Shayde

[close] Shayde is a fictional character who appeared in the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.

Shayde is an artificial being, a construct of the Gallifreyan Matrix — the massive computer network that serves as the repository of all Time Lord knowledge. He was created by the minds of the dead Time Lords that reside within the Matrix, and was a servant of Rassilon. He first appeared in the story The Tides of Time, published in DWM #61-#67, written by Steve Parkhouse and drawn by Dave Gibbons. In that story, he aided the Fifth Doctor in defeating the otherdimensional demon Melanicus, at first covertly but then, as the Time Lords increased his power levels, he was able to manifest himself and help the Doctor directly.

Among Shayde's powers are the abilities to travel through space and time unaided, fire deadly self-generated "psychic bullets" and be invisible to security systems. He can also phase through solid objects and track people through time and space given enough data.

It was nearly fifteen years before Shayde reappeared in the comic strip. At that time, the Doctor was in his Eighth incarnation and was dying due to the events of the previous adventure (Tooth and Claw, DWM #257-#260). His companions at the time, Izzy and Fey had taken him back to Gallifrey where he was cured and his mind placed within the Matrix to recover. While within the Matrix, an attempt was made on the Doctor's life by a secret Time Lord sect known as the Elysians, and Shayde stopped them

Shayde is one of the few characters from the comic strip that has made the cross-over into the other spin-off media. In a special Big Finish Productions audio play given away with DWM #326 titled No Place Like Home, Shayde helped the Fifth Doctor against another force — a mutated Gallifreyan mouse called a rovie — that had infiltrated the TARDIS and was trying to kill the Doctor and his companions. The character of Shayde was voiced by Mark Donovan.