Frobisher


 * Not to be confused with Torchwood's John Frobisher.

Frobisher was the name taken by the Whifferdill companion of the Sixth and Seventh Doctor's and whom also met the Eighth.

Early life
He was married to another Whifferdill named Francine, who left him for unknown reasons. He was a con man for the most part. He used his abilities to make money regardless of the cost to others. (DW: The Shape Shifter)

Travels with the Doctor
Living as Avan Tarklu, he came across the Doctor when Josiah W. Dogbolter placed a bounty on the Time Lord. Following the Doctor, he infiltrated his TARDIS, shifting into the central column and piloting it. However instead of turning the Doctor in for the money (even though the TARDIS interested Dogbolter more), Tarklu decided that he liked the Doctor and helped him to escape. They stole the money which they split evenly. (DWM: The Shape Shifter)

He then joined the Doctor on his journeys. He assumed the name of Frobisher because he felt that it sounded British, thinking that the Doctor would like that. He also settled on the form of a penguin. He saved the Doctor from drowning in the sea by hoisting him onto a rock. (DWM: Voyager) Frobisher helped Ivan Asimoff rescue Polly the Zyglot from a circus. (DWM: Polly the Glot)

Frobisher became ill with Mono-Morphia, trapping him in the form of a penguin. (DWM: Genesis!) He travelled back to prehistoric Earth and went swimming, trying to catch a fish. A reptile in the sea began chasing him and Frobisher was unable to change due to his illness. The Doctor was forced to throw some waste from the future at it. This set history on the course it was intended to follow. The Doctor picked up Peri again after she had taken a break from him. (DWM: Time Bomb) From then on all three would travel together, though Frobisher would take breaks too. During one, he took on a case to investigate Arthur Gringax. (BFA: The Maltese Penguin)

Frobisher began a partial recovery from the mono-morphia, he battled a Kymbra Chimera after it infiltrated the TARDIS, his powers holding out long enough for the Doctor to have it sucked out. (DWM: Changes) They attended the Lorduke of Zazz's party on the planet Zazz. There Frobisher danced and performed for the guests. He helped prepare Professor Strut's rocket to deliver a plague of Self-Replicating Robots to the planet's moon. (DWM: The Gift)

After she had left the TARDIS, Frobisher and the Doctor visited Peri Brown's descendants several times. (DWM: The Age of Chaos)

The Doctor and Frobisher travelled to the luxury planet A-Lux where they encountered Arryx and his Ice Warriors who had sabotaged the planets weather controls turning it into a snowy wilderness. After defeating them Frobisher decided he would stay behind to enjoy the luxuries of A-Lux. (DWM: A Cold Day in Hell)

Life after the Doctor
Frobisher eventually came to run a bar, Bish's, having morphed into the form of a human. He took on the alias Bish. He met the Doctor there but did not recognise him as he had regenerated since they had parted ways. He talked with the Doctor, trying to find out why he looked so sad. When a robot called Zalda entered the bar, threatening to blow herself up, the Doctor talked her out of it. Frobisher then called for drinks on the house. When everyone had left the bar apart from his wife Caralla, who worked there, he morphed back into his penguin form. (DWM: Where Nobody Knows Your Name) An image of Frobisher appeared on one of the Knowsall screens displaying the Doctor's memories. (DWM: Thinktwice)

With Iris Wildthyme
The renegade Time Lady Iris Wildthyme (who had a habit of claiming that various of the Doctor's adventures had happened to her, not him) once said that she traveled with a mouthy shape-shifter companion who liked to stay in the shape of a penguin. (EDA: The Scarlet Empress)

Personality
Frobisher wass similar to the Doctor in the aspect that he made light of threatening situations and tended to make jokes at these and other inappropriate times. Despite this, he became a loyal and trustworthy companion to the Doctor.

He had no qualms about killing, shooting guards at Dogbolter's estate. (DWM: The Shape Shifter)

He did not seem to fully understand penguin physiology. At one point he believed himself to have laid an egg. (DWM: Time Bomb)

Abilities
He had a good knowledge of mechanics and other technological aspects. He was able to play the piano. (DWM: The Gift)

Appearance
Frobisher usually remained solely in penguin form, undressed. A number of his forms involved dress but these were part of his body. (DWM: War-Game) On occasion he donned headgear and glasses. (DWM: The Gift)

Forms
Frobisher's originally appeared as a pale yellow humanoid, three to four feet in height, with an egg-shaped featureless head, wearing spectacles. Inside the Doctor's TARDIS, he morphed to change into the time rotor of the TARDIS console. After Francine left him he adopted the form of a penguin as she had been fond of that shape. He did this to remember her. While pretending to have captured the Doctor, he assumed his shape, and later that of W.C. Fields. Traveling with the Doctor, Frobisher later adopted the shape of a penguin almost all of the time but he did change between variations of the species. (DWM: The Shape Shifter)

He temporarily took on the form of the Doctor once more in order to investigate a murder because, as he explained, "A penguin detective would be shocking." (BFA: The Maltese Penguin) On two occasions he morphed to extend his arms to perform strong punches. (DWM: The Shape Shifter, Frobisher's Story) He temporarily turned into a muscular barbarian-style Near-Human on the primitive planet Actinon. (DWM: War-Game) He took on the form of a Pantachian Rock Skipper to scale a steep wall. (DWM: Frobisher's Story)

Frobisher later developed Mono-Morphia, which prevented him from shape-changing for some time, leaving him stuck in the form of a penguin. (DWM: Genesis!) Frobisher later morphed into the form of a big cat to combat a Kymbra Chimera. He then changed into a dinosaur. (DWM: Changes)

Frobisher stretched his penguin form to one similar to a hang-glider. He used this form to save Professor Strut (DWM: The Gift) and later, Jamie McCrimmon. (DWM: The World Shapers)

Behind the scenes

 * Robert Jezek voiced Frobisher with an American accent in BFA: The Maltese Penguin.
 * The continuity of Frobisher's travels with the Doctor mostly doesn't mesh well with televised Doctor Who, other than Peri's reference in The World Shapers to having met Jamie McCrimmon in Spain (Peri and Jamie's meeting had happened in The Two Doctors). A Cold Day in Hell occurs in a otherwise unknown period of the Seventh Doctor's life when he and Frobisher travel together without Melanie Bush appearing.
 * A mock interview with Frobisher appeared in Doctor Who Magazine after he had left the series. The article mentions Frobisher's unwelcome interest in Nicola Bryant, which caused tension "on set". The interview was reprinted in the graphic novel The World Shapers.