| “ | Meep Meep! | „ |
| ~ Beep The Meep. |
Beep the Meep is a supporting antagonist in the Doctor Who franchise, most famously serving as the main antagonist of the comic The Star Beast and its adaptation of the same name in the 60th anniversary specials.
He was voiced by Toby Longworth in "The Ratings War", by Bethan Dixon Bate in the audio adaptations of their comic appearances and by Miriam Margoyles, who also portrayed Aunt Sponge in James & The Giant Peach, Leef Apple Glyn Slitheen-Blathereen in The Sarah Jane Adventures and Bessie the Cornish Cow in 101 Dalmatian Street, in the TV show.
History[]
Expanded Universe[]
The Meep were a peaceloving race until their planet was exposed to "black sun" radiation, transforming them into a ravenous horde of galactic conquerors who reveled in torture and depravity. Their battle fleets were finally defeated during a massive space battle, but the leader of the Meeps, the evil Beep, escaped. Crashing on Earth with Wrarth warriors close behind him, he faked benevolence and gained the trust of a couple of Earth children. However when the Doctor (in his fourth persona) stumbled into the situation, he soon realised the truth, and helped bring the war criminal to justice.
Fifteen years later he was given parole, and he returned to Earth, seeking revenge. Again his plots were thwarted by the fourth incarnation of the Doctor, who somehow trapped him inside a children's movie, For the Love of Lassie.
The Meep escaped and attempted to take revenge on Earth for the indignities it had heaped on him by using televised signals to take over the planet. This time he was thwarted by the sixth incarnation of the Time Lord.
Much later he attended Bonjaxx's birthday party at Maruthea, although he may not have been an invited guest. Blitzed out his skull, he made a very poor attempt to kill the seventh and ninth Doctors, and accidentally precipitated a bar room brawl instead.
Beep was last seen having gone back in time to 1979, where he attempted to broadcast black sun radiation through people's televisions, thus transforming Earth into a psychotic world like his own. But at the television centre he planned to use he mistook an actor called Tom Baker for his hated foe, and while distracted, the eighth incarnation of the Doctor stopped his plot.
TV Show[]
| “ | I don’t need to pretend, for I am the Beep of all the Meeps! | „ |
| ~ The Meep |
The Meep's role in the TV show was almost the same as in the comics, but the scene of the action is changed to London, and the child protagonists are replaced by the Tenth Doctor's former companion Donna and her family. The name Beep is also only used once in the entire show and unlike in the comics or audio dramas The Meep is portrayed as genderless, the species also apparently eats the flesh of their victims in this adaptation, something never mentioned in any previous adaptation of Beep or any other Meep.
The Meep landed in London while under pursuit from Wrarth Warriors, who have waged war against Meepkind. The Meep is found by Rose Noble, where it pretends to be an innocent, vulnerable creature and begs for protection. Donna, Sylvia and Shaun finds the Meep in Rose’s room and when the Fourteenth Doctor arrives, he interviews the Meep who tells him that the Wrarth Warriors hunted Meepkind to extinction for their fur. The Wrarth Warriors surround the Noble household, but are caught in a skirmish with UNIT guards possessed by energy from the Meepkind’s psychedelic sun. The Doctor, Donna, Shaun, Sylvia and Rose use the skirmish as a cover to hide the Meep, leading it safety through the houses and finally escaping in a black cab.
During the escape, the Doctor discovers that the Wrarth Warriors are using non lethal weapons to attack the soldiers and promptly teleports two of the Wrarth Warriors to his location inside a car park, where he holds an impromptu trial, demanding to hear the Wrarth Warriors’ side of the story. They tell the Doctor about the origins of Meepkind, how they used to be peaceful creatures until energy from their psychedelic sun turned them rogue and into intergalactic criminals who cannibalized the Galactic Council. The Wrarth Warriors waged a war against Meepkind, hunting them all to extinction except for their leader; the Meep. Realising that its cover is blown, the Meep drops the innocent look, and shoots the two Wrarth Warriors dead. The possessed UNIT soldiers arrive and hold the Doctor and Donna’s family hostage.
The Meep reveals its plan to take off in its ship by drilling through the planet’s crust to gain fuel, at the cost of destroying Greater London in the process. The Doctor escapes captivity and with Donna, they break into the Meep’s ship and attempt to power it off to prevent the destruction of London. Realising that the hidden Time Lord knowledge inside Donna could help them stop the ship despite it would kill Donna, the Doctor decides to reinstate Donna’s memories and reactivate the Time Lord consciousness inside of her. However, this does not kill Donna due to her passing down part of the consciousness when she gave birth to Rose, protecting her. Together, they are able to destroy the controls of the Meep’s ship, preventing it from destroying London as well as removing the psychedelic sun from the UNIT soldiers and freeing them from their possession.
The remaining Wrarth Warriors arrest the Meep so it can stand trial for its crimes. Before being teleported away, the Meep warns the Doctor that its leaders are coming; something which confuses the Doctor.
Trivia[]
- Russell T. Davies apparently did think about using Beep during his previous tenure as showrunner of Doctor Who but decided against it until he returned to said position and thought he could satisfyingly portray the character.
- Beep the Meep is the second villainous character to be portrayed by Miriam Margoyles in the Doctor Who universe, having previously portrayed Leef Apple Glyn Slitheen-Blathereen in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Ironically, both Leef and the Meep pretended to be peaceful in their appearances only to later become an antagonist.
