| “ | I am Lord President of Gallifrey! And YOU are the notorious renegades! We shall see who is believed. | „ |
| ~ Borusa to the four Doctors. |
Borusa is a major character in the Doctor Who franchise.
He was a well respected and beloved Time Lord on Gallifrey who served many occupations of high esteem, eventually leading him to become Lord President of Gallifrey itself. Although a benevolent ruler and an ally to The Doctor who even tutored him in his youth he grew desperate to prolong his life due to his life cycles coming to an end and as turned to villainy to achieve such goals, willing to threaten the lives of five incarnations of The Doctor as well as several of their companions and enemies in order to get what he wanted.
He appeared as a supporting character in the stories "The Deadly Assassin" and "The Invasion of Time", as an anti-hero in "Arc of Infinity" and finally as the main antagonist of the 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors".
He was portrayed by the late Angus MacKay in 1976, the late John Arnatt in 1978, and the late Leonard Sachs and Philip Latham in 1983.
History
Origin
When the First Doctor was young, Borusa was his teacher at the Time Lord Academy. At that time he was a member of the "Prydonian Chapter".
Borusa first appeared as Lord Cardinal of the High Council of Time Lords, when the Fourth Doctor was sent to his home planet Gallifrey, where the Master tried to extend his life, as he was at the end of his thirteenth and therefore final incarnation. At all his three further appearances, Borusa would encounter the Doctor in an entirely different incarnation.
Borusa's Evil Plan
Using the forbidden time scoop Borusa kidnapped the first five incarnations of the Doctor (save the Fourth who was trapped in a time eddy when Borusa tried to kidnap him) and sent them into the Death Zone to remove the defenses of the Dark Tower. It was said the first Time Lord President Rassilon had discovered immortality and still lived in the Dark Tower, thus Borusa wanted to access the Tower. He sent the Master into the Death Zone to rescue the Doctor so as to dissuade suspicion. The Fifth Doctor escaped the Death Zone using a transmat device he found on the Master. Borusa then framed the Castellan (guard captain) for using the time scoop, leading to the Castellan's death.
When the Fifth Doctor found the hidden room where Borusa was using the time scoop, Borusa used the Coronet of Rassilon to place him under mental control. The other Doctors had entered the Dark Tower and deactivated the force field, enabling Borusa to transmat into the Tower. However with the help of the other three Doctors, the Fifth Doctor was able to break free of mental control. Over the sleeping body of Rassilon, an image of Rassilon appeared and told Borusa to take the Ring, which would give him immortality. When Borusa put on the ring, Rassilon revealed others had entered the Tower to gain immortality, and Borusa was turned into one of the statues in the Tomb (specifically the then empty space on the bed Rassilon's body was kept), gaining immortality, at the cost of being imprisoned for all eternity. The Doctors then turn down the chance for immortality, and Rassilon congratulates them, and fades away.
Possibilty Engine
During the Time War, Borusa was retro evolved into a possibility engine by Rassilon. He had been wired up to the Time Vortex and constantly regenerated through his different incarnations. Rassilon used Borusa to predict the most suitable timeline for Time Lord victory throughout the War. Rassilon came to Borusa to ask him about the most successful way to detonate the Tear of Isha into the Tantalus Eye. The War Doctor later stole Borusa from Rassilon. Being further altered by proximity to the Tantalus Eye, Borusa helped the Doctor to erase the Daleks around the Tantalus Eye. He was killed in the process but that was the fate he wanted after a miserable existence as Rassilon's experiment.
