Sabalom Glitz was a rogue from the planet Salostophus in the galaxy of Andromeda. The morality of his activities was dubious even when their legality was not. Though Glitz's first love was money he occasionally made uneasy alliances with the Doctor in his sixth and seventh incarnations, and also briefly worked with the Master.
Biography
Glitz's background was predictably shady (claiming to be wanted in numerous galaxies), though he once claimed to be the product of a broken home - which according to at least one prison psychiatrist was the cause of his more sociopathic tendencies. He was already an accomplished criminal when the Doctor and Peri first encountered him. With his accomplice, Dibber, they had come to the planet Earth (at that time known as Ravolox) in order to acquire secrets from the Matrix then in the possession of the L-3 robot Drathro.
- By unknown means, the secrets had found their way from the Sleepers into Drathro's underground bunker. Though neither of them explicitly confirmed it, it is likely that Glitz was attempting to retrieve the Matrix secrets on behalf of the Master.
Glitz planned to destroy the black light system which provided Drathro with energy and then steal the secrets. When Dibber destroyed the external collection aerial, the system became dangerously unstable, and only the Doctor's intervention prevented a potentially catastrophic explosion. (DW: The Mysterious Planet)
Nearing the end of the Doctor's trial by the Time Lords, Glitz, like Melanie Bush, was dispatched to the space station by his business partner, the Master. Glitz accompanied the Doctor into the simulated reality of the Matrix to fight the Valeyard. The Master bribed Glitz to betray the Doctor, but in turn was tricked by the Valeyard. Given what he thought were the true secrets of the Matrix, the Master tried to upload them into the systems of his TARDIS. This activated a particle disseminator so that both were in fact trapped, causing the Master and Glitz to be paralysed within the TARDIS. After the Doctor had finally defeated the Valeyard, he pleaded with the Time Lords to show leniency to Glitz, whom he believed still had some good in him. (DW: The Ultimate Foe)
Glitz next ran into the Doctor when he and Dibber planned the "crime of the century" on the planet Vandor Prime. The Doctor and Frobisher collaborated with Glitz to steal a valuable artefact in order to avert interstellar war by returning it to its original owners, although Dibber was unfortunately killed during the mission. (PDA: Mission: Impractical)
The Doctor, having since regenerated into his seventh incarnation, and, with Mel, next ran into Glitz on Iceworld on the planet Svartos.
At this time, Glitz owned a small ship known as the Nosferatu. He had ended up in Iceworld, a tourist destination and trading post on the planet Svartos. Glitz owed money to the vengeful Kane, having bankrupted himself with a gambling debt. The crew of the Nosferatu, who had rebelled against Glitz's dubious leadership, were sold to Kane to form part of his army of amnesiac warriors.
Glitz had by this time made the acquaintance of the 16 year old Ace, who had travelled to this time by time storm from the year 1987 and now worked as a waitress. (DW: Dragonfire) Actually, despite their age differences, Ace had lost her virginity to him. Almost uniquely amongst Ace's known romantic and/or sexual partners, Glitz's liaison with her was not closely followed by extreme personal trauma or his untimely and violent death. (NA: Happy Endings)
Subsequently, Kane destroyed the Nosferatu, after which Glitz himself was consumed with vengeance. The folly of Kane's ambitions were revealed to him by the Doctor, Kane's people having died out thousands of years ago, leaving him no one on which to revenge himself. Kane chose to kill himself, leaving Glitz with Iceworld, which he christened the Nosferatu II. Glitz was not pleased when Mel decided to stay behind to help him run his business and make sure that he gave up his criminal ways. (DW: Dragonfire)
Behind the scenes
- Doctor Who scripts by Robert Holmes, a former police officer, frequently included some sort of "dodgy" colourful character, usually a criminal. These ranged from Garron, Vorg, Milo Clancey and Henry Gordon Jago, to the more serious Tryst, Stotz and Rohm-Dutt. Of these, only Glitz appeared in more than one story. He was also the last major character created by Holmes, as he died while writing Glitz's second story, The Ultimate Foe.
- Writer Ian Briggs created the character of Ace and, writing a character background for her, decided that, while on Iceworld, that she had sex for the first time there, with Glitz. Predictably, this never got revealed on-screen, though Paul Cornell addressed this piece of continuity and made it official.
- Glitz is sometimes referred to as a companion, due to his recurrance in Trial of a Time-Lord. Although this is disputed, it is interesting to note that in the 2008-09 comic book series IDW: The Forgotten, when the Tenth Doctor encounters an entity capable of impersonating his past companions, the Doctor discusses the possibility of the entity turning into Sabalom Glitz.