Shapeshifter A shapeshifter was a life - form possessing the ability to alter its physical form . ( COMIC : " The Shape Shifter " ) Frobisher , the Whifferdill companion of the Sixth and Seventh Doctor s , frequently used his species ' shapeshifting abilities on their travels . ( COMIC : " A Cold Day in Hell ! " , " Frobisher ' s Story " , " Changes " ) Frobisher fell ill with mono - morphia , which took away his ability to shift , leaving him stuck in the form of a penguin . ( COMIC : " Genesis ! " ) He recovered enough to shift into various forms while battling another shapeshifter , a Kymbra Chimera , aboard the Doctor ' s TARDIS . ( COMIC : " Changes " ) After leaving the Doctor , they met again when the Time Lord was in his eighth incarnation . However , as Frobisher had taken a humanoid form and was known as Bish , and the Doctor had regenerated , neither recognised the other . ( COMIC : " Where Nobody Knows Your Name " ) Another shapeshifter , the Brancheerian Decky Flamboon , was a companion of the Eleventh Doctor . Like others of his species , he could turn into almost anything . ( COMIC : " Meteorite Meeting " ) The Aubertide s were shapeshifters which could assume the appearance of anything they ate . ( PROSE : " Human Nature " ) Axon s could take the form of golden humanoids , although their real form was that of creatures that seemed made up of many tentacles . ( TV : " The Claws of Axos " ) The Carrionite s could take the form of beautiful women or ugly hags , although their real form was more bird - like . ( TV : " The Shakespeare Code " ) The Gizou were shapeshifters which could change their size and shape through the use of proteus particle s found in their body . ( COMIC : " Agent Provocateur " ) The Gwanzulum took the form of individuals from other people ' s memories through telepathy , then fed on their life force . ( COMIC : " Planet of the Dead " ) The Kymbra Chimera s were shapeshifters similar in abilities to the Whifferdill . ( COMIC : " Changes " ) Multi - form s were shapeshifters which could change their shape by establishing a psychic link with another being and reading their minds . ( TV : " The Eleventh Hour " ) Nostrovite s were carnivorous shapeshifters . A number of them used their abilities to infiltrate the wedding of Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams in order to extract an unborn Nostrovite from Gwen ' s womb . ( TV : " Something Borrowed " ) Zygon s were shapeshifters which required body - print s to assume another individual ' s form . ( TV : " Terror of the Zygons " , " The Day of the Doctor " ) Members of the Rutan Host could use a metamorphosis technique to shapeshift into other forms , but they needed to know the form very well , usually after careful study and dissection . On Fang Rock in the 1900s , a Rutan killed Ben Travers to learn human physiology , enabling it to later take the shape of Reuben . ( TV : " Horror of Fang Rock " ) Vespiform s could change into other species which were biologically compatible with the mimicked species . ( TV : " The Unicorn and the Wasp " ) The Yend gained the ability to shapeshift after exposure to radiation from the rogue star Mortain . However , they were unable to control their transformations or stay in one form for long periods . ( PROSE : " The Sons of the Crab " ) Another , rarely used term for shapeshifters was metamorph . Roz Forrester once shot and killed a metamorph which had taken her own form . ( PROSE : " The Also People " ) Bernice Summerfield guessed that Jason Kane was an empathic metamorph which had taken human form . ( PROSE : " Death and Diplomacy " ) AKA the Metamorph was an incarnation of I . M . Foreman which constantly shifted forms . ( PROSE : " Interference - Book One " , " Interference - Book Two " ) The Sixth Doctor once described Lamprey s as " temporal metamorph [ s ] " . ( PROSE : " Spiral Scratch " )