The Nestene is a powerful alien collective intelligence that appears in the British sci-fi series Doctor Who. Though energy-based with no individual identity, the Nestene are capable of possessing varied forms of plastic in order to manifest a physical form and can create many plastic-based vessels such as the dummy-like Autons. The Nestene also thrive on various pollutants for nourishment.
History
Origin
The precise origins of the Nestene Consciousness is unknown, other than it had been colonising worlds for "a thousand million years".
Invasions of Earth
Originally from the planet Polymos, a group of Nestene components arrives at the Epping countryside in the form of plastic polyhedrons posing as meteorites that are gathered by their Auton agent Channing who set up their base of operations at the Auto Plastics toy factory to produce duplicate Autons to replace key government and public figures with. However, the third incarnation of the Doctor arrived at that time and creates an electroshock device that will disable all Autons and destroy the assembled Nestene in its octopus-like form. Despite this defeat, the other Nestene made more attempts on invading Earth and were also used by the Master.
The Last Great Time War
According to Revenge of the Nestene, an epilogue to the events of Rose (see below), the Nestene eventually abandoned it's conquesting ways, and settled down on the planet Netenia. It developed a relationship with the Embodiment of Gris, which was described as romantic, with the Embodiment showering the Consciousness with gifts. However, the Nestenes became victims of fallout from the Last Great Time War, with their worlds being destroyed, and the Embodiment driven insane.
Return of the Nestene
In 2005, the Nestene infiltrated Earth once more with warp shunt technology to conquer it for its pollution after their protein planets were destroyed in the Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks. The Ninth incarnation of the Doctor attempted to negotiate with the Nestene, but its refusal to listen forced its death when Rose spilled a vial of the Doctor's "anti-plastic" solution into the vat of molten plastic which housed the main bulk of the Consciousness, causing it to explode with its Autons deactivated. According to Revenge of the Nestene a piece of the Nestene survived within an Auton based on a Perriot, with ambitions of revenge on the Doctor by forming an alliance. After finding a body of an ambitious blonde man in Westminster, it merged with the man, creating a new Auton containing the Nestene, planning to extend it's power.
In The Pandorica Opens, the Nestenes appeared at Stonehenge, where they helped the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Judoon, the Sontarans and the Doctor's other enemies to trap the Eleventh Doctor into the Pandorica by creating Autons who looked like ancient Romans. When the plan failed in The Big Bang, the Autons and the Nestene were turned to dust and erased from the universe along with the rest of creation. They were restored when the Doctor managed to "reset" the universe.
Trivia
- According to the Doctor Who Expanded Universe, the Nestene Consciousness is one of Shub-Niggurath's oft-mentioned but seldom-seen Thousand Young.
- The man the Nestenes merge with in Revenge of the Nestene is heavily implied to be Boris Johnson, the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
