M is for... Morestrans

Humanoids from the planet Morestra, which controlled a huge militaristic empire on the edge of the galaxy around the year 37166.

On learning that their sun was dying they despatched one of their foremost scientists, Professor Sorenson, to seek out alternative energy sources. He found what he was looking for on the primordial world of Zeta Minor, which lay on the very edge of space.

The expedition quickly ran into trouble as its members were picked off one by one by a hostile force on the planet - a creature from the universe of anti-matter. A distress signal was sent out and a rescue mission was launched from the home world. This was led by the weak and arrogant Salamar, who was often at loggerheads with the older, more experienced Vishinsky who acted as his second-in-command. 

On arriving on Zeta Minor, they initially suspected the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith of being responsible for the deaths of the scientists - until it could be proven that the creature was responsible, as well as an infected Sorenson.

Salamar was killed by the mutated Sorenson, leaving Vishinsky to pilot the ship back home. Sorenson was cured of the anti-matter infection, and the Doctor convinced him that the key to their future was to harness the kinetic energies of planetary motion.

Played by: Prentis Hancock (Salamar), Ewen Solon (Vishinsky), Frederick Jaeger (Sorenson), Michael Wisher, Graham Weston, Louis Mahoney, Tony McEwan.

Appearances: Planet of Evil (1975).

• A Morestran was amongst the slave workers on Skaro, seen in Destiny of the Daleks.
• Every one of the above credited actors has featured in another Doctor Who story. Weston and McEwan are both in The War Games, whilst Mahoney appears in Frontier in Space and Blink. Prentis Hancock can be seen in Spearhead From Space, Planet of the Daleks and The Ribos Operation. Jaeger and Solon were on opposite sides in The Savages, and the former was also K-9's creator in The Invisible Enemy (and the dodgy scientist in The Mutants was named after him, as the writers hoped he would be cast).
• Michael Wisher's credits are too many to mention here. As well as playing navigator Ponti, he also voices another crewman off screen, with a dreadful Peter Sellers Indian accent.