Nestene Consciousness

The Nestene Consciousness are a fictional alien race featured in the Doctor Who multimedia franchise. They first appeared in the "Spearhead from Space" storyline in 1970, which was also the introduction of Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. The Nestene Consciousness are often associated with the Autons.

The Nestene Consciousness, also referred to as just the Nestenes, was a disembodied alien race that shared a mutual telepathic hive mind. Although it had no natural form, it could assume a form of energy, which could be described as something akin to a cephalopod. The Nestene Consciousness could house aspects of itself in non-living material, and had a special affinity for plastic. As such, this conqueror race often used plastic humanoids dubbed Autons as their foot soldiers. The Nestene Consciousness once had a brief association with The Master.