Professor Edward Travers - Character History

Character History

Professor Travers first appears in The Abominable Snowmen tracking Yeti in Tibet. His companion is killed and Travers flees his camp after seeing a creature standing over his friend's body. He seeks refuge in the Detsen Monastery where he meets the Doctor later whom he initially suspects of being responsible for his friend's death and takes to be a sabotaging journalist.

After meeting the Doctor's companions Jamie and Victoria, Travers is convinced of the Doctor's innocence. Upon the discovery of killer, robotic Yeti, Travers fears for the real Yeti but is temporarily suspected of controlling the robotic Yeti himself. Travers assists the Doctor in defeating the Great Intelligence, the true controllers of the robotic Yeti. He pursues what he believes to be a real Yeti after glimpsing it as the Doctor and his companions depart.

Professor Travers reappears in The Web of Fear. A robotic Yeti he brought back from Tibet is being exhibited in a museum in England. A Yeti control sphere that the Professor has reactivated is missing and he believes the Yeti now poses a threat. He summons his daughter, Anne, back from America and tries to persuade the museum owner, Julius Silverstein, to part with his exhibit. Silverstein refuses, even turning down the Professor's offer of money.

At his daughter's request, Professor Travers becomes attached to the military to aid them in solving the London crisis – a mysterious, spreading web that is engulfing the city. Later, the Professor is reunited with Jamie and Victoria at the military's headquarters set up in the London Underground, but is puzzled as to why they have not aged significantly in the time between their meetings. Travers persuades the military to find the Doctor who has been separated from his companions.

The Professor is captured by robotic Yeti and becomes a conduit for the voice of the Great Intelligence that takes control of his body. After using him to capture Victoria, the Great Intelligence surrenders its control of Professor Travers. He is reunited with the Doctor and once more assists him in defeating the Great Intelligence.

In The Invasion, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe seek out Professor Travers after landing in late twentieth-century London to help them fix the TARDIS's damaged visual stabiliser. However, Professor Travers has left for America, leaving his house in the care of Professor Watkins and his niece, Isobel Watkins.