As the longest running sci-fi show of all time, Doctor Who has a rather large repertoire of creatures, villains, and bug-eyed monsters. But who (or rather, what) is the best monster in Who history? Hypable takes a crack at naming the top 10!
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| The Silurians are reptilian humanoid creatures who have been hibernating underneath the Earth for thousands of years, pre-dating humans by a long way. They have futuristic technology well in advance of anything Homo sapiens have ever managed to develop. With an intricate and diverse society, Silurians have just as much conflict amongst themselves as they do with their surface counterparts. In the Classic series, the Silurians have three eyes – the third of which is used for telepathy – but in their 2010 redesign they more closely resemble humans. Nearly every time The Doctor meets the Silurians, a peaceful solution is found despite some factions of both humans and Silurians intent on war. Aside from presenting viewers with some difficult questions to ask themselves, the Silurians are a deep race that command our sympathy and empathy as well as fear. | |
The Doctor and the Silurian leader reach peace |
 First appearance:“Doctor Who and The Silurians” (1970) Home planet: Earth Why we love them: Best quote: |
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| Despite being a benevolent species that live to serve their Masters, The Ood have a terrible track record for going completely crazy and trying to kill everything in sight. In fact, two-thirds of their appearances see the species possessed by dark forces. The Ood have a tragic but compelling back story, becoming slaves to human colonies after their hive center was destroyed. They have become almost as iconic and popular as the Daleks and Cybermen, commanding our sympathy as well as fear in a way that so many Who monsters fall short of. | |
The Ood are possessed and rebel against their cruel human captors |
 First appearance:“The Impossible Planet” (2006) Home planet: The Ood Sphere Why we love them: |
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| The Zygons are the only creatures on this list who have yet to appear in the revived show, but this injustice will reportedly be assuaged in the upcoming seventh series. After their home world was destroyed by an explosion, a solitary Zygon spaceship landed in the depths of Loch Ness, where a colony of survivors took refuge. Feeding from the Loch Ness monster, The Zygons were able to exist and develop biological technology that meant that their ships themselves were alive. Freakiest of all is their shape shifting abilities, which allow them to infiltrate The Doctor and his companions through impersonation of allies. Whenever the Zygons are around, characters and viewers alike are constantly on edge – terrified that the people they see could actually be blood-thirsty monsters. | |
| Original trailer for “Terror of the Zygons” |  First appearance:“Terror of The Zygons” (1975) Home planet: Unknown Why we love them: Article Continues Below Best quote: |
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| The Midnight monster is unique in that we never find out its real name or what it looks like. Instead of lasers or claws, this alien uses the simple trick of mimicking to inject copious amounts of dread in the only episode that it appears in. When The Doctor is on a spaceship that draws to a sudden halt, the Midnight monster is outside and copies the knocking of the ships passengers. It then rips off the cock-pit, and possesses a business woman called Sky. She begins to copy the speech of the ships passengers, before speaking in sync and then uttering words that the victims have yet to say themselves. While the alien is clearly massively vicious, vindictive, and vigorous we never actually see it on screen. This works in the monsters favour – the mystery is far more discomforting and ominous than anything CG or prosthetics could ever achieve. | |
The passengers are terrified as Sky copies The Doctor |
 First appearance:“Midnight” (2008) Home planet: Midnight Why we love it: |
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| Arguably The Doctor’s arch-nemesis, The Master has been a popular and staple villain in Doctor Who history for over 40 years. The part has been played by six different actors over the course of the programme, and was conceived as a “Moriarty to The Doctor’s Sherlock Holmes.” A renegade himself, The Master becomes one of the only two living Timelords when he first appears in New Who (the other of course being The Doctor). With psychotic tenancies and a serious grudge against The Doctor and the rest of the universe, this villain will stop at nothing to take down our hero. | |
The Master returns and regenerates |
 First appearance:“Terror of the Autons” (1971) Home planet: Gallifrey Why we love him: Best quote: |
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| Victims of a technological plague during World War II, The Gas Mask Zombies are accidentally created by Jack Harkness after he crashes a stolen space ship. The infection stems from a young child named Jamie, who was brought back from the brink of death by Chula nanogenes. Having never seen humans before, the usually miraculous genes assume that the boy’s appearance is how all of the race is supposed to look. As a consequence, anyone who comes into contact with them is “repaired” and transformed into an undead donning a gas mask and searching for their mummy. These “creatures” are one of the few allusions to zombies in the entire series, with a clever and often horrific explanation ending in a dramatic climax. With a similar origin as the Cybermen, the repaired human beings provide the darkest two-part of the first series of revived Who. | |
The Doctor, Rose and Jack are surprised by a Zombie |
 First appearance:“The Empty Child” (2005) Home planet: Earth Why we love them: Best quote: |
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| Alluded to throughout the entire fifth series, The Silence are eventually revealed to be a species (and then a whole religious cult) that have been lurking in the shadows of Earth since the dawn of time. Closely resembling Edvard Munch’s The Scream, the aliens have sunken eyes and swollen hands which they use to electrocute anyone who crosses their path. The Silence influenced human kind’s decisions throughout history, always present but never remembered owing to a mysterious ability to be forgotten about as soon as anyone turns their back. The Silence have so far forced The Doctor into some of his most desperate moments, blowing up the TARDIS and brainwashing a baby River Song into murdering the Timelord. All of this is to try and prevent the answer of the oldest question in the universe, which will result in the religion and species “falling.” Given that we will soon be getting the aforementioned answer to the question — “Doctor Who?” — we certainly haven’t seen the last of these villains. | |
The Doctor and The Silence face off |
 First appearance:“The Impossible Astronaut” (2011) Home planet: Unknown Why we love them: Best quote: |
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| The Cybermen are an iconic part of the longest running sci-fi show of all time, and much the like the series itself, the race is constantly changing. Looking different every time they have appeared throughout the last 49 years, these cyborgs have only retained their iconic facial exterior and hollow voice. When they first appeared in 1966, The Cybermen of Mondas only retained their human hands – but since then their bodies have been almost entirely comprised of metal. Keeping the human brain as a power source but “deleting” any emotional resonance or memory means that they are a cold and ruthless race capable of some of the most cruel acts. Their idea of upgrading is also used by the cyborgs on other creatures, with rats, gorillas, and dogs all falling victim to conversion. In more recent years, The Cybermen have featured sparingly in the series, so we could be seeing an epic full-scale return at some point in the near future, present, or past. | |
The Cybermen delete! |
 First appearance:“The Tenth Planet” (1966) Home planet: Mondas Why we love them: Best quote: |
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| Easily as iconic as The Doctor and the TARDIS, The Daleks have achieved pop culture status around the world. Created by evil genius Davros as a solution to a thousand year nuclear war with the Thal, The Daleks are mutant cyborgs feeling only hatred and a burning desire to destroy and “exterminate.” Having faced The Doctor more times than any other enemy, Daleks are his biggest foe and greatest fear. Originally thought to have been murdered in the Time War, which also wiped out Timelords, a Dalek cult managed to escape and slowly rebuild the race until their numbers swelled. They may be the most reliably defeat-able villain in the series, but they have also claimed many victories by killing many of The Doctor’s allies and kidnapping entire planets. Whenever you hear the iconic “Exterminate!”, you know that The Doctor is about to be put to one of his toughest tests. | |
Trailer for “The Origin of The Daleks” |
 First appearance:“The Daleks” (1969) Home planet: Skaro Why we love them: Best quote: |
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| It couldn’t really have been anything else. The Weeping Angels may be another of Steven Moffat’s simple psychological tricks, but never has it been more terrifying and effective. The Weeping Angels are effectively “living stone” statues that appear to the naked eye to be nothing more than monuments, gargoyles or graveyard memorials. However, as soon as their victims look away — or even famously, blink — they become impossibly fast killing machines. Described by The Doctor as the only creature in the universe to “kill you nicely,” the Weeping Angels murder by sending their victims back in time to live out the rest of their lives away from family and friends. However, the Angels have also been known to snap necks in order to take control of a voice. They have proven a formidable opponent in that there is no way of killing them, avoidance is the only escape. The Weeping Angels are a deeply unsettling race mainly because they resemble every-day statues that can be seen in nearly every town on our planet. What’s more, the deadly and mysterious creatures will return in series 7 to finish off current companions Amy and Rory – so the worst may yet come. | |
The Doctor warns Sally Sparrow about the Weeping Angels |
 First appearance:“Blink” (2007) Home planet: Unknown Why we love them: |
Honourable mentions: Doctor Who has a diverse range of brilliant monsters, and with so many excellent creations it was inevitable that some great aliens would be absent from this list. However, we would like to especially mention Omega, the Vashta Nerada, The Family of Blood, the Autons and The Headless Monks as viable candidates that all only marginally missed out on a spot in this list.
So, there we have it! What do you think of our list? Did we miss out one of your favourites? Include something that didn’t deserve to be there? What would your top 10 be? Join the discussion in the comments below!
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