FREE-FALL WARRIORS

Membership: Big Cat, Bruce, Cool Breeze, Machine Head

Purpose: To hire themselves out as mercenary space pilots and stunt fliers

Aliases: None

Affiliations: Albert, the Ambassador, the Doctor, Ivan Asimoff

Enemies: A Meep (possibly Beep), Co-Ordinator of the Intra-Venus Space Station orbiting Warworld, Karl, Murray, Raiders, Shaman Kahn, Werelok

Base of Operations: Mobile around the galaxy, apparently circa 8162 A.D., Reality-5555

First Appearance: Doctor Who Monthly#56 (September 1981)

History:
(Captain Britain II#1/4 (fb) - BTS) - The space fliers who would become the Free-Fall Warriors came from radically different backgrounds:

   A feline hominid from Altaria, Big Cat was a mercenary and alongside fellow Altarians Bobcat and Wildcat, was one of the Hellcats, fliers piloting modified and personalized Tigerfire spaceships.

   Bruce was a sub-spacer, a pirate who cruised the lower strata of sub-space to pounce on unwary victims as they passed. His shark-face was a product of the surgeon-sculptors of Rubicon, and he had once wrecked on the planet Mahmoud, where the primitive locals had treated him as a deity and allegedly bestowed the gift of invulnerability on him.

   Cool Breeze was the latest development in bio-engineered androids from the laboratories of Intra-Venus Inc., though unknown to the company's executives an extra factor had been included in his genetic code, the "Soul" factor.

   Machine Head had originally been human, but massive implants had transformed the high flier into a dive fighter, capable of withstanding insane g-forces without blacking out. His head now resembled a spaceship with a very pointed nose...

(Captain Britain II#2/4 - BTS) - and much of his body was mechanical too.

(Captain Britain II#1/4 (fb) - BTS) - All four found themselves employed (or deployed in Cool Breeze's case) to Warworld, a jungle planet used by Intra-Venus Inc. to test new weapons and exhibit them to prospective buyers, though for those involved the fighting and the risk of dying were very real.

(Captain Britain II#2/4 - BTS) - Those fighting on Warworld mostly believed the conflict was real and they were fighting their natural enemies, unaware Intra-Venus was stoking the conflict. 

(Captain Britain II#3/4 (fb) - BTS) - One of the clients invited to observe events from Intra-Venus' orbiting space station was the unidentified Ambassador of an alien species; though she attended at the request of her government, she abhorred the whole set-up, and secretly plotted to bring it down. To this end she recruited Bruce to fly a fake medical evacuation ship around with the intention of collecting participants from the conflict who could be recruited to eventually attack the spacestation, with the operation based on a massive submarine hiding in the planet's seas. 

(Captain Britain II#1/4) - Shot down, Cool Breeze and his fellow android crewman parachuted out their vessel. However Breeze's comrade's parachute got snagged in the trees, and an injured Breeze watched from the shadows, unable to do anything, as mercenaries found the other android suspended from the branches and mercilessly gunned him down. As he watched the mercenaries stalk off, Breeze emerged from the foliage and shed a tear for his slain friend.

   Meanwhile the Hellcats were deployed, part of a military campaign showcasing Intra-Venus weapons to potential clients watching from an orbiting spacestation. However, after swooping down into the atmosphere and leveling off to start their attack run with no visible resistance in their flightpath,...

(Captain Britain II#2/4 - BTS) - they were targeted from orbit by Machine Head, who fired a missile down at them.

(Captain Britain II#1/4) - Suddenly the ship on Big Cat's port side exploded.

(Captain Britain II#2/4) - Big Cat realized Bobcat had been taken out, but neither he nor the other surviving Hellcat had seen what hit him. In orbit, Machine Head now aimed his ship downwards and plummeted downwards, launching a volley of missiles at Big Cat. With only a mico-second between launch and impact, the missiles should have struck the Altarian's Hellcat, and resulting searing blast incinerated everything caught in the inferno, everything except Big Cat, whose superior flight skills somehow got him through unscathed. Seeing Machine Head's dive fighter level out Big Cat pursued and just as a shocked Machine Head realized he had a Hellcat on his tail one of Big Cat's missiles struck his wing. Wildcat watched from a distance as Big Cat continued pursuing the dive fighter, now trailing heavy smoke, into a maze of canyons, but despite his best efforts Machine Head couldn't evade and as they emerged over more jungle Big Cat got a second shot in, a laser blast that caused Machine Head to crash. The badly injured cyborg crawled from the wreckage of his ship, only to be confronted by Cool Breeze, who stood over him with a raised pistol.

(Captain Britain II#3/4) - Machine Head looked up helplessly at the android standing over him, the pair staring at one another. Then Cool Breeze made the decision that he would not shoot a defenseless enemy, raised the pistol skywards, and fired sending up a flare to summon a medical ship. The vessel that arrived was Bruce's. Meanwhile, back on the spacestation Intra-Venus representative Murray reported to the station's co-ordinator that the two surviving Hellcats had gone rogue since being attacked, and while they should be running low on fuel they might still do considerable damage before they ran out. The co-ordinator sent a message down to the planet assigning the murderous pilot Shaman Khan to eliminate the pair. Unaware of who he was seeing, Bruce witnessed Khan set off. A few minutes later Khan attacked Big Cat and Wildcat; with less than a second's warning from their detectors, Wildcat was destroyed before there was time to react. Desperately low on fuel, Big Cat made a run for it and ditched in the sea. His ship began to sink, but before it could fully submerged the Ambassador's submarine rose beneath it. A hatch opened and an alien (Karl) emerged pointing a gun at the feline and instructed him to get in; Big Cat somewhat complied, lunging for the alien and slamming them both through the hatch as Big Cat sliced the unfortunate mercenary's throat. Big Cat slew another guard moments later, but before he could proceed further he was captured at gunpoint by Bruce. Taken to a compartment where Machine Head was undergoing treatment on a med-bed, Big Cat calmed down as he realized he'd been rescued rather than captured, and the four gathered fliers listened to a broadcast from the Ambassador on the space station, offering them a chance to strike back at Intra-Venus, and a big payday if they accepted. Cool Breeze eventually spoke for all of them, expressing the desire for vengeance.

(Captain Britain II#4/4) - After taking some time for their wounds to heal, and with their spaceships either repaired (Big Cat's Tigerfire) or replaced, the four fliers, now the Free-Fall Warriors, launched from the submerged submarine. Bruce tried to issue instructions to co-ordinate their attack on the station but it became clear none of the others were listening as they immediately broke formation to attack separately. The four vessels began carving up the station but would inevitably have eventually been destroyed by the on-board defenses, except that the Ambassador sabotaged them and then killed the other clients visiting the station. Then two lucky shots from Big Cat's Tigerfire hit the station's main power source, blowing it to atoms. Machine Head queried when they were going to get paid, but Bruce pointed out that the woman who was meant to pay them, the Ambassador, was presumably still on board when the station exploded. However, a radio message came in confirming she had evacuated in time, having coerced Murray into giving up his secret lifeboat. Now with the Intra-Venus representative a captive who could yield more company secrets, she called in a carrier ship to evacuate them all from the system, suggesting she would be their leader from now on.

(Captain Britain II#4/4 - BTS) - However at some point, whether immediately or only after working with the Ambassador for a time, the Free-Fall Warriors struck out on their own.

(Doctor Who Monthly#56 (fb) - BTS) - The Free-Fall Warriors were hired to perform a stunt show and mock battle at the Festival of the Five Planets. 

(Doctor Who Monthly#56) - While waiting to perform the Warriors tried out the arcade games in one of the Festival areas. Believing he'd spotted a new game he'd yet to try, Bruce approached a large blue box, but got frustrated when he couldn't find any slots to deposit money, and took out his annoyance by hitting and kicking the box. This drew a rebuke from a human-looking man wearing a long scarf, the Doctor, who identified the box as his personal vehicle (the TARDIS). Incredulous at the idea that the squat cuboid was any sort of transportation, Big Cat asked the Doctor what was so special about it, querying whether it could fly through a sun and come out the other side, slalom an asteroid belt, or tip over a comet at full speed. The Doctor responded that it couldn't exactly do any of those, but it could travel through time. This seemingly ludicrous claim caused Big Cat, Bruce and Machine Head to double over with laughter, and Machine Head challenged their new acquaintance to ride with them and then they'd ride with him, so they could see who would come out top dog. Annoyed at their ridiculing his beloved TARDIS the Doctor accepted the challenge, despite the Doctor's new friend, science fiction writer Ivan Asimoff, expressing concern that the fliers could be criminals or worse. The Doctor and Asimoff accompanied the Warriors to the docking bay where the fliers' ships were being prepped, and Machine Head pointed out his missile-shaped ship. Though now a little nervous, the Doctor and Asimoff took their places in the passenger seats of Machine Head's vessel, which launched at incredible speeds, subjecting those within to extreme G-forces. As the Doctor and Asimoff struggled to cope Machine Head chortled that this was why he'd had his own head "slightly modified." Now in space, Machine Head proceeded to do extreme turns and loops, and dodge close to asteroids, until without notice they found themselves being fired upon. Their attackers proved to be a raiding fleet from the sixth planet in the system, a world that had dropped out of the Federation of Worlds the other planets were in. Finding themselves flying through a battle fleet, Machine Head's ship was hit and began falling towards the surface of a large asteroid.

(Doctor Who Monthly#57) - Machine Head managed to get his ship down safely on an asteroid that had a breathable atmosphere, but to his annoyance it was clear repairs would be needed before his vessel would fly again. Watching the raiders fly on towards the Festival the Warrior derided them as cowards and swore to make them pay, then radioed the other Warriors to let them know the situation. Deciding there was no time to alert the military Big Cat ordered the team into the air to take on the Raiders themselves. Unaware of the danger approaching, Festival satellites merely reported the Free-Fall Warriors had taken off early and were heading into domestic space-lanes, prompting the Festival Organizer to angrily contact Big Cat, but the flier told the bureaucrat he didn't have time to go through proper channels and to get off the air. A live TV broadcast unit also spotted the Warriors' flight, and followed them while sending signals straight back to the planet so the Festival attendees could witness what was happening.

   Back on the asteroid the Doctor finished repairing Machine Head's ship, reporting that there was no real damage to the main engines, just one of the boosters, so Machine Head would just have to fly a little more slowly. Eager to return to the fray, Machine Head ordered his passengers to board and told them they could handle his ship's guns while he handled the flying. Up ahead the other Warriors engaged the Raiders, going every man for himself in the battle, with the broadcast unit catching every moment. Cool Breeze used his ship's ability to become insubstantial to shift from being in front of an attacking Raider ship to behind it, and then blasted it to dust. Bruce meanwhile utilized the fact that his vessel was a Sunraker to outmaneuver his opponents by diving into the system's sun. Between them most of the Raiders were destroyed well before they could reach the Festival planet, but two slipped through and began dropping bombs until Machine Head arrived and lined his ship up so that Asimoff could fire a shot that blew up one of the enemy. The last surviving Radier fled for home, and the Warriors landed back at the Festival to thunderous applause. As the Warriors and their two new friends walked away from the ships Bruce reminded the Doctor that it was his turn to let them ride in his time machine, but the Doctor told the four pilots that they'd find it tame by comparison, so instead he said his farewells and returned to the Festival with Asimoff.

(Doctor Who Summer Special 1982) - While the Warriors were on the planet Ariadne Big Cat was approached by his old enemy Shaman Kahn, who challenged him to a race. The next day Cat took on Kahn, their contest ending with Kahn crashing into an asteroid and Cat winning. However, as the other Warriors congratulated him, Big Cat wondered if that was the last he would see of Kahn.

(Doctor Who Monthly#84 - BTS) - The interstellar hitman known as the Moderator pondered "The Freefall Warriors. Who are they?" as he flew through an asteroid belt.

(Doctor Who Magazine#173) - The Freefall Warriors visited Maruthea, a space station located at the dead center of the space-time vortex, with Big Cat docking Tigerfire to Maruthea's rim. The four fliers visited Bonjaxx's Bar, which was full of individuals from all across the multiverse. Sitting together at a table, their attention was apparently drawn to someone at another nearby table, though this was Abslom Daak, Axel Pressbutton, a Werelok or someone else in that general direction was unclear. As a result they didn't notice the seventh Doctor and his companion Ace entering the bar. A few minutes later a drunken Meep (possibly the deposed tyrant Beep) approached their table while waving a bottle like a weapon, revealed that Shaman Kahn had told him they'd be there, and announced he was claiming the reward (presumably put on their heads by Kahn). The Warriors rose from their seats and Cool Breeze and Bruce simultaneously punched the Meep, inadvertently initiating a bar fight during which the Werelok threw Machine Head through the air, Bruce pounded on an Alien Guard of Reality-19111's Interstellar Roman Empire...

(Incomplete Death's Head#12) - and then found himself fighting side by side with a Sontaran.

(Doctor Who Magazine#250 - BTS) - When a Vortex parasite entered the memory banks of the Doctor's TARDIS and began draining the life out of it, the time machine defended itself itself by conjuring up virtual versions of the Doctor and his companion to battle the creature. To stop this digital Doctor the parasite created a virtual army of the Doctor's greatest enemies dredged up from the memories it had consumed, so the Doctor countered by generating digital versions of his past allies, including the Freefall Warriors. Ultimately the Doctor's side prevailed.

Comments: Created by Steve Parkhouse and Dave Gibbons.

   Freefall, Free-Fall or Free Fall? They are hyphenated in the title of their first appearance, but two words on a banner within the story, then two words in the title of their second appearance but a single word in the text. Then in their solo story in Doctor Who Summer Special its still a single word, but it's hyphenated on the cover of Captain Britain II#1, the credits page and the story within. Hardly consistent, but thanks to the Captain Britain stories hyphenated seems to have the majority. Similarly the missile-headed Free-Fall Warrior is Machine-Head in Doctor Who Monthly#57 but Machine Head in his Captain Britain appearances.

   There are no dates given in any of the Free-Fall Warrior stories, but as Lance Parkin's Ahistory (which tracks the chronology of Doctor Who stories) rightly points out, they seem to be from the same era as Dogbolter, which Death's Head I#8 places around the year 8162 A.D.

   This profile was completed on 09/26/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary's celebratory event to represent Doctor Who Magazine.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Free-Fall Warriors have no known connections to:

• FREEFALL of Earth-148611 (Arthur Benway) - Clinic, group B--DP7#9
• FREEFALL of Earth-982 - Wizard's Warriors--Fantastic Five#2
  
• or any other "Freefall" or "Warriors" characters

Doctor Who Classic Series 2#3, p11, pan6, reprinting in color Doctor Who Monthly#56, p7, pan6 (Freefall Warriors headshots)
Doctor Who Classic Series 2#3, p12, pan5, reprinting in color Doctor Who Monthly#56, p8, pan5  (full body shot)
Doctor Who Classic Series 2#3, p23, pan3, reprinting in color Doctor Who Monthly#57, p14, pan3 (with the Doctor and Ivan Asimoff)
Incomplete Death's Head#12, p3, pan5, reprinting in color Doctor Who Magazine#173, p28, pan5 (in Bonjaxx's Bar on Maruthea)
Doctor Who Classic Series 2#3, p18, pan3, reprinting in color Doctor Who Monthly#57, p8, pan3 (Big Cat's Tigerfire, Bruce's Sunraker and Cool Breeze's phazing/teleporting ship)
Doctor Who Classic Series 2#3, p15, pan6, reprinting in color Doctor Who Monthly#56, p11, pan6 (Machine Head's dive fighter)
Doctor Who I#14/2, p3, pan2, reprinting in color Doctor Who Summer Special 1982/2, p3, pan2 (Albert)

Appearances:
Doctor Who Monthly#56-57 (September-October 1981) - Steve Parkhouse (writer), Dave Gibbons (art), Alan McKenzie (editor)
Doctor Who Summer Special 1982 (Summer 1982) - Steve Parkhouse (writer), Dave Gibbons (art), Alan McKenzie (editor)
Doctor Who Magazine#173 (May 1991) - Gary Russell (writer), Mike Collins (pencils), Steve Pini (inks), John Freeman (editor)
Doctor Who Magazine#250 (April 1997) - Alan Barnes (writer), Sean Longcraft, Martin Geraghty (art), Gary Gillatt, Scott Gray (editors)
Captain Britain II#1/4 (January 1985) - Steve Parkhouse (writer, inks), Jerry Paris (pencils), Alan McKenzie (editor)
Captain Britain II#2/4-3/4 (February-March 1985) - Steve Parkhouse (writer), Jerry Paris (art), Alan McKenzie (editor)
Captain Britain II#4/4 (April 1985) - Steve Parkhouse (writer), Jerry Paris (pencils), Garry Leach (inks), Ian Rimmer (editor)
Incomplete Death's Head#12 (December 1995) - Dan Abnett (writer), Simon Coleby (pencils), Niel Bushnell (inks), editor not credited

First Posted: 09/28/2026
Last updated: 09/26/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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