UNIT

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UNIT or Unified Intelligence Taskforce (formerly known as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) was a military organization which operates under the auspices of the United Nations. Its purpose was to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth. UNIT was not the only alien defense organisation, but it was the one with which the Doctor has historically had the closest personal involvement.

History

Roots and predecessors

The novels have postulated the existence of an early 20th century counterpart, called LONGBOW. This world security organisation was set up by the UN precursor, the League of Nations. LONGBOW dealt with the occasional extraterrestrial incident, but was disbanded after it, and the League, failed to prevent World War II (NA: Just War).

The roots of the organisation itself, however lay, in previous alien encounters. The Intrusion Countermeasures Group headed by Group Captain Ian Gilmore, which got involved in the Shoreditch Incident served as for a specialised military force with scientific assistance would seem almost a trial run for UNIT, though not an international organisation. Though Gilmore did have two scientific advisors (serving a function much like third incarnation of the Doctor and Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw would serve later), the seventh incarnation of the Doctor did most of the work, here, on the technical end. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)

A second significent was the takeover of London by the Great Intelligence, using robot Yetis and a deadly cobweb-like fungus. Assisted by the Doctor, Another group of British infantrymen, led this time by Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart of the Scots Guards beat back the Yeti from the tunnels of the London Underground. (DW: The Web of Fear) UNIT themselves would later consider this to be the main origin of the organisation. (unit.org.uk)

20th century

Early history

Formation

The United Nations was by now ever more aware that the world faced threats from extraterrestrial sources and that with the space programme sending probes deeper and deeper into space, mankind had drawn attention to itself (DW: Spearhead from Space). The UN established UNIT with the mandate to investigate, monitor and combat such threats. At the suggestion of Gilmore from the ICMG (MA: The Scales of Injustice), Lethbridge-Stewart was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and put in charge of the British contingent, organisationally known as Department C19 within the British government (DW: Time-Flight).

Lethbridge-Stewart implied on one occasion that he joined UNIT after it had already existed for at least a short period of time. (DW: Terror of the Zygons)
The Lethbridge-Stewart years

With the help, again, of the Doctor, UNIT braved an invasion by the Cybermen (DW: The Invasion).

Following this, Lethbridge-Stewart became convinced of the necessity of scientific advice in battling extraterrestrial threats, and recruited Liz Shaw from the University of Cambridge. Coincidentally, the Doctor, now in his third form, had been exiled to Earth by the Time Lords. The Doctor agreed to join UNIT as its Scientific Advisor just in time to help defeat the Autons (DW: Spearhead from Space).

When the Doctor's exile was lifted (DW: The Three Doctors), his association with UNIT became more sporadic, especially after his regeneration into his fourth incarnation. (DW: Planet of the Spiders, Robot)

Though the Doctor did return to Earth with Sarah Jane Smith, he would work less and less with the Brigadier and more with such other officers as Colonel Faraday (the Brigadier having gone to Geneva) (DW: The Android Invasion) and Major Beresford (DW: The Seeds of Doom). The Doctor, however, never officially left UNIT. (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem)

After Lethbridge-Stewart

Lethbridge-Stewart retired in 1976 and went to teach mathematics at Brendon School. At some stage, Benton and medical officer Harry Sullivan in the TARDIS also left (DW: Mawdryn Undead). He was succeeded by Colonel Crichton (DW: The Five Doctors).

The Doctor re-united, in his seventh incarnation, against an invasion by Morgaine and her armoured knights. The British contingent was commanded by the younger Brigadier Winifred Bambera. Lethbridge-Stewart was called out of retirement to assist Bambera and the Doctor. (DW: Battlefield) This version of the Doctor would, again, assist the UNIT officer Muriel Frost in the late 1990s in their struggle against the Mandragora Helix. (DWM: The Mark of Mandragora, Evening's Empire)

The 21st century

In at least the late 20th and early 21st centuries, UNIT maintained a small division based in the United States, led by Brigadier General Adrienne Kramer. (EDA: Vampire Science)

In 2006, UNIT sent a delegation to a gathering of experts to 10 Downing Street in response to an spaceship crashing in the River Thames. All of the experts were electrocuted by the family Slitheen. The identities of the advisors killed were not known, although one bore the name "Frost" on her jacket. (DW: Aliens of London)

This may or may not have been Muriel Frost. Frost would have been somewhat older by this time and she and the Doctor showed no familiarity with each other.

By this time, UNIT and the Torchwood Institute to the extent that the former group asked for, and got, the assistance of Torchwood 3's Toshiko Sato, who worked for Torchwood (DW: Aliens of London).

In Christmas 2006, UNIT had a command center located in the Tower of London (DW: The Christmas Invasion). UNIT maintained some contact with Torchwood 3, even after the Battle of Canary Wharf. Torchwood 3's leader, Jack Harkness, would occasionally confer with the heads of UNIT and once asked for and received the help of Martha Jones, a medical doctor and former companion of the the Doctor's, who he (the Doctor) had suggested for a position with UNIT. (TW: Reset)

Possibly, given Torchwood's pro-British, nationalistic, outlook, Torchwood agreed to have contact only with the British division of UNIT. It is also possible that Jack Harkness' less hostile Torchwood 3 may have better relations with UNIT than Torchwood 1.

By 2008 UNIT operated a floating aircraft carrier airship, the Valiant, which was mainly designed by British Minister of Defense (and secretly an evil Time Lord) Harold Saxon. (DW: The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords)

Simultaneously, in the name of "homeworld security", UNIT adopted a questionable attitude towards civil rights and liberties, which the Doctor found disquieting (DW: The Sontaran Stratagem). UNIT maintained a secret prison. Here a small number of detainees could be held without charges needing to be pressed or without the usual rights of prisoners. (TW: Fragments).

At some point prior to the 2008 Sontaran invasion, UNIT changed its name from United Nations Intelligence Taskforce to Unified Intellgience Taskforce, although the UN still contributed funding to the organization (DW: The Sontaran Strategem).

Rivals

One division within the Central Intelligence Agency headed by a man known only as Control was a rival of sorts to UNIT. (PDA: The Devil Goblins from Neptune) A few years later, another American, Bill Filer, would, however work on friendly terms with UNIT (DW: Claws of Axos).

Beyond the 21st century

By the 26th century, and Human expansion into the galaxy, UNIT has evolved into a secret society called the Unitatus. (MA: Cold Fusion) Unitatus survived at least until the 30th century (NA: So Vile a Sin)

Also in the 26th century, Bernice Summerfield (who had assisted the original UNIT_, encountered an organisation called the Knights of Jeneve. The Knights may or may not be connected with UNIT, given that "Jeneve" appears to be a corruption of "Geneva". The Knights were founded in the 23rd century. (BNA: Dragons' Wrath)

Headquarters and command centres

UNIT had a command centre established in the cargo hold of a C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft and could use the plane itself as a mobile base. (DW: The Invasion).

The British branch of UNIT later operated out of an office building in London (DW: Spearhead from Space). It also maintained a mobile headquarters in the form of a large bus-like vehicle that could be driven to the site of an incident. (DW: The Dæmons) The HQ subsequently moved a number of times, finally settling in a building in the country that had been built over the ruins of a priory (DW: Pyramids of Mars).

In late 2006, UNIT had a base located in the Tower of London. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)

Branches outside of Great Britain

Organisation

UNIT's status was supported by enabling legislation that allows it to assume emergency powers when necessary. Although it operated under the authority of the United Nations, its members are seconded from the host country's military and are still bound to obey that chain of command. Lethbridge-Stewart, for example, reported to the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister (DW: Terror of the Zygons). However, where such orders conflict, appeals could be made to Geneva. Due to the international nature of the organisation, it was sometimes viewed with suspicion by local military and national security agencies, who felt that it might impinge on their sovereignty. UNIT's existence was known to the public, but mainly as a security organisation; its actual agenda was classified, some believing it to be some kind of covert counter-terrorist unit.

Equipment and uniforms

Equipment

Its personnel had a wide range of weaponry to call on, some custom-made to combat specific threats. As the Brigadier explained to the Doctor, these are armour-piercing munitions for use against robots, explosive rounds for Yetis, silver-tipped rounds and gold-tipped rounds for use against Cybermen (DW: Battlefield). UNIT had a laser rifle at its disposal to deal with a Krynoid, though the weapon did not manage to kill it (DW: The Seeds of Doom)

Uniforms

During its early stages, UNIT troops and officers wore one-piece beige coveralls with berets (DW: The Invasion). Later, they reverted to uniforms not unlike that worn by the British Army, with the addition of UNIT badges (DW: Terror of the Autons). In the 1990s they retained the standard military look, with the addition of a blue cap (with blue representing the United Nations) (DW: Battlefield). Finally, UNIT troops adopted a paramilitary all-black look, with crimson caps. High-ranking officers wore standard dress (TW: Fragments, DW: The Sontaran Stratagem). (On a purely personal level, Jack Harkness of Torchwood 3 found the red cap look very appealing and asked Martha Jones if she could get him one TW: Reset)

Divisions

UNIT maintained a number of specialized departments. One, the Paranormal Division, in which Lieutenant Hamlet Macbeth investigated psychic powers and phenomena (NA: The Left-Handed Hummingbird). It also maintained the Warehouse, a place to store alien artefacts (BBV: Auton)

Alternate timeline versions

Behind the Scenes

In 1984, a comedic stage play titled Recall UNIT: The Great Tea-Bag Mystery was produced, written by Richard Franklin (Captain Mike Yates) who also reprised his character in the play. The cast included Nicholas Courtney as the Brigadier and John Levene as Sergeant Benton and was performed between 20th August and 24th August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

BBV have made a trilogy of UNIT videos featuring the Autons, although they feature none of the original members. An alternate version of UNIT and the Brigadier (played once again by Courtney) appeared in the Doctor Who Unbound audio play, Sympathy for the Devil, produced by Big Finish Productions.

In December 2004 Big Finish released Time Heals, the first of a new series of UNIT audio plays, featuring a retired General Sir Alastair Lethbridge-Stewart as an advisor to a new generation of officers. A preview episode, The Coup, had Lethbridge-Stewart finally breaking decades of secrecy by informing a press conference of UNIT's true purpose as humanity's first line of defence against the unknown (although, as it turned out, the general public believed this to be a hoax). The series also introduced another rival division, this time within the British government, the Internal Counter-Intelligence Service, or ICIS

Following the broadcast of the 2005 series, in his regular column in Doctor Who Magazine #360 (August 2005), executive producer Russell T. Davies explained that the United Nations were no longer happy to be associated with the organisation, and its full name could not now be used. However, the "UNIT" and "UN" abbreviations can be used, as long as it is not explained what the letters stand for. It is unclear how this affects UNIT appearances in the various spin-off media.

The UNIT jeeps and the mobile headquarters used in many of the adventures from (1969-1975) were BBC outside broadcasting vans used by the BBC production unit.

List of known UNIT personnel

Scientific advisors

Medical officers

See also

External links

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