900 Year Diary

 

Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart:

Page history last edited by tim.e.lewis@... 1 yr ago

Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart: 

Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart first meets the Second Doctor during an atttempt by the Great Intelligence, with use of the Yeti and a fungal web, to conquer the Earth. By his next meeting with the Second Doctor, during an attempted invasion of Earth by the Cybermenhe had been promoted to Brigadier and was in charge of the British contingent of the newly formed U.N.I.T. When the Third Doctor was exiled to Earth, Lethbridge-Stewart gave him a position as U.N.I.T.'s scientific advisor. 

 

In their initial meetings, the Doctor felt frustrated at working with the Brigadier because his typical response to any threat was to shoot at it; a well-known phrase of his was, "Five rounds, rapid." The Brigadier's decision to blow up the Silurians' base, despite the Doctor's continuing efforts to reconcile the reptiles with human beings, provided a very dramatic climax to the situation. In turn, Lethbridge-Stewart was sceptical of the strange phenomena and super science the Doctor habitually encountered. He was also frustrated with the Doctor's eccentricities. However, over the years the two developed a close working and personal relationship as well as mutual respect for each other's abilities.

 

The Brigadier always faced the unknown with unflappable British aplomb. He has shown himself to be a true warrior in combat, ruthless when he has to be, and heroic in the face of the often overwhelming odds that he and UNIT faced over the years. He eventually retired from the military to teach mathematics at a British public school in 1976, where he encounters Nyssa, and Tegan. A future him encounters the Fifth Doctor at the school six year later, before the two Brigadiers encounter eachother on an alien starliner.

 

Some time later, he unwillingly 'traveled' with the Second Doctor to Gallifrey when they were both kidnapped from a U.N.I.T. reunion and sent to The Death Zone by Time Lord High Council President Borusa. While there, he also encounter the First, Third, and Fifth Doctors as well as many current and past companions.  

 

Lethbridge-Stewart once again encounters the Doctor, this time the Seventh Doctor, when he is called out of retirement to deal with an other-dimensional invasion of armoured knights led by Morgaine. This time he, Lethbridge-Stewart,  served as his world's champion as he faced down and killed the demonic Destroyer of Worlds armed only with his service revolver and a load of silver-tipped bullets.

 

Little was shown of Lethbridge-Stewart's life outside U.N.I.T. He reveals, during his time with the Third Doctor, that he is in a relationship with a woman called Doris. Later during his encounter with the Seventh Doctor, we discover that he has retired and is married to Doris. He may have been previously married, and this marriage ended due to his work. Lethbridge-Stewart's ultimate fate has yet to be confirmed. However, the Seventh Doctor said that he was "supposed to die in bed."  Sarah Jane Smith, in a phone call to U.N.I.T., says to "give [her] love to the Brig", implying he has lived well into 2009.

 

 

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