Ivan Asimoff

Dr. Ivan Asimoff was a science fiction writer from the planet Sigma.

Biography

 * Dr. Asimoff belonged to an unidentified, vaguely humanoid, tentacled species.

Though apparently a professional writer, Dr. Asimoff, a timid soul, lived with his aunt. He was the creator of Commander Courage, often enacting his character's scenes in his head as he wrote his books, sometimes enacting them a little more vigorously than his aunt would have liked. (DWM: The Fabulous Idiot)

He first encountered the Fourth Doctor while visiting the Festival of Five Planets. The pair were invited by Machine Head of the Freefall Warriors to accompany him on a test flight, during which they were briefly shot down by raiders from the renegade sixth planet. (TV: The Free-Fall Warriors)

Later, having fallen in love with the beauty of the imprisoned Zyglot, Polly, Asimoff was on his way to a Save the Zyglot conference when he once more ran into the the Sixth Doctor. He assisted the Doctor and Frobisher in their pursuit of Astrolabus. The Doctor in turn donated a large sum of money stolen from Josiah W. Dogbolter to the Zyglot trust. (TV: Polly the Glot)

Behind the scenes
The character was created by writer Steve Parkhouse and artist Dave Gibbons. His name was a play on that of the famous science fiction and nonfiction science author Isaac Asimov. He appeared in a solo story: The Fabulous Idiot, in the 1982 Doctor Who Summer Special.