Well episode 1 'The Bells of St. John' (the title is a reference to the TARDIS) didn't feature any new races, rather a return of the Great Intelligence, a villain featured in the Christmas special and classic Who. The Intelligence inhabits the Wi-Fi, uploading people's consciousness for it's own purposes. In doing so it used some mobile servers, colloqiually known as 'spoonheads' to upload and control people remotely - they're not a species, but they're worth a mention on the blog I think.
Spoonhead
In the next episode 'The Rings of Akhaten' we were treated to a whole host of aliens in a bustling marketplace as well as some principal character races too. The Doctor ran around the marketplace like a giddy child (as would I!!!) and threw out some alien names, which I was too slow to catch - thankfully the community on the TARDIS Core website caught a few of them, which I'll post up here now.
First the races seen at the marketplace
Do'reen
The true species name is unknown, but a member of this race was a vendor at the marketplace on Akhaten trading vehicles for items of psychometric value.
Pan-Babylonian
Native to the same system as Akhaten this race came to worship at the festival of offerings.
Hooloovoo
Another species native to the Akhaten system
Ultramancer
A metalic species which the Doctor was excited to see due to their rarity, also native to the system
Also named, were Terrabeserkers, Lucanians and Lugaleracush - I'm not sure but they may be one of these two beauties from the official site.
Ok, prime story races now.
Choristers
This humanoid race, native to the Akhaten system, were chosen to sing to the 'Grandfather' a deity they believed responsible for the creation of the universe and who they sang to keep asleep. They had psychic powers which enhanced their capabilities to reach out to the god and keep him at bay.
The Vigil
Appointed by the 'Grandfather' to oversee the sacrifice and worship of the singers these individuals hunted the young 'Queen of Years' who ran because she was afraid of her duties. They were able to teleport and use telikenisis against their opponents. When they were no longer needed they were obliterated by their master.
The Mummy
The name given to this creature by the Doctor and others who encountered it, initially believed to be the old god who the worshippers tried to keep asleep, the being, encased in a transparent prison was in fact a way for the true god to wake up if the system of pacification failed. Like the Vigil it was destroyed by it's master.
Akhaten
While visually impressive Akhaten wasn't really anything new and I was surprised at the Doctor stating it was the biggest thing he had faced when he had battled against a sentient star (as the tenth Doctor) and another sentient planet 'House' in this series. That aside the puzzle solving of finding the true villain and the corny-but-believable manner of defeat made it a convincing villain.
A malevolent gas giant that had become sentient and aquired great power it fed off the fear and worship of sentient beings who offered up their stories and songs to it, which fed it's hunger. Essentially a parasite it controlled and possessed other beings to bring it the food it desired and when the suystem finally stopped after centuries it attacked, threatening to consume the entire solar system. It had little self-control, however and consumed the overwhelming psychic power of Clara's leaf, which held potential stories as well as past history, until it destroyed itself, finally freeing the system from its tyrrany.
The next episode 'Cold War' featured a classic Who race the Ice Warriors. It was nice to see this race, in their cumbersome looking armour as a credible threat and seeing Skaldak out of his armour was (to my knowledge) a first visual appearance in the series and it didn't disappoint. We also got a glimpse of an Ice Warrior spaceship.
The Crooked Man
I quite like this race visually, the story of a ghost having some sort of scientific explanation was standard DW fare, but the added menace/uncertainty of another creature in the equasion added to the mix. What I really liked was the creatures appearance - after the whacky but all humanoid creatures of the previous episodes it was good to have a truly weird looking alien!!
This unusual species was a rare kind. some of which hid among the shadows on Earth, one individual was trapped in a pocked universe and was trying to get home. The Doctor, tracking down a ghost that turned out to be a time traveller trapped in a pocket universe encountered this creature which was also stranded there. Initially fearful the Doctor returned to rescue the creature to his mate which was occupying the haunted house.
Phew! Don't think there'll be quite as many next time!!! I'll post about the second half of the series soon!
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