Doctor Whos monsters and villains can sometimes reach a point where they start lose their impact. Overuse can be a major reason for this as many viewers bored to tears of the Daleks and Weeping Angels will attest, but its more often a result of various narrative and design choices. A character might undergo a questionable design change that renders them less threatening. Or a set of characters could be written in a way that makes them stupider, brings down their scare potential, or is just too much of a departure from how they originally were. The mass scorn and torrents of internet fury when the Daleks were redesigned in 2010 is a prime example of the former while the Master has suffered the latter twice in 1996 and 2007. But what can be done about this? Well, since Doctor Who is one of the most changeable television series in history, quite a lot actually. After being absent for a long time, a character or species can easily be modernised to work more in the context of current Doctor Who, or it can be a justification within the narrative itself like a Regeneration. Unfortunately there are some Doctor Who villains (many that have been around for decades) that have a reached a point in their lives where they need either a slight or substantial revamp to make them credible enemies again. And these are seven of the ones in need of some adjustment
JG Moore is a writer and filmmaker from the south of England. He also works as an editor and VFX artist, and has a BA in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
