Wednesday 20 April 2022

K is for... Keeper of the Matrix

 
A high ranking Time Lord who maintained the Matrix - depository of all their knowledge. He ensured that it was maintained, and knew of the secret entrances which allowed access to it - possessing the Great Key, which he kept on his person at all times.
When the Doctor was taken out of time and placed on trial by his own people aboard a huge space station, evidence was taken from the Matrix by the prosecuting Valeyard to attack him, and he in turn was able to use it to provide his defence. However, he became convinced that the evidence had been tampered with. The presiding judge - the Inquisitor - summoned the Keeper to address the court about the Doctor's accusation. He denied that such tampering could ever happen - only to be contradicted by the sudden appearance of the Master from within the Matrix. He confirmed that the Matrix had been breached many times.
One of the doors into the Matrix just happened to lie on this station, right outside the courtroom. The Doctor and Sabalom Glitz entered it, but the Keeper stopped the Doctor's companion Mel from following. Later, she avoided his second attempt to stop her and managed to enter as well.
After the Valeyard had been defeated, the Inquisitor ordered the keeper to check the Matrix for damage.
She failed to notice that the Time Lord was now the Valeyard in disguise...


Played by: James Bree. Appearances: Trial of a Time Lord Parts 13 - 14 (1986).
  • The novelisation of Mindwarp (Trial Parts 5 - 8) gives the Keeper the name Zon.
  • It's not entirely clear what is going on at the conclusion. Has the Valeyard taken over the Keeper's body - or is he just impersonating him? Was the Keeper the Valeyard all along?
  • Bree had first appeared in Doctor Who as the sadistic Security Chief in The War Games (1969). He returned in 1981 to play Decider Nefred in Full Circle.
  • He was unhappy when his role in Trial of the Time Lord was drastically reduced.

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