President (The Three Doctors)

President
Main aliases:	Pandad IV
Species:	Time Lord
Job:	Lord President
Affiliated with:	High Council
Place of origin:	Jewel, Gallifrey
First appearance:	The Three Doctors
Appearances:	COMIC: Return of the Daleks, Double Trouble
Main actor:	Roy Purcell

The Time Lords were led by the President of the Council during the First Omega Crisis. (TV: The Three Doctors, PROSE: The Three Doctors) This same incarnation continued to rule during the Fourth Doctor's early lifetime, (COMIC: Return of the Daleks, Double Trouble) until regenerating into the President who was assassinated by Goth. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin, The Legacy of Gallifrey) One account of his death indicated this President was the one who was wounded by the Rani's mice. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey)

By one account, this President was a subsequent incarnation of the First Time Lord. (PROSE: The Three Doctors) Another indicated he was an incarnation of Pandad IV. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey)

History

Origins

The President remembered having been, in a previous incarnation, the First Time Lord. (PROSE: The Three Doctors)

Omega Crisis

While the identity of the aggressor was unknown, (TV: The Three Doctors) as Omega's anti-matter universe was beyond the reach of the Matrix, (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey) the President decided to use the last of their power to summon the Doctor's first two incarnations to help the current third incarnation to resolve this crisis. (TV: The Three Doctors)

His decision to break the Laws of Time met with criticism from his Chancellor, but the President had faith in his gamble since the Time Lords didn't have any better solution since the energy drain was difficult for them to sort out.

After this gamble proved successful, the President rescinded the Third Doctor's exile on Earth and restored his ability to travel through time and space. (TV: The Three Doctors) He'd been advised to do so by his Chancellor, who by this account was Socra. When the President demanded an explanation, Socra revealed to him the existence of (and his allegiance to) the Celestial Intervention Agency. Pandad decided to keep it secret from the population despite the CIA's offer to go public, feeling that it might risk lessening the Gallifreyan people's faith in the Presidency. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey)

Dealings with the Fourth Doctor

On Jewel, Pandad was alerted when the time thread of the Fourth Doctor's TARDIS was lost. He ordered an inter-galactic time search to find it. Shazar went to Jewel to convince the Time Lords that the Doctor was in league with the Daleks. Pandad pretended to accept the lie and allowed Shazar to return to his Dalek masters with cirenium to fuel the TARDIS' time circuits. In fact, cirenium could destroy timeships and Pandad had fooled Shazar into aiding in the destruction of the fleet of TARDISes the Daleks were building. As punishment, the Time Lords shrunk Shazar and placed him in a jar, with the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith leaving him on a primitive planet so that he could do no harm. (COMIC: Return of the Daleks)

The President gives the Fourth Doctor his mission. (COMIC: Double Trouble)

After a man resembling the Fourth Doctor was hypnotised by the Vatheks and left terror in his wake, a Junior Time Lord demanded that Pandad summon the Doctor to a Court of Enquiry to explain his actions, although Pandad believed there was no need for explanation, as they all knew the penalty for such crimes. Although the Doctor denied the allegations, he was found by Pandad to have abused his position as a Time Lord and was sentenced to death. However, the Junior Time Lord instead suggested a sentence of one million years in suspended animation. When the Doctor's double remained in operation while the Doctor was incarcerated, the Time Lords realised their mistake and the Junior Time Lord revealed he had only imprisoned him in his TARDIS because he suspected the Doctor's innocence. Now enlightened of the facts, the Doctor was ordered by Pandad to punish the Vahteks and the imposter accordingly for daring to outwit them. He sentenced the Vahteks to two million years of suspended animation and unhypnotised the imposter, returning him to Earth with no memory of his recent exploits. (COMIC: Double Trouble)

Fate

Main article: Lord President (The Mark of the Rani)

By one account, this incarnation of Pandad IV was the Lord President who was attakced by the Rani's mice The mice ate the President's pet, a cat, and bit the President himself, triggering a regeneration. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey) The Rani exiled herself and became a renegade as a result of the incident. (TV: The Mark of the Rani) This ended the tradition of Lord Presidents of the Time Lords possessing intelligent cats for pets and advisors, a tradition which had begun with Rassilon himself and would not be brought back until Flavia (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey) became Acting President after the Fifth Doctor ran off on the Time Lords. (TV: The Five Doctors)

The Time Lord the President regenerated into would also serve as President during the Fourth Doctor's lifetime. (PROSE: The Legacy of Gallifrey) Spandrell would remember this later President as having been the same President who ruled during the Omega crisis. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin)