CONFIDENTIAL FILES 001 : ANDROIDS.
NOTE THIS FILE IS CLASSIFIED AND CONFIDENTIAL. ONCE YOU'VE READ THIS THE FILE WILL EXPLODE.
ANDROIDS IN DOCTOR WHO.
What is the comparison between robots to androids? robots are machines organised by a computer brain. Androids are sophisticated technology which can function in similar ways to robots but at the same time are more flexible.
Androids have popped up in Doctor Who every now again over the last 52 years of the shows history. In recognisable tales such as "The Android Invasion", "The Androids of Tara" and "Earthshock" to name a few. In this confidential file we talk about androids that have appeared in doctor who and android stories, why they make useful servants and what is about them that makes them so sinister which makes them popular.
THE ANDROID INVASION (1975)
SYNOPSIS: The Fourth
Doctor and Sarah find themselves in the English village of Devesham near a Space
Defence Station. The village seems deserted, the telephones don't work,
calendars are stuck on the same date and white-suited figures are wandering
about aimlessly. Who are the Kraals and what are their plans for Earth?
The Kraals - The
alien menace that engineered the androids. The Androids are controlled by
Stigron (chief surgeon and scientist of the Kraals)
The Kraals plan was
to invade earth by inflicting a deadly poison which their androids would
use to cleanse the earth of it's human population so that they could take
over as the new masters of earth.
How did they do it?
- They kidnapped the original human and scanned their body print and brain
pattern. They then used that information to create a living, thinking self
supporting machine which was identical in every detail to the original
person they copied. However there were certain minor details which even The
Doctor could suss out. for instance with Sarah Jane, he knew the version of
Sarah Jane Smith with him wasn't the original because the android
Sarah Jane was wearing a scarf. Also her body language was wrong, the attitudes
to her reactions to things were clearly different, for instance no surprise in
the TARDIS disappearing.etc.
This iconic story
basically highlighted the sinister doppelgänger idea through an interpretation
of science fiction. The androids in this story are very creepy indeed.
especially in the scene where Sarah rolls over and her face rolls off and you
see all the wiring and robotics inside, its a wonderful shock moment. The
Androids in the white suits are kind of like servant androids programmed by
Stigron to perform simple tasks like carrying things. The Androids that are the
look a likes of the people in the village are dummies, decoys in the trail run
of the invasion in the fake village.
The Androids of Tara (1978)
SYNOPSIS : Finding
the fourth segment of the Key to Time was simple enough, but holding onto it
may be another matter. The Doctor and Romana find themselves embroiled in the
political games of the planet Tara, where doubles, android or otherwise,
complicate the coronation of Prince Reynart.
HOW TO FIX AN
ANDROID? - The Doctor is given a job of working for
Prince Reynart. Reynart is the rightful Prince of Tara, but he is
facing a challenge to his rule and coronation from his cousin, Count Grendel of
Gracht. The Doctor agrees to help repair an android copy of the Prince. It is
to be used to help him reach his throne and crown by diverting the attention of
Grendel’s men, while the real Prince slips into the coronation chamber through
a back way. This plot looks plausible, but Grendel strikes first, drugging the
Prince’s retinue and kidnapping Reynart himself.
When the Doctor and
the swordsmen recover, they decide to change the original plan and crown the
android Reynart instead. The party move through the tunnels beneath the royal
castle to get to the throne room so that the facsimile Reynart can be crowned.
If Reynart is not there at the correct moment, then he will lose his right to
the throne; Grendel may be chosen under the law to claim the crown
instead.
The real Reynart
was wounded in his capture and has been imprisoned with Romana at Castle Gracht
to prevent any legitimate succession. By their elaborate ruse the Doctor
and his party succeed in getting the android Prince to the throne room, and the
coronation begins, the Android version of the Prince does get crowned.
ANDROIDS IN
ANDROIDS OF TARA.
The Androids in
this story are very different to those in the way Androids are used in 'The
Android Invasion' for starters the Androids in 'Androids of Tara' are not menacing.
They are more the use of a tool and cane be used for a gain of advantage
against another.
For instance say
Count Grendel wanted to assassinate Prince Reynart then he
could assassinate the android and not the real Prince Reynart.
Which goes to prove
Androids don't necessarily have to be set up to be a sinister menace. They
can also be provided as tools or coys in a masterplan or as a way to get one up
on an apposing enemy.
THE VISITATION (1982)
SYNOPSIS: The Fifth
Doctor tries to take Tegan back to Heathrow Airport but the TARDIS arrives in
the 17th century instead of the 20th. The time travellers find a space capsule
has crash-landed nearby and that its alien occupants, three Terileptil prison
escapees, intend to wipe out all indigenous life on Earth by releasing rats
infected with an enhanced strain of the great plague.
The creatures are
also using a sophisticated android to strike terror into the local villagers.
Aided by itinerant thespian Richard Mace, the Doctor tries to unravel the evil
plot.
THE GRIM REAPER?
Androids can also
be dressed up in a suitable disguise. This is done as a means of hiding their
features and giving off the impression of something else. The grim reaper for
instance was a mode of scaring away the local villagers and if you fired a
gun at it it wouldn't harm it. It takes more than bullets to damage an
android.
THE ANDROID - A HUMBLE SERVANT
Programmed by the
Terrileptils, the android was a means of functioning to perform helpful tasks
such as carrying things and disposing of any unwanted peoples.
This particular
android in "The Visitation' was very powerful and could fire high energy
laser beams.
The Doctor
and Nyssa managed to construct a sonic wave machine which busted the androids circuits
and in effect put it out of action.
All the more still,
the android in the visitation was a humble servant to the terrileptil and did
whatever it programmed it to do. Even if that meant going down the road and
getting him some fish and chips and while your at it, kill some humans on your
way back. That'll be of great help.
Androids can
function in the same way robots can, and this android is a prime example of
the similarities androids have to robots.
EARTHSHOCK (1982)
SYNOPSIS: A
conference to unite military powers against the Cybermen is taking place and
the Cybermen plot to destroy the Earth by crashing a space freighter into it.
The Doctor must stop them, whatever the cost.
THE DECOY
The Androids in
Earthshock were used as a way to keep the story going throughout Part
One.
They are
unlike any other android design previous to what we've seen in Doctor Who
in the Tom Baker era. It was 1982 and one wants to imagine that the design
was a product of the time, but I some how doubt that was the original
intention.
The Androids keep
the story going throughout Part One. It was done as a sort of a hold off from
the big reveal at the end, which of course was to reveal The Cybermen were
back! They apposed a good enough threat and their function was to protect
the bomb that the cybermen had planted in the caves.
They don't look or
act particularly robotic enough in the story, they're very much anabatic
androids to me. Too flexible, and too easy going. which is a shame, in terms of
production design. That being said, the effect of them is very good indeed and
appose a good enough threat in what was needed of them. They melted people with
a zap of their hands which gave off this really cool effect. I also liked
the reflection of the light on their heads, made them look blank
and sinister.
This could perhaps
show, that Androids can be used as a means of providing a suitable subplot or a
decoy. In order to emphasise an even bigger threat? It's possible.
BAD WOLF (2005)
SYNOPSIS: Separated
and with no TARDIS, the Ninth Doctor, Rose, and Jack have to fight for their
lives on board the Game Station, but a far more dangerous threat is lurking,
just out of sight. The Doctor realises that the entire human race has been
blinded to the threat on its doorstep, and Armageddon is fast approaching.
ANNE DROID
The Anne Droid. A
futuristic version of Anne Robinson. The real Anne was very scary on the
weakest link. What a way to pay a homage to her sharp, sinister edge than
by having an android version of her. Not just that calling her the Anne
Droid.
The Anne Droid is a
great pun, the function of the robot pretty much does what Anne Robinson does
on the weakest link, only this the future, its an android, she zaps her victims
out of the game. adds a sense of threat, and makes contestants want to win the
game.
TRINE-E AND SUZZANA
At the time Trine
and Susanna were a big thing. Now they're not. still at the time of 2005, they
were. So what better to do then follow along the same path with Anne Robinson
by making Android versions of them too.
Look they even put
a sci fi twist on their names. Trine-e and Suzzana.
FAMOUS ANDROIDS.
This may raise
another interesting point. Could Androids also be a way of producing a comic
pun on celebrities? Imagine having an Android version of Simon Cowell? Lord
Alan Sugar? or David Cameron? and what would they be like as apposed to
their originals who are lets face it quite robotic in their own way.
THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE (2006)
SYNOPSIS: For their
first trip with Mickey, the Tenth Doctor and Rose end up on a space ship in the
future that contains several portals to pre-Revolutionary France. When he steps
through one of these portals, shaped like a fireplace, the Doctor discovers the
even greater mystery of actual, romantic love.
WIND BACK THE CLOCK
In 'The Girl in the
Fireplace' Steven Moffat presented to the audience a new type of Android.
Clockwork running Androids. Androids which run by clockwork. It was a very
imaginative, inventive idea which still works today. It's futuristic but has
bits of past technology in it, the mixture of the two compliment each
other and make the idea compelling.
The function of the
clockwork droids were that they were repair droids. they were trying to fix
their spaceship. However, they had a problem on their hands. They did't
have the parts. So what to do? well they didn't have the parts so they
used any resources they could find - the crew.
Their function is
to repair their space ship. That is their purpose. They will fix it with any
resources they can find. They can't compute the difference between human and
mineral resources.
They give of a
creepy pose, but very sort of grand in their 17th century disguises. I really
like the clockwork droids, and was pleased when Steven Moffat brought back the
idea, or reintroduced the same principals with the half faced man in
'Deep Breath'.
INDEPENDENT
ANDROIDS - This could raise another interesting suggestion. Could Androids
possibly be considered to be independent? they are shown as
having Independence in 'The Girl in the Fireplace'. It raises interesting
suggestion.
So we've seen
very different examples of Androids and they way they are portrayed
in Doctor Who. They can be scary, a useful tool, a decoy,
an interpretation of famous icons and can function as independent beings.
Its a combination of these contributing factors which I think makes Androids
compelling in science fiction. Not just in Doctor Who alone. Of course,
anything is open to suggestion.
FILE ENDS.
