Richard Lazarus

Professor Richard Lazarus is a male television character who features in Doctor Who.

Biography

Richard Lazarus was an elderly scientist and businessman in 21st century London. As a boy, he had survived the Blitz by hiding inside of a crypt. Since then, he became fearful of death and after becoming a scientist began experiments in age regression, through funding provided by Lady Sylvia Thaw and her mysterious benefactor Harold Saxon. He eventually succeeded by the time he was 76, and, in front of a rapt audience underwent an age regression process inside of a chamber that returned him to his early thirties.

However, the process had an unexpected side effect, unlocking dormant DNA within Lazarus' body. He quickly began transforming into a prehistoric monster, a creature that the Doctor decided was a path of evolution humanity could've potentially taken but didn't. In order to stave off the transformations, and maintain his youth, Lazarus had to feed off the life energy of other people. His first victim was Lady Thaw. Afetrwards, he lured Tish Jones to the roof of his building, but was interrupted in his attempt to kill her by the Doctor and Martha.

Transforming fully, Lazarus chased them downstairs to his own party where he killed at least one woman before the Doctor lured him away so everybody could escape. The Doctor rewired the de-aging chamber to affect things outside of it, instead of inside, returning Lazarus to his human form. He was taken to the hospital but en route escaped, killed the paramedics, and fled to a nearby cathedral. The Doctor, Martha and Tish followed him here. He corned Martha and Tish in the belltower, but the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to amplify the sound of the church's pipe organ, and, playing it, disoriented Lazarus so he fell down the tower to his death.

Overview

Personality and attributes

Lazarus' main desire was to obtain immortality. This was motivated by his traumatic experiences as a child during World War II, which left him with an intense case of thanatophobia. He was willing to go to any lengths to obtain his ultimate goal, having worked his whole life on his machine. Once he mutated, this trait of his character only worsened, as he was more than willing to succumb to his hunger and feed off innocent people, even those closest to him, just to prolong his own life. When the Doctor told Lazarus about the burdens of a long lifespan such as a Time Lord's and the horror of seeing everyone he cared about die around him, Lazarus simply brushed it off and called it "a price worth paying".

Another prominent aspect of his personality was his womanising tendencies. Even when he was 76 years old, he flirted with Tish Jones, who originally viewed him as a repulsive old man when he made such advances and made her disgust obvious. It should be noted that all members of his staff appeared to be young women in their twenties. Once he was rejuvenated, he became more openly flirtatious and was seen having his picture taken with numerous young women around him. He would resort to womanising on two occasions before his death, the first with Lady Thaw (where he utilised it in an argument they were having though he stopped kissing her because of her age) and Tish Jones (only minutes later, showing he had essentially discarded Lady Thaw after killing her). However, in his mutated form, Lazarus outright discarded any adoration for women (or, indeed, human beings at all), citing their slaughter to be a necessary sacrifice, even though their deaths achieved nothing but showing him to be so much of a monster.

Powers and abilities

The hypersonic soundwave manipulator was a genetic manipulator invented by Professor Richard Lazarus. The machine would turn anyone inside decades younger, but the process contained one side effect: genes that evolution rejected and left dormant would be unlocked, transforming the human into a giant skeletal scorpion-like beast that fed off the lifeforce of living creatures. The Doctor later used it to try to kill Lazarus, but he was just knocked out and reverted to human form.

Notes

• Richard Lazarus was created by Stephen Greenhorn where he was portrayed by actor Mark Gatiss and featured in the setting of the Doctor Who universe.

Appearances

• Doctor Who:

External Links

• Doctor Who Wiki Entry

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