List of Doctor Who universe creatures and aliens facts for kids

This is a list of amazing creatures and aliens from the exciting universe of the long-running BBC science fiction TV show Doctor Who, and its spin-off shows: Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Class, K-9 and K-9 and Company. This list tells you about different alien groups and other cool fictional creatures, not just specific characters.

Alien Species: 0–9

The 456

Quick facts for kids The 456
Torchwood character
First appearance	"Children of Earth: Day Three" (2009)
Information
Home era	Unknown

The 456 were the main bad guys in the third series of Torchwood.

These aliens don't have a real name. The government of the United Kingdom made a secret deal with them in 1965. The 456 demanded twelve children in exchange for a cure to a dangerous virus on Earth. One child, Clement MacDonald, managed to escape. When asked for their name, they chose to be called "456" after the radio frequency they used to communicate.

They seem to prefer a very poisonous atmosphere. They don't look like humans; they have three heads that look like insects and they spew green slime when they are angry. Parts of the 456 were briefly seen in "Day Four." They had three heads with strong jaws and a body like a giant caterpillar.

When the 456 returned to Earth over forty years later, they demanded 10% of the world's children as a "gift." If humans refused, they threatened to destroy all life on Earth. To make sure humans agreed, the 456 spoke through every child on Earth before they arrived. The alien visitor had even connected itself to the bodies of human children. The 456 claimed these children felt no pain and lived longer than normal. The children looked old and changed, and they needed special masks to breathe.

The 456 were responsible for the death of Ianto Jones when they released a deadly virus. They were finally defeated when Jack Harkness used their own communication frequency against them, forcing them to leave Earth.

Alien Species: A

Abzorbaloff

Abzorbaloff
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Love & Monsters" (2006)
Created by	William Grantham
Information
Home world	Clom

These aliens are nicknamed "Abzorbaloffs." They can absorb any living thing they touch into their bodies and then digest it. One even said a person "tasted like chicken." The faces of the people they absorb are still visible on their bodies, and those people are fully aware of everything happening around them.

Abzorbaloffs come from the planet Clom, which is the twin planet of Raxacoricofallapatorius, the home of the Slitheen family. An Abzorbaloff once pretended to be a human named "Victor Kennedy." He joined a group called L.I.N.D.A, which was trying to find the Doctor. The Abzorbaloff wanted to absorb the Doctor's knowledge. But a character named Elton Pope broke its special cane. This cane was a "limitation field" that kept its absorbing powers under control. Without the cane, the Abzorbaloff was accidentally absorbed into the Earth itself.

It was last seen in a flashback in the Series 12 episode The Timeless Children.

Adipose

Adipose
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Partners in Crime" (2008)
Information
Home world	Adipose 3
Type	Living Fat
Affiliation	Matron Cofelia

The Adipose are aliens made of living fat. They appeared in the episode "Partners in Crime" (2008). Their home planet, Adipose 3, was lost. So, they hired "Miss Foster" (also known as Matron Cofelia) to create new Adipose babies.

Miss Foster developed a special pill that made human body fat turn into Adipose children. Usually, this process was harmless to humans, except for losing weight. But in emergencies, the process could speed up, turning the human's entire body into Adipose. This was deadly for the human and made the Adipose children weak.

The Shadow Proclamation, a galactic law enforcement group, forbids creating aliens on a "level-5 planet" like Earth. Level 5 means a planet that hasn't developed advanced space travel yet. According to a web series, the Adipose children were taken care of by the Shadow Proclamation, meaning the Adipose leaders were punished for their crimes.

In a different timeline shown in "Turn Left" (2008), the Adipose incident happened in America. London was destroyed when the Titanic spaceship crashed into Buckingham Palace because the Doctor wasn't there to stop it. Over 60 million Americans died in this timeline.

In "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" (2008), it was revealed that Adipose 3 was one of 27 planets moved by the New Dalek Empire. After the Daleks were defeated, Adipose 3 and the other planets were returned to their original places.

An Adipose was seen in a bar with other aliens in "The End of Time" (2009–10).

Aggedor

Aggedor
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Curse of Peladon (1972)
Information
Home world	Peladon
Type	Alien mammal

Aggedor is the Sacred Royal Beast of the planet Peladon. Its spirit is worshipped there. The real creature is a large, hairy beast with a single horn. It was hunted almost to extinction. One Aggedor roamed the tunnels under the main city. Sometimes, it was used to judge prisoners who were thrown into a pit to face the "Judgement of Aggedor" (The Monster of Peladon, 1974).

Alpha Centauri

Alpha Centauri
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Curse of Peladon (1972)
Created by	Brian Hayles
Information
Home world	Alpha Centauri
Type	Alien arthropod
Affiliation	Galactic Federation

This creature is from Alpha Centauri. It has six legs and is neither male nor female, so it's often called "it." It is tall, green, has one big blue eye, six arms, and a high-pitched voice. It wears a long yellow cape and walks nervously. It tends to be cowardly and easily upset. However, after fifty years as an ambassador on Peladon, it became much more confident.

Arcateenian

Arcateenian
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Greeks Bearing Gifts" (2006)
Information
Home world	Arcateen V
Type	Glowing humanoid

A glowing alien that took over the body of a 19th-century woman named Mary appeared in "Greeks Bearing Gifts" (2006). This alien was from a race that communicated only through mind-reading pendants. It claimed to be an exile sent to Earth. "Mary" gave her mind-reading necklace to Toshiko and tricked her into helping her get a special teleporter back from Torchwood.

When the alien arrived on Earth in 1812, it killed its guard and took over Mary's body. In this form, it needed to consume human hearts to stay young, taking one each year. "Mary" threatened Toshiko to get the teleporter. Jack exchanged the teleporter for Toshiko's safety. However, Jack had changed the teleporter's destination, sending "Mary" into the center of the Sun instead of back to her home world.

In The Sarah Jane Adventures story Invasion of the Bane (2007), Sarah Jane Smith helped another alien of the same race find its way home. This alien was a "Star Poet" from Arcateen V. The official The Sarah Jane Adventures website described her race as Butterfly People.

"Mary" had super strength and could move incredibly fast. She also had sharp senses. The Star Poet in The Sarah Jane Adventures could fly with Sarah Jane's help. "Mary" didn't like how humans talked, but she liked her human body. She thought humans were always trying to invade others.

Alien Species: B

Bane

The Bane are large, tentacled aliens with one eye in their natural form. They appeared in "Invasion of the Bane" (2007) and Enemy of the Bane (2008). They can read minds. Very large Bane, called Bane Mothers, are known to eat their young if they fail. They can look like humans using special image translators.

The Bane wanted to control humanity by making them addicted to a soft drink called Bubble Shock!. This drink contained a secret Bane chemical that would control humans when activated. Mrs Wormwood led the Bane's human operation and created Luke, a special human "Archetype."

The Beast

The Beast was a powerful, Satan-like creature. It was trapped deep inside the planet Krop Tor by the Disciples of Light even before the universe began. Krop Tor was stuck in orbit around a black hole. If the Beast was freed, the planet would fall into the black hole, destroying both the planet and the Beast.

Blathereen

The Blathereen are a family of Raxacoricofallapatorians. They are sworn enemies of the criminal Slitheen family. The Blathereen are known for being much calmer and following laws, unlike the Slitheen. They appeared in the novel, The Monsters Inside (2005).

In The Gift (2009), a family of Slitheen-Blathereen came to Earth. They were created when a Slitheen and a Blathereen married. They tricked Sarah Jane Smith into accepting a plant called Rakweed from their home planet. The Rakweed began to poison Earth with deadly spores. The Slitheen-Blathereen didn't care about the Blathereen's laws. They were only interested in the Slitheen's greed and desire for money. Rakweed was very sensitive to sound. So, after they ate a lot of it, Mr Smith sounded an alarm, which made the Slitheen-Blathereen explode.

The Blessing

In Torchwood: Miracle Day (2011), The Blessing is a huge natural formation deep inside the Earth. It connects Shanghai and Buenos Aires. Captain Jack Harkness thought it might have been created by special particles from the Racnoss and sleeping Silurians. Its true origin is unknown. The mysterious "Families" weren't sure if the Blessing was alive, but it seemed to have some level of awareness. It could even show people the contents of their own souls.

In "The Blood Line" (2011), it was revealed that everyone on Earth became immortal because Jack's blood was introduced to the Blessing. It seemed the Blessing saw the Families' actions as a threat and gave humanity immortality as a gift. Jack and Rex Matheson (who had Jack's blood) managed to reset the "Miracle" by exposing the Blessing to Jack's now mortal blood at both ends. But the Blessing didn't return everything to normal. Rex also became immortal, possibly because of Jack's blood.

Blowfish

Blowfish
Torchwood character
First appearance	"Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" (2008)
Created by	Chris Chibnall
Information
Home era	51st century

A humanoid alien that looks like a blowfish appeared in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" (2008). This blowfish had part of Captain John Hart's puzzle box. It might have known John. The blowfish loved Earth's fun things. It stole a sports car and took a teenage girl hostage. This got the attention of Torchwood and the news, leading to its end.

A young blowfish appeared in "Fragments" (2008) in flashbacks about Captain Jack Harkness's first mission for Torchwood. Jack caught the fish for small crimes but was angry when it was shot after being captured.

A blowfish and two other fish-like creatures appeared in a Torchwood Magazine short story. This blowfish, named Mr. Glee, had been a crime boss in Cardiff for a while.

The blowfish appeared in "The Pandorica Opens" (2010) as part of an alliance that tried to trap the Eleventh Doctor. A stored blowfish was also seen in Hedgewick's World of Wonders in "Nightmare in Silver" (2013).

Alien Species: C

Carrionite

The Carrionites appeared in "The Shakespeare Code" (2007). They used the power of words and witchcraft to escape from a prison. They appeared again with the Sixth Doctor in the audio drama The Carrionite Curse.

Catkind

Catkind
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"New Earth" (2006)
Information
Home world	New Earth
Type	Humanoid felines
Affiliation	Humans

"The Catkind" are felines in the future that have evolved to look like humans. They can even have children with humans from the future. Catkind have furry bodies, cat-like faces, and claws that can extend. Their babies look like normal kittens, but they start to look more human after ten months.

In "New Earth" (2006), a group of Catkind called the Sisters of Plenitude ran a hospital. In "Gridlock" (2007), a Cat Person named Thomas Kincade Brannigan had a human wife and a litter of kittens.

They were last seen in a flashback in the Doctor Who series 12 episode The Timeless Children.

The Celestial Toymaker

The Celestial Toymaker, sometimes called just the Toymaker, was a very powerful being. He trapped intelligent creatures in children's games, with their freedom as the prize. But the Toymaker hated to lose, so his games were always rigged to make him win. He first appeared in The Celestial Toymaker and later in the 60th anniversary specials called The Giggle.

The Toymaker was also mentioned in the Series 12 episode Can You Hear Me?.

Chelonian

Chelonians
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Highest Science
Information
Home world	Chelonia
Type	Cybernetic humanoid tortoise
Affiliation	The Alliance

The Chelonians are a race of cybernetic (part-robot) humanoid tortoises. They have appeared in many spin-off novels. They are a warlike race from the planet Chelonia. They are neither male nor female and lay eggs. Their robot parts give them X-ray vision and better hearing.

The Chelonians first appeared in the Seventh Doctor novel The Highest Science. They also appeared in other books and short stories. River Song mentioned the Chelonians as one of the races with spaceships around Earth in "The Pandorica Opens".

Chelonians often see humans as parasites and try to get rid of them. However, there is a peaceful group among them. After the Doctor's encounters, this peaceful group took control, and their society started focusing on flower arranging.

Cryons

Cryons
Doctor Who race
First appearance	Attack of the Cybermen
Information
Home world	Telos
Type	Humanoid Females

Cryons appear to be an all-female race that reproduces without a male. They cannot live in temperatures above freezing. They are tall, thin, pale, and have long fingers and large heads covered with a whitish skin. They move slowly and have echoing voices.

The Cryons had advanced refrigeration technology. They lived peacefully in huge refrigerated cities until the Cybermen found them. The Cybermen tried to wipe out the Cryons to steal their cold homes. Some Cryons survived without the Cybermen knowing. They had a secret base, but it's not clear if they survived when the Cybermen's main control was destroyed.

Cyberman

The original Cybermen were humanoids from Earth's twin planet, Mondas. To survive, they replaced more and more of their bodies with artificial parts. This made them cold, logical, and almost completely emotionless. The Cybermen are also rivals with the Daleks.

In the 2006 episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel", Cybermen came from a parallel Earth. There, they were created by John Lumic, a genius who wanted to live forever. He forced many people on that Earth to become Cybermen before the Doctor helped start a fight against them.

The Cyberman idea was created by Dr. Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis in 1966. They first appeared in The Tenth Planet. Since then, they have appeared many times, always trying to conquer and convert humanity into cyborgs like themselves.

Cybermat

Cybershade

Cybershades are a type of Cybermen. Instead of upgrading humans, they put the brains of cats and dogs into bronze metal heads with black, furry humanoid bodies. They act wild and animal-like. They are very agile, able to climb buildings and jump from high places. They first appeared in the 2008 Christmas special, "The Next Doctor", controlled by Miss Mercy Hartigan as the CyberKing.

Alien Species: D

Dæmon

A race of humanoids from the planet Dæmos. They look like classic demons because Earth's idea of demons came from them. They are not exactly evil, but their ideas of right and wrong are very different from humans. They don't mind harming humans.

Dalek

A warlike race of mutant creatures that live inside mobile battle armor. They are lifelong enemies of the Doctor, and he is the only being they truly fear. They want to destroy all life forms in the universe except themselves. The creatures inside the armor look like squid, with one eye, an exposed brain, and many tentacles. They first appeared in The Daleks, the second Doctor Who story.

Dalek Puppet

Dalek puppet
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Asylum of the Daleks" (2012)
Information
Type	Partially converted Daleks
Affiliation	Daleks

A Dalek puppet is a living or dead creature that has been partly turned into a Dalek by Dalek Nanogenes. Puppets usually keep their original look. But in humanoids, when activated, they can grow a small Dalek eyestalk from their forehead and a gunstick from their hand. If needed, the puppet's old memories can be accessed. Victims can be brought back to their senses by strong emotional words, like the Doctor did with Tasha Lem. Time Lords cannot be turned into Dalek puppets.

Demon

Demons have appeared in Doctor Who several times.

In 2006, both the Tenth Doctor series of Doctor Who and its spin-off Torchwood explored the idea of real evil supernatural beings in the Doctor Who universe. "The Impossible Planet" introduced the Beast, a Satan-like demon from before our universe existed. It was sealed in the planet Krop Tor by the "Disciples of Light."

Later, in the Torchwood episode "End of Days", the villain Bilis Manger freed "Abaddon, son of the great Beast" from within the Rift. Like the Beast, Abaddon had been imprisoned since "before time." Manger tricked the Torchwood Three team to free Abaddon. Bilis called Abaddon his "god." Abaddon killed anyone who fell into its shadow; it consumed life. Captain Jack Harkness tried to sacrifice himself. He used his immortality to destroy the demon when it tried to absorb too much. This left Jack dead for days, but it caused the monster to die. The Ood in "The Impossible Planet" also called the Beast "Abaddon."

Draconian

The Draconians (sometimes called Dragons, which is an insulting term) are a humanoid race seen in the 26th century. They have tall, pointed heads with noticeable eyebrows, pointed ears, and patches of scaly skin. They often travel and try to colonize other planets, which has led to frequent and sometimes hostile contact with humans. This resulted in a treaty that set a border between the two empires.

The Draconians are very intelligent, honorable, and at least as advanced as humans. They have only appeared in the Third Doctor story Frontier in Space (1973). The Doctor once mentioned that he arm wrestled with one.

Alien Species: E

The Eminence

The Eminence is a collective being that exists as a brown gas. It suffocates humanoids and then takes over their bodies, turning them into immortal soldiers for its army. It first appeared in the Sixth Doctor Audio Adventure, The Seeds of War. It has also been in the Dark Eyes series with the Eighth Doctor, which showed where it came from and how it was finally defeated. The Doctor had to team up with the Daleks to stop it. It also appeared in the Fourth Doctor audio play episode Destroy the Infinite.

Eternals

The Eternals are a race of powerful cosmic beings. They first appeared in the Doctor Who story Enlightenment with the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) in 1983.

An Eternal named Striker explained to the Doctor that he and his people live outside of time, in eternity. They call the mortal beings of the universe "Ephemerals," even the Time Lords from Gallifrey. Striker seemed unaware of Time Lords before meeting the Doctor.

In Enlightenment, the Doctor realized that Eternals are powerful enough to create objects out of thin air. They can also read minds easily through telepathy. However, they lack imagination and creativity. They said they felt empty without Ephemeral thoughts to entertain them. So, they depended on Ephemerals to keep them active and prevent boredom. Without Ephemerals, Eternals have no purpose.

The Doctor once outsmarted an Eternal by throwing an explosive off a ship. He noted that the Eternals couldn't have thought of that because they lacked imagination. Despite their great power, they followed the Guardians of Time, especially the White Guardian and the Black Guardian. These Guardians offered the Eternals "enlightenment"—complete knowledge of good and evil—if they won a cosmic race. The Eternals captured many Ephemerals to win the race for them, which accidentally brought the Doctor's attention.

They have been mentioned in the new TV series that started in 2005. In "Army of Ghosts," the Doctor mentioned a "nowhere place" between parallel universes. He said his people called it the Void, while "the Eternals called it the Howling."

In "The Shakespeare Code" (2007), the alien witches called Carrionites claimed that the Eternals banished them "into deep darkness" soon after the universe began.

Two Eternals, Zellin and Rakaya, were the main bad guys in "Can You Hear Me?" (2020).

Alien Species: F

Fendahl

It appeared in Image of the Fendahl. The Fendahl is a race that never has more than unlucky number 13 members. It is made of one Golden Core and 12 Fendahleen. The Fendahl came from the original fifth planet in our solar system. They eventually wiped out all other life there. They were so dangerous that the Time Lords moved the planet into a time loop.

However, the Fendahl managed to send a skull through space. It seriously harmed life on Mars as it passed and landed on Earth. Its powers helped shape humanity, making humans a new body for the Fendahl. Ages later, scientists found that skull. They thought it could give them power, but their attempt accidentally created a new Golden Core. The Core started making Fendahleen, but one person died, stopping the Fendahl from reaching its full number. The Fourth Doctor blew up the house where the Fendahl were. He later threw the skull into a supernova.

The Fendahl also appeared in the Doctor Who novel The Taking of Planet 5.

Fenric

Fenric is an ancient evil alien being that appeared in The Curse of Fenric.

Fisher King

An alien warlord who once conquered Tivoli. He could turn living beings into ghosts. The Fisher King was tricked by the Twelfth Doctor into thinking he had been turned into a ghost. This was a trick so the Fisher King would be killed in a coming flood.

Foamasi

Foamasi
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Leisure Hive
Information
Home world	Unknown
Type	Reptilian biped
Affiliation	The Argolin

The Foamasi are intelligent, two-legged reptiles that look like humanoid chameleons. They appeared in the 1980 Fourth Doctor story The Leisure Hive. Their name sounds a bit like "mafioso". The Foamasi fought and won a short, 20-minute nuclear war against the Argolin. They communicate with chirps and clicks, which are translated by a device they hold in their mouths.

After their war, they became mostly peaceful, learning from the terrible destruction. However, a rogue group called the West Lodge still tried to restart fights between the two races.

After their victory, the Foamasi government officially owned the Argolin's home planet, Argolis. Two spies from the West Lodge tried to force the Argolins to sell them the Leisure Hive, so they could use it as a new base. A group of Foamasi, including one claiming to be from the Foamasi government, stopped them. They used a web-shooting gun to capture the spies and send them back to their home planet. Some Foamasi can disguise themselves as humanoids by wearing skin-suits that are smaller than their own bodies.

A Foamasi assassin appeared in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Placebo Effect. In this book, it's explained that Foamasi can fit into smaller disguises because their bones are hollow and can collapse.

Futurekind

A human-eating humanoid species with sharp teeth and warrior markings on their faces. The Futurekind are believed to be what humans will become at the very end of the universe. They hunt weaker humans in large groups and use fire torches to scare their prey. They only met the Tenth Doctor and his companions, Martha Jones and Captain Jack Harkness, in "Utopia" (2007). This happened when the TARDIS accidentally took them to the very end of the universe.

The Flood

The Flood is a water-like virus found on Mars. The Tenth Doctor thought they might have been trapped in a glacier by the Ice Warriors. The Mars base, Bowie Base One, used water from this glacier. When a water filter broke, the Flood started to infect the base's staff. It turned them into zombie-like creatures that could produce the infectious water. Their brains had unusual electrical activity, and their teeth turned black.

As the Flood took over the base, planning to reach Earth, the Doctor decided he had to leave. He knew the base's destruction was a fixed point in time that couldn't be changed. He soon returned, but the base's leader, Adelaide Brooke, activated the self-destruct. The Doctor, arrogantly breaking the laws of time, saved the remaining crew who weren't infected. The Flood was destroyed with the base.

Alien Species: G

Gelth

Gelth
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Unquiet Dead" (2005)
Information
Home world	Unknown
Type	Gaseous lifeform
Affiliation	None

The Gelth appeared in the Ninth Doctor episode "The Unquiet Dead" (2005). They were a new alien villain race that the Doctor and Rose Tyler met in the 2005 revived series. They were the first part of the new series that people found "too scary." After complaints, the BBC said that future episodes like it would have a warning: "may not be suitable for under 8s."

The Gelth were blue, gas-like life-forms. They claimed they lost their physical bodies because of the Last Great Time War. However, later actions by the Gelth made this claim doubtful. They arrived on Earth through the Spacetime Rift at an undertaker's house in Cardiff in 1869. They couldn't keep their forms in Earth's air without being in a gaseous medium, so they lived in the gas pipes of Victorian era homes. They also took over recently deceased bodies. When they possessed bodies, they looked like normal humans, except their eyes turned white, and blue veins were visible on their pale skin. Gelth made a strange shrieking noise, especially when they possessed someone.

Claiming to be almost extinct, the Gelth convinced the Doctor to help them enter Earth through Gwyneth, the undertaker's servant girl. She had psychic powers because she grew up near the Rift. The Gelth actually numbered in the billions. They planned to take over Earth by force and use its human population as bodies for themselves. The Gelth were stopped when Gwyneth sacrificed herself, blowing up the building and sealing the Rift. It's unclear if all the Gelth who came through the rift died.

In "Army of Ghosts" (2006), Rose asked if "ghostshifting" Cybermen might have been Gelth. The Tenth Doctor said no.

Graske

The Graske are a mischievous race of small aliens from the planet Griffoth. They can teleport themselves through time and space. They kidnap people from their own time and replace them with a Graske. Disguised Graske can be spotted by a green glow that sometimes appears in their eyes. They first appeared in the interactive Doctor Who mini-episode "Attack of the Graske" (2005).

A Graske named Krislok appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures stories Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane? (2007) and The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith (2008). Krislok was originally a helper and slave of the Trickster, who saved him from death. Krislok later gained his freedom. An unnamed Graske appeared in The Proms mini-episode "Music of the Spheres" (2008), and another at an alien bar in "The End of Time" (2010).

All live-action Graske have been played by Jimmy Vee.

Great Intelligence

Groske

Groske look like Graske but are blue. They also talk like the Graske. They first appeared in Death of the Doctor (2010), working for UNIT. One Groske saved Clyde Langer, Rani Chandra, and Santiago Jones from the evil vulture-like Shansheeth.

Groske can sense artron energy (saying it "smells"). They don't like the Graske.

Guardian

The two powerful beings in charge of keeping balance in the universe. Neither can directly get involved in the universe's affairs. But they can choose agents to do their work. The White Guardian chose the Doctor, while the Black Guardian chose the Shadow and Vislor Turlough.

Spin-off stories have shown that there are six Guardians in total: White, Black, Crystal, Red, Bronze, and Gold. The other four represent Dreams, Justice, Balance, and Life. The novel Divided Loyalties says that the Doctor's old enemy, the Celestial Toymaker, is the Crystal Guardian of Dreams. The other three haven't appeared clearly in any stories yet.

Alien Species: H

Haemovore

Haemovore
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Curse of Fenric (1989)
Information
Home world	Earth
Type	Decayed humanoid
Affiliation	Fenric

Haemovores appeared in the Seventh Doctor story The Curse of Fenric (1989). They are vampire-like creatures that feed on blood. They are what humans might become in a far future, caused by thousands of years of pollution. As part of his final game against the Doctor, the being known as Fenric sent the most powerful Haemovore, called the "Ancient One," back in time to Viking Age Northumbria. It waited there, trapped under the North Sea for centuries, sometimes pulling victims into the water and turning them into Haemovores.

Soon after changing, victims looked much like they did before, but with long fingernails and pale, corpse-like skin. Later, they became deformed blue-grey humanoids covered in octopus-like suckers. The Ancient One looked the least human. In its own time, it was the last living thing on Earth.

During World War II, Fenric released the Ancient One. Fenric's plan was for the Ancient One to release a toxin that would pollute the world and create its own future.

Haemovores could hypnotize their victims to paralyze them, so they could feed and drain their blood. Not all victims became Haemovores. They were immune to most attacks, even surviving machine-gun fire. They could be destroyed by driving a stake through their chests, like traditional vampires. They could also be pushed away by their victim's faith, which created a psychic barrier. The Doctor used his faith in his companions, Ace's faith in the Doctor, Captain Sorin's faith in the Communist Revolution, and Reverend Wainwright's faith in God.

Finally, the Seventh Doctor convinced the Ancient One to turn against Fenric. It released the toxin in a sealed room, destroying itself and Fenric's host. It's not clear if this stopped the future the Ancient One came from, but the Doctor seemed to think so.

Fenric and his Haemovores returned in the 2012 Big Finish Productions audio story, Gods and Monsters.

Hath

Hath
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Doctor's Daughter" (2008)
Created by	Stephen Greenhorn
Information
Home world	Messaline
Type	Humanoid fish
Affiliation	Humans

The Hath are aliens that look like tall, roughly human-shaped creatures with fish-like heads. They can breathe in air using special equipment on their faces that holds a canister of green liquid. They are intelligent and emotional. One Hath became friends with Martha Jones and saved her life, costing its own. They seem aware and, while they don't speak a language humans understand, the two races planned to colonize the planet Messaline together. However, they later fought each other, before finally making peace thanks to the Doctor.

The Monster Files say that the Hath joined and helped early human space colonization.

The Hath appeared again in "The End of Time" (2010), where they were seen in an alien bar. They were also briefly seen in "The Eleventh Hour" (2011) in a clip showing the Doctor protecting Earth, suggesting they visited Earth before 2010. They also appeared in a short scene in an alien bar in the first episode of season 9.

Headless Monks

Headless Monk(s)
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"A Good Man Goes To War" (2011)
Information
Type	Non-living converted humanoid
Affiliation	The Church, Papal Mainframe

The Headless Monks are a religious group. They can be created from any humanoid species by removing their head. They wear hooded cloaks, making it seem like they still have a head. But under the hood, their skin is tied in a tight knot where the head used to be. Most people don't know this is true, because if you remove a monk's hood, you face the death penalty. The monks have no detectable life signs. They can shoot lightning from their hands. They were first mentioned in "The Time of Angels" (2010) but didn't appear until "A Good Man Goes To War" (2011).

Hoix

A Hoix appeared in the Torchwood episode "Exit Wounds" (2008). Its name was first said on screen then, but it had been seen before in the Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters" two years earlier. Owen distracted it by feeding it cigarettes, saying it "lives to eat." They are not very smart. Owen easily tricked it into being vulnerable for a knockout blow to the head. In its first appearance, it animalistically chased Rose and the Tenth Doctor. One Hoix was part of the Alliance that trapped the Eleventh Doctor in the Pandorica in "The Pandorica Opens" (2010). A Hoix was also mentioned in the novel The Twilight Streets.

Alien Species: I

Ice Warrior

Alien Species: J

Judoon

The Judoon are alien police officers that look like rhinoceroses. They work for the Shadow Proclamation, a galactic law enforcement group. They appeared in the series 3 Sarah Jane Adventures story, Prisoner of the Judoon. They were chasing an alien called Androvax, who escaped from a crashed Judoon prison ship.

Judoon are not very intelligent, but they have advanced technology. This includes H2O Scoops that can lift large buildings and Thermal Guns that can disintegrate targets.

The Judoon first appeared as a major alien in the Doctor Who episode "Smith and Jones". They also appeared in "The Pandorica Opens".

The Judoon have fought the Thirteenth Doctor in the episode Fugitive of the Judoon.

Alien Species: K

Kahler

A very advanced humanoid species with unique patterns on the left side of their faces, showing their individuality. A Kahler doctor, Kahler-Jex, met the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond, and Rory Williams in a small American frontier town called Mercy. It became clear that he was responsible for creating a deadly Kahler cyborg. This cyborg was now hunting him to punish Kahler-Jex for his crimes against the Kahler species. The Kahler race was created by Toby Whithouse.

Kaled

A species of humanoids from the planet Skaro who later evolved into the terrifying and warlike Daleks.

Kinda

Kinda (pronounced "Kin-duh") are a human-like people. At first glance, they might seem like ancient cave-dwelling humans. However, their necklaces look like a double helix, suggesting they are smarter than they appear. They have legends about the Mara and are warned not to dream alone to keep it away. The men of the Kinda are not allowed to speak. A prophecy says that if one man speaks, all Kinda will. Their women are like shamans. They speak almost perfectly. When an elder dies, her spirit and knowledge go into her apprentice. A child in the Kinda tribe could have up to seven fathers, but this hasn't been explained further.

Kraal

The Kraals appeared again in a Big Finish story called 'The Oseidon Adventure', released in June 2012 as part of the Fourth Doctor Adventures.

Krafayis

The Krafayis appeared in the episode "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010). It seemed invisible to most people, but Vincent van Gogh could see it. It is suggested that this was because of his mental illness.

Krargs

Krargs appeared in the unfinished story Shada and its later remakes. They are artificial crystalline creatures that can move a little and understand simple commands. They were created and controlled by the main villain, Skagra, to help him forcefully combine all minds in the Universe into one powerful being.

Krillitane

Krillitane
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"School Reunion" (2006)
Information
Type	Composite race

The Krillitanes are a race that takes features from other races to change their appearance. In "School Reunion" (2006), the Tenth Doctor said he had met them before, but they looked different then, so he didn't recognize them. He also said they get their features by consuming other beings.

To solve the Skasis Paradigm, which would let them control the whole universe, they took over a school. Many of them pretended to be human teachers and staff. The Krillitane leader, Brother Lassar, became the headteacher, using the name "Mr Finch." The students were given free lunches with chips coated in Krillitane oil. This oil was poisonous to Krillitanes but harmless to humans. When humans ate it, it made them smarter. For example, when the Doctor asked Rose (who had eaten the chips) what 59 times 35 was, she immediately answered correctly (2,065). But the oil was also very flammable. When K9 set it on fire, the explosion destroyed the school and the Krillitanes inside. Later in the episode, K9 was replaced with a new model, a gift to Sarah Jane Smith.

Krynoid

Krynoids
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Seeds of Doom (1976)
Information
Type	Enormous plant with telepathic/telekinetic powers
Affiliation	Its hosts

The Krynoids appeared in the Fourth Doctor story The Seeds of Doom. They are a very dangerous, intelligent form of plant life known among alien botanists. They spread through seed pods that travel in pairs and are violently thrown through space by volcanic eruptions on their home planet. When opened, the pods are attracted to flesh. They can infect and mix their DNA with a host, taking over its body and slowly turning it into a Krynoid.

This species can also control other plants nearby with their minds, making them dangerous to animals. In later stages, the Krynoid can control its victim's voice and make itself seem friendly to humans. Fully grown Krynoids are many meters tall and can release many seed pairs to spread further.

Two pods landed on Earth at the South Pole during prehistoric times and stayed hidden until discovered in the late 20th century. One hatched after being exposed to light and took control of a nearby human scientist. The Fourth Doctor stopped it, and the Krynoid was destroyed by a bomb. But the second pod was stolen and taken to the home of a rich botanist in England. He made the second pod grow, and it took over his science advisor, turning him into a giant Krynoid. The Doctor had to arrange an air force bombing raid to destroy the creature before it could release its seeds.

The Krynoid also appeared in the Eighth Doctor audio story Hothouse.

Alien Species: M

Macra

Macra
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Macra Terror (1967)
Created by	Ian Stuart Black
Information
Home world	Earth Colony World New Earth
Type	Giant crustaceans
Affiliation	None

The Macra first appeared in the 1967 Second Doctor story The Macra Terror. They are intelligent, giant crab-like creatures from an unnamed planet colonized by humans in the future. The Macra took over the colony's control center without the colonists knowing. After that, the Macra only appeared at night when humans were in their rooms, following a curfew. They have strong hypnotic powers that change how humans see things. They can also make messages appear through electronic devices like TVs. Both these methods were used to keep the human colonists under control, making them believe they were happy. This hid the Macra's true plan: to use the colonists as miners in a huge gas mine. The gas was deadly to the miners but vital for the Macra, making them faster and stronger. The Second Doctor started a rebellion on the Macra planet and helped cause an explosion in the control center, destroying the Macra in charge.

The Macra also appeared in the 2007 episode "Gridlock". This made them the first one-time enemy from the classic series to appear in the new series. In the episode, some Macra were found alive under New New York, a city on New Earth. They lived in the thick exhaust fumes of the main motorway under the city, tracking flying cars by their lights and snatching them if they got too close. The Doctor said that the species was billions of years old and once had a small empire, but the Macra under New New York had become nothing more than beasts.

Mara

The Mara is a being made of pure hatred, anger, and greed. It needs the fear of its victims to survive. It lives in the minds of its victims and can spread itself through telepathy. It can also appear physically as a giant snake. It is so evil that it cannot stand to see its own reflection. The Mara was created on the planet Manussa. It was defeated by a Manussan and sent to the "dark places beyond."

In Kinda, the Fifth Doctor met the Mara on the planet Deva Loka. In Snakedance, a Mara took over Tegan Jovanka, the Fifth Doctor's companion.

Martian

In the Doctor Who universe, the planet Mars is home to two known intelligent life forms: the Ice Warriors, who are reptilian humanoids, and The Flood, a sentient, water-borne virus. The Flood was encountered by the first human base on Mars in "The Waters of Mars" (2009). The Tenth Doctor was mistakenly called a Martian by Donna Noble when they met the Empress of the Racnoss in "The Runaway Bride" (2006).

Menoptra

Menoptra
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Web Planet (1965)
Information
Home world	Vortis
Type	Bipedal insects
Affiliation	Zarbi, Optera

The Menoptra appeared in the First Doctor story The Web Planet (1965). They are intelligent, two-legged insect-like creatures from the planet Vortis. They look like a mix of giant butterflies and bees, with four large wings. They have yellow and black stripes and are about six feet tall. They don't seem to have typical insect body parts.

The Menoptra are peaceful and kind. They welcomed the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki. But they disliked the Zarbi and hated the Animus, a hostile alien intelligence that had taken over the Zarbi and almost all of Vortis. Once the Doctor agreed to help them defeat the Animus, they were happy to assist.

Menoptra born without wings are treated as lower-class citizens.

Minotaur

An alien Minotaur was trapped in a prison that looked like an Earth hotel in "The God Complex" (2011). However, this "hotel" had endless corridors. The Minotaur acted like a God, feeding on the fears of the beings trapped there. The Eleventh Doctor realized the Minotaur was feeding on people's faith that something would save them. So, he temporarily encouraged his companion Amy Pond to lose her faith in him. This allowed the Minotaur to die peacefully in the hotel's corridors. The Doctor mentioned that this alien species of Minotaur are cousins of the Nimon.

Monk

Monks
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Extremis" (2017)
Information
Type	Shapeshifting humanoids

The Monks are an alien race of shapeshifting humanoids. They can choose their appearance. On Earth, they chose to look like human corpses. The Monks study other planets through virtual simulations. They take over by getting someone in power to agree to their rule out of love.

In "Extremis" (2017), the simulated version of the Twelfth Doctor figured out the truth. He emailed a recording of the Monks' simulation to the real Twelfth Doctor, warning him of the coming invasion.

In "The Pyramid at the End of the World" (2017), the Monks showed world leaders a future where Earth would be destroyed by bacteria in one year. They offered to protect them as their rulers. The Doctor planned to stop the bacteria by blowing up the lab. But he realized he couldn't escape because he was blind. Bill Potts didn't want her friend to die. She agreed to the Monks' rule in exchange for the Doctor's eyesight, letting him escape.

In "The Lie of the Land" (2017), the Monks ruled Earth for six months. They controlled humans by broadcasting a fake history of the planet that included the Monks from the beginning. Bill, who was key to broadcasting the fake history, broke her mind link with the Monks. She broadcast pure memories of her mother, causing the Monks to lose control and leave Earth.

Movellan

The Movellans first appeared in the Fourth Doctor story Destiny of the Daleks (1979). They are an android (robot) species from outside our galaxy. They were enemies of the Daleks.

Movellans look like attractive humans of different backgrounds and genders. All Movellan androids wear white, tight uniforms and have silver hair braided in a dreadlock style. They are stronger and have more physical endurance than humans. A big weakness of the Movellan design is an external power pack they carry on their belt. This can be easily removed, which shuts down the android. Once removed, the power pack can be reprogrammed so the android obeys someone else's orders.

The Movellans are mentioned again in Resurrection of the Daleks (1984), where a virus they invented was important to the story. They also appeared in "The Pilot" (2017), fighting the Daleks.

Alien Species: N

Nestene

The Nestenes are a race of shapeless aliens. They can control all forms of plastic, creating Autons. Since the Last Great Time War destroyed their food supply planets, the Nestenes have been looking for new ones.

Nimon

Black, Minotaur-like beings with red eyes. They go to other planets and pretend to be Gods. But they are actually a parasitic race that drains planets dry before moving on. They are cousins to the Minotaur species that the Eleventh Doctor met in "The God Complex" (2011). While one Nimon pretended to be a God, it collected sacrifices to power its teleporter. However, the Doctor's arrival stopped more than two extra Nimons from arriving. The remaining Nimons tried a last-resort plan by blowing up their planet, which had no resources left, killing them all.

Not-things

The Not-things, sometimes called nobodies, are beings that lived in the emptiness outside the universe. When they reached the edge of the universe, they heard sounds of hatred and war. These sounds shaped them, making them malicious. They can copy other beings very accurately, from their appearance to their memories. They also have some flexibility, allowing them to run faster or twist their bodies in unnatural ways. The Not-things create copies by connecting to their subject's brain and turning heat in the air into mass to match their appearance. They copy faster when the subject's brain is most active, so they constantly scare their subjects to keep their adrenaline and fear high.

Alien Species: O

Ogron

Ogrons are mercenaries hired by different groups to "do their dirty work" across the universe. They look a lot like Orcs or Uruk-hai from The Lord of the Rings. They are large humanoids with thick gray skin, bumpy foreheads, and thick, messy hair. They mainly use stun weapons. Both the Daleks and the Master have hired them at least once. They first appeared in the Third Doctor story Day of the Daleks (1972).

Ood

Ogri

Ogri
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Stones of Blood (1978)
Information
Home world	Ogros
Type	silicon-based creatures

The Ogri appeared in the Fourth Doctor story The Stones of Blood (1978).

The Ogri were a species of silicon-based creatures from Ogros. They looked like large rocks, usually taller than a human but with irregular shapes. They were big, slow, and heavy, sometimes weighing as much as 3.5 tons. But they could take a lot of damage, both from energy and physical attacks. When they were awake, they would glow and make a loud rumbling noise. Like other silicon-based lifeforms, they turned into grit when killed and left silicon behind when they moved. They ate different types of proteins common on Ogros. When on Earth, the Ogri had to eat the globulin in blood, which they could absorb by touch. Ogri were not shown to communicate or show any signs of intelligence. Ogri lived for thousands of years.

Cessair of Diplos took three Ogri from Ogros. She used them for protection and to impress the humans on Earth. These Ogri waited with the Nine Travellers until Cessair or her followers woke them up.

At least one Ogri was found on Earth before 1983. It ended up with Isaac Summerfield in Little Caldwell. It lived in the cemetery and was regularly fed blood to keep it calm. It helped save Little Caldwell from NATO by killing a rogue NATO commander.

Optera

Optera
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Web Planet (1965)
Information
Home world	Vortis
Type	multipedal insects
Affiliation	Zarbi, Menoptra

The Optera appeared in the First Doctor story The Web Planet (1965). These caterpillar-like creatures were once Menoptra. But they chose to burrow underground and leave the world of light and flight above. It is suggested that the evil Animus might have driven them there.

They have bigger eyes than their Menoptra relatives and no wings. However, they have many arms and seem to "hop" in a special way. They speak with a different tone than their bee-like cousins. Their speech is a strange dialect of the "upper world" language, with words and phrases they made up themselves.

At the end of the story, the Animus is defeated. The Optera are convinced to return to the surface, where they look forward to their children learning to fly. This suggests that once back on the surface, the Optera will grow wings again.

Alien Species: P

Peladonian

Peladonians look like humans, but they are not very technologically advanced. At least, this was true when the Third Doctor first visited. Peladon was being considered for joining a galactic alliance. In the Doctor's first adventure, Peladon was ruled by a half-human king named after the planet. His second trip saw him meet King Peladon's daughter, a quarter-human queen.

Pied Piper

Based on the mythical piper in the fairytale, the Pied Piper was an energy being from the Jeggorabax Cluster. This cluster is home to beings that feed on emotions. The species' spacecraft looked like meteorites. One such ship crashed on Earth in Germany in 1283. Feeding on fear, it took the human form of The Pied Piper and stole all the children from the town of Hamelin, creating fear in their parents.

The First Doctor, John and Gillian first met the Pied Piper in the comic Challenge of the Piper. Over centuries, the creature kept kidnapping children and terrifying their parents. It used many disguises, including Odd Bob the Clown, who kidnapped children in wartime New York. In the 2009 story The Day of the Clown, pretending to be both ringmaster Elijah Spellman and Odd Bob, the entity opened a museum in Ealing. This was possible because the meteorite was at the Pharos Institute. Sarah Jane Smith used pieces of the meteorite to trap the alien after weakening it by laughing at its clown form instead of fearing it. The meteorite was then sealed in a special emotion-proof container in Sarah Jane's attic.

Plasmavore

Plasmavore
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Smith and Jones" (2007)
Information
Home world	Unknown
Type	Shape-changing vampiric being
Affiliation	Florence Finnegan

Plasmavores are shape-changing aliens that live on haemoglobin (blood). They absorb blood from their victims. This changes their own blood chemistry to match the victim's, allowing them to mimic other species when medically scanned. A Plasmavore was hiding from the Judoon in the Royal Hope Hospital on Earth, disguised as Florence Finnegan.

P'ting

P'ting
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Tsuranga Conundrum" (2018)
Information
Home world	Unknown
Type	Adipose-like creature with toxic skin
Affiliation	Thirteenth Doctor

The P'ting have toxic skin. They will eat anything that isn't organic, including the Thirteenth Doctor's energy from her sonic screwdriver. Tim Price created the P'ting for The Tsuranga Conundrum.

Pyrovile

Pyrovile
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Fires of Pompeii" (2008)
Information
Home world	Pyrovillia
Type	Rock-based humanoids
Affiliation	Sibylline Sisterhood Lucius Petrus Dextrus

These creatures came from the planet Pyrovillia. Their bodies were made of rock and seemed to contain fire. They were much taller than humans, and their heads looked like Roman helmets. Contact with water could kill them. When their home planet disappeared, they crashed on Earth, turning many of them to dust. They remained hidden under Mount Vesuvius for centuries until an earthquake in Pompeii woke them up.

They planned to conquer Earth. They used the city's fortune-tellers to their advantage. By having people breathe in the dust of the Pyroviles destroyed in the crash, the people of Pompeii began to turn to stone and would eventually become new Pyroviles. The Tenth Doctor learned of their plans to conquer Earth and boil the oceans. He found their lair inside the volcano. But he realized that by using the volcano's power, they were preventing its famous eruption. Realizing it was "Pompeii or the world," the Doctor and Donna reversed the machine, triggering Vesuvius's eruption, which destroyed the Pyrovile.

Alien Species: Q

Queen Bat

Quill

Quill
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"For Tonight We Might Die" (2016)
Information
Home world	Rhodia
Type	Humanoid

The Quill were a humanoid species from the planet Rhodia. They had a long history of war with the other species on Rhodia, the Rhodians. All the Rhodians and the Quill were killed by the Shadow Kin, except the Prince of Rhodia and Andra'ath, a Quill freedom fighter. Andra'ath was forced to serve the prince because of a device in her brain. The Twelfth Doctor rescued them and brought them to Coal Hill Academy. There, the prince took the name "Charlie Smith," and Andra'ath took the name "Miss Quill." On Earth, Miss Quill was able to remove the device from her brain with help.

Alien Species: R

Racnoss

Racnoss
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Runaway Bride" (2006)
Last appearance	"The Timeless Children" (2020)
Information
Home world	Racnoss
Type	Humanoid arachnids
Affiliation	Racnoss Empire

The Racnoss appeared in the 2006 Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride".

The Tenth Doctor described the Racnoss as an ancient alien race from the universe's Dark Times. They looked half-human, half-spider. They were an invading force that consumed everything on the planets they conquered. Their race was wiped out over 4.6 billion years ago by the Fledgling Empires. The Doctor said his people, the Time Lords, understood their power source, Huon particles. The Empress claimed the Time Lords "murdered" the Racnoss. The Doctor and Donna Noble saw almost all the survivors escape in their ship to where Earth would later form. The ship became Earth's core, and the Racnoss hibernated for billions of years. The Empress was the only one who didn't hibernate. The Doctor noted that because Huon particles stopped existing, the hibernating Racnoss were stuck.

The Empress came to Earth in her ship, the Webstar, to use Huon particles. These particles were recreated by the Torchwood Institute using water from the River Thames. She wanted to revive her "children" and then feast on Earth's human population. The last Racnoss were presumed wiped out when the Doctor drained the Thames water down the shaft to their ship. The Empress was killed when her ship was destroyed by the British Army, ordered by "Mr Saxon".

The Empress briefly appeared in a flashback in "Turn Left" (2008). In a parallel universe, she was still defeated. But without Donna to stop him, the Doctor drowned. Without his protection, Earth became a dystopia (a terrible place) over the next few years.

Rakweed

An alien plant from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius. The Rakweed plant was given to Sarah Jane Smith as a gift from the Blathereen family. However, the Rakweed quickly released deadly spores into the air. These spores caused a strange rash and put victims into a coma. It later became clear that the Blathereen were addicted to eating the Rakweed. The plant was very sensitive to loud noises. So, when Mr Smith sounded a loud alarm across Ealing, the Rakweed shrivelled up and died. This also caused the Blathereen to explode over Sarah Jane and her friends.

Raxacoricofallapatorian

Raxacoricofallapatorian
Doctor Who race
First appearance	Aliens of London (2005) World War Three (2005)
Last appearance	Last Main Viliain Appearance : Revenge of the Slitheen (2007) The Lost Boy (2007) Last Main Semi-Viliain Appearance (Variant of Slitheen): The Gift (2009) Last Overall Appearance (Cold Opening): The Nightmare Man (2010)
Information
Home world	Raxacoricofallapatorius
Type	Living calcium bipeds
Affiliation	Various (families)

The Raxacoricofallapatorians first appeared in the Ninth Doctor episode "Aliens of London." They are from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius. They hatch from eggs and are made of living calcium. They are often grouped by their family names.

The Slitheen family was a cruel criminal group that only cared about money. After being found guilty of crimes on their home planet, they were exiled and threatened with death if they returned.

The Blathereen family were sworn enemies of the Slitheen. They secretly entered the prison on the planet Justicia.

A Raxacoricofallapatorian appeared in an alien bar in "The End of Time".

Reaper

Reapers
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Father's Day" (2005)
Information
Home world	None (Outside of time and space)
Type	Extradimensional flying dragon-like reptiles

Reapers appeared in the Ninth Doctor episode "Father's Day". Although not named in the show, they were called "Reapers" in promotional materials. Their design was based on the Grim Reaper, with tails shaped like scythes.

Reapers are multi-limbed, flying creatures similar to pterosaurs. They have large wings, sharp teeth, and a second mouth in their chests. They are very aggressive. Reapers are from another dimension. They appear and disappear from the spacetime vortex. They are attracted to time paradoxes (when something in time is wrong), like bacteria around a wound. They then "cleanse" the wound by eating everyone nearby. The older the thing they eat, the more it satisfies them.

Once in our dimension, they can be blocked by physical barriers. Older barriers are more effective, but even the oldest cannot stop them forever. Paradoxes can also make them appear directly at the spot of the paradox. If the timeline is fixed, they vanish, and their actions are reversed as if they never happened.

In "Father's Day", the Doctor explained that when the Time Lords were still around, there were laws to prevent paradoxes from spreading, and such paradoxes could be fixed. This means Reapers are a natural event that could be stopped if the paradox was solved quickly. But with the other Time Lords gone in the Last Great Time War, there was no one left to fix time.

Rhodian

Rhodian
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"For Tonight We Might Die" (2016)
Information
Home world	Rhodia
Type	Humanoid

The Rhodians were a humanoid species that ruled the planet Rhodia. They had a long history of war with the Quill. All the Rhodians and the Quill were killed by the Shadow Kin, except the Rhodian prince Charlie Smith and his Quill protector. The Twelfth Doctor rescued them and brought them to Coal Hill Academy. There, the prince took the name "Charlie Smith," and the Quill took the name "Miss Quill." Charlie managed to bring the Cabinet of Souls with him to Earth. This device held the souls of all the dead Rhodians. He later used it to wipe out all the Shadow Kin when they invaded Earth.

Rutan

An alien species that has been at war with the Sontarans for thousands of years. The Rutans look like jellyfish-like glowing green spheres. Like the Zygons, Rutans can shapeshift (change their form) whenever they want. They are also hurt by certain sound frequencies. A Rutan appeared in Horror of Fang Rock, where it tried to invade the planet as a strategic base in their war with the Sontarans. The Rutans have since appeared in many spin-off stories, including books, audio dramas, and video games.

Alien Species: S

Salakans

Mentioned in Wally K. Daly's Doctor Who The Ultimate Evil story, a salesman named Dwarf Mordant was from a race known as the Salakans.

Saturnyn

Saturnyn are vampiric, lobster-like aliens. They fought the Eleventh Doctor in 16th-century Venice in "The Vampires of Venice" (2010). They look scary with many sharp parts and fangs. They could breathe underwater and had vampire-like traits: they were hurt by sunlight, had no reflections, and craved human blood. However, these were explained: as "fish from space," they were used to dark depths. A special filter made their true reflections invisible. Their leader, Signora Rosanna Calvierri, used a filter to look human. She started a school for girls as a cover to find victims to turn into mates for Francesco's brothers. They planned to flood Venice to continue their civilization since their planet Saturnyne was destroyed by cracks in the universe. When the Doctor stopped their plan, Rosanna died. However, when the Doctor rewrote time in "The Big Bang" (2010) by preventing the cracks, it's very likely Saturnyne was not destroyed, and the Calvierri family did not end.

The Doctor, at least in his eleventh form, found his adventure battling the Saturnyns memorable.

Scarecrow

Scarecrow
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Human Nature" (2007)
Information
Home world	Earth
Type	Straw-filled humanoid
Affiliation	The Family of Blood

Straw-filled soldiers created by Son of Mine using special animation. They were tireless and relentless, with basic intelligence. Even after being shot, they could come back to life. In a twist of fate, Son of Mine was frozen in time and dressed as a scarecrow, left to watch over England's fields.

Another type of living scarecrow was supposed to appear in the unmade movie Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, which was later turned into a novel by Tom Baker.

Sea Devil

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

Sensorite

The Shadow

A member of an unknown race who worked for the Black Guardian. His face was blank, except for faint outlines of a skull. He wore dark ceremonial robes.

Shadow Kin

Shadow Kin
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"For Tonight We Might Die" (2016)
Information
Home world	The Underneath
Type	Fire-type Humanoid

The Shadow Kin were a race of fire-like humanoids from a place called the Underneath. They could exist as pure shadow or in a solid form, but they needed a shadow to physically survive. They were ruled by the Shadow King from the Shadow Palace on the Underneath.

The Shadow Kin arrived on Rhodia during a civil war. They killed all the Rhodians and Quills except for the Rhodian prince Charlie Smith and his Quill protector Miss Quill. The Twelfth Doctor rescued them and brought them to Coal Hill Academy. The Shadow Kin, led by Corakinus, came through a tear in space-time at the school's prom night but were forced back by the Doctor.

During the invasion, Coal Hill student April MacLean fired a special gun at Corakinus. Charlie pushed her out of the way, and April and Corakinus began sharing April's heart. April found her way to the Shadow Palace and defeated Corakinus in battle. She became the new king and had the Shadow Kin imprison Corakinus. However, they later returned to invade Earth again under Corakinus's command. Charlie decided to use the gun to kill April and Corakinus, which allowed Charlie to become the new Shadow King. As King, he ordered his army to retreat. Then, he used the Cabinet of Souls to wipe all the Shadow Kin out of existence. After he used the cabinet, April came back to life but in Corakinus's body.

Shakri

Shakri
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Power of Three" (2012)
Information
Type	Humanoid alien
Affiliation	The Tally

The Shakri are a species mentioned in Gallifreyan myths. They are called the "pest controllers of the universe." Amy Pond found this a "strange choice for a bed-time story." They attack any species they believe will threaten the universe. That's why they tried to eliminate humanity in the 21st century, years before humans could colonize space in the future. A hologram of a wrinkled humanoid in a black robe was seen on the Shakri ship, but it's not known if this is what Shakri truly look like.

The Shakri consider seven an important number. They used seven portals, ships, and cube activation times, and had a countdown of seven. They follow something called "the Tally." The Doctor suggested that the Shakri compare a species' failures and successes to decide if they need "pest control."

Shansheeth

The Shansheeth are a race of vulture-like aliens that appeared in Death of the Doctor. The Claw Shansheeth of the Fifteenth Funeral Fleet announced the death of the Eleventh Doctor to Sarah Jane Smith through UNIT. They took charge of the funeral. Mr Smith confirmed they are the universe's undertakers, finding fallen heroes on battlefields.

However, the Shansheeth that Sarah Jane and Jo Jones met wanted to use the companions' memories of the Doctor. They planned to use a "Memory Weave" device to create a TARDIS key. With this key, they could steal the TARDIS and stop death throughout time. Sarah Jane and Jo overloaded the device, which exploded and destroyed the Shansheeth and their UNIT helper. The main group of Shansheeth later apologized to Sarah Jane for the actions of this rogue group.

The Silence

Self-proclaimed "Sentinels of History," the Silence are genetically engineered members of the Papal Mainframe. They were originally created as confessional priests. Silents cannot be remembered unless they are being looked at, or if someone is wearing an eyedrive.

In "The Time of the Doctor" (2013), as the Doctor's enemies gathered on Trenzalore, the Papal Mainframe changed into the Church of the Silence. Their main belief was that "Silence will fall" to stop the Doctor from answering the oldest question in the universe, "Doctor Who?" This was to prevent a war caused by the Time Lords' return. However, a group of Silents led by Madam Kovarian wanted to completely avoid the Siege of Trenzalore by eliminating the Doctor. Their attempts included destroying reality in Series 5, which led to the events at Trenzalore, and using Melody Pond to try to murder the Doctor in Series 6. The Silents still loyal to the Papal Mainframe remained and joined forces with the Doctor to fight all the villains converging on Trenzalore.

Silurian

Siren

Siren
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Curse of the Black Spot" (2011)

The Siren is a virtual doctor that was on an alien spaceship. The ship crashed in a dimension parallel to the ocean where the ship Fancy was sailing in 1699. Thanks to "protein circuitry," she could appear to any species in a form that would attract them to cooperate. To calm her patients, the Siren could sing a beautiful song. However, being just a program, the Siren had very little common sense. The Siren turned red with a demonic face when faced with resistance or germs.

When her ship crashed in a spatial rift, she impulsively started taking injured people from the Fancy, even for a simple cut. If the Doctor hadn't arrived, the Siren would 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 care for and to see the universe.

Sisterhood of Karn

A female religious group located on the planet Karn. They are in charge of the Elixir of Eternal Life, which is made from the Eternal Flame. The Elixir has amazing healing powers. It can help Time Lords who are having difficult regenerations. The Fourth Doctor was given some after his brain was damaged in a mental fight. Other potions they brew can allow Time Lords to choose what their next body will be like, including age, weight, strength, emotions, gender, and personality. The Eighth Doctor chose a potion that would turn him into a Warrior because he felt his previous forms weren't suited to fight the terror of the Time War.

They first appeared in The Brain of Morbius. They had become paranoid after a past betrayal by Morbius. Since then, they had been using their mental powers to crash ships onto the planet. The Eternal Flame became blocked a year before the episode, and the Sisterhood couldn't fix it. The Doctor solved the problem, and the Sisterhood later helped him stop the revived Morbius. They also appeared in the 2013 mini-episode "The Night of the Doctor," where they revived a badly wounded Eighth Doctor and helped him regenerate into his next form. They appear again in "The Magician's Apprentice" and "Hell Bent."

Skarasen

A creature brought to Earth by the Zygons that became the Loch Ness Monster.

Skithra

Skullion

Skullions are short, one-eyed aliens from the planet Skultos. They are afraid of water. It is said they can only drink citrus juices.

In The Man Who Never Was (2011), a Skullion ship crashed in China. The aliens were sold at a black market to Mr Harrison, who used them as slaves. Sarah Jane Smith and her friends saved them by contacting their home planet. A rescue ship arrived, beaming up the Skullions and Mr Harrison, who refused to let them escape.

Sky Fish

Sky Fish
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"A Christmas Carol" (2010)
Information
Home world	Ember
Type	Fish

The Sky Fish are fish-like creatures that can swim through the air. They use the electricity from the planet Ember's crystalline fog. They are attracted to music because it makes the crystals in the fog vibrate in a way that produces special waves. They range from small fish to full-grown sharks.

Slitheen

The Slitheen are a family of huge, two-legged extraterrestrials. They are creatures made of living calcium, hatched from eggs, and originally from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius. While "Slitheen" technically refers to one specific family, the Doctor has sometimes used the term to mean the whole Raxacoricofallapatorian race.

The Slitheen can wear a human's skin as a disguise by using a special field to shrink themselves. Since 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", "Boom Town", and the interactive episode "Attack of the Graske" (all 2005). A mini-episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures for Comic Relief featured a small Slitheen. They 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 that tried to trap the Doctor in "The Pandorica Opens" (2010).

Slyther

The Slyther was a monster that served the Daleks. It appeared in episodes four and five of The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964). It guarded 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.

Sontaran

A Sontaran first appeared as the villain in the Third Doctor story The Time Warrior (1973–74). The Sontarans were mentioned in Eye of the Gorgon by Bea, who said they looked like a huge potato with a raygun. Commander Kaagh appeared in Series 2 in the story The Last Sontaran after his battle fleet and other Sontarans were destroyed in the Doctor Who episodes "The Sontaran Strategem" and "The Poison Sky" (2008). He returned in Enemy of the Bane, where he teamed up with Mrs Wormwood, the recurring Bane. In the end, he sacrificed himself to stop her plans to destroy Earth. He made a small appearance in "The Pandorica Opens" (2010). The Sontarans are still a bit annoyed that they weren't allowed to fight in the Time War.

As seen with Strax, Sontarans can't tell the difference between men and women. They think polite terms like Miss or Mister are military ranks.

Spiridon

The Spiridons appeared in the story Planet of the Daleks (1973). They are the main intelligent humanoids on the planet Spiridon. They can become invisible by creating "anti-reflecting light waves." They become visible after death, with pale skin and a thin appearance. They wear heavy purple fur cloaks at night to protect themselves from Spiridon's harsh cold. The Doctor returns to Spiridon in spin-off audio adventures Return of the Daleks and Brotherhood of the Daleks.

Star Whale

Star whale
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Beast Below" (2010)
Information
Home world	Unknown
Type	Alien whale
Affiliation	Starship UK

The Star Whale is a giant whale-like creature, believed to be the last of its kind. It was used to pilot the Starship UK, saving its citizens from dangerous solar flares. The whale has features of other animals, like an anglerfish's light, an octopus's tentacles, and a scorpion's tail. It also has bright pink skin with glowing patches. It came to Earth because it heard the children of the United Kingdom crying and couldn't stand the sound.

The people of Britain thought its arrival was a miracle. They captured it and built their ship around it. They tortured it with strong electric pulses, sent directly into the whale's brain, to keep the ship flying. Over the years, they realized they couldn't justify keeping the creature in pain. But they feared that if they set it free, the ship and everyone on it would be destroyed as the creature fled. So, they chose to forget and fed those who protested to the beast.

When the Doctor learned this, he decided to make the creature brain-dead, ending its suffering and saving everyone on the ship. But Amy set it free. She revealed that the whale had volunteered to help and would continue flying without being tortured. The creature's exact size is not specified. It is only fully visible near the end of the episode.

Stenza

Stenza
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Woman Who Fell to Earth" (2018)
Information
Home world	Unknown
Type	Humanoid

The Stenza are a warrior race with very cold body temperatures. Touching them can cause death from freezing burns. So, Stenza need special suits to safely interact with other lifeforms. The Stenza have two traditions: a ritual hunt to earn leadership, where a Stenza hunts a chosen target without weapons or help; and collecting a tooth from a kill to put on their face. The Stenza are known for ethnic cleansing on planets they conquer, using the conquered people to make weapons. This was revealed in "The Ghost Monument".

Stigorax

A species that looks like large, furry rats. They eat meat. The last Stigorax was adopted by Helen A, who named it Fifi and took care of it. Fifi was released into sewer pipes to chase and eat escaping criminals. Fifi was later badly hurt by a collapsing pipe. It managed 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

Green-skinned, green-haired natives of the third moon of Delta Magma. Other than their color, they look similar to humans. Swampies are intelligent but primitive, without technology. They worship a giant squid-like creature called Kroll. In The Power of Kroll, only male Swampies are seen.

The Swarm

Also known by UNIT as Stingrays, they are flying manta ray-like creatures with metal exoskeletons. These exoskeletons allow them to travel between planets through wormholes. They consume everything on a planet, turning it into a desert. Then they swarm over the planet's surface, creating a wormhole that takes them to the next planet.

The Stingrays are like insects. They are cold-blooded and have an exoskeleton made of metal they eat and then secrete. They eat a lot, consuming both organic and inorganic materials like flesh, bone, plants, metals, and plastic. They also have many babies and grow from birth to adult in less than a year. The Tenth Doctor showed a year-old video of San Helios before it was infested with Stingrays.

They travel to other planets through wormholes created in space-time. They do this by circling a planet faster and faster. Since each swarm can have billions of giant stingrays, they rip a hole in space. Their wormholes can transport the whole swarm infinitely far through space.

Sycorax

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

Sycorax
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Christmas Invasion" (2005)
Created by	Russell T Davies
Information
Home world	Fire Trap (JX82 system)
Type	Humanoid
Affiliation	Unknown

The Sycorax look like humanoids without skin, wearing bone armor. They usually hide their faces under helmets. They are skilled with weapons like swords and whips. Their whips can deliver an energy shock that disintegrates their target's flesh. Their language is called Sycoraxic. The Sycorax also seem to have technology that looks like magic. They talk about "curses" and the Doctor's ability to regenerate as "witchcraft." The Sycorax leader mentioned an "armada" (a large fleet of ships) they could use to take Earth by force if their blood control plan failed. They also seem to have a warrior society with traditions of honorable combat, but they don't mind killing prisoners.

According to Russell T Davies, the Sycorax's face shape was inspired by a horse's skull. He also said the Sycorax came from an asteroid in a far-off star system called JX82, known as the Fire Trap. They became more advanced when a spaceship crashed on their asteroid. The Sycorax Leader enslaved the survivors, forcing them to teach the Sycorax about their technology. The asteroid was then turned into the first of many spaceships, which the Sycorax used to raid other planets, becoming feared space scavengers. This reputation is clear in how they treat other "inferior" races. The Sycorax leader told Rose he wouldn't "dirty his tongue" with her language, and their translated word for "human" can also mean "cattle." Their armada is always orbiting the Jewel of Staa Crafell.

In The Doctor Who Files books, the Sycorax homeworld is called "Sycorax." It's unclear if this is another name for the Fire Trap. After the Fire Trap was destroyed, the Sycorax spread further through the galaxy. Like humans, they are one of three species that keep surviving and adapting, even until the end of the Universe.

The name Sycorax is used in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Shakespeare's Sycorax dies before the play begins; she is described as a witch who was the mother of the beast Caliban. The Shakespearean name is mentioned in "The Shakespeare Code" when the Doctor finds a horse's skull. He says it "Reminds [him] too much of the Sycorax." Shakespeare says he likes the sound of the word, and later uses it in The Tempest.

The Sycorax also briefly appeared in "The Pandorica Opens" (2010) as part of The Alliance that tried to trap the Doctor. Later, in "The Name of the Doctor" (2013), the Great Intelligence mentioned them as one of those that left the Doctor covered in blood. A Sycorax appeared as a prisoner with the Doctor in "Revolution of the Daleks" (2021).

Alien Species: T

Tenza

Tenza
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Night Terrors" (2011)
Information
Type	Humanoid

The Tenza are an alien species whose young are raised by other species. Simply put, "a Tenza's only job is to fit in." They adapt perfectly to what their foster parents want. For example, "George" became the son Claire couldn't have. Tenzas have powerful psychic abilities. They can create monsters just with their imagination. They can also mentally create huge "perception filters" that change their foster parents' memories. Since George didn't seem to know he was a Tenza, the young of his species must do these things without realizing it, or they simply forget their true identities to blend in perfectly. The Doctor said that Tenza puberty is "always a funny time." He said he might have to come back to deal with George again if something else went wrong.

Terileptil

Terileptil
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Visitation (1982)
Information
Home world	Terileptus
Type	Reptilian humanoid
Affiliation	Galactic Federation

The Terileptils appeared in the Fifth Doctor story The Visitation. They are a reptilian humanoid species. They cannot live long without breathing soliton gas, which is very flammable when mixed with oxygen. They are an advanced society that loves both beauty and warfare. They have been known to use androids covered in jewels. Criminal punishment in Terileptil society includes life imprisonment working in mines, often with poor medical care.

In 1666, a group of Terileptil escaped prisoners hid near London. They tried to use a specially created version of the Black Plague to destroy humanity. The destruction of their lab caused the Great Fire of London.

The Terileptils destroyed the Sonic screwdriver. It did not appear again until the Doctor Who TV movie.

The Terileptils are mentioned as being part of the Alliance that trapped the Doctor in "The Pandorica Opens" (2010). They were also present during the siege of Trenzalore. A Terileptil was briefly shown as one of the criminals displayed by Psi in "Time Heist" (2014).

Terraberserker

A race that lives in the Kondonian Belt, but there are very few of them. The Eleventh Doctor knows their language and customs well. He exchanged a greeting with one at the Festival of Offerings.

Tetrap

Tetrap
Doctor Who race
First appearance	Time and the Rani (1987)
Information
Home world	Tetrapyriarbus
Type	Bat-like humanoids
Affiliation	The Rani

The Tetraps are a bat-like race from the planet Tetrapyriarbus. A group of Tetraps was hired by the Rani to help defend her Giant Brain in the Seventh Doctor's first story, Time and the Rani (1987). The Rani armed them and used them as general helpers to scare the native Lakertyans.

Tetraps have four eyes, one on each side of their head, giving them all-around vision. They use this well when hunting. Like bats, they sleep by hanging upside-down in a cave. They eat a dark red sludge that the Lakertyan leader releases for them.

Tetraps are not very intelligent. But they soon realized that the Rani's plans would kill them all on Lakertya. This was confirmed when their leader, Urak, heard of her plans, and she left him to guard her lab instead of taking him with her in her TARDIS, which meant he would die. Urak and the angry Tetraps captured the Rani in her ship and took her back to their home planet, to force her to help solve their natural resource problems.

Thal

The Thals are a race of peaceful, blond humanoids. Along with the Daleks, they are native to the planet Skaro. They were once a warlike species. But a nuclear war with the Daleks, which almost wiped out all life on their planet, made them develop a peaceful, farming society.

Tharil

The Tharil are a humanoid race that look like lions. They are from E-Space, and their world is connected to a gateway between E-space and N-space. They are sensitive to time and can use their powers to travel the universe. Because of this, they were able to enslave many people. However, their empire fell when the slaves rebelled, building robots that could defeat the Tharils. The roles were reversed, and the Tharils became slaves, forced by their captors to navigate through time and space. One Tharil brings the Fourth Doctor and his companions to the gate. When the Doctor learns their history, he agrees they have suffered enough for their crimes. He helps free the Tharils on the slavers' ship. As the Doctor and Adric leave, Romana and K9 stay behind to help the Tharils free slaves on other planets.

Time Beetle

Time Beetle
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Turn Left" (2008)
Information
Type	Time-sensitive insectoids
Affiliation	The Trickster Fortune teller

The Time Beetle is a member of the Trickster's Brigade, a group of aliens that serve the Trickster. The Time Beetle, like the Trickster, feeds on time energy. It can make a victim change a decision they made in the past, which alters history. The change is usually very small, affecting only the person the beetle attaches to. The universe usually "compensates" for the change.

When the beetle attached to Donna in "Turn Left" (2008), instead of compensating, it created a "great big parallel world." In this world, Donna never met the Doctor, leading to disaster for Earth. The Doctor, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, and Torchwood staff Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper were all killed. London was completely destroyed when the Titanic spaceship crashed into Buckingham Palace. Captain Jack Harkness was taken to the Sontaran homeworld. Millions of people died from threats the Doctor would have prevented. Donna traveled back in time to make her make the original decision that led to her meeting the Doctor, killing the Beetle. According to both the Doctor and Donna, this parallel universe stopped existing.

In an accompanying "Monster Files" episode, Captain Jack wondered if the whole Trickster's Brigade was made of beetles, suggesting individuals were of different species.

In the Torchwood episode "Immortal Sins" (2011), the Trickster's Brigade was mentioned. They tried to help Nazi Germany win World War II by killing U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a parasite.

Time Lord

The Time Lords are a race of humanoid aliens. The Doctor and other characters belong to this race. Time Lords can regenerate when they are mortally wounded. This process creates a completely new body and changes their personality a lot, but they keep their memories and identity. In The Power of the Daleks (1966), it's suggested that some recognizable feature remains, as the Daleks immediately recognize the Second Doctor after he regenerates. In "The Time of the Doctor" (2013), the Eleventh Doctor confirmed that a Time Lord naturally has only 12 regenerations, meaning 13 different bodies. In the same episode, the Doctor saved Clara's life by sending her home. But she held onto the TARDIS through the Time Vortex on its return. When she arrived 300 years later, she found a visibly aged Doctor. This proved that Time Lords experience natural physical changes during each life between regenerations. In "A Good Man Goes to War" (2011), it's suggested this ability developed because the Time Lord race was exposed to a powerful energy source for a long time.

Time Lords have other superhuman abilities, including mental powers and resistance to extreme cold and radiation. They have two hearts, so a faster heart rate, and a cooler body temperature. The Doctor later claimed that Time Lords existed before humans in "The Beast Below" (2010).

The first Time Lord to appear other than the Doctor and his granddaughter Susan Foreman is the Monk, in the 1965 story The Time Meddler, but his race isn't confirmed then. The term "Time Lord" itself isn't used until The War Games (1969), when the race is fully introduced.

As of the 2005 revival series, the Time Lords are mostly extinct, except for the Doctor. They were supposedly destroyed by him during the Time War. However, "The Day of the Doctor" (2013) showed that this was a trick. The Time Lords are still alive in a pocket universe, where all the Doctors put them to save them from destruction.

Time Zombies

Creatures that appeared in "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" (2013). They were echoes of the possible future selves that the Doctor, Clara, Trickey, and Gregor would have become if exposed to the Eye of Harmony for too long. They were burned by it as their cells turned to liquid. They seemed to have lost most of their intelligence and ability to speak. However, each might have been driven by a specific goal. The Doctor wanted a part of the Arch Rec back from Gregor. Clara might have wanted revenge on the Van Baalens for causing all the trouble. Gregor and Tricky would want revenge for being mutated into monsters. Each could be identified, though not as easily with the Doctor and Clara, because of how they changed. The Doctor was stuck holding his head, and the Van Baalens were stuck to each other.

Unlike other time echoes, they could touch the present world and killed Bram Van Baalen. They accidentally trapped their past selves in the Eye of Harmony's room, setting up their own existence. The Doctor realized how to prevent this future, killing all but Clara's echo. However, the Van Baalens couldn't avoid their fate. The Doctor eventually prevented these creatures from existing by resetting time, stopping the TARDIS from being damaged and salvaged by the Van Baalen Brothers.

Tivolian

Tivolian
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The God Complex" (2011)
Information
Home world	Tivoli
Type	Humanoid alien
Affiliation	Current conqueror

The Tivolians are a cowardly, rodent-faced race that live on Tivoli. It is the most invaded planet in the galaxy. Because of this, 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 quickly 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 don't often express their own opinions, just wanting to be told what to do or enslaved. The Twelfth Doctor said that Tivolians wouldn't say "Boo" to a goose—they'd be more likely to give the goose their car keys and bank account information. Among those who ruled the Tivolians were the Fisher King and the "glorious Arcateenians”.

Toclafane

Toclafane
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Sound of Drums" (2007)
Information
Type	Humans integrated into metallic spheres
Affiliation	The Master

The Toclafane are the last remaining humans from the year 100 trillion. They originally planned to travel to Utopia, the last safe place in a dying universe. But they found nothing but "the dark and the cold" of space. Losing all hope, they created a new cyborg race. As part of this process, they became like children with shared memories. The name Toclafane was given to them by The Master, who took it from the Gallifreyan version of the bogeyman.

The Toclafane's cyborg bodies have energy devices that can kill and disintegrate targets. They have many retractable blades. The first four seen also seemed to teleport or cloak themselves, which others of their race didn't show. All that remains of their bodies are barely recognizable human faces wired into basketball-sized mechanical spheres.

In "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords" (2007), the Master rescued four Toclafane from the end of the universe. He used them to fake a first contact situation to gather world leaders for easy capture. He then used a "paradox machine" to allow the future of the human race to slaughter many in the present. This brought the six billion humans alive in the year 100 trillion back as Toclafane. The paradox machine created a time paradox, letting them kill their ancestors without harming themselves, establishing the Master's rule over Earth. After taking over Earth, the Master aimed to create a new Time Lord empire with himself as leader and the Toclafane as his people and soldiers. This plan was stopped when the paradox machine was destroyed, causing time to rewind and trapping the Toclafane back at the end of the universe. Once the Master lost control of Earth, the fake name Toclafane was dropped for a more general "spheres."

Torajii

A sentient star featured in the episode "42". The crew of a cargo ship used a sun scoop on Torajii to refuel their ship. They didn't know it was a living organism. Torajii then used the stolen matter to possess and kill the crew until the fuel was returned. Once the sun scoop was dumped, it allowed the ship to fly away.

Travist Polong

Travist Polong is an orange, meter-long, five-eyed slug/slater-like alien. Sarah Jane Smith tried to catch it at a hospital in Tarminster in The Mark of the Berserker (2008), but left to deal with a Berserker.

Travist Polong was later delivered to Sarah Jane in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith (2009) after she saw it on eBay in its dormant stage. Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer 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 told Rani to order Mr Smith to teleport it to Polongus, its home planet. Sarah Jane described Travist Polong as "not evil, just trouble."

The Trickster

The Trickster is a being from beyond the universe. It tries to appear by causing chaos. It can interfere in deaths, making tricky deals to extend life at a cost. It can only exist in our universe for short times, without a physical body, sometimes in a mirror. It is a member of the Pantheon of Discord. Played by Paul Marc Davis, the Trickster is a recurring enemy in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Although the character doesn't appear directly in Doctor Who or Torchwood, the Trickster's attempts to change history have been shown.

In Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?, to create enough chaos, the Trickster removed Sarah Jane Smith from history. This allowed an asteroid that only she could have stopped to hit the Earth. The Trickster changed an event in Sarah Jane's childhood in 1964 that led to her best friend, Andrea Yates, dying. The Trickster switched the girls' places after Andrea agreed, creating a timeline where Sarah Jane died at age 13. The Trickster preferred meaningless destruction over profit or military conquest. It also influenced other alien threats Sarah Jane had faced to stay away from Earth, creating a peaceful timeline until the asteroid strike. Keeping Sarah Jane in Limbo, it also planned to use her to find and remove The Doctor from history. This would create a timeline of terrible chaos, where the many tragedies the Doctor prevented would have happened.

The Time Beetle that consumes time energy by changing a person's timeline in the Doctor Who episode "Turn Left" is described as one of "the Trickster's Brigade".

In The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, the Trickster returned with the Graske. It appeared in 1951 after Sarah Jane saved her parents' lives. By 2008, it had completely ruined the planet and enslaved humans, and was trying to conquer other planets. Sarah Jane went back to the moment it appeared to stop it, but couldn't think of a way. Her parents willingly drove off in their car, leading to their death. This made the Trickster vanish, and the original timeline was restored. The Trickster appeared through a gate at an old monastery in Sarah Jane's home village. This entry point was destroyed for a road in 1964.

The Trickster returned in The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith. He had made a deal with a lawyer, Peter Dalton, after an accident. He gave Dalton his life and the love he never had: Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane fell in love with Dalton and agreed to marry him. But the wedding was interrupted by the arrival of the Tenth Doctor. The Trickster took the hotel out of time, trapping Sarah Jane and Peter in one second while the Doctor, Luke, Clyde, Rani, and K9 were trapped in another. Realizing that the Trickster wanted Sarah's marriage to end her life of defending Earth, Sarah Jane convinced Peter that he had to break the deal, sacrificing himself so Sarah Jane could continue saving the world. The Trickster mentioned the Tenth Doctor's upcoming regeneration. He also said that the Doctor's first meeting with the Pantheon of Discord had sent ripples back through time. The Trickster was vulnerable to artron energy (the TARDIS's power source). Clyde became charged with artron energy when he touched the TARDIS while it was trying to break through the Trickster's time rift. He used the energy to hurt the Trickster, draining its power long enough for the Doctor to break the Trickster's trap.

The Trickster is briefly mentioned in the Torchwood: Miracle Day episode "Immortal Sins". In the episode, Captain Jack Harkness and his lover Angelo Colasanto stopped an alien parasite. The Trickster's brigade planned to use it to infect U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and create an alternate timeline where Nazi Germany won World War II.

A shot of the Trickster is briefly shown in the 2014 Doctor Who episode "Time Heist", describing him as one of the galaxy's most famous criminals. Since he only wants chaos, the Trickster is likely the most wanted criminal.

The Trickster's Brigade

The Trickster's Brigade serve the recurring The Sarah Jane Adventures villain, The Trickster. They also feed on chaos in time, just like the Trickster. In "Turn Left", a Time Beetle, a member of The Trickster's Brigade, attached itself to the back of companion Donna Noble. This created a parallel world where she never met the Doctor in "The Runaway Bride", leading to his death.

In the Torchwood episode "Immortal Sins", Captain Jack Harkness and Angelo Colasanto discovered that The Trickster's Brigade planned to help Nazi Germany win World War II. They intended to do this by killing Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a brain parasite. But Jack shot it in the head, killing it instantly.

Trion

A humanoid species, looking just like humans. Trions are very intelligent. A civil war broke out on their planet. Those on the losing side were sent to different planets. Turlough ended up on Earth, while the rest of his family went to a volcanic planet. The descendants of the original exiles came to believe that the mark of exile meant they were chosen by their god, Mulkur, to lead them. After several years, the exile was lifted, allowing them to return home.

Tritovore

Humanoid fly creatures. They communicate with clicks that the TARDIS did not translate because it was not on the same planet as the Tenth Doctor and Lady Christina de Souza. The Doctor spoke with them in their own language, while they understood the Doctor through a one-way mind-reading translation device.

Alien Species: U

Usurian

The Usurians from the planet Usurius are a species that chose economic conquest over military conquest. They enslaved humanity after their engineers made Mars suitable for humans, as humans had used up Earth's resources. Once humanity used up Mars's resources too, the Usurians engineered Pluto so humans could live there. They created six artificial "Suns" around it and put the Collector in charge of collecting taxes from their human workers. They planned to abandon Pluto and let humanity die out once its resources were gone, as there were no other planets suitable for humans. The humans on Pluto rebelled against the Collector and took control of Pluto. The rebels planned to move back to Earth, as the Doctor assured them it would have recovered in their absence.

The Usurians know about the Time Lords. They rated them "Grade 3" in their "latest market survey," considering Gallifrey to have low commercial value. Usurians can take a humanoid form, but in their natural state, they look like seaweed. A shock can make them return to their natural form. According to the Doctor, Usurians are listed under poisonous fungi in a book about the universe's "flora and fauna."

Uvodni

The Uvodni are a bug-like race, first seen in Warriors of Kudlak (2007). General Kudlak served in his race's military until injuries forced him to retire. To get more soldiers for his race's ongoing war, Kudlak was sent to Earth. He took control of the Combat 3000 laser game franchise. He secretly used it to find human children with strong combat skills. These children were teleported to Kudlak's spaceship orbiting Earth and sent 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 a virtual assistant, which he called "Mistress." An error made the computer unable to understand that the war had ended. So, it hid an announcement of peace from his emperor for over ten years. When this was revealed by Luke Smith's computer hacking, Kudlak destroyed the computer. He then dedicated his life to finding and returning the human children who had already been sent to war, hoping to find inner peace.

An Uvodni appeared in "The Pandorica Opens" (2010) as part of the Alliance that trapped the Doctor.

Alien Species: V

Validium

Living metal created by the Time Lords. It could do many things because of its origins. Some of this metal ended up on Earth, and Lady Peinforte used it to make a statue of herself, the Nemesis Statue. The Doctor, in his different forms, sent the statue away from Earth every 25 years. But it always returned because its bow and arrow were missing, which drew the statue back. Every major disaster in Earth's history that happened 25 years apart was caused by it.

In 1988, the Doctor managed to get all the pieces and made the statue explode in the middle of a Cyberman fleet.

Vampire

Several different types of vampires have appeared in televised Doctor Who:

• In the 1965 First Doctor story The Chase, the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki met Count Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster. These monsters quickly dealt with a group of Daleks chasing them. The Doctor thought the monsters and the haunted house were created from human nightmares. As the TARDIS and the Daleks' time capsule left, it was revealed that the monsters were actually funfair robots.
• The Fourth Doctor met vampires while traveling in E-Space in the 1980 story State of Decay. The Doctor, Romana, Adric, and K9 met three vampires: Aukon, Camilla, and Zargo. It was revealed that they served the giant King Vampire. This King Vampire once fought a great war against the Time Lords but was the only survivor by escaping to E-Space. The Doctor defeated the King Vampire by launching the lesser vampires' tower—which was actually the command module of the ship piloted by the originally human trio—and using it like a stake to pierce the giant vampire's heart. The three servant vampires died with their king.
• Creatures similar to vampires, Saturnyns, appeared in the Eleventh Doctor episode "The Vampires of Venice". Another species, the Plasmavore, was shown in "Smith and Jones".

Varga Plant

Varga Plants
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Mission to the Unknown" (1965)
Information
Home world	Skaro
Type	Animal/plant hybrid
Affiliation	Daleks

The Varga Plants appeared in the First Doctor episode "Mission to the Unknown" and the story The Daleks' Master Plan (1965–66). They were created by Terry Nation.

Varga Plants grew naturally on the Daleks' home planet, Skaro. When the Daleks set up a base on the planet Kembel, they brought some Varga plants with them to act as guards in the jungle around their base. They were good for this because they could move freely by dragging themselves with their roots.

Varga plants look like cacti. They are covered in fur and thorns. Anyone pricked by a Varga thorn will feel a strong urge to kill and will also turn into a Varga plant themselves. This terrible fate happened to astronauts Jeff Garvey and Gordon Lowery, and their commander, Marc Cory, was forced to kill them.

The plants later appeared in the Big Finish audio I, Davros: Purity. In this story, it was revealed that Varga plants were one of the oldest species on Skaro, but for most of their history, they couldn't move. Since the Kaled-Thal war began, exposure to radiation and chemical weapons made them quickly evolve into a much deadlier form that could move on its own. This discovery made Davros interested in genetically engineering creatures to create weapons of war.

Vashta Nerada

Vashta Nerada
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"Silence in the Library"
Information
Home world	Practically universal
Type	Carnivorous swarm
Affiliation	Unknown

Vashta Nerada (meaning: the shadows that melt the flesh) are tiny swarm creatures. When there are enough of them, they look just like shadows. They use this to their advantage to approach and attack prey. They are described as the "piranhas of the air," able to strip their victims to the bone instantly if there are enough of them. The Tenth Doctor says that almost every planet in the universe has some, including Earth. He claims they can be seen as the dust specks visible in bright light. He states they are why most intelligent creatures have an instinctual fear of the dark. On most planets, however, Vashta Nerada exist in small numbers, mainly eating dead things, so attacks on people are rare. In "Silence in the Library", an unusually large number of Vashta Nerada had completely taken over the 51st-century "Library," leading to the apparent death of everyone inside.

Vashta Nerada usually live in forests. They reproduce using tiny spores that can stay dormant in wood pulp. In "Forest of the Dead", this is why they were so common in The Library. The books and The Library itself were made of wood from the Vashta Nerada's native forests. Individually, Vashta Nerada are not intelligent. But if a large enough group comes together, they can form a group mind with human-level intelligence and can communicate.

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

Veil

Veils can enter and control the bodies of others. They can also put their victims in a trance by touching them with their very long tongue. In the episode Prisoner of the Judoon, Androvax, the last Veil, was a fugitive who had destroyed twelve planets. He was chased by the Judoon after their prison ship crashed on Earth. He later returned in The Vault of Secrets, seeking help from Sarah Jane, Clyde, and Rani because he was ill and wanted to return to his own kind. Androvax successfully woke up the surviving Veils and searched for a new world for them to live on.

In "Heaven Sent," the Twelfth Doctor met another creature called the Veil. It was a limping, disfigured creature in a shroud surrounded by flies. This creature was based on an image the Doctor saw in his childhood. The Veil's purpose was to force the Doctor to confess what he knew about the Hybrid.

Venusian

Venusians are inhabitants of the planet Venus, the closest planet to Earth. They had large feet and six arms. The Third Doctor often used a form of Venusian martial art (called Venusian aikido or Venusian karate) and sang Venusian lullabies. Venusian aikido is supposedly very hard for two-armed beings to learn. Its use appeared in the stories Inferno, Day of the Daleks, and others. The Seventh Doctor preferred a more subtle version using a single finger, seen in Survival. The Fourth Doctor told Davros in Genesis of the Daleks that a battle between the Venusians and the Daleks "in the Space Year 17,000" ended with help from battleships from the planet Hyperon. Although Venus today has no life, the novel Venusian Lullaby shows Venus was inhabited billions of years ago, before it became too hot for life.

Vervoid

Artificially created plant-based humanoids. They have problem-solving intelligence and can speak. They were meant to do tasks usually done by robots, but for less money. Unfortunately, they decided to get rid of all "animalkind." Vervoids were about the size and strength of humans. They were covered in leaves that gave them energy through photosynthesis. They had thorns so poisonous they could kill a human on contact. They could also produce large amounts of methane-based swamp gas.

Vespiform

Vespiform
Doctor Who race
First appearance	"The Unicorn and the Wasp"
Information
Home world	Unknown, Silfrax Galaxy
Type	Morphing insectoids

Vespiform are an insectoid species that look like giant wasps. They are born in large groups in hives in the Silfrax Galaxy. Each Vespiform can change into other species. It can also have children with other species, including humans. The Monster Files say they are an ancient race and have fought the Quark rebels.

Vespiform have a mind-link to objects called firestones, which hold part of their mind. Like Earth's wasps, the Vespiform are vulnerable to water. A Vespiform-human hybrid can live a normal human life until strong emotions awaken its alien biology. When a Vespiform changes into another species, it glows purple.

In "The Unicorn and the Wasp", a Vespiform appeared and started killing people like in Agatha Christie's mystery books. It turned out the Vespiform was killing because of its firestone, which Lady Eddison had. She was thinking about Christie's novels. Also, the Vespiform was revealed to be Lady Eddison's secret son, Reverend Golightly. In the end, trying to get the firestone back, the Vespiform died chasing it when Donna Noble threw it into a lake.

The Vigil

Vinvocci

Vinvocci are a race of spiky green aliens. They first appeared in "The End of Time". A pair of Vinvocci came to Earth to salvage Vinvocci technology—a medical device for healing entire planets, which Joshua Naismith called the "Immortality Gate." They have disguise technology that the Tenth Doctor called a Shimmer. When the Doctor noticed a similarity to Bannakaffalatta from Voyage of the Damned, noting that "he was small, and red," the Vinvocci quickly said they were different from the Zocci. Both races might be rivals, explaining their reaction. They also find it rude when someone calls them cacti.

Viperox

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

Vishklar

Vishklars are a species of humanoid aliens that feed on the energy from human nightmares. One Vishklar, known as The Nightmare Man, targeted Luke Smith. He found Luke's dreams very interesting because Luke was genetically engineered by the Bane and wasn't a biological human, so he shouldn't have been able to dream.

Visian

Visians are invisible creatures native to the planet Mira. They are completely invisible, only detectable by their footprints and the sounds they make moving through the jungle. The Doctor states that they are 8 feet tall and very hostile. This is shown by the fact that they attack both the Doctor's group and the Daleks without picking sides.

Vogan

The natives of the planet Voga, which was entirely made of gold. The Cybermen wanted to destroy their planet to stop the organic beings from fighting them in the Cyber Wars.

Voord

A race of amphibious humanoids introduced in the First Doctor story The Keys of Marinus (1964).

Alien Species: W

Weeping Angel

Weevil

Weevils first appeared in the Torchwood episode "Everything Changes" (2006). As Jack Harkness explained, Torchwood gave them the name "Weevil", but their true name is unknown because communication with them is limited. A documentary series, Torchwood Declassified, called them the "resident alien of the show." Torchwood Three has a captive Weevil that Owen studies. Jack first thought of naming it Barbara, but "It didn't seem right," so they named it Janet.

Weevils are thought to be from another planet. A few hundred of them live in the sewers of Cardiff, having traveled through a spacetime rift in the city. They usually eat sewage, but sometimes one goes rogue, comes to the surface, and attacks humans with its sharp fangs. They are often seen wearing Torchwood uniforms, so they probably escape from the facility often. In "Everything Changes", a Weevil kills a hospital porter, but is captured and imprisoned. Jack also said that these attacks were happening more often, but the reason was unknown. In a Torchwood Declassified episode, John Barrowman thought Weevils attack humans because they fear being lured into Weevil fight clubs. A fictional radio station website mentioned that 1930s New York City had a similar Weevil problem, which was covered up by the urban legend of sewer crocodiles.

The Torchwood website also said they are not very intelligent and have little or no language, but might communicate telepathically. It noted that while they attack to kill, it's unclear if it's just for food. It pointed out that they show family/group behavior and territorial aggression. They are adapted to live in dark, damp places and are very strong and fast. "End of Days" showed that Weevils are also "time sensitive," feeling physical pain from big disruptions in the spacetime rift. "Combat" also revealed that Weevils were becoming immune to "anti-Weevil spray," suggesting they can quickly adapt.

Another Weevil, nicknamed 'Janet', appeared in a deleted scene from "Greeks Bearing Gifts". Jack Harkness said it was captured while burying its child. It briefly appeared later when Toshiko Sato, feeling sad after seeing into others' minds, compared humanity to Weevils, noting how similar they were. Other appearances include "Combat", "Sleeper", and "Reset". In the latter, Janet was afraid of Beth.

In "Combat", the 'Weevil Fight Club' owner, Mark Lynch, thought Weevils were future humans, left with only rage. However, the Torchwood website said researchers in the 1950s noted they didn't seem to come from any known Earth species. In "Combat", Toshiko Sato questioned the rights of a Weevil over a human. She questioned Jack Harkness's decision to let 'Janet' the Weevil loose to lure the fight club owners, even though 'Janet' might be treated badly. In the end of "Combat", Owen Harper hissed like a Weevil at Janet and the fight-club person in their cells, and they both cowered away.

Weevils seem to have a strange connection to Death. In "Dead Man Walking", they bowed in fear to Owen when he was possessed by Death. In "Exit Wounds", they still feared Owen, as he was "King of the Weevils." He could walk through the streets, unlike Toshiko and Ianto.

In a Torchwood Declassified episode, John Barrowman said that Weevils might be calm but kill when they feel threatened. Weevils cannot swim; one drowned after Jack, Gwen, and Ianto chased it into Cardiff Bay in "Lost Souls".

Weevils appeared in the Doctor Who episode "The Pandorica Opens" (2010). They appeared with other alien species who united to capture the Doctor.

Janet the Weevil was played by actor Paul Kasey.

Werewolf

Two different kinds of werewolves have appeared in Doctor Who. In "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy", a woman named Mags was found by an explorer. Mags became wild and changed slightly to look more animal-like in moonlight, whether real or simulated. The Seventh Doctor helped Mags regain control of herself.

In "Tooth and Claw" (2006), a bacterial life form was worshipped by a religious group. It wanted to create the Empire of the Wolf by infecting Queen Victoria. The Tenth Doctor destroyed it and its host by overloading it with moonlight. However, he suspected a tiny piece of the lifeform might have entered the Queen through a cut on her finger. The Doctor guessed it wouldn't be a threat until the 21st century.

Whisper Men

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

Wirrn

Wirrn
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Ark in Space (1975)
Information
Home world	"Andromeda"
Type	Parasitic insectoids
Affiliation	Noah

The Wirrn are an insectoid race that first appeared in the 1975 Fourth Doctor story The Ark in Space. The name is sometimes spelled Wirrrn, which comes from the novelization of the story.

The Wirrn claimed to be from Andromeda (it's unclear if they meant the galaxy, the constellation, or a planet named "Andromeda"). But human settlers drove them into space. They are a bit larger than humans, dark green, and look like wasps. They mostly live in space, though their breeding colonies are on land. Their bodies are self-contained systems. Their lungs can recycle waste carbon dioxide, and they only need to land occasionally for food and oxygen. The Wirrn's life cycle involves laying their eggs in living hosts. The larvae emerge to eat the host, absorbing its memories and knowledge. A Wirrn larva is a green, slug-like creature, from a few inches to 1 or 2 meters long. It can "infect" another organism by touching it with a substance it excretes. This mutates them into an adult Wirrn and connects their mind to the group mind.

In The Ark in Space, the Wirrn found Space Station Nerva orbiting an Earth that had been destroyed centuries before by solar flares. The survivors had been in suspended animation waiting for the planet to recover, but had slept for thousands of years too long. The Wirrn planned to use the sleepers as food and claim the empty Earth for themselves. This was both for survival and revenge against humans for taking their old territories. During their plan, Noah, Nerva's leader, was infected and turned into a Wirrn. However, Noah still had "more than a bit of human spirit," probably thanks to the Doctor's encouragement. He led the Wirrn into Nerva's transport ship, even though he knew it was set to explode. It did, ending the Wirrn threat.

The Wirrn have also appeared in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Placebo Effect and in audio plays. A dead Wirrn briefly appeared in the TV story The Stones of Blood.

Alien Species: X

Xeraphin

Xeraphin
Doctor Who race
First appearance	Time-Flight (1982)
Information
Home world	Xeriphas
Type	Gestalt humanoid
Affiliation	The Master

The Xeraphin were an ancient species met by the Fifth Doctor in the story Time-Flight (1982). They came from the planet Xeriphas and had huge mind-based and scientific powers. The Doctor thought the race had been wiped out during a war. Instead, the whole race fled to Earth in an escaping spaceship. The ship crashed near present-day Heathrow about 140 million years ago. When the Xeraphin emerged, they built a Citadel as their new home. But the Xeraphin were so affected by radiation that they left their original humanoid bodies. They changed into a single, living energy being inside a sarcophagus at the Citadel's heart.

The arrival of the Master happened when they were emerging from this energy state, as the radiation effects had lessened. His influence caused them to split into good and evil personalities. Each side fought for their immense power while wanting to become a proper species again. The Master, who was also stranded on Earth, managed to capture the Xeraphin as a new power source for his TARDIS. However, the Doctor's actions meant his enemy's TARDIS was sent to Xeriphas, where things went out of his control.

Before fleeing Xeriphas and the Xeraphin, the Master took Kamelion with him. Kamelion was a Xeraphin war weapon with advanced shape-changing abilities that depended on its controller's will. Kamelion was freed from the Master and joined the Doctor's TARDIS crew in The King's Demons (1983).

Xylok

Xyloks are a crystalline race that crashed into Earth as a meteorite about 60 million years ago. The Xyloks that survived were trapped under Earth's surface, slowly regrowing over thousands of years.

After the eruption of Mount Krakatoa in 1883, one of the Xyloks was found. It was eventually given to Sarah Jane Smith by a geologist friend when she was studying volcanoes, 18 months before The Lost Boy. While studying its crystal structure, she found it could use her laptop to communicate. The Xylok agreed to help Sarah Jane protect Earth. It was integrated into the supercomputer Mr Smith, which Sarah Jane built under the Xylok's instructions. Sarah Jane didn't know this was a plot. The Xylok planned to one day release the imprisoned Xylok race. Sarah Jane and her friends stopped its plans. As a result, Mr Smith was reprogrammed and became helpful to humanity again.

Alien Species: Z

Zaralok

The Zaralok was a shark-like creature that swam in the waters around flooded 23rd-century London. This area was now a network of underwater tunnels called 'Poseidon'. When the Doctor and Amy landed the TARDIS in Poseidon, the Zaralok immediately attacked, trying to break into the glass tunnels. While constantly avoiding the monster, the two slowly uncovered the mystery of Poseidon. The city was threatened not only by the Zaralok, but also by the Vashta Nerada and strange radiation.

They eventually discovered that all the strange things arrived when the USS Eldridge, an American WWII-era ship, suddenly jumped back into the sea several days ago. This ship had vanished through a wormhole to another world hundreds of years ago. However, the ship got stuck in the wormhole, keeping it open and allowing the creatures and radiation to leak through. The Doctor and Amy traveled to the Eldridge wreckage and managed to close the wormhole. The Zaralok was seen being pulled back to its own world, and the other strange things disappeared with it. The creature's name probably comes from Žralok, which means shark in Slovak or Czech language.

Zarbi

Zarbi
Doctor Who race
First appearance	The Web Planet
Information
Home world	Vortis
Type	Insectoid
Affiliation	Animus

The Zarbi appeared in the 1965 First Doctor story The Web Planet. They are ant-like insectoid creatures, with some features of beetles, from the planet Vortis. They were controlled by the power of the Animus. They are about eight feet long. The Menoptra claimed they were "little more than cattle."

They have little intelligence but were not aggressive until the Animus arrived. They were enslaved by the alien consciousness and considered the butterfly-like Menoptra their deadly 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 believed that the different species on Vortis now live peacefully together.

Zocci

The Zocci are a small race of red, spiky aliens. Voyage of the Damned featured a Zocci named Bannakaffalatta. His species was first named in "The End of Time", where the Vinvocci quickly said they were different from the Zocci.

Zolfa-Thuran

A race of intelligent cacti from the planet Zolfa-Thura. Meglos, from the episode of the same name, was the last surviving member of the species.

Zygon

See also

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