Arnold Keeler was a botanist employed by the millionaire Harrison Chase. Chase was obsessed by flora of all kinds and when he learned of a rare specimen turning up near the South Pole he became determined to obtain it. It was a gourd-like seed pod, which the Doctor identified as having extra-terrestrial origins. Chase despatched Keeler, accompanied by his henchman Scorby, to the Antarctic to steal the pod.
Keeler disliked violence but was easily bullied by Scorby, who planned to kill every member of the research team who had found the pod - as well as the visiting Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith.
The pod had germinated and infected one of the scientists, who was transformed into an alien Krynoid - a hostile plant species which feeds on animal life. However, a second pod had been uncovered by the Doctor, and Keeler and Scorby stole this.
Back in England Keeler was prompted by Chase to feed the pod, and when Sarah was captured she found herself about to be made a Krynoid host. The Doctor intervened and, in the confusion, it was Keeler who became infected.
He was held captive whilst Chase monitored what was happening to him. He rapidly mutated into a mature Krynoid and escaped, growing to hundreds of feet in height and able to turn local plant-life against humans.
UNIT called in the RAF who bombed the Krynoid before it could germinate and spread its seed pods all over the planet.
Played by: Mark Jones. Appearances: The Seeds of Doom (1976).
- Jones also voiced the Krynoid.
- Jones was one of several Doctor Who guest artists who played Imperial Officers in The Empire Strikes Back.
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