Midnight entity

The Midnight entity was a lifeform living on the planet Midnight. It was one of the few beings that the Doctor had no knowledge of at all, which, given his expansive, encyclopaedic knowledge of the universe and everything in it across time, was a testament, possibly due to its obscurity, or its innovation to adapt. The creature was never given a name, nor did it display any form other than a shadow running across the landscape.

Biography[]

During a tour to the Sapphire Waterfall, a tour bus that was taking a previously-unexplored detour to the Waterfall apparently broke down. While looking out a window, the on-board trainee mechanic, Claude, noticed a shadow among the diamonds that was moving in the distance, "running" towards the bus.

Following the beginning of the passengers' paranoia, the entity knocked twice around the bus to get everyone's attention. When Mr Cane and the Tenth Doctor knocked a different number of times, the entity mimicked the pattern exactly. Following Sky Silvestry's hysterical blathering, the entity closed in on her from the outside and somehow entered the shuttle without any sign of a breach, causing a dent in the shuttle's wall, while ripping off the cockpit, killing the drivers. In the following blackout from the loss of the main generator, the entity possessed Sky, with the seats around her huddled, initially-immobile body having been left stripped bare.

The entity seemed to gather the strength of its host and then repeated every word a person said in exact precision, including the square root of pi to 30 decimal places. Soon thereafter, the entity was able to copy others word-for-word at the exact same time, and then it proceeded to solely copy the Doctor while ignoring the others. Eventually, the entity stole the Doctor's voice, paralysing him and forcing him to repeat after it instead.

Taking advantage of the hysterical level of paranoia that was already amongst the passengers, the entity convinced them that the Doctor was now possessed and needed to be thrown off the bus. However, while Professor Hobbes and Mr Cane were trying to get rid of the Doctor, the entity made a grave mistake - it began using phrases that only the Doctor had previously said, prompting the attention of the hostess. The hostess sacrificed herself by dragging the possessed Sky out into the X-tonic light, vaporising both of them to free the Doctor from the entity's grip and to ensure the safety of the passengers.

Despite this, the Doctor had no idea if this action killed the entity or if it survived. In light of the incident, the Leisure Palace Company decided to withdraw its facilities from Midnight and abandon the planet to its eternal silence once more, preventing the entity, if it survived or if there were more, from claiming any more victims. (TV: Midnight)

Powers and abilities[]

The Midnight entity was capable of surviving on the planet Midnight, despite the X-tonic rays which should have killed any being on the surface. It was capable of shaking a Crusader 50 bus, causing dents in its walls and ripping off the cockpit, feats which would require great strength. It was able to enter the bus without breaching its integrity once it chose to possess Sky Sylvestry, although the process by which it did so still caused a large inward dent to form in the shuttle, destroyed the shuttle's generator and damaged the seats surrounding Sky.

When the entity possessed a human, it would start to copy what the people around it said, then speak at the same time, and then predict what people would say. The Doctor believed it was trying to learn about its surroundings. The being seemed to be able to learn at an incredibly rapid pace and absorbed the passengers' speech without forgetting, hesitating, or making a single mistake. It also mimicked mannerisms, such as the Tenth Doctor's use of Italian and French phrases, (molto bene and allons-y). (TV: Midnight)

It was described by Jack Harkness as a creature that could eat its way into the brain and steal the host's voice. (WC: Monster File: Midnight)

Behind the scenes[]

• This is the first time on Doctor Who where the true nature of an enemy has never been revealed. The creature's true name is not revealed in the episode, and "Midnight entity" is just an unofficial name.
• The entity resembles the species in the Doctor Who Unbound audio drama A Storm of Angels, right down to the gemstone planet it inhabited.
• The Not-thing from Wild Blue Yonder is very similar to the entity. Both eerily mimic their victims for the sake of learning and attempt to fool the unsuspecting into trusting them. Both appear to thrive off fear and paranoia. The Not-thing like the entity also sought to escape from its natural habitat.