Hand of Omega
Encyclopedia
The Hand of Omega is a fictional device from the British
science fiction television
series Doctor Who
.
In Remembrance of the Daleks
the Seventh Doctor
explains that the "Hand of Omega" is the mythical name for the remote stellar manipulator
invented by Omega, the first of the Time Lord
s of the planet Gallifrey
. Omega
was a stellar engineer who used the Hand to create the supernova which would be the power source for the Gallifreyans' experiments and subsequent mastery over time travel
. The attempt resulted in a supernova
that apparently consumed Omega, but instead shunted him into an antimatter
universe. The supernova subsequently collapsed into a black hole
, the nucleus
of which was harnessed by Omega's colleague Rassilon
as the Eye of Harmony
, and giving the Time Lords the power to live up to their name. In homage to Omega, and to live up to their apparent "infinite capacity for pretentiousness", the Time Lords dubbed the manipulator the "Hand of Omega".
prior to his self-imposed exile before the events of the first Doctor Who episode. He then hid it in a funeral parlour in London
in the year 1963, as seen in the 1988 serial Remembrance of the Daleks
.
The Hand resided in a casket that made it resemble a coffin
. The casket had a dull, bronze appearance to it, but what material it was actually made from is unknown. Seemingly possessed of some basic intelligence, the Hand had the ability to levitate and follow simple orders. It was also able, on the Doctor's orders, to suffuse a baseball
bat with energy, which the Doctor's companion Ace
then used briefly as a weapon.
In Remembrance, the Seventh Doctor
returned to 1963, apparently to move the Hand to another hiding place. In truth, he was laying a trap for the Dalek
s and their creator, Davros
. Davros had hoped to use the Hand to transform the sun of the Dalek homeworld Skaro
into a power source for time travel. However, the Doctor had altered the Hand's programming so that instead of enhancing Skaro's sun, the Hand turned it supernova
, obliterating Skaro and, presumably, the Daleks themselves. The Hand of Omega returned to Gallifrey afterward.
novel War of the Daleks
by John Peel
, it was revealed that the planet Antalin had been destroyed in Skaro's place. The canonicity of the novels, as with all spin-off media, is open to interpretation.
The Virgin New Adventures
novel Lungbarrow
by Marc Platt
provides some additional history on the Hand during the early years of its creation on Gallifrey. The Hand was hidden by Rassilon, but escaped just before the Doctor left Gallifrey. The ancient alarms left by Rassilon were not known and could not be shut off, leaving the Hand to lurk around the Doctor's rooms.
In the BBC Books
novel The Eight Doctors
by Terrance Dicks
it is revealed that there were two Hands, both used by Omega. The Hand also appears in The Infinity Doctors
by Lance Parkin
.
The origins of the Hand are further explored in Omega
, a Big Finish Productions
audio drama. There it is stated that the Hand was literally a hand placed in the Stellar Manipulator: that of Vandekirian, Omega's treacherous associate. The name "Hand of Omega" was chosen by Rassilon for political reasons. However, aside from the canonicity issues, the story is told largely from the point of view of an insane Omega with confused memories, as well as trying to make a point about the malleability of written history. This ultimately makes the accuracy of the information uncertain.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
science fiction television
Science fiction on television
Science fiction first appeared on a television program during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary world not limited by the constraints of reality; this makes television an excellent medium...
series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
.
In Remembrance of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 October to 26 October 1988....
the Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
explains that the "Hand of Omega" is the mythical name for the remote stellar manipulator
Stellar engineering
Stellar engineering is a type of engineering concerned with creating or modifying stars through artificial means....
invented by Omega, the first of the Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
s of the planet Gallifrey
Gallifrey
Gallifrey is a fictional planet in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and is the homeworld of the Doctor and the Time Lords...
. Omega
Omega (Doctor Who)
Omega is a fictional character from the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. In the context of the series, Omega is known as one of the founding fathers of the Time Lords of the planet Gallifrey, and is a revered figure in Time Lord history together with the equally...
was a stellar engineer who used the Hand to create the supernova which would be the power source for the Gallifreyans' experiments and subsequent mastery over time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
. The attempt resulted in a supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
that apparently consumed Omega, but instead shunted him into an antimatter
Antimatter
In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
universe. The supernova subsequently collapsed into a black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
, the nucleus
Gravitational singularity
A gravitational singularity or spacetime singularity is a location where the quantities that are used to measure the gravitational field become infinite in a way that does not depend on the coordinate system...
of which was harnessed by Omega's colleague Rassilon
Rassilon
Rassilon is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. In the backstory of the programme, he was the founder of Time Lord society on the planet Gallifrey...
as the Eye of Harmony
Eye of Harmony
The Eye of Harmony is an artificial black hole created by the Time Lords to provide energy for their home world of Gallifrey and their time travel technology in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-First appearances:...
, and giving the Time Lords the power to live up to their name. In homage to Omega, and to live up to their apparent "infinite capacity for pretentiousness", the Time Lords dubbed the manipulator the "Hand of Omega".
History
The Hand of Omega was removed from Gallifrey by the First DoctorFirst Doctor
The First Doctor is the initial incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor William Hartnell from 1963 to 1966. Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors in 1973 - albeit in a...
prior to his self-imposed exile before the events of the first Doctor Who episode. He then hid it in a funeral parlour in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the year 1963, as seen in the 1988 serial Remembrance of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 October to 26 October 1988....
.
The Hand resided in a casket that made it resemble a coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
. The casket had a dull, bronze appearance to it, but what material it was actually made from is unknown. Seemingly possessed of some basic intelligence, the Hand had the ability to levitate and follow simple orders. It was also able, on the Doctor's orders, to suffuse a baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
bat with energy, which the Doctor's companion Ace
Ace (Doctor Who)
Dorothy Gale McShane, better known by her nickname Ace, is a fictional character played by Sophie Aldred in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
then used briefly as a weapon.
In Remembrance, the Seventh Doctor
Seventh Doctor
The Seventh Doctor is the seventh incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by the actor Sylvester McCoy....
returned to 1963, apparently to move the Hand to another hiding place. In truth, he was laying a trap for the Dalek
Dalek
The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals...
s and their creator, Davros
Davros
Davros is a character from the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Davros is an archenemy of the Doctor and is the creator of the Doctor's deadliest enemies, the Daleks...
. Davros had hoped to use the Hand to transform the sun of the Dalek homeworld Skaro
Skaro
Skaro is a fictional planet from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who created by the writer Terry Nation as the home planet of the Daleks and, at times, the centre of the Dalek Empire....
into a power source for time travel. However, the Doctor had altered the Hand's programming so that instead of enhancing Skaro's sun, the Hand turned it supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
, obliterating Skaro and, presumably, the Daleks themselves. The Hand of Omega returned to Gallifrey afterward.
Other appearances
In the spin-offDoctor Who spin-offs
Doctor Who spin-offs refers to material created outside of, but related to, the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
novel War of the Daleks
War of the Daleks
War of the Daleks is an original novel written by John Peel, published in 1997, based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Eighth Doctor and Sam. This novel was the first appearance of the Daleks in an original Doctor Who novel; they had not...
by John Peel
John Peel (writer)
John Peel is a British writer, best known for his books connected to several television series. He has written under several pseudonyms, including John Vincent and Nicholas Adams. He lives in Long Island, New York and his wife is a U.S...
, it was revealed that the planet Antalin had been destroyed in Skaro's place. The canonicity of the novels, as with all spin-off media, is open to interpretation.
The Virgin New Adventures
Virgin New Adventures
The Virgin New Adventures were a series of novels from Virgin Publishing based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who...
novel Lungbarrow
Lungbarrow
Lungbarrow is an original novel written by Marc Platt and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Marc Platt
Marc Platt
Marc Platt is a British writer. He is most known for his work with the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.After studying catering at a technical college, Platt worked first for Trust House Forte, and then in administration for the BBC...
provides some additional history on the Hand during the early years of its creation on Gallifrey. The Hand was hidden by Rassilon, but escaped just before the Doctor left Gallifrey. The ancient alarms left by Rassilon were not known and could not be shut off, leaving the Hand to lurk around the Doctor's rooms.
In the BBC Books
BBC Books
BBC Books is an imprint majority owned and managed by Random House. The minority shareholder is BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation...
novel The Eight Doctors
The Eight Doctors
The Eight Doctors is a BBC Books original novel written by Terrance Dicks and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was the first of the Eighth Doctor Adventures range and features the Eighth Doctor and introduces his new companion, Sam Jones.The novel...
by Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks
Terrance Dicks is an English writer, best known for his work in television and for writing a large number of popular children's books during the 1970s and 80s.- Early career :...
it is revealed that there were two Hands, both used by Omega. The Hand also appears in The Infinity Doctors
The Infinity Doctors
The Infinity Doctors is a BBC Books original novel written by Lance Parkin and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin
Lance Parkin is a British author, best known for writing fiction and reference books for television series, in particular Doctor Who and Emmerdale...
.
The origins of the Hand are further explored in Omega
Omega (Doctor Who audio)
Omega is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:Jolly Chronolidays is offering sight-seeing tours of the "Sector of Forgotten Souls", the place where in ancient times the Time Lord Omega detonated a star that enabled...
, a Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio drama. There it is stated that the Hand was literally a hand placed in the Stellar Manipulator: that of Vandekirian, Omega's treacherous associate. The name "Hand of Omega" was chosen by Rassilon for political reasons. However, aside from the canonicity issues, the story is told largely from the point of view of an insane Omega with confused memories, as well as trying to make a point about the malleability of written history. This ultimately makes the accuracy of the information uncertain.