OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

DOCTOR WHO BIOGRAPHY

POSTED BY: ANONYMOUSPOSTER
UPDATED: Thursday, October 14, 2004 11:42
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Wednesday, October 13, 2004 11:18 AM

ANONYMOUSPOSTER


Real Name: Unknown

Identity/Class: Extra-dimensional (Earth-Who) extra temporal (Time Lord) extra-terrestrial (Gallifreyan).

Occupation: Interstellar interfering busybody, Time Lord
(occasionally) Scientific Advisor to the United Nations International Taskforce
(formerly) Scrutionary Archivist, Lord High President of Gallifrey, Restaurateur (fifth Doctor only), Hermit (sixth Doctor and Muldwych incarnations only), Speakeasy owner (seventh Doctor only).

Affiliations: Travelling companions: (former) Adric, Alison Cheney, Angela ?, Angus "Gus" Goodman, Anji Kapoor, Antimony, Avan "Frobisher" Tarklu, Barbara Wright, Ben Jackson, Catherine Broome, Charlotte "Charley" Pollard, Chris Cwej, Compassion, C'Rizz, Crystal ?, Doctor Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw, Doctor Evelyn Smythe, Dorothea "Dodo" Chaplet, Dorothy "Ace" McShane, Ellie Martin, Erimem, Fey "Feyde" Truscott-Sade, Fitz Kreiner (I - Father Kreiner), Fitz Kreiner (II - Kode), Grant Markham, Hex, Ian Chesterton, Isabelle "Izzy" Sinclair, James Robert "Jamie" McCrimmon, Jason ?, Jeremy Fitzoliver, Josephine "Jo" Grant, Kamelion, Katarina, K-9 Mark 1, K-9 Mark 2, K-9 Mark 3, Kroton, Leela, the Master, Melanie "Mel" Bush, Nyssa of Traken, Olla, Perpigillium "Peri" Brown, Polly Wright, Professor Bernice "Benny" Summerfield, Romanadvoratrelundar, Roslyn "Roz" Forester, Ruth Vollmer, Samantha "Sam" Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, Sara Kingdom, Sharon ?, Sir Justin, Ssard, Stacy Townsend, Steven Taylor, Surgeon-Lieutenant Harry Sullivan, Susan Foreman, Tegan Jovanka, Trix MacMillan, Vicki ?, Victoria Waterfield, Vislor Turlough, Will Chandler, Wolsey, Zeleekha, Zoe Herriot, Zog
(current) Rose Tyler;
(future) Anna ?, Guinevere ?, Iphegenia, Ria ?;
(intermittently) Scientific Advisor to UNIT
(member of) the Deca (Koschei [a.k.a. the Master], Ushas [a.k.a. the Rani], Drax, Mortimus [a.k.a the Meddling Monk], Magnus [a.k.a. the War Chief], the Doctor, Vansell, Rallon, Millennia, Jelpax), the Diogenes Club, the Time Lords of Gallifrey,
ally of Abslom Daak, Ancelyn, Brigadier Winifred Bambera, Brill, Chang Lee, Death's Head, Death's Head (Minion), Dr Grace Holloway, Garshak, God (of the People), Group Captain Ian "Chunky" Gilmore, Guy de Carnac, I.M. Foreman, the Intrusion Counter Measures Group, Iris Wildthyme, Irving Braxiatel, Kadaitu Lethbridge-Stewart, Keepsake, Kopyion Liall a Mahajetsu, Merlin, Professor Rachel Jensen, Sabalom Glitz, Shayde; library card holder for the Library of St John the Beheaded; (former) agent of the Eternal / God of Gallifrey known as Time, student of K'Anpo Rinpoche, owner of Pimms Shipping Company, head of the Tao Te Lung Hong Kong Triad.
(as the Other) former partner of Omega and Rassilon

Enemies: (only major foes or ones who have interacted with the Marvel Universe) Beep the Meep, Catavolcus, Chelonians, Cybermen, Daleks, Faction Paradox, Fenric, the Feratu, Gaunts, Gods of Ragnarok, Hob, Ice Warriors, Josiah W. Dogbolter, the Master, Melanicus, the Moderator, Mortimus, Nazis, Nimrod, the Rani, Rassilon, Sabbath, Silurians and Sea Devils, Sontarans, the Timewyrm, the Valeyard, the Wrekka (former) Death's Head

Known Relatives: Susan "Foreman" (grand-daughter), Miranda "Dawkins" (adopted daughter), Irving Braxiatel (brother), Patience (wife, deceased), Scarlette (wife), Iphegenia (future wife); Almund, Arkhew, Celesia, Chovor, DeRoosifa, Farg, Glospin, Innocet, Jobiska, Luton, Maljamin, Owis, Quences, Rynde, Salpash, Satthralope, Tulgel, 28 unnamed others (Cousins) Penelope (possible mother), Salyavin (possible father), the Other (genetic forebear), Pfifl and Laklis (Hroth foster parents, fifth Doctor on).

Aliases: (used often or for prolonged periods of his life) d3sigma x2, The Doctor, Doctor John Smith, Merlin, Muldwych, the Ripper, the Sandman, Theta Sigma, the Valeyard;
(applied to him by others) the Dark One, Doctor Who, Eighth Man Bound, the Evergreen Man, the Evil One, He Whose Name Dare Not Be Mentioned, the Ka Faraq Gatri, the Other, the Relic, the Saviour, Snail, Thete, Time's Champion, Wormhole; by the Chinese he is sometimes known as "Hu", "the tiger", for his courage, sometimes as "Hu", "the fox", for his cunning, but most commonly "xue" (pronounced hu), "he who tends to the sick."
(mistaken for, and didn't bother correcting) the Abbot of Amboise, Commander John Ballard, Doc Holliday, the Examiner, Maximillian Petullian, Meglos, Salamander, Sir Reginald Styles, Zeus;
(occasional / once off) Doctor Caligari, Doctor Galloway, Doctor Johann Schmidt, Doctor Jon Smythe, Doctor von Wer, the Great Wizard Qui Quae Quod, James Alistair Bowman, Lung Tau (The Dragon's Head), Mr Pendragon, the Savant, Zagreus

Base of Operations: the TARDIS
(previously) the House of Lungbarrow, Southern Gallifrey; the Capitol, Gallifrey; I.M.Foreman's Junkyard, 76 Totter's Lane, Shoreditch, London, Earth-Who, 1963; England, Earth-Who, 1970s/1980s (third incarnation, period of exile); Tempis Fugit Restuarant, planet Pella Satyrnis, c.63rd Century (fifth incarnation, stranded five years), Oliver Bainbridge Functional Stabilisation Centre, planet Ha'olam, late 22nd century (eighth incarnation, prisoner, 3 years); England, Earth-Who, 20th century (eighth incarnation, 100 year period of amnesia)
(intermittently) the House on Allen Street, Adisham, Kent, Earth-Who, various years
(in the future) Mount Kukoeuk, Ant'kyhon (a.k.a Earth-Who c.21,000 A.D.-22,000 A.D.), (Muldwych incarnation, 1,000 year long exile).

First Appearance: Television: An Unearthly Child, BBC1 (23rd November 1963);
Comics: The Klepton Parasites, TV Comic #674 (14th November 1964);
Marvel UK: The Iron Legion, Doctor Who Weekly #1 (17th October 1979)
Marvel US: The Iron Legion, Marvel Premiere #57 (December 1980)
First Interaction with Marvel Universe Character: The Neutron Knights, Doctor Who Monthly #60 (January 1982)

Powers/Abilities: As with other Gallifreyans, the Doctor is physically superior to normal humans in nearly ever respect, though not generally superhumanly so. He is slightly stronger than his appearance would suggest, has greater stamina and better than average agility. His senses are also slightly keener than a humans, and he is capable of noticing ripples in the patterns of time. He is capable of surviving without oxygen for short periods of time, and can even survive unprotected in the vacuum of space for several minutes. Among the more obvious physical differences between his body and that of a human is that he has two hearts. He is capable of healing most wounds given time, even regrowing severed appendages on occasion (although this can take weeks). If he suffers an injury so severe that he cannot survive then he is able to completely regenerate his body, taking on a entirely new form (based on examples of other Time Lords seen regenerating, even decapitation might not be fatal; severe injury to both hearts, however, would be). Doing so causes near fatal mental strain, and as a result he generally suffers a period of mental instability thereafter, which in the past has manifested as amnesia, mood swings, and even full blown psychotic episodes; in the end his mind settles down again, but in every instance his personality is altered by the experience. Perhaps due to the strain this imposes, Time Lords can only regenerate twelve times, allowing them a total of thirteen bodies.

The Doctor is moderately telepathic, another of his species' gifts. He cannot read minds, but is capable of communicating with other telepathic beings. Boosted by his TARDIS, this telepathy is able to act as an instant translator of virtually all spoken or written languages, a gift which is extended to those who travel with him; it is so effective that those using the gift are generally not even conscious of the fact that they shouldn't be able to understand the alien tongues they are listening to. Time Lords can recognise one another by their telepathic signature even when they have changed their appearances, unless one of them is deliberately masking who they are.

The Doctor's greatest ability is his intellect. He is vastly more intelligent than any human, with extensive knowledge of most sciences, and an extremely quick and adaptive mind. He is resistant to forms of mental coercion such as hypnosis, brainwashing, mind control or mind probes. Trips into his mindscape has shown that each of his earlier persona's still survives there, acting as keepers of their portions of his memories and aspects of his personality (the fifth incarnation is generally seen as the conscience of the later Doctors, for example). Future personalities have also seen to form in this mindscape, in preparation for impending regeneration - for example the Doctor's seventh persona is widely believed to have deliberately usurped the body and forced a regeneration after his sixth body suffered a minor head injury. Combined with their telepathic ability, some Time Lords can give these future forms a level of physical presence in the real world separate from their main body; the Doctor himself has demonstrated this ability on two occasions, once when he subconsciously created a poorly defined "Watcher" entity just prior to his fourth regeneration, and once when a distilled composite of all his evil and less noble traits broke loose and became the being known as the Valeyard. All incarnations of the Doctor have been seen to be skilled hypnotists too, and most have displayed a talent for disguise and mimicry.

The Doctor is a brilliant engineer, well known for his ability to build a device for any circumstances he encounters. If what he needs is not to hand he often jury-rigs temporary equipment to combat the evils he comes across. His most common tool (other than his TARDIS) is the sonic screwdriver, which can be adapted to a number of uses, most commonly to open locked doors of all varieties. It has also been seen to remotely detonate mines and swamp gas, to repel creatures with sensitive hearing, and even to remove screws. The Doctor stores a variety of useful objects in his pockets, which he has finally admitted have an extra dimension sewn into them, making them much bigger on the inside.

Each version of the Doctor has certain abilities and skills peculiar only to that regeneration. The third was a master of unarmed combat, in particular Venusian Aikido, a talent he achieved without any training. The seventh could disrupt the brain's electrons with a touch, allowing him to render people unconscious. The eighth has the ability to read the patterns of time, allowing him to pull out hints about a person's past or future from their timeline.

While the Doctor normally disdains physical violence, he has shown himself in the past to be a skilled swordsman (at least from his fourth incarnation on), having been trained by one of Cleopatra's guards. He is an expert with a crossbow (trained with William Tell), and even his first, elderly form was an able fighter, having learned wrestling from the Mountain Mauler of Montana.

History: (TV series and novels) When the universe was in it's infancy, one of the first civilisations arose on the planet Gallifrey. They were exceptionally long lived, naturally sensitive to the flow of time, and highly telepathic. For many long years the Gallifreyans were ruled by a matriarchal cult led by the Pythia, who ruled through superstition and magic. Gradually an opposing faction arose which embraced science, conquering space and establishing a Gallifreyan Empire. Most notably a triumvirate of three young Gallifreyans came to the fore; the scientist Rassilon, the engineer Omega, and a third individual whose name has been lost to history, remembered only as The Other. Together these three pioneered the science of time travel. Foreseeing that her rule was ending, the 508th Pythia committed suicide, but not before using her vast telepathic powers to curse her people with sterility; no more children would be born of the womb on Gallifrey.

Rassilon turned his attention to this problem, and created vast Looms of genetic material, capable of decanting new Gallifreyans from the primordial soup within. His first few prototypes of the new "Loom-born" Gallifreyans would eventually become known as the Special Executive. The later Loom-born had lesser telepathic abilities and shorter life spans than their Womb-born counterparts, but could regenerate their forms. To keep the population under control, Rassilon organised the Gallifreyans into Houses, and decreed that each House could have only 45 "Cousins" at any one time.

The three friends' experiments into time travel continued, and they came to realise that a very special power source was required to allow development of stable time travel. They would need to capture a black hole. So they developed a stellar manipulator known as the Hand of Omega, able to blow up stars. Unfortunately sabotage by an outside agency meant that Omega's ship was sucked into the newly created void, and he would long be believed dead. But his sacrifice helped make the Gallifreyans Lords of Time.

Back on Gallifrey Rassilon had become a hero, and de facto ruler of the planet. Some nine years after the death of the Pythia, he ordered a massacre of her remaining followers who were hiding in her temple. Rassilon felt no pity for her acolytes as his wife had miscarried when the Pythia invoked her curse, but the Other could not stomach the new, totalitarian regime he could see taking over his world. He ordered that his sole surviving relative (and the last child who had been born before the curse), his grand-daughter Susan, be taken safely off-world, for he saw trouble in his planet's future, and then he committed suicide by throwing himself into the Looms, mixing his genetic material with what was already there.

The Other would be proven right; first Rassilon would lead a campaign against any alien powers he deemed might one day threaten his new Gallifrey, exterminating a number of species such as the Charon and the Great Vampires; where possible they would wipe them from history in what would later be termed the Time Wars. And secondly civil war came again to Gallifrey when the Loom-born, tired of being treated as second class citizens, rose up to exterminate their Womb-born fellows. Although Rassilon himself remained venerated as their "father", the rest of the Womb-born were eventually thought to be wiped out, although in truth a handful of them survived, hiding themselves amongst the rest of the population. Some of them survive to this day, millennia later.

Eventually the Time Lords adopted a policy of non-intervention. Forbidden to travel into their own past or future, a people who prided themselves on observing and recording all history ironically (or conveniently) forgot much of their own. Rassilon's era became known as the Old Time.

A little over one thousand years ago a new Cousin was born in the House of Lungbarrow. His true name is all but unpronounceable to anyone who isn't Gallifreyan, and besides, his relatives soon took to calling him by the derisive nicknames "Snail" and "Wormhole" because of the small indentation-like birth mark he had in the lower portion of his chest. Being Loom-borns, none of them recognised what another species would have said was a belly-button. Unknown to all, including the new born, the Other's genetic material had finally been fully restored to a new body. Snail never fitted in and had no real friends amongst his Cousins.

As was expected Snail went to the Academy, the graduates of whom would rise above being simple Gallifreyans to the thousand strong Time Lord elite, and there he gained a new name from his classmates: Theta Sigma, or Thete for short. Enrolled in the Prydonian Chapter, whose members were renowned for being devious, he encountered Irving Braxiatel, a kindred spirit a few classes above him, who also yearned for life beyond he stagnant atmosphere on unchanging Gallifrey. He also fell in with a group of the brightest students who called themselves the Deca. Many of this group would later leave Gallifrey and become renegades from their people. And it was while he was one of the Deca that Thete finally chose a name for himself, rather than letting others pick for him; he became known as the Doctor.

Knowing that the head of his House, Quences, had ambitions of high office for him, the Doctor deliberately scraped a minimum pass mark at the Academy. Angered, Quences disowned the Doctor, and without waiting for permission to do so, had the family Loom decant a new Cousin to replace him. The Doctor informed the head of the Prydonian Chapter of this breach of the rules, and then decided that the time was right to leave his homeworld. Stealing a TARDIS from the repair bays (as the rest were too well guarded), he departed Gallifrey unaware that his House had been excommunicated for creating a new Cousin, their names struck off all records and all his Cousins buried alive in the House for their crime. They would remain there for hundreds of years.

The Doctor soon discovered he had a stowaway in his new TARDIS. The Hand of Omega, which had been in storage for many years since its last use, had recognised in the Doctor the pattern of one of its makers, and followed him on board. It overrode the safeguards that prevented travel into Gallifrey's past, taking the Doctor back to the Old Time. There he soon encountered a young girl living on the streets. Susan, the Other's grand-daughter, had not made it off-planet after all; the instant she and the Doctor met they recognised a connection between them, and when Susan called him "Grandfather" somehow the Doctor knew she was correct no matter how much it defied logic.

Together they set off on journeys across the breadth of the universe, until Susan decided she wanted to try living as a proper teenager for a while. The two Gallifreyans stopped off in 1963 England, and Susan enrolled in a local school, Coal Hill. But her strange nature soon drew the attention of two of her teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, who followed her home one night to the junkyard where the TARDIS had landed. The Doctor had used the prolonged stay to arrange to hide the Hand of Omega on Earth, and possibly because of this and a fear that the teachers might draw the attention of the authorities to the Hand, he took off with them inside the ship, kidnapping them.

Time passed. Susan left him, and Ian and Barbara, having long since earned his trust, eventually returned home. Other companions joined him in his travels, and as he saw more of the universe, the Doctor increasingly encountered beings of evil he felt had to be opposed. After a while his body, old when he had left Gallifrey, finally gave in to time, and he experienced his first regeneration.

His new body had a tendency to act the fool while quietly manipulating events behind the scenes. He continued his campaign against evil across the galaxy, and more companions came and went. Finally he faced a problem that he could not deal with alone, and reluctantly called on the help of the Time Lords. They assisted him, but then put him on trial for breaking their laws on non-interference. The Doctor argued that there were some evils that had to be fought. In the end he won a partial victory. The Time Lords exiled him to a single planet and a single era, but it was his favourite world, Earth, and the era had been chosen because it was a period when the planet would face regular threats from alien incursions. They also forced another regeneration on him.

The new incarnation of the Doctor arrived shortly after man had started to travel into space, drawing the attention of other races. He agreed to help UNIT, a United Nations taskforce whose remit was to combat alien threats, and worked to repair his TARDIS and beat his exile. After a couple of years his opportunity came when Omega returned, angry at the Time Lords for abandoning him. Unable to deal with the threat themselves, the Time Lords brought together all three versions of the Doctor to battle Omega. His success bought him his freedom; the Time Lords restored his ability to travel in time and space.

Eventually the third Doctor died too, and a fourth version was born, consumed with a wanderlust that was likely a reaction to his previous self's period of enforced stability. He finally returned home, only to be accused of murdering the President of the High Council. In order to prevent his own execution he utilized a little remembered law and declared his intention to stand for the post himself; until the election was over he was protected by legislation put in place to prevent tyrants from murdering their rivals. But the killer turned out to be the other Presidential candidate, who died while trying to eliminate the Doctor. As the only surviving candidate, the Doctor won by default. Elected to the highest post in Gallifrey, the Doctor did the only thing he could; he ran. But even though he had deserted the post, the title remained his, as the Gallifreyans had no rules to cover this kind of eventuality.

It was towards the end of this long lived fourth incarnation's time that the Doctor had his first recorded encounter with someone from the Marvel Megaverse.

(Doctor Who Monthly #60) The Doctor was surprised when the TARDIS materialised without him setting the co-ordinates. He emerged to discover an unusual looking man who claimed he had summoned the ship with the powers of his mind to help in the hour of Earth's greatest need. They were in the far future, inside the last surviving stronghold of the light against the barbarian forces of Catavolcus. The castle would soon fall to the enemy, but the old man, who was subsequently called Merlin by one of the defenders, wanted to use the Doctor's TARDIS to evacuate the survivors before a nuclear device he had activated destroyed everything. Having armed the weapon, the two fled back to the time ship as Catavolcus' Neutron Knights pierced the castle wall. The Doctor hurried the retreating defenders into his ship, and they departed seconds before the castle and the attackers were vapourised. The Time Lord set the controls to take his passengers to a safe disembarkation spot, and then passed out. He awoke lying outside the TARDIS in some quiet woods, unsure if what he remembered was real or just a dream. But when he entered his ship, he was met by a vision of Merlin, who informed him that they would meet again, "in some distant time, in some other form."

(TV series and novels) Shortly after this the fourth Doctor faced his old enemy the Master once more, and was killed when he fell from the top of a radio telescope. He regenerated again, taking on his youngest looking form to date.

(bts) Following many adventures the Doctor received a mysterious message from the Time Lords. At their behest, he dropped off his travelling companions, and checked into a bed and breakfast in the little English town of Stockbridge.

(Doctor Who Monthly #61) The Doctor was taking part in a local cricket match when a wave of temporal distortions started, mixing things from different time periods. The Doctor was about to bat, awaiting the bowler's throw, when the cricket ball was swapped for a grenade from the 1940's, which blew apart the wickets. Gunfire then drew the Doctor, a policeman and the other cricketers to a nearby lane, where a local man had discharged a shotgun to drive off attackers wielding swords. When the constable investigated the adjoining woods, he was attacked by a Roman legionary, who then turned on the Doctor. The Doctor deflected the blow with his cricket bat, and the man with the shotgun fired on the Roman, who vanished. Slipping away, the Doctor headed to the spot where he had hidden the TARDIS to check its instruments. Scanning the news channels confirmed that the effect was not localised, so the Doctor decided to collect his belongings from his lodgings and then try to track down the cause. But as he left the TARDIS he was attacked by a knight on horseback.

(Doctor Who Monthly #62) The Doctor dodged the charge, and the knight was unhorsed when his lance smashed against the TARDIS. The Doctor brought the unconscious man inside the TARDIS, and was in the process of removing his armour to check for injuries when he revived. The knight introduced himself as Sir Justin, and explained that he was snatched from the middle of a joust only to reappear bearing down on the Doctor. The Time Lord stated he would return Justin to his own time, but first he needed to deal with the cause of the temporal anomalies. Foreseeing a chance to perform great deeds, Justin happily agreed to accompany the Doctor. They travelled back to Gallifrey, were the Doctor still held the position of President. Once there the Doctor connected himself to the Matrix, a gigantic computer network containing the preserved memories of all the dead Time Lords, hoping it would help him deduce what was happening. As he did this, a strange shadow man materialised next to the TARDIS and entered the craft. Meanwhile the Doctor's virtual self found himself confronted by representations of Rassilon and two other great Time Lords. They were holding council with other "High Evolutionaries" from the Althrace system and with Merlin the Wise of Earth.

(Doctor Who Monthly #63) Merlin informed the Doctor that the being behind the time distortions was the demon Melanicus, a foe he banished from this plane of existence a thousand years ago. Melanicus had hijacked a device known as the Event Synthesiser which regulated the flow of time. Rassilon charged the Doctor with finding Melanicus and restoring the Synthesiser to its proper function. Returning to the real world, Justin and the Doctor made their way back to the TARDIS to begin their quest. Before they could take off however a beam penetrated Gallifrey's defenses and deposited an assassin inside the ship. As time slowed down for the Doctor and Justin, effectively paralysing them, the shadow man who breached the TARDIS earlier materialised behind the Time Lord and shot the assassin before he could carry out his deadly mission.

Released from the grip of the beam, the TARDIS was sent hurtling into the void by the beings in the Matrix, penetrating the domain of Melanicus. In a place where chaos and insanity reigned they initially found that the ship had materialised floating in a gigantic bathtub alongside a huge toy duck, before it next materialised inside a Hall of Mirrors. The Doctor and Justin emerged into the fairground beyond, where the Doctor spotted someone who looked like his old companion Zoe Herriot. He gave chase, following her into the Ghost Train. Convinced the girl might have an idea as to what was happening in this bizarre world, the Doctor jumped into one of the cars and continued his pursuit, unaware that the shadow man was sitting just behind him. The car proved to be on a rollercoaster track, taking the Doctor rapidly through an entrance marked "Door to Hell". On the other side they were surrounded by flames, and the Doctor realised they were heading straight towards the giant form of the demon Melanicus.

(Doctor Who Monthly #64) The Doctor was unsure as to whether or not the image before him was real. Meanwhile, back in the Matrix, the three Time Lords he encountered earlier at the council meeting decided to raise the manifestation level of their other agent. Suddenly the shadow man who had been dogging the Doctor's footsteps made his presence known, explaining that what the Doctor was facing was a vibratory illusion created by the Synthesiser, indistinguishable from the real thing and just as deadly. However the false Melanicus was no match for the shadow man's gun, and with it's destruction the Ghost Train car exited the fake hell. Seconds later it reached the end of the track, dropping the Doctor and his saviour from a great height.

Sir Justin had experienced his own worries since the Doctor rushed off, being attacked by a number of armoured men. He retreated into the Hall of Mirrors. At the same time the Doctor awakened, having been stunned by his impact on the ground. The shadow man at first appeared to have vanished, but in fact was hiding within the Doctor's own shadow. The Time Lord examined the room he was in, and accidentally knocked into a coffin laid out behind him. This drew the attention of the coffin's resident, a stereotypical vampiric count. Unimpressed by the Doctor's observation that "you represent a strictly mythical figure drawn largely from a work of Victorian fiction", the count advanced threateningly. But Justin spotted the Doctor being threatened through one of the mirrors in the Hall he was in, and smashed his way through to his ally. He drove the vampire off using the hilt of his sword as a cross, and the two friends rushed back into the TARDIS. Aware that he needed to follow the logic of the weird dimension they were in, the Doctor enquired of Justin as to exactly how many mirrors the knight had been forced to break to save him. Informed that it was four, the Doctor calculated as they take off that they were in for twenty-eight years of bad luck.

(Doctor Who Monthly #65) To avoid the bad luck, the Doctor slipped the TARDIS sideways into another dimension. Twenty-four hours passed for those inside, while outside twenty-eight years went by. During this time Melanicus caused over a thousand years of war to erupt across a thousand planets, with time zones mixing combatants wildly: the Millennium Wars. On Gallifrey in the Matrix Merlin consulted with the other High Evolutionaries. As yet Melanicus' limited understanding of the Event Synthesiser had restricted his damage to only a single dimension, but they feared he might discover how to spread the damage across a multitude of dimensions. If the Doctor could not locate the Synthesiser then the entire cosmos was threatened.

Back in the TARDIS the Doctor decided they must enter the maelstrom Melanicus had created and land as near to the Synthesiser as possible. The problem was that they had no way of knowing where that was at any given moment. A voice pointed out that it's position should be easy to calculate so long as you tooke into account the size of the Synthesiser and the fact that it didn't move; rather everything else moved in relation to it. The voice proved to be that of the shadow man, who introduced himself as Shayde. He explained that he was a mental construct who served the Matrix lords, and was sent to help the Doctor on his mission. While he explained this, the TARDIS picked up a reading, and when the Doctor checked the scanner he was greeted by an extraordinary sight - a crystalline craft composed of pure energy. The craft proved to belong to the Lords of Althrace, one of the groups of High Evolutionaries, who transported the travellers to Althrace, a set of joined planets spinning in the middle of a White Hole.

(Doctor Who Monthly #66) There the Lords explained the origins of Melanicus, informing the Doctor that the demon had been a native of Althrace. Fleeing to another dimension after an aborted attempt to conquer his home system, he managed to make contact with Catavolcus, then a third century despot. Catavolcus gave Melanicus access to another dimension, Earth's, and in return was given great power and the ability to traverse time. If Merlin had not intervened they would have conquered the Earth. Merlin banished Melanicus back to the dimension he had been hiding in, although Catavolcus remained free, roaming time and space and pillaging planets for their power...at least until he will one day be killed in the nuclear explosion the fourth Doctor nearly witnessed.

According to the Lords of Althrace, Melanicus had turned his full attention to the Earth. The Lords felt responsible, since it was they who first built the Event Synthesiser. Now they planned to unite the wills of all the High Evolutionaries across the galaxies, to stop time and allow the Doctor and Justin to face the villain.

(Doctor Who Monthly #67) With all time stopped the Doctor followed the co-ordinates he had now been given and landed the TARDIS on a devastated Earth. From the nearby ruins of a church, he and Justin could hear an organ playing. Inside they found the Event Synthesiser, and as the organist continued to play the ground around them erupted. Sir Justin splashed the face of the organist with a hat-full of Holy Water from the font, unmasking him as Melanicus. As the demon turned on his companion, the Doctor faced a fight of his own, when a cadaverous corpse rose from the ground and attempted to throttle him. Justin came to his rescue, but Melanicus had used the diversion to escape. The demon climbed the outside of the bell tower, only to find Shayde waiting for him at the top. The shadow being fired two precise shots, blinding the villain and causing him to plummet downwards. He saved himself by grabbing onto the edge of one of the windows as he fell, unaware that he was now visible to Justin and the Doctor. The young knight drew his sword and charged, smashing through the window to impale the beast on his weapon. A huge explosion of energy knocked the Doctor out, his last sight being the Event Synthesiser being commandeered by its rightful guardian. The Doctor awoke in the church, to find the damaged building whole once more. Justin was gone, and in his place the Doctor was dismayed to find only a statue in memory of his sacrifice. As the Doctor read the epitaph at its base and pondered who could have put it there, he was unaware of the spectre of Merlin standing behind him.

The Doctor's reverie was disturbed by a man in cricket gear who reminded the Doctor that it was his turn to bat, and he left the church, St Justinians, and returns to his game. His mind reeled from his recent experiences, and he noted that everything appeared the same as when things started, leaving him to wonder how much of it was real, or if it was all just a dream. Watching in the shadows at the edge of the green, Shayde was informed his mission was over, and he could return home to Gallifrey.

(other strips) The Doctor resumed his travels, eventually picking up a new companion in the form of American airman Angus "Gus" Goodman.

(Doctor Who Monthly #84) The TARDIS landed on the planet Celeste. Gus had finally decided to end his travels with the Doctor, who was now trying to get his companion back home. The Doctor told Gus that it might take a while, but he would get them there, and Gus replies that he knew this; he had faith in the TARDIS. As they wandered away from the ship a ragged figure called out a warning to them, telling them to hide or the "Gaunts" would get them. Seconds later they were caught in the spotlight of an airship, and gunfire shattered the ground around them. Armoured men (Gaunts) move towards them, and Gus and the Doctor ran, only for their escape to be blocked by a perimeter wall. Just as the Gaunts were about to gun them down, the earth gave way beneath the travellers, dropping them into a tunnel that someone had been trying to dig under the wall. The Gaunts blocked the tunnel by bulldozing rubble into it, leaving the two friends below only one choice - they had to find the other end if they want to get out.

(Doctor Who Magazine #86) Making their way along the tunnel, the Doctor and Gus witnessed Gaunts herding men in chains, the enslaved miners. Heading a different way, they were confronted by a giant war 'droid, the Wrekka, who opened fire on them. This noise provided the chained miners a distraction and they turned on their captors. The Doctor and Gus fled back past the point where the miners had just overpowered the Gaunts, closely followed by the Wrekka. As the robot filled the tunnels with tear gas, the Doctor responded to a miner's call for help by grabbing a dropped pistol and shooting off the man's chains. This slight delay gave the Wrekka time to catch up, and the Doctor was knocked out by a stun grenade. The Wrekka loaded the unconscious Time Lord over it's shoulder, and herded the captive Gus in front of it. The two men were taken to the office of the owner of the mines, Josiah W. Dogbolter, a humanoid frog, where they were interrogated by Hob, Dogbolter's right-hand robot. When the Doctor's answers failed to please Hob, the little robot ordered the Wrekka to behead Gus. Faced with this threat the Doctor admitted they had arrived in a time machine, a revelation that drew the personal interest of Dogbolter.

(Doctor Who Magazine #87) Seeing the business opportunities inherent in time travel, Dogbolter demanded to buy the TARDIS. The Doctor refused, but Hob insisted, stating that Dogbolter would pay whatever price the Doctor wants. Hating to seem inflexible, the Doctor acquiesced: he would sell the TARDIS to Dogbolter in return for half a pound...of frogspawn. Dogbolter's fury began to rise, but before it could erupt the wall of his office was demolished as the rebelling miners smashed a giant bulldozer into the side of the building. In the confusion the Doctor and Gus made good their escape. The TARDIS' departure was witnessed by one of Dogbolter's engineers, who passes on a description to his employer. Dogbolter, not ready to give up, ordered the bounty hunter known as The Moderator to track down the Time Lord.

The Moderator caught up with the travellers just as they finally reached Gus' home time on Earth. Gus was making his farewells to his friend when the armoured mercenary raced into sight and opened fire. Gus shoved the Doctor aside, saving his friend's life, but suffered fatal injuries in his stead. He fired his service revolver at their attacker, whose armour, designed to deflect particles from energy weapons, proved completely useless against primitive lead bullets. The Moderator went down, but Gus died at the Doctor's side. The enraged Time Lord picked up Gus' gun, turned to the wounded bounty hunter...and fired two shots into the killer's dislodged headpiece, whose stuck radio had been pouring out a Vera Lynn song throughout. He then took the injured Moderator into the TARDIS and dropped the man off on the nearest planet capable of giving the alien medical treatment.

(bts) The Doctor returned to Stockbridge and collected the travelling companions he left behind when the Time Lords originally asked him to wait there. Unsurprisingly he failed to tell them about just how long he had really been gone, or the fact that he picked up two new travelling companions during that time, both of whom died whilst accompanying him. While other things distracted him from his hunt for the employer of the Moderator, he did not forget his desire to find out who was behind the death of his friend. He merely puts it on hold.

(TV series and novels) The Doctor continued his travels. Eventually he and his companion of the time, Peri, were exposed to a deadly poison. Only managing to get enough antidote for one of them, the Doctor, refusing to lose another friend, administered the cure to Peri, then regenerated. His new form was more brash and bombastic than the previous. After a shaky start he and Peri became firm friends.

(bts, comics) Peri decided to take a break from the Doctor, and he returned her to modern day New York. Alone again, he turned his attention to finding out who was behind the Moderator.

(Doctor Who Magazine #88) The Doctor was on a sleazy alien world tracking down information on the Moderator. Deciding that he finally had enough information to confirm that it was Dogbolter who sent the bounty hunter after him, the Doctor returned to his ship, unaware that he had picked up a tail: a shapeshifting Whifferdill detective named Avan Tarklu was following him, hoping to claim the price on his head. Reaching the TARDIS, the Doctor was attacked by two assassins, also after the money. The Doctor managed to defeat one of them, but the second pulled a gun. Tarklu, unwilling to let someone else get the reward, knocked out the gunman, although in the darkness the Doctor failed to see what happened. Still unaware of the presence of the shapeshifter, the Doctor entered his ship and set the co-ordinates for Dogbolter's base on Venus, only to be caught by surprise when Tarklu revealed himself.

(Doctor Who Magazine #89) The Whifferdill demanded to be taken to Venus, which the Doctor pointed out was his destination anyway. But the Time Lord was still astonished to discover that he was to be turned in for the reward money, as Tarklu revealed how much his captive was worth to Dogbolter. A short while later the TARDIS landed on Venus atop Dogbolter's corporate headquarters. A note was dispatched from inside the craft which made it's way to Hob, who read it to his master. The note stated that the bounty-hunter was willing to deliver the Doctor in return for the reward money. Dogbolter agreed, eager for revenge (by this stage, acquiring the TARDIS had become secondary to dealing with its owner). The Doctor was ushered out of the TARDIS by a bizarre figure in a heavy trenchcoat, beard and low brimmed hat. The figure handed over his prisoner and took the money off of Hob. He then departed in the TARDIS, leaving his captive with the Gaunts. Much to the guards surprise the Doctor almost immediately vanished, as he was really the shapeshifter Tarklu (and the man in the concealing clothes was the real Doctor). He and the Doctor had reached a deal whereby both got what they wanted; Tarklu the money and the Doctor a measure of payback against Dogbolter. The Doctor returned to collect his new ally, and was dismayed to find that the Whifferdill has decided to hang around for a while.

(Comic, TV series and novels) The Doctor continued to journey with his new friend (who adopted the name Frobisher), eventually collecting Peri. Time passed and Peri departed the Doctor's company more permanently.

(The Maltese Penguin) The Doctor had dropped Frobisher off at the Whifferdill's request, as the shapeshifter wanted to prove to himself he still had what it took to be a detective. Up to his beak in a case involving a mysterious item and with Dogbolter breathing down his neck, Frobisher repeatedly turned down help from his Time Lord friend, who kept popping back to try and convince his friend to resume their journeys together. Eventually, the case solved and Dogbolter thwarted once more, Frobisher rejoined the TARDIS crew.

(TV series and novels) Frobisher eventually left the Doctor. Much later he regenerated again, taking on his seventh form. This new incarnation at first seemed a clown in many respects, but it soon transpired that he was the most manipulative of all the Time Lord's personae, the one closest to being like the Other.

(Doctor Who Magazine #135) Travelling in the time vortex, the TARDIS collided with a large obstacle in it's path, forcing both to land. The bump attracted the attention of a Time Warden, who fled the second he saw what the TARDIS had hit. It was the giant form of the robot known as Death's Head, who picked up the Time Lord as if he were an insect when he emerged from within the vessel. The bounty hunter felt that the Doctor had gotten in his way, and when someone did that they either had to have something worth bargaining with him or die, yes? As he was about to pulverise the Doctor, the Time Lord located a Tissue Compression Eliminator he took from his old foe the Master. Although it was a nasty device which killed people by shrinking them to a fraction of their size, the Doctor decided that desperate situations called for desperate measures, and fired on Death's Head. The effect wasn't quite what he expected; Death's Head was shrunk down to human size, but not destroyed. As the much reduced robot pursued the fleeing Time Lord, the Time Warden again appeared, but departed once more when Death's Head made it clear that helping the Doctor would get him killed.

Having managed to get far enough ahead to stop for a breather, the Doctor realised he had something he could use to bargain with his mechanoid pursuer. He offered the time displaced robot the TARDIS and a demonstration on how to fly it. Death's Head agreed, but didn't trust the Doctor and insisted he accompanies the cyborg for the first trip. The Doctor programmed the ship for Earth in the year 8162, but when he activated the controls, it was only Death's Head who vanished. The Time Warden popped his head in the TARDIS door to see what happened, and the Doctor explained that he programmed the ship to lock on the nearest mechanical organism and send it through time. As the Time Warden departed, the Doctor wondered what Death's Head will do on Earth.

(Doctor Who Magazine #140, bts) The Doctor picked up a distress signal coming from the planet Ryos. He set down to help, and discovered the person who activated the signal, a medic, but was unable to prevent her falling into in the clutches of the hostile natives. Indeed, he himself was spotted by the locals, and forced to flee as they pursued him riding on the backs of their giant steeds.

(Doctor Who Magazine #140) Luckily for the Doctor a space salvage merchant called Keepsake also picked up the signal, and with more profit oriented and less noble aims in mind, had also set down. Keepsake spotted the Doctor running from his pursuers, and took off before the Doctor could get on board. But the Time Lord was close enough to get swept up by one of the salvage ship's landing legs, and managed to hang on until Keepsake (who couldn't gain altitude and exit the atmosphere with someone weighing down the landing strut) landed. Once on the ground again, the Doctor introduced himself and roped the reluctant pilot into his rescue mission. They flew over the alien village and dropped detonators which exploded harmlessly above the huts, distracting the locals. While the Doctor skipped off the ship and rushed inside one of the buildings to find the captive medic, the reluctant Keepsake held off the natives for a few minutes. A little later, having successfully accomplished what he set out to do, the Doctor had Keepsake drop him off by the TARDIS, leaving the salvage man to return the extremely pretty, extremely greatful, female medic to civilisation.

(Death's Head #8) The Doctor was taking part in a seaside pier pantomime playing the part of the jester when Death's Head materialised on the stage behind him. The mechanoid had been hired by Dogbolter to kill the Doctor and was using the ruthless businessman's new prototype time travel pack. Before he could fire on his target, a trap door beneath the robot dropped him into the basement, and the Doctor legged it. As Death's Head hunted through the theatre for his prey, the Doctor escaped disguised as the front end of a pantomime horse. He returnd to his TARDIS and set random co-ordinates, hoping that would lose his pursuer, but before he took off Death's Head materialised inside the ship. His arrival triggered the vessel's Geiger counter, leading the Doctor to conclude that the device on the bounty hunter's back was about to go nuclear. Death's Head realised that Dogbolter had set him up and forced the Doctor at gunpoint to take him back to Dogbolter's headquarters in the 82nd century. Once there he handed his gun over to the Doctor and told him to shoot off the straps that were holding the time pack / bomb to his back. That failed to work, but an attempt by the Doctor to pick the locks on the straps did. Death's Head threw the explosive device out of the TARDIS, and they departed just before it detonated. Dogbolter and Hob were caught in the blast. The Doctor dropped Death's Head off, and the mechanoid warned him they were quits now - next time he might kill the Time Lord. The Doctor, tired of the threats, gave him back his gun and informed DH he would need it, and all his other weapons, because the Doctor would not be easy to kill. Then he added that Death's Head was doomed, because the mechanoid was incapable of change. And with this he departed, leaving the robot wondering where the Doctor had deposited him. Unknown to the bounty hunter, he was atop Four's Freedom Plaza, the home of the Fantastic Four, on Earth-616. The Time Lord had dropped him off in another dimension.

(TV series, comics and novels) A short while later the Doctor retrieved his (then) current companion, Ace, whom he had left dinosaur-spotting in the Cretaceous.

(Doctor Who Magazine #173) The Doctor had been trying to make it to Maruthea, a space-port at the centre of the space-time vortex, in order to attend his friend Bonjaxx's birthday party. As he landed another TARDIS was departing, with the Doctor in that craft having just expelled some penguins who were looking for a friend of theirs. The Doctor caught sight of the dematerialising ship, although Ace did not, and he commented to his friend that anything could happen here, and frequently did. They entered Bonjaxx's bar, where the Doctor greeted his old friend. As the Daemon bar owner put the Doctor's gift on a pile of identical ones (probably given by other incarnations of the Time Lord, as they were all identically wrapped), he informed the Doctor that someone was looking for him earlier. The Doctor glanced around the bar, which was filled with a large number of familiar faces (see comments). He and Ace sat down at a table, and the Doctor mused about who would know he was present. Ace suggested it might be Death's Head, who was sitting at a nearby table counting his money. Death's Head raised his glass in acknowledgement of the Doctor. Then Ace wondered if it might be a couple who were approaching where she and the Doctor were sitting. The Doctor turned to look, and after a few seconds, recognition hit him, and he said hello to his future self. Meanwhile Ace introduced herself to the other Doctor's companion, Ria. Before things could progress further an extremely drunk Beep the Meep arrived, looking for revenge. A brawl erupted, dragging almost everyone in bar into it. Everyone except the Doctor, who continued their conversation untouched by the chaos around them. As the fight started to wind down, the Doctor retrieved their companions, thanked Bonjaxx for the party, and walked out. Each Doctor returned to their respective TARDIS, just as the fourth incarnation of the Doctor arrived at the party, materialising his ship amidst the wreckage of the bar.

(Incomplete Death's Head #12) Unbeknownst to most at the party they were being observed by Hob, now a monstrous behemoth obsessed with finding Dogbolter and getting revenge of Death's Head and the Doctor for exposing him to the nuclear explosion that hurtled him out of time and space. Also watching were Death's Head and his own future (Minion) incarnation, both trapped in a virtual reality. The later Death's Head managed to escape the virtual reality and return to his own body, which was nearby. Now that the (seventh) Doctor had departed Hob attacked the original Death's Head, but the newer Death's Head came to his rescue, and together they managed to destroy Hob. The seventh Doctor returns, wiped the original Death's Head memory of meeting his future counterpart, and explained that it was he who sent the new Death's Head and his partner Tuck to Maruthea, to thwart Hob. The newer Death's Head was annoyed at being manipulated but let it go under the circumstances. The Doctor offered to buy him and Tuck a drink, but the cyborg bounty hunter passed. As he got ready to depart, the Doctor extended an offer to Tuck to look him up if she ever wanted a new partner. The Doctor watched as the two of them left, then helped the original Deaths' Head back up and suggested he attend a party - such as the one in Bonjaxx's bar.

(TV series, comics, novels) The seventh incarnation of the Doctor finally met his end after a long series of adventures, and was reborn as a younger looking, less cynical individual. This eighth incarnation had a turbulent existence, experiencing a number of bouts of amnesia, having his history rewritten by the Faction Paradox, battling Rassilon, the founder of Time Lord society, and even destroying his own homeworld Gallifrey and virtually his entire species retroactively, so that they never existed. Eventually, in a manner as yet undescribed, he met his end, and regenerated once more.

(forthcoming new TV series) Details are hazy at this time about the Doctor's current travels. When last heard of was reportedly travelling with a human female called Ruth Tyler. Other than this, little is known.

Comments: Created by Sidney Newman and Donald Wilson. The nine incarnations of the Doctor have been played on television by William Hartnell (1st), Richard Hurndall (1st, in the 20th Anniversary special after Hartnell passed away), Patrick Troughton (2nd), Jon Pertwee (3rd), Tom Baker (4th), Peter Davison (5th), Colin Baker (6th), Sylvester McCoy (7th), Paul McGann (8th), and Christopher Eccleston (9th). Another "official ninth incarnation" was played by Richard E.Grant in an animated audio drama, "Scream of the Shalka", which was broadcast on the BBC website, but the advent of the new series has sadly had Grant's performance redesignated as being "Unbound" (Who terminology for an alternate universe Doctor) - however Grant's image remains at the top of this page until an official image becomes available for Eccleston. In other, BBC licensed productions, he's been played on stage by Trevor Martin and David Banks, and while not strictly the same character, Peter Cushing played Doctor Who twice in the cinema in the 1960's. He has also been played by a string of actors in a Comic Relief Charity Special - Rowan Atkinson (9th Doctor), Richard E. Grant (10th - this was prior to his online appearance), Jim Broadbent (11th), Hugh Grant (12th) and Joanna Lumley (13th). Actor and (new series) writer Mark Gatiss portrayed the Doctor in a number of short sketches during a Doctor Who themed evening on BBC 2 on November 13th 1999. The officially licensed audio plays produced by Big Finish have gone on to add another several actors to the role, releasing in the 40th Anniversary year a series of Unbound ("What If?" style) adventures, each one starring an alternate Doctor - the "new" Doctors are Geoffrey Bayldon (alternate version of the first or maybe second Doctor), David Warner (alternate third Doctor), David Collings (unspecified alternate incarnation) with Ian Brooker (his next incarnation), Sir Derek Jacobi (alternate first Doctor), Arabella Weir (alternate third Doctor) with cameo by Nick Briggs (alternate second Doctor). At present the BBC is in the early stages of returning the Doctor to regular television.

"The Doctor is an underachiever who never saw the point of exams, brought up on a planet that was basically a big university. He was a member of the social elite, but never saw the point of the rituals and social structures that kept that elite in power. He's an aristocrat who has rejected the comforts of his former life and the role that was expected of him. He has no real powers other than a keen intelligence and a lot of learning. He solves problems not through violence, but through wit and reason. No one can be The Doctor, he's more than human, but we can try to be like The Doctor - peaceful, intelligent, witty, reasonable, aware of what is truly important." - Lance Parkin, Doctor Who author

The Doctor's history above is, in the end, only a potted version. Firstly the character has been around for forty years now, with over 150 TV stories, even more officially licensed original novels, comic strips for most of that time, including spin-offs covering his enemies and travelling companions, over thirty official audio plays and so on; there is no way I can cover all of that in this profile. Nor should I, as this site is dedicated to the characters of the Marvel Universe, and covering the entire breadth and width of the Doctor's history is outwith the remit of this site. There are entire sites out there dedicated to doing just that, notably Outpost Gallifrey's Canon Guide, and Stripping Down, which covers the bulk of the Doctor's Marvel comic adventures. However an entry that just covered the Doctor's interaction with Marvel characters would not do the character justice; hopefully I've managed to get a reasonable balance.

Amongst Doctor Who fans there is much debate as to what is canon (beyond the original TV show), and much of the background to the character's origins which has been established in the novel's since the show left the air is ignored or refuted by them. If I did the same here, then I should also forget his comic book appearances, and then there would be no point in him having an entry in the Appendix. So, to those who ignore the Doctor's further adventures outside the medium of television, I have only one question: What are you doing reading this in the first place?

A common confusion that arises is that because the title of the TV show is "Doctor Who" that this is also the name of the lead character; this isn't the case. The name he uses is the Doctor, and the title of the show was chosen to reflect the mystery which originally existed as to the origins of the lead character. It should be noted that while the Doctor himself never uses the alias "Doctor Who", it has very occasionally been applied to him by others. The Doctor himself seems to be aware of the confusion his lack of a surname can cause, and has been known to answer the query "Doctor? Doctor who?" with a firm "Yes." He also once signed his name as Doctor W., and once employed the alias Doctor von Wer (which is German for Who).

As I explain in the history, Time Lords of the modern era are arranged into houses with 45 Cousins in each. But Irving Braxiatel is described as the Doctor's brother. How can this be? Brax isn't one of the Cousins, as all of them are accounted for in the same story that introduces the House of Lungbarrow. It could just be a term of affection, but the way it comes across, that doesn't seem right. More likely is that Braxiatel also shares some of the Other's genetic heritage (or has the genetic heritage of the Other's brother), and in the same way Susan and the Doctor recognised each other when they first met, so too did Braxiatel and the Doctor.

The Doctor will in a future incarnation become known as Merlin. We even know which incarnation (it's the one who also calls himself Muldwych) ,and what he looks like (right). The Merlin met by the fourth and fifth incarnations of the Doctor bears no real resemblance to Muldwych; he does however look exactly like one of the forms taken on by the Merlyn who gave Captain Britain his powers when that character shapeshifts in Daredevils #1. It should be noted however that this isn't a guarantee that the Doctor has met that Merlyn. While unlikely, it's conceivable that the Merlin of the Neutron Knights story might be another incarnation of the Doctor. The story which first tells us the Doctor will become Merlin also implies that he will regenerate while using this name. The Merlin of Neutron Knights could be the first incarnation of the Doctor to use the name, and Muldwych the second. Captain Britain's Merlyn could very easily copy his appearance if he so desired. Confused? That's what you get when you have two extremely manipulative individuals who change names and appearances on a regular basis and aren't beyond pinching other people's identities when it suits them. For my money though, the Merlin the fourth and fifth Doctor's met is probably the Marvel Universe's Merlyn.

Another thing worth noting is that the first time the Doctor met Death's Head, he dumped the cyborg in Earth 8162. That Earth contains Dogbolter, who is 1) a Earth-Who character, and 2) doesn't have access to interdimensional travel technology. So this would suggest that Earth 8162 is the future of Earth-Who, not of Earth-616. Taking this into account, the only time we have actually seen the Doctor in the Marvel Multiverse is when he drops Death's Head off after their second encounter, onto the top of Four's Freedom Plaza. And if the Merlin he met wasn't CB's Merlyn, then the only time we actually see him meeting Marvel Multiverse natives is at Bonjaxx's party, and the only ones he actually talks to are the Minion version of Death's Head, and Tuck (the original Death's Head isn't a native of that Multiverse, though he is a native of the Marvel Megaverse).
There is no definitive future for Earth-616, only potential or alternate futures.
A brief refresher on the Omniverse:

* Having now reviewed the concept of the Omniverse, you're now ready to understand this discussion. Earth 8162 was written by Marvel and should be considered part of the Megaverse, without question. Even though the Doctor is not owned by Marvel, the other concepts were created by them and are still Marvel's to use. Whether this happens to be the same reality of the Doctor or not is irrelevant.
Death's Head, the Freelance Peacekeeping Agent, is similarly complex, but he's native to part of the Marvel Megaverse, at least.
* None of the cosmic entities have been seen on Earth 8162, and it remains to be seen whether they exist or not in that reality. That is the criteria to determine whether Earth 8162 is part of the mainstream Multiverse or not.
* The fact that characters from the modern era are not referenced in 8162 is also irrelevant. There have only been, what, 20? 30? stories definitively involving this timeline (a few from Dr. Who, most of the first Death's Head series, and Dragon's Claws). The modern era would be well over 6100 years ago in the year 8162. How often do we see characters from before 4000BC in the mainstream comics? There are certainly plenty of instances; I'm just saying that it's not commonplace (meaning less frequently than every month at Marvel, which usually covers around 30 books).
* OK? I now return you to your regularly scheduled profile--Snood.

The other Doctor at Maruthea, from the seventh Doctor's future, is commonly known as the Nth Doctor. He is based on Nick Briggs, an actor who played the Doctor in a series of fan-produced, unofficial audio plays in the early 1980's. Nick has subsequently gone on to write and produce a number of the official audio plays, and played the incarnation of the Doctor prior to Arabella Weir's in one of the Unbound series of audio plays. Ria was played by Patricia Merrick, Liz Knight and finally Heather Barker in the original fan audio plays. Bonjaxx's party marks his first comic appearance, but not his last. During one of the eighth Doctor's comic strip appearances the Doctor appeared to suffer severe injury and regenerated into this version, apparently making him the Ninth incarnation. It was subsequently revealed that the regeneration was a ploy to draw an enemy out while they believed the Doctor was vulnerable in the period just after his transformation. The Doctor was fine, and the being who had regenerated was in fact a disguised Shayde. So while we know that this is a future version of the Doctor, we still don't know which one. Other future incarnations of the Doctor include his Merlin self, also known as Muldwych. At first described as having red hair, by the time we encounter Muldwych he has spent 1000 years exiled on a barren future Earth, and is now white haired and balding. A series of actors played the ninth through thirteenth Doctors (listed above) for the charity programme Comic Relief, but even the most die hard inclusionist doesn't tend to treat this story as canon - just fun. The last known future incarnation of the Doctor is the 42nd incarnation (so somehow he got round the limitations on how many regenerations he could have; hardly a surprise, he's the consummate rule-breaker). This Doctor turned up in the epilogue of one of the official novels, although the editors cut him out before it went to print (spoilsports). He's been happily married since his previous incarnation.

There is another version of the Doctor though as far as Marvel is concerned. In Power Man and Iron Fist #79 the heroic duo encounter a Professor Gamble, an eccentric time traveller who lives in a house that is bigger on the inside and which can go anywhere in time and space. He is an enemy of the Dredlox (Daleks), mechanical monsters who utter the fearful cry of "Incinerate!" (Exterminate) as they attack. Having completed his goal of opposing these metal fiends with the assistance of the two heroes, he departs, leaving them at a loss as to who or what he had really been. A later author brought Gamble back and explained his origin, which kind of defeated the point. Oh, and in case anyone still doubts the idea that Gamble was meant to be a homage to the Doctor, "A Gamble with Time" was the original name for the Doctor Who story which eventually became "City of Death", something the writers of PM&IF were well aware of.

Strictly speaking Bonjaxx's party on Maruthea should show up several times in the Doctor's history, as we see the leg of the departing sixth Doctor at the start of the story, and the fourth Doctor arrives at the end. But placing where in each of these incarnation's timelines this trip happened would be difficult, and frankly unimportant for this profile. The other individuals seen at the party in DWM#173, other than those mentioned in the history above, include: Captain UK and Captain Britain (or similarly dressed members of the Captain Britain Corps), a female Silurian from Doctor Who, a Draconian (probably Salander of the Star Tigers, as his teammate Abslom Daak is present), Bart Simpson, Shayde, Steel and Sapphire (from ITC television series Sapphire and Steel), Worf (ST:TNG), an Ogron (Doctor Who), a Werelok from Doctor Who strip Dogs of Doom (but not Brill, the Doctor's friend, because the number on his cowl is 4, not 3 as Brill's was), Axel Pressbutton (Warrior Magazine), Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer and leader of the Star Tigers (Doctor Who spin-off character), unknown person collapsed on the table, Doctor Asimoff (also from Doctor Who comic strips), the robotic Ticket Inspector from Doctor Who TV story "Greatest Show in the Galaxy", two Daleks in love, a Wrarth warrior (from Doctor Who strip "The Star Beast"), a Sontaran (from Doctor Who, various stories), The Freefall Warriors (guys with FF logo) - Machine-Head, Big Cat, Bruce and Cool Breeze, all from the Doctor Who strip "The Freefall Warriors"; the Melkur, from the Doctor Who story "Keeper of Traken"; a Ferengi from Star Trek; the Hulk, the demon Melanicus (or perhaps another of his species), a Quark robot from Doctor Who "The Dominators", the Silver Surfer and Adam Warlock, a pair of Indians with a flying fish (from Time Spirits, an Epic Comic); a Vervoid (Doctor Who: Trial of a Time Lord Parts 9-12); Giggles of the Cherubim; a Meep, possibly Beep the Meep, from Doctor Who strip "The Star Beast."; an Ice Warrior (from Doctor Who), probably Harma, another member of Daak' Star Tigers; The Destroyer (from Doctor Who story "Battlefield"), Jetsam (from Doctor Who comic strip "Junkyard Demon"), a cybernetic cannibal (from Doctor Who strip "End of the Line") ; Morbius (from Doctor Who story "Brian of Morbius"), the Master (original Roger Delgado Master); the Mekon (from Dan Dare); Catavolcus, leader of the Neutron Knights; a robot member of Alien Guard, from the Doctor Who Strip "The Iron Legion"; an Alpha Centauri alien from Doctor Who; the Cyber Controller from Doctor Who story "Tomb of the Cybermen"; a Yeti; Mercurius, the last of Abslom Daak's Star Tigers; a Sensorite; Vesuvius, oldest robot in the Roman Empire, from the Doctor Who strip "The Iron Legion"; the Kandyman from the Doctor Who story "The Happiness Patrol"; the Giant Robot K-1 from the Doctor Who story "Robot", one of the White Robots from the Doctor Who story "The Mind Robber"; a Chumblie from the Doctor Who story "Galaxy Four"; Emma Peel (of the Avengers TV series); Meltron, guardian of the Time Witch's dimension, from the Doctor Who strip "The Time Witch"; John Steed (also of the Avengers TV series); and a Wirrn, from the Doctor Who story "The Ark in Space". Whew! Anyone who wants to play spot the character using the above can check the scanned version of this story available on The Death's Head Diary site.

But it's not over there, as the framing story in the Incomplete Death's Head reprint of the above adds more. Per Degaton noted "Rocket Raccoon, the Hulk, Random, the Scarlet Witch, Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange, Namor, the Crazy Gang, Thor, Doctor Octopus, the Human Torch, the Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, Apocalypse, and Conan (who wears a "Crom Rules" hat). Due to the peculiar nature of Maruthea, we cannot say as to whether these were the Earth-616 versions of these characters, or even if they were, we cannot place their appearances chronologically." Most of these characters appear as part of the framing sequence in Incomplete Death's Head #11.

There were plans for the Doctor to meet with Doctor Strange, which would have marked his first real encounter with an Earth-616 character. However this idea was shelved as an editorial decision was made to no longer have the BBC character interact with the Marvel Universe. Which I find both a pity, and a little weird when you take the preceding paragraphs into account - the Doctor has only just brushed against the fringes of the Marvel Universe.

Per Degaton points out another meeting of the Doctor and the Marvel Megaverse (although still not Earth-616): "Something of interest, in the recent X-Men:Chaos Engine trilogy of prose novels, the author Steve Roman made extensive use of Roma, Otherworld, Saturnyne, and Captain U.K. Not only that, but he remembered to sneak in an implied appearance of the Doctor from Gallifrey! In chapter 2 of book of two of the Chaos Engine, Roma has a comical Scotsman working for her as a Chief Physician. In chapter 23 of book three, "a man well over six feet tall, with an enormous bush of brown curls that looked more like a party wig than natural hair", "dressed in a baggy gray suit and matching overcoat, and a wide-brimmed brown hat rested at a rakish angle on the back of his head" appears. He says to Captain U.K. "I make an exquisite cup of Darjeeling". When asked his identity, this figure says he is the Chief Physician. Saturnyne says he is not, because the Chief Physician is much shorter, has less hair, and speaks with a Scottish twang. The man with the big hair states "I'm just not the man I used to be....or will be......". At the end of chapter 25, the big-haired man in the floppy hat says "Would you care for a jelly baby"? Ahem...... Of course, the big hair and floppy hat refer to the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) while the short Scotsman refers to the seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy)."

He also mentions "Another oblique reference to the Doctor occurs in either Fantastic Four III#9 or III#27 (I think it was#9) The Doctor has almost certainly appeared in mainline MU. Somewhere about the place I have a Claremont FF (volume 3, the one where Manoli and Neal are filming a day in the life, also featuring Kay Cera but I can't remember the number or currently lay my hands on the book) where we find a phone-box shaped time travel machine, bigger inside, that Reed got from "that Doctor friend of his." If that ain't The Doctor, then who is it?" So maybe the Doctor knew where he was going and what he was doing when he dropped Death's Head off atop Four's Freedom Plaza.

The Doctor also appears to have interacted with Professor Alistaire Stuart of the Weird Happenings Organisation (WHO). Per Degaton notes that "Alistaire Stuart of WHO mentions meeting someone from Gallifrey in Excalibur I#25. He explicitly calls it Gallifrey. Alistaire Stuart of WHO recalls having met somebody from Gallifrey (clearly the Doctor), during the CrossTime Saga where Excalibur travelled through parallel dimensions (much like the Sliders) and discussing trans-temporal relativity dynamics with him. The Doctor left him a torch-like device which can generate trans-temporal anomalies with resulting energy fractures."

And finally, Per Degaton also brings up the following fact. "In Alf#38, Alf meets Doctor Whozonfirst, a Melmacian looking Fourth Doctor analog. Since Alf seems to have taken place on Earth-616 (the High Evolutionary's appearance in Alf Annual#1 is even included in his listing on the Marvel Chronology Project!) this may be of interest......"

The TARDIS

The TARDIS is the Doctor's space-time craft. The letters stand for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space", a name thought up by Susan, the Other's grand-daughter, back in the Old Time on Gallifrey. The Doctor's ship is an antiquated Type 40, which suffers from many malfunctions. Theoretically the Doctor can pilot it anywhere in time and space, although he isn't known for his accurate piloting most of the time. The Doctor shares a telepathic bond with his ship, and often refers to her as "Old Girl". He sometimes suspects his piloting problems are down to the semi-sentient ship ignoring his instructions and going where she feels like going.

The TARDIS comes equipped with a Chameleon Circuit, which should disguise the ship as something inconspicuous whenever it lands somewhere new. However the Chameleon Circuit broke just after the Doctor landed in 1963 London, leaving the ship in the space of a Police Telephone Box (used by constables to call for help in the days before portable radios and mobile phones); the Doctor has attempted to fix the circuit on occasion, but generally isn't too bothered by this particular fault. Like all TARDIS, the Doctor's draws power from a captive black hole kept on Gallifrey, the so-called Eye of Harmony. Should the ship's direct link (also called the Eye of Harmony) to this source be opened unshielded then the planet the TARDIS is on will be torn apart by the conflicting gravitational sources at the stroke of midnight (when the planet's native sun is on the exact opposite side of the planet from where the Eye is).

The interior of the ship is actually located in another dimension from the exterior, making the ship much bigger inside than the outer appearance would suggest. Because this outer appearance is merely a mathematical construct, a door to another universe, it is nearly invulnerable under normal circumstances, and the inside of the TARDIS can be disconnected from the exterior to prevent gravity or other outside forces from affecting the interior. The ship travels by dematerialising its outer shell from the universe it is in, and then reopening (rematerialising) a new exit at the point the pilot wishes to reach.

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Wednesday, October 13, 2004 12:21 PM

SIMONF


Why are you copying and pasting all these articles and trying to make it look these are your own?

The original article can be found here in case anyone else is wondering where it came from.

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/doctorwh.htm

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Wednesday, October 13, 2004 12:59 PM

ANONYMOUSPOSTER


Quote:

Originally posted by SimonF:
Why are you copying and pasting all these articles and trying to make it look these are your own?



SimonF, you misunderstand I'm not trying to claim this info is of my own creation. I'm simply posting these articles because I think they are interesting and I want other scifi fans to see them. I think a lot of people might find these articles really fascinating.

I am trying to be generous, you ungrateful ass!


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Wednesday, October 13, 2004 5:27 PM

GOJIRO


If you're trying to be generous, then generously cite your sources, you plagiarizing ass. I doubt the original authors of these pieces think you are so "generous."

gojiro

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Thursday, October 14, 2004 2:34 AM

UNCHARTEDOUTLAW


Now don't get me wrong, I love Dr. Who. Grew up on it! :) But doesn't this belong in the Other SF Forum because here...what does it really have to do with Firefly and how does posting his complex bio have anything to do with discussing it?

-Taylor

Uncharted Outlaw!

Haulin' goods from one end of creation to th' other. Keepin' my nose clean 'round the Alliance. Rockin' the "Riviera" (67-K62) hardcore!

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Thursday, October 14, 2004 2:44 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.


Quote:

Originally posted by AnonymousPoster:
Quote:

Originally posted by SimonF:
Why are you copying and pasting all these articles and trying to make it look these are your own?



SimonF, you misunderstand I'm not trying to claim this info is of my own creation. I'm simply posting these articles because I think they are interesting and I want other scifi fans to see them. I think a lot of people might find these articles really fascinating.

I am trying to be generous, you ungrateful ass!





First off AnonymousPoster, if it is not Firefly or Serenity related, your post does not belong in the General Firefly area. This needs to be moved to Other Sci Fi and hopefully Haken or a mod will move it there shortly.

Secondly, name calling is uncalled for and is not tolerated on this board. It will get your post sent to Troll Land. Refrain from name calling and profanity or I will see fit to alert Haken.


"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."


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Thursday, October 14, 2004 11:42 AM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES


Quote:

Originally posted by AnonymousPoster:
SimonF, you misunderstand I'm not trying to claim this info is of my own creation. I'm simply posting these articles because I think they are interesting and I want other scifi fans to see them. I think a lot of people might find these articles really fascinating.



AP - those that find the articles fascinating will either search them out or have already read them.

If you want to discuss the topics, try posting a shorter post of your own views, and see what people think.

'sides, one of the kings of the long (but original) posts lurks around here - check out some of Zoid's opusi (opuses? Opes? So very tired. Coffee isn't working)

"I threw up on your bed"

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