The Beast (The Impossible Planet)
- You may be looking for the parasitic species.
The Beast was a Demon imprisoned in the centre of Krop Tor. He claimed to have existed before the creation of the Doctor's universe. He identified himself as Satan, among many religious representations of him.
Biology
The Beast's physical body resembled a massive humanoid with crimson skin, two large, ram-like horns (one of which was broken half way) projecting from its head and a corpse-like face. (TV: The Satan Pit)
The Beast could manifest itself through electronic media, including computer voices and hologram viewers. Its mind could leave its body and possess a single hive mind of the Ood collectively and/or a single human individually. It had the power of telepathy and, through a host, telekinesis. Possession of a human subject affected the host's skin, causing strange markings to appear all over their face and body; and vocal cords, allowing them to speak at different pitches simultaneously. Whether a single human or a hive mind, the eyes of those possessed by the beast glowed a fiery red. The Beast could also project fire from his mouth, as could its possessed hosts. Its hosts could also physically survive in a vacuum. (TV: The Impossible Planet)
Biography
Origins
The Beast claimed to have existed before the universe, a claim the Tenth Doctor found troubling to accept or consider as he believed nothing could have existed before the universe.
The Beast had been at battle with the Disciples of the Light. The Disciples, who themselves existed before the universe, bound it in giant chains and confined it to a pit in the centre of Krop Tor, a planet in orbit around the black hole K37 Gem 5. If it ever tried to escape, the field holding Krop Tor in orbit would collapse and the planet would be sucked into the black hole, taking the Beast with it. Despite this, the Beast claimed that it was the basis of the Devil-figure in all religions. The Doctor believed this to be because the Beast's existence seeped into the subconscious of all sentient beings. Deities the Beast inspired included the Kaled God of War and the "horned beast" for Draconia, Vel Consadine and Dæmos. (TV: The Satan Pit)
Encounter with the Walker Expedition
In the year 43K2.1, the Walker Expedition came to Krop Tor, searching for the source of energy that kept the planet from falling into the black hole. The Beast possessed Toby Zed via the text transcribed into a notebook.
The Beast used Toby's body to go outside, but he was heard by Scooti Manista, the base's maintenance officer, when she went to deliver Toby's expenditure. While investigating, Scooti discovered the possessed Toby standing on the planet's surface. At first it tried to draw Scooti towards it by hypnotising her, but she managed to break free. Angered, the Beast, through Toby, began to use its telekinetic abilities to break the glass in the section Scooti was in. Scooti tried to escape, but the doors had been sealed, trapping her. Soon the glass was shattered and she was pulled out into the vacuum.
After Ida Scott and the Tenth Doctor went down to investigate the bottom of the mine shaft, the Base's Ood were taken over, causing them to attack the other members of the Expedition. (TV: The Impossible Planet)
Upon the Ood's defeat, the Beast planned to escape by keeping its spirit in Toby's body, leaving its physical body behind. The Tenth Doctor managed to destroy the force holding Krop Tor in orbit.
The Beast's spirit was destroyed when Rose Tyler caused Toby's body to be pulled into the black hole, followed shortly by the Beast's original body, which was destroyed along with Krop Tor. However, it claimed that it would never be truly destroyed. (TV: The Satan Pit)
Personality
The Beast had a narcissistic personality, constantly exalting itself and its achievements and referring to itself by various grandiose epithets, even the third person. It was also exceedingly arrogant, dismissing all other creatures as its inferiors and believing itself invincible, immortal and utterly supreme. The Beast was also quite emphatic about its own importance in the mindsets of other life forms, asserting itself as all of the devils in existence, "the truth behind the myth".
In addition to being an arrogant narcissist, the Beast was also a ferocious killer. It had an extremely manipulative and cunning nature, and was proud of the acts it set into motion, laughing when the Tenth Doctor deduced its plans to escape Krop Tor. It revelled in its own triumphs, grinning gleefully while on the surface of Krop Tor in Toby's body, and gloating about its freedom as the Pit opened for it.
The Beast would even sadistically prey on people's fears and guilty feelings to shake them and leave them feeling vulnerable. It was sadistic enough to taunt Toby with its presence before possessing him, convincing him that if he looked at the Beast he would die. Later on, when he possessed Toby, he cruelly asked Mr. Jefferson if his wife had ever forgiven him, before mockingly telling him she never did, clearly reading the discomfort and horror in the man's reaction.
Able to see into the future, the Beast used this precognitive insight against others, foretelling twisted interpretations of what would befall the members of the Walker Expedition, with enough honesty preserved in his statements to keep them plagued with dread.
The Beast's cruelty, sadism and egomaniacal nature was its own undoing, as it was so caught up with gloating about its own supremacy, immortality and omnipresence in the minds of other beings, that it wasn't ready when Rose Tyler sent it flying into the black hole. (TV: The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit)
Other references
Abaddon was the "son of the Beast". (TV: End of Days)
When Drew Blayney, leader of the Brimstone Skulls motorcycle club, was possessed by one of the ritual motorcycles, he drew upon the image of the Beast as one of his childhood fears. (COMIC: Jetsam)
Mr Smith once noted that the Beast was on the Judoon's most-wanted list, but was not as high on it as Androvax. (TV: SJAF 6)
On Trenzalore, the Great Intelligence mentioned to Madame Vastra that the Doctor himself had been living in "darker and darker shades", and that he would eventually be known as the Beast and the Valeyard. (TV: The Name of the Doctor)
When Sarah Jane Smith and Maria Jackson asked Mr Smith to identify the species of Uvlavad Kudlak, Mr Smith briefly showed them an image of the Beast. (TV: Warriors of Kudlak)
The Tenth Doctor briefly recounted his encounter with the Beast to Donna Noble, calling it "the Devil". (TV: Planet of the Ood)
Behind the scenes
- The "Number of the Beast", 666, has appeared in multiple episodes, with reported appearances including The Christmas Invasion, The Impossible Planet, Doomsday, Voyage of the Damned, Midnight, The Stolen Earth, Planet of the Dead and They Keep Killing Suzie.
- On 21 September 2010, comedian Stephen Colbert used an image of the Beast as a visual representation of Satan.
- Though "Abaddon" is mentioned as a name for the Beast in The Satan Pit, the name would later be allocated to a different, related character.
