Men in Black (Dreamland)

Template:Infobox Organization The Alliance of Shades, also known as the Men in Black, was an organisation created to hide alien activities on primitive planets such as Earth. They used android agents to remove any signs of alien activities, including any witnesses.

History

In 1958, four androids, including Mister Dread, were obtained by Lord Azlok and were sent to find Rivesh Mantilax and his weapon. They were damaged by Night Eagle and his tribe, though Mister Dread was later repaired.

In 1972, the alliance discontinued most of their robotic agents. (DW: Dreamland)

Since the 1970s, three of the agents, including Dread, were kept to defend a vault in which many of the items they covered up were kept. They were activated when Androvax attempted to open the vault and save his species. Dread and two other agents stopped him, and Sarah Jane Smith when she attempted to do the same. When Dread found that Sarah Jane had taken the newspaper clipping of Ocean Waters, they attacked Waters' house, finding Sarah Jane, Rani, Androvax in Clyde's body, Ocean and Minty. (SJA: The Vault of Secrets)

Characteristics

Members of the Alliance have the physical appearance of human males though they have slate or pale green eyes under their glasses. They are capable of removing their hands to reveal weapons hidden inside, in a similar fashion to Autons. They appear to have some form of wireless connection to one another has they are able to communicate and plan without speech.

Acording to the Doctor in "Dreamland" they were poorly programed in aspects like blending in, investigation and concealment. This is evident by their cold personalities and, according to the Doctor, their choice of aliases. The fact they never completely covered up alien activity which led to their deactivation by the 1970's also attests to this.

Behind the scenes

• According to the Tenth Doctor, the other members are called Mister Terror, Mister Fear and Mister Apprehension, but it is unknown if it was just a joke on Mister Dread's name.
• The Alliance of Shades was inspired by the popular UFO conspiracy theory of the Men in Black, these being government agents dressed in black suits who reportedly harass or threaten UFO witnesses in order to keep them quiet about what they have seen. This was later said out loud by Clyde and Rani, the latter who asked where Will Smith was, referring to the film franchise.