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| The Skithra Queen |
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 Name: The Skithra
Format:
Television Story and Comic
Time of Origin: Came to Earth in 1903, but evidence suggests they visited centuries earlier; occupied Earth in an alternate timeline between 1903 and 2007.
Appearances: "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror" and "Alternating Current"
Doctors:Tenth
Doctor and Thirteenth Doctor
Companions: Graham O'Brien, Ryan Sinclair and Yasmin Khan; an alternate version of Rose Tyler was involved in later events.
History:
As a race, The Skithra are a rare blend of being ruthless and egocentric while lacking the ability to actually innovate anything on their own. Physically they resembled arachnids (various sources observing a similarity in appearance to the Racnoss), but at least the queen of their species had a more humanoid appearance. As well as being able to generate electrical 'stings', they had harnessed a wide range of technology from other races, to the extent that they apparently came to Earth in the past and were able to obtain at least some Silurian weaponry, but they showed no capacity to create on their own even after what appears to be millennia as an active species of travellers. Despite their apparent inability to progress on their own, the Skithra considered themselves entitled to take technology from other races as they perceived themselves as superior. Their stolen technology also included some form of disguise equipment that allowed them to disguise themselves as specific humans, although their eyes would appear red in this form.
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| The Skithra |
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Naturally, the Skithras' reliance on other races to create their technology left them vulnerable when their existing equipment began to break down as they naturally lacked anyone qualified to make repairs. They would send signals out into the wider universe with the goal of attracting the attention of engineers from other races, with these engineers subsequently being forced to repair the Skithra technology or be killed if they failed or refused, even if the engineers were genuinely unfamiliar with the technology in question.
Eventually, the Skithra were drawn to Earth in 1903 when inventor Nikola Tesla responded to the signal, only for the Thirteenth Doctor to trace and investigate the signal herself. At this point, the Skithra were using a stolen Venusian space ship that used a Klendov warp drive and a Dullirian resonator, while Tesla was having trouble getting funding for his own wireless power transmission system, particularly due to his rival Thomas Edison. Identifying a mysterious orb that had just been pursuing Tesla as an Orb of Thassa, normally used to share knowledge, The Doctor tried to capture one of the Skithra that had come down to collect Tesla, but the creature teleported away before they could properly question it.
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| The Skithra Queen |
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While The Doctor was busy, the Skithra abducted Tesla, but also took Yaz in the process, allowing Yaz to help Tesla understand what was happening to him when the Skithra Queen demanded that he fix their ship. The Doctor was able to teleport up to the ship herself, allowing her to assess its condition and determine the true nature of the Skithra, as well as what they wanted with Tesla. Now aware of their enemy, The Doctor teleported herself, Yaz and Tesla back to Earth, recruiting Tesla's rival inventor Thomas Edison to help adapt Tesla's Wardencliffe tower to generate electricity so that it could generate a massive electrical charge into the Skithra ship, simultaneously hooking up the TARDIS to the system so that its shields could provide additional protection.
As the companions fought off the Skithra forces sent against them, the Skithra Queen came down to confront The Doctor and her allies, mocking The Doctor's apparent inability to stand up to her. The Doctor countered that she left an actual legacy whereas the Queen's death would leave nothing but a trail of blood and salvaged technology and nobody would ever even know their race had existed. As the Queen continued to rant about her 'inevitable' victory, The Doctor tricked the Queen into taking a makeshift teleporter that sent the Queen back to the Skithra ship so that Tesla could trigger their planned electrical discharge, forcing the Skithra to flee Earth and abandon their plans for Tesla.
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| Doctor Who Comic - 2020 |
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However, a later event when the Tenth Doctor and the Thirteenth Doctor were forced to use a group of Weeping Angels to send the Nestene Consciousness back in time ("A Little Help From My Friends") resulted in the creation of an alternate timeline where the Sea Devils had conquered Earth back in 1903 ("Alternating Current"). When the two Doctors arrived in this timeline, they met a Skithra Queen who had turned against her peoples' preferred means of conquest and eventually explained how her people had abducted Tesla and Edison and awoken the Sea Devils to assist them in their planned conquest of Earth. With the aid of the version of Rose Tyler that existed in this new timeline, the two Doctors travelled back in time to investigate the Skithra's initial assault, the renegade Queen killing the Skithra who would have awoken the Sea Devils and then triggering the self-destruct on the Skithra ship with the Thirteenth Doctor while the Tenth Doctor and their companions rescued Tesla and Edison. With the Skithra ship destroyed, the invasion was thwarted and the original timeline restored, the Tenth Doctor subsequently taking the alternate Rose Tyler to another Skithra-controlled world so that she could continue fighting their efforts of galactic conquest.
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