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{{Infobox Object
{{retitle|''Teselecta''}}
|image       =  
{{Infobox Individual
|object name = Teselecta
|name        = ''Teselecta''
|type        = Android [[Robot]]
|image       = Teselecta transforms.jpg
|origin     =  
|aka          = Justice Department Vehicle Number 6018
|appearances = [[DW]]:''[[The Impossible Astronaut]]''<br>[[DW]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]''<br>[[DW]]: ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]''
|job          = Space-time vessel
}}  
|origin       =  
The '''Teselecta''' was a [[Justice Department Vehicle]], staffed by a crew that had been miniaturised by a [[compression field]]. It could travel through time, and was used to locate people who were deemed to have committed crimes but had escaped punishment. After finding them near the end of their respective timelines (so as to avoid changing history), the crew would administer their own punishment - usually in the form of some painful torture before death.
|first        = The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)
|appearances  = [[TV]]: {{cs|Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Wedding of River Song (TV story)}}, [[COMIC]]: ''[[The Partying of the Ways (comic story)|The Partying of the Ways]]''
|actor        = Matt Smith
|other actor  = Philip Rham
|other actor2 = Karen Gillan
|other actor3 = Alex Kingston
|other actor4 = Niall Greig Fulton
}}{{ImageLink}}
The '''''Teselecta''''', designated '''Justice Department Vehicle Number 6018''', was a humanoid [[starship]]/[[time machine]], similar to an [[android]], staffed by [[Justice Department|a crew]] who had been [[Miniaturisation|miniaturised]] by a [[compression field]].


==History==
It was used to locate people deemed guilty of [[crimes]] who had escaped [[punishment]]. After finding them near the end of their respective [[timeline]]s to avoid changing history, the crew would administer their own punishment, usually in the form of some non-lethal, painful torture. Afterwards they could die in the manner recorded by history.
The Teselecta was manned by a staff of four hundred and twenty-one people. They could change its appearance to any being. At the time the [[Eleventh Doctor]], [[Amy Pond|Amy]], [[Rory Williams|Rory]], and [[Mels]] crashed through [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s office, the Teselecta was trying to deliver punishment to Hitler, but got him in the wrong time period. It wasn't until they discovered Mels, who had regenerated, revealing herself as [[Melody Pond]], that they stopped trying to go after Hitler, and tried to deliver her punishment, for their records indicated that she would be the one to kill the Doctor. They were thwarted by Melody's parents, Amy and Rory, who deactivated the devices that protected the crew against the antibodies. They were forced to teleport to a spaceship above the Earth, abandoning the Teselecta. The Teselecta was used to show Melody that River Song, the friend of the Doctor and his companions was what she would later become. The Doctor also extracted data from it regarding his death and let it reveal [[The Silence|the Silence's]] purpose. ([[DW]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')
[[file:tessalecta.jpg|thumb|Inside the Teselecta ([[DW]]:''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')]]


The Tessalecta returns in ''[[The Wedding of River Song]]'' and ends up taking the shape of [[The Doctor]] to save him from the Astronaut (who is [[River Song]]) without damaging the time line.
== History ==
The ''Teselecta'' had a [[crew]] of 421 people led by [[Carter (Let's Kill Hitler)|Captain Carter]]. They could change its appearance to that of any humanoid being. The ''Teselecta'' visited [[1938]] intending to punish [[Adolf Hitler]] but realized they had arrived too early in his time stream. At the same time, [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] crashed into Hitler's office (due to [[Mels]] shooting the time rotor) and knocked the ''Teselecta'' to the ground, inadvertently saving Hitler. The crew witnessed Mels' [[regeneration]] into her [[River Song]] incarnation and recognised her as the worst war criminal in the universe for killing the Doctor in the future.


==Features==
Following River's departure from Hitler's office, the ''Teselecta'' followed, miniaturizing [[Amy Pond]] and [[Rory Williams]] and taking on the form of Amy. As Amy and Rory were innocent of any crime, they were given security privileges that protected them from the [[Teselecta antibody|''Teselecta'' antibodies]]. The ''Teselecta'' attempted to punish River before being interrupted by the Doctor. With the Doctor demanding information on his death and Amy a relative of River, Captain Carter granted Amy access to the ''Teselecta's'' records on the Doctor and the ''Teselecta'' informed the Doctor of the true nature of [[the Silence]] and about [[the Question]]. The ''Teselecta'' soon resumed torturing River, but Amy used [[the Doctor's sonic screwdriver]] to revoke the crew's security privileges. Under attack by the antibodies, the crew began shutting the robot down, including its weapons systems, but were forced to beam out to a ship in orbit when they couldn't shut down the ''Teselecta'' in time.
===Shapeshifting===
The Teselecta could resemble anyone or anything whose likeness it has scanned. During its time in [[Berlin]], [[1938]], 6018 took on the forms of a janitor, [[Zimmerman|a Nazi official]], a Nazi soldier (both with and without a [[motorbike]]), as well as [[Amy Pond]] and [[River Song]]. A member of the crew stated that it had once taken the form of [[Rasputin]], but with green skin. At some time in the Future and on the 22nd of April 2011  the Teselecta took form of a deceased member of [[the Silence]] and (as a request) [[Eleventh Doctor|The Doctor]].


===Miniaturisation ray===
After the Doctor died, Amy turned to the ''Teselecta'' which was still partially active. With Amy's privileges as a relative, she had the ''Teselecta'' shapeshift into River Song to show Melody that she and River were one and the same. Following his subsequent [[resurrection]], the Doctor extracted data from the ''Teselecta'' databanks on his death at [[Lake Silencio]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)}})
The Teselecta was equipped with a miniaturisation ray, which it used to miniaturise people and transport them into the Teselecta. [[compression field|Compression fields]] were used to keep people miniaturised.


===Antibodies===
The ''Teselecta'' was later recovered by its crew. As the Doctor's death approached, the Doctor tracked it down posing as Father [[Gideon Vandaleur]], a deceased envoy for [[the Silence]]. The Doctor was able to disable the ''Teselecta'' once again and promised to fix it once he got what he wanted. Having realised that the ''Teselecta'' was investigating the Silence, the Doctor asked for information on the Silence's weak link. The ''Teselecta'' crew pointed the Doctor towards [[Gantok]].
The interiors of the Teselecta were defended by the [[Teselecta Antibodies]]. Anyone without the proper privileges was killed. ([[DW]]: ''[[Let's Kill Hitler]]'')


{{Series 6 aliens}}
As the Doctor prepared to go to his death, he visited the ''Teselecta'' to request that the crew deliver his invitations to his friends so that the Doctor wouldn't risk crossing his own [[timestream]]. Captain Carter promised to do so and insisted that no mater what the Doctor thought of them, the ''Teselecta'' and her crew were also champions of justice. After Carter asked if there was nothing more that they could do, the Doctor came up with the plan to have the ''Teselecta'' take on his form to fool everyone into thinking that he had died.
[[Category:Robots]]
 
[[Category:Eleventh Doctor enemies]]
After [[River Song]] stopped herself from killing the Doctor, it fractured a [[fixed point in time]] and created [[River Song's World]]. In the [[alternate timeline]], the Doctor remained in control of the ''Teselecta'', changing its outer form to make it appear as if he aged to avoid suspicion. Eventually, the Doctor married River Song and revealed to River in the process that both he and the TARDIS were safely inside the ''Teselecta''. Because she and the Doctor were the opposite poles of the disruption in time, River and "the Doctor" kissed, restoring the universe. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of River Song (TV story)}})
[[Category:Shape-shifting technology]]
 
In the restored timeline, River blasted the ''Teselecta'' in the Doctor's form with her spacesuit's weapons pack, "killing" him. The ''Teselecta'' was set on a boat that was set ablaze and pushed out into [[Lake Silencio]] to burn. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Wedding of River Song (TV story)}})
 
The Doctor later revealed his deception with the ''Teselecta'' to [[Dorium Maldovar]] while River revealed the truth to Amy and Rory. According to the Doctor, he "barely got singed" when the ''Teselecta'' was set ablaze in the boat. As a result, all but River, Amy, Rory, Dorium and the ''Teselecta'' crew came to believe that the Doctor was dead, the true fixed point in time that was recorded in history. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of River Song (TV story)}})
 
The [[Twelfth Doctor]] had the Teselecta transform into [[Clara Oswin Oswald]] as a way to celebrate one of [[Clara Oswald]]'s birthdays. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Partying of the Ways (comic story)|The Partying of the Ways]]'')
 
The crew of the ''Teselecta'' attended the annual [[Space-Time Police Officers' Ball]] on [[18 January]] along with the [[Shadow Proclamation]] and the [[Atraxi]], meeting to [[eat]] some [[vol-au-vent]]s and share [[story|stories]] of their greatest [[asset]]s. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Time Traveller's Diary (novel)|Time Traveller's Diary]]'')
 
== Features ==
=== Shapeshifting ===
The ''Teselecta'' could resemble anyone or anything whose likeness it scanned. During its time in [[Berlin]], [[1938]], it took on the forms of a cleaner, [[Erich Zimmerman|a Nazi official]], a Nazi soldier (with and without a [[motorbike]]), as well as [[Amy Pond]] and [[River Song]]. A member of the crew said it had once taken the form of [[Grigori Rasputin|Rasputin]], but with green skin. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)}})
 
At some point the ''Teselecta'' took the form of Father [[Gideon Vandaleur]], a deceased member of [[the Silence]] and, at his request on [[22 April]] [[2011]], the [[Eleventh Doctor]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of River Song (TV story)}})
 
It was able to mimic [[regeneration]] at [[Lake Silencio]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Wedding of River Song (TV story)}})
 
The ''Teselecta'' had a lot of damage resistance, as the Doctor declared that he "barely got singed" when his "body" was being cremated at Lake Silencio. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of River Song (TV story)}})
 
Though several of the ''Teselecta's'' features had been shut down before the crew were forced to abandon it, the shapeshifting aspect was still active and Amy was able to get it to take on the form of [[River Song]] by simply ordering the robot to access River's records and show River to her. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)}})
 
It can change its height to match the height of those whose forms it takes. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)}}, {{cs|The Wedding of River Song (TV story)}})
 
=== Miniaturisation ray ===
The ''Teselecta'' was equipped with a miniaturisation ray, which it used to shrink people and transport them into the ''Teselecta''. [[Compression field]]s were used to keep people miniaturised. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)}})
 
=== Antibodies ===
The interiors of the ''Teselecta'' were defended by robotic organisms called "the [[Teselecta antibody|antibodies]]". Anyone without the proper privileges was killed, such as the Nazi [[Erich Zimmerman|Zimmerman]] in 1938.
 
If the crew's privileges were disabled, the antibodies would turn on the crew themselves and attack. The antibodies could presumably be disabled if the entire ''Teselecta'' was shut down as the crew attempted to shut the ''Teselecta'' down completely when such an event happened. However, they were not able to complete the task and were forced to call for outside teleportation to escape.
 
The loss of privileges keeping the antibodies from attacking did not appear to affect a person's control of the ''Teselecta's'' other features. The crew were still able to access its systems to attempt to shut it down and [[Amy Pond]] retained the access [[Carter (Let's Kill Hitler)|Captain Carter]] granted her to the ''Teselecta's'' databanks. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)}})
 
=== Offensive and defensive features ===
The ''Teselecta'' was equipped with a non-lethal energy weapon, used within "[[justice mode]]", designed to torture its victims. It otherwise had no known built-in weapons, although targets could be miniaturised and finished off by the antibodies.
 
It was strong enough to withstand and take no significant damage from a collision from [[the Doctor's TARDIS]] at high speed. [[Firearm|Handguns]] had very little effect on it. It had the ability to perform a "perfect faint" to plausibly avoid conversations with others. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)}})
 
It was also fireproof, or at least highly fire-resistant; when the ''Teselecta'' posed as the Doctor and was burned after faking the Doctor's death, the Doctor, who was really inside, was unharmed, remarking after that the ''Teselecta'' was "barely singed". ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Wedding of River Song (TV story)}})
 
=== Databanks ===
The ''Teselecta'' possessed extensive databanks on individuals, organizations and events throughout time and space. Relatives of those targeted had certain privileges that allowed them to be granted access to the databanks by the Captain, but use of the databanks by civilians was generally forbidden due to the danger of knowing too much about one's own future.
 
In [[1938]], [[Amy Pond]] was granted access to the ''Teselecta'' databanks as a relative of [[River Song]] who the ''Teselecta'' was targeting. Once Amy requested access to the records on [[Eleventh Doctor|the Doctor]], the ''Teselecta'' provided the Doctor with the information he requested by verbalizing it in a robotic manner. These databanks had information on the Doctor's death at [[Lake Silencio]] and that it was a [[fixed point in time]]. The databanks were able to provide information on [[the Silence]] and [[the Question]], though not what the Question actually was as the databanks lacked that information. The Doctor was later able to extract the biographical data the ''Teselecta'' had on the time, date and location of his death.
 
After most of the ''Teslecta's'' systems were shut down, its databanks remained active and Amy, who retained her privileges as a relative, was able to access the records on River Song by simply speaking to the ''Teselecta''. The ''Teselecta'' was then able to shapeshift into the form of River from its databanks at Amy's request. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)}})
 
{{NameSort}}
 
[[Category:Teselecta| *]]
[[Category:Individual androids]]
[[Category:Space-time vessels]]
[[Category:Shapeshifting technology]]
[[Category:Individual shapeshifters]]
[[Category:Law and order]]
[[Category:Hoaxes]]
[[Category:Apparent death]]
[[Category:Identity theft]]
[[Category:Miniaturisation technology]]
[[Category:Individuals who altered their appearance to look like the Doctor]]
[[Category:Time technology]]
[[Category:Time technology]]
[[Category:Eleventh Doctor allies]]
[[Category:Time travel devices]]
[[Category:Galactic law]]

Latest revision as of 17:24, 21 October 2024

The Teselecta, designated Justice Department Vehicle Number 6018, was a humanoid starship/time machine, similar to an android, staffed by a crew who had been miniaturised by a compression field.

It was used to locate people deemed guilty of crimes who had escaped punishment. After finding them near the end of their respective timelines to avoid changing history, the crew would administer their own punishment, usually in the form of some non-lethal, painful torture. Afterwards they could die in the manner recorded by history.

History[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Teselecta had a crew of 421 people led by Captain Carter. They could change its appearance to that of any humanoid being. The Teselecta visited 1938 intending to punish Adolf Hitler but realized they had arrived too early in his time stream. At the same time, the Doctor's TARDIS crashed into Hitler's office (due to Mels shooting the time rotor) and knocked the Teselecta to the ground, inadvertently saving Hitler. The crew witnessed Mels' regeneration into her River Song incarnation and recognised her as the worst war criminal in the universe for killing the Doctor in the future.

Following River's departure from Hitler's office, the Teselecta followed, miniaturizing Amy Pond and Rory Williams and taking on the form of Amy. As Amy and Rory were innocent of any crime, they were given security privileges that protected them from the Teselecta antibodies. The Teselecta attempted to punish River before being interrupted by the Doctor. With the Doctor demanding information on his death and Amy a relative of River, Captain Carter granted Amy access to the Teselecta's records on the Doctor and the Teselecta informed the Doctor of the true nature of the Silence and about the Question. The Teselecta soon resumed torturing River, but Amy used the Doctor's sonic screwdriver to revoke the crew's security privileges. Under attack by the antibodies, the crew began shutting the robot down, including its weapons systems, but were forced to beam out to a ship in orbit when they couldn't shut down the Teselecta in time.

After the Doctor died, Amy turned to the Teselecta which was still partially active. With Amy's privileges as a relative, she had the Teselecta shapeshift into River Song to show Melody that she and River were one and the same. Following his subsequent resurrection, the Doctor extracted data from the Teselecta databanks on his death at Lake Silencio. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"])

The Teselecta was later recovered by its crew. As the Doctor's death approached, the Doctor tracked it down posing as Father Gideon Vandaleur, a deceased envoy for the Silence. The Doctor was able to disable the Teselecta once again and promised to fix it once he got what he wanted. Having realised that the Teselecta was investigating the Silence, the Doctor asked for information on the Silence's weak link. The Teselecta crew pointed the Doctor towards Gantok.

As the Doctor prepared to go to his death, he visited the Teselecta to request that the crew deliver his invitations to his friends so that the Doctor wouldn't risk crossing his own timestream. Captain Carter promised to do so and insisted that no mater what the Doctor thought of them, the Teselecta and her crew were also champions of justice. After Carter asked if there was nothing more that they could do, the Doctor came up with the plan to have the Teselecta take on his form to fool everyone into thinking that he had died.

After River Song stopped herself from killing the Doctor, it fractured a fixed point in time and created River Song's World. In the alternate timeline, the Doctor remained in control of the Teselecta, changing its outer form to make it appear as if he aged to avoid suspicion. Eventually, the Doctor married River Song and revealed to River in the process that both he and the TARDIS were safely inside the Teselecta. Because she and the Doctor were the opposite poles of the disruption in time, River and "the Doctor" kissed, restoring the universe. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"])

In the restored timeline, River blasted the Teselecta in the Doctor's form with her spacesuit's weapons pack, "killing" him. The Teselecta was set on a boat that was set ablaze and pushed out into Lake Silencio to burn. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Loading...["The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)"], The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"])

The Doctor later revealed his deception with the Teselecta to Dorium Maldovar while River revealed the truth to Amy and Rory. According to the Doctor, he "barely got singed" when the Teselecta was set ablaze in the boat. As a result, all but River, Amy, Rory, Dorium and the Teselecta crew came to believe that the Doctor was dead, the true fixed point in time that was recorded in history. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"])

The Twelfth Doctor had the Teselecta transform into Clara Oswin Oswald as a way to celebrate one of Clara Oswald's birthdays. (COMIC: The Partying of the Ways)

The crew of the Teselecta attended the annual Space-Time Police Officers' Ball on 18 January along with the Shadow Proclamation and the Atraxi, meeting to eat some vol-au-vents and share stories of their greatest assets. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary)

Features[[edit] | [edit source]]

Shapeshifting[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Teselecta could resemble anyone or anything whose likeness it scanned. During its time in Berlin, 1938, it took on the forms of a cleaner, a Nazi official, a Nazi soldier (with and without a motorbike), as well as Amy Pond and River Song. A member of the crew said it had once taken the form of Rasputin, but with green skin. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"])

At some point the Teselecta took the form of Father Gideon Vandaleur, a deceased member of the Silence and, at his request on 22 April 2011, the Eleventh Doctor. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"])

It was able to mimic regeneration at Lake Silencio. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Loading...["The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)"], The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"])

The Teselecta had a lot of damage resistance, as the Doctor declared that he "barely got singed" when his "body" was being cremated at Lake Silencio. (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"])

Though several of the Teselecta's features had been shut down before the crew were forced to abandon it, the shapeshifting aspect was still active and Amy was able to get it to take on the form of River Song by simply ordering the robot to access River's records and show River to her. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"])

It can change its height to match the height of those whose forms it takes. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut [+]Loading...["The Impossible Astronaut (TV story)"], The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"])

Miniaturisation ray[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Teselecta was equipped with a miniaturisation ray, which it used to shrink people and transport them into the Teselecta. Compression fields were used to keep people miniaturised. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"])

Antibodies[[edit] | [edit source]]

The interiors of the Teselecta were defended by robotic organisms called "the antibodies". Anyone without the proper privileges was killed, such as the Nazi Zimmerman in 1938.

If the crew's privileges were disabled, the antibodies would turn on the crew themselves and attack. The antibodies could presumably be disabled if the entire Teselecta was shut down as the crew attempted to shut the Teselecta down completely when such an event happened. However, they were not able to complete the task and were forced to call for outside teleportation to escape.

The loss of privileges keeping the antibodies from attacking did not appear to affect a person's control of the Teselecta's other features. The crew were still able to access its systems to attempt to shut it down and Amy Pond retained the access Captain Carter granted her to the Teselecta's databanks. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"])

Offensive and defensive features[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Teselecta was equipped with a non-lethal energy weapon, used within "justice mode", designed to torture its victims. It otherwise had no known built-in weapons, although targets could be miniaturised and finished off by the antibodies.

It was strong enough to withstand and take no significant damage from a collision from the Doctor's TARDIS at high speed. Handguns had very little effect on it. It had the ability to perform a "perfect faint" to plausibly avoid conversations with others. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"])

It was also fireproof, or at least highly fire-resistant; when the Teselecta posed as the Doctor and was burned after faking the Doctor's death, the Doctor, who was really inside, was unharmed, remarking after that the Teselecta was "barely singed". (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"])

Databanks[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Teselecta possessed extensive databanks on individuals, organizations and events throughout time and space. Relatives of those targeted had certain privileges that allowed them to be granted access to the databanks by the Captain, but use of the databanks by civilians was generally forbidden due to the danger of knowing too much about one's own future.

In 1938, Amy Pond was granted access to the Teselecta databanks as a relative of River Song who the Teselecta was targeting. Once Amy requested access to the records on the Doctor, the Teselecta provided the Doctor with the information he requested by verbalizing it in a robotic manner. These databanks had information on the Doctor's death at Lake Silencio and that it was a fixed point in time. The databanks were able to provide information on the Silence and the Question, though not what the Question actually was as the databanks lacked that information. The Doctor was later able to extract the biographical data the Teselecta had on the time, date and location of his death.

After most of the Teslecta's systems were shut down, its databanks remained active and Amy, who retained her privileges as a relative, was able to access the records on River Song by simply speaking to the Teselecta. The Teselecta was then able to shapeshift into the form of River from its databanks at Amy's request. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler [+]Loading...["Let's Kill Hitler (TV story)"])

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