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Werewolf (Doctor Who)
Encyclopedia
Werewolves have featured a number of times in the long-running British
science fiction television
series Doctor Who
and its other media tie-ins. The canonicity of the non-television stories in relation to the television series is open to interpretation, and the various media may not even be consistent with respect to each other.
appeared in the television series was in the Seventh Doctor
serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
(1988). A wolf-man appears in the 1986 Sixth Doctor
story Mindwarp
, and the primords in the 1970 Third Doctor
story Inferno
are also lupine in appearance, but in both cases these are induced mutations rather than people who switched between
human and wolf forms.
Mags was a young woman who appeared human, the companion of the interplanetary explorer Captain Cook, who said that he found her on the planet Vulpana. The Doctor
and Ace
met the pair while investigating the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax.
Ultimately, Mags was revealed to be a werewolf, her transformation triggered by moonlight. Cook triggered her metamorphosis in an attempt to kill the Doctor for the amusement of the primeval Gods of Ragnarok, but the Doctor convinced her that she could control her feral instincts, and Mags turned on the Captain instead. After the Doctor had defeated the Gods of Ragnarok, Mags elected to remain behind on the planet with Kingpin, the only survivor of the Psychic Circus.
No other details about Mags, her species, whether all of her race transform into werewolves, or even if she did originate on Vulpana itself were provided during the story.
episode "Tooth and Claw
" (2006). This werewolf was an alien entity that fell to Earth in Scotland
in 1540, where it landed in St. Catherine's Glen near a monastery. The Doctor surmised that only a single cell survived, which was then incubated in various hosts via biting them, passing down through the centuries until it matured. The Doctor described it as a "lupine
wavelength haemovariform". The werewolf showed an aversion to mistletoe
, although whether this was a physical allergy or a conditioned reflex (as suggested by the Doctor) was not established.
The wolf cell was cultivated in young boys kidnapped by the monks of the monastery, the Brethren, who turned away from worshipping God and began to worship the wolf instead. The hosts would react to moonlight and transform into werewolves at the full moon, leading to dead livestock and legends of lycanthropy
in the surrounding area.
Eventually, in 1879, the Brethren arranged for Queen Victoria
to be diverted to the nearby Torchwood Estate
where the current host would infect her with the wolf cell, leading to the creation of the "Empire of the Wolf". The plot was thwarted by the Doctor and Rose
, who used a telescope constructed by the father of Sir Robert MacLeish against the werewolf. The telescope was in actuality a gigantic light amplification chamber and, using the Koh-i-Noor
diamond as a focusing element, struck the werewolf with enough moonlight to dispel it from the planet. It is unclear, however, if Victoria was indeed infected in the end.
novel Kursaal
by Peter Anghelides
, the Eighth Doctor
and Sam
travelled to Saturnia Regina, which was about to be turned into a theme park planet renamed Kursaal. However, beneath the proposed attractions were the homes of the Jax, a wolf-like species thought extinct. When the archeological teams investigating the Jax ruins were killed by a wolf-shaped creature, the Doctor and Sam investigated, discovering that the victims transformed into wolves when triggered by moonlight. The dead became mindless drones, while those infected but still living retained their senses, thereafter working to further the agenda of the Jax.
It was revealed that the Jax were not the wolves, but the virus that caused the transformation itself, controlled by ancient Jax technology contained within their cathedral. Sam was infected, but the Doctor managed to destroy the Jax technology and she was returned to normal with no ill effects.
novel Wolfsbane
by Jacqueline Rayner
, it was stated that in 1933, Nazi Germany
became aware of the existence of werewolves and forced them to register with the government. A group of them were imprisoned in camp surrounded by silver barbed wire and pressed into state service. In 1934, these werewolves were used to commit the purge that became known as the Night of the Long Knives
. One of these werewolves, Emmeline Neuberger, managed to escape into the German woods. The transformation of these werewolves are also tied to moonlight.
Neuberger surfaced in England two years later, unwillingly assisting Lady Hester Stanton who wanted to magically bind the land to herself. Harry Sullivan
was present at the time, having been stranded there when the TARDIS
inexplicably left without him. The Fourth Doctor
and Sarah
returned for Harry, but not before Neuberger, desiring a mate, bit him. What happened to Harry next is unclear, due to various manipulations of time being done by the Council of Eight (Sometime Never...
). While some of these manipulations were undone, it is unclear whether Harry's infection was one of them. However, given the character's subsequent history in other tie-in fiction, it can be assumed that his condition was eventually cured or at least controlled.
audio play Loups-Garoux
, the Fifth Doctor
and Turlough
enountered a race of werewolves in Rio de Janeiro
in 2080. It was said that werewolves were one of the planet's oldest races and were extremely long-lived. One of them, Pieter Stubbe, even claimed to have been around at the time of the Earth's creation.
These werewolves were tied to the cycles and elemental power of the Earth, and were weakened if separated from it (even by being on the upper floors of a building). The werewolf mutation could be transmitted by a bite as well — Stubbe had transformed Illeana de Santos into a werewolf in 1812. By 2080, de Santos had become leader of the werewolves, and Stubbe attempted to reclaim her as his mate. With the aid of the Doctor and Turlough, Stubbe's hold on de Santos's pack was broken. Stubbe himself aged to death when he rushed into the TARDIS, enabling the Doctor to materialise the ship in orbit and severing Stubbe's connection with the Earth.
comic strip story Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom (DWW #27-#34), the Fourth Doctor met a race of wolf-like humanoids called the Wereloks in the year 2430. While the Wereloks did not transform from human to werewolf, their fangs injected a venom that would transform those they bit into Wereloks when their bodies were subjected to light of a certain intensity, like moonlight. The Doctor was himself infected but managed to find a cure for his condition.
The Wereloks were used as a slave race by the Dalek
s, who sent them to raid the New Earth system (no relation to the planet seen in "New Earth
") as a prelude to sterilising the system of human life so the Daleks could use it as a breeding ground. Together with the human colonists and the help of a tamed Werelok named Brill, the Doctor "time locked" the Dalek army and their Werelok soldiers in a single moment of time and space.
Equally, it is tempting to draw a connection between the extraterrestrial werewolf of "Tooth and Claw" and Mags (and possibly Vulpana) in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, but there is no explicit evidence that ties them, or any of these, together. It is equally possible that they are completely unrelated.
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 other media tie-ins. The canonicity of the non-television stories in relation to the television series is open to interpretation, and the various media may not even be consistent with respect to each other.
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
The first time a werewolfWerewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
appeared in the television series was in 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....
serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 14 December 1988 to 4 January 1989.-Plot:...
(1988). A wolf-man appears in the 1986 Sixth Doctor
Sixth Doctor
The Sixth Doctor is the sixth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Colin Baker...
story Mindwarp
Mindwarp
Mindwarp is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 4 October to 25 October 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, encompassing the whole of the 23rd season...
, and the primords in the 1970 Third Doctor
Third Doctor
The Third Doctor is the third incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee....
story Inferno
Inferno (Doctor Who)
Don Houghton came to Terrence Dicks with an idea for the story based on the real life Project Mohole. A smaller budget for the serial drove the idea of a parallel world, where the studio could use the same actors in multiple roles...
are also lupine in appearance, but in both cases these are induced mutations rather than people who switched between
human and wolf forms.
Mags was a young woman who appeared human, the companion of the interplanetary explorer Captain Cook, who said that he found her on the planet Vulpana. 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....
and 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...
met the pair while investigating the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax.
Ultimately, Mags was revealed to be a werewolf, her transformation triggered by moonlight. Cook triggered her metamorphosis in an attempt to kill the Doctor for the amusement of the primeval Gods of Ragnarok, but the Doctor convinced her that she could control her feral instincts, and Mags turned on the Captain instead. After the Doctor had defeated the Gods of Ragnarok, Mags elected to remain behind on the planet with Kingpin, the only survivor of the Psychic Circus.
No other details about Mags, her species, whether all of her race transform into werewolves, or even if she did originate on Vulpana itself were provided during the story.
Tooth and Claw
A werewolf was the principal antagonist in the Tenth DoctorTenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
episode "Tooth and Claw
Tooth and Claw (Doctor Who)
"Tooth and Claw" is the second episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and was first broadcast on 22 April 2006. In 1879 Scotland, the Doctor and Rose meet Queen Victoria...
" (2006). This werewolf was an alien entity that fell to Earth in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in 1540, where it landed in St. Catherine's Glen near a monastery. The Doctor surmised that only a single cell survived, which was then incubated in various hosts via biting them, passing down through the centuries until it matured. The Doctor described it as a "lupine
Lupine
Lupine may be one of several things:*Something that is like, or relating to, a wolf .*A variant spelling for lupin, a flowering plant.*Lu Pine Records, a record label in Detroit.*Lupine Games, a computer game company....
wavelength haemovariform". The werewolf showed an aversion to mistletoe
Mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.-Mistletoe in the genus Viscum:...
, although whether this was a physical allergy or a conditioned reflex (as suggested by the Doctor) was not established.
The wolf cell was cultivated in young boys kidnapped by the monks of the monastery, the Brethren, who turned away from worshipping God and began to worship the wolf instead. The hosts would react to moonlight and transform into werewolves at the full moon, leading to dead livestock and legends of lycanthropy
Lycanthropy
Lycanthropy is the professed ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a werewolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics. The term comes from Greek Lykànthropos : λύκος, lykos + άνθρωπος, ànthrōpos...
in the surrounding area.
Eventually, in 1879, the Brethren arranged for Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
to be diverted to the nearby Torchwood Estate
Torchwood Institute
The Torchwood Institute is a fictional secret organization from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its spin-off series Torchwood. It was established in 1879 by Queen Victoria after the events of "Tooth and Claw". Its prime directive, is to defend the earth against...
where the current host would infect her with the wolf cell, leading to the creation of the "Empire of the Wolf". The plot was thwarted by the Doctor and Rose
Rose Tyler
Rose Marion Tyler is a fictional character portrayed by Billie Piper in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was created by series producer Russell T Davies...
, who used a telescope constructed by the father of Sir Robert MacLeish against the werewolf. The telescope was in actuality a gigantic light amplification chamber and, using the Koh-i-Noor
Koh-i-Noor
The Kōh-i Nūr which means "Mountain of Light" in Persian, also spelled Koh-i-noor, Koh-e Noor or Koh-i-Nur, is a 105 carat diamond that was once the largest known diamond in the world. The Kōh-i Nūr originated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India along with its double, the Darya-ye Noor...
diamond as a focusing element, struck the werewolf with enough moonlight to dispel it from the planet. It is unclear, however, if Victoria was indeed infected in the end.
Kursaal
In the Eighth Doctor AdventuresEighth Doctor Adventures
The Eighth Doctor Adventures are a series of spin off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. 73 books were published overall...
novel Kursaal
Kursaal
Kursaal is an original novel written by Peter Anghelides and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Peter Anghelides
Peter Anghelides
Peter Anghelides is an English author and dramatist best known for his work on various spin-offs related to the BBC television series Doctor Who.-Work:...
, the Eighth Doctor
Eighth Doctor
The Eighth Doctor is the eighth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by Paul McGann...
and Sam
Sam Jones (Doctor Who)
Samantha Angeline Jones, or simply Sam, is a fictional character in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels based upon the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. The Eighth Doctor first met her in the novel The Eight Doctors by Terrance Dicks, and she went on to become one of his...
travelled to Saturnia Regina, which was about to be turned into a theme park planet renamed Kursaal. However, beneath the proposed attractions were the homes of the Jax, a wolf-like species thought extinct. When the archeological teams investigating the Jax ruins were killed by a wolf-shaped creature, the Doctor and Sam investigated, discovering that the victims transformed into wolves when triggered by moonlight. The dead became mindless drones, while those infected but still living retained their senses, thereafter working to further the agenda of the Jax.
It was revealed that the Jax were not the wolves, but the virus that caused the transformation itself, controlled by ancient Jax technology contained within their cathedral. Sam was infected, but the Doctor managed to destroy the Jax technology and she was returned to normal with no ill effects.
Wolfsbane
In the Past Doctor AdventuresPast Doctor Adventures
The Past Doctor Adventures were a series of spin-off novels based on the long running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and published under the BBC Books imprint. For most of their existence, they were published side-by-side with the Eighth Doctor Adventures...
novel Wolfsbane
Wolfsbane (Doctor Who)
Wolfsbane is a BBC Books original novel written by Jacqueline Rayner and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
by Jacqueline Rayner
Jacqueline Rayner
Jacqueline Rayner is a best selling British author, best known for her work with the licensed fiction based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
, it was stated that in 1933, Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
became aware of the existence of werewolves and forced them to register with the government. A group of them were imprisoned in camp surrounded by silver barbed wire and pressed into state service. In 1934, these werewolves were used to commit the purge that became known as the Night of the Long Knives
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
. One of these werewolves, Emmeline Neuberger, managed to escape into the German woods. The transformation of these werewolves are also tied to moonlight.
Neuberger surfaced in England two years later, unwillingly assisting Lady Hester Stanton who wanted to magically bind the land to herself. Harry Sullivan
Harry Sullivan
Harry Sullivan is a fictional character from the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who and is a companion of the Fourth Doctor...
was present at the time, having been stranded there when the TARDIS
TARDIS
The TARDISGenerally, TARDIS is written in all upper case letters—this convention was popularised by the Target novelisations of the 1970s...
inexplicably left without him. The Fourth Doctor
Fourth Doctor
The Fourth Doctor is the fourth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC British television science-fiction series Doctor Who....
and Sarah
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....
returned for Harry, but not before Neuberger, desiring a mate, bit him. What happened to Harry next is unclear, due to various manipulations of time being done by the Council of Eight (Sometime Never...
Sometime Never...
Sometime Never... is a BBC Books original novel written by Justin Richards and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
). While some of these manipulations were undone, it is unclear whether Harry's infection was one of them. However, given the character's subsequent history in other tie-in fiction, it can be assumed that his condition was eventually cured or at least controlled.
Loups-Garoux
In the Big Finish ProductionsBig Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio play Loups-Garoux
Loups-Garoux
Loups-Garoux is a Big Finish Productions audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Plot:...
, the Fifth Doctor
Fifth Doctor
The Fifth Doctor is the fifth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is portrayed by Peter Davison....
and Turlough
Vislor Turlough
Vislor Turlough is a fictional character played by Mark Strickson in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was a companion of the Fifth Doctor, being a regular in the programme from 1983 to 1984.-Character history:...
enountered a race of werewolves in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
in 2080. It was said that werewolves were one of the planet's oldest races and were extremely long-lived. One of them, Pieter Stubbe, even claimed to have been around at the time of the Earth's creation.
These werewolves were tied to the cycles and elemental power of the Earth, and were weakened if separated from it (even by being on the upper floors of a building). The werewolf mutation could be transmitted by a bite as well — Stubbe had transformed Illeana de Santos into a werewolf in 1812. By 2080, de Santos had become leader of the werewolves, and Stubbe attempted to reclaim her as his mate. With the aid of the Doctor and Turlough, Stubbe's hold on de Santos's pack was broken. Stubbe himself aged to death when he rushed into the TARDIS, enabling the Doctor to materialise the ship in orbit and severing Stubbe's connection with the Earth.
Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom
In the Doctor Who WeeklyDoctor Who Magazine
Doctor Who Magazine is a magazine devoted to the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who...
comic strip story Doctor Who and the Dogs of Doom (DWW #27-#34), the Fourth Doctor met a race of wolf-like humanoids called the Wereloks in the year 2430. While the Wereloks did not transform from human to werewolf, their fangs injected a venom that would transform those they bit into Wereloks when their bodies were subjected to light of a certain intensity, like moonlight. The Doctor was himself infected but managed to find a cure for his condition.
The Wereloks were used as a slave race by 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, who sent them to raid the New Earth system (no relation to the planet seen in "New Earth
New Earth
"New Earth" is the first episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 15 April 2006. It is a sequel to the first series episode "The End of the World", and brings back its villain who was thought to be destroyed, Lady Cassandra, as...
") as a prelude to sterilising the system of human life so the Daleks could use it as a breeding ground. Together with the human colonists and the help of a tamed Werelok named Brill, the Doctor "time locked" the Dalek army and their Werelok soldiers in a single moment of time and space.
Similarities
The various types of werewolf seen as described above share certain similarities: for example, the exposure to moonlight triggering the transformation and the transmission of the mutation by biting. The Jax infection also sounds similar to the one in "Tooth and Claw" (although the Jax had a technological base), and the Earth-bound wolves of Loups-Garoux bear some similarities to the ones featured in Wolfsbane.Equally, it is tempting to draw a connection between the extraterrestrial werewolf of "Tooth and Claw" and Mags (and possibly Vulpana) in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, but there is no explicit evidence that ties them, or any of these, together. It is equally possible that they are completely unrelated.