Adam Mitchell
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Adam Mitchell was a young English researcher in the employ of the American GeoComTex billionaire Henry van Statten in the year 2012.
After van Statten was outed from GeoComTex for the "Metaltron" incident, Adam became a companion to the Ninth Doctor, at Rose Tyler's urging. However, Adam disgraced himself by filching information from the future with intent to alter his timeline, and the Doctor spurned Adam from accompanying him any further.
Years after being abandoned by the Doctor, Adam plotted to kidnap various companions from multiple incarnations of the Doctor with the Tremas Master. However, when the Master made a plot to destroy the universe, Adam sacrificed his life to stop him, and was buried with honours.
Biography
Early life
Adam was was born circa 1993, and lived in Milton Keynes. When he was seven years old, he spent a year refusing to speak as an experiment. Despite the anger and pleading of his parents, and numerous therapy sessions as doctors and psychologists tried to understand why he was refusing to speak, he maintained it for the entire year and only decided not to continue as it would not provide any new data. He spoke again for the first time on his eighth birthday. (PROSE: Dalek)
When he was eight years old, Adam successfully hacked into the United States Department of Defense computers, nearly causing, in his own words, World War III. (TV: Dalek)
Adam was recruited by Henry van Statten to work for at the Vault after Van Statten was impressed by his IQ tests. He was placed in sole control of the inanimates, alongside Sven who was similarly in sole control, and advised by Chief of Staff Diane Goddard to find inventive explanations for the alien items. Adam and Sven shared a room, which Adam disliked. One night, as with all new workers in the vault, he was abducted by guards led by Simmons and taken to see the captive Dalek. Not liking the creature's current name, Pepperpotnik, Adam suggested calling it a Metaltron a name that eventually became the official name Van Statten gave it.
Adam followed Goddard's advice, which caught Van Statten's favour. Van Statten asked him if he wanted a room of his own, which Adam accepted despite being warned actions had consequences. In response, Van Statten had Sven's memories wiped in front of him, which led to Adam deciding to stockpile alien weapons under his bed in case Van Statten one day decided he should face the same fate. (PROSE: Dalek)
Meeting the Doctor
The Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler met Adam in the year 2012, after they were captured in the Vault. Van Statten paired Rose up with Adam as they were both English and she persuaded him to take her to the Dalek. When the Dalek got loose and went on a rampage, Adam found himself running from it with Rose. He escaped before the bulkheads were lowered to contain the Dalek, leaving Rose behind. When the Doctor was forced to release the Dalek to save Rose, Adam revealed his alien weapons so the Doctor could arm himself. Afterwards Rose asked the Doctor to take Adam along with them in the TARDIS. Despite the Doctor's scepticism about Adam as a potential fellow traveller, he agreed to let him aboard the TARDIS. (TV: Dalek)
Travels in the TARDIS
The Doctor initially attempted to return Adam home, but found the TARDIS knocked slightly off course by a temporal tsunami as they arrived in Birmingham 2012. At first, Adam initially was of little help, only attempting to impress Rose and quickly assuming the Doctor was gone for good when he was dragged into the past by the Bygone Horde, trying to get her to come to terms with the fact; indeed, he only began looking for answers when Rose was taken by the same forces, and was somewhat dismayed when he received a phone call from Rose's number but heard the Doctor's voice instead. Nonetheless, Adam demonstrated his worth as a companion when he proved invaluable in defeating the Horde, leading the Doctor to warmly compliment him and decide to take him on as a companion alongside Rose. The Doctor promised the "trip of a lifetime" as he set a course for the far future. (AUDIO: The Other Side)
Expulsion from the TARDIS
Nevertheless, Adam's travels with the Doctor and Rose would not last long. Visiting the year 200,000, Adam was overwhelmed by the wealth of information and technology available to him and immediately gave in to temptation and greed. Desperate to gain all the information that the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire had collected, he learned that only those with an implant could access the data. He had a top-of-the-line computer interface port, an infospike, installed in his head. When the implant activated to access computers, his head opened up, revealing part of his brain. The implant was activated by a snap of the fingers. He tried to transmit information back to 21st century Earth with Rose's superphone.
When Adam tapped into the computer systems, he inadvertently gave the Jagrafess knowledge of — and nearly access to — the TARDIS. One of Satellite Five's journalists, Cathica, freed Adam, prevented the Jagrafess from obtaining the TARDIS key and vented heat to Floor 500, killing it. Learning of Adam's transmission of information and his additional breach of trust, the Doctor angrily returned Adam home. (TV: The Long Game)
While one source suggested that the family were still living in Milton Keynes at this time, (PROSE: Dalek) another suggested that Adam's family home was in Manchester. (PROSE: The Time Travellers' Almanac)
Adam weakly tried to pin his mistakes on the Doctor being the one in charge, which quickly turned to apologetic pleading. The Doctor destroyed the answering machine which had received the information from the future, after Adam attempted to feign ignorance about it. He observed that Adam would have to live a quiet life, lest someone discover the implant in his head and dissect him to find out where it came from. After the Doctor and Rose left, Adam was met by his mother, Sandra, who, when talking to him, clicked her fingers. As his head opened up, a look of shock and horror appeared on her face. (TV: The Long Game)
Revenge
Adam's mother died shortly after the Doctor left Adam on Earth, and Adam became angry at the Doctor for erasing the technology that could have saved her from her brain embolism. Adam spent years doing nothing with his life, seeing the Doctor and Rose pop up throughout history without him. He eventually decided to use the technology in his head to steal from corporate accounts, giving him the means to have his revenge. (COMIC: Mystery Date) At some point, Adam was taken to the Black Archive by UNIT to have his record as a companion of the Doctor taken. His memories of the visit were subsequently erased and he was sent on his way. (TV: The Day of the Doctor) Adam excavated Van Statten's vault, and used Cyberman technology to lure out a Time Agent and steal his vortex manipulator, giving him access to time travel. Adam searched the universe for various enemies of the Doctor that he could use against him in his battles. One of the first he found was the Tremas Master, whose evil he underestimated.
Adam soon learnt of the Doctor as a Time Lord and his ability to regenerate, discovering his eleven known incarnations of his first regeneration cycle. He then set out to capture the companions of these Doctors. He used memory distortion to prevent the Doctor from remembering him, but this grew weaker as he came closer and closer to the Doctor whom he had betrayed. (COMIC: Mystery Date)
Working with the Animus and the Zarbi, he was successful in capturing the First Doctor's companions Barbara Wright, Ian Chesterton and Vicki Pallister. (COMIC: Unnatural Selection) Manipulating a T-Mat machine, he captured the Second Doctor's companions Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot. (COMIC: Bazaar Adventures) Using a vortex manipulator, he appeared in front of the Third Doctor, grabbed the Doctor's companions Liz Shaw, Sarah Jane Smith and the Brigadier and teleported away. (COMIC: In With the Tide) Once again using the vortex manipulator, he appeared in front of the Fourth Doctor and kidnapped Leela and K9 Mark I. (COMIC: A Rare Gem)
Using the vortex manipulator, he appeared in front of the Fifth Doctor and kidnapped Tegan, Nyssa, and Adric. However, the Doctor was at that point able to remember the other times he'd met Adam. (COMIC: In Their Nature) Working with the Master, he then kidnapped Peri from the Sixth Doctor. (COMIC: Façades) However, this was a trap set up by the Tenth Doctor. Instead of kidnapping Peri, Adam had kidnapped Frobisher, who quickly used his shape-shifting abilities to escape his confinement. (COMIC: Endgame) The Seventh Doctor encountered the Master and defeated him, but, as he said his goodbyes and watched the Master run, Adam captured Ace. (COMIC: Cat and Mouse) The Eighth Doctor anticipated Adam's arrival, but was helpless to prevent Grace Holloway from being kidnapped. (COMIC: The Body Politic)
He met the Ninth Doctor and finally revealed his true identity. Finally meeting the incarnation that he felt betrayed him, Adam vented his anger and explained his plans for revenge and how he has wasted his life. When the Doctor was unsympathetic to his plight, he struck the Doctor down, kidnapping Rose in the process. He told the Doctor he hated this incarnation the most, brutally kicking him before leaving. (COMIC: Mystery Date) The Tenth Doctor realised Adam's presence the moment he arrived, but couldn't prevent him from kidnapping Martha. (COMIC: Quiet on the Set) Adam then quickly attacked the Eleventh Doctor and kidnapped Clara.
The Eleventh Doctor found Adam had taken all the alien technology from van Statten's vault. He found the Time Agent Adam had captured and gained the means to track Adam's vortex manipulator. He got to Adam's Fortress in Limbo and realised he had teamed up with the Master. The Doctor found all his companions in stasis. Adam then threatened to kill all the Doctor's companions, saying the Doctor could only save one. (COMIC: The Choice)
Death
Thanks to the damage to the timeline, the Doctor summoned his ten previous selves and their respective TARDISes to save their companions. Under the orders of the Master, Adam released an army of Autons at them. Frobisher, meanwhile, released all of the Doctor's companions, all of which began attacking the Autons.
The Master then revealed the Auton attack as a distraction, as he blasted the rest of the chronal energy he had drained into the Doctor's TARDISes. This would cause all of them to overload, which would destroy all of them and the Doctors at the same time and thus destroying the universe as well.
Adam, deciding that he did not want the universe destroyed and realising he had been used by the Master, fought back against him. He attacked the Master, who hit him back with a sharp object, injuring him. Then, Adam blasted the computer in an explosion that engulfed him. During his last moments, he apologised to the Doctor, and told Rose he understood why the Doctor's companions were so willing to risk themselves for him. The Doctors and their companions buried him outside his time palace, with the inscriptions "Adam Mitchell, A Companion True." (COMIC: Endgame)
Behind the scenes
Companion status
The "disregarded companion", Adam Mitchell, is the only companion from the revived series up to that time not included in Journey's End, the finale to Series 4 of Doctor Who. He is also the only multi-story companion of the revived series the Tenth Doctor did not visit on-screen before regenerating. (TV: The End of Time)
Adam is also the only companion to be kicked off the TARDIS just one episode after joining the Doctor. Adam is the only known companion to be actually expelled from the TARDIS crew for bad behaviour (as oppose to other companions expelled for other reasons, like Susan Foreman and Sarah Jane Smith). However, Rose nearly became the second companion to be expelled in Father's Day, as did Amy Pond in The Beast Below and Graham O'Brien in The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos.
Adam is one of two television companions, the other being Harry Sullivan, who had no on-screen scenes in the TARDIS interior. He is seen entering and emerging from the TARDIS several times, but he is never seen within the TARDIS itself.
Peculiarly, Adam is the first companion in the BBC Wales version of Doctor Who to be unambiguously killed off in a medium other than the one he was first introduced in; namely, televised stories. Furthermore, with his death and final sacrifice, he is vindicated and recognised as a companion by the Doctor.
Other matters
- In 2005, the website "Who is Doctor Who?" announced that 14-year-old Adam Mitchell had won a competition arranged by van Statten the previous week. Adam's winning essay on "Why I Want To Meet An Alien" focused on acquiring advanced knowledge from them ("I don't think it's cheating, really. It's just a shortcut"), foreshadowing both his work for van Statten and his actions later.
- In the online game The Last Dalek, which presents an alternate version of the events of Dalek, Adam does not appear, but he has an entry in the Dalek's memory files. He is described as; "Male subject. Age 20. English. Intelligent and enthusiastic student helping Van Statten acquire rare artefacts. Considered no threat." He is also mentioned to have acquired the 60KHZ Energy Weapon at an auction for van Statten.
- In an earlier draft of Dalek, Adam was the son of Henry van Statten.
- In an earlier draft of The Long Game, Adam bought future medicines to help his dying father (who was not Henry van Statten). This idea was later tweaked and recycled for Prisoners of Time.
- The Pete's World counterpart of Adam Mitchell was planned to appear in the scrapped Rose Tyler: Earth Defence spin-off.
External links
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