Ramón Salamander was a supposed philanthropist who, in reality had a boundless fount of cruelty and powerlust. He bore a close physical resemblance to the Second Doctor.
Biography
Criminal career
Salamander came from Merida in the Yucatan in Mexico. Both a respected politician and a scientist, Salamander received worldwide acclaim for his invention of Sun Store technology which beamed sunlight from Earth orbit in order to help the growth of crops and alleviate global hunger on an overpopulated planet. By 2018, he was nicknamed the "Shopkeeper of the World" and addressed the World Zone Authority, outlining his triumphs with the Mark VII Sun Catcher. (TV: The Enemy of the World) He also developed a new alloy, salamandrium, described as "impenetrable" and used it to protect himself from invasion. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World)
Secretly, however, Salamander also committed murders of officials in order to ensure his goal of world domination with the intention of replacing them with other officials that he, Salamander, could trust. (TV: The Enemy of the World) One of them was Jean Ferrier, Finance Deputy of the European Zone and father of Astrid Ferrier. (PROSE: Doctor Who and the Enemy of the World) Circa 2013, he and his ally Giles Kent had taken advantage of an experiment by a team of scientists who had isolated themselves a deep shelter as an endurance exercise. He lied to them and claimed that a nuclear war had taken place on the surface. The scientists created "natural" disasters such as volcanos and earthquakes that would happen at will in order to work against their so-called enemies.
He betrayed Kent once he had no further use for him but left the man alive, discredited rather than dead. (TV: The Enemy of the World)
Downfall
In 2018, the Doctor's TARDIS landed on an Australian beach. Kent's men attempted to kill the Doctor against orders, mistaking him for his enemy. Kent's associate, the trusting Astrid Ferrier, rescued the Doctor and Jamie and Victoria barely in time, but Kent turned the rescue into a kidnapping, forcing the Doctor to impersonate Salamander or the true Salamander's men would recognise and kill him. The Doctor was suspicious of Kent from the start, but played along with Kent's passionate story about the evil of Salamander, hoping to get to the real truth and expose the corruptions he had witnessed. Kent inserted the Doctor's companion Jamie McCrimmon into an already planned operation of infiltrating Salamander's mansion in the Central European Zone.
Salamander set off an explosion to destroy his base in Australia, shot Kent fatally and escaped. Jamie, mistaking him for an injured (and disguised) Doctor, welcomed him into the TARDIS. A few minutes later, the Doctor appeared, revealing Salamander's ruse. A brief scuffle ensued, after which Salamander dispatched both the Doctor and Jamie and hurriedly attempted to start the TARDIS engines himself. The dictator succeeded, but at a cost: the TARDIS took flight with its doors still open. In the confusion, Salamander was sucked out of the doorway and into the Time Vortex, where he remained. (TV: The Enemy of the World) The Doctor stated it would be very unpleasant for him floating around in time and space. (TV: The Web of Fear)
In the Vortex
Nevertheless, Salamander still survived in a ghastly existence, still alive in the Vortex. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet) According to one account, he became a member of the gestalt intelligence based in the Vortex known as the Horror. (PROSE: Dead Romance)
Returning to the Doctor
Salamander dawns more fitting attire. (COMIC: The Heralds of Destruction)
According to another account Salamander survived the fall from the TARDIS and eventually ended up in the same time as the Third Doctor. (COMIC: The Heralds of Destruction)
Behind the scenes
- In REF: The Doctor: His Lives and Times, there's a campaign poster for Salamander to be voted leader of the Central Eurupean Zone.
- Salamander and the Doctor were meant to meet more than once, but technical issues made that impractical. [1]
