Malpha

Malpha
Species:	Malpha
First appearance:	Mission to the Unknown
Appearances:	TV: The Daleks' Master Plan COMIC: Happy Deathday AUDIO: The Perfect Prisoners WC: Mission to the Unknown
Main actor:	Robert Cartland
Main voice actor:	Christopher Naylor
Other actors:	Bryan Mosley, Paul Stenton

Malpha was one of the representatives from the Outer Galaxies on the Galactic Council who planned to conquer the Solar System with the aid of the Daleks.

Biography

Malpha was last to arrive at the Council's first conference on Kembel but took a leading role in that meeting. Upon his arrival on the planet, he was informed that there were hostile influences from the solar system among them. He brought this to the attention of the Black Dalek, who corrected him. Clarifying that the hostiles were not amongst the Council but rather Earth beings that had landed on the planet, the Black Dalek assured Malpha that their spaceship had been destroyed and that they themselves would be hunted down and killed before they could get a message out into the universe, whether by the hands of the Varga plants or the Dalek patrols themselves.

With the seven great powers of the Outer Galaxies united, Malpha made a speech in which he described their union as "an historic moment in the history of the universe" as he and his five fellow representatives from the outer galaxies, joined with "the power from the solar system", the Daleks. Malpha opined that the powers represened the greatest war force ever assembled, confident in the conquest of Mars, Venus, Jupiter and the moon colonies. Finally, he led the table in pledging their allegiance to the Dalek cause, vowing that their armies would reduce the galaxies to ashes and their people to dust, beginning with the conquest of Earth. It was at this point that all representatives present joined him in a chant for victory. (TV: Mission to the Unknown)

He had a lesser presence in subsequent meetings. He was one of the few to survive the Daleks' treachery. The First Doctor helped him to escape to his own people and warn them about the Daleks' invasion plans and organise resistance. (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan)

He, much like the other surviving members of the Galactic Council and their heirs, joined and helped form the Syndicate to take control of the universe and get revenge on the Fourth Doctor. Eventually he was killed by Anya Kingdom. (AUDIO: The Perfect Prisoners)

Other references

In the video game Happy Deathday, played by Izzy Sinclair on the Time-Space Visualiser, Malpha was among a host of "every single enemy" that the Doctor had ever defeated, who were assembled by the Beige Guardian and pitted against the Doctor's first eight incarnations. (COMIC: Happy Deathday)

Appearance

Malpha was tall and well built. His face was covered with a pattern resembling a patchwork, dark lines on pale skin. (TV: Mission to the Unknown, The Daleks' Master Plan)

Abilities

Malpha claimed to possess strength beyond that which a human was capable of. This advantage, he supposed, was because he was a silicon-based lifeform, from a planet with gravity unlike Earth's. He told Jodor Colwyn that he could quite easily "snap [him] like a twig" in their present environment. (AUDIO: The Perfect Prisoners)

Behind the scenes

An image from a publicity still of Robert Cartland's turn as the character.

• Robert Cartland played Malpha in Mission to the Unknown. In The Daleks' Master Plan, Bryan Mosley played Malpha, although DWM 272 incorrectly listed Mosley, who was uncredited in Episode 2, as "Brian Edwards". Christopher Naylor was cast in the role for the Big Finish audio The Perfect Prisoners, while Paul Stenton appeared in live-action as the character in the 2019 webcast remake of the original Mission to the Unknown.