarah Jane for the actions of this rogue group.

Shrivenzale

Main article: The Ribos Operation

The Shroud

The Shroud appeared in the first novelization to feature Clara Oswald, Shroud of Sorrow. The Shroud is a worm-like monstrosity that attaches itself to worlds in order to feast on the sorrow in the minds of others; it's bottom end is always attached to the previous planet it feasted on. One can literally travel through it if its mouth is mistaken for a wormhole; those who are human feel the leftover emotions of the Shroud's previous victims. It releases tentacles into the world, which take the form of the face belonging to someone dear to a person that has passed on. Though it can emulate the personality well, it twists the imitation into an evil version that accuses the victim of doing something evil. It's tentacles eventually take the form of women wearing blue veils once it has gained enough strength; separating them from the victim results in their death. However, some people are immune, mostly children as they can't understand grief well. Victims are drained of their sorrow, leaving another emotion to grow to replace it and dominate their personality. This led to Ragers (Anger), Tremblers (Fear), Wanters (Greed/Jealousy) and such. However, clown performances can help the victims regain their sanity because of the joy they're once more experiencing.

It attacked Earth following Kennady's assassination. However, as luck would have it, the Doctor and Clara were there at the same time. The Doctor focused on the saddest moments for each of his incarnations, including his loss of the Ponds, luring all its tentacles into his mind; using this, he pulled it away from Earth with the TARDIS and dropped it into a sea of bubbling avocado, which is a natural anti-depressant – a perfect punishment. However, it seems it would eventually escape the planet as thousands of years later, someone was experiencing the same exact thing as the Shroud's victims always do.

"Simon"

"Simon" was an alien mentioned on the Torchwood website, specifically in an article attached to, and especially in, Amanda Davies' diary. He was travelling on Earth, seeking to discover the source of life. He wandered into a countryside village and was taken in by the Davies family. Simon, having based his appearance on Jon Bon Jovi, near-instantly seduced the family's daughter - Amanda, and ultimately left her pregnant with an alien baby (which itself quickly developed, and began to degrade her health). Simon then disappeared around the same time as Jack Harkness arrived (implying he had been captured or killed by Torchwood), and later Jack met with Amanda's father and (apparently) made an agreement to have the entire village, including Amanda, subjected to amnesia pills, have all records and evidence that the Davies' existed in the village (including Amanda's diary) confiscated, have the alien baby removed before Amanda died, and then send the Davies family away with a new identity.

"The First Senior"

The First Senior is an organization from an alien planet featured in the novel Border Princes. Like all Torchwood spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series remains open to interpretation.

The race that inhabit the planet are described as "shades," wraith-like shadows covered in thorns. This is their true form but they are able to take on any shape they desire. When taking on a different form, they don't just change appearance, but physically change into the object they are copying. However, when not inhabiting their true form, they lose many of the advantages that stem from it including near invisibility and extreme speed. They do however retain superior strength and an excellent fighting ability. This is evident by the fact a shade can take on a fully functional Serial G unit, and crush The Amok with its bare hands.

Despite being gaseous, they have sentient robotic brains capable of uploading and downloading information from a central server on their planet and performing complex calculations.

Similar to Torchwood Three, The First Senior monitor the Rift, at another of its anchor points on their planet. However, their organization is a lot more advanced than Torchwood; on their home planet, they have an entire royal family dedicated to guarding the Rift (the Border to them), led by the "Border Prince."

When The First Senior discovered the existence of Torchwood, out of curiosity, they sent in an agent known as The Principal. The Principal took the guise of a human, James Mayer, who inserted himself into Torchwood by implanting himself into the team's memories, making them believe he had always been a member. The First Senior then erased The Principal's own memories so that he couldn't inadvertently reveal his true identity.

Also inserted onto Earth was a protector for The Principal, Mr Dine. Mr Dine made sure The Principal didn't come to any harm and that The Principal was efficiently recalled when his time with Torchwood was over. When The Principal is to be recalled, he regains his memory, through a computer signal, and all memories of him are removed from people he has interacted with, through the removal of a 100 mile wide memory-creation radius.

The Silence

Main article: Silence (Doctor Who)

Self-proclaimed "Sentials of History", the Silence is a religious organization lead by the Academy of the Question, with Silents making up their core members; Silents cannot be remembered unless they are being looked at, or if someone is wearing an eyedrive. Their main belief is that "Silence will fall" when the oldest question in the universe "Doctor Who?" is asked. For this reason, they have made numerous attempts on the Doctor's life to keep him from answering; their attempts range from destroying reality in Series 5, and using the Doctor own wife, Melody Pond to attempt murdering him in Series 6.

Silurian

Main article: Silurian (Doctor Who)

Siren

Template:Doctor Who race The Siren is a virtual doctor that was aboard a spaceship of an unknown alien race that crashed in a dimension parallel to the ocean the ship Fancy was sailing on in 1699. Thanks to "protein circuitry", she could appear before a species in a form that would be alluring to them for cooperation. To sedate her patients, the Siren could sing a beautiful vocal song. However, being nothing more than a program, the Siren had very little reasoning skills. The Siren turned red with demonic-looking face when faced with resistance and germs. When the ship she was doctor to crashed in a spatial rift where the Fancy had been becalmed (and the crew dead from a human disease), she impulsively started to take the injured of the ship, even if it was for a simple cut, showing a great lack of intelligence. Were it not for the Doctor's arrival, the Siren would eventually have reached shore and started trying to process anyone who was ill. Captain Henry Avery, Toby Avery and the crew of the Fancy took over the ship to give her someone to look after, and to see the universe.

Sisterhood of Karn

Main article: The Brain of Morbius

Skith

The Skith are ice-based, telepathic aliens. They see themselves as explorers and seekers of knowledge, but their methodology is to pull information from the minds of others. They appear as humanoid figures made of blue ice, except the Skith Leader, who is a larger figure made of red ice, and the Mindcore, which transmits telepathic information to and from the Worldmind on their homeworld, and resembles a giant, tentacled head, made out of blue ice. Those infected by Skith telepathic ice gradually become Skith-like drones themselves.

They first appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip "The First" (#s 385–389), where they are based at the South Pole, and intercept the Ernest Shackleton expedition, before being stopped by the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. In the story "Age of Ice" (#s 408–410), the surviving Skith Leader reappears in present-day Australia, when he believes his people have come to rescue him. However, in the time that has passed since "The First", the Skith philosophy has changed, and they are now initialising a fullscale invasion. Based on the information absorbed from the Doctor's mind in the earlier story, they have constructed a duplicate TARDIS.

In "The Crimson Hand" (#s 416–420), it is revealed that the first action of the Hand was to destroy the Skith Throneworld.

Skonnan

Main article: The Horns of Nimon

Skullion

Main article: The Man Who Never Was (The Sarah Jane Adventures)

Skullions are one-eyed extraterrestrials, originating from the planet Skultos. They are hydrophobic, meaning water will burn the Skullions in a torturous way. It is stated they can only drink citric juices.

In The Man Who Never Was, a Skullion ship crashed into China where the aliens were sold at a black market to Harrison, who uses them as slaves, attaching collars to their necks as torturing devices. Sarah Jane Smith and her friends were able to save them though, contacting their home planet. A rescue ship arrives, beaming up the Skullions and Harrison, who refused to let them escape.

Sky fish

Main article: A Christmas Carol (Doctor Who)

Template:Doctor Who race The sky fish are fish-like creature capable of swimming through the air using the electricity of the planet Ember's crystalline fog. They are attracted to music as it causes the crystals in the fog to resonate in a way that produces delta waves. They vary from small fish to fully grown sharks.

Slitheen

Main article: Slitheen

The Slitheen are a family of massive, bipedal extraterrestrials. They are creatures of living calcium, hatched from eggs and native to the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius. While, strictly speaking, the name "Slitheen" refers to a specific family, the term has been used by the Doctor to refer to the Raxacoricofallapatorian race in general.

The Slitheen are able to wear a human's skin as a disguise, using a compression field to shrink themselves. As they are mostly made of calcium, they are vulnerable to acetic acid (vinegar).

The Slitheen have appeared in the Doctor Who episodes Aliens of London, World War Three and Boom Town and the interactive episode, Attack of the Graske. From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love, a mini episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures for Comic Relief, featured Ronnie Corbett as a small Slitheen. They have also appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes Revenge of the Slitheen and The Lost Boy.

The Slitheen are mentioned as being part of The Alliance formed to trap the Doctor in "The Pandorica Opens".

Slyther

The Slyther was a monster that served the Daleks. It was seen in episodes four and five of The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964), guarding the Dalek mines in Bedfordshire. After the Slyther attacked a small group of humans, killing Ashton, Ian hit it with a rock, causing it to fall down a pit to its death.

Solonian

Main article: The Mutants

The Solonians are a race of humanoid creatures from the planet Solos, colonized by the Overlords. The atmosphere contains a nitrogen isotope which causes the air to become toxic to humans in sunlight, although it has no effect on Solonians. Because Solos' environment changes drastically every 500 years, they must undergo major mutations periodically in order to survive.

Sontarans

Main article: Sontarans

A Sontaran first appeared as the antagonist in the Third Doctor serial The Time Warrior. The Sontarans were referred to in Eye of the Gorgon by Bea who said they looked like a huge potato with a radar. Commander Kaagh appears in Series 2 in the story The Last Sontaran after the destruction of his battle fleet as well as the death of the other Sontarans on board in the Doctor Who two-parter episodes "The Sontaran Strategem" and "The Poison Sky". He returns in Enemy of the Bane, where he sides up with Mrs Wormwood, the recurring Bane. In the end, he sacrifices himself to foil her plans of the destruction of Earth. He makes a small appearance in The Pandorica Opens

Spiridon

The Spiridons featured in the serial Planet of the Daleks (1973). They are the dominant species of sentient humanoids on planet Spiridon in the Ninth System. They have developed a form of invisibility, capable of generating "anti-reflecting light waves". They become visible after death, having pale skin and a gaunt appearance. They wear heavy purple fur cloaks at night to protect themselves from the harsh nights of Spirodon. The Doctor returns to Spiridon in spin-off audio adventures Return of the Daleks and Brotherhood of the Daleks.

Star whale

Main article: The Beast Below

See also: List of Doctor Who universe creatures and aliens (0–9, A–G) § Cash Cow

The star whale is a giant whale-like creature, presumed to be the last of its kind, used to pilot the Starship UK, so as to save its citizens from the dangerous solar flares. The whale has the features of other animals such as an anglerfish's angler, an octopus' tentacles and a scorpions' tail, as well as having a bright pink hide with bioluminescent patches. It arrived on Earth as it heard the children of the United Kingdom crying, and was unable to bear the sound. Believing its arrival to be a one-in-a-million miracle, the people of Britain captured it and built their ship around it, torturing it via powerful electric pulses, administered directly into the opened pain center of the Whale's brain, in order to keep the ship flying. Over the years, they realised that they could not justify keeping the creature in agony, but feared that if they set it free, the ship and all those aboard would be destroyed as the creature fled, so they chose to instead forget, and fed those who protested to the beast. When the Doctor learnt of this, he decided to render the creature brain-dead, ending its suffering and saving the lives of all those on the ship, but Amy set it free, revealing that the whale had volunteered to help, and that contrary to the beliefs of the station's masters, that it would continue flying without the need to torture it.

The creature's exact size is not specified, and it is only visible in its entirety towards the episode's ending. However, assuming that Starship UK is large enough to accommodate millions of the former Great Britain's inhabitants, the scale of the ship would be gigantic, putting the star whale's size at several thousand kilometers in length at the least. However, during the scene in which the Doctor and Amy Pond find themselves within the star whale's mouth, the creature's rows of teeth appear to be only a dozen or so meters across, which, in proportion with the creature's body, would make the star whale considerably smaller. Whether this is intentionally paradoxical or simply a production error is not specified.

Stigorax

Main article: The Happiness Patrol

A species that appears to be large, fury rats; they are carnivorous. The last of the Stigorax was adopted by Helen A, who named it Fifi and took good care of it. Fifi was released into sewer pipes to chase and devour escaping criminals. Fifi was later fataly wounded by a collapsing in the pipe, managing to climb out just in time for Helen A to find it; Fifi's death showed Helen A that sadness could not be prevented.

Swampie

Main article: The Power of Kroll

Green-skinned, and green-haired, natives of the third moon of Delta Magma; other than the color green, they appear quite similar to humans. Swampies appear intelligent, but have a primitive worship of a giant squid called Kroll. They lack technoloy, so they like similar to primitives. Interestingly, throughout The Power of Kroll, only male Swampies were seen.

The Swarm

Main article: Planet of the Dead

Also known by the Unified Intelligence Task-Force (UNIT) as Stingrays, they are flying manta ray-like creatures, with metal exoskeletons that allow them to travel from planet to planet via wormholes. They consume everything on a planet, turning it into desert; and then swarm over the planet's surface, generating a wormhole which allows them to travel to the next planet.

The Stingrays are apparently arthropods, as they are exothermic, and possess an exoskeleton composed of metal that has been ingested then exuded to the exoskeleton. They are voracious feeders, eating both organic and inorganic materials ranging from flesh and bone to plant matter to metals and plastic. They also produce vast numbers of young and grow from birth to adult in under a year, as shown when the Tenth Doctor shows a year-old clip of San Helios before its Stingray infestation.

They travel to other planets through wormholes created in the fabric of Spacetime by circling a planet faster and faster, and as each swarm can contain billions of giant stingrays, they rip a hole in space. Their wormholes can transport the whole swarm an infinite distance through space.

Swarm (virus)

Main article: The Invisible Enemy (Doctor Who)

Sycorax

See also: The Christmas Invasion

The Sycorax first appeared in the debut Tenth Doctor story "The Christmas Invasion" in 2005.

The Sycorax appear to be skinless humanoids wearing mantles of bone, usually keeping their features concealed under helmets. They are proficient in the use of weapons like swords and whips, the latter which can deliver an energy discharge that disintegrates the flesh of its target. Their language is called Sycoraxic. The Sycorax also appear to have technology that is either disguised or treated as magic, referring to "curses" and the Doctor's regenerative abilities as "witchcraft". The Sycorax leader referred to an "armada" that they could use to take Earth by force if their blood control plan failed. They also appear to have a martial society, with traditions of honourable combat, yet they have no qualms about killing prisoners.

According to a write-up by Russell T Davies on the BBC website, the Sycorax facial structure was inspired by the skull of a horse. According to the same write-up, the Sycorax originated on an asteroid in the distant JX82 system, known as the Fire Trap. They were uplifted when a spaceship crashed on their asteroid and the Sycorax Leader enslaved the survivors, forcing the aliens to teach them about their technology. The asteroid was then retrofitted into the first of many spaceships, which the Sycorax then used to raid other planets, becoming feared interstellar scavengers. This reputation is made clear in their attitude to other 'inferior' races. The Sycorax leader comments to Rose that he would not 'dirty his tongue' with her language, and their translated word for 'human' can also be taken to mean 'cattle'. Their armada is permanently in orbit around the Jewel of Staa Crafell.

In The Doctor Who Files books, the name of the Sycorax homeworld is given as "Sycorax". It is unclear if this is another name for the Fire Trap. Furthermore, after the destruction of the Fire Trap, the Sycorax spread further through the galaxy, and like humans are one of three species that continually survive and adapt, even unto the End of the Universe.

The name Sycorax is used in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Shakespeare's Sycorax has died before the play begins; she is described as a witch who was the mother of the beast Caliban. The Shakespearean name is referenced in the third series episode "The Shakespeare Code" when the Doctor finds a horse's skull in The Globe's prop cupboard. He comments that it "Reminds [him] too much of the Sycorax". Shakespeare remarks he likes the sound of the word, obviously then going on to use it in The Tempest.

The Sycorax also make a brief appearance in "The Pandorica Opens" as part of The Alliance formed to trap the Doctor.

In "The Name of the Doctor, the Great Intelligence mentions the Sycorax as one of those that left the Doctor blood-soaked.

T

Taran beast

Main article: The Androids of Tara

Tenza

Template:Doctor Who race The Tenza are an alien species that has their young raised by other species. Put simply, "a Tenza's sole function is to fit in." They adapt perfectly to what their foster parents want, such as "George" becoming the son Claire was unable to give birth to. Tenzas have powerful psychic abilities such being able to create monsters with just their imagination, as well as mentally creating massive perception filters that alter their foster parents' memories. Since George didn't seem aware of his nature as a Tenza, the young of his species must do these things subconsciously or simply forget their true identities to blend in perfectly. The Doctor has said that Tenza puberty is "always a funny time", and said he might be back to deal with George again if something else goes awry.

Terileptil

Template:Infobox Doctor Who race The Terileptils appeared in the Fifth Doctor serial The Visitation by Eric Saward. They are a reptilian humanoid species, they cannot survive long without breathing soliton gas, which is highly combustible when combined with oxygen. As an advanced society, they enjoy a heightened appreciation of both aesthetics and warfare, and have been known to employ bejewelled androids. Criminal punishment in Terileptil society includes life imprisonment working in tinclavic mines on the planet Raaga, often with sub-standard medical care.

In 1666, a group of Terileptil prison escapees hidden near London attempted to use a genetically enhanced version of the Black Plague to destroy humanity. The destruction of their lab in Pudding Lane, with help from the Doctor, causes the Great Fire of London.

The Terileptils destroyed the Sonic Screwdriver which did not appear again until the Doctor Who TV Movie.

The Terileptils are mentioned as being part of The Alliance formed to trap the Doctor in "The Pandorica Opens".

According to the Virgin Missing Adventures novel The Dark Path by David A. McIntee, by the 34th century, their homeworld Terileptus is a member of the Galactic Federation, and a noted builder of starships. A Terileptil also appears as the chief engineer on a Federation starship. The planet is destroyed during the events described in the novel.

Terradonian

Main article: Full Circle

Tetrap

Template:Doctor Who race The Tetraps are a bat-like race from the planet Tetrapyriarbus. A pack of Tetraps was employed by the Rani to help defend her Giant Brain in the Seventh Doctor's debut story, Time and the Rani (1987) by Pip and Jane Baker. The Rani armed a pack of Tetraps for this purpose and used them as general henchmen to terrorise the native Lakertyans.

Tetraps have four eyes, one on each side of their head, giving them all-round vision, and put this to good use in stalking fugitives. Like bats, they sleep by hanging upside-down in a cavern. They feed off a dark red-coloured sludge that the Lakertyan leader releases down a chute into a trough.

Tetraps possess limited intelligence, but they soon realise that the Rani's plans would have them all killed on Lakertya. This is confirmed when their leader, Urak, hears of her plans and she later leaves him to guard over her laboratory rather than take him with her in her TARDIS, thus condemning him to death. Urak and the enraged Tetraps capture the Rani in her ship and take her back to their home planet, to force her to help solve their natural resource shortages.

Thal

Main article: Thal (Doctor Who)

See also: The Daleks, Planet of the Daleks, and Genesis of the Daleks

The Thals are a race of peaceful humanoids who share habitation of the planet Skaro with the Daleks. They look exactly like humans, although the Third Doctor appears to recognize their race specifically in Planet of the Daleks. Although they were once a warlike society, a nuclear war with the Daleks which nearly wiped out all life on Skaro caused them to develop a completely pacifist agrarian society.

Tharil

Main article: Warriors' Gate

Tivoli

Template:Doctor Who race The Tivoli are a cowardly race that live on Tivoli, the most invaded planet in the galaxy. As a result, they have designed their cities to be comfortable for invading armies and their national anthem is "Glory To <Insert Name Here>". They are known for surrendering as soon as possible, and actually enjoy being conquered. As a result of the natives' cowardly attitudes, the planet Tivoli has lasted longer than any of the greater civilizations. They do not assert their own opinions often, just wishing to be ordered around, as seen in the case of Gibis. However, given that any sociey could eventualy have someone different than them, it's possible that there have been or will be some Tivolians that aren't uniformly cowardly like the rest.

The Trickster's Brigade

The Trickster's Brigade serve the recurring The Sarah Jane Adventures villain, The Trickster. They, which takes shape of many lifeforms such as a beetle, also feed on chaos in time as the Trickster does. In "Turn Left", a Time Beetle, a member of The Trickster's Brigade, attaches itself onto the back of companion Donna Noble, altering time to where she never met the Doctor in "The Runaway Bride", leading to his death. This causes the deaths of to-be-companion Martha Jones as well as The Sarah Jane Adventures characters Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, and Clyde Langer ("Smith and Jones") who attempted to restore the Royal Hope Hospital back to its location and halt the plans of the Judoon. London is destroyed after the fall of the Titanic ("Voyage of the Damned") and no help is offered from America due to the Adipose crisis ("Partners in Crime"). Torchwood Three sacrifices themselves to save planet Earth from the Sontarans ("The Poison Sky") to keep the air unpoisoned. The alternate Donna, with help from Rose Tyler and UNIT is able to foil the brigade's plans before reality is destroyed by Davros by traveling back in time and sacrificing herself to set history right.

In the Torchwood episode "Immortal Sins", Jack Harkness and Angelo Colasanto discovers that The Trickster's Brigade plans to cause the victory of Nazi Germany by assassinating Franklin Delano Roosevelt by use of a brain parasite.

The Trickster

The Trickster is a being beyond the universe which seeks to manifest itself through causing chaos. It can interfere in deaths, by making deceptive deals to prolong life at a price. It can only exist within the universe for brief periods, without physical form, sometimes in a mirror or other reflective surface. It is a member of the Pantheon of Discord. Played by Paul Marc Davis, the Trickster is a recurring nemesis in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Though the character does not directly appear in the series' related programmes (parent show Doctor Who and adult sister show Torchwood), the Trickster's attempts to change history have nevertheless been depicted.

In Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, in order to create chaos of sufficient magnitude, the Trickster removed Sarah Jane from history so that an asteroid that only she could have stopped would hit the Earth. The Trickster altered an incident in Sarah Jane's childhood in 1964 that originally led to the death of her best friend Andrea. The Trickster switched the places of the two girls after gaining Andrea's consent, creating a timeline in which Sarah Jane died at age 13. Preferring a meaningless destruction of Earth rather than for profit or military conquest, the Trickster also influenced the various alien threats Sarah Jane had faced on Earth to stay away from the planet, creating a peaceful timeline up until the impending asteroid strike. Keeping Sarah Jane in Limbo, it further planned to use her to find and remove the Doctor from history, which would create a timeline of diabolical chaos, wherein the many tragedies the Doctor averted would have instead proceeded.

The Time Beetle that consumed time energy by changing an individual's personal timeline in the Doctor Who episode "Turn Left" was described as part of "the Trickster's Brigade". Its alteration of Donna Noble's history led to the Doctor's death, resulting in a timeline similar to that planned by the Trickster. The alternate timeline included the off-camera deaths of Sarah Jane, Luke, Clyde, Rani and Maria - as well as the Doctor's would-be companion, Martha Jones - in the events otherwise depicted in "Smith and Jones". This plot is foiled by the alternate Donna with help from Rose Tyler and UNIT who create a time machine to send her back in time and set things right. The alternate Donna is forced to sacrifice herself to do so, but recalls the timeline after history is restored.

In The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, the Trickster returned with the Graske. It manifested in 1951 after Sarah Jane saved her parents' lives. By 2008 it had completely devastated the planet and enslaved the human population, and was working on conquering other planets. Sarah Jane returned to the point of his manifestation in an attempt to stop him, but could not think of a suitable method. Her parents willingly drive off in their car, leading to their death, causing the Trickster to vanish and the original time to be restored. The Trickster materialised through the Abbott's Gate at the old monastery in Sarah Jane's home village of Foxgrove. This entry point was razed for the construction of an A road in 1964.

The Trickster returned in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, having made a deal with lawyer Peter Dalton after an accident at home, granting Dalton his life and the love he never had, Sarah Jane Smith. Sarah Jane fell in love with Dalton, and agreed to marry him, but the wedding was interrupted by the arrival of the Doctor. The Trickster took the hotel out of time, trapping Sarah Jane and Peter in one second while the Doctor, K9, Luke, Clyde and Rani were trapped in another. Realising that the Trickster intended for Sarah's marriage to end her life of defending the Earth, Sarah Jane convinced Peter that he must break the deal, sacrificing himself so that Sarah Jane could continue to save the world. The Trickster made reference to the Tenth Doctor's future regeneration and added that the Doctor's first meeting with the Pantheon of Discord had sent ripples back through time. The Trickster was revealed to be vulnerable to artron energy, the power source of the TARDIS; Clyde became charged with artron energy when he came in contact with the TARDIS while it was attempting to penetrate the Trickster's time rift. He was able to use the energy to harm the Trickster, draining its energy long enough for the Doctor to penetrate the Trickster's temporal trap.

The Trickster is briefly referenced in the Torchwood: Miracle Day episode "Immortal Sins". In the episode, Captain Jack Harkness and his boyfriend/companion Angelo intercept and destroy an alien parasite that the Trickster's brigade had planned to use to infect U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and create an alternate timeline where Nazi Germany won World War II.

Tigellan

Main article: Meglos

Time Beetle

Template:Doctor Who race The Time Beetle is a member of the Trickster's Brigade, a group of aliens that serve the Trickster. The Time Beetle, similar to the Trickster himself, feeds on time energy and can cause a victim to change a decision they made in the past, thereby altering history. The change in history is usually very minor, affecting only the person the beetle attaches to, and the universe usually "compensates" for the discrepancy.

When the beetle attaches to Donna in "Turn Left", it prevents her from ever meeting the Doctor, resulting in disaster for Earth. The Doctor, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, and Torchwood staff Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper were all killed, the city of London was completely destroyed when the Titanic crashed into Buckingham Palace, Captain Jack Harkness was taken to the Sontaran homeworld, and millions of people died from threats the Doctor would have otherwise prevented. If the alternative future had continued, reality would have been destroyed by Davros. In the alternate timeline, the beetle was attached to the back of the alternate Donna Noble who traveled back in time and set history right. Afterwards, the beetle dies when Donna is restored to the correct timeline.

In an accompanying "Monster Files" episode, Captain Jack raised doubts over whether the whole of the Trickster's Brigade consists of beetles, suggesting all individuals are of different species.

In the Torchwood episode "Immortal Sins", the Trickster's Brigade is mentioned as they attempt to cause the victory of Nazi Germany by assassinating Franklin Delano Roosevelt through a parasite.

Time Lord

Main article: Time Lord

See also: Doctor (Doctor Who)

The Time Lords are a race of humanoid aliens to which The Doctor, among other characters, belongs. Time Lords have the ability to regenerate when mortally wounded. This process creates for them an entirely new body and results in major changes in personality, but retains the Time Lord's memories and identity. It is suggested in The Power of the Daleks that some detectable feature is retained, as the Daleks are immediately able to recognize the Second Doctor, even though he has just regenerated. During The Time of the Doctor, it was confirmed by the Eleventh Doctor that a Time-Lord, naturally, is only allowed 12 regenerations, resulting in 13 different incarnations. In the same episode, the Doctor saves Clara's life by sending her home to her own time, but in protest she clings to the TARDIS through the Time Vortex on it's return. Upon arriving 300 years later, she finds a visibly aged Doctor, proving that Time Lords experience natural physical changes during each lifespan between regenerations. In the episode "A Good Man Goes to War", it is suggested this ability evolved due to the Time Lord race's long-term exposure to the untempered schism.

Time Lords exhibit various other superhuman abilities, including certain mental powers, and resistance to otherwise harmful effects such as extreme cold and radiation. They possess a binary vascular system (two hearts), and therefore a faster heart rate, as well as a cooler internal body temperature.

The first Time Lord to appear other than The Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman is The Meddling Monk, in the 1965 serial The Time Meddler, but the term itself is not used until The War Games, when the race as a whole is introduced.

As of the 2005 revival series, the Time Lords are essentially extinct, apart from The Doctor, as they have been destroyed by him during the Time War.

Time Zombies

Creatures that appeared in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS. They are echoes of the possible future selves that the Doctor, Clara, Trickey and Gregor would have become from being exposed to the Eye of Harmony too long; they were burnt by it as their cells liquified. It appeared that they lacked most of their former intelligence, along with the ability to speak. However, each may have been driven by a particular motive - the Doctor wanted the part of the Arch Rec back from Gregor, Clara could have wanted revenge on the Van Baalens for being the cause of all the trouble, and Gregor and Tricky would want revenge for being mutated into a monster. Each could be identitified, although not as easily with the Doctor and Clrara, because of how they changed; the Doctor is stuck holding his head, and the Van Baalens are stuck to each other.

Unlike the other time echoes, they could touch the present world, and killed Bram Van Baalen. They end up trapping their past selves in the Eye of Harmony's room. The Doctor realised how to avert the future, killing all but Clara's echo by kncoking them off the rail. However, the Van Baalens couldn't avoid their fate. The Doctor eventually prevented the existence of these things by resetting time, preventing the TARDIS from being damaged and salvaged by the Van Baalen Brothers.

Toclafane

Template:Doctor Who race The Toclafane are the last remnants of humanity from the year 100 trillion. Originally intending to travel to Utopia, the last refuge of a dying universe, they find nothing but "the dark and the cold" of space. Losing the last shred of hope they had, they turned on themselves, cannibalising their own bodies to create a new cyborg race. As part of this process they regress into little more than children with shared memories. The name Toclafane is given to them by the Master, who takes it from the Gallifreyan equivalent of the bogeyman.

The Toclafane's cyborg forms possess energy devices capable of killing and disintegrating targets. They are equipped with numerous retractable blades. The first four to be seen also exhibit apparent teleportation or cloaking abilities, not displayed by others of their race. All that remains of their bodies are barely recognisable human faces wired into basketball-sized mechanical spheres.

In "The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords", the Master rescues four Toclafane from the end of the universe prior to an eventual Big Freeze, using them to fake a first contact situation in order to draw the world's leaders into one place for easy capture. He then uses a "paradox machine" to allow the future of the human race to slaughter many in the present, in short bringing the six billion humans that are alive in the year 100 trillion to return in the form of the Toclafane. The paradox machine creates a temporal paradox, allowing them to kill their ancestors without damaging themselves, and thus establish the Master's rule over Earth. After subduing Earth, the Master aims to establish a new Time Lord empire with himself as the leader and the Toclafane as his people and ground troops. This plan is foiled when the paradox machine is destroyed, causing time to rewind and trapping the Toclafane back at the end of the universe.

The Toclafane feature on the cover of the New Series Adventures novel, The Story of Martha, which chronicles Martha's adventures during The Year That Never Was.

Torajii

A sentient star featured in the episode "42". The crew of a cargo ship uses a sun scoop on Torajii to refuel their ship, unaware that it is actually a living creature. Torajii then uses the stolen particles to possess crewmembers and kill them by showing the eyes of the people it possessed which instantly burns them, until the sun scoop is turned back to the living star who then lets the ship go away.

Tractator

Main article: Frontios

Trakenite

Main article: The Keeper of Traken

See also: Nyssa (Doctor Who)

A humanoid species, with great intelligence, that live on the peaceful planet of Traken, which is part of the Traken Union. A Keeper is chosen to guard the Source once the life of the current one draws close to ending. Their planet would petrify anything evil that would arrive, until the Keeper's life began waning and thus the petrification would weaken. During Logopolis, the Master accidentally caused the destruction of the Traken Union and its people by unleashing the entropy back into the universe, leaving Nysaa the sole pure Trakenite left in existence.

Travist Polong

Travist Polong is an orange, metre-long, five-eyed slug/slater-like alien. Sarah Jane attempted to catch it at a hospital at Tarminster in The Mark of the Berserker, but left to deal with a Berserker.

Travist Polong was later delivered to Sarah Jane in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith after she saw it on eBay in its dormant stage. Rani and Clyde took it inside Rani's house, but it escaped. They chased it to 13 Bannerman Road, where they caught it in a garbage can. Sarah Jane directed Rani to order Mr Smith to teleport it to Polongus, its home planet. Sarah Jane described Travist Polong as "not evil, just trouble".

Triceratops

Template:Doctor Who race A Triceratops appeared in "Invasion of the Dinosaurs". A Triceratops appeared on the Silurian ark in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", put there in the Silurian's attempt to conserve all the life on Earth.

Trion

Main article: Planet of Fire

See also: Vislor Turlough

A humanoid species, with no visible differences from humans, Trions are quite intelligent. A civil war broke out on the planet, and those one the wrong side were banished to different planets, Turlough ended up on Earth, while the rest of his family ended up on a volcanic planet. The descendants of the original exiles came to believe the mark of exile meant those who had it were chosen by their god, Mulkur, to lead them. After several years past, the exile was lifted from those banished from the planet, allowing them back home.

Tritovore

Main article: Planet of the Dead

Humanoid fly creatures, they trade with other civilisations for their excrement. They communicate with clicks that the TARDIS didn't translate because it was not on the same planet as The Doctor and Lady Christina de Souza. The Doctor speaks with them through their own language while they understand The Doctor through a one-way telepathic translating communication device.

Tyrannosaurus rex

Template:Doctor Who race A Tyrannosaurus rex appeared in "Invasion of the Dinosaurs". A Tyrannosaurus rex appeared on the Silurian ark in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", put there in the Silurian's attempt to conserve all the life on Earth.

Tythonian

Main article: The Creature from the Pit

U

Urbankan

Main article: Four to Doomsday

Usurian

Main article: The Sun Makers

The Usurians from the planet Usurius are a species that abandoned military conquest in favour of economic conquest. They enslaved humanity after their engineers made Mars suitable for human habitation, humans having depleted the Earth's resources. Once humanity had depleted Mars's resources as well, the Usurians engineered Pluto so that humans could inhabit it. They created six artificial "Suns" around it and installed the Collector to oversee the collection of taxes from their human workforce. They intended to abandon Pluto and leave humanity to become extinct once the humans had exhausted its resources, there being no economically viable planet to relocate humanity to once more. The humans on Pluto revolted against the Collector and seized control of Pluto. The revolutionaries intended to relocate to Earth as the Doctor assured them it would have regenerated in their absence.

The Usurians have knowledge of the Time Lords, graded as "Grade 3" in their "latest market survey", considering Gallifrey to be of low commercial value. Usurians can adopt a humanoid form but in their natural state they resemble seaweed. Shock can force them to revert to their natural form. According to the Doctor, Usurians are listed in a "flora and fauna" of the universe written by a Professor Thripthead under poisonous fungi.

Uvodni

The Uvodni is a bug-like race, first introduced in Warriors of Kudlak. General Kudlak served in his race's military until injuries forced him to retire. In order to gain more troops for his race's continuing war effort, Kudlak was dispatched to Earth. He seized control of the Combat 3000 laser game franchise, which he secretly used to find human children with strong combat skills. These children were teleported to Kudlak's orbiting spaceship and dispatched to fight in his race's war. Kudlak took orders from a battle computer that used the image of a female of his race as an avatar, which he referred to as "Mistress". An error left the computer unable to comprehend the concept of the war ending, so it withheld from Kudlak an announcement of peace from his emperor for over a decade. When this fact was revealed, by intervention of Luke Smith's computer hacking, Kudlak destroyed the computer. He then dedicated his life to finding and returning the already dispatched human children, hoping to gain inner peace by doing so.

An Uvodni appeared in "The Pandorica Opens" as part of the Alliance formed to trap the Doctor.

The Uvodni are mentioned in the audio book The White Wolf, when Ben remarks that the Uvodni could have helped them get home.

The Uvodni are mentioned in the audio book Wraith World, when Clyde Langer remarks he cannot understand why Luke and Rani would want to read about made up adventures, when they have faced Uvodni.

V

Validium

Main article: Silver Nemesis

Vampire

A number of different types of vampire have appeared in televised Doctor Who:

• In the fourth episode of the 1965 First Doctor serial The Chase, the Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Vicki encounter Count Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster, who make short work of a pursuing party of Daleks. The Doctor speculates that the monsters and the haunted mansion that they inhabit are the products of nightmares created from the human psyche. As the TARDIS and the Daleks' time capsule leave, it is revealed that the monsters are in fact funfair robots.
• The Fourth Doctor encounters vampires whilst travelling in E-Space in the 1980 serial State of Decay. The Doctor, Romana, Adric and K-9 encounter three vampires, Aukon, Camilla and Zargo. It is revealed that the three are servants of the giant King Vampire, a member of the Great Vampires who once fought a great war against the Time Lords but were eventually defeated. By escaping to E-Space, the King Vampire was the sole surviving member of its race. The Doctor defeats the King Vampire by launching the lesser vampires' tower—actually the command module of the ship piloted by the originally human trio – and using it as a stake to pierce the giant vampire's heart. The three servant vampires perish along with their king.
• Creatures similar to vampires, Saturnyns, appeared in the Eleventh Doctor episode "Vampires in Venice".

Vampires have also appeared in Doctor Who stories in other media. Vampires related to the Great Vampires seen in State of Decay are featured prominently in the Virgin New Adventures novel Blood Harvest, the Missing Adventure Goth Opera, the BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Vampire Science, and the Big Finish Productions audio dramas Project: Twilight and Project: Lazarus. The Eighth Doctor Adventure The Eight Doctors also features them in a flashback to State of Decay; in addition, the war between the vampires and the Time Lords is a significant plot element in the New Adventure Damaged Goods. Other vampires or vampire-like creatures have been featured in the Missing Adventure Managra, the audio drama UNIT: Snake Head, the BBCi webcast Death Comes to Time, the short story The Feast of the Stone (featuring an alternate Ninth Doctor), the Bernice Summerfield anthology The Vampire Curse, and the Torchwood website.

Vampires also featured in the Big Finish Doctor Who 40th anniversary story Zagreus. Here an account is given that the Vampires originally fed on mindless creatures they bred themselves, until the Time Lords attacking them forced them to feed on sentient species. It is also claimed here that Rassilon developed regeneration from the Vampires.

Vanir

Main article: Terminus

Vardan

Main article: The Invasion of Time

Varga plant

Template:Doctor Who race The Varga plants (sometimes Vaarga) appeared in the First Doctor episode "Mission to the Unknown" and the serial The Daleks' Master Plan, which were essentially a prologue and main epic respectively. They were created by Terry Nation.

Varga Plants grew naturally on the Daleks' homeworld, Skaro, and when the Daleks set up a base on the planet Kembel they brought some Varga plants with them to act as sentries in the jungle surrounding their base. They were suited to this as they could move around freely by dragging themselves along with their roots.

Varga plants resemble cacti; they are covered in fur and thorns. Anyone pricked by a Varga thorn will be consumed by the urge to kill, while simultaneously becoming a Varga plant themself. This grisly fate befell astronauts Jeff Garvey and Gordon Lowery, and their commander, Marc Cory, was forced to kill them.

The plants later made an appearance in the Big Finish audio I, Davros: Purity. In this, it was revealed that the Varga plants were one of the oldest species on Skaro, but for most of their history had been immobile. Since the start of the Kaled-Thal war however, exposure to radiation and chemical weapons had caused them to rapidly evolve into a much deadlier form, capable of self-locomotion. It was this discovery that caused Davros to become interested in genetically engineering creatures in order to create weapons of war. In Dalek Empire II: Dalek War, they were found on a terraformed Jupiter where they infected earth troops. They appeared in City of the Daleks where after the Time War they infested the ruined Dalek city of Kaalann on Skaro but here their appearance was much different.

Varosian

Main article: Vengeance on Varos

Vashta Nerada

Main articles: Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead

Vashta Nerada (literally: the shadows that melt the flesh) are microscopic swarm creatures which, when present in a high enough concentration, are totally indistinguishable from shadows, and use this to their advantage in approaching and attacking prey. They are described as the "piranhas of the air", able to strip their victims to the bone in an instant in high enough densities. The Doctor says that almost every planet in the universe has some, including Earth, and claims that they can be seen as the specks of dust visible in unusually bright light. He states they are the reason most sentient creatures have an instinctual fear of the dark. On most planets, however, Vashta Nerada exist in relatively low concentrations, feeding primarily on carrion, with attacks on people being comparatively rare. In the episode "Silence in the Library", an unusually high concentration of Vashta Nerada had completely overrun the 51st-century "Library", resulting in the apparent death of everyone inside at the time.

Vashta Nerada normally live in forested areas, and reproduce by means of microscopic spores which can lie dormant in wood pulp. In the episode "Forest of the Dead", this is revealed to be the reason for their unusual prevalence in The Library, as it is made known that the books and The Library itself was constructed of wood from the Vashta Nerada's native forest feeding grounds. Individually, Vashta Nerada are non-sentient, but if a large enough concentration come together, they can form a group mind of human-level intelligence capable of communication.

The fourth episode of Doctor Who: The Adventure Games, "Shadows of the Vashta Nerada", features them as the leading villain.

Veil

Veils are able to step into the bodies of others, controlling them. They can also induce a trance by touching their victims. This can be done with their extremely long tongue. In the episode, Prisoner of the Judoon, Androvax, the last Veil, was a fugitive responsible for destroying twelve planets, and was pursued by the Judoon after the Judoon prison ship containing him crashed on Earth. He then returned on the episode The Vault of Secrets, seeking help from Sarah Jane, Clyde and Rani due to the fact that he was ill and wanted to return to his own kind. Androvax was successful in awakening the survivors of the Veils as he searches for a new world for them to reside in.

Venom grub

Main article: The Web Planet

Venusian

Venusians are inhabitants of the planet Venus, the closest planet to Earth. They had large feet, and six arms. The Third Doctor often employed a form of Venusian martial art (called Venusian aikido or Venusian karate) and sang Venusian lullabies (to the tune of God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen). Venusian aikido is allegedly very hard for two-armed beings to learn. Its use appeared in the serials Inferno, Day of the Daleks, and others. The Seventh Doctor favored a more subtle version which involved applying a single finger, seen in Survival. The Fourth Doctor revealed to Davros in Genesis of the Daleks that a battle between the Venusians and the Daleks "in the Space Year 17,000" was ended by the intervention of a group of battleships from the planet Hyperon. Although Venus today is utterly devoid of life, the Virgin Missing Adventures novel Venusian Lullaby shows Venus to have been inhabited billions of years ago, before the surface became too hot to support life.

Veritas

The Veritas are an ancient race nearly extinct with only three survivors. For centuries they have hunted down criminals throughout the universe, finding all guilty. The Veritas are described as humanoid, very tall, a surround by a faint green halo, with no hair and skin pale and smooth as alabaster and wear robes than hand down to their feet.

Their planet had temples, towers, parks and a green moon, the race dies when the three Veritas that survived wanted to buy a power source from another race to power their planet but it turned out to be a energy virus that consumed the planet destroying all life. The temple protected the three survivors, the race had no concept of deceit not once had their people lied. Their world was destroyed by a single lie and they swore to atone for their mistake by seeking out deciphers.

The race first appears in The Sarah Jane Adventures audio story Judgement Day they put Sarah Jane on trial for keeping the truth about aliens from the people of Earth.

Vervoid

Main article: Terror of the Vervoids

Artificially created plant-based humanoids who possess problem-solving intelligence and the power of speech; they were intended to perform tasks usually carried out by robots, but for a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately they instead decided to eradicate all of 'animalkind'. Vervoids had about the size and strength of humans, but were covered in leaves which provided them with energy through photosynthesis. They possessed thorns so poisonous they could kill a human on contact, and could produce copious amounts of methane-based swamp gas.

Vespiform

Main article: The Unicorn and the Wasp

The Vespiform are an insectoid species resembling giant wasps, born en masse in hives in the Silfrax Galaxy. Each possesses the ability to morph into other species. It also has the ability to breed with other species, including humans, to produce offspring. The Monster Files feature establishes them as an ancient race and that they have fought the Quark rebels.

Vespiform have a telepathic connection to objects called firestones, which contains part of their mind. Like Earth's wasps, the Vespiform are vulnerable to water. A Vespiform-human hybrid can live a normal life as a human until a burst of intense emotion awakens its alien biology. When the Vespiform morphs into another species it emits a purple light.

In "The Unicorn and the Wasp", a Vespiform appears and goes on a killing spree in the style of Agatha Christie's murder mystery books. Eventually it turns out the reason for Vespiform's killings was due to his firestone in the possession of rich Lady Eddison while reading Christie's novels. Furthermore, the Vespiform is revealed to be Lady Eddison's illegitimate son: Reverend Golightly. In the end, trying to get the firestone back, the Vespiform dies chasing after the item when Donna Noble throws it into a lake.

Vinvocci

Main article: The End of Time

The Vinvocci are a race of spiky green aliens who first appeared in The End of Time. A pair of Vinvocci came to Earth as part of a salvage operation to recover Vinvocci technology—a medical device for healing entire planets, which Joshua Naismith named the "Immortality Gate". They possess disguise technology referred to by the Doctor as a Shimmer. When the Doctor notes a similarity to Bannakaffalatta from Voyage of the Damned, noting the distinction that "he was small, and red", the Vinvocci are quick to differentiate themselves from the Zocci; both races may be at odds with each, explaining the response. They also find it racist when someone calls them catcti.

Viperox

Main article: Dreamland (Doctor Who)

Insectoid creatures that attempted to destroy Earth in 1958, in the Dry Springs of Nevada.

Virus

Main article: The Invisible Enemy (Doctor Who)

Visian

Main article: The Daleks' Master Plan

Visians are invisible creatures indigenous to the planet Mira. They are completely invisible, detectable only by their footprints and the sounds they make while moving through the jungle. The Doctor states that they are 8 feet tall and extremely hostile, evidenced by the fact that they attack both the Doctor's party and the Daleks indiscriminately.

Viyrans

The Viyrans are an elusive race of aliens heard in Big Finish Productions audio stories. They originate from a distant galaxy that waged a huge war using a wide variety of powerful technologically advanced biological weapons. A final peace agreement was reached and the biological weapons were gathered together at the Amethyst Viral Containment Station with the intention of destroying them. But then there was an incident involving the Sixth Doctor and the Daleks and all of the dangerous virus weaponry was spread throughout the universe, landing on various worlds and causing havoc.

The Viyrans come from that distant galaxy. Their job is to seek out all the stray viruses, neutralise them and cure any victims, if possible. They also feel it's their duty to make sure no one finds out anything about any of this, in case someone of low morals tries to track down some of these viruses themselves.

They have no real spoken language, but communicate psychically or through hand motions or sometimes by trying to replicate an individual's voice. They can also time travel. What they actually look like is a mystery, but they are humanoid in shape, always appearing in a white type of hazmat suit. When they find an infected location, they block off the area and work in secret, never letting anyone know they were there, before, during or after. They collect all the victims in flying glass coffins and attempt to cure them. If the infected individuals can be cured, they are returned and their memories of the events are erased. If not, they are destroyed.

The first appearance of The Viyrans was in a short story called No One Died from the 2007 Doctor Who Storybook, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler. Their first appearance in an audio story was Mission of the Viyrans with the Fifth Doctor and Peri Brown. The viral explosion is witnessed in Patient Zero. In Blue Forgotten Planet it is revealed that Charley Pollard is employed by the Viyrans after they cure a virus she contracted.

Although they did not appear themselves, their engineered viruses were featured in Urgent Calls, Urban Myths and The Wishing Beast & The Vanity Box. These one part stories (and Mission of the Viyrans) were listed in their booklets as being part of the "Virus Strand" arc. Some of the viruses they've tried to neutralise include a virus that can destroy the minds of an entire planet (No One Died), a particle that can induce beneficial coincidences for communications devices (Urgent Calls), an exaggerating frenzy illness (Urban Myths), a living wish-granting device (The Wishing Beast & The Vanity Box) and a rapidly spreading contagion that crudely distorts DNA, slowly killing its victims (Mission of the Viyrans).

The Viyrans are mentioned in the audio book The White Wolf, when Ben remarks that the Viyrans could have helped them get home.

Vogan

Main article: Revenge of the Cybermen

Vondrax

A race known as the Vondrax appear in the novel Trace Memory by David Llewellyn. According to Jack Harkness, the Vondrax are "said to be one of the oldest sentient lifeforms in the universe", and feed on tachyon radiation. They are capable of time travel, and frequently change shape. In Trace Memory they adopt a humanoid form, wearing suits and bowler hats, and carrying umbrellas. The character of Torchwood agent Valentine says that "in Japan they (the Vondrax) were said to resemble Samurai. In Egypt they came like gods." The Vondrax are able to kill their victims by simply looking at them, a technique that only fails to work on Jack, and in fact seems to have the reverse effect, killing the Vondrax itself.

Voord

Main article: The Keys of Marinus

Vortisaur

Vortisaurs are fictional creatures from the Eighth Doctor series of Doctor Who audio plays by Big Finish. Much like the Reapers of the TV series, Vortisaurs are a species of time-sensitive flying reptiles with cosmetic similarities to pterosaurs. They live exclusively in the space-time vortex, the dimension which time machines like the Doctor's TARDIS pass through as they travel from point to point. Vortisaurs are drawn to the chronal distortions radiated by objects traversing the vortex, and occasionally scavenge from ships wrecked and lost in that environment. Their jaws are fixed with sharp teeth; on biting, beyond the physical wound, the chronal energies of the creature age the wound and the surrounding tissue by decades. The Doctor appears to have extensive training in the handling of Vortisaurs, referring to them as "bloodhounds" and showing a proficiency for handling of the beasts. On at least two occasions he offers anecdotes of his days as a youth, riding Vortisaurs bareback.

In Storm Warning, the Doctor encounters a flock of Vortisaurs scavenging from the hulk of a time ship; his efforts to drive them off, only result in his being attacked himself. Although he manages to retreat to 1930 France, materialising his TARDIS on board the Airship R101, he unknowingly tows one of the creatures along with him, a fact revealed when it begins to attack the airship crew. The Doctor and his new companion Charley use the Vortisaur as a ride to escape the crash of the airship. Charley takes a liking to the Vortisaur, naming it Ramsay after the then-Prime Minister James Ramsay MacDonald. After a few serials of failed domestication attempts, Ramsay is eventually released back into the vortex.

Later seasons of Eighth Doctor stories also include Vortisuars. No More Lies features bridled Vortisaurs ridden by marauding time warriors; again showing his affinity for the species, the Doctor at one point mounts one of these Vortisaurs, quickly giving it the name "Margaret". In The Book of Kells, the Doctor discovers that a Vortisaur has been pulled out of the space-time vortex like his own TARDIS, and turned into vellum by a group of monks. It is described as being indigo with stripes.

W

Water hag

A bio-organic race known only as water hags which grow their babies in men's throats because they need testosterone. They appear in the novel Something in the Water.

Waterhive

The Waterhive is the description given to an unnamed alien race from the New Series Adventures novel The Feast of the Drowned. They are composed of water and can take over the body of a drowned being. The body is thus preserved, although the eyes of their host will become "pearly", forcing glasses to be worn. They infiltrated the high ranks of the Navy in order to send sailors and their loved ones to their watery graves. Their plan was to use the living drowned as human incubators for their larvae, this failed when the Doctor reduced the hive to atoms.

Weeping Angels

Main article: Weeping Angels

Weevil

Main article: Weevil (Torchwood)

Werewolf

Main article: Werewolf

See also: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and Tooth and Claw

Whisper Men

Main article: The Name of the Doctor

The Whisper Men are faceless beings who serve the Great Intelligence. They dress in Victorian attire and speak in rhyming whispers. Their faces are blank and white except for a mouth full of sharp teeth, and their hands can phase through a person's chest and stop their hearts at will. When the Great Intelligence inhabits one of the Whisper Men, it takes the form of Walter Simeon. The Whisper Men all vanish from existence when the Great Intelligence willingly destroys itself by scattering itself throughout the Doctor's timeline at Trenzalore, the Doctor's final resting place.

Wirrn

Template:Doctor Who race The Wirrn are an insectoid race that made their debut in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story The Ark in Space. The name is sometimes spelled Wirrrn, which is a spelling originating from the novelisation of the story.

The Wirrn claim to have originated from Andromeda (whether they meant the galaxy, the constellation, or even a planet named "Andromeda" is unclear), but were driven into space by human settlers. They are slightly larger than humans, dark green and wasp-like in appearance, and live mostly in space, although their breeding colonies are terrestrial. Their bodies are a self-contained system, their lungs being able to recycle waste carbon dioxide and only needing to touch down occasionally on planetary bodies for food and oxygen. The Wirrn's life cycle involves laying their eggs in living hosts; the larvae emerge to consume the host, absorbing its memories and knowledge. A Wirrn larva is a green slug-like creature, varying in size from a few inches to 1 or 2 metres across. It can "infect" another organism through contact with a substance it excretes, mutating them into an adult Wirrn and connecting their consciousness to the hive mind.

In The Ark in Space, the Wirrn found Space Station Nerva in orbit around an Earth devastated centuries before by solar flares. The survivors had lain in suspended animation waiting for the planet to recover, but had overslept by several millennia. The Wirrn intended to use the sleepers as a food source and claim the empty Earth for their own, as both a means of survival and an act of revenge against the human race for taking their former territories. In the course of their plan, Noah, leader of Nerva, was infected and converted to their kind. However, Noah still retained "more than a vestige of human spirit", probably thanks to the encouragements of the Doctor, and led the Wirrn into Nerva's transport ship even though he knew it was rigged to explode. It did so, ending the Wirrn threat.

The Wirrn have also appeared in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Placebo Effect by Gary Russell, and in the audio play Wirrn: Race Memory, produced by BBV. Big Finish used them in the audio stories Wirrn Dawn with the Eighth Doctor and Wirrn Isle with the Sixth. A dead Wirrn appears briefly in television story The Stones of Blood.

X

Xeraphin

Template:Doctor Who race The Xeraphin were an ancient species encountered by the Fifth Doctor in the story Time-Flight by Peter Grimwade. 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.

Before fleeing Xeriphas and the Xeraphin, the Master took with him Kamelion, a Xeraphin war weapon with advanced shape-changing abilities dependent on the will of its controller. Kamelion was freed from the Master and joined the Doctor's TARDIS crew in The King's Demons.

Xeron

Main article: The Space Museum

Xylok

File:Sarah Jane Smith holds a Xylok (screencap).jpg

Sarah Jane Smith carefully holds a Xylok life form.

Main article: Mr Smith

Xyloks are a crystalline race that crashed into Earth as a meteorite about 60 million years ago. Consequently, the Xyloks that survived the crash were trapped beneath the surface of the Earth, regrowing over thousands of millennia.

After the eruption of mount Krakatoa in 1883, one of the Xyloks was found in the post-volcanic aftermath. It was eventually passed to Sarah Jane Smith by a geologist friend when she was researching volcanic activity, 18 months prior to the events of The Lost Boy. During her studies of the crystalline structure, she found that it could use her laptop to communicate. The Xylok agreed to help Sarah Jane protect Earth, and was integrated into the supercomputer Mr Smith, built by Sarah Jane under the instruction of the Xylok. Unbeknownst to Sarah Jane, this was a plot, in anticipation that it would one day be able to release the imprisoned Xylok race. Sarah Jane and her companions were able to thwart its intentions; as a result, Mr Smith was reprogrammed and became a benefit to the human race once again.

Y

Yend

The Yends were a humanoid species who mutated into a race of involuntary shape shifters. The Yend were originally a humanoid species on the planet Wengrol. Much of their science was focused on biology and they started to genetically modify themselves, perfecting organs and adding new parts. Unfortunately, the star Mortain arrived in their solar system, bathing the system in radiation. This radiation, combined with their genetic modifications, caused uncontrollable mutations in the entire species. They were unable to escape, since all the other planets of the system were also bathed in radiation. The scientists of the planet built massive lead buildings in the hope that they could find a cure.

Z

Zaralok

Main article: Doctor Who: The Adventure Games § Shadows of the Vashta Nerada

The Zaralok was a shark-like creature that prowled the waters around the flooded 23rd-century London, now little more than a network of underwater tunnels codenamed 'Poseidon'. When the Doctor and Amy land the TARDIS in Poseidon, the Zaralok immediately attacks, attempting to ram its way into the glass tunnels. While constantly having to evade the monster, the two slowly unravell the mystery of Poseidon, which has fallen under threat from not only the Zaralok, but also the Vashta Nerada and otherworldly radiation. They eventually discover that all the anomalies arrived at the city when the USS Eldridge, an American WWII-era ship which had vanished through a wormhole to another world hundreds of years ago, suddenly jumped back through into the sea several days ago. However, the ship became lodged in the wormhole and held it open, allowing the creatures and the radiation to seep through. The Doctor and Amy travel to the wreckage of the Eldridge and are able to close the wormhole; the Zaralok is seen being dragged back to its own world, while the other anomalies disappear with it. The name of the creature is probably derived from Žralok, a shark in Slovak or Czech language.

Zarbi

Template:Doctor Who race The Zarbi appeared in the 1965 First Doctor story The Web Planet written by Bill Strutton, 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 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 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.

Zocci

See also: The End of Time

The Zocci are a race of red diminutive spiked aliens. Voyage of the Damned featured a Zocci named Bannakaffalatta. His species was first named in The End of Time, where the Vinvocci are quick to differentiate themselves from the Zocci.

Zolfa-Thuran

Main article: Meglos

Zygon

Main article: Zygon

See also

• List of Doctor Who villains
• List of Doctor Who henchmen
• List of Doctor Who robots

External links

• The Bumper Book of Doctor Who Monsters, Villains & Alien Species
• Children of the Earth BBC Torchwood site