Omega: Difference between revisions

Among the spacecraft he thus highjacked was the entire [[Rigelian Seventh Fleet]], the disappearance of which was investigated by [[K9 Mark I]] on behalf of [[Gallifrey High Command]]. When K9 managed to enter Omegon's realm, he personally greeted him, explaining his history to K9 and trying to convince the hound that his actions were justified. However, K9, deeming that Omegon was mad with revenge, managed to retake control of his own spacecraft, the ''[[K-NEL]]'', launching it at the rocket stores of Omegon's flagship just as the invisible fleet was nearing Gallifrey. The flagship was destroyed in a colossal explosion which seemingly killed Omegon, freeing the captured ship from his control. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[K9 and the Time Trap (novel)|K9 and the Time Trap]]'')

[[File:Omega during transfer.jpg|thumb|left|Omega during transfer. ([[TV]]: ''[[Arc of Infinity (TV story)|Arc of Infinity]]'')]]

[[Hedin]] of the [[High Council]] contacted Omega to help him. Omega had gained control of the dimensional [[gateway]] known as the [[Arc of Infinity]]. Through the Arc, he had a gateway between his own universe and the [[N-Space|universe of matter]], though he still had no physical form. Omega also had a TARDIS and a servant he had created, [[the Ergon]]. Omega needed to bond with another Time Lord using his [[biodata]] extract. ([[TV]]: ''[[Arc of Infinity (TV story)|Arc of Infinity]]'')

Hedin transmitted to Omega the biodata extract for the Doctor, by this time in his [[Fifth Doctor|fifth incarnation]]. Omega established a base in the Earth city of [[Amsterdam]], navigated the Doctor's TARDIS into the Arc and began to link the Doctor's biodata with his own. The Doctor faced execution on Gallifrey to stop Omega's return. This was part of Omega and Hedin's plan: they rigged the execution to hide the Doctor and Omega in [[the Matrix]], safe from Time Lord detection. ([[TV]]: ''[[Arc of Infinity (TV story)|Arc of Infinity]]'')

Omega shifted the Arc to Gallifrey in order to gain control of the Matrix and used its power to create a physical body for himself.

The Doctor tracked him down and sabotaged his equipment in Amsterdam, forcing Omega to step into the physical universe before the transfer was made stable. His new body, a replica of the Doctor's, began to decay and revert to anti-matter. Thwarted and maddened by defeat, Omega willed the acceleration of his conversion to anti-matter to destroy the Earth rather than return to the universe of anti-matter but was destroyed by the Doctor using the Ergon's [[matter converter]]. ([[TV]]: ''[[Arc of Infinity (TV story)|Arc of Infinity]]'')

Omega was recreated by using the Doctor's biodata. However, this had the effect of causing Omega to develop a split personality, being both Omega and the Doctor, but the Doctor persona wasn't aware of his Omega personality. In Amsterdam, Omega secretly boarded the TARDIS of a visiting Time Lord historian and broadcaster, Professor [[Ertikus]], who was in the city to see the site of Omega's destruction. Ertikus travelled to a [[Jolly Chronolidays]] trip to the [[Sector of Forgotten Souls]], with Omega stowed away onboard. Before the trip, Omega met an employee of Jolly Chronolidays, [[Sentia]], with whom he fell in love. He told Sentia all about himself, including his split personality disorder. Omega planned to use the Jolly Chronolidays trip to the Sector of Forgotten Souls to return to the anti-matter universe with Sentia because he found he disliked living in this universe, and wanted to return to his universe where he had godlike power and remained safe.

Feeling the effects of mental trauma, Omega escaped and began to suffer flashbacks of his earlier life, and the circumstances which lead him to take part in the time experiments. After hearing about the Scintillans from Daland, the Doctor confronted Omega, and revealed that the Scintillans weren't a part of the time experiments, but a memory Omega had taken from the Doctor. The Scintillans were a species the Doctor accidentally killed when he tried to save some [[Lurman]]s. The Doctor believed Omega had subconsciously used this to explain away Vandekirian's betrayal. Sentia (taken over by Vandekirian's personality) attempted to pilot the ''Eurydice'' into the anti-matter universe, so Omega would be trapped again. The Doctor and Daland escaped, while Omega was trapped on the ship, as it and Omega were supposedly pulled back into the anti-matter universe again. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Omega (audio story)|Omega]]'')

[[File:Earth is destroyed by black hole.jpg|thumb|left|Omega returns ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Intervention Earth (audio story)|Intervention Earth]]'')]]

For centuries on Gallifrey, the [[Adherents of Ohm]] were a secret society that worshipped "Ohm". During the presidency of [[Romana III|Romana's third incarnation]], Omega manipulated them to steal the [[Hand of Omega]] from Gallifrey and use it to create a black hole. Omega then lured [[Tauras]] and brought him and [[Ace's TARDIS]] into the anti-matter universe. When he met Romana he thought the Time Lords society had fallen so low to allow a president from the [[House of Heartshaven]]. Possessing Tauras' body, Omega took Ace's TARDIS and escaped the anti-matter universe, knowing that it would allow him back on Gallifrey as it was known to the [[Celestial Intervention Agency]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Intervention Earth (audio story)|Intervention Earth]]'')  

Romana sent [[Irving Braxiatel]] back in time to change history so that Omega would never escape the anti-matter universe, with him instructing her [[Romana II|previous incarnation]] to pre-emptively arrest the Adherents. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Enemy Lines (audio story)|Enemy Lines]]'')

In an [[Infinity Doctor's reality|altered state of reality]], [[Savar]] attempted to rescue Omega by flying his TARDIS into the event horizon of a black hole. He fled in terror upon seeing Omega, in the form of a god that he called "Ohm", however his TARDIS was unable to escape Omega's pull, stretching itself out in its frantic attempts to flee until it became the [[the Needle]]. Trillions of years into the future, the black hole had contracted sufficiently the Needle was able to break into the universe, creating [[the Effect]] which enabled Omega to alter history. He rescued [[Patience|the Doctor's wife]] from her death, bringing her to his realm, and manipulated events so [[Infinity Doctor|the Doctor]] would come to his universe, having created a duplicate of himself on the Needle to fool the [[Needle People]].  

With the Doctor able to take his place in the anti-matter universe, Omega took possession of the Doctor's duplicate and went back to Gallifrey in [[the Magistrate]]'s TARDIS, forcing [[Larna]], who had come to the Needle to rescue the Doctor, to come with him. He went to the [[Eye of Harmony]], planning to seize its singularity so he could become a god again in the matter universe. He was confronted at heart of the singularity by the Doctor, who convinced him of the futility of such power. Omega decided to unmake the entire universe however, so the Doctor brought his anti-singularity into contact with Omega's singularity which restored the Eye to normal. As he had just made up the concept of an anti-singularity the Doctor had no idea what had happened to Omega. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'')

There was a time when Omega opposed violence and only wanted to be known by his birth name, but, as he carried on, he came to believe that, if he needed to be a monster to bring the Gallifreyans into a "new age of enlightenment", then he would fully become said monster. He also came to begrudgingly accept his nickname "Omega". ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Omega (audio story)|Omega]]'') By one account, at the time of the creation of the Hand of Omega, [[regeneration]] was already possible for [[Gallifreyan]]s, with Omega having regenerating into the body of "[[Omega (Remembrance of the Daleks)|a huge man]]" with great shoulders and muscles, leading to some to speculate his body was a genetic memory of "the dark time". At one point, he stretched out his arms in a way that made him look like a "[[barbarian]] [[king]]". ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') A telecast about "the lives and deaths of Omega" would later be shown on Public Register Video, a Gallifreyan media apparatus. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Pandoric's Box (short story)|Pandoric's Box]]'')

After the creation of the hand, he was eager to impose Gallifrey's will upon time to make their people into Time Lords, arguing with the Other about the risks of such a prospect. When the two argued about whether they had learned from their mistakes involving the [[Minyan]]s, Omega believed they had but silenced himself after looking into the Other's eyes. While Rassilon came to side with Omega after the scientist asked his fellows if they agreed the hand was "a magnificent achievement", the Other remained cautious. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]'') According to Omega's memories, however, Rassilon had been the eager one, while Omega himself was cautious. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Omega (audio story)|Omega]]'')

Omega was very bitter about his fellow Time Lords, who he believed sacrificed him to attain greatness. He held eternal enmity towards his race, and sought to avenge himself against them.

Despite being insane, Omega was noted for his extremely strong will, which allowed him to reshape the antimatter universe in the singularity to create an environment as well as servants that suited him. This made him linked to the antimatter realm, as his will alone kept it alive and prevented his escape. He was completely unaware of the fact that his body had corroded away as a result of prolonged exposure to the antimatter realm, and that both his physical form and the world he created were made by his will alone. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'')

[[file:Statue of Omega.jpg|thumb|The [[Statue of Omega]] ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Lost Dimension (comic story)|The Lost Dimension]]'')]]

Rassilon, the Other and Omega were the three most important figures in Gallifrey's history. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Ancestor Cell (novel)|The Ancestor Cell]]'') An ancient [[Statue of Omega]] was in the [[Capitol]], ([[COMIC]]: ''[[The Lost Dimension (comic story)|The Lost Dimension]]'') whereas another was built in the [[Great Hall of the Academy]] during his life. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Omega (audio story)|Omega]]'')

[[Coordinator]] [[Jarad]] was once heard to exclaim "Omega's [[ghost]]!" to express shock. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Legion of the Lost (audio story)|Legion of the Lost]]'') In a [[parallel universe]] where the [[Sixth Doctor]] led Gallifrey in [[War in Heaven|the War]], a [[time dreadnought]] was named the ''[[Glorious Aspect of Omega]]''. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Quantum Archangel (novel)|The Quantum Archangel]]'') Following the [[Last Great Time War]], the [[Eleventh Doctor]] believed Omega's memories were stored in [[the Matrix]]. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Sky Jacks (comic story)|Sky Jacks]]'')

In the [[video game]] ''[[Happy Deathday]]'', played by [[Izzy Sinclair]] on the [[Time-Space Visualiser]], Omega was among a host of "every single [[enemy]]" that [[the Doctor]] had ever [[defeat]]ed, who were assembled by the [[Beige Guardian]] and pitted against the Doctor's first eight [[incarnation]]s. ([[COMIC]]: ''[[Happy Deathday (comic story)|Happy Deathday]]'')

During the [[War in Heaven]], the term "[[OMEGA level event]]" was used to describe direct encounters with [[The Enemy]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Subjective Interlock (short story)|Subjective Interlock]]'') During the [[Last Great Time War]], [[Priority Omega]] was a code phrase used for high priority messages. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Day of the Doctor (TV story)|The Day of the Doctor]]'')

In preliminary discussions for ''The Three Doctors'', the name "[[Ohm]]" was considered for the character of Omega, because OHM looks like WHO upside-down. The symbol for Ohm is the Greek Omega symbol (Ω). This abandoned concept would be referenced in the novel ''[[The Infinity Doctors (novel)|The Infinity Doctors]]'', where, within an [[Alternate timeline (The Infinity Doctors)|abnormal state of history]], it was revealed that the [[Time Lord]] [[explorer]] [[Savar]] met a "mad god" called Ohm inside a black hole while looking for the real Omega. The suggestion is that Ohm is one of an infinity of alternative versions of Omega. In ''[[K9 and the Time Trap (novel)|K9 and the Time Trap]]'', Omega was referred to with the name "Omegon", otherwise remaining identical to the version of the character seen in ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'', evidencing lingering uncertainty in the mind of his creator about Omega's name.

In ''[[The Three Doctors (TV story)|The Three Doctors]]'', [[Stephen Thorne]], who had previously portrayed another vengeful near-deity (the [[Dæmon]] [[Azal]]) in ''[[The Dæmons (TV story)|The Dæmons]]'', was called upon to portray Omega. With the character meant to have no physical body under his helmet, only Thorne's voice was applied to Omega, thus allowing for easy recasting upon Omega's return to the series in ''[[Arc of Infinity (TV story)|Arc of Infinity]]''. The anti-matter god was now embodied and voiced by [[Ian Collier]], who reprised the role in an audio format in the [[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories|Big Finish audio drama]] ''[[Omega (audio story)|Omega]]''.

[[File:The First Time Lords.jpg|thumb|right|Omega (left) stands with the [[Second Tecteun]] (centre) and Rassilon (right).]]

In the scene corresponding to the point in ''[[The Timeless Children (TV story)|The Timeless Children]]'' where [[Second Tecteun|Tecteun's male incarnation]] stands alongside two other Time Lords in full high-collared regalia, the ''Timeless Children'' script release mentions that "we can assume [the other two] are [[Rassilon]] and Omega".<ref>[http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/doctor-who-s12-ep10-the-timeless-children.pdf ''The Timeless Children'' script]</ref> In late 2020, the BBC released a promotional photograph providing a better look at these Time Lords' faces.<ref>[https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/1330956294199635971 "The FIRST Time Lords!" on the official ''Doctor Who'' Twitter account]</ref> [[Mark Corden]], the episode's [[2nd assistant director]], stated on Twitter that he himself was the performer playing Omega, also explaining that he had selected the extra playing Rassilon based on his resemblance to [[Don Warrington]], who had played an incarnation of Rassilon for Big Finish.<ref>https://twitter.com/boristhedalek/status/1330960792716521480</ref><ref>https://twitter.com/lisamcmullin/status/1335016279296651266</ref>

[[John Ridgway]], the artist for [[Cutaway Comics]]' ''[[Omega (comic story)|Omega]]'' miniseries, elaborated in a special feature at the end of the first issue on an early concept he had when called upon to visualise Omega in the comic:

{{quote|You can't have him be a little man like [[the Mekon]]. It has to be dynamic, fluid, and fit in with the script. My original thought, which sadly won't work, is he'd be different every time that you saw him. He could be male in one picture, Chinese in the next, female in the next and all the permutations of that. But the readers would need to understand this is what was happening, without wondering why there were so many different characters.|John Ridgway}}

In the end, Omega was depicted in [[Oxirgi]]'s vision as a hazy humanoid figure seemingly made of pure light — thus obviating the need to give him any particular physical features.<ref>''Meet the Creators: John Ridgway'' in [[OMEGA 1]]</ref> However, he was given a much more human appearance when portrayed by [[Brian Blessed]] on the [[Omega (Cutaway audio story)|audio adaptation]]'s cover. Blessed previously appeared in ''[[Mindwarp (TV story)|Mindwarp]]'' as [[Yrcanos]] the "[[barbarian]] [[king]]", a epithet also used to describe an [[Omega (Remembrance of the Daleks)|incarnation of Omega]] who appeared in [[Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)|the novelisation]] of ''[[Remembrance of the Daleks (TV story)|Remembrance of the Daleks]]''.

A character called "Rassilon's Engineer" appears in a transmission [[Sam Jones]] receives on [[Anathema]] in ''[[Interference - Book One (novel)|Interference - Book One]]''. Although the character is not named, he is strongly implied to be Omega. The transmission originates in a [[Faction Paradox]]-influenced culture built on a Time Lord artefact, so the implication may be that Rassilon attempted to minimise Omega's part in Time Lord history, reducing him to the role of "Rassilon's Engineer".

{{ldx}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Omega stories}}