Doctor Who’s Returning Classic-Era Villain Explained
With major spoilers, we run through the Doctor’s history with the other classic villain teased in “Wish World”.
Warning: contains spoilers for Doctor Who series 15 episode 7 “Wish World”
Well, why not? Doctor Who’s previous series finale “mask-wearing villain from the classic era, so where’s the harm in making it two on the trot?
In the final moments of series 15’s penultimate episode “Wish World”, villainous Time Lady The Rani shared her master plan with the Doctor. First in the form of Anita Dobson’s Mrs Flood and now bi-generated to include Archie Panjabi’s leather-clad baddie, The Rani has been following the Doctor around so that she could trap him in a fantasy world and then use the power of his doubt to tear that world apart, look under the universe’s carpet, and free somebody trapped in “the Underverse”.
Which somebody? Omega, who, according to Conrad Clark’s potted bio is “The first Time Lord. The creator of the Time Lords. The greatest and most terrifying Time Lord of all.”
Well, that depends how great and terrifying you find pointy gold masks bearing the face of Grumpy Cat, H.R. Geiger-style tubey guys with skeletal chicken sidekicks, or Peter Davison’s face covered in green pork scratchings.
Omega has previously appeared in the form of all three in The Timeless Children” but we only know about that one from a stage direction on the script.)
So, who is Omega and what is his deal? He’s a Gallifreyan who, ages ago, harnessed the power of an exploding supernova to give his people the power to travel through time, hence “The first Time Lord. The Creator of the Time Lords.” Only, the experiment went south when some gubbins involving a black hole caused him to become trapped in an anti-matter universe, after which the Time Lords mistook him for dead.
In TV show continuity, we first met Omega in multi-Doctor story “The Three Doctors” when he tried to take his revenge on the Time Lords for having, as he saw it, abandoned him. Using some 1970s special FX and red bubble wrap monsters, Omega created a trap to send the Third Doctor from Earth through space to his anti-matter universe, where he intended to swap places with him and escape. It almost worked, but it turned out that all that time living in the irradiated anti-matter universe had destroyed Omega’s physical form, leaving only his will inside his imposing metallic armour. Then some gubbins about the second Doctor’s recorder (yes, keep up) destroyed the anti-matter universe, the Doctor(s) escaped, and Omega was once again thought dead.
But, surprise! In season 20 serial “Arc of Infinity”, it turns out that Omega had survived and was colluding with a member of the Gallifreyan High Council to biologically bond what was left of him to the Fifth Doctor so that he could regain corporeality. And it worked! For a bit, anyway, allowing Omega in the form of Peter Davison to do some sightseeing in Amsterdam, until some gubbins about the failed bio-bond meant that he turned green and bumpy. The Doctor then used an antimatter converter on him to send him back to his old universe, where, on TV at least, he’s been ever since.
Until now. In “Wish World”, we heard a disembodied voice (that may or may not have been a recording of original but now-departed Omega actor Stephen Thorne) declaring: “Long live Omega! Omega shall be free!”
That’s The Rani’s plan anyway. She’s organising a kind of Time Lord/Lady reunion for herself, the Doctor and Omega, which will presumably play out in series 15 finale “The Reality War.” Will Omega be matter or anti-matter, corporeal or empty suit of armour, and will he still hold a grudge against the Doctor for all that Amsterdam business? More importantly, does anybody have a recorder handy?
Doctor Who series 15 concludes with “The Reality War” on Saturday May 31 on BBC One in the UK and on Disney+ around the world.
Written by
Louisa Mellor is the Den of Geek UK TV Editor. She has written about TV, film and books for Den of Geek since 2010, and for…