George Thompson
George Thompson was a Tenza child who used an innate, unconscious psychic field and a perception filter to convince Alex and Claire Thompson he was their human son. (TV: Night Terrors [+]Loading...["Night Terrors (TV story)"], PROSE: My Special Book [+]Loading...["My Special Book (short story)"], GAME: Legacy [+]Loading...["Legacy (video game)"])
Biography[[edit] | edit source]
Pregnancy was unsuccessful for George's parents, (TV: Night Terrors [+]Loading...["Night Terrors (TV story)"]) Alex and Claire Thompson. (PROSE: My Special Book [+]Loading...["My Special Book (short story)"]) Claire tried many times, all in vain, to conceive a baby, all the way up until 24 December 2002, even after trying IVF. However, by 2003, a Tenza newborn came to Earth, and like all Tenza, assimilated itself into the "nest" of Alex and Claire; due to George's innate psychic field and perception filter, Alex and Claire believed that they had birthed George naturally. The Tenza, "born" on or prior to 11 January (TV: Night Terrors [+]Loading...["Night Terrors (TV story)"]) or on 11 February, (PROSE: Night Terrors [+]Loading...["Night Terrors (short story)"]) was named "George" by his parents. They lived together in a flat. (TV: Night Terrors [+]Loading...["Night Terrors (TV story)"])
When George was around five, his family used the lift (PROSE: My Special Book [+]Loading...["My Special Book (short story)"]) in the Rowbarton Estate, where they lived. (PROSE: Night Terrors [+]Loading...["Night Terrors (short story)"]) It was, as George described it, a box that smelled of wee. The family stopped using it after a while as it kept breaking down. Over the next few years, George began to develop phobias of many things around him, such as his neighbour, Mrs Rossiter, whom he believed to be a witch, the weird groaning noise that his poor mother tried to assure him was just the lift but he instead believed was a dragon or a monster living in the walls, metal soldiers that Nana gave him, and the peg dolls and dolls house that used to belong to his mother.
George went to a school. A fellow classmate was Shaun, who once cut his face on a broken window. George later compared Shaun's cut to to the mouths of the peg dolls after he had a nightmare about them where they tried to suffocate him. When George was seven and a half, his mum gave him a special book for him to write his thoughts and experiences. He wrote about these things, primarily about his fears, which he kept mostly secret from his parents. (PROSE: My Special Book [+]Loading...["My Special Book (short story)"]) George was later photographed eating ice cream with Claire and playing football with Alex. (TV: Night Terrors [+]Loading...["Night Terrors (TV story)","Night Terrors"])
As a Tenza, George inadvertently turned his cupboard into a psychic repository for his fears, which caused the peg dolls to become animated. One night when, according to Alex, he was eight years old, he overheard his parents talking about sending him to see a doctor about his fears. George misunderstood what they meant, interpreting it as a rejection of him as their son, causing the peg dolls to begin kidnapping people and stealing things that scared him. Eventually, his fears grew so strong that his mind sent a plea for help to the Eleventh Doctor's psychic paper.
When the Doctor arrived, he tried to help George face his fear. He deduced there was a powerful alien presence and the monsters George feared were real. When he opened the cupboard to face these monsters, he found nothing. He realised what George was and forced Alex to remember that Claire could not have children. George became frightened of being rejected, so the Doctor and Alex were sucked into the cupboard.
As the Doctor and Alex were being attacked by the peg dolls inside the cupboard, the Doctor shouted out to George to take control of the situation and face his fears. George then appeared in the dolls house as well but was also attacked due to his lingering fear of abandonment. Alex rushed towards George to protect him from the dolls, assuring him that he was his son and would not be abandoned. Everyone was subsequently released from the dolls house and returned to normal, while George continued to live as a normal, happy boy.
The Doctor promised to return when George was going through puberty, as it was "always a funny time". (TV: Night Terrors [+]Loading...["Night Terrors (TV story)"])
In October 2011, the Doctor sent George a specially written bedtime story, as the Doctor knew George enjoyed them. (PROSE: "Bedtime Story" [+]Part of The Time Lord Letters, Loading...{"namedep":"Bedtime Story","1":"The Time Lord Letters (novel)"})
Behind the scenes[[edit] | edit source]
- The surnames of George and his family were left unstated in the 2011 television story Night Terrors. It was only in the short story My Special Book and the video game Doctor Who: Legacy where their surnames were revealed.
- The trading card for George in Doctor Who: Monster Invasion identifies him as "George Tenza".
- According to The Brilliant Book 2012,[which?] George's scripted last name was indeed originally Thompson.
