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| Doctor Who race | |
|---|---|
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| Rutans | |
| Type | Shape-changing protean lifeforms |
| Affiliated with | Rutan Host |
| Home planet | Ruta 3 |
| First appearance | Horror of Fang Rock |
The Rutan Host, or Rutans, are a fictional extraterrestrial race from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. They have been at war with the Sontaran Empire for more than 50,000 years,[1] and this war dominates both cultures to the exclusion of all else. The Rutans only appeared on television in the serial Horror of Fang Rock, in which a single Rutan is encountered, though they are mentioned in some serials featuring Sontarans (The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment, The Two Doctors, The Poison Sky and The Last Sontaran and Enemy of the Bane episodes of Doctor Who spin off The Sarah Jane Adventures).
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Characteristics
In their natural forms, Rutans resemble large green jellyfish, glowing blobs of biomatter with long ropy tentacles. They are amphibious and can cling to sheer vertical surfaces, with considerable mobility out of the water despite their shape. Rutans can also generate lethal bioelectrical shocks, and seem to be able to absorb electrical energy directly for sustenance. They reproduce by a process similar to binary fission. Rutans can speak, although the exact mechanism by which this works is unknown as no mouth has been observed on their body. The Rutan observed in Horror of Fang Rock spoke with a harsh, tinny male voice.
Rutans never refer to themselves as individuals, preferring the first person plurals "we", "us", and "our(s)". Rutans are able to operate independently, and, like the Sontarans, sometimes dispatch scout units consisting of a single soldier.
Rutans have also developed advanced shape-shifting technology, allowing them to appear in any form they wish. They often use this technology to adapt to alien environments and infiltrate alien cultures; Rutans are consummate spies. A Rutan usually kills specific individuals and then impersonates them, though it is unclear whether this tactic is merely to prevent discovery or because they need to make a detailed examination of the body before adopting its shape.
Other appearances
The Rutans have made appearances in the Missing Adventure novel Lords of the Storm by David A. McIntee and in Terrance Dicks's New Adventure novel Shakedown (based on the spin-off video Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans, also written by Dicks). These novels were both released in December 1995, and the former novel leads into the latter. Rutans are also mentioned in the Missing Adventures novel Evolution, in which the antagonists of the story are using a sample of Rutan "healing gel" to cross-mutate humans and animals.
The novel of Shakedown elaborates that the Rutan "hive mind" is co-ordinated by a Queen who lives on their well-defended homeworld, and that without her influence the Host would fall apart. In the same novel, Rutan biotechnology is sufficiently advanced to "uplift" a species to sentience; they have done this at least once, on the planet Sentarion, where they are worshipped by the insectoid Sentarii people as "the Shining Ones". The organic nature of Rutan technology is one of the chief differences between them and their Sontaran enemies. The video Shakedown is the only occasion in which Sontarans and Rutans have appeared together on screen.
An unspecified incarnation of the Doctor (but fitting the description of the Eighth) brokered a peace between the Sontarans and the Rutans in the Lance Parkin Past Doctor Adventures novel The Infinity Doctors. As with all of the spin-off media, the canonicity of the novels and videos are uncertain.
In the New Series Adventures Quick Reads book The Sontaran Games, by Jacqueline Rayner, it is revealed that the character Emma, who acts as the Doctor's companion-substitute in the book, is a Rutan spy disguised as a human it killed.
In the full-length New Series Adventures book The Taking of Chelsea 426, by David Llewellyn, the Rutans again appear alongside their enemies the Sontarans. In this book, the Rutans had learned of the Sontarans' attack on Earth in the 21st century, and had planted a cloud of spores into Saturn's atmosphere. These spores were originally intended to infect the Sontarans, after they had taken over Earth and expanded to the rest of the Solar System - however, due to the intervention of The Doctor, the Sontarans were defeated, and Humans instead reached Saturn a number of centuries later, and were infected themselves when they breathed in the spores. These spores allegedly contained Rutans, allowing them to take over the host (though the host itself remains alive). Their appearence lead to the attack of the Sontarans on Chelsea 426. The Rutans were eventually defeated by the Doctor, but had by that time infected a number of the Sontarans as well. The Sontarans then headed back to Sontaran space, unknowing that they were carrying Rutans into their territory.
The Rutans also appeared in the BBV audio play In 2 Minds, which used the idea of Rutans detached from the Host as a metaphor for the treatment of Gulf War Syndrome sufferers by the UK and US military. Bernice Summerfield encountered the Rutans in the Big Finish Productions audio drama The Bellotron Incident.
The Fifth Doctor and Nyssa encountered the Rutans in the Big Finish audio Castle of Fear.
References
- ^ "The Poison Sky". Writer Helen Raynor, Director Douglas Mackinnon, Producer Susie Liggat. Doctor Who. BBC. BBC One, London. 2008-05-03.
External links
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