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A Krillitane |
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Name: The Krillitanes
Format:
Television Show, Book and Audio
Time of Origin: Exact planet of origin was never given, but have existed in some variation of their present form from the twelfth century into the far future.
Appearances: "Faithful Friends: The Krillitane Feint", "Faithful Friends: The Krillitane Relic", "School Reunion", "The Krillitane Storm" and "Code of the Krillitanes"
Doctors: Second Doctor, Seventh Doctor and Tenth Doctor.
Companions: Jamie McCrimmon, Zoe Heriot, Ray, Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith
History: A unique race in the universe, the Krillitanes are capable of directly influencing their own evolution due to a unique oil that they secrete from their bodies. This oil allows them to essentially absorb the best parts of the races they conquer into their own biology; in The Doctor’s earliest recorded encounter with them, he described them as ‘goblin-like’, and on a later occasion they apparently resembled humans with longer necks, but by the time of their televised appearance their default appearance resembled bats more than anything humanoid. This ability to adapt made it difficult to even trap the Krillitane, never mind kill them, as they would rapidly evolve to overcome anything used on them. The species’ exact origin is unclear, as they have been witnessed capable of interstellar travel, with their words suggesting that they have split into different factions some time ago. This division has led to various Krillitane factions showing a degree of internal racism towards each other; when the sole survivor of one Krillitane group summoned another clutch of Krillitane to attack a human space station, that lone Krillitane was killed to keep the other group’s bloodline ‘pure’ and ‘untainted’ from the influence of a perceived evolutionary dead-end. Ironically, their own frequent physiological and chemical changes resulted in Krillitane oil becoming toxic to some of the Krillitanes themselves unless it was treated appropriately, although it was still a necessity for them to trigger their physiological changes.
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Faithful Friends
(John Dorney and Tim Foley) |
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The Doctor’s first encounter with the Krilliante occurred when the Second Doctor arrived on a seemingly barren planet, only to learn later than the local society had been destroyed by the Krillitane some centuries ago. Since that time, a human scientific expedition had come to the planet and managed to capture the Krillitane as they hibernated in a cave, intending to use DNA samples to harness the power of the Krillitanes’ enhanced evolution for themselves. When the TARDIS arrived, The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe were captured by a small group of Krillitane who had escaped being caught by the expedition. Since the planet’s original natives had a limited ability to change shape when they reached maturity, this group of Krillitane were able to take on the forms of The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, attempting to infiltrate the military research base to free the rest of their kind, assuming that the TARDIS crew were at least affiliated with the expedition rather than strangers. The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe were able to escape, but by the time they found the research facility their Krillitane doubles had already begun trying to kill the staff and rescue their brethren. One of the last expedition members still alive set off the base’s self-destruct, not wanting to risk the Krillitane taking the evacuation shuttle back to Earth and attacking the rest of humanity over the experiments.
While The Doctor departed aware that Zoe’s Krillitane duplicate had survived, he assumed that this Krillitane would die of her injuries, but in reality the Krillitane Zoe would survive long enough for the rescue shuttle to reach the planet. Feigning amnesia, the Zoe-Krillitane posed as ‘Magda Herrod’, a member of the original expedition who had no family members left and therefore nobody to contradict the Krillitane’s claim. This Krillitane eventually managed to infiltrate a famous cryogenics facility, subsequently sending out a signal to draw in another group of Krillitane. The plan was interrupted when the Seventh Doctor (accompanied by new companion Ray ("Delta and the Bannermen")) arrived on the station by accident, The Doctor assuming that ‘Magda’ was Zoe having suffered more serious memory-loss than expected after she was sent home by the Time Lords ("The War Games"). The Doctor’s reference to Zoe and their first meeting ("The
Wheel in Space") prompted the station commander to do some research regarding these claims, but when she confronted ‘Magda’ about her resemblance to Zoe, the Krillitane Zoe killed the commander before the Krillitane ship arrived, these Krillitanes being basically humanoid apart from having longer necks. However, the duplicate Zoe was killed by the other Krillitane as she was seen as the sole survivor of a failed evolutionary line, allowing The Doctor, Ray and some of the base staff to escape to the control room. The Doctor subsequently rerouted the chemicals used for keeping the ‘clients’ frozen into the station’s sprinkler system, causing the sprinklers to freeze all the attacking Krillitanes solid, making it easy to smash them.
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The Krillitanes
(School Reunion) |
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The Doctor’s next encounter with the Krillitanes occurred early in his tenth incarnation, investigating strange UFO sightings and recent record grades at local school Deffry Vale as reported by his companion Rose Tyler's ex-boyfriend Mickey Smith, The Doctor and Rose infiltrating the school as a science teacher and dinner lady respectively (The Doctor having sent his 'predecessor' a winning lottery ticket to give him the opportunity to work in the school) ("School Reunion"). Aided by The Doctor's old companion Sarah Jane Smith - who had been investigating the same situation based on independent leads - and analysis of a sample of Krillitane oil performed by the now-repaired K9, The Doctor was able to identify the Krillitanes as their current enemies, currently evolved into a form that resembled giant bats although able to project the illusion of a human appearance. In a subsequent confrontation with the school's headmaster, Mr Finch, The Doctor learned that almost the entire school staff had been replaced with Krillitanes, most of them maintaining the illusion of a human appearance although Finch had assumed a permanent human shape. Finch confirmed that the staff were feeding Krillitane oil to the students in the school chips, the headmaster confidently stating that The Doctor would willingly help them once he learned what they were doing.
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Mr Finch
(School Reunion) |
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During a more thorough investigation of the school, The Doctor realised that the Krillitanes were attempting to use the children - their intelligence having been enhanced by the oil and their natural imagination providing the key that the Krillitanes needed - to crack the near-mythical Skasis Paradigm, a code which would allow the user to gain control over the fundamental building-blocks of the universe. Although The Doctor was briefly tempted to work with Finch in order to use the Paradigm to undo the Time War and allow him to preserve his companions beyond their usual life span, Sarah reminded him that everything had its time, driving him to shut down the computer program and flee the school. Retreating to the kitchens with Rose, Sarah and K9 as Mickey evacuated the students, The Doctor was able to set up drums of Krillitane oil with the intention of detonating them to destroy the Krillitanes, but K9's depleted power meant that The Doctor was forced to leave K9 beside the vat so that his weapon could generate sufficient explosive force to destroy the drums, his old companion sacrificing himself to kill the Krillitane (Although The Doctor was later able to rebuild K9's body with upgraded systems while retaining the memories of the model that had been destroyed).
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The Krillitane Storm
(Christopher Cooper) |
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While travelling alone some time later, The Doctor arrived on Earth in the village of Worcester ("The Krillitane Storm"), swiftly learning about brutal deaths being attributed to the mysterious 'Huntsman'. The Doctor was nearly caught and accused of being the Huntsman after he witnessed a Krillitane kill the latest victim (At this point, the Krillitanes were in the initial stages of the bat-forms they would possess in the twenty-first century, having hooked tails and long necks, giving them an appearance that resembled the image of the Devil). Fortunately, he was rescued by fellow alien visitor Emily Parr, who provided The Doctor with an alibi by identifying him as her husband so that she could determine what he was doing on Earth. The Doctor quickly explained his situation and the implications of the Krillitanes' presence, later winning the aid of local Captain Darke in investigating the strange events.
Examining the castle, The Doctor determined that it was equipped with various pieces of advanced technology, but noted that none of it appeared to be of Krillitane manufacture. Emily eventually identified the true mastermind as alien Lozla Nataniel Henk, The Doctor in turn deducing that Henk had taken control of the local sheriff to keep an eye on potential threats to his work. Searching the castle, The Doctor discovered a chamber filled with Krillitanes being kept trapped as their oil was extracted, but was captured before he could take any action. Talking with one of the Krillitane, The Doctor learned that this group had attempted to mount a coup against their race's leader, believing that the Krillitanes should focus on improving their own evolutionary potential over the 'Esteemed Leader's' philosophy of leaving the Krillitanes as a strictly predatory people, but had been forced to flee after the coup failed. With some of them injured, they had sought aid from Belima Febron, a scientist whose experiments were financed by Henk, only for Febron and Henk to capture the Krillitanes due to the military potential of their oil, which they sought to use it as a weapon that he could sell to the highest bidder; they were even attempting to use the oil to create a 'Super Krillitane', releasing the Krillitanes to feed on humans so that they could produce more oil.
Although The Doctor knew that he couldn't completely trust the Krillitanes, he was able to make a deal with the Brood Mother that he would help free her brood if she agreed to depart Earth afterwards, only for the deal to be jeopardised when the Krillitanes' Supreme Leader came to Earth. Escaping the compound with a distilled sample of Krillitane oil, The Doctor witnessed Henk attempting to demonstrate his achievements to the visiting Calabrians, only to learn too late that the Calabrians had been replaced by Krillitanes who were naturally angered at his use of their oil. With Emily identified as the daughter of a bounty hunter sent after Henk who had been killed and fed to the Krillitanes, The Doctor and Emily were able to kill the Super Krillitane when a large container of oil was hurled into its mouth as it rampaged through Worcester, the subsequent rampage resulting in the deaths of the Krillitane Supreme Leader and the renegades' Brood Mother as they sought to eliminate each other. With the original leaders dead, a Krillitane known as 'Broken Wing' took command of the renegade Krillitanes, but nevertheless agreed to the terms of The Doctor's original deal and departed Earth, apparently for good.
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Code of the Krillitanes
(Justin Richards) |
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The Doctor's last recorded encounter with the Krillitanes to date occurred when The Doctor paid a brief visit to the early twenty-first century, shortly after his original encounter with the Krillitanes, witnessing children eating 'Brainy Crisps' that literally made them smarter; ten-year-olds could now fully explain Einstein's Theory of Relativity ("Code of the Krillitanes". Quickly confirming that the crisps contained Krillitane oil, The Doctor tracked down the manufacturers and managed to create a false personnel record for himself as Doctor John Smith, Strategy and Workflow Manager, so he could investigate the factory from the inside. Determining that the Krillitanes were trying to use the crisps and the Internet to calculate the solution to the riddle of life itself so that they could improve their own genetic structure, The Doctor confronted the Krillitanes during a meeting of the company shareholders, using the crisps as a weapon to drive them back while he altered the Krillitane program to create a new, kinder breed of Krillitane. With the two breeds of Krillitanes destroying each other in the subsequent clash, The Doctor departed, satisfied that Earth was safe and the Krillitane would not cause any further damage. |
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