| Doctor Who alien | |
|---|---|
| Zygons | |
| Type | Shapechanging humanoids |
| Affiliated with | Zygon Empire |
| Home planet | Unknown (possibly Zygor) |
| First appearance | Terror of the Zygons |
The Zygons are a fictional extraterrestrial race in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. They first appeared in the Fourth Doctor serial Terror of the Zygons, where it was revealed that centuries ago, the Zygon homeworld was destroyed in a stellar explosion. A craft escaped and somehow made it to Earth, where it then crashed into Loch Ness. When the Doctor encountered the Zygons, they were led by a warlord named Broton. Broton wished to conquer the world to allow a refugee fleet of Zygons to colonize Earth.
The Zygons have shape-shifting abilities, allowing them to replicate the appearance of another being, but they must keep the subject alive in order to use its body print. This skill was vital in their concealment and in their scheme to seize power despite their small numbers. The Zygons were also accompanied by an armoured cyborg creature called the Skarasen, the lactic fluid of which was necessary for them to feed. Broton planned to unleash the Skarasen (or Loch Ness Monster as it was known) as part of a bid to conquer the Earth. The plan was foiled and both he and his crew were killed due to the intervention of the Fourth Doctor and the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT). Zygon technology is biological in nature: in essence their ships and equipment are actually alive.
David Tennant (the Tenth Doctor) has stated that they are his favourite monsters from Doctor Who.[1]
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In an unfilmed scene in Part Five of the never completed serial Shada, a Zygon was listed as being among the prisoners kept in the titular Time Lord prison.
A Zygon was shown trapped in a stasis pod in the Doctor Who interactive "mini-episode" Attack of the Graske.
They were mentioned as part of the alliance in The Pandorica Opens.
The comic story "Skywatch-7", written by Alan McKenzie (under the pseudonym "Maxwell Stockbridge") and illustrated by Mick Austin, features a UNIT team encountering a single Zygon at a remote base. It was first published, in two parts, in Doctor Who Monthly #58 and the Doctor Who Winter Special 1981.
The Eighth Doctor encountered the Zygons in the spin-off novel The Bodysnatchers by Mark Morris, which also named the now-destroyed Zygon homeworld as Zygor. The novel also revealed that Zygor had been destroyed as a result of an attack by an arachnid alien race from Tau Ceti, the Xaranti. The concept of the Zygon "sting", poisonous barbs protruding from their hands, originates from this novel; this conveniently explains why, in their television appearance, the Zygons were apparently able to inflict pain on other beings with a mere touch.
NB Actually the concept of the Zygon sting originated years earlier in the Target novelisation of the story, Terror of the Zygons which was written by Terrance Dicks and appeared in 1976 under the title Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster.
The Zygons appear in the New Series Adventures novel Sting of the Zygons by Stephen Cole, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones, which is set in the Lake District in 1909.
The Zygons have been featured in three audio plays produced by BBV, Homeland by Paul Dearing, Absolution (not to be confused with the Big Finish play Absolution) by Paul Ebbs and The Barnacled Baby by Anthony Keetch.
They made their Big Finish debut in the Eighth Doctor audio adventure The Zygon Who Fell to Earth by Paul Magrs and returned in Death in Blackpool by Alan Barnes.
The Zygons were featured in the second Doctor Who Weetabix promotional set, and were card number 9 in the Typhoo tea card set. Harlequin Miniatures produced two 28mm figures, and Fine Art Castings produced two Zygon figurines, sized 80mm and 40mm.
In 2008, a Zygon figure was released by Character Options in the first wave of their classic Doctor Who toy line.
Zygon is a spin-off drama production from BBV, featuring the Zygons. Early drafts were written by Lance Parkin, and later ones by Jonathan Blum, although both authors removed their names from the final version (which was heavily rewritten again). It was eventually released in 2008 as Zygon: When being you just isn't enough (with an 18 certificate due to scenes of an adult nature), after a post-production period of about 5 years.
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