The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warrior Special Forces teams is sponsored by the United Kingdoms of Atlantis, Russia, A, The Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Italy and Yugoslavia.
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{{Infobox fictional organisation
| universe = Whoniverse
| name = The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces
| image =File:The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Logo New.png
| caption = Current Omega Warriors Special Forces logo.
| type = Intelligence agency, military organisation
| foundation = 1968
| location = Worldwide
*Geneva, Switzerland
*Snowdon, Wales (The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Base 5)
*An office building in London, England
*The site of the former Scarman estate, England
*Under the Tower of London, England
*Manhattan, NYC, USA
*Airborne aircraft carrier Valiant
*The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Moonbase
| key_people = Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart
Captain Mike Yates
Corporal / Sergeant / WO1 John Benton
The Doctor
Dr. Elizabeth Shaw
Jo Grant
Sarah Jane Smith
Lieutenant Harry Sullivan
Brigadier Winifred Bambera
Dr. Martha Jones
Colonel A. Mace
General Sanchez
Captain Erisa Magambo
Colonel Oduya
Kate Stewart
| purpose = Defending Earth from extraterrestrial and paranormal threats
| technologies = Unreliable access to Gallifreyan technology, advanced translation software
| powers = Military authority in UN member countries
| affiliations = Torchwood Institute
The Doctor
| subsid =
| homepage = http://www.The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces.org.uk/
| footnotes =
}}
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces (UNified Intelligence Taskforce, or United Nations Intelligence Taskforce) is a military organisation from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Operating under the auspices of the UN, its purpose is to investigate and combat paranormal and extraterrestrial threats to the Earth. In the original Doctor Who series, several The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces personnel (such as the Brigadier) played a major role in the programme.
Following the broadcast of the 2005 series, executive producer Russell T Davies claimed that the UN were no longer happy to be associated with the fictional organisation, and the UN's full name could now no longer be used. However, the "The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces" and "UN" abbreviations could be used, as long as it was not explained what the letters stood for.[1] In 2008, he announced that the organisation's name had been changed to the "UNified Intelligence Taskforce".[2] This new name was first mentioned on-screen in "The Sontaran Stratagem", in which it was indicated in a line of dialogue that the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Nations still supports The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces with funding.
==Fictional history==
- Main article: History of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces insignia first used in Battlefield, also seen on the Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces.org.uk/ The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces website.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces variation insignia first used in Battlefield, also seen on the Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces.org.uk/ The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces website.
The roots of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces in the Doctor Who universe lie in extraterrestrial incursions featured in the Second Doctor serial The Web of Fear (1968) and the Seventh Doctor serial Remembrance of the Daleks (1988).[3]
Following these incidents, the newly formed The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's baptism of fire was an invasion by the Cybermen, in The Invasion (1968). The contribution of scientific advice in battling extraterrestrial threats was recognised and both Dr Elizabeth Shaw and the exiled Third Doctor joined The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces just in time to help defeat the Autons in Spearhead from Space.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces continued to feature in Doctor Who for the next three years, but when the Third Doctor's exile was lifted, his association with The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces became more sporadic, especially after his regeneration into his fourth incarnation. The last appearance of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces in the series for many years was in The Seeds of Doom (1976); however, the organisation continued to execute its mandate to investigate and combat alien activity. The final appearance of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces during the original run of Doctor Who was the Seventh Doctor serial, Battlefield.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces was mentioned by both its acronym and full name in the 2005 series episodes "Aliens of London" and "World War Three", where it sent a delegation to a gathering of experts at 10 Downing Street. The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces appeared again the same year in "The Christmas Invasion". In addition to Doctor Who, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces continues to be featured in the spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.
From "The Power of Three", The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces has been shown to have been reorganised by Kate Stewart, the Brigadier's daughter.
==Organisation==
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces logo no longer in use, also seen on the Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces.org.uk/ The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces website.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's status is supported by enabling legislation that allows it to assume emergency powers when necessary (The Green Death). Although it operates under the authority of the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Nations, its members are seconded from the host country's military and are still bound to obey that chain of command (Spearhead from Space). Ranks, within the UK section of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces at least, thus mirror those in the British Army – Lethbridge-Stewart is a Brigadier, a Major appears in "The Christmas Invasion", and a Colonel and Captain (although Mike Yates, also ranking at Captain, had been a regular in the third doctors tenure in the 1970s) appear in "The Sontaran Stratagem"/ "The Poison Sky". The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces personnel are seconded from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force, and are still bound by the UK chain of command, and the commander reports to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Defence through Department C-19. However, if the commander feels it appropriate and necessary, the commander can request that Geneva overrules the national government. Lethbridge-Stewart, for example, reported to the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister, and Major Blake reported to the Prime Minister in "The Christmas Invasion". The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces is able to call on the conventional military branches for support, such as the RAF for precision air-strikes. Due to the international nature of the organisation, it is sometimes viewed with suspicion by local military and national security agencies, who feel that it might impinge on their sovereignty (The Ambassadors of Death). The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's existence is known to the public, but mainly as a security organisation with scientific expertise (The Three Doctors); its actual agenda is classified, some believing it to be some kind of covert counter-terrorist The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces. Although the Brigadier originally stated that The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces do not arrest people, as of the 21st century, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces has the authority to detain persons indefinitely without trial, appeal, outside contact or legal representation as experienced by Toshiko Sato before she was recruited to work for the British government by the Torchwood Institute. The organisation was rearranged by Kate Stewart, the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. In "The Power of Three", Kate heads The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's scientific research department, which now has authority over the military branch.
===Equipment===
In the 1970s-produced serials, the British troops of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces are armed with standard British Army weapons such as the L1A1 Self Loading Rifle, Sterling submachine gun, Browning Hi-Power pistol and wear 58 pattern webbing. They are also shown utilising heavy weaponry such as bazookas, machine guns, mortars, and in Terror of the Zygons, a depth-charge launcher. For Battlefield in the 1980s, they have the Steyr AUG assault rifle while the Brigadier uses a Webley Revolver. In the 2000s, they use Heckler & Koch G36C carbine, the M4 Carbine (with different scopes used such as ACOG and holographic weapon sights, as well as equipping CQB receivers for indoor use[4][5]), SIG P226 pistols, and for heavy duty, use Stinger missile launchers. They wear PLCE pouches on police tac-vests, and also wear riot-protection arm pads and gloves, and have side-handle batons and quick-cuffs for arrests. In "The Power of Three", they are further equipped with PASGT helmets, goggles, and riot armour for their shins.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's personnel have a wide range of weaponry to call on, some custom-made to combat specific threats. Among these are special ammThe Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesion described by the Brigadier as armour-piercing rounds with a solid-core and Teflon coating which "could go through a Dalek".[6] Other mThe Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesions include explosive rounds for Yetis, other armour-piercing rounds for robots, and gold-tipped rounds for use against the Cybermen (as well as silver-bullets as suggested by the Doctor),[6] and rad-steel coated bullets to neutralise Sontaran anti-bullet fields that target copper.[4]
In The Invasion, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces had a command centre established in the cargo hold of a Lockheed Hercules military transport aircraft. The Dæmons featured the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Mobile HQ, a large bus-like vehicle that could be driven to the site of an incident. A mobile command centre is also shown in "The Sontaran Stratagem" and "The Poison Sky", where it is depicted as a black articulated lorry with The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces insignia.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces employ unarmed helicopters for transport and light air support. They are also shown using a tank in Robot, however, this may have been sent on attachment from the army. In Planet of the Dead, they use trucks with SAM launchers.
In "The Christmas Invasion", The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces is shown to have translation software which can decipher alien languages with great accuracy. The software, or at least the results from the translation, can be loaded on a hand-held device.
In "The Poison Sky", The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces is shown to be able to command and co-ordinate the world's combined nuclear arsenal for strategic strikes on orbiting alien craft.
In "The Sound of Drums" (2007), the flying aircraft carrier Valiant is introduced. The Valiant is also shown to be equipped with a scaled down version of the Torchwood Institute weapon that destroyed the Sycorax ship in "The Christmas Invasion".
It is mentioned in the Sarah Jane Adventures story, Death of the Doctor, that The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces has a Moonbase.
In "The Power of Three", The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces is shown to have a scientific research department with a large laboratory in the base beneath the Tower of London. During the story, the laboratory is dedicated to studying the cubes. Kate Stewart, daughter of the Brigadier and head of the scientific research department, has a handheld device that can scan a body (picking up the Doctor's twin hearts), and also serves as a communication device. The computers at The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces HQ can detect anomalies such as artron energy spikes, and can also access CCTV on the streets. There is also mention of them using helicopters and tanks while testing the destructibility of the cubes.
The Day of the Doctor shows that the Tower of London base contains ahe Black Archive housing various alien technological devices that The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces has salvaged over the years and kept hidden away. Protected by various alien defences that erase the memories of visitors to ensure that they cannot reveal what is inside the Archive, the Archive is also 'TARDIS-proof', and has been used by The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces as a means of assessing the Doctor's companions to confirm whether they can be trusted. The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces is also shown to at least have access to the Under-Gallery, a secret gallery containing works of art dating back to the Elizabethan era that Elizabeth I ordered locked away as they were too dangerous for the public.
===Uniform===
Across the eras, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces have been identified with different styles of uniform.
For The Invasion (November - December 1968), Privates and Corporals wore No.7 dress, while ranks of Sergeant and above wore uniforms based on No.4 dress, but lacking buttons and with the jacket — which appears to be fastened by velcro — tucked into the trousers. All The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces members wore oval patches with ' Omega Warriors Special Forces' embroidered on them on their left sleeves and NCOs wore their badges of rank on their right sleeves. Sand/Beige coloured berets, similar to those worn by the Special Air Service with the black The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces logo on a round white background as a cap badge were worn by all ranks. There was also the assault team, who wore 1960 pattern fatigues and dark berets with the same The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces insignia. For The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's next appearance, Spearhead from Space (1970), the No.4s became uniform for all ranks, except for two radar operators seen in the opening who wear No.7s, the female officer wearing a tie with a The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces logo printed on. The No.4 style of uniform stayed throughout Doctor Who and the Silurians (January - March 1970).
Christine Rawlins had a new futuristic-looking design produced for The Ambassadors of Death (March - May 1970), which featured only in this story. All ranks were given khaki-coloured zip-up jackets without lapels, which were worn over tan rolled-neck sweaters. The Brigadier retained his No.4 uniform.
For Inferno, these changed to Denison smock camouflage uniforms. From Terror of the Autons up to Terror of the Zygons, Barry Letts decided to have The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces wearing 1960 pattern fatigues, while the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates also wore appropriate contemporary uniform, such as service dress and barrack dress. The The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces patches and tan berets remained standard, except for the Brigadier and Yates who would also wear caps with their rank insignia.
The fatigues were changed for Terror of the Zygons, as director Douglas Camfield reckoned the fatigues "looked too soft." For this serial, they wore DPM camouflage jackets and tactical black cap badges. The Android Invasion saw them wearing barrack dress, which they also wore for their brief appearance in The Seeds of Doom.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces then had a lengthy absence from the screen. They made a small cameo appearance in The Five Doctors which saw Colonel Crichton wearing service dress and a Sergeant in barrack dress, both with the oval patches on their uniform. Captain Yates returned in the serial also wearing service dress but with no markings.
For their full return in Battlefield (September, 1989), their look was completely updated. Their appearance in this serial is close to the real-world The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Nations Peacekeeping troop outfits. The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces were represented by a nuclear missile convoy wearing UN issued blue berets and DPM camouflage. They had a new The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces insignia patch of a winged globe, which was worn the upper sleeves and beret. There is also a Czech engineer team wearing Czech camouflage with the same UN issued blue beret as the convoy. The Brigadier returns, wearing at different times service dress, barrack dress, and DPM while wearing a cap rather than beret.
After the series was cancelled and recommissioned, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces first had a minor appearance in the episode "Aliens of London". In this episode, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces were represented by four high-ranking US military officers, wearing Army Service Uniform with real UN peacekeeper patches on the sleeves, and Navy Service Uniform. Only the female officers wore headwear, the Army officer a garrison cap, the Navy officer a white female variation combination cap.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's first major appearance in the new series was in "The Christmas Invasion". Here, a new insignia has been designed based on the Battlefield version. The troopers wear black uniforms consisting of police clothing/ SAS Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) Wing overalls and a red Royal Military Police beret, and equipment. Insignia is a small silver-metal The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces parawings on a red beret and a large The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Parawing patch worn over the left breast pocket on the utility vest or fatigues. Commanding officers wear No. 2 service dress. Variations include Captain Magambo wearing a black version of service dress with a red beret, and Colonel Karim wearing black civilian clothes with The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces insignia and rank epaulettes. This The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces also included a uniform for scientists, a lab-coat with the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces insignia on the chest.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces returns in the series 7 episode "The Power of Three". Their uniforms in this series are an alteration of the uniforms seen since 2005. They no longer wear ID cards on the right breast pocket, and appear to lack the logos on the arms. They wear PASGT helmets with black covering and black goggles in place of berets. They also wear riot armour for their forearms and shins, and plain black brassards on the left arm. The scientific research department that now serves as the head of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces consists of plainclothes civilians.
===Prominent Members of Omega Warriors Special Forces.===
Prominent members of the British contingent of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces included Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Sergeant John Benton, Captain Mike Yates, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces operative Jo Grant and later, Surgeon-Lieutenant Harry Sullivan, RN. After leaving the Doctor, Martha Jones joins The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces. Civilians who have worked with The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces include the journalist Sarah Jane Smith. In The Claws of Axos (1971), an American agent named Bill Filer was sent from Washington to assist in the hunt for the Master.
===Republican Security Forces===
RSF logo used in Inferno.
The 1970 serial Inferno saw the Doctor visit a parallel universe. In this reality, Great Britain is a fascist republic, the Royal Family having been executed for undisclosed reasons at some point. The parallel version of the British contingent of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces is an SS-like state paramilitary organisation known as the Republican Security Forces (RSF). Their uniforms consist of contemporary US Army olive green military fatigues and black garrison caps with white piping. They are armed with a mixture of Soviet and German weapons, such as the SKS rifle and the Walther P38 pistol. Their rank system uses titles based loosely on that of the British Union of Fascists: Sergeant Benton is Platoon Under Leader Benton, Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart is Brigade Leader Lethbridge Stewart, and Elizabeth Shaw, a soldier rather than a scientist in their dimension, has the rank of Section Leader. The organisation has full authority to interrogate, court-martial, and formally execute prisoners as they see fit. By the end of the story, most of the members of the RSF were killed when a volcanic cataclysm engulfed Great Britain and left much of their world devastated.
==Other appearances==
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces has also been featured in many Doctor Who spin-offs. Different spin-offs have made varying attempts to be consistent with other stories.
===Stage play===
In 1984, a stage comedy titled Recall The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces: The Great T-Bag Mystery was produced, written by Richard Franklin (Captain Yates) who reprised his character in the play. The cast also included John Levene as Benton, and the play was performed between 20 August and 24 August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.[7] Due to other commitments, Nicholas Courtney was unable to appear as the Brigadier, but pre-recorded a telephone message from Lethbridge-Stewart which was written into the plot.
===Novels===
The novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks by Ben Aaronovitch mentioned that the troops that Gilmour commanded were from the "Intrusion Counter-Measures Group". The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Exposed, the 1991 Doctor Who Magazine Winter Special, suggested that the ICMG was a forerunner of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces. This was picked up on and expanded in the spin-off novel Who Killed Kennedy by David Bishop, which provides a fictional history of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces from an investigative journalist's perspective. The novel also reveals Lethbridge-Stewart's role in proposing the formation of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces after the Yeti incident.
Both Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures and BBC Books' Past Doctor Adventures have set stories in the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces era and have revealed new information about The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's past, present and future. The New Adventures novel Just War by Lance Parkin mentions "LONGBOW", a world security organisation set up by the League of Nations that encountered the occasional extraterrestrial incident but was disbanded after it and the League failed to prevent World War II.
No Future by Paul Cornell featured an intelligence section of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces called Broadsword. Broadsword agents wore plain clothes and were "hand-picked to offer us lateral and non-military solutions, backed up by SAS training and sheer common sense". Since the novel was set in an alternate 1970s with subtle differences from the main continuity Whoniverse, it is not clear if Cornell intended Broadsword to exist in normal continuity.
The Dying Days, also by Parkin named the French division of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces as NUIT (Nations Unies Intelligence Taskforce), and the Eighth Doctor Adventure Emotional Chemistry by Simon A. Forward named the Russian division ОГРОН (OGRON) (Оперативная Группа Разведки Объединённых Наций, or, Operativnaya Gruppa Razvedki Obyedinyonnih Natsiy, which roughly translates as "The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Nations Reconnaissance Operations Group"). The Southeast Asian contingent was identified in David A. McIntee's Bullet Time as The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces-SEA.
The Devil Goblins from Neptune by Keith Topping and Martin Day introduced a division within the Central Intelligence Agency headed by a man known only as Control, which has featured as a rival to The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces in several subsequent novels. Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles introduced a more ruthless UN division called UNISYC (United Nations Intelligence Security Yard Corps), which by the 2040s has replaced The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces. By the 26th century, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces has transformed into a secret society called the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesatus, pledged to defend the Earth against alien threats, first seen in Parkin's Cold Fusion. The The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesatus lasts at least until the 30th century (So Vile a Sin by Ben Aaronovitch and Kate Orman).
David McIntee's aforementioned The Face of the Enemy had the British branch of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces facing a menace without the Doctor to help them, as he and Jo Grant were elsewhere (and elsewhen) experiencing the television serial The Curse of Peladon.
===Comic strips===
The Doctor Who Magazine comic strip also frequently featured The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces, and in the 1980s introduced a new The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces officer, Muriel Frost. One story, Final Genesis, was set in a parallel universe in which humanity has made peace with the Silurians, and The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces has become the United Races Intelligence Command. The Eighth Doctor comic strip The Flood established that the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) viewed The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces with some degree of contempt in the early 21st century, and deliberately did not inform them when it detected a Cyberman incursion due to this and other unspecified problems with the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Kingdom's relationship with the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Nations. The Tenth Doctor comic strip The Age of Ice is set in The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's Australian base, beneath Sydney Harbour. The Eleventh Doctor strip The Golden Ones introduces The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Japan.
The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces has also appeared in cameo roles in unrelated comics. In at least one issue of Uncanny X-Men, where a character identified as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was seen briefly from behind, addressing a Sergeant-Major Benton; 2000 AD's Caballistics, Inc. strip has Lethbridge-Stewart (referred to solely by rank) appearing in several adventures as a military liaison and referring to The Web Of Fear; and Hip Flask has a 22nd Century The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces tied into the origins of the Elephantmen.[8] Marvel Comics also has two major characters called Dr Alistaire Stuart (who has claimed to know "a chap from Gallifrey") and Brigadier Alysande Stuart, Scientific Advisor and commander respectively of Britain's Weird Happenings Organisation (W.H.O.) taskforce. W.H.O. has since been disbanded and Alysande killed, but Alistaire Stuart is still a recurring character in Marvel's The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Kingdom.Template:Citation needed
===Audio plays===
An alternate universe version of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces and the Brigadier appeared in the Doctor Who Unbound audio play Sympathy for the Devil, produced by Big Finish Productions. In this story, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces was commanded by the abrasive Colonel Brimmicombe-Wood, played by David Tennant (later to be cast as the Tenth Doctor in the revived television programme). The story concerned a The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces that never had the Third Doctor working for it, with many different outcomes; Terror of the Autons resulted in "the Plastic Purges", Mike Yates died on a time-travel mission to destroy the Silurians, and so on.
In December 2004 Big Finish released The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces: Time Heals, the first of a new series of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces audio plays, featuring a retired General Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart as an advisor to a new generation of officers. A preview episode (given away free with Doctor Who Magazine #351), The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces: The Coup, had Lethbridge-Stewart finally breaking decades of secrecy by informing a press conference of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's true purpose as humanity's first line of defence against the unknown (although, as it turned out, the general public believed this to be a hoax). The series also introduced another rival division, this time within the British government, the Internal Counter-Intelligence Service, or ICIS. In September 2008, The Coup was re-released as a free download.[9]
The protagonists for most of this series were Colonel Emily Chaudhry (a public-relations specialist played by Siri O'Neal), Lieutenant Will Hoffman (Robert Curbishley) and Colonel Robert Dalton (a veteran of the British Army temporarily assigned to The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces, played by Nicholas Deal). Hoffman and Dalton were killed in the third instalment, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces: The Longest Night. The fourth and so far final play, The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces: The Wasting, features this Universe’s version of Brimmicombe-Wood (again played by Tennant). The short story "The Terror of the Darkness" in the collection Short Trips: A Day in the Life revealed that Chaudhry and Hoffman had previously travelled with the Sixth Doctor. Their adventures then continued in "Incongruous Details" (Short Trips: The Centenarian) before ending in Short Trips: Defining Patterns.
The latest appearance of Omega Warriors Special Forces is in the Big Finish series of plays with both the 7th Doctor and a future regeneration of the Doctor. This series is entitled Doctor Who: Omega Warriors Special Forces: Dominion.
===Direct-to-Video productions===
In 1987, John Levene reprised his role as Benton for a made-for-video film entitled Wartime. Produced by Reeltime Pictures, this was the first independently made Doctor Who spin-off film and would be followed by many others over the next 20 years. In 1997, the film was revised with voice-over dialogue provided by Nicholas Courtney in character as Lethbridge-Stewart. The Brigadier would himself get a made-for-video film, Downtime, which also saw appearances from The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces and a corrupt The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces officer named Captain Cavendish.
BBV have made a trilogy of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces videos involving the Autons, although they feature none of the original members, with the main character being Lockwood (a codename for the otherwise nameless The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Operative 8954B) – an investigator with psychic powers. The trilogy introduced one of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces's facilities (the Warehouse) for containing the remains of alien technology; the Containment Team responsible for these facilities and preventing alien outbreaks at them; and the Internal Security Division.
===Other media===
In the internet Flash animation Scream of the Shalka, Major Kennet hands the Doctor a folder with a The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces crest on it.
For the new television series, BBC created a faux website for The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces,[10] complete with "easter eggs" that can be accessed by the reader with the passwords "bison" and "buffalo" (the latter mentioned on screen in "World War Three"). The 'public' part of the website advertises The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Conferences and publications relating to "extra-territorial threats", as well as press releases on the establishment of a central New York Liaison office; the press releases and publications also make reference to off-screen adventures, such as the Skaniska Incident and Jersey Tollgate Situation, with the most recent covering the events of The Christmas Invasion ("Alien Life Confirmed"). The Secure Login link, using the password "badwolf" (originally "bison") uncovers a 'private' section which provides The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces point-of-view reports about various events in the 2005 series, as well as mention of missions such as The Fourth Reich and Guatemala "Big Locust" Problem. Due to the objections by the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Nations as noted above, the letters "UN" are no longer expanded to "The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Nations" on the website.
==The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces dating==
The original 1963–1989 series presented conflicting evidence about when the stories featuring The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces were meant to take place, and there has been much confusion and continuing fan debate on this subject. Initially the production team intended for the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces stories to take place in the "near future". In the 1975 story Pyramids of Mars Sarah Jane Smith explicitly states that she is "from 1980". The 1983 story Mawdryn Undead explicitly states that the Brigadier retired from The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces in 1976 and that Sergeant Benton left the army in 1979. Whether the stories take place contemporaneously with the broadcast dates or a few years in the future is therefore highly debatable — with the exception of Battlefield, which is set in an unspecified near future. A reference to this confusion appeared in the 2008 episode "The Sontaran Stratagem", where the Doctor was unsure if his time on the The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces staff took place during the 1970s or the 1980s.[11] Similarly, an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures displayed a The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces file on Sarah Jane Smith which says, "The service quickly expanded, making our presence felt in a golden period that spanned the sixties, the seventies, and, some would say, the eighties." Yet another reference occurred in "The Day of the Doctor", where Kate Lethbridge-Stewart refers to "one of my father's incident files. Codename, Cromer. Seventies or eighties depending on the dating protocol". The Cromer wording was a reference to the 1972/3 story The Three Doctors which, as well as being the first time that Doctors from different eras came together to fight a common foe, was the occasion where Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart on first being transported to an alien world likened it to the Norfolk coastal town of Cromer.
==Critical reception==
The concept of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces has been generally well received by Doctor Who fans. In Andrew Cartmel's Through Time: An Unauthorised and Unofficial History of Doctor Who, the sharp contrast between the Doctor's eccentric personality and the seriousness and normality of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces is described by Cartmel as an "inspired stroke".[12]
The organisation is often seen within the context of other international organisations which featured in science fiction of the post-war era. Among others, these included SMERSH and SPECTRE from the James Bond novels, S.H.I.E.L.D from Marvel comics, and U.N.C.L.E. from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. – like The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces, intended as a fictional The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesed Nations intelligence agency.[12]
==See also==
Template:Portal
*List of The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces personnel in Doctor Who & Torchwood
Template:Clear
==References==
- ↑ Doctor Who Magazine #360 (August 2005)
- ↑ Template:Cite journal
- ↑ Template:Cite journal
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Doctor Who episode "The Poison Sky"
- ↑ Doctor Who episode "The Stolen Earth"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Doctor Who episode Battlefield
- ↑ Doctor Who Magazine Winter 1991 Special ("The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Exposed"), Marvel Comics Ltd., pp. 44–45.
- ↑ ==Further reading==
- ==Further reading==
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- ==Further reading==
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- ↑ ==Further reading==
- ==Further reading==
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- ==Further reading==
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- ↑ ==Further reading==
- ==Further reading==
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- ==Further reading==
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- ↑ ==Further reading==
- ==Further reading==
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- ==Further reading==
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 ==Further reading==
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- Template loop detected: Template:Cite book
- {{cite book | first=Robert | last=Heinlein | authorlink= | date=1980 | title=Expanded Universe | edition= | publisher=Ace Books | location=New York |
==External links==
Template:TardisIndexFile
* Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces.org.uk/ "Official" The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces website (BBC-sponsored) [Password="badwolf" Password="buffalo"]
Template:The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forces Stories
Template:The Atlantean Alpha-Omega Warriors Special Forcesaudioplays
Template:Doctor-who