Sunday 17 July 2016

A is for... Androgums


An alien race encountered by both the Second and Sixth Doctors. Humanoid, but incredibly strong, Androgums were employed in a range of menial capacities on the Camera Space Station in the Third Zone. In particular, they were reknowned cooks. They have bushy orange eyebrows, and their faces are covered in warts.
Chief Scientist Dastari had taken one of the Androgums - Chessene - and embarked upon a series of biological enhancements to increase her intelligence and intellect. The Second Doctor was horrified by this - as Androgums are notoriously devious. Chessene helped devise a scheme to enable her to have mastery over Time - by kidnapping a Time Lord and finding the genetic material that allows them to travel safely through the Fourth Dimension. She was aided by another Androgum - the sadistic Shockeye. Androgums belong to clans named Grigs, and Shockeye's Grig (the Quancing) was fiercely loyal to Chessene's (the Franzine).
Once on Earth, Shockeye became preoccupied with cooking and tasting a human being. Both Jamie and Peri almost fell victim to him. At one point the Second Doctor was turned into an Androgum, as an alternative to dissecting him. Dastari soon began to regret his augmentations, as he saw Chessene's bloodthirsty true nature begin to break through. She was killed when the Doctor sabotaged Dastari's time capsule, and the Sixth Doctor despatched Shockeye with poison.

Played by: Jacqueline Pearce (Chessene), and John Stratton (Shockeye). Appearances: The Two Doctors (1985).

  • The Androgums were originally going to be called Kraalons. 
  • Androgum is, of course, an anagram of gourmand - in keeping with their culinary obsessions.

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