Polymorph

The Polymorph is a recurring antagonist from Red Dwarf. He appears in the episodes Polymorph and Emohawk and in the novel Better Than Life.

It is the shape-lifting organism that can change into anything it wants, and drains negative emotions of people and of other beings. It was originally designed for military purpose to confuse and terrify the enemy, but it then mutated into something so horrible its creators couldn't control.

The novel Better Than Life shows different version of the creatures' origin. After the great war, the surviving genetically engineered life forms were left to die among garbage. However, some of them survived and the today polymorphs evolved from them.