Q is for... Quarks

Diminutive but powerful robot servants of the Dominators, a war-like race of people who claimed to be the Masters of the Ten Galaxies.

Quarks were squat box-like bipedal machines, with spiked, spherical heads. Their arms folded into their bodies and were designed to hold a variety of tools and weapons. They could communicate verbally, having a shrill, child-like voice.

One drawback to the robots was that they had limited energy levels and had to recharge frequently. Quarks could distribute power between themselves to equalise their energy levels.

The Doctor and his companions encountered a party of Quarks when a lone Dominator spaceship landed on the tranquil world of Dulkis, determined to assess its population as suitable for slave labour. Probationer Toba used them to kill a party of young thrill-seekers who had wandered too close to the island where their ship - and the TARDIS - had landed. This angered his commander, Rago, as it used up valuable power and deprived them of natives to interrogate. Toba repeatedly went against Rago's orders to further kill prisoners and destroy infrastructure on the island - to the point that the Quarks' energy levels were threatened. When it became clear that the pacifist Dulcians were unfit to be enslaved, it was decided to destroy the planet by transforming it into a radioactive mass - fuel for the Dominator war fleet. Quarks were instructed to prepare drill sites around a central borehole. They were also used to oversee Dulcian prisoners who were forced to assist this work.

Jamie and a rebellious young Dulcian named Cully were able to use a laser weapon from a war museum to destroy a Quark, whilst others could be easily overcome by blinding them - throwing a cover over their head - or tripping them up - tying a rope round their legs. Clearly they did not have all-round vision.

Later, the Doctor developed an explosive which was used to deplete the Quark force further. Those remaining were called off search-and-destroy work to finish the drilling - the plan being to trigger a volcanic eruption into which an atomic seed capsule would be dropped.

The Doctor was able to slip this capsule onto the Dominator spaceship just before it took off - destroying it along with the remaining Quarks and their Dominator masters.

Played by: John Hicks, Gary Smith, Freddie Wilson. Voiced by: Sheila Grant.

Appearances: The Dominators (1968)

• It was an argument over the commercial exploitation of the Quarks which led to writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln finally falling out with the Doctor Who production office, after the BBC had allowed them to feature in TV Comic without consulting them. They had created the robots specifically with the intention of exploiting them financially themselves, having seen what Terry Nation had earned through the Daleks.
• In these comic strips, the Quarks are a fully autonomous force of aggressive invaders, no longer under the control of the Dominators.
• The Quark performers were all schoolboys.
• Voice artist Sheila Grant would later be seen on screen as Jane Leeson in Colony in Space.
• We see two different techniques used for the Quark weapons. The first is when they kill Cully's friends, where the flesh appears to burn and melt momentarily. This sequence was achievable as on film, but in studio the simpler and quicker method of pumping smoke through the victim's costume was used. At one point Cully is wounded by a Quark, but only suffers a temporary paralysis. 
• A Quark featured as one of the cards that came with Weetabix packs as part of their first Doctor Who promotion:

• The replica Quark which featured in the Doctor Who exhibition at Peterborough Museum in 2025: