UNIT
The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (also known as UNIT) is a military organization from the operating under the auspices of the United Nations. Its purpose is to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth.
History
The roots of the organisation lie in two alien encounters. The first, taking place in 1963, when two Dalek factions fought a battle in London over the Time Lord artifact known as the Hand of Omega. They were defeated by a company of infantrymen from the RAF Regiment, commanded by Group Captain "Chunky" Gilmore, along with help from the Doctor. The model of a specialised military force with scientific assistance would form the basis of the future UNIT. ("Remembrance of the Daleks")
The second encounter was an attempt to take over London by a disembodied entity known as the Great Intelligence, using robotic Yetis and a deadly cobweb-like fungus. Another group of British infantrymen, led this time by Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart of the Scots Guards (assisted by the Doctor) beat back the attempted conquest in the tunnels of the London Underground. ("The Web of Fear")
Following the Yeti Incident, the United Nations became 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. Consequently, the United Nations established UNIT with the mandate to investigate, monitor and combat such threats. 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. Department C19 was first mentioned as being the department at whose behest the Doctor investigated the mystery of a Concorde aeroplane that had disappeared. ("Time-Flight")
UNIT's baptism of fire was an invasion by the Cybermen. UNIT repulsed this, once again with the Doctor's help. ("The Invasion") Following this, Lethbridge-Stewart became convinced of the necessity of scientific advice in battling extraterrestrial threats, and recruited Dr Elizabeth Shaw from the University of Cambridge. Coincidentally, the Third Doctor had been exiled to Earth by the Time Lords, and he agreed to join UNIT as its Scientific Advisor just in time to help defeat the Autons (Spearhead from Space).
UNIT's British contingent were initally headquartered inside a cargo aircraft (for mobility) but later operated out of an office building in London before subsequently moving to a headquarters in the country that had been built over the ruins of a priory (Pyramids of Mars). Its main headquarters, mentioned but never seen in the television series, is with the United Nations in Geneva.
When the Third Doctor's exile was lifted, his association with UNIT became more sporadic, especially after his regeneration into his fourth incarnation.
Lethbridge-Stewart retired in 1976 (Mawdryn Undead), and was succeeded by Colonel Crichton (The Five Doctors). UNIT did not appear again in force until an invasion by Morgaine and armoured knights. By that time the British contingent was commanded by Brigadier Winifred Bambera, and Lethbridge-Stewart was called out of retirement. ("Battlefield")
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 alien Slitheen. None of the members of UNIT seen were named, although one had the name "Frost" on her jacket, so she may have been Muriel Frost seen in the comic strips.
Organisation and equipment
UNIT's status is supported by enabling legislation that allows it to assume emergency powers when necessary. Although it operates 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. However, where such orders conflict, appeals can be made to Geneva. Due to the international nature of the organisation, it is sometimes viewed with suspicion by local military and national security agencies, who feel that it might impinge on their sovereignty. UNIT's existence is known to the public, but mainly as a security organisation; its actual agenda is classified, some believing it to be some kind of covert counter-terrorist unit.
Its personnel have a wide range of weaponry to call on, some custom-made to combat specific threats. Among these are armour-piercing munitions for use against robots and Daleks, explosive rounds for Yetis, silver-tipped rounds for werewolves and vampires, and gold-tipped rounds for use against the Cybermen.
UNIT had a command centre established in the cargo hold of a C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft. ("The Invasion"). Also featured was the UNIT Mobile HQ, a large bus-like vehicle that could be driven to the site of an incident. ("The Daemons")
During the early part of the 21st Century UNIT has a secure command facility under The Tower of London.
Other appearances
UNIT has also featured in spin-offs whose canonical status is debatable. Each line may take place in its own separate alternate universe and so need not be consistent with each other.
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.
Both the Virgin Missing Adventures and the BBC Past Doctor Adventures have set stories in the UNIT era and have revealed new information about UNIT's past, present and future. The New Adventures novel Just War by Lance Parkin mentions LONGBOW, a world security organisation set up by the League of Nations that encountered the occasional extraterrestrial incident but was disbanded after it and the League failed to prevent World War II.
The Dying Days, also by Parkin, named the French] division of UNIT as NUIT (Nations Unies Intelligence Taskforce), and the Eighth Doctor Adventure Emotional Chemistry by Simon A. Forward named the Russian division ОГРОН (OGRON) (Оперативная Группа Разведкой Объединённых Наций, or, Operativnaya Gruppa Rasvedkoy Obyedinyonnih Natsiy, which roughly translates as "United Nations Reconnaissance Operations Group").
The Devil Goblins from Neptune by Keith Topping and Martin Day introduced a division within the Central Intelligence Agency headed by a man known only as Control, which has featured as a rival to UNIT in several subsequent novels. Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles introduced a more ruthless UN division called [[UNISYC] (United Nations Intelligence Security Yard Corps), which by the 2040s has replaced UNIT. By the 26th century, UNIT has transformed into a secret society called the Unitatus, pledged to defend the Earth against alien threats, first seen in Parkin's Cold Fusion. The Unitatus last at least until the 30th century (So Vile a Sin by Ben Aaronovitch and Kate Orman).
The Bernice Summerfield stories (both in prose and audio play form) are set in the 26th century and feature 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 and their connection with the Unitatus is unclear, or even if the two exist in the same continuity.
The Doctor Who Magazine comic strip also frequently featured UNIT, and in the 1980s introduced a new UNIT officer, Muriel Frost. One story, Final Genesis, was set in a parallel universe in which humanity has made peace with the Silurians, and UNIT has become the United Races Intelligence Command.
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 UNIT: Time Heals, the first of a new series of UNIT audio plays, featuring a retired General Sir Lethbridge-Stewart as an advisor to a new generation of officers. A preview episode, UNIT: 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.
For the new television series, BBC created a website for UNIT at www.unit.org.uk, complete with "easter eggs"] that can be accessed by the reader with the passwords "bison" and "buffalo" (the latter mentioned on screen in World War Three). "Bison" (now changed to "badwolf") uncovers a section which provides UNIT point-of-view reports about various events in the 2005 series, although its canonical status, like the spin-off media, is debatable. Due to the objections by the United Nations the letters "UN" are no longer expanded to "United Nations" on the website.
UNIT dating
see UNIT dating controversy for more
The exact years in which UNIT operates are never made precisely clear and there has been much confusion and continuing fan debate on this subject. Although there is strong evidence that at least some of the production team intended for the UNIT stories to take place in the "near future", this policy was not consistently applied. Whether the stories take place contemporaneously with the broadcast dates or a few years in the future is therefore highly debatable.
Behind the scenes
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 headquaters used in many of the adventures from (1969-1975) were BBC outside broadcasting vans used by the BBC production unit.
External links
- UNIT website
- The U.N.I.T. Files - a fan-written site about UNIT from an outsider's point of view, incoporating information from various spin-off media.
