Zygon

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The Zygons were a race of metamorphic humanoids. They originated from the planet Zygor, but often tried to migrate away from it. (TV: Terror of the Zygons, HOMEVID: Zygon: When Being You Just Isn't Enough, PROSE: Sting of the Zygons, TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Biology

Zygons were solidly built humanoids with large, cone-shaped heads. Their heads, arms and torsos were covered in suckers, and they had deeply inset faces. Zygons had dark red blood and spoke in a gurgling whisper. They were stronger than humans and apparently more long-lived, their lifespan continuing over Earth centuries. (TV: Terror of the Zygons) They also had an earthy, iron odour and the ability to sting people with venomous barbs on their palms. These stings could stun, maim or kill. They left large welts on the affected area. (PROSE: Sting of the Zygons, PROSE: Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster) Their venom sacs were located in their mouths. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Young Zygons were called hatchlings and were slimy and pale with shorter limbs. Hatchlings were mute, but much faster than adults. (PROSE: Sting of the Zygons)

A Zygon is easily hypnotised. (GAME: Destiny of the Doctors)

Zygons had a deeply ingrained fear of fire. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster) They could be easily hypnotised by a clock's swinging pendulum. (GAME: Destiny of the Doctors)

Zygons were hermaphrodites that could reproduce asexually. At the start of their lives, they had an almost white colour, had no suckers and were more feminine and graceful. They become orange coloured, were covered in suckers and became more stocky and masculine in appearance after being sterilised. The greatest rank a Zygon could attain was "warrior engineer". To become a warrior engineer any Zygon must undergo sterilisation, a process which makes them more aggressive and single-minded. (PROSE: The Bodysnatchers)

Technology

Zygon technology was partly biological, with an organic look. This was exemplified by the Skarasen, a large, cybernetically enhanced creature from Zygor. (TV: Terror of the Zygons) Zygons were also known to use the lactic fluid of the Skarasen as a source of food. (PROSE: The Bodysnatchers) Their use of organic ships was well known. (PROSE: Alien Bodies)

One of the most important Zygon discoveries was their body-print technology. Usually, the Zygons would capture a specimen, such as a human, and put them in a special receptacle. A Zygon could then take the form of this specimen, mimicking both voice and appearance. This body-print needed to be renewed every two hours, while the prisoners were kept alive but unconscious. (TV: Terror of the Zygons) However, in some circumstances they have been able to adopt the shape of the specimen without keeping them in a receptacle, although the specimen would still need to be kept alive. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

Though they generally took the forms of humanoids, they could also mimic creatures of diverse sizes and shapes, such as dogs, cattle and horses. (PROSE: Sting of the Zygons, TV: The Day of the Doctor) A Zygon who could no longer transform was known as a Zynog. (AUDIO: Death in Blackpool) If a Zygon was killed while disguised, it would remain in that form as a corpse. (HOMEVID: Zygon: When Being You Just Isn't Enough, TV: The Day of the Doctor)

To control the Skarasen, the Zygons used Trilanic activators. Zygons frequently used molecular dispersal to get rid of corpses. Their ships tracked the life-signs of the Zygons and would bring the corpse back to the ship if a Zygon was killed. (TV: Terror of the Zygons, PROSE: Sting of the Zygons) They also made use of a type of nerve gas to render humans unconscious. (TV: Terror of the Zygons) Another Zygon discovery was called the "amber sleep", which was a type of suspended animation. (PROSE: Sting of the Zygons)

Culture

Zygons were divided into clans, each with a different culture. (AUDIO: The Zygon Who Fell to Earth) Zygon warlords fought in elaborate shape-shifting duels using the bodies of other creatures held captive. (COMIC: Rest and Re-Creation)

Zygons measured distance in remars. (TV: Terror of the Zygons, PROSE: Sting of the Zygons)

Zygons are evidently rather fond of board games. (PROSE: The Bodysnatchers)

History

Loss of Zygor

According to one account, the Zygons were originally at war with the Xaranti. During this war, both the Zygon homeworld, Zygor, and the Xaranti home planets were destroyed. (PROSE: The Bodysnatchers) Refugees created a refugee fleet, and the ship on Earth was contacted. (TV: Terror of the Zygons) Another account from Queen Elizabeth I claims that their planet burnt in the first days of the Last Great Time War. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

2nd century

In 102, the Zygons were among the races who joined the Alliance at Stonehenge. They came to Stonehenge and helped imprison the Eleventh Doctor in the Pandorica to "save" the universe. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)

Before the 12th century

At some point before the 12th century, a Zygon ship was damaged and forced to land on Earth near Devil's Punchbowl in Scotland. They had a Skarasen with them which, though still an infant at that point, provided them with the lactic fluid they needed to survive. (TV: Terror of the Zygons)

16th century

In 1562, a Zygon force was on Earth and investigated by the Tenth Doctor, one of them impersonating Elizabeth I. After the real Elizabeth killed her impersonator, the Zygons implanted themselves into stasis cubes, planning to wait until Earth was more suitable for conquest. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

19th century

A Zygon ship was trapped under where the Savoy Hotel was. During the grand opening in 1890, Zygons replaced half the staff, but the Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams stopped them. (TV: The Power of Three)

The Eighth Doctor, Sam Jones and George Litefoot encountered a group of Zygons in London, 1894. (PROSE: The Bodysnatchers)

20th century

Another ship from Zygor arrived on Earth in 1909. Though they had brought two Skarasen, their minds were damaged by the solar radiation during the destruction of Zygor. One was killed during repairs. Though the Zygons attempted to conquer Earth anyway, starvation and the Tenth Doctor forced them to abandon their plans. (PROSE: Sting of the Zygons)

In the late 20th century, the Zygons of Devil's Punchbowl decided to take over Earth and physically adapt it to an environment more suited to their species. UNIT and the Fourth Doctor stopped them, freeing the Skarasen. (TV: Terror of the Zygons)

In 1981, UNIT had to deal with over a hundred Zygons who survived a previous invasion. (PROSE: The King of Terror)

In December 1985, a Zygon landed in Antarctica, near UNIT Arctic base Skywatch-7. Several people stationed there were killed, but the survivors were able to drive it into the icy water where it perished. (COMIC: Skywatch-7)

21st century

The Zygon "Torlakh" in the early-21st century. (HOMEVID: Zygon: When Being You Just Isn't Enough)

In the late-20th and early 21st centuries, the Zygons Torlakh and Kritakh were deployed on Earth, where they took the forms of Bob Calhoun and Michael Kirkwood respectively. They then began to go to nuclear power plants around the world, so that 70 years later the planet would be more suited to Zygons and they could hand the planet over to a Zygon invasion force. The plan backfired when Kritakh began to believe he was Michael Kirkwood, and began to see a psychiatrist about his dreams of being a Zygon. His doctor, Lauren Anderson, was turned into a Zygon by Torlakh, and she went to see him again. However, she decided to help Michael stop Torlakh. They put the real Bob Calhoun and Michael Kirkwood in the hospital, and Torlakh left to continue his life on the run. Lauren, however, also was forced to live on the run, when Torlakh killed many of her co-workers at the hospital. She left, but not until after she killed Torlakh while he was in her form. (HOMEVID: Zygon: When Being You Just Isn't Enough)

In 2013, the Zygons that were frozen in 1562 woke from their stasis cubes and infiltrated UNIT, gaining access to the technology in the Black Archive. Kate Stewart set off a nuclear device beneath the archive. Before the countdown reached zero, the Tenth, Eleventh and War Doctors temporarily erased the memories of the original Kate, Osgood and McGillop, as well as their Zygon impersonators causing them to forget which ones were real and which was Zygon. Both Kates cancelled the detonation, and the humans and Zygons were able to create a peace treaty between them. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)

22nd century

150 years after Kritakh and Torlakh were brought to Earth, the Zygon invasion force was still due to arrive on Earth. (HOMEVID: Zygon: When Being You Just Isn't Enough)

28th century

In 2765, Zygons attempted to melt Earth's polar icecaps, but were stopped by INITEC's Vigilante laser defence satellites. (PROSE: Original Sin)

Undated events

Alternate timeline

In an alternate timeline created by the Black Guardian where the First Doctor never left Gallifrey, and became Lord President, the Zygons were one of many aliens that invaded Earth, and fought over the planet with other races against the Silurians and Sea Devils. This timeline was destroyed when the Seventh Doctor retrieved the Key to Time. (COMIC: Time & Time Again)

References

Behind the scenes

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