Frobisher " Frobisher " was the name taken by the Whifferdill companion of the Sixth and Seventh Doctors . He shared the Doctor ' s positive outlook on the universe as well as many of his other witticisms . Biography . Early life . Frobisher was married to another Whifferdill named Francine , who left him because she felt she was a better detective . He was a con man for the most part , using his abilities to make money regardless of the cost to others . ( COMIC : " The Shape Shifter " , AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) Being a private detective , Frobisher became used to being knocked unconscious to the point where he almost enjoyed it . ( AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) Travels with the Doctor . Joining the Doctor . Living as Avan Tarklu in the 82nd century , he came across the Sixth 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 escape . They stole the money which they split evenly . ( COMIC : " The Shape Shifter " ) Early travels . Frobisher joined the Doctor on his journeys . He took 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 . Frobisher and the Doctor were assigned by Voyager to return his star charts . Frobisher saved the Doctor from drowning in the sea by hoisting him onto a rock . ( COMIC : " Voyager " ) Frobisher helped Ivan Asimoff rescue Polly the Zyglot from a circus . ( COMIC : " Polly the Glot " ) The Doctor defeated Plink , whom he had encountered before , in battle . After the Doctor referred to their encounter as their " peripatetic perigrinations " , Frobisher asked for a dictionary . ( COMIC : " Death to the Doctor ! " ) Illness . Frobisher became ill with mono - morphia , trapping him in the form of a penguin . ( COMIC : " Genesis ! " ) He travelled back to prehistoric Earth and went swimming , trying to catch a fish . A reptile in the sea began chasing him , but 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 . Peri joined them on their travels again after she had taken a break . ( COMIC : " Time Bomb " ) Frobisher began to recover 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 . ( COMIC : " Changes " ) Later travels . The Doctor promised to take them to Arcadia , but instead , they landed on a spaceship called the " Mayflower " . There , they met Kara McAllista , and helped her repel the Profiteer of Ephte . ( COMIC : " Profits of Doom ! " ) Sometime later , when the Sixth Doctor and Peri were out of the room , the Tenth Doctor appeared to Frobisher through the TARDIS control console ; the same way that Frobisher had first appeared to him . The Doctor told him that he needed his help , and that he would also be helping himself and many other companion s . The Sixth Doctor landed in the year 7214 , where a nature preserve was keeping the last Penguin s alive . The Doctor was captured by the local robotic officials , who believed him to be insane , and was locked in a mental institution . There he learned that the robots were under the control of the Master , and that all of the staff in the prison were his Auton slaves . Frobisher and Peri broke into the prison , Frobisher shape shifting into a hospital staff member pretending to be escorting Peri . When they were discovered , the Auton staff attacked , Frobisher and Peri running away through the building . The Doctor broke out of his cell , and ran into Frobisher , who was disguised as Peri , as the Tenth Doctor had instructed . They were chased into a room by the Autons , but the Doctor was able to stop them by melting the plastic inside them . When he turned around , though , he saw Peri , actually Frobisher , captured by a cloaked figure . ( COMIC : " Façades " ) Now in the same cell system that the cloaked figure had used to capture the Doctor ' s other companions , Frobisher escaped his cell - designed to hold Peri rather than himself - and began exploring . After the true culprit had explained his plans to the Eleventh Doctor , and the Doctor had summoned his other ten selves to assist him , Frobisher made his move . He disguised himself as a remote control that would have ended the lives of all the Doctor ' s companions minus one , only revealing the switch to Adam Mitchell when Adam tried to use it in response to the Doctors ' presence . With some instruction from the Second Doctor , Frobisher masqueraded as an Auton and freed all of the Doctor ' s companions so that they could help the Doctors hold off the Autons until Rose Tyler , the Ninth , Tenth and Eleventh Doctors could convince Adam that he was wrong . ( COMIC : " Endgame " ) 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 robot s to the planet ' s moon . ( COMIC : " The Gift " ) Frobisher eventually left the Doctor , and returned to work as a detective . The Doctor visited him to see if he wanted to resume travelling ; Frobisher declined . Alicia Mulholland approached him and asked him to follow her husband , Arthur Gringax , to see if he was cheating on her . Frobisher performed part of this mission in the Doctor ' s shape , in order to remain inconspicuous . Frobisher followed Gringax to an inn . There he was taken prisoner by Elric Chandler and delivered to Josiah W . Dogbolter . He escaped , but was soon recaptured . The economy broke down after the workers read a joke and became imaginative as a result . Dogbolter then escaped . Alicia revealed herself to be Francine , and told Frobisher that he should leave with the Doctor , as he would later regret staying with her . ( AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) The TARDIS " went on strike " after Frobisher harmed a Gumblejack created by the dimensional stabiliser . She took them to a medieval - style castle . Upon emerging , the people were fascinated by " a talking bird " and believed Frobisher to be the Doctor ' s master . After the current " god " , Pepin VII , abdicated from his rule , he proclaimed Frobisher as his successor and the new god . Frobisher attempted to improve life for the inhabitants of the bizarre and dictatorial world , but he and the Doctor learned this was a simulation : they were in a prison designed to punish Eugene Tacitus , which came under attack from the apparition of Eugene ' s murdered son . Frobisher was horrified to see all the inhabitants killed before him , unable to save them . Eugene had his son kill him , removing the threat , and te Doctor and Frobisher left in the recovered TARDIS . Frobisher was left upset by his failure as he knew the simulated people had believed themselves to be real . ( AUDIO : " The Holy Terror " ) After Peri had left the TARDIS , Frobisher and the Doctor visited her descendants several times . ( COMIC : " The Age of Chaos " ) He greatly missed her . After the Doctor regenerated into his seventh form , Frobisher found the journeys less fun without Peri and that he wasn ' t needed as much anymore . To cheer him up , the Doctor took him to the luxury planet A - Lux where they encountered Arryx and his Ice Warrior s , who had sabotaged the planet ' s weather controls , turning it into a snowy wilderness . Frobisher hooked up with the A - Lux resistance under Korr and , despite his reluctance , risked his life to find destroy the weather control machines . He was left dismayed to find the Doctor had already reprogrammed them and was gently needling him for planning to just destroy them , ignorant of the risks Frobisher had took . After the planet was saved , Frobisher decided he would stay behind in 41st century A - Lux ; he wanted a quiet life now and the locals needed him in a way the Doctor did not . The two parted , the Doctor telling him not to apologise for leaving as the penguin ' s happiness was what mattered . ( COMIC : " A Cold Day in Hell ! " ) Life after the Doctor . Frobisher eventually took on a human form , calling himself " Bish " . He came to run a bar , Bish ' s , where he eventually met the Eighth Doctor , though neither recognised the other due to both having changed their appearance since they ' d 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 . ( COMIC : " Where Nobody Knows Your Name " ) An image of Frobisher appeared on one of the Knowsall screens displaying the Tenth Doctor ' s memories . ( COMIC : " Thinktwice " ) As part of the Twelfth Doctor ' s plan to bring down Dogbolter , Frobisher disguised himself as one of the Doctor ' s old opponents , Chiyoko . As " Chiyoko " , Frobisher pretended that he had suspended the inhabitants of Stockbridge in time in the year 2016 to lure the Doctor there so that Dogbolter could take his TARDIS ; in reality the Doctor had done this to keep the villagers safe as " the Doctor " lured Dogbolter into a trap . When the Doctor and Maxwell Edison arrived at St Justinian ' s Church , Frobisher revealed his identity and knocked out Dogbolter ' s henchmen . However , anticipating that Frobisher might show up again , the robot Hob blocked his powers . When Dogbolter tried to kill the Doctor , Max saved the Doctor ' s life , and Izzy Sinclair arrived at the church to knock Dogbolter out . Sharon Allen ultimately broadcast Dogbolter ' s confession to murder in his own century , and Dogbolter was arrested , with his assets seized . Frobisher joined the Doctor and some of the Doctor ' s friends at Max ' s sixtieth birthday party in the city of Cornucopia . ( COMIC : " The Stockbridge Showdown " ) With Iris Wildthyme . The renegade Time Lord 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 travelled with a mouthy shape - shifter companion who liked to stay in the shape of a penguin . ( PROSE : " The Scarlet Empress " ) Personality . Frobisher was known to speak in an American dialect , even defaulting to an American accent when using the shape and voice of someone who didn ' t normally speak with one . ( AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) Frobisher , like the Doctor , 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 . ( COMIC : " Voyager " ) Frobisher once cited his wish to say , " Follow that cab ! " as the reason he ' d joined the private eye business . ( AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) He had no qualms about killing , shooting guards at Dogbolter ' s estate ( COMIC : " The Shape Shifter " ) and being unconcered about the tactics used against Ice Warriors on A - Lux . ( COMIC : " A Cold Day in Hell ! " ) Frobisher was not picky in his eating habits . He ate an earthworm that was offered to him by Brock . ( COMIC : " Once Upon a Time Lord " ) He did not seem to fully understand penguin physiology . At one point he believed himself to have laid an egg . ( COMIC : " Time Bomb " ) Frobisher was keen to party when arriving on Zazz . This led to some conflict between him and the Lorduke . He also annoyed Professor Strut , a hater of music , by performing a rendition of " Fireball XL5 " . ( COMIC : " The Gift " ) Frobisher left the Doctor for some time as he felt he was playing second fiddle , with the Doctor always saving the day . He believed the Doctor " cramped his style " . Although Frobisher felt bad at leaving the Doctor , he surmised that he needed to work solo . He came to realise that he was better suited to rescuing cat s than saving the day . His second departure was also over the fact the Doctor did not need him . ( AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) ( COMIC : " A Cold Day in Hell ! " ) Frobisher stated that the loss of Francine had hurt him deeply . He theorised that no one should ever get too close to another . ( AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) When Pepin VII told him not to get married , he replied that he had tried it , in reference to Francine . However , he " was no longer the Ogron she fell in love with " . ( AUDIO : " The Holy Terror " ) Frobisher preferred to catch his food , choosing to hunt Gumblejack over eating canned tuna . He stated that it had been so long since he heard his real name that he sometimes forgot what it was . Frobisher did not believe in heaven . However , he reminded others not to take his word as gospel . Frobisher was reluctant to rule upon his proclamation as a god . He began introducing basic government principals to them , such as free will and voting . Frobisher told the Doctor that , despite only existing in Eugene ' s World , the inhabitants were still people . The Doctor compared this to Frobisher ' s claim that the Gumblejack wasn ' t real so Frobisher learned his lesson . ( AUDIO : " The Holy Terror " ) Abilities . Frobisher had a good knowledge of mechanics and other technological aspects . He was able to play the piano and was also a capable singer . ( COMIC : " The Gift " ) Frobisher was able to use the TARDIS . He used the dimensional stabiliser to create some Gumblejack . ( AUDIO : " The Holy Terror " ) Appearance . Clothing . Frobisher usually remained solely in penguin form , undressed . A number of his forms involved dress but these were part of his body . ( COMIC : " War - Game " ) As a disguise he once morphed a pair of glasses , moustache and false nose ( extended to accommodate his beak ) . ( COMIC : " Voyager " ) He once wore a top hat and carried a cane . ( COMIC : " Time Bomb " ) On occasion he donned headgear and glasses . ( COMIC : " The Gift " ) On Marinus , the Worldshaper caused Frobisher to moult quickly . ( COMIC : " The World Shapers " ) He once claimed to be wearing black and white trousers whilst in penguin form . ( AUDIO : " The Holy Terror " ) Forms . Frobisher used the form of a pale yellow humanoid , three to four feet in height , with an egg - shaped featureless head , wearing spectacles . ( COMIC : " The Shape Shifter " ) He once told the Doctor he spent fourteen years in the form of a supermarket till . ( COMIC : " Voyager " ) While with Francine , Frobisher used the form of an Ogron , at least upon occasion . ( AUDIO : " The Holy Terror " ) He assumed the form of a pigeon on at least one occasion to allow himself to fly . Inside the Doctor ' s TARDIS , he morphed to change into the time rotor of the TARDIS console . He then took on the Doctor ' s form so as to trick his captors . ( COMIC : " The Shape Shifter " ) After Francine left him , Frobisher adopted the form of a penguin as she had been fond of that shape . He did this to remember her . ( COMIC : " Voyager " ) He temporarily took on the form of the Sixth Doctor once more in order to investigate a murder because , as he explained , " A penguin detective would be shocking . " ( AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) On two occasions he morphed to extend his arms to perform strong punches . ( COMIC : " The Shape Shifter " , " Frobisher ' s Story " ) He temporarily turned into a muscular barbarian - style humanoid on the primitive planet Actinon . ( COMIC : " War - Game " ) Frobisher took on the form of a Pantachian Rock Skipper to scale a steep wall . In this form he was able to hoist others up by a rope . ( COMIC : " 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 . ( COMIC : " Genesis ! " ) Frobisher morphed into the forms of a big cat , a dinosaur and a robot to combat a Kymbra Chimera . ( COMIC : " Changes " ) He stretched his penguin form to one similar to a hang - glider . He used this form to save Professor Strut ( COMIC : " The Gift " ) and later , Jamie McCrimmon . ( COMIC : " The World Shapers " ) While investigating Arthur Gringax , he used the form of the Doctor , so as to appear less conspicuous . ( AUDIO : " The Maltese Penguin " ) When Frobisher was running Bish ' s , he used a humanoid form going by the name of Bish . ( COMIC : " Where Nobody Knows Your Name " ) While running away from the red robots , Frobisher took the form of a merry - go - round horse . When the red robots weren ' t anywhere near he and Peri , Frobisher went back to the shape of a penguin , and the changed to the form of a kid , posing as Peri ' s child . After the Tenth Doctor contacted him , Frobisher used Peri ' s form . This way , when the cloaked figure captured " Peri " , he could help the Doctor from inside the fortress . ( COMIC : " Façades ) He took the girl - like form of Chiyoko to lure Dogbolter into a trap on Earth . He later morphed his body to avoid laser fire , and took the form of a rocky humanoid figure with hammers for hands and a masked superhero with an " F " emblem on his chest , the latter two both wearing spectacles . When Hob blocked his powers with a null - beam , Frobisher changed back into a penguin . ( COMIC : " The Stockbridge Showdown " )