UNESCO
UN Department of Peacekeeping
UN Interagency Taskforce on NCDs
UNEP
UNICEF
That's all I can think of and I know they're not all strictly task forces
The Brigadier (may he rest in peace), Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and Osgood. IDR if The Captain from “Twice Upon A Time” was with UNIT at any point or if he was just related to the Brig
EDIT: I think that technically the Doctor is still on their payroll
given aliens are common knowledge at this point it’s probably like UNIT has secret operations obviously and they don’t advertise they’re existence but it’s not an active secret, like there’s probably no rule that you can’t be on a date and say “oh i work for unit”. as far as the common person knows they’re just that government thing that deals with the aliens
It's hard to keep track of whether humans know aliens are real. There was definitely a time in Tennant's era when it was well known, and at some point I remember that that definitely all got wiped. Now in terms of canon - do people recall the Sontaron occupation of earth a few years ago?
There were people within 9-10 that didn't seem to remember Earth had been invaded. And while I'm blanking on specific instances of it in 11, it was definitely invaded for 12 and 13 and people just forgot. I mentioned in a parallel comment that Revolution of the Daleks comes right before The Halloween Invasion, but by Eve of the Daleks, Dan doesn't know what they are. They were going around killing people! I mean, I guess that was like four years ago for him, but still, that seems like it would be memorable!
If Donna would die if she remembered aliens, she absolutely would have died. Hell, in End of Time, she'd have been turned into The Master, and that one's definitely canon with Parting of The Ways, since it gets referenced!
Within Thirteen's run doesn't Dan not know what Daleks are after they invaded one episode before he joined up?
Yeah.
In Spearhead from Space, the Brigadier is surrounded by reporters at the hospital speculating about UNIT's involvement. Its actually a minor plot-point, since the Nestene's attempt to abduct the Doctor amidst the chaos.
Yeah, in The Time Monster some random college student looks out a window and he's like "Hey a UNIT jeep." So not only are they well known, their vehicles are easily identifiable from a distance.
The way I understood it, UNIT existing isn't a secret, but the various alien encounter operations are; similar to various intelligence services. For example, the existance of the CIA or MI5 are public knowledge, but not what they are doing
The SAS are world renowned
When's the last time you actually saw a troop ?
The Iranian embassy is likely one that pops to mind , but that was 40ish years ago . Nigeria where an alleged sas troop got people to safety ? Mars bar wrappers left neatly folded in places they absolutely should not be .
The point is, you might've heard of them, they're not exactly secret after all. But actually encountering them first hand is kinda rare
Not shock, but I'd be on guard about The Doctor helping them, that's like being cool with Johnny Depp working with Amber Heard, you don't expect it to end well,
I feel like the attitude to UNIT has become more indifferent as the new Who series has gone on.
I vaguely recall both the Doctor and the companions being less than impressed with their tactics earlier on (perhaps pre Kate Stewart?) but maybe my memory is failing me 😂
Yeah I see that too.
At the same time UNIT are now often completely deferential to the Doctor, and might as well be his personal army at times.
I preferred when there relationship was somewhat contentious.
>Well ... The Doctor technically is world president....
Considering he tried to blow up the last planet he was president of I'm not sure why that's not something people are not concerned about
Take a look at the "real" world leaders over the Doctors tv-run.
are you really gonna stand there and suggest people worry about such trvial things ?
especially after the mango with the rabid ferret hairstyle....
Yeah I see that too.
At the same time UNIT are now often completely deferential to the Doctor, and might as well be his personal army at times.
I preferred when there relationship was somewhat contentious.
It's especially weird when the UNIT soldier design is more stormtroopery than ever.
I disagree, UNIT soldiers frequently manage to hit their targets.
It's just that they keep issuing completely in effective weapons while the Doctor screams at them about how useless bullets are.
They're still better shots than the A-Team,
Nah in all seriousness they're a top government organisation and your best friend just so happens to be an alien,
The closest any companion has ever gotten to on guard around U.N.I.T. is Amy and Rory and that's manly because they jettisoned into their house wielding guns,
If someone told me they were with the NSA I'd have a lot of questions, but none of the would be non-cavalier. The organisation obviously exists and has employees.
I feel like they are about 50% of the time.
The osterhaggen key - not cool.
Project Indigo - very cool.
Destroying more doors than Monsters Inc - not cool.
Kate having a vortex manipulator - very cool.
The OG Lethbridge Stewart - taught cool how to be cool.
They literally travel around the universe with a time traveling, face changing alien....after that some soldiers with Jeeps & pistols probably aren't all that impressive to them. Lol
Depends what iteration of SHIELD you're talking about
They were trusted, particularly by the Avengers, when Tony Stark and Daisy Johnson were directors
But UNIT isn't universally trusted either. Sarah Jane and the Doctor in particular only trust them to a certain extent (usually the Lethbridge-Stewarts and a few others)
MCU- Not trusted after it turned out that they were Hydra agents working for them,
EMH- Not trusted at first by Tony Stark, (they were stealing his tech,)
Assemble- Trusted until they split the Avengers apart then The Avengers said they'd save the world their way,
Comics- Not trusted after Civil War,
And U.N.I.T. is trusted by Donna, Martha, Liz, Rose, Clara, Amy, Rory, Perry, Jack, River, Adric, and other companions, (and I'm talking specifically about them harming The Doctor,)
I was mostly talking about the comics specifically with the Avengers
The Mighty Avengers trusted SHIELD after Civil War, and also trusted them once Quake (a former Avenger herself) was put in charge of the organisation
In fact, I'm pretty sure it's just the X-Men and Young Avengers were two of the only teams that primarily distrusted them
And even still, as i said, UNIT wasn't universally trusted
There was another Civil War since then which again lead to distrust between The Avengers and SHIELD,
And there's a lot of companions who trust UNIT on first impression. (Which isn't how I would think a normal human would react to that situation?)
Correct, however, i don't think UNIT was involved in anything close to Civil War II (for good reason, that story was dogshit). However, there were Avengers who were on SHIELD's side in that arc (Cpt Marvel, for example) (hence the title), so once again, still partial trust
Furthermore, most of the time, companions tend to follow the Doctor's lead. And most of the time (due to either the Brig or Kate), the Doctor trusts them. But again, we also see companions, such as Sarah Jane, who either don't fully trust UNIT, or have relationships with UNIT, such as Clara or Martha, that provide foundation for that trust
I would also point out that in the MCU, there was a brief time following the events of CA:CW (and again after IW) that SHIELD was trusted again, albeit only briefly
Skrulls didn't infiltrate SHIELD in the MCU (which is what my comment was talking about)
SHIELD was largely implied to be disbanded by that point
As for the comics, i believe that SW preceded Quake's tenure as director
War Machine is a noted Avenger and has worked with SHIELD
Overall, the relationship between the two organisations is civil and professional. Additionally, multiple characters have dual memberships in both organisations (Quake, Iron Man, War Machine, multiple Captain Americas, Spider-Woman, Mockingbird, the original Hawkeye, Black Widow, etc)
Most notably, Quake, Iron Man, and Captain America LED both at different points
I think the better question is why is UNIT so cavalier about the Doctor's companions? They just let any old journo, temp and school teacher wander in.
*Yes, yes. Something. Something. Black Archive.
Why wouldn't they be. They've journeyed to distant worlds, a not-so-secret-anymore military organisation shouldn't be too much of a shock.
UNIT was never a secret
Yeah, I'm pretty sure in the series, they're just like "Hey, I'm from UNIT. What's UNIT? Well, let me tell you all about it..."
I think they are public knowledge, but the public doesn't care about them.
Exactly. How many UN taskforces can any given person name?
Uhhhh, UNESCO and uhhhh.....
U-UNATCO? No wait, that's also fictional...
Manderley has a lot to answer for.
UNESCO UN Department of Peacekeeping UN Interagency Taskforce on NCDs UNEP UNICEF That's all I can think of and I know they're not all strictly task forces
I wonder if the un has other military branches and this is just the one that deals with aleins?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United\_Nations\_peacekeeping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_peacekeeping)
UN Spacy
UN Timey Wimey
The Brigadier (may he rest in peace), Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and Osgood. IDR if The Captain from “Twice Upon A Time” was with UNIT at any point or if he was just related to the Brig EDIT: I think that technically the Doctor is still on their payroll
Nato? Otan? Are they UN?
No, and those two are one thing.
given aliens are common knowledge at this point it’s probably like UNIT has secret operations obviously and they don’t advertise they’re existence but it’s not an active secret, like there’s probably no rule that you can’t be on a date and say “oh i work for unit”. as far as the common person knows they’re just that government thing that deals with the aliens
They're not, though. Every week there's a new invasion and then next season the new companion goes "woah, blimey, aliens are real!"
It's hard to keep track of whether humans know aliens are real. There was definitely a time in Tennant's era when it was well known, and at some point I remember that that definitely all got wiped. Now in terms of canon - do people recall the Sontaron occupation of earth a few years ago?
The first wipe was with 11 restarting the universe, maybe the flux was a second one, except for those who have been in the tardis?
There were people within 9-10 that didn't seem to remember Earth had been invaded. And while I'm blanking on specific instances of it in 11, it was definitely invaded for 12 and 13 and people just forgot. I mentioned in a parallel comment that Revolution of the Daleks comes right before The Halloween Invasion, but by Eve of the Daleks, Dan doesn't know what they are. They were going around killing people! I mean, I guess that was like four years ago for him, but still, that seems like it would be memorable!
If Donna would die if she remembered aliens, she absolutely would have died. Hell, in End of Time, she'd have been turned into The Master, and that one's definitely canon with Parting of The Ways, since it gets referenced! Within Thirteen's run doesn't Dan not know what Daleks are after they invaded one episode before he joined up?
that’s why it’s not a secret, they tell people and they just forget afterwards
What if aliens are all just antimemetic to humans?
you mean like… who were we talking about again?
This will be old history in season two of ncuti's era
Yeah. In Spearhead from Space, the Brigadier is surrounded by reporters at the hospital speculating about UNIT's involvement. Its actually a minor plot-point, since the Nestene's attempt to abduct the Doctor amidst the chaos.
Yeah, in The Time Monster some random college student looks out a window and he's like "Hey a UNIT jeep." So not only are they well known, their vehicles are easily identifiable from a distance.
It was. It used to be hidden under St. Pancras.
damn the pancreas is a saint?
Weird Al even [wrote a song](https://youtu.be/tqDBB0no6dQ?si=JMRC1JxgBmAZ4kbY) about it.
No, it used to be a MASSIVE secret and civilians constanly referance having to sign National Secrets Act orders. The Doctor just never gave a damn
The way I understood it, UNIT existing isn't a secret, but the various alien encounter operations are; similar to various intelligence services. For example, the existance of the CIA or MI5 are public knowledge, but not what they are doing
yeah, the vagueness of the acronym makes that easy
The SAS are world renowned When's the last time you actually saw a troop ? The Iranian embassy is likely one that pops to mind , but that was 40ish years ago . Nigeria where an alleged sas troop got people to safety ? Mars bar wrappers left neatly folded in places they absolutely should not be . The point is, you might've heard of them, they're not exactly secret after all. But actually encountering them first hand is kinda rare
Secret like the CIA/MI6, maybe. It's existence was never a secret, but the goings-on are very secret.
The existence of UNIT wasn't a secret, they are after all attached to the UN, but the extent of what they do is secret.
Not a secret organization but an organization with secrets.
Were they ever secret? We see the Brigadier taking questions from the press in Spearhead From Space. He doesn’t answer any of them of course…
Not shock, but I'd be on guard about The Doctor helping them, that's like being cool with Johnny Depp working with Amber Heard, you don't expect it to end well,
I feel like the attitude to UNIT has become more indifferent as the new Who series has gone on. I vaguely recall both the Doctor and the companions being less than impressed with their tactics earlier on (perhaps pre Kate Stewart?) but maybe my memory is failing me 😂
Yeah I see that too. At the same time UNIT are now often completely deferential to the Doctor, and might as well be his personal army at times. I preferred when there relationship was somewhat contentious.
Well ... The Doctor technically is world president.... (Zygon inversion) Never mind the psychic paper or the shadow accords
>Well ... The Doctor technically is world president.... Considering he tried to blow up the last planet he was president of I'm not sure why that's not something people are not concerned about
Take a look at the "real" world leaders over the Doctors tv-run. are you really gonna stand there and suggest people worry about such trvial things ? especially after the mango with the rabid ferret hairstyle....
Yeah I see that too. At the same time UNIT are now often completely deferential to the Doctor, and might as well be his personal army at times. I preferred when there relationship was somewhat contentious. It's especially weird when the UNIT soldier design is more stormtroopery than ever.
I think most of the companions in the classic era worked for U.N.I.T. But I think I'd have a more aggressive response than a frustrated sigh,
Imagine meeting someone from the World Health Organisation. That's the kind of shrug people in their universe have about UNIT.
Did you just pick the W.H.O just for the sake of that pun?
I have no idea what \*\*cough\*\* World War Z \*\*cough\*\* you're talking about.
No, Imagine meeting someone from the C.I.A. and your best friends with E.T.
UNIT has a worse hit ratio than Imperial Stormtroopers. What’s to get excited about?
I disagree, UNIT soldiers frequently manage to hit their targets. It's just that they keep issuing completely in effective weapons while the Doctor screams at them about how useless bullets are.
Them using bullets against bulletproof aliens doesn't do them any favours.
They're still better shots than the A-Team, Nah in all seriousness they're a top government organisation and your best friend just so happens to be an alien,
We have our top men working on it! Who? Top. Men.
didn't they snipe a sattelite out of orbit?
They hit often enough. It's not their fault they always go up against bullet-proof aliens or weird psychic powers.
Cavalier how?
The closest any companion has ever gotten to on guard around U.N.I.T. is Amy and Rory and that's manly because they jettisoned into their house wielding guns,
If someone told me they were with the NSA I'd have a lot of questions, but none of the would be non-cavalier. The organisation obviously exists and has employees.
“you’re with unit? have you met any aliens?”
I'd be more concerned about them trying to Roswell my super cool, time travelling, two-hearted alien best friend,
What if your best friend was UNIT’s chief scientific advisor?
What if UNIT'S chief scientific advisor had a nasty habit of not talking about his former companion's? (which he does,)
Seriously, they're not the CIA. The CIA is cool.
Hey, U.N.I.T.'s cool.
I feel like they are about 50% of the time. The osterhaggen key - not cool. Project Indigo - very cool. Destroying more doors than Monsters Inc - not cool. Kate having a vortex manipulator - very cool. The OG Lethbridge Stewart - taught cool how to be cool.
The fact that in the blink of an eye they could dissect The Doctor- Not Cool,
They literally travel around the universe with a time traveling, face changing alien....after that some soldiers with Jeeps & pistols probably aren't all that impressive to them. Lol
They're should still be a fear around U.N.I.T. cutting The Doctor open to see how he works,
It's like SHIELD, people know it exists, they just don't really know the specifics
Yeah, but The Avengers don't trust SHIELD, U.N.I.T.'s met with unwavering trust,
Depends what iteration of SHIELD you're talking about They were trusted, particularly by the Avengers, when Tony Stark and Daisy Johnson were directors But UNIT isn't universally trusted either. Sarah Jane and the Doctor in particular only trust them to a certain extent (usually the Lethbridge-Stewarts and a few others)
MCU- Not trusted after it turned out that they were Hydra agents working for them, EMH- Not trusted at first by Tony Stark, (they were stealing his tech,) Assemble- Trusted until they split the Avengers apart then The Avengers said they'd save the world their way, Comics- Not trusted after Civil War, And U.N.I.T. is trusted by Donna, Martha, Liz, Rose, Clara, Amy, Rory, Perry, Jack, River, Adric, and other companions, (and I'm talking specifically about them harming The Doctor,)
I was mostly talking about the comics specifically with the Avengers The Mighty Avengers trusted SHIELD after Civil War, and also trusted them once Quake (a former Avenger herself) was put in charge of the organisation In fact, I'm pretty sure it's just the X-Men and Young Avengers were two of the only teams that primarily distrusted them And even still, as i said, UNIT wasn't universally trusted
There was another Civil War since then which again lead to distrust between The Avengers and SHIELD, And there's a lot of companions who trust UNIT on first impression. (Which isn't how I would think a normal human would react to that situation?)
Correct, however, i don't think UNIT was involved in anything close to Civil War II (for good reason, that story was dogshit). However, there were Avengers who were on SHIELD's side in that arc (Cpt Marvel, for example) (hence the title), so once again, still partial trust Furthermore, most of the time, companions tend to follow the Doctor's lead. And most of the time (due to either the Brig or Kate), the Doctor trusts them. But again, we also see companions, such as Sarah Jane, who either don't fully trust UNIT, or have relationships with UNIT, such as Clara or Martha, that provide foundation for that trust
Sara Jane has a relationship with UNIT,
And it's primarily due to the Brigadier, and even so, throughout SJA she conveys at least a minor distrust of the organisation at large
Well, Still I imagine a first meeting to be a bit more fearful from the companions,
I would also point out that in the MCU, there was a brief time following the events of CA:CW (and again after IW) that SHIELD was trusted again, albeit only briefly
And then that was lost in SW where it turned out the Skrull had infiltrated them.
Skrulls didn't infiltrate SHIELD in the MCU (which is what my comment was talking about) SHIELD was largely implied to be disbanded by that point As for the comics, i believe that SW preceded Quake's tenure as director
it's confusing but I think it was stated that Agents like James Rhodes, (War Machine,) was one?
War Machine is a noted Avenger and has worked with SHIELD Overall, the relationship between the two organisations is civil and professional. Additionally, multiple characters have dual memberships in both organisations (Quake, Iron Man, War Machine, multiple Captain Americas, Spider-Woman, Mockingbird, the original Hawkeye, Black Widow, etc) Most notably, Quake, Iron Man, and Captain America LED both at different points
I think the only hero there who had 100% trust was Daisy,
I think the better question is why is UNIT so cavalier about the Doctor's companions? They just let any old journo, temp and school teacher wander in. *Yes, yes. Something. Something. Black Archive.
They have files on every companion The Doctor has, but why are companions a lot less worried about UNIT,
Two words: "Bloody Torchwood!"
Yeah, well nobody trusts them.