Hopper (The Tomb of the Cybermen)
Captain Hopper was the commander of the rocket-ship which transported Professor Parry's expedition to Telos in the 25th century.
He helped the Second Doctor defeat the Telosian Cybermen. He was one of the few survivors of the expedition, (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen) and met the Fifth Doctor afterwards, when Cybermats took over his rocket. (AUDIO: Secrets of Telos)
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Hopper was the owner of his rocket, and had an escape hatch across from the cockpit with only enough room for one person, which he kept a guarded secret. Hopper agreed to bring Parry's expedition to Telos for the lucrative compensation it would involve, though he did not ask for this money in advance, as he would later regret. (AUDIO: Secrets of Telos)
Hopper was angry when one of his men died trying to open the tomb doors, and was suspicious of the Second Doctor and his companions. When the expedition opened the doors of the tomb and entered, Hopper and his men went to their ship to wait. They discovered that the ship had been sabotaged — namely the fuel pumps — and refused to let the expedition come aboard while it was being repaired (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen) by Morton. (AUDIO: Secrets of Telos) Fearing further sabotage, Hopper also mounted a 24-hour guard on the ship.
When the expedition was trapped in the cavern, Victoria Waterfield fetched Hopper and Jim Callum to help. He and Callum opened the hatch to the cavern, and he went down through the hatch with smoke bombs. Hopper also helped the others back up the hatch.
When the repairs to the ship were finished, Hopper was able to fly the surviving members of the expedition off Telos. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen) There were still some repairs to be done afterwards, and a Cybermat had managed to hide on board. Unseen by the crew, the Cybermat made some repairs of its own, even augmenting the ship's travel capabilities, for faster space travel, and quickly multiplied, using the ship's resources. The Cybermats also prepared crew member Ted Rogers for Cyber-conversion.
When the Fifth Doctor materialised on board with Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka, he was immediately suspected of having attacked Rogers himself. Hopper placed the Doctor in the medbay, to be guarded by Parry, though it didn't take long for Parry to release him, and ordered the TARDIS to be locked down with magnetic clamps. He did not believe that the Doctor and Parry had seen a partially converted Rogers, and insisted this was all the Doctor's plan.
Both Rogers and Callum were converted into Cybermen from within their cryosleep tubes, and hijacked their course for Telos Minor. When they were forced to abandon ship, Hopper was forced to sacrifice himself, while the remaining crew, the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa escaped to Telos Minor. He was killed by the Cyber-converted Rogers and Callum. (AUDIO: Secrets of Telos)
