THE MODERATOR

Real Name: Unknown

Identity/Class: Extratemporal (Earth-5555 circa 8162 AD) extraterrestrial technology user

Occupation: Interstellar bounty hunter

Affiliations: None;
formerly hired by Josiah W. Dogbolter, through his assistant Hob

Enemies: The Doctor, Gus Goodman, Hob, Josiah W. Dogbolter

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile throughout the universe.

First Appearance: Doctor Who Monthly#84 (January, 1984)

Powers/Abilities: Armour capable of deflecting energy particles, and apparently of providing full life support, sustenance and waste disposal for at least three weeks (see notes). He has a spaceship capable of interstellar travel, equipped with hyper-drive, powerful scanning tools, an A.I. computer, and extremely heavy weapons (such as nuclear missiles).

History: (Doctor Who Magazine#87 - BTS) - Dogbolter hired the Moderator to track down the Doctor and recover the TARDIS.

(Doctor Who Monthly#84 (fb) ) - The Moderator dropped his ship out of hyper-drive and slipped into orbit around Magellan. He had a song in his head he couldn't shift, and it was annoying him. He spotted some Zyglots grazing in the great dust clouds of the system. Knowing that they were considered the rarest and most beautiful creatures in the galaxy, he rammed his ship through one, just for the hell of it. Having scanned the system for his quarry, and turned up nothing, he set off on his hunt once more.

A little later he was flying through an asteroid field, the song in his head still bugging him, when his ship's sensors detected a structure on a planet's surface that was bigger on the inside than the outside. However it didn't fit the description his employer Dogbolter had given him of being a blue box with a light on top of it. Just in case it was the target in disguise he dropped a 20 megaton warhead on it.

(Doctor Who Magazine#86) - An alien called Malcolm was phoning home to his mother from a public call box located on a small asteroid. He apologised for not calling earlier, but he couldn't find a phone box that was still standing. As he mentioned this, the Moderator's ship shot past, blowing up the asteroid without slowing, leaving Malcolm floating in empty space. The Moderator asked his ship what the score was on targets matching the description he was looking for, and it told him "Eleven down, three hundred to go".

(Doctor Who Magazine#87 (fb) ) - The Moderator had been hunting for the TARDIS for three weeks, and was getting tired of it. Then the computer spotted another target, and this time it came up as a positive match. He landed and attacked the Doctor and his companion on foot, as they were just stepping out of the TARDIS on a small Pacific island. His blaster shots struck Gus repeatedly, but the airman managed to push his friend out of the line of fire, and shot back with his service revolver. The Moderator's armour was designed to deflect energy particles, but proved useless against simple lead projectiles. As the injured bounty hunter crashed to the ground, shot through the abdomen, and his helmet knocked loose. It was only then that he realised that the song that had been annoying him for some time hadn't been in his head - it was a stuck recording repeatedly playing through his helmet speakers. Meanwhile Gus passed away in his friend's arms, and the Doctor picked up his pistol, tears streaming down his face, and fired off two shots in the Moderator's direction.

(Doctor Who Magazine#87 - BTS) - Having put two bullets through the killer's headpiece to shut the noise off, the Doctor took the injured bounty hunter to the nearest civilised outpost for medical treatment.

(Doctor Who Magazine#87) - Having just related his story to Dogbolter's assistant, Hob, the Moderator then mentioned the medics told him he would now pull through, although he was currently on life-support. However Hob had other orders; Mr. Dogbolter had said he didn't want the Moderator disturbed by anyone after Hob had seen him. Hob switched off the life-support, ripped out the wiring, and walked away as the Moderator started screaming from his death bed. 

Comments: Created by Steve Parkhouse and Steve Dillon.

After blowing up one structure, the Moderator sky-writes his calling card, which is "Cosmic Hits - Call Ultra 311597"

The Moderator wasn't too smart - hired to recover the TARDIS, he kept blowing up every structure he came across that might have been his target. If he blew up the real one, Dogbolter wouldn't have been too happy with him. Mind you, he was also so thick that he couldn't figure out that the annoying song was coming through his helmet speakers (and this presumably meant he didn't remove the helmet for three weeks, which I guess meant he didn't remove any part of the suit for that time either!).

Profile by Loki

CLARIFICATIONS: The Moderator should not be confused with:

• Any other interstellar bounty hunters

Appearances:
Doctor Who Monthly#84 (January, 1984) - Steve Parker (writer), Steve Dillon (artist), Alan McKenzie (editor)
Doctor Who Magazine#86-87 (March-April, 1984) - Steve Parker (writer), Steve Dillon (artist), Alan McKenzie (editor)