Sil

Sil
Species:	Mentor
Job:	Representative
Place of origin:	Thoros-Beta
First appearance:	Vengeance on Varos
Appearances:	see list
Main actor:	Nabil Shaban
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Sil was a Mentor from Thoros-Beta. He was actively involved in various unethical business schemes during the 21st, 23rd, and 24th centuries.

Biography

As the representative of the Galatron Mining Corporation on the planet Varos, Sil lied about the value of Zeiton-7 to get the cheapest price for it. He was also interested in buying and distributing recordings of the various tortures which passed for entertainment on Varos. These schemes ended when the Sixth Doctor informed the Governor of Varos of the true value of the commodity. Sil hoped to secure rights to videos of the torture of criminals on Varos (already served up, on television as entertainment for Varos' oppressed citizens) and market them on other worlds. (TV: Vengeance on Varos)

Prior to 2379, Sil allied himself with the Ice Warriors to profit from their invasion of the planet Magnus, which he hoped to make have a colder climate to suit the Ice Warriors, while he also made a profit selling the natives warm clothes. (AUDIO: Mission to Magnus)

In 2379, on his homeworld of Thoros-Beta, Sil became involved in weapons dealing with the primitive peoples of the planet Krontep. The Sixth Doctor, seemingly as a ruse, worked together with Sil, the Doctor using his knowledge of future history to determine the best investment prospects. (TV: Mindwarp)

In 2382, the Universal Monetary Fund sent Sil to London to try an recuperate some of the money they had lent Amadeus Boscoe's government. He suggested radical cuts to aid this recuperation and asked his master Lord Mav for a further loan. Boscoe allowed him to become part of his government. He used Anzor's TARDIS to lure the Sixth Doctor to London, where he asked Cordelia Crozier to experiment on him to find all immunities. He suggested releasing Cholera and the Bubonic plague to reduce the population of United Kingdom. He killed Crozier, because of the death of Kiv and led Cordelia to believe the Doctor did it. (AUDIO: Antidote to Oblivion)

The Tenth Doctor confronts Sil. (COMIC: Untitled)

At some point, Sil was present on Earth in the 21st century, where he entered the profession of TV programming. Sil planned to bring torture to the modern age, by putting undesirable humans in a house and psychologically pitting them against each other. The Tenth Doctor learned of this thanks to a magazine, Yikes Mag, owned by Rose Tyler and planned to stop him. However, when confronting Sil, Rose quickly pointed out that his pitched TV series had already been done, which, much to the Doctor's shock, lead to the two bonding over a shared morbid fascination with the "torture" committed to guests on reality TV. (COMIC: Untitled)

Sil barters with the the Thirteenth Doctor. (GAME: Lost in Time)

Sil was present at one of the Waypoints supercharged with vortex energy that became the only place between which the Doctor could travel when a widespread temporal crisis temporarily rendered normal TARDIS travel all but impossible. The Thirteenth Doctor and K9 landed at this Waypoint after they managed to take off from UNIT HQ (another Waypoint), and purchased equipment from Sil that allowed them to collect vortex energy faster. (GAME: Lost in Time)

Personality

Sil seemed to be sadistic and contemptuous of humanoid life-forms, once stating that "There is nothing I more enjoy than human suffering." (TV: Mindwarp) He was extremely self-centred, greedy and manipulative - as shown in his attempt to govern Varos - as well as hot-tempered and impatient, being given to temper tantrums when things did not go his way. He even screamed at people when they did not respond to his questions immediately. (TV: Vengeance on Varos)

He liked to eat marsh minnows. (TV: Mindwarp, AUDIO: Antidote to Oblivion)

Appearance and behaviour

Like all Mentors, Sil looked like a slug with humanoid features and fin-like appendages on his head and in between his arms and torso. (TV: Vengeance on Varos)

His skin tone varied between dark brown (TV: Vengeance on Varos) and light green. (TV: Mindwarp)

According to Sil's Eurozone citizen file, he was 2'04" tall, weighed 15.2 pounds, and possessed the Ability "Overgrow" and the "Hidden Ability" Chlorophyll". (HOMEVID: Sil and the Devil Seeds of Arodor)

Behind the scenes

• Sil's hand mirror and food dish were kept as stock props by the Doctor Who production company.
• Sil was mentioned in The Final Script as one of the enemies the Sixth Doctor had finally conclusively defeated.
• The statistics visible in Sil's Eurozone citizen file are, in fact, the statics of the Pokémon Bulbasaur, and have apparently been copied and pasted from the infobox on its page on the fan site Pokémon Database. The figures listed as Sil's "Local №" are identical to Bulbasaur's regional Pokédex numbers in the various games.
• Sil was set to return in Sil and the Avian Uprising, but the stage play was cancelled due to the passing of writer Philip Martin.