Ranking 10 Random Doctor Who Monsters and Villains: Part 2
From Worst to Best
Note: This ranking is based purely on the reboot era of Doctor Who, and so villains who may have been in the classic era of the show will be solely ranked on their time in the reboot era.
10. Autons
The Autons arrive in the reboot series of Doctor Who in the very first episode, titled Rose.
They take the appearance of mannequins, commonly found in shopping centres.
They may initially appear frightening, especially when you don’t expect such things to suddenly start moving around and trying to kill you.
However, the design of the Auton does limit their fear factor, unfortunately, and they are often defeated with relative ease compared to other aliens the Doctor faces.
9. Macra
The Macra, as with the Autons, appeared in the classical series of Doctor Who and made an unexpected return in the third series of the reboot.
These massive crab-like creatures lived in the depths of the motorway in New New York, surviving on the toxic fumes of the vehicles there, as well as feasting on any who dared to enter the Fast Lane.
They are ranked lower due to their apparent lack of intelligence and due to their capability of only managing to reach an unlucky few in the Fast Lane.
8. Ravagers
These fearsome villains took centre stage in the series revolving around the Flux event.
Both Swarm and Azure were beautifully designed, with them being humanoid and crystalline in appearance, with haunting colours to match their dark souls.
The two possessed several abilities throughout their time on the show, most notably telepathy, teleportation, and the manipulation of the time force, which made them formidable foes, to say the least.
The Ravagers were often shown to disintegrate spatial objects through touch alone, making them extremely dangerous.
Unfortunately, these creatures had little screen time overall, thanks in part to filming taking place during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It could be argued, though, that they were written pretty badly and disposed of far too quickly in the series finale with neither Swarm nor Azure appearing again, effectively ruining the potential that these two had.
7. Androvax
Androvax was a villain who appeared in two separate stories in one of the Doctor Who spin off shows, The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Androvax was of the Veil race, lizard-humanoid in appearance, almost silurian-like in a way, with a long tongue and menacing voice.
Androvax was known as the Destroyer of Worlds and was kept as a prisoner by the fearsome and ruthless Judoon, from whom he managed to escape.
During this time, Androvax attempted to use nanobots to destroy the Earth whilst building himself a new ship to escape from the judoon and destroy other planets.
Androvax had the notable ability of ‘body-snatching’, managing to jump into others' bodies and take complete control of them, with notable victims including Sarah Jane and Rani. He could also stun his victims with a touch to the forehead.
So, how does the Destroyer of Worlds end up so low in the ranking?
Well, it comes down to the fact that his villainy decayed a little upon his appearance in his second story, in which he had little time to survive and stripped him from his initial threatening nature.
6. The Silence
The Silence was a religious order associated with the Church forces of the Papal Mainframe.
The Kovarian Chapter, led by Madame Kovarian, broke away from the main order to attempt to kill the Doctor at a specific point in time so that a prophecy could not occur.
Madame Kovarian, along with the genetically modified priests of the Chruch, these beings known as the Silents, were very dangerous and capable of great power.
The design of the Silent took some inspiration from the famous painting, The Scream, with sunken eyes and long limbs and withered suits.
The Silents were able to manipulate electricity and had the unique ability to make people forget they had been seen upon individuals looking away. This made the Silence fearsome villains indeed.
One thing that stands out regarding the Silence is that one part of their plan basically worked: Melody Pond was kidnapped as a child, soon after the kidnapping of her mother Amy Pond, with the former raised to kill the Doctor, which she almost completed.
Sure, they might not have stood out as the scariest monsters around, but they were somewhat successful in their actions, making them fairly effective villains.
5. The Family of Blood
The Family of Blood was an interesting group of villains and starred in one of the best stories not only of the Tenth Doctor but also of modern Doctor Who as a whole.
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They were green, gaseous predators who seeked to kill the Doctor and steal his near-immortality.
Taking over ‘hosts’ of human form, they managed to take over the village where the Doctor was located, although under the disguise of a human teacher known as Jon Smith.
Together, along with the terrifying scarecrow-like soldiers that the family assembled, they tried to search for the Doctor, and used their vast technology and abilities to locate him.
In the end, The Family of Blood got what they had wanted with a slight twist: they would exist for as long as possible, but in eternal suffering, the Doctor shown to not be so forgiving for their crimes.
Perhaps that’s why they are ranked slightly lower than expected - we saw the darkness from both the villains and the hero in the end.
4. The Midnight Entity
When this villain was first introduced back in series 4, it held as one of the best at the time.
Why? Well, we couldn’t see it. We didn’t know what the Doctor and those aboard the Crusader 50 tour bus were up against when coming across the planet known as Midnight.
It had no voice, instead opting to steal or copy the words of the bus’ passengers. It also had no shape, no structure, and no scale to assess the danger that all the passengers were very much in.
The entity would seek out those who were most vulnerable or would speak the most sense and possess and torment them. It made for a great episode, full to the brim of horror elements.
The entity was supposedly killed when the Hostess of the tour bus sacrificed herself and the original possessed individual.
That was not to be the case, though, with the Doctor returning to the very same planet hundreds of thousands of years later, this time coming across the Midnight Entity yet again, the creature opting to change up his tactics this time around whilst still tormenting all around.
In fact, it is because of the return of the entity that it could not be rated any higher, unfortunately.
Though the third episode of series 15, The Well, was one of the better episodes of the series, it still had its faults and was most definitely a downgrade from Midnight.
Also, we should never have seen the Midnight Entity. Scandalous.
3. The Boneless
An interesting villain that appeared alongside the Twelth Doctor and Clara, that delved into the horror-like elements of Doctor Who, the show at its best.
The Boneless were two-dimensional beings who had the ability to reduce both living and non-living three-dimensional things to two-dimensions, something that was incredibly terror-inducing.
This flattening process was shown to occur to an unfortunate police officer who came across these dangerous villains, with a ‘mural’ of her nervous system dissected and shown on a wall by the Boneless. Chilling indeed.
Eventually, these creatures learned to understand the three dimensions and used their victims as ways to become three-dimensional themselves.
This process could be said to have been incomplete to an extent, with the three-dimensional forms flickering and deforming constantly.
The Boneless was one of the best villains the Twelth Doctor came across, in my opinion, and created the tense atmosphere that is perfect for Doctor Who.
2. The Flood
Another horror-inducing villain introduced in an episode set in a near-future Mars, with humans beginning to explore the planet in person.
The Flood, as the name implies, were a viral species trapped inside a Marsian glacier that could spread through contact of water, with only one drop capable of spreading such a violent infection.
The victims of The Flood appeared as humans, though with cracked skin, black teeth, and water pouring out of their mouths.
They may have seemed zombie-like in a way, but something that made these foes even more dangerous was the fact that they were considerably intelligent, effectively managing to find ways around any challenges faced and focus on the decision to grow and spread, especially to Earth where they learned was a great abundance of water.
The most terrifying part of The Flood was certainly the fact that they revolved around water.
It reminded us that even those things that keep you alive and healthy can be used against you if in the wrong hands or if nature decides to take a new route.
Could we see the Flood again one day? Would it work?
- The Trickster
One of the best villains in the Doctor Who Universe, and he has never actually appeared on the main show itself.
Instead, we were introduced to the Trickster through the Sarah Jane Adventures, in which he was one of the main villains, though we have had mentions of this fearsome foe in the main show as well.
The Trickster was everything good about a perfect Doctor Who villain.
He is extremely clever and easily able to use and exploit people to spread his chaos.
The design of the Trickster is incredibly haunting and raw, with some fans almost surprised that such a design managed to be present on The Sarah Jane Adventures, which was aimed more towards a younger audience than Doctor Who was.
Additionally, though appearing in the spin-off show multiple times, The Trickster’s fear factor never seemed to diminish due to the mystery surrounding the character-a creature outwith the supposed realms of existence that should never be found in the Universe.
Even The Doctor had a somewhat limited knowledge of the otherworldly being.
The Trickster will hopefully make his way to Doctor Who itself one day and spread his chaos to all.
He was truly an unforgettable villain who proved The Sarah Jane Adventures was no laughing stock.
