Doctor Who Week: Top 5 Doctor Who Villains

Written by Tyler Lamb. Media by Austin Stephens.

When it comes to Doctor Who villains, there are a lot. Almost every episode brings in a new bad guy for the Doctor to fight off, and each one has their own special place in the heart of every Whovian. However, everyone can pick their favorites and some villains are about as iconic as the Doctor himself. This weeks top 5 is sticking with the entertainment section’s Doctor Who theme for the week and is going to talk about these villains. The ones who help make the story as much as the Doctor does, and that would be almost impossible to think of being beaten for good.

5. Cybermen
The Cybermen are one of the classic Doctor Who villains. They have been around since the early years, and continued to pop up frequently. In fact, in the recent series there is a very big storyline involving the Cybermen with the 10th Doctor. These monsters used to be mostly organic and would add more and more artificial parts for self preservation. Over time, they became mostly artificial with the goal of either destroying all humans, or converting them to become Cybermen. These baddies have been around since the time of the first Doctor, and have proven the test of time.

4. Weeping Angels
The first episode this villain appeared in was “Blink.” Most Doctor Who fans know that this is one of the best episodes to show someone who is thinking of getting into the show. These creatures are under a thing called “quantum lock”–while being looked at, they are frozen in statue form. However, when you turn away they can move around and if you are touched by one it’s just about as over as it can be. The thought that all those angel statues are actually monsters that move when not being looked at is creepy, and the episode does a good job making it that way. The Doctor isn’t really a main character in this episode, so it is an easy segue for those interested in the show. Unfortunately Steven Moffat, the writer of the episode and now show runner, has started to run the villain into the ground. He claims that they will no longer be around, but I would have liked an episode or two with them not to have been made. The first appearance was so good and creepy, but the over saturation of them has numbed that feeling.

3. Possession from “Midnight”
This may be an interesting choice to most, mainly because this villain doesn’t even have a name. Also, it only appears in one episode in the entire series and I doubt will make a reappearance anytime soon. I would argue that these are all points for it being a great villain. In the episode “Midnight” the doctor is on a shuttle tour of the planet resort planet Midnight. The shuttle is stopped, and eventually something seems to be possessing one of the passengers. They are unable to simply leave the shuttle, due to radiation of the planet, and quickly they are all turned against each other trying to decide what to do with the possessed person. The creepy part is there is not much a way to tell who is possessed, other than they repeat what you say until they are saying what you are at the exact same time. Not only that, but the Doctor can’t reason with it at all. The whole episode revolves around how people panic when in a situation where they are stuck like this, and how a “mob mentality” can happen so quickly. It is easily one of the best episodes of the series, with a great creepy villain, and proves David Tennant is one of the best actors to portray the Doctor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIYdxvItlE8

2. Daleks
It would be impossible to make a list of “best Doctor Who villains” and not mention the Daleks. Not only are they contractually obligated to be in each season of the show, but they have been there since the first Doctor. Some have argued that if it wasn’t for the creativity of the creatures, the show would not have been so popular in the first place or last as long as it has. Unfortunately, they have really gone the way of the Weeping Angels. They have some great episodes where they are the center baddie, but overall there seems to be an over-saturation of them. This mostly has to do with them being required to make an appearance each season. It’s always a wonder as to how they come back after allegedly being “destroyed”, and the most recent appearance of them they didn’t even bother explaining how they returned.

1. The Master
Some of my favorite Doctor Who events involve the Master. The reason being not that the stories are necessarily well written, but because of the actor portraying the villain. Most notably, Eric Roberts and John Simm. He is the only other Time Lord besides the Doctor, and boy is he crazy. These two guys did a great job as the Master, especially Simm. He was able to make him completely maniacal and at the same time there were moments where you felt bad for him. The Master was completely crazy and the Doctor wanted to help. He didn’t believe he could be helped, so he wanted nothing to do but destroy the Doctor, thinking that was the only way to stop the madness. There were times where it seemed as if the Doctor was so close to reasoning with him and bringing him to his senses, then everything turned around and the Master was back to his ways. It was really great that Simm was brought back for Tennant’s last episodes, because their chemistry together was fantastic.