Diana Goddard

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Diana Goddard was the highly efficient and ruthless personal assistant to Henry van Statten. Over the course of just one day in 2012, her career path went from replacing the old assistant to taking over Geocomtex, Van Statten's company. According to one account, Goddard was actually an undercover FBI agent.

Biography[]

According to one account, Diana was an undercover federal agent. She joined the FBI are being inspired by her dead father, who had been a cop, and excelling in her exams. She was initially just undercover at Henry van Statten's Vault as a guard, however, after taking a liking to her when she accompanied him to golf with the President, van Statten decided to promote her to his Chief of Staff. (PROSE: Dalek ^[+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Dalek (Robert Shearman), Target novelisations (Target Books, 2021).)

According to other accounts, there was no indication she worked undercover for the FBI. (TV: Dalek ^[+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac ^[+]Steve Tribe, BBC Books (2008). Chapter 3, "Everything Changes"; Pages 146-147., etc.) After Polkowski, Van Statten's chief aide, questioned him, he had Polkowski "fired" — by having his memory erased and sending him to a US city whose name began with "m" — Van Statten quickly took a liking to Diana Goddard and made her Polkowski's replacement. After she informed Van Statten of two intruders (the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler) and had contacted Simmons for an update on if the Metaltron had begun speaking yet, she was present in Van Statten's office when the duo were interrogated. She accompanied Van Statten when the Doctor was taken down to the Cage and, shortly after, when he was responding to the escape of the Metaltron and the ensuing battle. (TV: Dalek ^[+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)

According to one account, when Van Statten held the Doctor at gunpoint following a failed ambush, Goddard revealed her true loyalties and pulled a gun on him too, placing him under arrest. Both lowered their weapons when the Dalek appeared on a monitor demanding to speak with the Doctor. (PROSE: Dalek)

After the Metaltron found itself to be impure after it acquired feelings and compassion from Rose and subsequently self-destructed, Goddard usurped Van Statten, ordering Van Statten's mind wipe and the filling of the Vault with cement, she took over Geocomtex. (TV: Dalek ^[+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005)., PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac ^[+]Steve Tribe, BBC Books (2008). Chapter 3, "Everything Changes"; Pages 146-147., etc.) According to another account, Van Statten had been responsible for his erasure of his memory and Goddard simply arranged to take care of him in the state of mental infancy he was left in. (PROSE: Dalek)

Personality and traits[]

Diana Goddard appeared a ruthless, highly efficient and cold-blooded businesswoman. She was also not afraid to voice her opinion or stand up to her boss, earning her a degree of respect from him. Even when confronted by a Dalek that had exterminated two-hundred people, she remained calm and did not panic. The only exception to this was when the Dalek drained power from the base and seven states in the US, where she lost some of her cool. When Van Statten revealed his opinion that his personnel were "dispensable" compared to the Dalek, she was horrified, even more so when the Dalek killed most of the base's personnel that tried to stop it. When she initiated a hostile takeover of Geocomtex, she ordered her boss' memory wiped and him dumped in a city starting with the letter "S" with a satisfied smile on her face. She also understood the dangers of the alien technology contained within the Vault, ordering the place sealed with cement to stop it from falling into the wrong hands and erasing it from existence. (TV: Dalek ^[+]Robert Shearman, adapted from Jubilee (Robert Shearman), Doctor Who series 1 (BBC One, 2005).)

According to another account, Goddard was dedicated to making the world a better place in memory of her father and was uncomfortable with being undercover for Van Statten. (PROSE: Dalek)

Behind the scenes[]

• In the online game The Last Dalek, which presents an alternate version of the events of Dalek, Diana Goddard does not appear, but she has an entry in the Dalek's memory files. She is described as; "Female subject. Age 25. American. Working her way to Van Statten's upper ranks. Calculating and professional."
• Dalek writer Rob Shearman named Goddard after his wife, Jane Goddard, who acted in Jubilee (on which Dalek was based), as an in-joke.