Judoon
Encyclopedia
The Judoon are a fictional extraterrestrial
species of mercenary
police
from the British
science fiction television
series Doctor Who
and its spin-offs
. They first appeared in the episode Smith and Jones
in 2007.
The name 'Judoon', and the fact that the episode they appear in is set on the Moon
, is an in-joke
from the scriptwriter. As lead actor David Tennant
has a Scottish accent, one of the harder sounds to pronounce with an English accent is the 'oon' sound at the end of both words, including the line "a Judoon platoon upon the Moon".
states that, whilst their behaviour is (on the surface) that of a military police force, they are really little more than "interplanetary thugs". They have no jurisdiction on Earth and no authority to deal with human crime (when hunting a fugitive alien in an Earth hospital, they transported the building to the Moon); they will, however, strictly obey any laws on the planet they are on (e.g. road speed limits). The Judoon carry energy weapons which can incinerate humans.
Judoon are humanoid
in form, with rhinoceros
-like heads and only four digits on each hand: they wear black, bulky armour with heavy boots. According to the Doctor
, the Judoon have a "great big lung reserve" which allows them to survive for extended periods in a limited oxygen environment. They have yellow blood.
, the Doctor
had never encountered the race on-screen before, but during the episode he repeatedly demonstrates considerable knowledge of them and their methods. The Judoon used an H2O Scoop to bring a hospital which held the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones
to the moon where the Judoon could apprehend a criminal called a Plasmavore, which disguised itself as Florence Finnigan. The Judoon came in ships and landed on the moon, trying to find Finnigan with their scanners, but at first couldn't until Finnigan took the Doctor (a non-human)'s blood. They executed her for harming an alien princess and afterwards transported the hospital back to Earth.
In Revenge of the Slitheen
they were mentioned by the Slitheen
, who said that the Intergalactic Police were after them.
In the novella Revenge of the Judoon
, where they seized Balmoral Castle
in 1902 after being conned into a fraudulent mission, they made a deal with the Doctor that meant Earth was off-limits to them, something confirmed as canonical with the TV series by the BBC Monster Files feature. The Judoon are also mentioned in the Doctor Who Adventures comic "The Great Mordillo."
They appear in The Stolen Earth
as guards at the Shadow Proclamation. Curiously, the TARDIS does not translate their language, and the Doctor replies in their language rather than in English. They only begin speaking English once he has introduced himself.
In Prisoner of the Judoon
, Captain Tybo, a Judoon, crashed on Earth while his prisoner, Androvax, escaped leaving Tybo hunting for him. He was knocked unconscious by Androvax and was saved by Sarah Jane Smith
and her gang who helped him find Androvax The Annihilator who was a veil form, therefore possessing the ability to possess people, which was now inside Sarah. Captain Tybo commandeered a London Metropolitan Police car and went to Bannerman Road where he received a call that more Judoon were coming. When Tybo and the gang went in they found that Sarah Jane ordered Mr Smith
to blow up in 60 seconds but Luke stopped him by reminding him that he was programmed to protect the planet. Tybo went to the genetic system and regroups with the rest of the Judoon, found Androvax and took him back to the Shadow Proclamation. Despite the Judoon's nominal lack of jurisdiction on Earth, Tybo aggressively enforces British car radio volume limits, threatening a human violator with deadly force. Additionally, he and his colleagues summarily sentence Clyde Langer
and Rani Chandra
to restriction to Earth as punishment for their interference.
In The End of Time
one made a cameo appearance
in a Zagizalgul bar where he was seen keeping an eye on a Raxacoricofallapatorian and talking to an alien.
Judoon are seen as part of an alliance of the Doctor's enemies in The Pandorica Opens
.
In A Good Man Goes to War
, a small group of Judoon are recruited by the Doctor to join his army in the Battle of Demon's Run. Alongside Sontaran
commander Strax and a large battalion of Silurian
warriors, they help to apprehend Colonel Manton and his Cleric forces.
The Sarah Jane Adventures
Shows
Novels
Comic Books
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
species of mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
from the British
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...
and its spin-offs
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
. They first appeared in the episode Smith and Jones
Smith and Jones (Doctor Who)
"Smith and Jones" is the first episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 March 2007. It sees the debut of Freema Agyeman as new companion Martha Jones...
in 2007.
The name 'Judoon', and the fact that the episode they appear in is set on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, is an in-joke
In-joke
An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or in joke, is a joke whose humour is clear only to people who are in a particular social group, occupation, or other community of common understanding...
from the scriptwriter. As lead actor David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
has a Scottish accent, one of the harder sounds to pronounce with an English accent is the 'oon' sound at the end of both words, including the line "a Judoon platoon upon the Moon".
Characteristics
Judoon are galactic police, brutal in their precise application of the law and highly logical in their battle tactics, but not very intelligent. In fact, the DoctorDoctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
states that, whilst their behaviour is (on the surface) that of a military police force, they are really little more than "interplanetary thugs". They have no jurisdiction on Earth and no authority to deal with human crime (when hunting a fugitive alien in an Earth hospital, they transported the building to the Moon); they will, however, strictly obey any laws on the planet they are on (e.g. road speed limits). The Judoon carry energy weapons which can incinerate humans.
Judoon are humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
in form, with rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
-like heads and only four digits on each hand: they wear black, bulky armour with heavy boots. According to the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
, the Judoon have a "great big lung reserve" which allows them to survive for extended periods in a limited oxygen environment. They have yellow blood.
History
In Smith and JonesSmith and Jones (Doctor Who)
"Smith and Jones" is the first episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 March 2007. It sees the debut of Freema Agyeman as new companion Martha Jones...
, the Doctor
Doctor (Doctor Who)
The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
had never encountered the race on-screen before, but during the episode he repeatedly demonstrates considerable knowledge of them and their methods. The Judoon used an H2O Scoop to bring a hospital which held the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones
Martha Jones
Martha Jones is a fictional character played by Freema Agyeman in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series, Torchwood. She is a companion of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, replacing Rose Tyler...
to the moon where the Judoon could apprehend a criminal called a Plasmavore, which disguised itself as Florence Finnigan. The Judoon came in ships and landed on the moon, trying to find Finnigan with their scanners, but at first couldn't until Finnigan took the Doctor (a non-human)'s blood. They executed her for harming an alien princess and afterwards transported the hospital back to Earth.
In Revenge of the Slitheen
Revenge of the Slitheen
Revenge of the Slitheen is the second story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It comprises the first and second episodes of the show's first series, aired on BBC1, broadcast in two parts on September 24 and October 1, 2007, with the second being broadcast a...
they were mentioned by the Slitheen
Slitheen
The Slitheen are a family of massive, bipedal extraterrestrials from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and they are adversaries of the Doctor. They first appeared in the 2005 series episodes "Aliens of London" and "World War Three", and subsequently recur in later episodes of...
, who said that the Intergalactic Police were after them.
In the novella Revenge of the Judoon
Revenge of the Judoon
Revenge of the Judoon is a BBC Books original novella written by Terrance Dicks and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor and his companion Martha Jones. This paperback is part of the Quick Reads Initiative sponsored by the UK...
, where they seized Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle is a large estate house in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and east of Braemar. Balmoral has been one of the residences of the British Royal Family since 1852, when it was purchased by Queen Victoria and her...
in 1902 after being conned into a fraudulent mission, they made a deal with the Doctor that meant Earth was off-limits to them, something confirmed as canonical with the TV series by the BBC Monster Files feature. The Judoon are also mentioned in the Doctor Who Adventures comic "The Great Mordillo."
They appear in The Stolen Earth
The Stolen Earth
"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T Davies and is the first of a two-part crossover story; the concluding episode is...
as guards at the Shadow Proclamation. Curiously, the TARDIS does not translate their language, and the Doctor replies in their language rather than in English. They only begin speaking English once he has introduced himself.
In Prisoner of the Judoon
Prisoner of the Judoon
Prisoner of the Judoon is the first serial of the third series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was first broadcast on the 15 and 16 of October 2009. It features the Judoon, the intergalactic police introduced in the 2007 Doctor Who episode "Smith and Jones".-Part 1:Sarah Jane Smith continues to...
, Captain Tybo, a Judoon, crashed on Earth while his prisoner, Androvax, escaped leaving Tybo hunting for him. He was knocked unconscious by Androvax and was saved by Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane Smith is a fictional character played by Elisabeth Sladen in the long-running British BBC Television science-fiction series Doctor Who and its spin-offs K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures....
and her gang who helped him find Androvax The Annihilator who was a veil form, therefore possessing the ability to possess people, which was now inside Sarah. Captain Tybo commandeered a London Metropolitan Police car and went to Bannerman Road where he received a call that more Judoon were coming. When Tybo and the gang went in they found that Sarah Jane ordered Mr Smith
Mr Smith (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Mr Smith is a fictional extraterrestrial computer voiced by Alexander Armstrong which appears in the British children's science fiction television series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, with further minor appearances in the final two episodes of the fourth series of Doctor Who...
to blow up in 60 seconds but Luke stopped him by reminding him that he was programmed to protect the planet. Tybo went to the genetic system and regroups with the rest of the Judoon, found Androvax and took him back to the Shadow Proclamation. Despite the Judoon's nominal lack of jurisdiction on Earth, Tybo aggressively enforces British car radio volume limits, threatening a human violator with deadly force. Additionally, he and his colleagues summarily sentence Clyde Langer
Clyde Langer
Clyde Langer is a fictional character played by Daniel Anthony in the British children's science fiction television programme The Sarah Jane Adventures...
and Rani Chandra
Rani Chandra (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Rani Chandra is a fictional character played by Anjli Mohindra in the British children's science fiction television programme The Sarah Jane Adventures, a spin-off from the long-running series Doctor Who...
to restriction to Earth as punishment for their interference.
In The End of Time
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
one made a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in a Zagizalgul bar where he was seen keeping an eye on a Raxacoricofallapatorian and talking to an alien.
Judoon are seen as part of an alliance of the Doctor's enemies in The Pandorica Opens
The Pandorica Opens
"The Pandorica Opens" is the twelfth episode, and first in a two-part story, in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast on 19 June 2010. The Doctor's friends send him a warning; he deals with a message on a cliff, a mysterious box and a love story that...
.
In A Good Man Goes to War
A Good Man Goes to War
"A Good Man Goes to War" is the seventh episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 June 2011...
, a small group of Judoon are recruited by the Doctor to join his army in the Battle of Demon's Run. Alongside Sontaran
Sontaran
The Sontarans are a fictional extraterrestrial race of humanoids from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and also seen in spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. They were created by writer Robert Holmes.-Culture:...
commander Strax and a large battalion of Silurian
Silurian (Doctor Who)
The Silurians are a fictional race of reptile-like humanoids in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The species first appeared in Doctor Who in the 1970 serial Doctor Who and the Silurians...
warriors, they help to apprehend Colonel Manton and his Cleric forces.
Appearances
Doctor Who- Smith and JonesSmith and Jones (Doctor Who)"Smith and Jones" is the first episode of the third series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 31 March 2007. It sees the debut of Freema Agyeman as new companion Martha Jones...
— 2007 - The Stolen EarthThe Stolen Earth"The Stolen Earth" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series and the 750th overall episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The episode was written by show runner and head writer Russell T Davies and is the first of a two-part crossover story; the concluding episode is...
— 2008 - The End of TimeThe End of TimeThe End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
: Part 2 (Cameo) — 2010 - The Pandorica OpensThe Pandorica Opens"The Pandorica Opens" is the twelfth episode, and first in a two-part story, in the fifth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who, broadcast on 19 June 2010. The Doctor's friends send him a warning; he deals with a message on a cliff, a mysterious box and a love story that...
(Cameo) — 2010 - A Good Man Goes to WarA Good Man Goes to War"A Good Man Goes to War" is the seventh episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 4 June 2011...
(Cameo) — 2011 - The God ComplexThe God Complex"The God Complex" is the eleventh episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One, BBC America and Space on 17 September 2011.-Plot summary:...
(Picture cameo) - 2011
The Sarah Jane Adventures
- Prisoner of the JudoonPrisoner of the JudoonPrisoner of the Judoon is the first serial of the third series of The Sarah Jane Adventures. It was first broadcast on the 15 and 16 of October 2009. It features the Judoon, the intergalactic police introduced in the 2007 Doctor Who episode "Smith and Jones".-Part 1:Sarah Jane Smith continues to...
- 2009
Shows
- Doctor Who LiveDoctor Who LiveDoctor Who Live is an arena stage show based on the BBC TV programme Doctor Who.-Plot:The live show is an implied sequel to the 1973 Doctor Who television episode Carnival of Monsters...
- 2010
Novels
- Revenge of the JudoonRevenge of the JudoonRevenge of the Judoon is a BBC Books original novella written by Terrance Dicks and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor and his companion Martha Jones. This paperback is part of the Quick Reads Initiative sponsored by the UK...
(New Series AdventuresNew Series Adventures (Doctor Who)The New Series Adventures are a series of novels relating to the long-running BBC science fiction television series, Doctor Who. The 'NSAs', as they are often referred to, are published by BBC Books, and are regularly published in the spring and autumn of each year. Beginning and concluding with...
) by Terrance DicksTerrance DicksTerrance 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 :... - Judgement of the JudoonJudgement of the JudoonJudgement of the Judoon is a BBC Books original novel written by Colin Brake and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor without an official companion...
(New Series AdventuresNew Series Adventures (Doctor Who)The New Series Adventures are a series of novels relating to the long-running BBC science fiction television series, Doctor Who. The 'NSAs', as they are often referred to, are published by BBC Books, and are regularly published in the spring and autumn of each year. Beginning and concluding with...
) by Colin BrakeColin BrakeColin Brake is an English television writer and script editor best known for his work for the BBC on programs such as Bugs and EastEnders. He has also written spin-offs from the BBC series Doctor Who... - The Coming of the TerraphilesThe Coming of the TerraphilesThe Coming of the Terraphiles is a Doctor Who novel written by Michael Moorcock, featuring the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond. It was the first special release of a Doctor Who novel by BBC Books in a lengthier hardback format to that of the previous New Series Adventures.-Plot:In order to avert the...
by Michael MoorcockMichael MoorcockMichael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....
Comic Books
- Doctor Who - issues 3-6 (Fugitive)
- Doctor Who: The Forgotten - issue 3 (Part Three: Misdirection)